Alaska Part II

It has taken me quite some time to sit down and finish our travelog. This post has tons of pictures- I hope you enjoy reading about the second half of our vacation.

Day 4

We had a VERY early start to the day this day. We had to be up by 6am because the ship was starting into the Tracy Arm fjord to see the Sawyer Glacier. Again we made our way to the back of the ship in the upper room to watch as we sailed into the fjord. It of course was very cold outside being early in the morning and the ship moving. I opted to stay inside and watch, but Jamey wanted to be outside. Which was a win-win for both of us. Jamey was able to get some really neat pictures!

Since we had gotten up so early we decided after the ship left the fjord to go back to our cabin and take a nap before we stopped in Juneau. Just as we had gotten comfortable, I was reading, the announcement came over the intercom that the captain saw orca whales out the side of the ship. We quickly jumped out of bed threw on our shoes and ran to the top viewing deck to see the whales. This was by far one of my highlights!! I loved seeing the whales and capturing it on the camera. The time which the whales were by the ship was only a few minutes, so I felt extremely lucky we had made it outside to see them.

After our nap our ship docked in Juneau at 2pm. Again we didn't have an excursion planned because when we went to book it online it was already full and again we got the same response on the ship. So we had just decided to skip our original plan and just pay a small amount of money to go to Mendenhall Glacier. When we went to the 'booth' right outside the dock we asked the lady for 2 tickets to go to Mendenhall Glacier. She asked us if there was anything else we were looking at doing, Jamey answered that we wanted to go whale watching. She told us that she had a group leaving in just a few minutes and if we went we could get the excursion for only $100. That was $50 cheaper than the other people paid riding in our van and a lot cheaper than what the cruise ship was charging, so we felt like we had hit the jackpot and signed up. This again was one of our favorite days and we are so glad we did it. We first started the tour with a trip through streets of Juneau learning some fun little facts about the city. Then we headed to Mendenhall Glacier. We only had 20 minutes there so we felt really rushed. We hurried around looking at the beautiful scenery around us. Took some pictures, Jamey tested the coldness of the water then we were off to see some humpback whales.

I wish I could show the four hundred different pictures I took. Seeing the whales was such an awesome experience. We were on a small boat, so the captain would not get us very close to the pod. We weren't extremely close, but we saw so much. We were out on the water for well over an hour. When we counted the blowholes we counted at least 8. So we know it was a pretty large pod. The captain told me that he had been bringing people to the same area for over four days. They were just hanging out almost vacuuming the bottom of the ocean for their food. He said they were working in calculated manner. We watched the whales feed doing a technique called bubble net feeding. They swim in a circular motion blowing bubbles around the school of fish, then whales suddenly swim upward through the 'net', mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp. It was magnificent!! While we were out on the boat watching the whales, we saw some beautiful mountains and two more glaciers. The one in the pictures behind the whales is Eagle Glacier.

We finished our tour and headed back to the ship, walked around a bit, the tourist shopping street and of course bought a few souvenirs.

Day 5

This was the day that we stopped in Skagway. We had our longest port here and let me tell you I have no idea why!! There really wasn't hardly anything to do except ride the gold rush train which we didn't want to do. When we got off the ship we walked up to the information booth and asked for a map- we had planned on just walking the town. The lady laughed and said- oh you won't need one. Does that explain what we were in for in this town? We went to the National Forest Service to see about a free tour of the town. We had just missed the 11 o'clock tour, so we had to wait until 1pm. We then walked through the streets and came upon a bike shop. We thought it would be fun to rent some mountain bikes and ride around. I'm not sure who's bright idea it was to get the tandem bike instead of us each getting a bike, but that is what we did. It in itself was the most comical thing you have ever seen.

We rode to the gold rush cemetery- what do you do in a cemetery when you know nothing about the people who are buried there? It was a fast stop to say the least. We then walked up the short hike to Reid Falls. It was so beautiful!!! We of course had to take some pictures of the sign because it made me think about my cute little nephew Reid!

After the falls we headed up what the bike shop guy said was a 'bit' of a hill- or what we might say as a BIG hill- to go to the lookout point and see all of Skagway. It was pretty, but I'm not sure the effort it took to get there was worth it.

Again we were the comedian act for a Princess Cruise line tour bus. The driver slowed down and had everyone on the bud clap for us. I get embarrassed easy and this one was no exception. After we returned the bike we did the walking tour of the city and learned a bit more about the gold rush. Interesting. When we were done with the tour there really wasn't anything else to do, so we got back to the ship and- you guessed it took a nap. We stayed in this port for 13 hours and really we could have seen everything that there was to see in a matter of a few hours. That night was another captains dinner so once again we got all dressed up for dinner. For dessert they served Baked Alaska which was Neapolitan ice cream with meringue. It was good and ice cream is my huge weakness- our waiter gave me an extra large piece!

After dinner we went up to the night club for some dancing. Of course Jamey didn't dance except for a slow song, but I take what I can get. Good thing Siki was willing to boggie with me on the dance floor.

Day 6

This day was mostly at sea. We were on our way back to Seattle. On our way though we did get to spot in one more port. We docked at Victoria, British Columbia Canada. This actually was one of our stops that we were super excited to port at. However we felt extremely disappointed that we only got to spend five hours there and most of it in the dark. Once we docked we went straight to the tour bus which took us to Butchart Gardens.

I had no idea it was such a drive from the dock. On the way there the bus driver took us through some of the streets and told us some history of the city. Amazingly beautiful place. Jamey and I want to go back there on a vacation, because there is so much to see and do! We arrived at the gardens and had over an hour to walk around. The place is so huge. It is hard to explain the beauty that surrounded us.

We only had an hour of day light left- so lots of the pictures were taken in the dark. As we walked around we ran into our dinner friends Siki and Doron. I took a picture of them and then Doron wanted a picture of me and Siki.

It was such a neat opportunity to meet this fine couple on the ship. It made our dinners and other activities we did so enjoyable. I loved the rose garden- I remember years ago my grandma telling me that this place was one of her favorite places on earth and someday I needed to go. I took a minute and thought about my grandma and I hope that she has a rose garden even more beautiful than the one I witnessed.

Day 7

We docked port 66 in Seattle and said goodbye to the food, employees and our cabin for the last time. Jamey woke up feeling quite yucky. He was suppose to change his motion sickness patch the night before, but thought that since most of the night he was going to be sleeping he wouldn't worry about it. In hind sight he wished he had. He spent the morning in the bathroom throwing up. It made for a quick exit from the ship though when we told the employees that we needed to get off the ship because he was so sick. We then walked what we thought was a few blocks- if you go the right way- to our rental car. Once we got our car we were off to Whidbey Island to meet up with our good friends Robb and Kris for the boys to scuba dive. The boys left and Kris and I took her kids to Ebey's Landing to see a north west beach. I have never been to one before and it was just like the pictures- I loved it!!

Feet pictures are about the only ones you can take by yourself.

Avery started posing at the end, just before leaving.

Day 8

Let me just say- we stayed an extra day and I think both my kids and their babysitter had wished we had not. At 8:30 in the morning I got a whiney phone call from Spencer asking us to come home. We spent a few minutes calling the airline trying to see if we could get an earlier flight home. Just like go it was impossible. Oh well. We had high hopes of getting to see all that was in Whidbey Island, but the weather was typical rainy weather which put a damper on everything we wanted to do. We drove to Deception Pass, but barely got out of the car to take some pictures because of the rain.

We then decided to just head to Seattle. It was raining there, so we ate at P.F. Changs- thanks to my parents awesome anniversary gift. By the time we were done it was time to get to the airport and return our car. We arrived home pretty late- tired and wanting a good night sleep in our own bed. It was for sure a vacation of a lifetime and I am so lucky that my husband took me. Happy ten years and many more to come!!!