Another lousy night’s sleep after choosing to sleep in a pull off next to the highway. Our first stop of the day is a cruise with Grayline to Portage Glacier. The weather is fantastic with great views of the glacier right down to the water. We handle and taste glacier ice. There are lots of glaciers to see on this lake.

Next we walk 1 mile to Byron Glacier. The ice has a beautiful blue green arc through it. The colour happens because glacier ice is compacted so much that there is very little air in it to catch the light and scatter it. Thus the sunlight is absorbed instead giving it a blue appearance.

Later in the afternoon we visit the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center in Girdwood. This is a sanctuary for injured or abandoned wildlife. We see wolf, elk, caribou, bison, muskox, moose and deer in open fenced enclosures. By far the best were the huge black and brown (grizzly) bears. We had lots of close up viewing of the massive brown bears as they walked within feet of us. Smaller animals included lynx, porcupine, fox, coyote, an owl and eagle. This was a drive-around facility or you could walk like we did.

We boondock nearby on the road to Whittier – hopefully it will be a quieter night.