Alaska part 3 - More wildlife, I promise

Day four of the cruise would take us into glacier bay. So after waking up and eating breakfast we decided to play chess. Actually the kids (Kelsie) wanted their pictures taken with the giant chess pieces, now was as good a time as any.
Looks like Alyssa was wearing the appropriate shirt.
Going into the bay, the wind was kicking up a little, kinda made for a nice crown for Kelsie.
Family picture in front of the glacier. Now if I can figure out print shop long enough to erase that person from the picture I could print it and hang it on the wall.
Alyssa got cold a few times as we rode up to the glacier. I also thought this was a really cool picture.
This was another really good picture. We had to take a few of these to prove to her friends that she was really on a cruise, or something like that.
I mentioned the wind was blowing right? Before the cruise everyone told us that we would need a jacket but since we were virgin cruisers we weren't sure how heavy a coat/jacket we would need. Lonna took a jacket but still needed a blanket to wrap up in. I opted to buy one on the boat if I absolutely had to. Sure, it was a little chilly as we pulled into the bay but as soon as we were next to the glacier the wind died down and it was great weather.
Alyssa was still cold enough that she preferred to dress up as a terrorist. A cold terrorist. I soon realised that all the people telling me that I would need a coat were girls. Girls are always cold, I'm a fat guy, not only are we safe from being blown off the front of the boat we also carry our own heating blanket.
Besides the bears, this was the extent of our wildlife experience. A seal on an iceberg. Oh, and a bee. I don't know where it came from but out of nowhere a bee buzzed around. So that makes one mama bear, two bear cubs, an eagle in captivity, a seal and a bee. Our neighbors went to glacier bay and their boat almost got tipped over by a whale and they bragged about all the moose and bears they saw... bet they didn't see a bee. They also didn't see a glacier give birth to an iceberg either. Nya nya we did.
This is just a small portion of the glacier. I took a bunch of pictures that some day when I figure out photo shop I will make it into a panorama.
Here's some of the "calving" taking place. It probably did this about 10 times when we were sitting there. Most of this section fell and caused a biggish wave come towards the boat. I wonder what they would have done if a great big colum came off causing an even bigger wave?
After the face of the glacier fell off it left this face in the side. See it? The right eye is open and the left is kinda closed and he looks like he is barfing snow? Also notice how blue it is.
Whale! Look it's a whale! No it's just Jim before the big polar plunge. we were hoping that they would somehow pull a bunch of glacier water into the pool but instead they just threw in a cup of ice then had about ten people jump in.

Jim was the first to do the belly flop.
When we got off the boat in Juneau, Dale ran into a fellow "Mansonite", as they are known in Washington, who happened to be the pilot that drove the boat into Juneau and into Glacier bay. The boat had a captain but when they pull into these ports they are required to have a pilot... yeah, I don't understand it either and it's not that important to the story so anyway since Dale knew the guy he was able to arrange a tour of the bridge. They used to do this all the time but since the terrorists are dorks they stopped doing it. After we were safely out of the bay he (crap, I forgot his name) Lou (I knew it would come to me) took us up to the bridge and showed us around
There all kinds of massive panels with lights and buttons just begging to be pushed.
Giant compass thingies
And knobs that look like they would steer the boat. Unfortunately a tour does not include a hands on demonstration.
It does offer a cool view though.
After the tour we rushed down to the dining room so we wouldn't lose our tables and what did we find? Grandpa showing off.
Many of you cruise veterans know of the animals that the staff make out of the towels. Some are really cool looking. Some just make you scratch your head. I know it's supposed to be a monkey but this one has always looked like a dead chicken to me. Now your all going to be mad at me because every time you are on a cruise and the guy spends all that time making a monkey, all your gonna see is a dead chicken.
Later that night we got together to have a surprise party for Scott and Ann's son Tanner who was turning 14.
He was really surprised to see the whole group of us plus all the other kids all in the kids area singing happy birthday to him.
Everyone was extra surprised to find out that the cake that Scott ordered was not chocolate like he wanted but some coffee/rum thing that was really gross. Coffee flavored cake for a 14 year old? I wasn't sure why all the kids had suddenly left, then I tasted the cake for myself. That's about the time we left too.