Yet Another Glacier Adventure

This time with helicopters.  Alllllll season long, since May, Eric and I have been trying to “comp” (get on for free) a helicopter tour with one of the two helicopter companies we charter.  But between finding free time and finding that free time on a sunny day, it was difficult to get on.  Finally, last Wednesday, our good luck showed through.

Right after work, we rushed over to Temsco Helicopters.  There, they prepped us for the ride by giving us these lovely boots to wear over our shoes.

We were then given our seat arrangements.  Since we were “comping,” we were put into the seats that hadn’t been sold to cruise ship passenger.  They  were unfortunately on different helicopters, but we couldn’t complain; we were finally getting on a helicopter tour…and for free!

I hopped onto a plane with five other people, all of whom might have had one too many tapioca puddings during their cruise buffet lunch.  Being the smallest person, they stuck me in the middle of the back seat between the very, very nice but larger-than-me cruise passengers.  It was good that they were nice because we had to become very friendly with each other.  No wiggle room at all. 

This was my first time riding in a helicopter.  It was actually smoother than a plane when taking off.  Aside from the lack of space, it wasn’t bad at all.

Juneau International Aiport 

Mendenhall Valley

Mendenhall Glacier

After a short ride over the mountains, we landed at the top of the Mendenhall Glacier, a couple of miles away from the Juneau Ice Field where a hundred or so glaciers (forty large ones) sprout out.

Note from a Tour Guide:  The Juneau Ice Field is included in the whole City and Borough of Juneau as well as Douglas Island (where Eric and I live) and the main town of Juneau that runs along the shore line.  All of this rounds up to about 3,200 square miles, which makes Juneau the largest capital in the United States, second largest in the world (the first is Oslo, Norway).  Of course, this is land-wise.  People-wise, there are only about 33,000 people in Juneau.

After all of us got out of the helicopters, we were taken on a guided tour around the glacier.  There were a few small streams that trickled through the closed-up crevices of the glacier.  Eric and I seized the opportunity and had a sip of the glacier-chilled water. 

How often do you get to say you drank water from a glacier? 

Some of these small streams had deposits of silt in the bottom of them.  The guide explained that silt is used in a lot of skin products, so if we wanted to, we could find exposed silt and give ourselves a glacial facial.  This was meant to be a joke, but my husband took it as otherwise.

 

Well, how often do you get to say you gave yourself a facial with glacial silt?

And of course he didn’t think ahead about getting the natural facial off.  We had nothing to clean it up with but the glacier-chilled water streams.  Closed ‘em pores right back up. 

Oh, the memories. Very, very cold memories.

After about an hour there, we flew back to town.

My ring was extra sparkly at 7000 feet up.
(Yes, I'm showing it off.)

And now for something completely different…

A black bear cub!

Ever wondered how a bear looks when it runs?  Well, here you go.

 

While waiting in the bus lot near the base of Mendenhall Glacier for my passenger to finish there, I was talking to a coworker.  As we were talking, I heard branches snapping and saw the bushes by the entrance moving.  I hushed my coworker then quickly pulled out my phone.