**warning** : travel log ahead

our alaskan cruise

{day 1-2 at sea}
flew to seattle. boarded ship. they started feeding us first thing - lunch in lido. off to explore ship. watched a cooking show. found out how to cook hal-ee-boot. was amazed by kind service. after we checked out all decks, it was time to sail away from seattle. fun to see we could open our verandahs and have them adjoining with the family. loved having this perfect spot to relax and see everything together. time to unpack and get comfortable. watched shows and played. woke up early first morning to gorgeous sunshine. knew this was going to be an amazing trip. saw many whales and then the dolphins came to play. shelley almost goes overboard in excitement. seriously. completely giddy. spent day on ship relaxing, exploring and ship activities. formal dinner night. many good laughs at Chris's mixed up orders. only chris, heehee. they go way out of their way to please you even if they don't quite understand what you want. two orders of watermelon soup anyone? chris and i are loving the live music at night. even dancing (gulp.)



{day 3 glacier bay}
spent pretty much whole day on deck watching most beautiful sights. claimed a deck chair and read in between. dan was attacked by seagulls on balcony. so he fed them sweet treats from room service. and my banana. and then my banana peel. they didn't like the peel. imagine that. so in love with the gorgeous color of the water near glaciers. tried to get picture to show it (bottom right). saw several beautiful glaciers and then stopped for an hour at the big daddy, marjorie glacier. heard and saw pieces breaking off (makes very loud noise). so much beauty. yummy food and laughed so hard at comedian tonight. incredible day.



{day 4 juneau}
hooray. get our feet on alaskan soil. took tram up mt roberts. beautiful views. went hiking. saw mountain goats. everything so green and lush in rainforest. dan fed more wildlife. gave chocolate from his pillow last night to squirrel. squirrel tries to claw his hand for more. lady walks up and says, oh look how cute the little squirrel is eating his nut. back down mountain. called to check on kids. tell us they've been out shooting guns. tell them i'm glad they told me after the fact. they sound good. lunch at tracy's crab shack. actually is a shack. but amazing crab. check out a bit of juneau. catch bus to mendenhall glacier. our native bus driver proudly points out all the sights...including home depot, lowes, walmart, AND kmart. and the hospital "where your bus driver was born". see cool salmon spawning in stream. see sign that says 17 bears are living there fighting over salmon. wish so badly to see just one come and grab one. watching, watching, watching. nothing. go see glacier. wow! notice there is waterfall next to it. nice hike to waterfall. take wrong trail and walk thru stream the whole way. take zillions of pictures. feel the cold water. don't want to go. but, back to docks. meet back up with parents who took tour. shop a bit. nice long port day.



{day 5 sitka}
first sight of sitka is gorgeous. tiny islands everywhere covered with trees. rainy morning. boys left as soon as docked for all day deep sea salmon and halibut fishing trip. just three of them and 20-ish year old boat captain. can't believe my dad is actually fishing in alaska! all had fantastic time. caught coho salmon, king salmon, halibut (hal-ee-boot, if you prefer), and some other stuff i can't remember the names of. was grand fishing adventure. meanwhile girls went on wildlife exploration tour. rode big comfy vessel out to sitka sound. saw lots of fun stuff. loved watching whale close up. think we all loved sea otters. so cute and playful and some mommas were riding waves with babies curled up on tummies. huge group of sea lions warming on rocks. gorgeous bald eagles. and surprising to me- one of my favorite parts of all- the puffins. also saw the most gigantic jellyfish i've ever seen. scenery was beautiful. afterward, girls explored town of sitka. nice and seems small and not too touristy. looked thru old cathedral and totem park. hurry back "home". have to take tenders because ship can't get all the way to dock. today is also mom and dad's anniversary!! mom receives lovely flowers from her hubby. and they get a cake and a special song sung in (i think) indonesian at dinner. this is another formal night. and late night dessert extravaganza by the pool.



{day 6 ketchikan}
only in port for morning so get up early to explore ketchikan. millions of jewelry stores. crazy. past jewelry stores is cute town. and old history. dry creek buildings all built on stilts over the river so they could sneak booze in during prohibition. almost all of the buildings were brothels. enjoy exploring town. buy souvenirs for kiddos. sit on park bench and call to check on them again. stranger asks why we are calling kids while on vacation. makes me miss them. they are having fun. tell us of riding horses and four wheelers. drop off souvenirs and hop on bus to next destination. have amazing floatplane ride to misty fjords national monument. at first i'm tiny bit nervous. get more nervous when woman on our plane has panic attack right after take off and starts screaming to take her back. better after we get rid of her and get going again. wear headset and too loud to say anything to chris during ride. it's ok because all i would probably be saying is 'wow.' over and over and over again. such a great experience. favorite was the sheer granite cliffs rising thousands of feet out of the glacier formed pools. stop plane on lake and get to step out onto the side of plane. so great. dan and maren also went in different plane. mom and dad went to cute lumberjack show and took a tour of area. everyone naps in afternoon. dining stewards put on cute show at farewell dinner. loved everyone that worked on the ship. except that one guy taking pictures on the stairs but that's another story. most amazing service.



{day 7-8 victoria and seattle}
port was only for the evening so day was spent doing all the things we hadn't done yet. like shuffleboard. and also begging them not to send us home tomorrow. not really. but feeling sad for it to end. and packing. and eating room service on the balcony. another beautiful day. was told it was only the third week this year when it was sunny every day. love it!! then it was evening. my first time in canada! as soon as we got off ship, were told orcas were playing in harbor. victoria was lovely city. much bigger than i expected. we all went to butchart gardens. it was so gorgeous there. only wish we had more time. was dark shortly after arrival. had to hurry, hurry through gardens to catch amazing fireworks. gardens looked beautiful all lit up, too, though. sunken garden takes your breath away. the lady that first started it, did so to cover up a hole left from mining. that's visionary. came back to ship and put our bags out. next morning we stuffed ourselves with last 'free' meal, sang happy birthday to dad, and then disembarked. caught taxi to pike's place. enjoyed sights and smells. flew home to three little cuties and their grandpa waiting at the airport.



of course i can't record everything. i literally have hundreds and hundreds more pictures. but i wanted to remember some details of our trip. it was definitely a great one!