Prince William Sound
Phillips 26 Glacier tour from Whittier, Alaska  June 28

Today we had a relatively leisurely morning as our train, Alaska Railway*s Glacier Discoverydid not leave until after 10 in the morning.  I could even work on the website!  This virtual world is a very fluid place--with a lot of eddys and currents.  With the ending of the television series, I did not want to give the impression that my site would be ending.  On the contrary, I think it can be even more valuable as other sites leave.  But I have waited for this vacation my whole life.  I want to take this moment to thank my friends, Mori and mimic for all their work maintaining EnigmaticDr in my absence, I am thrilled to have my cake and eat it too.

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The train to Whittier is a short one--shorter in cars and travel time.  It also shares time and space (sounds like our Connections theme!) with cars in a tunnel that is over 2 miles long.  Along the way we paralleled the highway along Cook Inlet (first photo) and also passed through the site of Portage.   Portage was destroyed in the largest earthquake ever recorded (over 9 on the richter scale) in 1964.  All that remains is a Ghost Forrest--trees killed when the ground sunk, then preserved by the salt water.  Sound like a good site for an X-File!
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  We arrived in Whittier by 12:30 pm  and immediately boarded the Klondike Expressfor the Phillips 26 Glacier tour along Prince Williams Sound.  This incredible ship, is a very fast, smooth catamaran.  It cruises at speeds of 50 mph.  I have no idea how fast it could go, but it was very smooth.
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We saw many birds and sea otters.  In fact, early on they announce we would not be able to stop to see every sea otter.  Above is a whole family of sea otters.
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The density of the glacial ice changes the chemical structure, causing the blue coloration.
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Glaciers in Barry Arm.  We got so close you could hear it--a glacier sounds like a cross between cracking ice and thunder.

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BrynMar Glacier and waterfall--a Tidewater glacier (empties icebergs into the sea)

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                     Walthalls on board                   Surprise Glacier--another Tidewater glacier

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an Alpine glacier                              Ice Field                             Seals on the Ice                 A Piedmont-type glacier

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Finally, we returned to Whittier and enjoyed a take-out dinner from Varly*s Seafood restaraunt onboard the train back to Anchorage.
Tomorrow we will fly back to Juneau and catch the Alaskan Marine Ferry (the Manatuska) along the Inland Passage, arriving in Bellingham on July 2nd.  We will then catch Amtrak (assuming its still running!) in Seattle for the trip home.  I*ll update again in Minneapolis-St.Paul on July 4th.

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