June 21 - to Portage Glacier then on to Palmer

What an incredibly quiet night.  It was so nice and peaceful (and inexpensive to camp), it was worth giving up wifi.  I was so tempted to stretch it for a 2nd night.  They had some bicycle riding areas, but we didn't have time to indulge in them.  The mosquitoes were definitely a factor in moving on.  We loved seeing the valley type glacier yesterday, but we wanted to see the Portage Glacier.  It isn't visible from the road.  There was a hike to see part of it from Whittier, but the tunnel to get there is $20 for the mh and you have to be on the right schedule to avoid a long wait.  The tunnel is only one lane and is shared with the train.  So everyone takes turns.

We decided to take the hour boat tour instead.  We had a beautiful morning for it.  The crew said it rains more days than not, and so although a bit nippy, it was a wonderful day for a ride.

Like all good cruise ships, we had to have our safety briefing.  There were only 3 of us on the top deck for this demo.

Waving good by to our mh as we leave the dock.

The waterfalls were stupendous.

Portage Glacier. 

Closer look at the glacier where it meets the water.

We saw quite a few bits of ice calve off.

Just so we don't forget the name of the boat...

It was so pretty, you just don't know where to take the next picture.

Some of these icebergs aren't so little.  I tried to take pictures of the lower parts, but the water is to opaque.

The crew scooped up some of the ice for us to touch.

They put some in this aquarium so we could see how little shows on top of the water versus how much underwater.  Much different than the rubber ducky.

They had an area below for bored kids.  The jackets were to borrow in case people got cold.

I don't think I would enjoy it as much if it was a fully loaded boat.  We probably didn't have more than 20 people.  Initially there were very few on top with us, but by the end it seemed everyone was up there.  So nice, people moved around to get different views and were considerate of others trying to get pictures.

The tide was way out on the way back.  Most all that beach is underwater at high tide.

Camping in Palmer.

Guess we'll be going uphill tomorrow to get out of this valley.