We boarded on Glacier Discovery train at around 9AM. Glacier Discovery train takes same route as Coastal classic for first 1hour or so and then forks out at Girdwood to go to Whittier giving glimpses of glaciers to its passengers. Technically, we were seeing the same Turnagain arm coast in Chugach National Forest but it felt different. We were as excited to see Dall Sheep and Eagles again as we were on first day. Another magical power of nature? To keep sensitive souls like me intrigued all the time? Whatever, it was - my heart was deeply enjoying pristine beauty. It was still drizzling. :). I am not sure whether we got used to Alaska rain or stopped caring, we actually started enjoying it.Glacier Discovery train stays true to its name by showing all the glaciers along the way. Portage glacier and Spencer glacier were noteworthy. Did I tell you about why glaciers look blue in color in sunshine?
It is because glacial ice absorbs all the wavelengths except short wavelength of blue. About Spencer glacier - It was amazing to see huge mass of glacial ice emptying itself into lake - thanks to earth's gravitational pull. No, seriously - glaciers starts separating from main Icefield because earth's gravity pulls ice towards it. Our chirpy train guide told us that this glacier was named as Spencer because one Alaska rail employee named Spencer got lost in that area while carrying 3grands belonging to train corp. His friends had thought that he had ran off with all the money and settled down in Atlantic City but his dead body was found years later. There was no trace of money, though.Through route of thundering waterfalls and mystical valleys, We reached Whittier at 12:15PM. No time to eat lunch. As impressed I was with Alaskan wild-life and natural beauty, I was having hard-time on food front. For occasional sea-food eater like me, not having veggie option was hurting badly. We went to a restaurant to eat something quickly only to find out that there was no veggie option on the menu. As if inspired by sky, my eyes started shedding light tears. I stopped crying only when hubby promised me that he will search for nice restaurant for dinner in Anchorage.
We hopped onto Major Marine Glacier tour cruise to witness Prince William Sound.
It did not disappoint us. This area is so beautiful that words are failing me to describe it. Beautiful mountains bustling with lots of birds - with clouds just enough to create perfect harmony, calm water with cute sea-otter playing on it, puffins occasionally diving into it and sea-lions hauling - no human life but yet, full of life!! Towering waterfalls and massive glaciers shuddering straight into the sound and lots of sea-birds nesting on the cliffs. There are some moments we wish to hold forever - we never want to let go of these moments. One such moment was to see glacier calve. To witness huge part of glacier fall into the water causing thundering sound and making even calm water to shudder is quite something. Remember all the visual treat we saw in James Cameroon's "Avatar"? Hanging mountains of Pandora and stuff like that? Well, Prince William Sound is even more breathtaking than that. James Cameron did waste lot of money on "Avatar".
Totally satisfied and awed, we came back to Whittier harbor at around 5:15PM. We saw no Orcas, but hey, who is complaining? This place is going to stay in my heart for long, long time. About Whittier town - during winter, less than thousand people live here. and everybody lives in only one self-contained building, so that they don't have to go out. Pretty scary!!
Same Glacier Discovery train took us to Anchorage and hubby, as promised fed me nice dinner. It was already 11PM. Time to sleep? I don't think so. Because I had to fight with my hubby. Won't bore you with fight details but it got over within 1hour because you know, my hubby is very sweet (and all that...) and I am head-over-toes in love with him (and all that...) :)
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