One Road in, One Road Out!

Today we rode over to Seward to take a day cruise on the coastline of Kenai Fjords National Park. It started out great--the weather, of course, was awesome. We wore t-shirts on the ride in, but once we were on the boat, the wind, of course picked up, and it got downright cold, especially as we pulled in next to the Aialik Glacier! Along the way we saw whales, porpoises, sea lions, sea otters, and puffins. The most surreal experience was watching huge hunks of ice come crashing down into the water. It made a tremendous noise and it blasted into the water. Just like the mountains, it's difficult to get a good idea of just how large the glaciers are as they tower above the water like giant ice mountains. It took on a little perspective as we pulled away, leaving other boats to compare to the glacier's size. It was unbelievable.

What was more unbelievable, though is what happened on the long journey back to the lodge. It should take about an hour and a half. Today, however, would be different. We headed back as normal, talking about all the things we'd seen. Almost back, we made an abrupt stop on the highway about three miles from the lodge. The driver said, "People are stopped up here, maybe they've seen a moose or a bear." Minutes later, the bus driver reported flashing lights and thought it may be an accident. We had traveled almost an hour and a half but would have to wait for whatever was happening ahead. After sitting in the bus for another hour and a half, a law enforcement officer informed our bus driver that there had been two accidents, one on the bridge--the road would not be opened until probably around 3 a.m. if at all!

After many phone calls back to the lodge, it was decided that we would go back to Seward to eat dinner--back to Seward meant almost an hour and a half drive back, who knows how long for the meal, then an hour and a half back to the lodge. It had already been a long day. When we got up to the accident site about 3:00 a.m., they had just opened the highway. We slowly rolled through and made our way back to the lodge--at a little after 3...needless to say, we were exhausted. What a way to spend the first few hours of my birthday! This morning we are back at them, leaving for the cruise ship around 11 a.m.