Land of the Giants

I haven't written an entry in a while, because I'm not quite sure what I wanted to write about. I'm still keeping myself busy, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to post, or how it should be written. I really need to post more pictures though, because last weekend I went on a helicopter ride onto Meade Glacier. It was so beautiful. I took loads of pictures, but I haven't uploaded them onto a computer, nor had the time to do that.

Anyhow, I got off work last Friday, because I was going to try and go whale watching with some girls from church. They got a deal, but I unfortunately tried to get in on it too late, so I missed that opportunity. Lucky for me, Matt also had off, so we called into his work and got on as standby for one of the flights. It was the last flight of the day, lucky us! And it was a perfect day outside. I could have worn shorts, except for the fact that I knew it would be super cold on the glacier. There was little to no wind, the sun was out, and the sky was clear. It couldn't have been a better day to take a helicopter ride.

It didn't take us long to get up to our destination, but I found out later, that's because we were going about 110 miles per hour! Wow. And when we got up there I learned how large the glacier was. We passed by some ice falls and I was informed that they were larger then the empire state building! I couldn't believe it just from looking at it, but I didn't have anything in view that would give me a scale of how large the glacier was, that is, not until the second helicopter flew underneath us. It was about a mile below us and very tiny compared to all the mountains around us. I wish that I could explain how beautiful it was on the glacier, but that just seems hard to describe. I felt lucky, because it was almost as if I got the thrill of reaching the summit, minus the struggle to get there. I learned a lot about geography too. Mr. Peck, you would be so proud, because I learned about the vegetation that lives on a glacier...can you believe there is actually algae that grows on the snow? It is toxic for humans, so I didn't try to eat it! And glacier water is very blue, almost the same color as the water in a swimming pool. That's because there isn't really any oxygen in the ice, so it is super blue.

Okay, now I know I just need to post some pictures of the glaciers. I will get those up here tomorrow...I just wanted you all to know that it is great to be here. It has been cold the last few days though. Matt was laughing at me yesterday, because I was wearing pants, a shirt, my jacket, a hat, wool socks, and my boots...all inside the house. I just couldn't seem to warm up (until we cuddled..hahaa!). So check back tomorrow and I promise you will find AMAZING pictures of the glaciers.