Glaciers Really Are Blue

The longer I stay in Alaska, the more I am struck by the beauty! It’s real Alaska in every direction, just like the calendar pictures everyone buys at Barnes and Noble. Today we took a road trip south of Anchorage all the way down to Whittier. Getting to Whittier is an interesting journey. This small town is considered ‘bush’ Alaska since historically you can only get to it by ferry or train. The train goes straight through the base of a mountain that is a couple miles deep! Nowadays you can drive on that train track at certain times of the day when the train is off making other runs. This town has one of the best defensive locations I’ve ever seen! It’s also one of the only ice-free ports around in the winter, so during WWII and the Cold War it was safe-guarded pretty intensively. It’s a peaceable town now with a limited tourism economy, but it boasts a unique history. I can personally say they make good fudge, and they probably have one of the best USCG Auxiliary buildings in the country ☺






We drove along the Turnagain Arm and could see the Kenai Peninsula across the water. Most spectacular were the glaciers! The sky was still slightly overcast which actually turned out to be a great thing: it made the glaciers a vibrant blue that is only barely described in pictures. There are campsites all along the passes . . . you can camp next to a glacier and listen to it creaking all night! It truly is a completely different (and awesome!) way of life up here.






-Megan