Spruce Glacier/Water Taxi

(If you already saw the pictures on facebook this will probably be a repeat for you!)

Papa, Mama, Gini, Ben and Cori left yesterday. They got her last Saturday and were able to spend a week here. The week flew by! I had to work a few days while they were here…but Matt was off so he entertained them while I worked.

We went snowboarding/skiing on Monday (Papa and Mama went and sat in the lodge and provided us with hot chocolate breaks!). Gini and Ben both learned to snowboard and did great! But both of them switch back to skiing by mid day. It is hard to learn something new if you only get to ski once a year. And Cori skied. On our drive to Alyeska it was snowing really hard and the wind was blowing and we were afraid the weather was going to be too bad to ski…but literally as soon as we got to Alyeska it stopped snowing and within an hour or two the sun started shinning and it turned out to be a perfect day for skiing/boarding!

On Tuesday we pretty much just lounged around the house and watched movies and recovered from the day before. We were all pretty sore!

On Wednesday Matt took Gini and Ben back to Alyeska to ski/board again while I worked. That night on my way home from work there were 5 moose hanging out in the forest about 2 blocks from our house…so I called Matt and he, Mama, Ben and Cori all loaded up and got to see the moose! It was too dark to take pictures though.

On Thursday we got up early and drove 2 ½ hours South to Seward. There we got on a water taxi that took us about 8 miles across Resurrection bay to Thumb Cove to stay at the Spruce Glacier cabin (the only way to get to the cabin is by water taxi). It was a 16x16 cabin with no electricity or running water. It was very secluded. And after our arrival there we realized that no one had stayed in the cabin since November because the bridge leading to the cabin and the doorway to the cabin were completely covered/blocked by snow! The snow was so high on the bridge that while walking across the bridge we were level with the 4 foot railings on the bridge. And Matt, Ben and Papa had to use an axe to clear a path to get to the door of the cabin. As soon as we arrived we began gathering wood to burn in the wood stove to keep the cabin warm! After getting the cabin settled we went down to the beach. The guy who gave us the water taxi ride to the cabin said that there were sea otters that liked to hang around in this cove, so we were hoping to see one. But, we didn’t. We were surrounded by mountains, glaciers and water on every side. Porcupine glacier, Spoon Glacier and Spruce Glacier were three that were out there. The glaciers are kind of hard to see this time of year because they are so covered with snow…so I guess we’ll have to go back in the summer sometime to see them again! The water taxi driver also told us that you often see Beluga whales in Resurrection Bay as well…but we didn’t see any this time. On the boat ride home we saw dolphins, but that is really the only wild life we got to see on that trip. All in all it was a great trip! The wood stove kept the cabin plenty warm…slightly too warm at times, and the weather was perfect! We got to see some of God’s most amazing creation. It is so cool to constantly be looking around and wondering if the scenery is actually real or not! Here are a few pics from the cabin/water taxi experience:














It was so good to get to see part of my family. Until Matt and I moved here the furthest I had ever lived from my family was four hours. And, even living four hours from them I had at least two siblings living in the same town with me at all times. Until they came to see Matt and I this week, that was the longest I had ever gone without seeing my family. So, it was really great to see them! And, I can’t wait to get to see them (and the rest of my family) again in April when little baby Ott arrives (well, hopefully he arrives in time for me to meet him!).