After leaving Skagway we had a day at sea followed by a scenic cruise through Glacier Bay National Forest, I'll be honest, the glaciers didn't do much for David but I loved them, something like that being so large and beautiful is just really breathtaking to me, especially when I consider the real force and power behind it.
You wouldn't think much of the park in the summer time as you cruise into it but once you get in front of the main glacier it really is aw inspiring...again this is where the panorama photos come into play to show the vastness of the area you are looking at...
About 5 to 7 feet of the glacier break off every now and again and the sound is like a roar of thunder you wouldn't believe and the show of it is amazing!
After our time in Glacier Bay we were supposed to head into Ketchikan and Victoria, B.C. however due to a large storm front we ended up altering our course to Vancouver, B.C. for Friday, we were sad to miss out on Ketchikan because we had a go-kart adventure but we felt that our experiences with Juneau and Skagway we would be okay with a quick jaunt into Canada rather than 2 stops.
All was set and ready to go but then on Friday morning we experienced more bad weather and missed our chance for the ship to hit the channel to take us to Vancouver so sadly we never stepped foot on Canadian soil. We weren't exactly thrilled to be on the ship our last 3 days without any stops but it is what it is and you can't really change it, like I said before we felt like the things we had seen already were enough memories to last us a lifetime.
Today we arrived back in Seattle, we had a lazy day of checking into the hotel and dropping off our bags then headed over to the movie theaters to check out 2 new movies that had come out. All in all our 10 day vacation has been absolutely amazing, we both really needed the break but we are so excited to get home to the girls we can't even stand it. Heck, I half thought of catching a red-eye home to get to them faster. Thanks to everyone who checked in on our cruise and wished us well, I hope the pictures live up to the amp I gave them and I highly encourage anyone and everyone to take this trip...it's definitely one you won't forget!
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| this is a screen shot from our TV screen on the ships time channel |
David's horse was named "Tuff", ironic I know, especially when you find out that Tuff was a draft horse, my quarter horse was Bennett who Tuff was more than happy to follow behind, David didn't mind the view or the slower pace that I kept for him but he did like a quick trot here and there! Again, our scenery was gorgeous and I couldn't think of another way to celebrate our anniversary...this was definitely one of our favorite moments of the whole trip!
The town of Skagway is just so quaint and cute, definitely a place we could settle in. The graduating class of the high school this year is just four kids, two boys and two girls! From the old school train that used to be used as a snow blower on Broadway, the main street in town to the little things like the wooden planks that make the sidewalks instead of cement, thankfully this is a historically preserved town and nothing will change or grow in it!
Finally, we had an early dinner at the Skagway Brewing Company following by a stop into one of the oldest brothels that used to be in existence, the Red Onion Saloon, and as we depart on the rocks are these amazing murals, I have no idea where they come from or what they mean but it was really crazy to see something like that on the side of the mountains...I'm sure they have a strong meaning or at least some meaning but for now I just enjoy the art in them.
I mean does the description not pull you in enough? Juneau is AMAZING!
It's stunning and beautiful and so vast, all of Alaska is...there is
just no way possible to show the vastness of the area and the beauty
that surrounds it. I tried so hard to stay out from behind the camera
but I just had to take picture after picture, however no matter how hard I
tried the camera could never capture what my eyes were seeing.
Since our time zones were still all messed up we were up around 7 AM, three hours before we hit Juneau, we decided to take advantage of the scenery around us and have breakfast on the balcony...yummmy!!
We arrived in Juneau at around 10 AM on Monday morning, we had all day in port up until about 11 PM which was perfect. Honestly when we originally booked this trip we had paid for an excursion that included a helicopter tour of Mendenhall Glacier followed by dog sledding on the glacier but unfortunately they forgot to tell us the stop of the season for such excursions was cut off the week prior. We had planned to just walk around town and enjoy the area but when we got off the ship there was company after company selling discounted excursions, oddly enough a young ginger man from Virginia (no relation to my husband) sold us on a whale watching expedition. David and I both thought that if we saw a whale it would be miles away...boy were we in for a surprise.
The whales were at times maybe 30 feet away from our boat, it was beautiful and stunning, such huge creatures within what felt like an arms length. We couldn't have asked for a better experience! One of the islands we passed by is said to have more black bears on it than people, in fact the bears outnumber the population here 5 to 1...I mean that's pretty nuts, we didn't get to see any bears but those whales more than made up for it!
After our whale adventure we decided to hike over to Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls, both of which are apart of the Mendenhall Glacier National Park Reserve, it was about a 2 mile hike from the entrance of the park to the glacier and falls. David loves to be outdoors and in the mountains, I'm a little more of a city girl but once again I was so struck by the beauty and everything around us that I couldn't help but fall in love with this place.
From the enormous glacier to the beautiful trails and soft falling waterfalls all around you it's impossible not to truly appreciate nature and everything it gives to us. No wonder this place is called the Last Frontier, I've never seen anything so untouched in my life, of course there are man made paths but they are just crushed gravel from the mountains around and that's about it...everything else is Mother Nature at her finest. Mendenhall Glacier is 2,200 feet deep and spreads of 15,000 square miles, again doesn't that give you a reference to the vastness of the area?
Nugget Falls is actually right next to the Glacier, it's mammoth water flow comes from the Glacier slowly melting during the summer months, the roar it produces can be heard from the beginning of the park. Thankfully a nice couple that I helped take a picture for offered to do the same for David and I...this is definitely frame worthy!
Famished from our amazing day we took the shuttle back into town to catch a bite at Red Dog Saloon, one of the oldest saloons in America that's still running. It was established in 1898 for the miners in the area. We enjoyed a tasty round of Duck Farts (Baileys, Kahlua and Crown Royal) and some Avalanche Burgers, also borrowing a pen from our waitress we scribbled our initials on the wall, who knows, maybe in five or ten years we will come back and see if we can find it again!
As our time came to an end we strolled around the area and
got some gifts for family and friends and headed back to the ship...we
really enjoyed Juneau, it offered so much more than we ever expected and
the memories we have from here will always be treasured, this is
definitely a place we will come back to again later in life!
Since our time zones were still all messed up we were up around 7 AM, three hours before we hit Juneau, we decided to take advantage of the scenery around us and have breakfast on the balcony...yummmy!!
We arrived in Juneau at around 10 AM on Monday morning, we had all day in port up until about 11 PM which was perfect. Honestly when we originally booked this trip we had paid for an excursion that included a helicopter tour of Mendenhall Glacier followed by dog sledding on the glacier but unfortunately they forgot to tell us the stop of the season for such excursions was cut off the week prior. We had planned to just walk around town and enjoy the area but when we got off the ship there was company after company selling discounted excursions, oddly enough a young ginger man from Virginia (no relation to my husband) sold us on a whale watching expedition. David and I both thought that if we saw a whale it would be miles away...boy were we in for a surprise.
The whales were at times maybe 30 feet away from our boat, it was beautiful and stunning, such huge creatures within what felt like an arms length. We couldn't have asked for a better experience! One of the islands we passed by is said to have more black bears on it than people, in fact the bears outnumber the population here 5 to 1...I mean that's pretty nuts, we didn't get to see any bears but those whales more than made up for it!
After our whale adventure we decided to hike over to Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls, both of which are apart of the Mendenhall Glacier National Park Reserve, it was about a 2 mile hike from the entrance of the park to the glacier and falls. David loves to be outdoors and in the mountains, I'm a little more of a city girl but once again I was so struck by the beauty and everything around us that I couldn't help but fall in love with this place.
From the enormous glacier to the beautiful trails and soft falling waterfalls all around you it's impossible not to truly appreciate nature and everything it gives to us. No wonder this place is called the Last Frontier, I've never seen anything so untouched in my life, of course there are man made paths but they are just crushed gravel from the mountains around and that's about it...everything else is Mother Nature at her finest. Mendenhall Glacier is 2,200 feet deep and spreads of 15,000 square miles, again doesn't that give you a reference to the vastness of the area?
Nugget Falls is actually right next to the Glacier, it's mammoth water flow comes from the Glacier slowly melting during the summer months, the roar it produces can be heard from the beginning of the park. Thankfully a nice couple that I helped take a picture for offered to do the same for David and I...this is definitely frame worthy!
Famished from our amazing day we took the shuttle back into town to catch a bite at Red Dog Saloon, one of the oldest saloons in America that's still running. It was established in 1898 for the miners in the area. We enjoyed a tasty round of Duck Farts (Baileys, Kahlua and Crown Royal) and some Avalanche Burgers, also borrowing a pen from our waitress we scribbled our initials on the wall, who knows, maybe in five or ten years we will come back and see if we can find it again!
After enjoying Seattle's breakfast we had to head over to Pier 91 to get onto our beautiful ship the Star Princess, one of Princess Cruise Line's many ships, is about 933 feet long with 4 decks of interior, balcony, mini-suite and suites on board, 2 specialty restaurants, 3 dining rooms and a plethora of entertainment options!
One thing you have to know about my husband is that I spoiled him rotten when we got married in Las Vegas, since then he will NOT travel if he doesn't have a jacuzzi tub in the room, with this in mind and the thought of being cooped up in a small room for 7 days we decided to splurge on the Penthouse Suite! The 868 sq. ft. suite included a small office, mini/wet bar, living room, 2 TV's, a balcony with a 4 person sitting area, 2 lounge chairs, a queen bed, spacious closet, jacuzzi with separate shower and a separate wash area...quite the spread for 7 days but we used every square inch of it. David lived on the balcony most of the time we were at sea enjoying the views.
Our ship left the pier around 4 PM on Saturday and one of the perks of the suite was that on Embarkation night (the night we left Seattle) the ship gave us complimentary reservations to visit one of the two specialty restaurants on the ship. The specialty restaurants are an additional cover charge of $25/per person to dine in, one was the Crown Grill, which obviously was steaks and the second was Sabitini's which was an Italian style, we decided to go for Crown Grill, we both enjoy a good steak so why not? I had Filet Mignon and David gave the Porthouse a try, we were not disappointed at all and to our surprise when we came back chocolate covered strawberries had been left on our balcony, thankfully David doesn't have a big sweet tooth so I enjoyed myself.
Have you ever watched a movie under the stars? Well we did! Pretty much every night that we were at sea the ship offered Movies Under the Stars, they would put the lounge chairs out on the Lido Deck next to the bar (of course, haha) and played an assortment of movies. Our first night it was The Great Gatsby, which I hadn't seen before. So far our cruise was off to an amazing start and we couldn't wait to get to Alaska!!!
Although we would be on the boat for another day, the sunset, the views, the chill in the air and with my babe right beside me I am absolutely the most happy and lucky gal in the world! Next stop, Juneau!!
One thing you have to know about my husband is that I spoiled him rotten when we got married in Las Vegas, since then he will NOT travel if he doesn't have a jacuzzi tub in the room, with this in mind and the thought of being cooped up in a small room for 7 days we decided to splurge on the Penthouse Suite! The 868 sq. ft. suite included a small office, mini/wet bar, living room, 2 TV's, a balcony with a 4 person sitting area, 2 lounge chairs, a queen bed, spacious closet, jacuzzi with separate shower and a separate wash area...quite the spread for 7 days but we used every square inch of it. David lived on the balcony most of the time we were at sea enjoying the views.
Our ship left the pier around 4 PM on Saturday and one of the perks of the suite was that on Embarkation night (the night we left Seattle) the ship gave us complimentary reservations to visit one of the two specialty restaurants on the ship. The specialty restaurants are an additional cover charge of $25/per person to dine in, one was the Crown Grill, which obviously was steaks and the second was Sabitini's which was an Italian style, we decided to go for Crown Grill, we both enjoy a good steak so why not? I had Filet Mignon and David gave the Porthouse a try, we were not disappointed at all and to our surprise when we came back chocolate covered strawberries had been left on our balcony, thankfully David doesn't have a big sweet tooth so I enjoyed myself.
Have you ever watched a movie under the stars? Well we did! Pretty much every night that we were at sea the ship offered Movies Under the Stars, they would put the lounge chairs out on the Lido Deck next to the bar (of course, haha) and played an assortment of movies. Our first night it was The Great Gatsby, which I hadn't seen before. So far our cruise was off to an amazing start and we couldn't wait to get to Alaska!!!
Although we would be on the boat for another day, the sunset, the views, the chill in the air and with my babe right beside me I am absolutely the most happy and lucky gal in the world! Next stop, Juneau!!
Some of you may or may not know that since getting married 2 years ago my husband, David and I have yet to take any kind of honeymoon or vacation, the most we've been away is an overnight trip but that's life when you have two babies under two years old, they always come first.
In February of this year David and I decided to take a cruise, we aren't exactly warm weather people so we knew a Caribbean cruise was probably out of the question but we quickly agreed that going on a cruise to Alaska sounded like the most amazing thing! We both love the cooler weather, the views are absolutely beautiful and we've never heard anyone complain about going on a cruise to Alaska, even my mom who went a few years ago told us we wouldn't regret it. So we went ahead and booked it to celebrate not just our wedding anniversary but also my husband's birthday which is exactly one week before our wedding date.
We chose to cruise with Princess Cruise Line and we picked our departure from Seattle. Friday, September 13th we embarked on our first vacation/honeymoon in 2 years and headed out west! We arrived in Seattle on Friday around 3 PM, checked into our hotel and got dressed for our annual birthday/anniversary tradition of dinner at Morton's. Thankfully it was only 2 blocks away from hotel so we were able to stroll through downtown Seattle and see some of the sites.
In February of this year David and I decided to take a cruise, we aren't exactly warm weather people so we knew a Caribbean cruise was probably out of the question but we quickly agreed that going on a cruise to Alaska sounded like the most amazing thing! We both love the cooler weather, the views are absolutely beautiful and we've never heard anyone complain about going on a cruise to Alaska, even my mom who went a few years ago told us we wouldn't regret it. So we went ahead and booked it to celebrate not just our wedding anniversary but also my husband's birthday which is exactly one week before our wedding date.
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| As always, Morton's treats us wonderfully for our celebration and the food is amazing! |
After dinner at Morton's and a long day of traveling we headed back to our hotel to get some rest. We knew the day MIGHT be long since neither of us have ever boarded a cruise ship before. Oddly enough, probably due to the time change we both woke up around 4:30 AM on Saturday, starving we went out in search of food. We quickly discovered that Seattle doesn't really wake up until about 9 AM...thankfully Starbucks is always open, then we headed down towards Pike Place Market which is a local farmers market where fresh produce, seafood, flowers and just about anything you can think of is sold.
Around 8 AM we found Three Girls Bakery with croissants that were to die for! Just after 8 AM, things started to pick up, fish were being put on ice, produce was being put out and the flowers, oh my, the flowers were stunning! Sunflowers the size of my head and I love me some sunflowers. We walked along the docks and saw Seattle's Ferris Wheel along with their baseball and football stadiums, can't beat walking on a cobblestone path.
Finally, we found a little cafe to sit and have some coffee and hot chocolate which they make to your specific requests. Seattle is definitely a beautiful city, I'm not sure I'd live here since it's so similar to home but the weather is something to be desired as it's always a little on the chill side....next up...getting on the boat and heading to ALASKA!!! Stay tuned...
