Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Juneau, Alaska

After a day and a half at sea, we were itching to get off the boat and see Alaska. Our first stop was Juneau, the capital of Alaska. It is the only capital city in America that can't be driven to. You must fly or take a boat.



We had signed up that day to take a helicopter ride up to the nearby Mendenhall Glacier. We took a bus from the dock to the airport, where we boarded a chopper that was piloted by a nice young man named Neal.


He was an excellent pilot and landed us right on top of that beautiful hunk of ice.


Tourists


View of the edge of the glacier from the helicopter:


Amazing...


Wouldn't you know, he let us get out and walk on the thing. Then he left our butts out there to freeze.




We were so desperate, we had to drink ice cold water straight off the glacier. Luckily for us, it was the best, purest water we'd ever tasted. That is exactly why I prefer to vacation in Alaska instead of Mexico. You can't drink that crap down there.



That guy in the middle of the picture...he had the most ear hair I've ever seen. We saw him several times during the week, and it was all I could do not to stare. It looked like he had mold growing in there.

3 comments:

Karin said...

Isn't it nutty that the ice just slides down the mountain like that? We were watching "Earth: The Biography" on the Discovery channel and learned all about how the ice carves the land on its way down the mountains.

Krysta and Jan-Michael said...

Wow, you are so adventurous! A helicopter ride and landing on glaciers?! Looks pretty cold =p You look so cute in your piggy tail braids!

The Cronin Family said...

Geez that looks scary to me. Good thing you guys made a will before you left! :)