Today, I was supposed to go to Columbia glacier to kayak around the icebergs. It was a 10 hour tour, but there was also the chance of seeing whales, sea lions, and seals. After the Aurora tour when I felt so exhausted, I called the company I was kayaking with and asked if I could change to the shorter kayak tour that went to a nearby lake and kayaked around the icebergs in the lake.

It would have been nice to see Columbia glacier, but it was also nice to have a shorter day.  There were no whales in the lake.  Although the lake is 600+/- feet deep.  There were only 5 of us plus the guide.  That was a nice sized group.  We paddled around the lake.  Made a shore stop for lunch and then paddled some more. 

The clouds finally lifted.  It’s nothing but steep mountains everywhere.  It’s impossible to tell that this is a port town as every finger of land has mountains on it.  It looks like you are in a mountain-locked bowl.  The mountains rise straight up from sea level – nothing gradual here.  It really is so stunning.

Our tour guide raved about some of the food trucks in town, so I had some ginger chicken from the Thai food truck after we got back.  Later, I went for a walk around the neighborhood with Hannah and Colin and the dogs.  Saw a mamma and baby moose in their backyard. 

I am so in love with ice.  I’m completely drawn in by it.  I’ve seen glaciers and ice before, and it still feels like my first encounter with it.  I love the shades of blue, black, white, and clear.  It has so many textures.  Some ice is smooth, clear, and glistening, like ice cubes in your glass.  Some of the clear ice has beautiful patterns of cracks and bubbles trapped below the smooth surface.  Other ice is dimpled, opaque, and looks fuzzy like a stuffed animal from afar.  There are black streaks where the glacier wore down rocke into a fine black dust.  Some icebergs still have rocks in them, or the ice above the rocks melted, leaving a roof of black rocks.  These icebergs look like the shoreline, but they aren’t.  There are holes, caverns, ice bridges, and mini waterfalls.  We kayaked through open water and mini canyons of ice.