I remember the 4-5 hour drive to and from Ithaca pretty well. Mostly, I recall thinking: "How long is it until I will not be driving?" My 5 hour drive today, on the other hand, passed in a heartbeat. I began the drive with a stunning ascent through a mountain pass. At the peak, I could see for many miles in any direction. Up one side and down the other, I continued through luscious farmland nested by the foot of a towering mountain range. The land flattened out somewhat as I approached the ocean, and for a time, I drove parallel to the seemingly endless water. I stopped to walk along a beach that was more driftwood than sand.

By the time I reached Fox Glacier, 280 kilometers seemed a short distance to have passed over such varied terrain. The hike up to Fox Glacier was nice, and it was odd to see so much ice in 80 degree weather. The contrast between blue ice and the dirt on top was certainly striking.

The picture I included in this post is of a hill nearby the glacier. It looks as though the rocks from the hill spread out at the bottom, but that's actually a separate pile of rocks close to where I was standing. The hill was hundreds of feet behind.