Alaska Cruise

Hang on to your hats, I am going to tell you all about our trip to Alaska!

Our first stop was SEATTLE. Jared's brother Aaron's wife Amy's sister Krissy lives in Seattle and graciously offered her home as a stopping point between home and Vancouver.  We also got to attend a church service there that was very nice, we got some lovely pictures by the church house. It was mother's day and my first day away from the kids, so I missed them, but Savanna wrote me a very nice long mothers day text that made my day. I also got to spend a lot of the day playing with my niece Lexi, we bonded. :)  Krissy made us french toast eggs and bacon with fresh fruit that day which was wonderful!
We spent a wonderful day with Aaron Amy Krissy and Ben touring Seattle.  What a great place! So lush and colorful in the suburbs, and bustling with activity in the city. We saw the "gum wall" where hundred of thousands of wadded up gum covered the wall. We visited the Market place where vendors lined the streets and I tried my first Parushky (bread filled with meat and cheese), and clam chowder.  We took a water taxi to and from down town and also took a monorail to the "Space Needle" and architectural marvel. 

 

Our next stop was Vancouver Cananda, we rented a car and drove from Seattle to Vancouver and had to park it there for 7 days. Oddly enough this was cheaper than flying right into Vancouver.  We didn't do much sightseeing there, we just got right on the ship!  We stood in a very long check in line and then hit the buffet!  The food there was quite excellent, there was quality and variety enough to satisfy as snobby and voracious eaters as Jared and myself. Jared did not hold back, he ate two entrees or more every meal and always had dessert. Overall the quality of experience of this cruise (Norwegian) FAR SURPASSED our experience with Catalina/Ensenda (Carnival) in every particular.
Our cabin was nice and roomy!  The entertainment was great!  The staff friendly and efficient! And the food was awesome!
We saw a performance show every night but one (questionable content). The one and only time Jared got chosen for audience participation was a demonstration by "Sharkbait" a comedian pair of jugglers. I tried to get a picture but its hard to see, he sat on chairs with four other guys and they all laid on each others laps, and then the comedians took the chair away so they were all supporting each other with their own strength. It was pretty cool.  I liked Sharkbait's show enough to buy their DVD. We also saw an illusionist and acrobats and broadway musical snippets. All very good.

We saw so much beautiful country both on and off the ship. This is lighthouse, we saw several of those. One thing we noticed on this cruise is that most of the people on board were "old." We saw very few people our age.  So I decided if we were going to make any friends we better talk to old people. We managed to find a couple ladies willing to hang out with us, Margaret and Barbara from Canada. We enjoyed playing games with them while we were "at sea" all day the first day and the last day of the trip.

Our fist excursion was in Juneau. We boarded a shuttle that took us to the Mendenhall glacier and waterfall and lake. It was a beautiful day and an even more beautiful hike to get as close as we could to the large moving river of snow and ice. We watched a documentary at the visitors center and then made our way back to down town. We shopped some and then spent some money on King Crab to have a taste of fresh alaskan crab.  It was supper yummy!

The next day we visited Skagway. This was a fun (and Jared liked to remind me expensive) day!  We boarded a train which took us way up the mountain to the "white pass" where we learned all about the gold rush of 1898 and how the railway came to be.  It was beautiful country! I've learned so much about Alaskan history on this trip, ever guide and bus driver just loved sharing all they knew about Alaska. Jared took a TON of pictures with his go-pro camera. He stood out on the train outside rails and filmed the ride away, I stayed inside to listen to the historical narrative. In the afternoon we enjoyed a Grizzly Falls zip-lining excursion.  That was awesome! What a thrill racing through the trees over waterfalls and streams in the back country of Skagway. That evening I got up and sang some karaoke, ha ha, I did terribly but it was still fun.  

 

 

The next day we toured Glacer Bay. This was a cold day! But it was very cool to see the frozen mini iceburgs in the water and the glaciers coming down the huge mountains. We listened to some "white thunder" as the glaciers caved and just enjoyed the beautiful unique landscape. As we were leaving the bay I kept my eyes pealed for a glimpse of the humpback whales the rangers claimed were in the bay, and I was lucky enough to spot three of them!  I was out there for quite some time, it took diligence, but I did see them. We saw seals and eagles there too.

The next day we landed in Ketchikan.  We were greeted by a major rain storm at this location, but we went out and toured the small downtown shops in our rain gear.  We were able to go on a fun excursion here, we went Sea Kayaking! We paddled all around Eagle Island and saw beautiful Bald Eagles flying over head. We also got some close glimpses of seals and sea lions poking their heads up and checking us out, and tons of starfish on all the mossy rocks. What a fun time being in the water so close, even if it was raining on us!

The last day was spent at sea. This was the best food day for me. We went to a specialty diner with our friends Margaret and Barbara and enjoyed french cuisine. Barb actually ordered Escargo, blech. We enjoyed playing cards with them again. We love how they end all their sentence with "Eh (ay)" and turn everything they say into a question. "So you sell realestate eh?  That was fun eh? What a gorgious city eh? We could play 'may I' eh?" We of course caught the final show that evening and enjoyed our last night being rocked to sleep by a listing ship.

The next day we disembarked, and it was over.  In the blink of an eye all over. Boo.  Jared and I loved every minute of it and our relationship was strengthened many times over being together without any cares or concerns other than enjoy this beautiful world and life together.

We are so thankful to the Jensens for watching over our home and kids while were were gone. We are thankful to Jesse and Kelsy for taking us to and from the airport, and for Aaron and Krissy doing the same in Seattle. We are thankful to Krissy for having us over. We are thankful for Justin doing extra work for Jared in his absence. We are thankful for carpool helpers and calling helpers.  We are thankful to Mom and Dad for taking our kids both weekends and celebrating Savanna's bday.  But mostly we are grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing us this great experience, we had a marvelous wonderful fabulous time!!!