Day 12: Glaciers, Glaciers Everywhere

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Though technically an at-sea day, today was really a tour of Glacier Bay National Park. They limit the number of cruise ships into Glacier Bay, so many skip this on Alaskan cruises. The fact that our ship was doing 2 days of glacier viewing was one of the main reasons dad picked it.

Sophie and Grandpa share an apple and a moment.

Anyway, it was a day to bundle up nice and warm since we'd be spending a lot of time on deck. The glaciers were really something neat. The largest and most famous is Margerie Glacier. We were out on one of the upper decks when we viewed it and got to see the glacier calve. It was hard to judge the size, but apparently ice chunks the size of a 25 story tall building split apart and fell into the sea. The sound was just tremendous - just like thunder. We saw several other glaciers, which were also quite impressive but not as great as the Margerie Glacier.

Images from Glacier Bay:

We were also on the lookout for wildlife, but all I saw was an otter. He was cute, playing in the water and flopping around. We often went out onto our balcony to watch the glaciers and the scenery and Sophie loved that plan. It didn't matter how cold it was, she wanted to be outside and got rather upset when it was time to go back in again. But she looked really, really cute all bundled up, with her hat and mittens.

Too cute for words...

Fun with mittens and gloves...

The Rosenberg girls need to stick together

How many layers can we get on her?

That afternoon, Sarah and I went to participate in the Ceramic Painting activity. We both painted covered boxes, but neither of us are particularly artistic when it comes to painting. Mine has stripes on it - I was really at a loss for what to paint. It came out pretty ugly, but it was still fun. It was a little weird when complete strangers would stand next to us and stare while we were working, but we had a good time, so that's what counts.

That evening was the second formal night. I had to iron my dress (blech) because I wasn't sure if the laundry/dry cleaning that I'd sent in the previous day (another perk!) would be back in time. I guess I could have sent the dress along after all since it did get back, oh well. I'm sure this will come as a surprise - David continued to order Fettuccine Alfredo. Sarah got the lobster tail and Rui made her eat a second one. I have no recollection of what I ate. One of these nights I had an appetizer with duck - not a meat I was overly fond of. Very salty...

Amy and David

All dressed up, looking good

I'm with Rui, our waiter

Sophie occupied herself when she was finished eating (melon and more melon, asparagus, and breadsticks - like every night) with her magnadoodle and Sesame Street podcasts on the iPhone. Long drawn out dinners with a little one calls for special ways to occupy her. I will say, however, that she did a great job at nearly all of our meals.

Walking off our big dinner

Sophie's new favorite game

After we dinner, the ship began to pick up speed to make it to College Fjord the next day. It was the faster we'd gone all week. I'm not sure if it was that or dinner or something else, but I was feeling decidedly out of sorts that evening. I didn't get sea sick on the last cruise I went on, but I something just wasn't right. Fortunately, it passed by morning.

Our Journey, Thus Far (Part 2)