This past weekend, we went to Portage Glacier for lunch on Saturday, the a quick trip to Whittier, AK, and on Sunday to a part of Kincaid Park.
Lunch was enjoyed at PORTAGE GLACIER CAFE. Bonnie had a cheeseburger & fries; Tom had Reindeer Chili, and I had a blueberry muffin (and some of Bonnie's fries & burger). As we were eating, we decided to go ahead and pay the toll to drive through the tunnel to Whittier since we've never been there before.
The above picture is the Portage Glacier off in the distance.
The above picture is kind of gloomy, but I was trying to get a picture of the pieces of the Portage Glacier that are floating in the lake. These chunks of ice are white with a shining Aqua color on the inside. It's really fascinating to see this color aqua almost glowing from the inside of the glacier.
The tunnel goes through a mountain (I think it's 3 miles long), and is just 1 lane wide. Traffic travels one way to and from Whittier on a set schedule with breaks inbetween to clear out the exhaust. This same 1 lane is also shared by the train, so we were riding along the railroad tracks in the tunnel. Something from childhood about not walking on the train tracks kept echoing in my mind as we were driving on them. LOL The tunnel has about 7 areas along the way with Emergency Exits and Safe Houses in case of an emergency. The brochure states to leave your car with the keys in it and go to the nearest Safe House if the lights turn red in the tunnel. There are also rules about how fast you can go and the spacing between vehicles in the tunnel.
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| Googled picture of inside of tunnel. |
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This looks like a house, but it's actually the entrance to the tunnel. See how the vehicle traffic lane and train tracks are all the same lane?
Once in Whittier, we drove around to the campsites and Eagle Nesting Areas with the waterfalls. Tom got out a few times and walked around. Bonnie & I just rolled our windows down and listened to the waterfalls.
On Sunday we drove around looking at houses for sale and rent just for fun. Man! Houses here are EXPENSIVE! Then we rode to a part of Kincaid Park and walked along the water and down the trail lining the airport for a while. Didn't see any moose... which is probably a good thing. Didn't see any bears either on our walk... which is most definitely a good thing.
I'm still waiting on the snow to blanket us. What is taking so long? The average first snowfall is mid October. It's almost the end of October. I'm ready for the snow already!
Until our next post.... Smiles :) Janis
