Anchorage Zoo

Day 10:
Ella had her first dental exam, and Jennifer even worked on my smile a bit!
Then it was off to the zoo!

Some favorite animals you don't get to see everyday. Like this endangered Snow Leopard,

Polar Bear
and Musk Ox.

Kathy, Jennifer and Grandma.

Cousins and friends.

Ella and Marie, attached at the hip - truly!

Brown Bear: Black Bear:

Anne Bear:

Glacier Cruise

Day 9: Getting up close and personal with the glaciers.

We took a cruise out of Whittier. These pictures don't do the glacier's justice. They are stunning! Something that must be seen.

There really was a sense of awe and reverence as we quietly floated by these ancient cathedrals of rock ice.

Or maybe the reverence we felt was because we were trying to keep the little ones asleep:)

Who's driving this boat anyway?

Look how clear a piece of glacier ice, fished out of the water, is:

The National Forest Ranger on board said that many of the Alaskan Glaciers are actually increasing in size. Sorry Al Gore.

A hanging glacier:

We rested the boat here for some time and listened to the cracking (calving) of the glacier. It was pretty incredible.

Black Rock glacier:

Only 15% of the floating ice (iceberg) is actually visible above water.
And where there are glaciers, there are thousands of waterfalls:
Ice fields that feed the glaciers:

Some of the wildlife that shared the day with us:

Other pictures from the day:

It takes 10 feet of snow to make 1 foot of Glacier rock.

There is only one, one lane tunnel that lets you in and out of Whittier - shared by traffic both ways and the train.

Some of the beautiful sites we passed on our drive to and from Whittier:

Thanks for taking us Edward and Jennifer,

We enjoyed it tremendously!