09 July 2009

Alaska

We recently had the opportunity to embark on an Alaskan cruise. It was a week of food, food, some sightseeing, food, and games. Plus some food. As you can see we had quite the digs, a mini-suite with a balcony!

Since this was my first cruise experience, I payed close attention to the instructions given during our Muster drill. Here is what I learned- skip the muster station and hightail it to the nearest rescue boat. I'm no fool.

The cruise departed from Seattle. It was lovely to see that skyline again. Bon Voyage!

The beautiful view from our room. I am not the biggest fan of water so when you could see land I would step out and enjoy. When only water was around I enjoyed this view.

Our first excursion was Juneau- It was so nice to be on solid ground after a brief bout of seasickness. We spent most of our time hiking around this area- the Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier

Off to the side of the glacier was a great waterfall. Now every trip with the Nelsons has a photo contest- make that highly competitive photo contest- so we risked sprained ankles and broken necks by climbing over a massive rock slide to get to it. "It could be the winning shot!" Excursion two- Skagway and a train ride through the beautiful Alaskan/Canadian wilderness


This was my winning shot. (Too bad Brett and Sarah's glacier was better) I love trains and the scenery really was gorgeous. This was my favorite part of the trip.

That fuzzy black dot is a whale! We saw a few along the way.

A detour of our route had us sailing up through and area called Endicott to another glacier. These mountains dwarfed our massive ship.

Endicott Glacier

Sea lions enjoying the sun. They didn't seem to mind our passing by.

The occasional break from eating and the scenery found us playing lots of cards. Taylor did manage to slip away a few times to capture this shot of the sunset. Not bad.


Ketchikan (Home of Taylor's favorite girl next door- Holly)

Our third excursion was Ketchican where we made acquaintance with this dog who's future is apparently too bright.
Alaska really is as big and beautiful as they say.

Bruce and the Jode, who hosted our trip. Thank you for a great first experience with cruising. We had a wonderful time.

The last night of the cruise happened to be Bruce's birthday and the dinner staff was nice enough to wish him good cheer.