We enjoyed a slow start to our quiet morning on this last day of June. Hard to believe we’re just one week away from this adventure coming to a close! In some ways the past two weeks seem to have flown by and at the same time....it seems as though we’ve been hauling this little house all over the Yukon and Alaska forever.
The campground we’re in at Valdez has wonderfully warm showers that are right beside our site and it was sooo nice to be able to just wander over there in p.j.’s this morning to enjoy a wonderfully leisurely shower in a massive room. Until the opportunity to have a shower every day is gone I forget just how nice it is to be able to have one whenever you’d like. And when it’s a nice hot shower it’s even that much more of a treat.
Today was to be a day to explore the town of Valdez, get our laundry done, and decide whether we’d be doing any tours out of this scenic port. In the end we decided on the Lulu Belle with Captain Fred who’s been doing this daily tour for a full 40 years. Descriptions of him are that “he’s a genuine character!” So we could be in for a day filled with fun as well as wonderful sights. We met his wife Megan when we purchased our tickets at their office that looked like it had come right off the pages of a picture book. Megan must be a gardener as their deck was covered in flower boxes that overflowed with brilliantly coloured blossoms in a range of shapes and size. On the counter in their office there is a calendar for the month that Fred fills in with little drawings and references so guests (and Megan) have a reference as to what’s been happening out there on the water. This month (June) Fred has seen three calving events at the Columbia Glacier that are the largest he’s seen in the whole 40 years that he’s been doing this! Well....he sees calving pretty much every day but 3 of those days this month have blown him away with their size. As well there are multiple whale and goat and sea lion sightings every day too. The weather for tomorrow (which is when we’re booked to set sail for our 8 hour tour) is forecast to be cloudy with sunny breaks. According to all of the locals we’ve spoken with that is the very best weather for animal sightings. Fingers are crossed that they’re right! The Columbia Glacier is massive and receding so we’re hopeful that we’ll get to witness a calving event too. One reason we decided on the LuluBelle is because she goes closer to the glacier than any other boat (she is able to do that because she is smaller than the other charter boat-the LuluBelle can take between 40-60 on board at most). Tomorrow we will see just how close Captain Fred takes her! Once we get into the icebergs near the glacier temperatures will be in the low 30’s (Fahrenheit) or just about 0 (Celsius) so it’s gonna be chilly. We wondered what we’d be doing to celebrate Canada Day this year....now we know....we’ll both be catching our first glimpse of a calving glacier up close and personal. I’m pretty sure 2018’s Canada Day will be one we’ll remember. :-)
We were able to access wifi for a bit at the Visitor Info Centre this afternoon after we got our laundry done. (Tonight will be soooo nice to get into clean p.j.’s after having had a shower today too! LOL...funny how those little things seem so special after not having them for just a few days). Getting caught up on email and checking in on Facebook for a few minutes was a treat too. We’ve really been “unplugged” for most of the past two weeks and just as we’re beginning to get the hang of being disconnected....we’ll be back into our lives and just as quickly the expectation for connectivity will increase accordingly. We humans are strange creatures!
It’s drizzling with rain again tonight but the weather man says that rain is supposed to turn to cloud with sunny patches at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Our boat sets sail at 10:30 in the morning so I sure hope that weatherman knows what he’s talking about! Cloud with sunny patches sounds perfect to me. :-)
Till tomorrow...when we’ll have lots to report on I’m sure.
L & L
P.S.
There is no way that I cannot include this in the blog tonight! Lynda has totally lost it! It’s official....she is 100% nutters! She is talking to Flor (our travelling flower) and she is pretending she is a ventriloquist and she actually thinks she’s making the flower talk. I’d heard about people getting “bushed” in remote locations but I never thought I’d get to see it for myself. Honestly...I might be losing it too as I’m laughing so much I can hardly type this! She now has all of the neighbouring campers lining up (in her imaginary world) to see her “performance”. She’s just announced “that she is taking Flor on the road” as soon as we get back from this trip. OMG! Now Flor is calling me from her pack sack saying “Lorrie, get me out of this bag...she put me into this bag....I don’t like it in here.” Honestly I can hardly catch my breath and I’m not sure how my fingers are still typing this! I am laughing so hard and she won’t stop long enough for me to pull myself together.
Oh jeez....she’s off the Flor performance and now she is figuring out how to make herself a pair of hip waders out of black garbage bags in case it is still raining on the boat tomorrow. Honestly...I think she is planning to be some kind of Captain Ahab tomorrow...I sure hope there are no hungry whales out there!
Okay...I think she’s stopped now...I can breathe again. Whew....that was a great core workout!
Gotta try to go to bed now after all that excitement....morning will come before we know it.
L & L
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