Alaska Cruise – Day 4

Juneau had beautiful weather but I was really excited for Skagway. We had booked an excursion to do a float trip through an eagle preserve. On Wednesday morning we got all bundled up because it was pretty chilly outside and drizzling. We had a little bit before our float trip so we wandered in town and I got this picture of the boat behind us. If you look at the top of the mountain you can see a glacier that the locals said had been descending and retreating all summer. How would it to be to just watch a glacier move around all summer long?

In order to get to the river where our trip began we had to ferry to the town of Haines. Bonus! One more town we got to visit. The ferry ride was 45 minutes long but that is significantly shorter than the drive would have been. That would have taken 6 hours! If I learned nothing else in Alaska I learned that you mainly travel everywhere by boat. Once we were in Haines we had a 30 minute bus ride to the drop in point. Don't we look so excited?

The river guides made us bundle up with an extra layer of clothes, rubber boots, and life jackets.

Each of the life jackets had a nickname on it. Navy was Boo Boo, Sidnee was Moose Calf, Travis was Otter, Liesl was Silty Britches, I was Cookie Monster, and Dirk was Meat. We were lucky enough to only have us 6 in our raft instead of the standard 8 people. We started down the Tsirku River and we saw tons of Bald Eagles. They were everywhere.

We were lucky enough to get really close to these two lovebird eagles. They were a mated pair. The female is the bigger of the two.

When we reached the Chilkat River we saw some bear prints. We didn't see any bears but I was ok with that after our river guide told us a story about early in the season when a bear charged one of the rafts. It stopped just short of them but gave everyone quite the scare. I was doing good with seeing bear prints. If I had seen a bear too closely I might have jumped into the 37©F water. Brrrrr.

Our guide also let Navy and Sidnee row the boat for awhile.

We learned a little about the tiny town also. It has 2400 people in the summer and 2100 in the winter. It has one of the smallest drop of population in Alaska. Also the movie White Fang was filmed there. When the movie was over the studio donated the set pieces to the town and they now use them as their County Fair Grounds. It is their little claim to fame and kind of cool. We explored the town for a little while but it is really small and not much to see unless you wanted to buy jewelry. Apparently that is a big ticket item in Alaska or maybe it is just on cruises period.

Alaska Cruise – Day 3

I had such grand plans for our cruise that I would sleep-in everyday. I somehow forgot to figure in the fact that we would be setting our clocks back by two hours so I found myself waking up between 5:30 and 6:00 every morning. Oh well, I guess that gave me time to do my yoga to the sunrise almost every morning. It was a beautiful sight!
So for day 3 we were going to be porting in Juneau but not until 2pm, so that gave us ample time to just lay around on one of those lovely chaise lounges in the Spinnaker Lounge watching the ocean float by. While being lazy we got to see a wonderful sight. A HUGE pod of whales was swimming near our ship. We went outside and caught a few pictures.

I was really hoping to get some pictures of one jumping out of the water but they never did.

I love this picture of a whole group of whales blowing out of their blowholes. If you look carefully you can count about 10, maybe 11 spouts of water.

About a half hour after I was already taking pictures the captain came on and announced that the pod had around 80 whales in it and he confirmed our suspicions that they were Orcas. I could have stood there all day watching them. It was amazing! Dirk and Travis got bored after awhile though and decided to try their skills on the hardest part of the rock wall. Doesn't Dirk look good in a hard hat?

Travis reaches the top in 2.03 minutes.

Dirk reaches the top in 1.16 minutes.

Alright so we made it to Juneau and we had one mission in mind. Make it to the top of the mountain via a tram. I wish I had gotten a picture of the tram and how high we had to go but I was paralyzed with fear because I hate heights. Another phobia was realized while in the line as well, claustrophobia. Yeah, they crammed us into the little boxes like sardines! Good thing it had no effect on Dirk and he got these great shots of the ride up.



Then he got this shot from the observation deck of our niece, Sidnee, picking up our cruise ship.

We visited the gift shop at the top and listened to a concert from the Alaska String Band, which is a family that plays local folk songs. Afterwards we went for a little hike and it was so beautiful and green! I thought it was going to be cold while we were there but the weather was so nice. It was about 62©F and I ended up wearing my jacket around my waist.


The trip down the tram was better because they sped it up due to the large volume of people in town that day but it was still the scariest 2 ½ minutes of the trip! We walked all over town and I discovered that I love the architectural design of the buildings in Alaska. They have such a small town feel to them. Another bit of interesting trivia that I learned was that you cannot drive to Juneau. You have to get there by either small plane or boat. How would it be to live in such a secluded and hidden from the world spot? Some days, it is very tempting.

Alaska Cruise - Day 2

Monday we spent the entire time on the boat. It was a little crazy getting used to the swells that caused the boat to rock a bit. You would be walking straight and then next thing you know you are walking sideways! And if we thought walking was hard this was even harder….


Yeah, we were bowling, on a ship, in the ocean! It was lots of crazy fun. We got laughing so hard because you would send the ball down the lane and then we would hit a swell and the ball's path would be diverted. I think next time I am going to need the bumpers!
My adorable nieces were on the cruise with us so we got a schedule for the kids club to see what fun activities they had. On this day they had family cupcake decorating. Dirk and I were lucky enough to get to join in on the fun, unfortunately I haven't gotten the pictures off of my sister's camera so there is no picture of me, darn!

Navy is so ready to chow down, too bad she doesn't like cupcakes, but that frosting was sooo yummy!

Sidnee dove right in. Can you see the frosting on her nose?

Dirk wasn't going to make one until he tasted that frosting!
While we were making cupcakes one of the counselors told me where we could find the bridge deck. Dirk and I wandered up there but the windows were closed so we couldn't see the crew sailing but they did have the history of the cruise ship with lots of pictures of it being built. In the middle of the room was a miniature of our ship. Dirk, of course, took a picture.

We did a lot of lounging around too. Dirk and I both read books. I should have gotten a picture of Dirk reading. It would be a first. He really enjoyed it though. I think Dirk visited the buffet about every hour….so I made him go for a one mile walk with me around the deck. It was right at sunset too.

Beautiful! Here is one with Dirk and me in it. Don't mind the fact that I have hair in my face. We were going about 20 knots at the time.

It was a wonderful lazy day. Day 3 is when we first went ashore and the fun begins!

Alaska Cruise – Day 1

In August, Dirk and I celebrated our 10^th wedding anniversary! I can't believe how quickly ten years have flown by! They have definitely been the best years ever and I am really looking forward to the next 10, 20, 30, etc years. We didn't know exactly what we wanted to do to commemorate this milestone but we knew we wanted to do something. It just so happens that my sister and her husband were planning a business trip to Alaska in September. They really wanted Dirk to go so they invited me along as well. It wasn't just any ordinary business trip either, it was a 7 day cruise. How do you say no to that? I really don't know actually, cuz we didn't! Our disembarking date was exactly 1 month after our anniversary so we decided that it would be a perfect time to celebrate! I know an Alaskan cruise doesn't sound like a big trip to a lot of people but for me it is huge! It is equivalent to going on a European tour for me, and probably Dirk too. Here is my journal of all the fun things we saw and did while traveling through Alaska!
Day 1 – Seattle, Washington

There is nothing like the first view of your first cruise ship. It is almost as exciting as Christmas morning when you were a little kid. I wish we had gotten a better picture of the boat. It truly had the most colorful paint job on either side. It was a little windy in Seattle Sunday morning. We started out with jackets but the day warmed up quite nicely to around 60©F. Since we couldn't board right away we walked through Pike Place Market. I do believe they said that it is the largest outdoor market in the USA. It was so much fun walking through and looking at everything. They had fruits and vegetables I never heard of and the biggest avocadoes I'd ever seen! Also the flower arrangements were gorgeous and so cheap. I wish I could have brought a bouquet home with me.

In the afternoon we boarded the ship but we couldn't go to our rooms right away so we did some exploring. First was the buffet. It was so crowded in there! Then we wandered the inside and found the Spinnaker Lounge with its comfy chaise lounges and walls of windows.

We explored outside and Dirk had to have a picture of the pool area that we never used.

I love this picture of the Seattle Space Needle taken from the deck of the ship.

Once we shoved off the guys decided to try their hand at golfing. They aren't very good.

There was a big shoving off party with lots of bbq and dancing. We had a blast. The adventure had begun!

Some 1sts

This post is going to celebrate some firsts for us in the last few weeks. Lexi started school a few weeks ago. So here is to her 1st day of 2nd grade!

She was super excited! Out of the 3 2nd grade teachers there was only one that Lexi was convinced that she would be happy with and she was lucky enough to get her!

Rayden was stressed when Lexi left that first day. He kept asking when he got to start school and why he wasn't going with Lexi. But the first week of school they do the kindergarten assessment. I admit that I was a little stressed and worried about how Rayden would do. He fights me every step of the way when it comes to school stuff. He surprised me by knowing almost everything that he was asked. Halelujah, he isn't behind!!!!!

He was so excited when he got around to his 1st day, and for the 1st time since my kids started school we did not have a brand new teacher. Not that there was anything bad about the new teachers, we loved them, but it is a nice change this year.

Simon also had a 1st experience. It was the 1st time he realized that he was being left out of something. We walked Rayden to school the first day and when we started heading home Simon got all upset. I ended up standing with the crossing guard for around 20 minutes trying to convince Simon to calm down and that he couldn't go to school. It was not a happy day for him and he still insists everyday that he needs to go to school so......

....here is Simon's 1st day! Yesterday we loaded up his backpack with lots of toys and snacks and we headed to the school. Simon was so exciteded. He walked the entire way by himself and didn't complain. No, he isn't in preschool but I volunteered to help out in Lexi's classroom once a week and it started yesterday. Simon was in heaven sitting with all those second graders and getting to look at their books and color on scrap paper. I am hoping that once a week school will keep this little guy happy this year. It is quite the adjustment being the one left behind, especially when he doesn't realize that he is littler than his brother and sister.