Alaska Post 4

Early a.m. on Thursday August 27

Over the course of my life, people have wondered why I am not happy, and one of the major reasons is that I don't live in Alaska. Seriously, being near green and wild is necessary to my being and it simply isn't something that I can access easily in my life (working on it) so there is always something painfully (literally) in my life. I also am nervous -- is this Alaskan trip a reward culmination of all I've been through in life? Or is it a preparation I need to hold on to for more trials coming up? Ha ha. It's probably a little of both -- life is such a tapestry.

There was something I remembered that I wanted to note about our river boat ride. The river was quite shallow -- deepest 15 feet, and about 8 feet usually. The guide said that it will get more shallow the more the glaciers in the mountains freeze (at night). Anyway the rivers change depth a lot -- melting in spring, then the water gets drawn out in freezes later.

Also wanted to mention that on Tuesday night we ate at an Anchorage place called Uncle Joe's Pizza or summat and we had the broccoli with white ranch garlic sauce pizza -- omg, yummy. Also at Alaskan Wildberry I wanted to say I saw a jar of birch caramel -- but I didn't buy it. The guy at the store said that people with pollen allergies should eat the honey of the area in which they live to receive a greater immunity from the allergies.

Yesterday afternoon it was an hour and a half drive from Anchorage to Whittier where the Carnival Spirit was docked. We drove along the Seward highway which was gorgeous -- sea on one side and cliff and mountain and green on the other. Our bus driver looked 12 (a girl), she said she was 23. She was hilarious and knowledgable so she talked most of the way. Her jokes were corny, like there were a lot of birch trees and she said, "See the little ones? Those are sons-of-birches." Think about it, lol. Anyway, she had more like that. She even sang the Alaskan Flag song and she had a lovely voice.

On the Seward highway there is a place called the Tunnel. The Tunnel is one way traffic only. In fact, cars and trains take the same "road" -- cars have to drive over the train tracks. There is not a lot of train traffic, but when they come, obviously the car traffic is stopped. They have it all set up pretty efficiently. They have 30 minute switches. You wait 30 minutes in certain lanes for the opposite traffic to go through, then they release and it is your turn for 30 minutes. They always have real people checking it, and they have interior cameras to make sure there are no stragglers. So if you drive that highway that far, you have to take into account the wait at the Tunnel for your drive time, because the release is only every hour or so.

Apparently within the recent decades (didn't play close attention) there was a 9.2 earthquake in the area. It was interesting to pass a spot where the earthquake caused the sea to come up farther into the land and destroyed property and vegetation. But the salt water petrified the trees, but didn't knock them over. So all these grey stone leafless trees are sticking up all over in an area. Chain saws can't even saw them down, break the chain saw.

We started stopping to look at glaciers and still are here on the ship. Huge dirt and ice. Learning a lot about them. They are always moving -- just too slow to see.

I really have been wearing my jacket and winter hat (just to be super comfy). We got up at 6 a.m. on the ship today since we were going to the end of a harbor or inlet where there was a mile and a half across glacier off the mountain and into the water. We got very close. So I took pictures and drank some hot chocolate and there was a guy in a polar bear suit taking pictures with people. I told him he was my new date and he laughed.

The ship has these glass elevators you can see through as you go up and down. Cool.

We aren't going to dock any where today, so I am going to try to get some homework done and just eat on the ship. Jeff (brother in law) joked last night, "Let's not kid ourselves. This trip is about one thing. It's not about Alaska, it's not about family, it's about the food!" He he.

I didn't really miss my kids until starting about last night. Miss my baby and I am missing everyone else and wondering how they are doing.