Last night was a windy deluge of rain - I had to wake and check to be sure we were still next to the pond and not in it! But never saw Mama moose, guess she doesn't like the rain either. It kind of screwed our plans, so we had an hour of indecision on how to proceed - the bike trip was out of the question, especially after I stepped out and discovered it was rainy and COLD! Probably low 50's which was quite a difference from yesterday's 70's. We decided we didn't want to move anywhere so we made a nice breakfast (creamy avocado egg salad sandwiches), made a few phone calls, took Sara for a great walk (lots of free land around here for her to run), talked to a couple brave souls who were kayaking in our pond, and then rolled up the RV for a ride down the Portage Valley. We could see the beautiful bike path and were very sorry to be missing that. But the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center was worth the trip (named for an Alaskan senator and the visiting Speaker of the House who both disappeared and presumed dead while touring the area via private airplane) - they had a great movie about the 3 glaciers and the earthquake that hit this area in 1964 (a 9.2 rating that originated in this area, causing tsunamis, landslides, and building collapse!) - the strongest earthquake in North America and second strongest in the world! Tsunamis are my new, worst nightmare! But this visitor center was huge - a statue of Mama Mouse and baby (explaining a moose has 4 stomachs so they can digest all the branches they eat and they are so tall that they can actually stick their heads into 6 feet deep water to eat off the bottom of a lake), and giant reconstructions of Alaskan flies and mosquitoes, and stories of the first women to arrive at the gold rush in the 1800's, etc. Kept us busy til 4 pm when we headed out to the Byron Glacier trail. This was a beautiful trail along Byron Creek which is formed by melting snow coming off the glacier. Apparently, there is still danger of avalanches at this time of year, so we stopped short of the severe danger area. Still did a 2 mile hike, Sara leading the way. We got the RV back to the campsite by 6pm and finished off our Costco ribs and asparagus (very good ribs I might add!) and I've upgraded my rating of the Alaskan Raspberry Ale to an 8 - even better tonight! The weather had actually warmed while we were hiking, so after dinner, we decided to get the bikes off and try the bike path - turned out this would not be an easy task. Removing bike cover, untying them, couldn't find the air compressor, wiping down and rinsing them at dump station only to find my front brake is not aligned and dragging on front wheel - brought out bike maintenance kit which only gave minimal improvement - but found air at the campground office and pushed off with some extra effort to keep the front wheel turning! We set off about 7:20pm and rode about 3 miles out - a beautiful trail passing several lakes and the creeks of the glaciers and Explorer Glacier - it's called Trail of Blue Ice since the waters are a beautiful blue color. Arrived back to RV at 9:10 (we laughed when we realized we were coming back at 1:10am Atlanta time!) and it's still light here. Just after we got the bikes back on the bike rack, the rains started - again, great luck! Then at 11pm, we have a clearing and great sunset as well! Will sleep well tonight!