Thursday, September 08, 2011

Alaska Adventure: Fishing in Whittier

My Dears, 

In my humble opinion, there are few places that can compare to Alaska’s stark, stunning beauty. The mountains, the wildlife, the glaciers; I love this state. 

In the summer. 

The winters are pretty too…but in a different sense. Plus they’re cold. Duh. 


Anyway, back to fabulous Alaska summers. 

Case in point:
 My in-laws have a boat in the wee town of Whittier and we zipped out there for a day of sightseeing and fishing. 


Hello glaciers!

 This was Ben’s second time on a boat; it was a huge hit. This kid has boating in his blood.
 Gorgeous, yes?
 Water, sun, beautiful scenery; this is my kind of vacation.
 Blackstone Glacier
 Here is your fun fact o’ the day: a glacier that terminates in the sea is called a tidwater glacier, and is a good place to see massive chunks of ice shearing (also called calving) off of the main glacier body into the water, at which point they become icebergs. Or babybergs, depending on the size. I’m not sure if that’s an official term or not. It almost sounds like something I made up. Stick with the terms icebergs and you’ll be good to go.

 I think these two might be related:
 Captain Bob
Benjamin spent most of his time playing and sleeping in the berth. I was worried that the rocking of the boat would make him sick…not so, he was giggling and chortling with each bouncing wave. 
 Is it just me or does it look like Chris has a fish hook stuck in his finger?
Just me. No fish hooks in the finger, thankfully. 
 Soaking up the sun

The family shot. The kiddo is not amused. I don’t need no stinkin’ life jacket!

 This guy loves his home state

After our boating adventure, we headed home, with a quick stop at a nearby creek to see the salmon run. I’d never seen it before and it was definitely worth a stop. Red fish, grey fish, pink fish! Everywhere! I kept looking around for bears as it seemed like an ideal spot for a bite of salmon sushi.
 And if you squint really, really hard you can see this dall sheep on the cliffs above the road. There’s a reason this route is listed as one of America’s Scenic Byways

What a glorious day.

[Thanks Cherie, for the photos!]