Day Two

First thing, we went down to breakfast, which we thought was included with our stay. Breakfast was in the restaurant where menus with prices were handed to us. Neither the waitress nor the girl at the desk know anything about an included breakfast. After ordering our food, Grandma Bev goes up to her room to get the information about the room and shows it to the girl at the front desk. Eventually, the manager reminds everyone that with the "Great rate" program, one breakfast per room is included per nightly stay, so Grandma Bev's breakfast is free and mine is not. We decide to share a breakfast from now on.

So, on to the interesting stuff: We walked down to the tram station where we purchased tickets to go on the tram. The tram is a transport car that has one station at the bottom of Mt. Roberts, one station at the top of the mountain, and a couple of lines stretching from the bottom to the top which the car hangs off of, like a ski lift.

We got a little stamp on our wrists that would let us come back to the tram any time that day until it closed. The first one was crowded so we waited for the next one. Going up the tram was so cool. Grandma Bev was a little scared to get on it, but we did it. The view was so cool, the ride was smooth, and I don't think she was scared anymore once we got going.

The top tram station poked out into the air to give a wonderful view of the city and surrounding mountains. The sky is so blue and the mountains all green except snowy spots streaked here and there at the top. Words can't really describe it, so I'll try to figure out how to put pictures on this thing.

We walked out behind the station where there was a couple of gift shops and other buildings.
We got to see a bald eagle in captivity and there was a lady there telling all about him. His name is Justice and he is blind in his right eye so he can never fly again and it's not safe to release him into the wild. Actually, it's illegal to. Any bald eagle found that is injured must be taken in to be rehabilitated, or if the injury prohibits total rehabilitation, the eagle must be kept in captivity for the remainder of its life or euthenized. I guess the US government takes its national bird seriously.

Male eagles are smaller than females and an eagle gets its white head at four to five years of age. Eagles seem to mate for life, though it is unsure whether they are returning to the mate time after time, or if the successful nesting site is the bigger draw. Eagles are born two at a time, and usually the firstborn will be the stronger and will either push the weaker sibling out of the nest or eat all of its food so that it starves. Its called fraternicide.

So enough with the nature lesson. We walked up the trail together a little ways and took pictures at the observation decks. I continued on up the trail and Grandma decided to go back down the way we came. At the highest elevated point in the trail, snow thickly covered the path, so someone had carved stairs into the snow so that a person could walk up and down it like a stairway, but it was the slickest stairway I'd ever walked on. I had to dig my fingers into the snow on the right of me as a made my way or I would have tumbled down the steep mountainside to the left of me. It's probably good Grandma didn't come with me; I don't think she would have made it.

On the other side of the snowy spot is a gorgeous view of the mountains close and far off with the sea water running between the mountains like a river (but it's not a river). The far off snow capped peaks were a little hazy. The water was blue and sparkly. Not a living soul was in sight. I was there alone with the mountains and the great big sky. I let out a primitive call, "Waaaaahoooooo!" and a dog or something hollered back at me in much the same tone. Feeling braver and that I could be louder, I let out another one, "WAAAAAAHOOOO!" and a few birds cawed back at me. I sat there on a step on the path listening to the wind rustling through the trees and no other sound. If it wasn't for the meticulously carved pathway and the wood inserted for stairsteps, I'd swear I was the only person who'd ever been to that spot. Back down the mountain I strode, pausing to listen to a running stream (unfortunately decorated with two cigerette butts on the bank), and came to find Grandma Bev.

Back at the buildings, we watched a video about the Mendenhall Glacier. Lots of good scenery in that video, but I about fell asleep.

In another building, we watched a documentary about the Alaskan Natives, who seem to be just like our Native Americans on the mainland except they didn't have the Trail of Tears and no one has menioned that they've been mass mudered like ours were. There isn't an Alaskan Battle at Wounded Knee as far as I can tell. Thank God. Before the film, a Native talked to us and taught us some of thier language. That was cool.

There are two tribes of the Glitcan-- something: the Eagle clan and the Raven clan. Ravens marry Eagles and vice versa, so the two clans are seperate, but interconnected. A child takes the clan of his or her mother.

Back at the tram hanger, as Grandma Bev and I were waiting for our ride down when I spotted a bald eagle flying below. I showed her, then a couple minutes later, someone saw another (or the same one) on the other side of the hanger (I'm just calling it a hanger because it hangs in the air). It was so cool! We had eagles soaring below us.

We had lunch at the world famous Red Dog Saloon. There were stuffed real animals all over the walls--bears and goats and moose. The bears were poised in funny positions, like one was climbing up a pole after a man, shown by a stuffed pair of jeans and tennis shoes hanging from the ceiling. The longer you looked around that place, the more you saw.

The food was good, too. Grandma adds, "They had super good barbeque". I ordered potato skins and we shared plates.

The entertainment was the best. There was a piano player dressed like he's from 1890 and he was quite a character. He made fun of people just walking in, paused in the middle of familiar songs so the audience would fill in the words (They were old songs; I didn't know the words, but Grandma Bev did). The only negative thing was that he cussed a whole lot, but the audience always laughed when he did, so I guess he was playing up his gruff character. Anyway, we did the audience participation thing and had lots of fun.

Next, to the glacier! Oh, it was breathtaking at first sight. The ice was blue and solid, but the sky was clear and the air warm, so everyone was comfortable. The Mendenhall Glacier rests between two mountains and spills down into Mendenhall Lake. After seeing some with Grandma, I took off down a trail, not knowing where it goes. After a while I figured out it went to the waterfall, so I followed the path, which was sandy and ran along the beach, all the way to the end. I was all alone, just me and this magnificent waterfall. A rock stood about 2 feet out from the shore, so I stepped over to it so that I was about four feet from the cascading river. I stood there straight and tall with my arms outstretched and my eyes closed, listening to the roar and feeling the mist on my arms and face. I felt like I could fall and fly at the same time. I felt like I was having enough fun for the 10 people in my family who really wanted to come on this trip and couldn't. I was feeling the experience for them-- not that it helps you guys, but I can tell you about it!

On the way back up to the buildings, I met two nice guys (I think they were gay). One of them spoke French almost as well as I did, so we had conversation in French. It was great and I needed the practice.

Grandma had been to the museum. It was like an airport observation tower--glass all around. They had telescopes so you could see the mountain well. One lady thought she saw a bear, but the worker there said it was a goat. She saw the video on the glacier and it was better than the one we saw at Mt. Roberts.

I saw Michael, finally. He looks great--like a tan sailer. We had a beer and played a game of pool and ate dinner at DocWater's (at the Wharf).