Alaska!!

I cannot believe that it has been so long since my last post. I have been so BUSY. We had a wonderful 2 weeks in Alaska. We flew into Vancouver, Canada. Our flight had three legs to the journey. We started at 7 am heading to the airport, flew to Cincinnati, Ohio, changed planes, flew to Chicago, changed planes, and finally landed in Vancouver about midnight Florida time. YIKES, but the kids did great!

We then boarded the ship in Vancouver, and set sail for ALASKA!! The first day was a day at sea. We were whale "waiting" as we waited to spot the whale spout and then see the whales dive down deep. The kids loved it. The first stop was Ketchican. It was sunny, and I got sunburned on my face after the first 2 days in Alaska!! The boys (Lowell, Jerome and Kevin) went to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, and the rest of us (Grandpa, Grandma, Myself, and Kendra) went shopping!

The next day was Juneau. We took the shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier. AMAZING!! We climbed a large rock slide to get to the bottom of a waterfall. (the waterfall is to the far right of the picture below) AMAZING!! Then we took a short hike, and ran into a bear! It was so much fun.

After Juneau was Skagway. We rented a van and drove into Canada's Yukon. The kids got to play with snow for the first time! What a great visit! We drove all the way to Caribou Crossings to have lunch in a "horse" covered wagon (said my kids). Then we mined for gold. The kids thought we were RICH with the gold they "found" at the bottom of their pans. We met a musher who has raced in the Yukon Quest 5 times, and who hopes to race in the Ididarod this next year. Playing with the husky puppies was a hit with all the kids. Then we drove to Emerald Lake... so pretty to see a coral reef that far north!

We had two days at sea, but it was wonderful. We visited Glacier Bay National Park. WOW, can't even put words into how great it is... then went to College Fjords... WOW, can't even describe how it is to see over 10 glaciers at once....

Then we stopped at Seward. We rented a full size van (more room than our cruise room had!!) and drove into Alaska. We visited Alaska Conservatory where there are hurt animals, including oxen, moose, bears, caribou, and eagles. Then drove to the Alayeska Ski Resort (so pretty) and then back to Exit Glacier. We walked to the bottom of the glacier (it looks like a dirty snow mound but it was truly the bottom of the glacier)! We had to walk in the "glacier river" to get to it, and it was truly "ice cold". The kids could not believe that we were getting all 14 shoes soaking wet to get to the bottom of the glacier. It was super fun.

The second week, we did it all again in reverse! In Juneau we went up Roberts Tramway to the top of the mountain. There we played in snow, went on a hike, and saw an eagle. In Ketchican, we rode the city bus out to Totem Bight State Park to see the wonderful totem poles.

The kids loved the cruise. Kevin ate salmon each night at dinner. The menu had salmon prepared several different ways each night, and Kevin loved to order the salmon! We sat for hours on the deck watching for the whales, and just watching snow covered mountains go by... It was the best trip ever, and we hope to go again!