Glacier Bay

We arrived at Glacier Bay National Park yesterday. I've wanted to come here for years and stay in the lodge. I'm so excited to finally be here. Our room has a nice view of snow-capped mountains and pine trees beyond the bay.

We haven't seen glaciers yet, but the woods, bay and mountains are beautiful. Today we walked through lush rainforest. Every inch of the forest floor had been subsumed by moss and lichen. It was littered with fallen trees decorated by happy fungi. The huge mosquitoes were happy too, but they did without our blood this time.

After taking two hours to walk (and photograph) the mile-long trail, we played cribbage and waited for low tide. Much of the beach near the lodge is mud, so we wandered to an estuary with a rocky entrance to the bay. All the small rocks turned out to be barnacle-encrusted mussels. The pools around the actual rocks hosted starfish, sea anemones and slimy-looking creatures we couldn't identify.

Tomorrow is glacier day. We're taking an eight-hour boat tour through Glacier Bay. There will be lots of ice, of course, and otters, moose and bears will probably make appearances, too.