Ilulissat has that quaint Greenlandic charm. A mixture of part modern…

…and part traditional. That’s a dog sled in the foreground. You see these all over town.

On the outskirts are hundreds of teams of purebred Greenland sled dogs, chained to their summer runs.

They look really cute, but we’ve been warned to stay clear of them.

As we were walking through town we chanced on a major sporting event, a hotly contested girls’ soccer match between Ilulissaters and the enemy from another town. When the locals scored goals, a cacophony of horns sounded, along with skyrockets. There are chants aplenty, just like one of our University of Arizona basketball games. This appears to be serious sport.

The entrance to the harbor has lots of ice, which comes and goes with the wind and tide.

The views into Disco Bay are stunning. The ice is quite dense, but there is a lead in from the north which keeps you clear of most of the bergy bits and growlers. This lead is typically open all summer.

The guide books and tourist offices all tout a "short" hike of 20 minutes to the south, which brings you to the edge of the Jacobshavn fjord and glacier. We make this to be more like 2.5 miles, but the hike is pleasant.

And the Jacobshavn glacier is truly one of the wonders of the world.

The only time you can get the sun right for good photos is around 0500, so these will have to do. This is ice pushing out in deep water towards the moraine, which initially blocks egress.

The glacier itself is just a few hundred feet high here, but in excess of 3300 feet (1000 meters) of glacier face exists below sea level. Seven thousand years ago the glacier extended to the moraine. Five thousand years ago it was in the position shown above. Four hundred years ago it was close to the moraine again.

Has it been worth three months of time and 8000 miles to see this? You bet!