Alaska Cruise

 You ready for this?  Put a movie on for the kids and grab yourself a muffin.  Here we go!

Nick and I are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary this year, and wanted to do something big to celebrate.  My brothers are also celebrating big anniversaries (15 and 20) and wanted to join in on the action.  We opened the invitation up to the rest of my family as well, and we had hopes that more would join us.  We did get my mom to come along, who invited her sister to come (Dad's too busy with the farm this time of year).  Are you bored already?

We were gone for 10 days.  That's a long time to leave 5 little kids!  I was nervous to leave them, but knew they'd be in good hands with my sister.

Day 1:  Driving to Seattle.  LONG DRIVE!!!  Nick has super driving skills and did the whole thing, not because I wouldn't drive, but because he's not a very good passenger.  True story and he knows it, so I'm not being mean.  Plus, I really love just looking out the window and see the world go by, especially when I have something new that I've never seen before.  I loved driving through all the farm country.  We stayed with my sister who lives near Seatlle.  I'll stay at that bed and breakfast anytime!  She had a delicious steak dinner all ready for us when we arrived.

Day 2:  Nick and I decided to go for a run and we just about died.  Another true story.  We chose the worst roads ever with no sidewalk, no shoulder (I thought Seattle was all eco-friendly and encouraged walking/biking?) and at one time I was forced into the blackberry brambles, which tangled around my leg.  That was lots of fun.  Coming back to the house with sweet and savory crepes for breakfast made it all better, though.  Do you think my sister would notice if I moved in?  Plus 6 more?  :)  My sister dropped us off at the port and we climbed aboard our sailing vessel, Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas and watched Seattle disappear.

Day 3:  A day at sea.  The weather wasn't all that great, it was windy and the sea was just a rockin'.  We tried to enjoy a leisurely day, but I wasn't doing so well.  I forced myself into my formal wear for the evening and headed out to try and enjoy some live music:

 That photo was taken about 10 minutes before I booked it back to our stateroom and puked in a barf bag (they had brought them out just for the day so I know I wasn't the only one feeling sick).  Kudos to our room porter who had to take that away.  The rest of our evening was spent sipping on a brothy soup my honey brought me and watching a movie.

Day 3:  Juneau, Alaska.  I fell in love with Alaska.  At least this portion of Alaska, which I only got a tiny taste of.  It was so beautiful and green!  The glacier-carved mountains were just incredible!  Here we are (most of us, anyway) watching as the ship pulled into port:

 Yep, rainy and foggy.  No exactly ideal weather, but we made the most of it and headed off.  We boarded a bus which took us to the Mendenhall Glacier:

We hiked around for a bit in the rain (thank heavens for those ponchos - thanks Mom!) and enjoyed those green, green forests that just don't exist here in Utah.

I thought this was so cool!  Look at all the waterfalls running down the mountain!

Day 4:  Skagway, Alaska.  We had booked an excursion, along with my brother for a little "glacier safari".  We went on a boat ride through the fog to get to Glacier Point.  There, 9 tour guides live their summer, off the grid.  Pretty crazy, yet strangely appealing if I was still single and still twenty.  :)  They geared us up from top to bottom in rubber, we hiked a bit and then they loaded us in canoes and took us across a glacier lake to visit the Davidson Glacier:

We got to get up close and personal:

 Perhaps a little too personal?  Nick said the water was delicious.  Seeing a glacier up close was really cool!  There was silt and rocks everywhere that the glacier had moved, but underneath you would see what looked like blue glass.  We learned that the blue is due to the density of the ice - the bluer it was, the denser it was.  Makes sense to me!  Oh, and it was freezing cold!  This shouldn't come as a surprise.  The glacier creates it's own mini climate there, and the winds just blow down that glacier.  I was wishing I had thought to bring gloves.

We then reversed, taking the canoes back to shore and hiking back through the forest.  Look how green!

And then we turned the corner and it turned into this:

 So, so pretty.

After a simple box lunch we headed back to Skagway, where we spotted several Bald Eagles.  Do you see one here:

 Look for the tiny dot of white.  Okay, so maybe that photo isn't all that exciting.

We walked the town and had some halibut fish 'n chips:

Our ship was docked right next to the mountain, which was full of graffiti from cruise ships which had docked there over the last 30 years or so.  You can't tell in the photos, buy they were pretty detailed, and some were really super high.  I can't even imagine how anyone could get up there to paint.

Look, we spotted moosen!

The best looking moose of all:

Day 6:  Sailing the Tracy Arm Fjord.  The fjords were really cool.  I loved sailing along all those huge beautiful majestic mountains!  There were lots of waterfalls and glaciers nestled in the tops.  There was so much to see!  The cruise ship came up to the Sawyer Glacier and then did a 360.  I have no idea how.  It didn't look like enough space to me.

As we sailed out of the fjords, we found a nice lounge in the back of the boat and listened to some Alaska/Canada experts and looked out the windows.  As I watched, I started noticing whale spouts, and then more and more, and then the captain announced that we were passing pods of whales, so we went on deck to get a better look.  This had to be one of my favorite things!  Whale-watching has been on my bucket list, so I was excited to cross that one off!  We were lucky to have our binoculars on us, and I was looking at the right spot at the right time and watched as a humpback whale breached.  It was incredible.

Our photo shots were pretty lousy, but look, I have proof:

That evening was another formal night:

The best part of any day - dinner:

Day 7:  A day at sea.  We slept in until 10.  TEN A.M., people!  I don't think I've slept past 7:30 since my single days!  Okay, so that was with a time change, but still!  I slept like a rock on the ship.  All that gentle rocking...  We skipped breakfast (skipping a meal was a good thing for me at this point) and went running instead.  This day at sea was much better than the first.  I had gotten my sea legs, and even though the ship was rockin', I hardly noticed.  We loved our time just relaxing!  Reading books, taking naps, eating too much, live music, entertainment, you get the idea.

Day 8:  Victoria, Canada.  Along with my brothers, we walked the 2 miles through town to get to Craigdarroch Castle.  My mom and Aunt perhaps made a better choice and hired a taxi driver to show them the sights.  Actually, I enjoyed the walk, and heaven knows we needed to work off some of the fantastic food the ship was shoveling in.  We stopped for a moment at the legislative building:

And then finally made it to our destination:

We headed on back with the idea planted in our brains to hit up the Fisherman's Wharf for some fish 'n chips.  We totally deserved it after our long walk, right?  I got a fish taco and Nick shared his fried fish with me.  Oh, so so so yummy.  Probably the best fish 'n chips I've ever had in recent memory.

And then we boarded our ship, feeling all sad because we knew it was our last evening aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas.  

Our last three-course meal with our incredible waiters:

 How incredible?  One evening I was having a cobbler and had just run out of my ice cream, which totally throws off my cobbler to ice cream ratio of deliciousness, right?  Just as I was thinking 'I sure which I had another bite or two of ice cream', one appeared on the table before me.  I'm not even joking.  Our waiter totally read my mind.  Incredible.

Day 9:  Back to Seattle.  This is what we looked like, fresh off the ship:

My sister was a dear and picked us up at the port and drove us to Pike Market, which we wanted to see being as we were in Seattle and all.

It was really cool!  I was impressed with all the different kind of stands, and Nick really really wanted to buy fish, but honestly the part that drew me in the most were the bakeries that smelled oh-so-good.

 Rainy again, of course.

We had lunch at my sister's place and then we were on the road!  We drove through Mt. Rainier National Park, which was BEAUTIFUL and stopped for fruit and veg in farm country.  We drove to Baker City, Oregon before we called it a night.  We were thankful to find a bed, although it was in the grossest motel I think I've ever stayed at.

Day 10:  Home!  We got up early and drove out, stopping for gas, potty, and lunch.  We got home at about 4.  My house was clean, my kids were happy.  My sister, she's a miracle worker.  Ever consider a full-time nanny position?

And all my nervousness about leaving my kids?  It all left about 10 minutes after driving away.  In fact, at one point of the cruise I asked Nick, "Remember how we have kids?"  I just seemed so far removed from it.  And for the first time in 10 years, I was just myself again.  It was nice.  Very, very nice.