Hi Chubby fans,

Bill called yesterday after registering in the Glacier Bay park headquarters (or something similar to that), and said he was leaving for Glacier Bay, that it was a bright blue, sunny day, which is unusual for the area, and that he'd be turning around to go back towards home in two or three days. I'll keep you posted, since he won't be able to write himself for a while.

Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003

Bill called me this morning in an exalted mood from the Glacier Bay Park headquarters, where he was registering out, and told me the following (I wrote as he was speaking, so it's a more or less word-for-word account, including answers to my questions):

"First of all I had four clear, sunny, blue-sky days in a row, cloudless, very unusual for this area. On two of the nights there were aurora borealis displays, last night particularly spectacular, with the sheets of dancing lights stretching from horizon to horizon, like curtains of light. These were the only two this summer, so I was very lucky.

Dozens and dozens of whales, porpoises and sea otters, and magnificent glaciers - giant rivers of ice that come twisting down the mountain side, meandering rivers of ice two or three miles wide that come down the water edge and break off huge chunks of ice with a loud cracking sound, like cannon shots. Saw a big sea lion colony that inhabits the pack ice that floats on the water at the edge of the glaciers. Alpine mountain peaks draped in massive ice fields around the bay which is about 60 miles long, basically a huge fiord.

Now I'm catching the ebb tide out to sea through icy straits and then I'll be turning south and sailing home. An absolutely exquisite experience, perfect weather. Will be in Sitka in 2-3 days or more, then will be leap-frogging down the coast. I've gone1300 miles so far, and it will be about the same down to Berkeley."

I'm sure he'll give a lot more details when he's back home.

Shalom,
Nomi