On Friday morning the team headed out for a day trip to Prince William Sound. We were booked for an excursion in Glacier Bay, and oh what a gorgeous day the Father provided. The drive down Hwy 1 to Whittier was amazing. With the weather so nice and clear, many of the mountains were in beautiful view. Seeing these kinds of mountains (unlike the ones back home) gives new meaning to one of my favorite passages, Psalm 121:1-2: “I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
Whittier, Alaska is where we boarded the catamaran for our tour. Whittier is a neat little town and there is only one way in and out…through a one way tunnel! The direction changes every half hour, and if you miss the last chance at 11:30pm, well, Whittier is your home for the night! We were on time!
As we cruised out of Whittier, and made the turn southward, the view was beautiful! The guide told us that with the weather as nice and clear we would see parts of glaciers that you don’t normally see because of the cloud coverage. We got clear views of most all the glaciers on the tour.
About half way through the cruise we were served an all you can eat salmon and prime rib lunch, with the trimmings! Wow, nothing like fresh baked salmon and juicy prime rib. It just doesn’t taste this good back home!
The highlight of the trip was seeing SurpriseGlacier. There is an incredible story behind the discovery of this glacier (if you get a chance, look it up). Our boat got within maybe 50 – 100 yards of the actual glacier. Then the captain pulled us parallel to the massive glacier….and cut the engines off! I cannot describe the sound, but it was amazing. Every so often you would hear the crash of parts of the glacier falling and hitting
the water.
On the way back to Whittier, we saw several bald eagles, sea otters, and even cruised into a salmon hatchery. Wow, hundreds of them swimming and jumping out of the water. It was a beautiful sight.
All in all it was a great way to relax after a hard week of ministry. It was now time to “turn our faces” toward home, and depart for Alabama and Georgia!