Alaska - June 2012

We left the day after school got out this year for a cruise to Alaska. It was a great experience. We travelled on the Norwegian Pearl from Seattle and stopped in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, Alaska. We also spent one evening in Victoria, BC, Canada.

Our first day of vacation we spent exploring Seattle. We went to Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, wandered through a statue garden at the art museum and had dinner at Ivars near Pike Place Market. We walked a lot, probably too much but we wanted to see what we could in the short time we had in Seattle. The next morning we went to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and watched some ships moving from the lake level down to sea level. It was definitely interesting. There was a fish ladder there too but unfortunately we were too early to see the salmon moving up them. This was a bummer in a lot of places on the trip - I think it would be really interesting to go to Alaska in July and see the salmon moving upstream but we missed it. Luckily there were a lot of other interesting things to see.

It's all GUM! So gross, but oddly fascinating.



My parents waiting for us to board the ship. They were very patient with us. :)

We got on the ship in the afternoon. As we were waiting in line to go through the boarding process we realized that we had accidentally brought two birth certificates for Lyndsee and none for Logan. We had fun teasing him about leaving him in Seattle for the week. Lucky for him the person who boarded us chose to pretend he had seen his birth certificate and we boarded without a problem.

Lyndsee was the Rock Wall Champion.

It was fun to explore the ship and we patiently sat through the safety briefing and had a nice dinner that night. Logan and Brianna went to the Teen Centers "Bon Voyage" get together and met several friends that they spent a lot of time with over the next week. They usually would attend the shows at night with the teen group and spent time playing games, shooting baskets, watching movies and just hanging out with their friends. They usually had breakfast and dinner with us on the ship, other than that we would just pass them occasionally, and they usually had an ice cream cone in one hand and a brownie in the other. 

The first of many bus stops. There was only ONE seat!

Our first port was Juneau where we went to see the Mendenhall Glacier. It was spectacular with an incredible waterfall right next to it. We wandered through several little trails near there and then decided to walk the mile and a half to catch the city bus back to the port. Usually we don't mind city busses, but this time it was a big mistake. We were quickly joined on the bus by several very inebriated passengers. Two women and a couple were especially problematic. Lets just say they should have "gotten a room"! Ugh.

Totem Poles were everywhere



A rainy day in Ketchikan

We went across this beautiful stream multiple times

In Skagway we did an amazing zip line tour through the rainforest. The scenery was spectacular and the kids had fun flipping, flying upside down and sideways on the zip lines. I was happy that I didn't have a panic attack. The worst one was a line that you had to take a running start off the edge of a cliff! We all had a great time, and apparantly it was exhausting because Logan fell asleep on the busride back to the docks.

Chillaxin



Scott and I in Glacier Bay, so cold!

We had other scenic stops in Ketchikan (rainy) and Victoria BC (beautiful.) We also spent a day cruising through Glacier Bay where there was a ton of wildlife, we saw a bear, lots of whales and sea otters and eagles.  It was fun and relaxing and had spectacular scenery. I would definitely do a cruise again...but next time someplace warm!



We were photo bombed in Victoria, look closely at the tree behind me.



Lyndsee loved the totem poles and her coon tail hat!