August 4, 2012 - Craig and I said goodbye to the kids and my parents in Hollister on August 4th and we headed to San Jose. It was only about an hour drive to get to Chris' house. Chris and Jenny were wonderful and agreed to drive us to the airport in San Jose and keep our van at their house for the week instead of us having to pay for parking at the airport. We were very grateful for them and their generosity. We had a great lunch and visited with them for a bit and then Chris dropped us off at the airport. We flew from San Jose to Seattle, WA. It was my first time in Seattle and I wish we had had more time to spend there. When we made it to Seattle we met up with Craig's parents, his sister Gail and her husband Brian, and his sister MaryAnn and her husband Mike.
That evening we all rode the tram down to the Space Needle and we were able to go all the way to the top and look out over Seattle! It was sooo amazing.
The next morning we had a taxi take us to the port where we caught our cruise ship. No one else in our party had ever cruised before so it was kind of fun explaining everything to all of the newbies.
None of my pictures loaded in order so I will just describe each picture and where it was at according to our trip itinerary. Our first stop was in Ketchican. We had fun here watching a Lumberjack show and then we took a bus out to see Totem Bight which was an Indian area with many totem poles etc. It was very interesting. In Ketchican it was interesting because they would have stairways leading directly off of a street and the stairway would be a second street so at the intersection of the street and staircase would be street signs.
On our way to our second port we went through an area called Tracy Arm Fjord. It was magnificent to wake up to this amazing glacier. We were passing chunks of ice in the water that were as big as mid-size vehicles.
Our second port was Juneau. In Juneau we took another bus tour and went out to see some other interesting sites. Along the way we were able to see a bald headed eagle perched on a telephone pole.
Our third and last port in Alaska was Skagway. It was a beautiful little town with tons of little shops to go in and out of. There was a cute little train there.
After we left Skagway we didn't have any more ports until the day before we disembarked when we stopped back in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I had never been to Canada before either so that was fun to get to say I had been in Canada.
The next morning we were back in Seattle. We were able to spend the rest of the day in Seattle and visited Pike Place Market and just hung out at the hotel with our family. The next day we spent traveling home, getting to go back through San Jose and see Chris & Jenny and then on home to see the kiddos! We had a blast seeing all of these new places but mostly just making fun memories with some of our family!
This is a picture of a mama bear and her cub when we stopped in Juneau. We had taken the little bus tour that took us out to Mendenhall Glacier and there was a little river with a bridge over it. The bears were in the river below the bridge.
This is another picture of us on the bus tour in Juneau. It was raining and Miss California here and forgotten to pack any close toed shoes for our trip to Alaska. Thank goodness Gail had a hooded rain poncho she shared with me to help keep my head and clothes dry.
This is a picture from our first night in Seattle when we went to the Space Needle.
This was the moon rising over the mountains from the top of the Space Needle.
This is in Ketchican at our lumberjack show.
Craig, me, Jeri, MaryAnn, and Gail in Ketchican.
Tracy Arm Fjord Glacier
Juneau, Alaska from the ship
I thought this waterfall was beautiful coming from the top of the mountain all the way down to the ocean.
Craig & I in front of the Tracy Arm Fjord Glacier
Tracy Arm Fjord
Juneau from the top of a rail we took to the very top of the mountain. That is our cruise ship directly at the bottom of the picture. Just for the record, I was a nervous wreck the entire time, I don't like heights like that lol
Chunks of ice floating away from the glacier
In Juneau, all of us posing :)
One of the "heated" pools at the back of our ship
Lumberjack show in ketchican
Totem Bight in Ketchican - these are the real totem poles and they have made copies to look like the real ones.
Juneau, Alaska - what a cute little town
Inside a village house at Totem Bight
Bald Headed Eagle perched on top of the pole in the distance
Same eagle as above
Staircase street in Ketchican
I liked the hot dog options
The Space Needle as we approached on our first day in Seattle.
Juneau, Alaska
Can you see the top of the waterfall at the top of the mountain streaming all the way down and into the ocean?
This is a chunk of ice that came off of the Tracy Arm Fjord Glacier that floated past our boat. It is roughly the size of a mid-size car.
This is the Mendenhall Glacier near where we saw the bears in the river.
Mama Bear in the River
Seattle Space Needle from below
Bears
Train in Skagway
Mama Bear and Cub eating a salmon they caught out of the stream
Welcome center in Victoria, British Columbia with Mike, Craig, & Gail
Pike Place Market in Seattle
Craig next to a Canadian Mailbox
Pike Place Market in Seattle
From the top of the space Needle
Mt. Rainier as were leaving Seattle headed to Alaska
Seattle as we headed to Alaska
1/3 of our ship
Our dinner table - Mike, Glenn, Jeri (barely) and Craig photobombing!
No comments:
Post a Comment