Alaska Adventures

**Disclaimer - This is more for my own memory purposes than for a reading audience, so I fully understand if you choose not to read everything and just browse the pictures.  But for those who really love us a lot, feel free to read the highlights of our Alaskan adventure! **

Highlights:

Day T-Minus 1
-Garrett felt that an Alaskan cruise wasn't enough adventure, so he decided to fall off the wall into the rosebushes.  This earned him 2 staples in his head, a sizeable bandage on his elbow, and numerous cuts/scrapes/bruises over the remainder of his body.  Luckily, we still had one more day before we left.  After some ibuprofen, an Icee, and several movies on the couch, he was as good as new.

Day 1- Travel to Seattle, Washington
-First airplane flight for both kids (Garrett's been, but he was only a baby).  Both LOVED it, especially the take-off.  Turbulence was met with roller-coaster yells and laughs.
-Arrived in Seattle to find that the airline had lost both the kids' suitcases.  Swimming at the hotel was thus ruled out, so we took the train into Seattle to sightsee. Luckily, the suitcases arrived around midnight.
-Were blessed to have gorgeous weather, which enabled us to see Mt. Rainier perfectly, which apparently only happens about 90 days out of the year.
-Out of hundreds of people roaming Pike's Street Market, we managed to walk right into my brother and his family.  We saw the sights together, including riding up to the top of the Space Needle, with its fabulous views of Seattle:

Day 2 -Boarding the Cruise Ship-
-After going through customs and security, we boarded the cruise ship and had a few hours to wander around and see all it had to offer.  The buffet was first, of course, but other highlights included the golf net, the video arcade, and the basketball court:

 -At 4:00 p.m. we set sail on our Alaskan cruise!  The views were beautiful as we waved Bon Voyage!

Day 3 -At Sea
-The cousins explored the ship together, favoring the golfing nets and playing shuffleboard.  Paige's favorite was the "Kid's Cafe", which featured a kid-sized buffet so they could serve themselves, and then small tables and stools so they could sit at their own height.  24-hour ice cream machines definitely were a perk too!
-My motion sickness kicked in a little, so I spent most of the day laying down, sitting down, or wishing I was laying down or sitting down.  By nightfall I had gotten my "sea legs".
-The kids also spent time at the Kid's Crew, a place for the kids to hang out and play while Mom and Dad did other things.  Paige loved it, while Garrett wasn't so sure.

Day 4-Ketchikan, Alaska

-Dave and my brother Jeff went fly fishing together.  It wasn't quite salmon spawning time yet, so Dave had to settle for rainbow trout.  He said they were beautiful, but not as big as the ones he gets on the San Juan.  Still, who could fault the scenery?

-The kids and I shopped for souvenirs, and I had to convince them not to spend everything they had at the first shop.  Here they are by our ship in their new hats and sweatshirts:

 -And by the beautiful town of Ketchikan:

 -Then we caught a bus out to Totem Bight State Park, which had some really amazing totem poles.  You can see how much bigger this one is than Paige.  There was one that was probably twice as tall as this, but I couldn't fit it into one picture!

 -There was also a native house you could go into.  The kids liked the tiny door!

 -Then we went back to town to watch the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show.  They divided the lumberjacks into 2 teams. The kids loved cheering for our team and booing the other team.  Even though they lost, we were proud of our team:

Day 5- Juneau, Alaska
-We boarded Captain Larry's purple, souped-up whale watching boat and set out on an adventure.  Captain Larry promised he would deliver amazing sights, and he did!  There was the Orca family (mom and baby pictured here),

 -The sea lions hanging out on the buoys:

 -And finally, the humpback whale mom and baby that kept swimming closer to the boat.  What an exciting morning!

 -After the boat left the port, we sailed up to Endicott Glacier.  We were amazed at how close our ship was able to get to the glacier (although Garrett was a little concerned about the big pieces of ice our ship kept hitting!)  Here's a picture from farther away:

 -And the stunning fjords around the glacier:

 -And finally, a setting sun over the water to finish out an exciting day.

Day 6 -Skagway, Alaska
-The morning got off to a rocky start, with Garrett not feeling well and Paige's hat blowing off her head and into the water the minute she stepped off the gangway.  After some breakfast for Garrett and some major cuddling and reassuring for Paige, we stepped into our next adventure: a hike and river float tour.

-Our guide, Bob, led us to the Chilkoot Trail, which was used by gold miners to travel from Canada into Alaska.  We hiked 2 miles of the trail through beautiful, lush rainforest.  (And by the way, when the website says the hike has an elevation gain of 300 feet on uneven ground, don't laugh.  They actually mean 300 feet pretty much straight up over steps, roots, and climbing rocks.  Sorry Mom and Dad!)

 -Paige was fascinated with Bob, who looked like a gold miner transported through time:

 -After we tired ourselves out climbing up the side of the mountain, the trail leveled out into a beautiful berry patch along the river.  We didn't see any bears, for which I was mostly thankful, but also a little disappointed.

 -Then we donned our rubber boots and lifejackets for the river float portion.  Garrett was nervous at first, but soon settled in and loved his front of the raft seat!  Paige kept asking when the water was going to splash all over us and seemed a little disappointed that we never got wet.

 -Every day after our adventures, we came back to our room to find towel creations left by our room steward.  Here was our favorite:

Day 7 -Prince Rupert, Canada
-We sailed most of the day, and got off the ship around dinnertime in Canada.  The town itself was not very interesting, but quite pretty.  Garrett and Ryan got to see the Canadian Mounties:

 -After that, we just walked around for a little while.  We hit the local Safeway for Cokes and candy, then sat on a big hill overlooking the water and just let the kids run and play.  I think they liked that as much as any of our fancy adventures!

Day 8 -At Sea
-By now we were getting ready to be off the boat.  As beautiful as it was, we were tired of waiting in lines and having 4 people cozied up in about 150 square feet of cabin.  There were some distractions to our day, such as a magic show and a "Pirate Parade":

 -And, just to make sure we finished our cruise on a good note, God sent a beautiful sunset to remind us of his goodness.  (Of course, Dave had to stay up until 11:00 before the sun actually set!)

Another Highlight:
-The second night we went to the big theater for a magic show.  Dave was called out of the audience to participate, which he was embarrassed about.  To make it even worse, the magician said that Dave and the other 2 "volunteers" needed to put on costumes.  They came out and put on a spoof opera about a knight, a princess, and a viking conqueror.  Guess who the princess was??  Dave -in a purple velvety dress with giant, pointy, Madonna-like boobs.  Garrett laughed his head off, and Paige kept saying "Daddy has huge boobs!!"  Needless to say, Dave was extremely relieved that there was no video or photography allowed in the theater, or that picture would definitely have made it on the blog!  He also steered clear of the theater for the rest of the cruise, until the last night, when he only agreed to go if we sat far up and he could sit in the middle where he wouldn't be called on.

-All in all, it was the family vacation of a lifetime.  We got to spend time with our family, the cousins played so well together, and the weather was beautiful the whole time.  I'm thankful to my mom and dad for setting this all up for us.  It was a great reminder of the beauty of what God has created, and the fellowship between family and friends!