Cruise, Part Uno

So, these posts about our cruise will probably be a lot, and I mean a LOT of pictures. I think we took over 1500 photos. Obviously, not all of them are good, or even decent for that matter, but we took a lot. I will try to write descriptions under all of them, so that you know what is going on in them and where they are. For right now, I'm going to try to sum up our trip.

We left Seattle on the afternoon of September 11. We had 3 stops in Alaska and one in Canada. In Alaska, we went to Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, and in Canada, we stopped in Victoria, BC. In Juneau we went to the Mendenhall Glacier and a Salmon Bake. In Skagway we took a train into the mountains and went to a suspension bridge, then rode a bus back to town. And in Ketchikan we went on a zip lining course. We just walked around Victoria and enjoyed the city.

It was nice to be able to have some time for just Daddy and me, especially since he has been working down in San Antonio for over a year. We really missed seeing the kids, though, and often found ourselves thinking how much the kids would have enjoyed what we were doing and/or seeing. I think it would be really fun to do a family cruise sometime.

We went to most of the shows on the ship. We had two absolute favorite shows. One was a show called "Oh What a Night!" It was a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. They were fantastic! And the other was a juggling comedian named Barry John. The other shows we saw were either basically showgirls or just not very good.

The weather was beautiful! It was very cool. We had come from 100+ degree weather, and I think the hottest it was on the cruise was probably 60 degrees. I don't know if it even got that warm. It was nice to be able to wear long sleeve shirts and pants.

The food was great! We ate a lot. I think I gained about 5 pounds. I think Daddy gained close to 10 pounds, but I'm not positive. Okay, so I think that about sums up the basics of the cruise. Like I said before, I will give more details with the pictures.

This was taken right after we got on the ship.

Our first day out at sea we saw lots of dolphins. They were very cool and swimming along side the boat. They are Pacific Whitesided Dolphins.

This was the cast from "Oh What a Night!" We were obviously able to go down after the show and take pictures. One of the reason I really like this show was because I knew most of the songs. They were songs I remember listening to with my parents, so it brought back good memories. :)

During one of our days at sea, we decided to go bowling. Normally, I'm a pretty terrible bowler. On the ship wasn't much of an exception. However, I did manage to win our first game because I think the ship helped compensate for my problems and create problems for everyone else. It was pretty amusing. During the first game, I also got my first turkey ever! It was awesome!! :)

I know it is extremely difficult to see, but that dark spot in the water is the hump of a humpback whale. You can see it better if you click on it. We actually saw one breech out of the water but weren't able to get a picture of it.

This was as we were pulling into Juneau.

Mendenhall Glacier from the road that we were driving on to get up to it.

Mendenhall Glacier from the beginning of the trail

Waterfall near Mendenhall Glacier

Icebergs in the lake beneath Mendenhall Glacier that look like someone carved them

Tiny iceberg we found floating near the shore of the lake.  Daddy went and got it out and got his foot a little wet in the process. We each broke a chunk off it and ate it. It might sound weird but it tasted really good. It was very refreshing. Plus, it's fun to say that I ate a piece of ice from off a glacier. :)

I like this picture because you can see how clear the iceberg is.

Another shot of the waterfall

Daddy's dad and stepmom went with us. It was a lot of fun being able to spend time with them and get to know them better.

I like this picture a lot. :) But I have to tell you that we totally forgot to take pictures at the Salmon Bake. It was pretty tasty.

This is the only bear we saw. :(

This is the snow plow that they put on the front of the train in order to clear the snow off the railroad. It's HUGE!

Us in downtown Skagway--We found out that a lot of college students from Utah will move up to Skagway for work during the cruising season and then move back down when it is over. Our bus driver was from Orem.

If you look really closely, you can see two salmon in this picture swimming upstream. We saw this in a little stream in Skagway.

A lot of the pictures following this one are just some really cool pictures that Daddy took while we were on our train ride from Skagway to the suspension bridge. Just enjoy the beautiful scenery. :)

What does this rock look like to you?

This is an old bridge that isn't used anymore, but it looks really cool.

This was once we got to were the suspension brige was. It was in Canada.

The bridge--I really like this picture!

Pictures from standing on the bridge

On the other side of the bridge

Pretty flower in a flower pot outside the gift shop--Oh! I almost forgot: when we got there, we were starving so we got some chili and a cinnamon roll and hot chocolate. The perfect meal to warm me up. And all of it was fabulous--a little pricey, but definitely very yummy!

It took us about 8 or 10 tries to get this shot just the way we wanted it with the waterfall in the background. Once we got to the suspension bridge, we took our bus back to Skagway. We stopped here on the way back.