Our first stop was to buy tickets for the glacier tour and the tram! We hurried to catch the bus to head to the Mendenhall Glacier and had a great bus driver who gave us lots of facts and figures about the glacier!
The Mendenhall covers an area of 1500 sq miles and is just one of 38 glaciers that flow from the Juneau Icefield! The glacier appears to be sitting perfectly still but all glaciers are constantly moving, flowing downhill out of the mountains like rivers. This constant movement gives the glaciers the power to shape the landscape as they go!
Glaciers put off a mystical blue color caused by a unique crystalline structure that absorbs and reflects light! The most intense blue occurs in crevasses and when the ice breaks off (which is called calving), the blue color fades as the ice is exposed to air and the crystalline structure breaks down!
Glaciers put off a mystical blue color caused by a unique crystalline structure that absorbs and reflects light! The most intense blue occurs in crevasses and when the ice breaks off (which is called calving), the blue color fades as the ice is exposed to air and the crystalline structure breaks down! 
We reached the glacier and walked pretty close to it but the views from a distance were actually better! They have a great visitors center where we watched a movie on the glacier and walked around learning all kinds of things about the Mendenhall! The temperature was 42 degrees!I purchased my first item there – a neat bookmark that has pictures of the wildlife in Alaska!
And next it was off to the tram…………………………
P.S. Once a bargain shopper, always a bargain shopper!! 1/2 price internet for an hour - whoo hoo!
3 comments:
Fantastic pictures! Wow that must be amazing to see! And you sound like you really know your stuff :)
This is so much fun being on vacation with you!
Loving all your blogs - just read 3 or 4 of them!!! Pictures are wonderful and sounds like you are seeing a lot - great!!!! Have fun with your waiters - they ARE neat aren't they?
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