More from Alaska

I'm typing this at 2:03 am Central time which is 11:04 here in the Pacific Ocean. It is still light outside although the sun set about 9:30. It comes up about 4:10 in the morning. We are at sea, going nowhere, bcause it isn't very far from Glacier Bay where we cruised today, to Sitka, where we are to spend the day tomorrow.

Can anyone tell me why we are parked ('scuse me, anchored) in the middle of a rolling sea instead of in a nice calm bay??????

I'm about to be rocked to sleep, but I (among others) am also feeling a bit queasy. I had a motion sickness patch on till last night. It was used up and so I didn't bother to put on another one cause I felt so good and a side affect of the patch is that it dries you out. We can't see (no tears), our skin is dry, we are having bloody nose problems and my lips are chapped, swollen and blistered... I look like those little grade school kids whose face is always chapped from licking their chapped lips--the circly of life ya know! I know you are so happy I shared that!

We visited Juneau yesterday, waved Hi to Ms. Palin's house, saw a few authentic totem poles, walked by the state capital and saw a million tshirt/tourist shops. I can't figure out the gem/cruise ship connection. It's weird! We went to a shopping seminar on the ship the first day and this girl told us all about which stores sell the best diamonds/tanzanite/pearls, etc.? I'm really wanting to know about authentic Eskimo/native products, not jewely that I could buy in my home town or through the JCPenney catalog. Or even where to get the best tacky/kitschy/fun souvenier, like a fur g-string (which they sell by the way! And I didn't buy it because I didn't know if it was authentic....)

Today was wonderful--we went cruising up a bay known as Glacier Bay which has a very interesting icy history. There is a record in the last 2oo years of how the glaciers here have grown and receded and what changes they make on the ecosystem. The day was gorgeous--sunny, no wind, water smooth as glass. The landscape was pristine. It's part of a national park and has limited outside access.

We saw sea lions, otters, birds, whale tails, birds, kelp, birds, mountain goats, puffins, bears, big glaciers, little glaciers, black, white and blue glaciers. One of the glaciers was right at the Canadian Border and is black from rock flour. Not dirt or pollution as I expected--It was put there by God!

I just kept thinking all day of the song:

"From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea,
Creation's revealing your majesty...
You are amazing God."

I'll never understand how people can look at the wonder's of creation--God's creation--and think that it was an accident of nature.

The color, the texture, the amazing differences and sameness and creativity and uniqueness and....words fail me to describe God's creation. At the mouth of the bay, the waters were green. As we headed north and began to get closer to the ice, the water turned blue and milky. We saw a glacier calve! I saw chunks of wood imbedded in the ice floating in the bay and wondered how long it had been there! Algea in the water caused the ice to be blue in the Margerie Glacier. When the ice fell, gulls swarmed at it to feed. Sea lions rested on ice away from the shore to have their babies safely from land predators. I was kind of hoping for a Mutual of Omaha moment where a polar bear, thin from winter and desparate to feed her babies, swam to the ice and dragged a seal off for lunch but no such luck!

Sorry there are no pictures to this post. The satellite internet service is too slow to allow me to upload pictures to Blogger for some reason but I did add to my Picasa album, so check it out again. Don't ask me why I can upload to Picasa, but not Blogger.....

Everyone is having a wonderful time. It is so fun to go with a big group--there's no pressure to be with anyone all of the time. You can wander off on your own and no one cares, or if you want company, you can find a friend. Or if you want to sit on the deck with a blanket and a book, (that's me!) you can sit by a friend who is admiring the view and searching for whale spouts and be together in congenial silence.

We are a diverse group, brought together by the Lord to view his Majesty and Wonder and I'm so thankful we are here.

Really, I think we can fill up a a ship with friendly people another time. Lets do it again!

Tomorrow is Sitka, Wednesday is Ketchikan, Thursday is cruising and Victoria, Canada and Friday will be Seattle and a plane trip home.

Alaskan Cruise