Juneau Alaska

We made it to Alaska !!!!! Our first stop was in Juneau, their state Capitol ! What a quaint little town !

We took a bus out to see the Mendenhall lake and Glacier

A huge waterfall nearby, you could feel the mist in the air, amazing how much water rushes down from those snowy peaks all around.
These ice bergs all were in the mendenhall lake in front of the glacier, the little kayak shows how big some were.

We took the walk back to get as close as you could to the glacier.

After spending the morning doing that we decided the best way to see the town was to do a bit of geo caching. What fun out of the way places you find. Local people have hidden these treasure hunts in some fantastic spots you'd never find. We walked and walked thru the streets of Juneau, up to the hills behind the town.

Waterfalls and a wonderful flume trail.

Coming back thru town we saw some neat totem poles, it was great to get into the neighborhoods and see what it'd be like living in Juneau Alaska !
Of course the touristy stuff is there but how fun to see life in Juneau on the "other side" !

Back to the ship of course in search of FOOD !!!!

Leaving Seattle and boarding the ship !

We left Tacoma and headed to down town Seattle, stopping first at another National Park in the old Downtown area, Klondike Gold Rush National Park. A very neat place to visit giving us a bit of why the places in Alaska we were about to see were developed for the gold rush. The park rangers posed for a picture with us !And we were off to the ship ! Such ease they move people around with, leaving our suitcases which magically turned up in your staterooms.
We of course found FOOD for lunch first thing ! It was cold and rainy, but we searched out a few fun things on deck, played some shuffleboard and looked around at our new home for the week.
and before we knew it we set sail for Alaska ! An adventure everyone should experience !

How fun to watch a big ship leave port !

Victoria BC - final stop

Our last stop on our cruise to Alaska was Victoria BC. What a charming place to visit ! We got off the ship and took a bus into town and stopped into a coffee shop....Jamie sacrificed herself with a drink so we could use their WiFi ! Time to get boarding passes for our plane rides home tomorrow and who wants to pay the ship to do it !!!! After getting both of ours at different spots we headed out to see what we could see in Victoria !
We walked past alot of the touristy things and it was great to see their magnificent English archetecture and massive buildings ! Tons of people everywhere, lots of buses and school children playing on the parliament building lawn.
Out came the geo chaching and what fun places we found, side gardens to some of these great touristy places. One in a little coffee shop.....what a smart man, then we HAD to buy a cookie of course ! He spied us first and said "I know what you are looking for" !

Amazing trees in these climates !

Lots of totem poles.

One of our paths led us past this lawn that was some sort of very proper recreation area for what looked like boccie ball or some kind of lawn bowling. Everyone was properly dresssed in white, they were using alot of hand signs of all sorts and they even had this cool ball gatherer that they pushed around. The balls weren't even round but all marked with their spin like Ken marks his golf balls.....very interesting as we stood by the fence watching !
We had great luck finding all the caches we looked for, down some wonderful quaint streets where people have darling Victorian homes and everyone has a garden of flowers and beautiful small lawns. Their trees have great hiding spots !!!
We ended up in this magnificent park, there was a petting zoo, peacocks wandering around, canadian geese and ducks, wonderful trees.....great to see while a hunting we went !
We ended up at another park overlooking the Puget sound and then turned back to find the down town and bus that brought us there, and then of course it was back to the ship....in search of FOOD !!!!

Skagway Alaska

Skagway gave us such a fun time on our trip to Alaska ! We splurged and decided to take the White Pass train ride. It was 3 1/2 hours past some beautiful country. We went on the first one of the morning, the sky was blue and the sun was out !We all spent most of the trip out on the platform outside of the cars experiencing the sounds of the steam engine and the many water falls we passed.

Isn't it fun when you give your camera to someone and you get these great shots !
A couple tunnels and bridges, amazing elevation gain up to the snow at the White Horse Pass.

Such beautiful backgrounds in that clean crisp air !

The train ride was a highlight for us all !

After getting off the train we walked into the town of Skagway and stopped at the Skagway National Park office of the Klondike Gold Rush and got another stamp. Then we hit up a quilt shop !!!! Yeah ! After getting to have a fast shopping time there and getting Jamie's ship pass card out from under the boardwalk where it just jumped ( yea for Jeremy with his smooth hands and the kind lady at the quilt store for giving him 2 shelf hangers as retrieval sticks) we were off to have ice cream cones !
We had the rest of the afternoon to go exploring and do some geo caching which took us to some wonderful spots ! Old Train engines, seeing the quaint little town of Skagway and walking the streets where people live...population 800.

A beautiful water fall and an old cemetery from the gold rush days.

And of course by the end of the day we walked our weary feet back to the ship in search of FOOD once again !!!! Skagway was such a quaint little town with alot of personality !
Here is a movie....my first one to try so I hope it works ! Jeremy captured this one for me so you too can feel the rocking of the train and hear the sounds as it approaches another little water fall !

Mt Rainier

We spent a fun 1/2 day seeing what we could see of Mt. Rainier.
It was a rainy misty day, low gray clouds but we made the pretty drive up to the first visitors station of the park and the "first stamp" of the trip. What beautiful countryside, saw a few deer and this very friendly blue jay who decided the car next to us was just a great spot to sit. We got to the next visitors center which had a lovely display, beyond that it was still closed for the snow.
Mt. Rainier kept hidden but we saw some pretty country coming in and out.
We took a little walk thru a rain forest.

Water everywhere. Such neat things to see looking up and looking down !

We loved the big old trees !

Arriving in Seattle

Well the yard is caught back up from it's 2 weeks of being ignored, more laundry done, groceries bought and now 16 less scorpions( a new record) in our back yard so it's on to more pictures ....

We arrived in Seattle a couple hours ahead of the Mississippi crew. Low gray clouds and rain greeted us, I'm hearing that is the norm. After Jeremy and Jamie arrived and hugs were had all around we loaded all our suitcases into a mini van that Jeremy had arranged for and off we went to see some of Seattle. It was so great to see J&J !

We headed first to Pikes market and got to see some of the beautiful flowers and vegetables displayed. As Chris calls it, it's one big garage sale with vendors selling all kinds of stuff. I had no idea they hauled and set up their wares every day ! What alot of work.
It was closing time so they were already icing up the fish so we didn't see any flying thru the air but we got the hang of what Pikes Market is known for.
We headed south then to Tacoma where we had rooms at McChord AFB, of course it stays light forever so it was about 9 when we pulled in after a yummy dinner at Olive Garden. They have a wonderful static display of all the planes that have flown out of there, it was huge and we enjoyed walking around them at dusk. McCord is a C17 base so it was so neat to see those huge planes flying again. We then pulled over to the runway and watched some as they were practicing their short landings and such, it was fun to have Jeremy telling us exactly what they were doing and why as they came in to land and take off again.
What a great day, we have one full day together in Seattle to look forward to, we were getting our fill of "green" and it's still rainy out !

Alaskan Cruise - Tracy Arm Fiord

Upon arriving home last night to tackle the laundry, 10 days of cat hair, groceries to be bought, yard needing 2 weeks of attention and heat, I started downloading all 400+ pictures from our trip. I've decided the only way to tackle them will be in sections, so in no particular order here we go !!!!!

Our Morning in Tracy Arm Fiord

We spent one very early morning sailing into the Tracy Arm Fiord. No words can really describe it and the pictures sure don't do it justice ! We got up at 5:30 AM so as not to miss any of the approach to this beautiful wonder of nature. The fiord is very narrow as it twists thru the deep canyons. The weather was very gray, no wind but very overcast and the ship went very slowly and quietly just gliding thru the twists and turns. Every turn was another beautiful scene of granite walls, greens trees, snowy peaks with waterfalls down every canyon. It was so serenely quiet and with the beautiful cloud cover it made me just wonder if we were knocking on Gods door. I'm sure when we made it back to the the end where the glacier was that angels were everywhere !

One of the many icebergs we passed....80% of an iceberg is under water.

Here is the Swayer glacier that is at the end of the fiord. What a sight to round the corner and see it, it was huge and so blue. We were so lucky to get so close as the first couple cruises of the season the pilot couldn't get thru the icebergs safely to even get to see it. I will never forget how huge it was. All the little ice pieces in the water of the broken off ice bergs sounded like Ice tinkling in a glass as the ship moved thru it. The quiet was amazing and all you heard was the tinkling as that big ship moved in a 180 degree turn.
There were seals there enjoying laying on all the ice bergs too, several on some of the larger ones. After a bit this one wiggled towards the edge and went for a swim.
What an amazing experience to quietly view something so magnificent. That night other people at dinner felt like they'd just experienced one of the great wonders of the world !

Back on dry land!

Ken & I are back at the airport ready to fly home now from our wonderful adventure with Jeremy & Jamie! It feels good to be on land again although Seattle is not so dry! We had excellant weather every port & loved seeing so many magnificent things! The snow capped mountains seen from the ship and a train, up close views of glaciers, hearing the sound of pieces of icebergs tinkling in the water like ice cubes, seals and dolphins and whales, getting to know these quaint little towns by geo caching, a trip of a lifetime spent enjoying our kids! Can't wait to get home & download pictures & I'll post some soon! Jeremy & Jamie are on their way back to their dogs & garden and a busy weekend. We are leaving with wonderful memories of Seattle,Alaska,& Victoria!

Tank Master

Well Ken has reached a new level, can you believe it ! All you Wi players out there will understand ! TANKS is the Game !For me.....I know it gets serious when I walk thru the room and he's gone from sitting in the recliner to standing up, gotta stand up and get right in front ! Then when he yells, "come see" , you know it's really good, but then you can't talk or stand to close !
The new record of "kills" is 337 tanks, to level 71 ! I even got a picture of his little Mi jumping up and down ! whew ! So not only can he scorch scorpions he is the TANK MASTER !