ice exploring

We left early the next morning.

It was a beautiful drive--or so I was told.

I was really struggling to stay awake in the car. I was so tired.  Joel kept asking me how I could sleep when we were traveling on Canada's most scenic highway. Somehow I managed to. Truthfully, I was a pretty lousy driving partner. Sorry Joel!

But, by the time we got there I was rested and ready to do some exploring. 

Ice exploring.

Our destination was the Columbia Icefield. We wanted to see a glacier up close. Thanks to this huge ice explorer (bus) we did just that.

This was the scariest part of the tour. 

You might not be able to tell from the picture but we were driving straight down. It felt like we were falling off a cliff--very slowly.

See all the people holding on to the backs of their seat? I wasn't so sure about my safety. Joel thought it was great.

And then we drove right on the glacial ice and up to the glacier.

It was pretty amazing.

And beautiful.

There were blue cones marking off the area that we weren't supposed to go past. 

The tour guide said it was dangerous. There were holes that you could fall into (they had a special name, but I can't remember). 

Apparently these people didn't hear the warning--or didn't care. And I am not sure what the crazy Hawaiian man was doing. He was even wearing a lei.

The run-off from the glacier was freezing and the water was SO blue.

Lots of people were collecting the glacial water in their water bottles.  Joel decided to test it out. I wouldn't taste it--I wasn't so sure. I told Joel he was going to get sick. 

When we got back on our bus and the tour guide informed us that drinking glacial water is supposed to be very good for you and keep you healthy. Once again I was too cautious and Joel was right. We'll see how that keeping you healthy part works out for him.

And after all that exploring I was exhausted. Good thing we had a long drive ahead so that I could take a nap. I had to rest up so that I had enough energy to eat my Cows ice cream that night!