I am spinning an iceberg with my bare hands.

Our kayak nudges against it, and there is a gentle thud that echoes in the amphitheater surrounding our bay.  Ahead of us there is a deep rumble, and we see car-sized chunks of ice plop from the Shoup Glacier into the sea.  Perspective is a funny thing around big ice.  Judging by the delay in the sound, we realize we still have a long way to paddle, and the face of it seems to grow larger by the second.  We are four hours by kayak from Valdez, AK but miles from anything.  The thought of work is almost laughable.

I am wearing saturation glasses

Mountains are so vivid green and water so aqua blue, I could swear I was kayaking in Hawaii — if it wasn’t for the snow capped mountains and the polychromatic blue glacier off our bow.  It is like someone has given me a set of eyes that can see truer colors than I’ve ever known.

We camp a short distance from the glacier’s face.  We pull clear ice fragments from the bay and melt them for our drinking water. We watch river otter pups squabble over a small fish.  We play hide-and-seek with a pair of seals a few feet from shore.

These are not the things I do every day.

You know when people talk about going to their happy place? Mine was always swinging in a hammock on the beach.  But now my happy place has changed.

I never want to leave. 

Kayaking the Shoup Glacier

Overnight trips or kayak rental can be arranged through Pangaea Adventures www.alaskasummer.com.  It is 10 miles to the bay and another 4 miles to the glacier.  There is a narrow moraine channel with a strong current at one point , and this can only be paddled during high tide, so check with the shop and use a tide table.

While you’re in Valdez, visit the fishing bears at Alison Point a few miles from Valdez.  Just off the road, black bears and grizzly bears feed on spawning salmon.  Another common place to see them is the fish hatchery a few miles down the road near the terminus to the Trans-Alaska pipeline.