Days 1 & 2: Yakatut Bay and Glacier Bay

We made it onto our cruise ship!  For the next week we had gorgeous views like this to look at, on both sides of the ship. We embarked on June 8 and the cruise took 7 days, from Whittier, Alaska to Vancouver, Canada.

 We took a picture of our stateroom to show the kids. It was our little home away from home, and I really enjoyed the maid service. There were days that we came and went at least ten times and it seemed like there were always new chocolates on the pillow.

Dressed up and ready for our first dinner! We enjoyed the company at our table every night. We had a couple from Germany, Alaska, and Southern California.  We were the youngest by quite a bit and they couldn't believe we had five kids. Who knows, maybe we were just making it all up - you never know.

Here's my barefoot-on-the-sandy-beach shot.  We didn't do any snorkeling on this cruise (compared to the last two) but the scenery was incredible and I liked my comfy seat on deck just the same.

I'm a big fan of pretty sunsets.

The next day we had all kinds of fun activities to do on board the ship. It was technically a "Day at Sea," but we were sailing along through Yakatut Bay, where there was constantly something to look at.  Above is a glimpse of Hubbard Glacier coming into view. It is North America's largest tidewater glacier and I didn't realize how huge that is until we got closer.

Icebergs started floating by and some of them had cute little friends on them. I was hoping we would get to see some big icebergs too.

And then, WOW!  Plenty of big icebergs. They went on for miles and miles between us and the glacier.  We couldn't get much closer because they were so thick. The blue color is the face of the glacier. The ice is a transparent blue because it is so compacted. It's really pretty in person.

With the enormous glacier next to the enormous mountains, it is hard to gauge how big it really is. We were still far away, so to put it into perspective, the blue face of the glacier is six MILES wide.  The cliffs are about three hundred and fifty feet tall.  Looking from the ship to the glacier is like looking from our house to Burley. Crazy.  And that's just at the face of it.  At it's widest and highest point, the Hubbard Glacier is 7 miles wide, 600 feet tall, and 76 miles long. And next to it, I'm just a tiny little person.

Here's my cute husband with a cute iceberg. It was still bobbing several feet up and down.  Have I mentioned that it was extremely cold watching for glaciers?  It was COLD watching for glaciers!

We managed to get warmed up and cleaned up for our first formal night on the ship. I sure do love cruises.  The evenings were always fun to have fancy dinner and a live theater show, followed by whatever activities we decided to do.

The next morning we woke up bright and early, hoping to see whales as we headed through Icy Strait into Glacier bay.  There's one!  In the picture above to the far left. There's a dark spot just below land and the white poof of a water spout next to it.

On the right of this one is another white poof. The guide kept calling them water spouts but I think "poof" is more descriptive. And you'd be surprised how hard it is to photograph a poof when you can't see the the whale and he doesn't tell you when he's going to poof!

We even saw a few whale tails come up, and I believe this picture is when the whale went straight up and did it's back-flop into the water.  It's tiny on the screen but super cool in real life.

At lunch we went to the ship's famous Alaskan Seafood Buffet. It was all really pretty and I made Ben take pictures of the fruit sculptures for me. (He personally opted for a cheeseburger. )

Yummy!  I loved all of it.

At this point we were well into Glacier Bay and I got my first glimpse of Margerie Glacier.

It's amazing how I thought we were close to it, and then it just kept getting bigger and bigger.

 The face of Margerie is incredible!  There was so much detail that it felt like we were really close, but we were still over a mile away.  Our brochure says that it is 250 feet tall.

 This particular glacier moves forward about four feet a day. We were hoping to see it "calve" off into the water while we were there.

Whoosh!  We got to see chunks of ice crash down and splash into the water.  The coolest part was when the thundering noise made it to us several seconds later - another reminder of how massive those chunks - and the splash - really are. We saw it happen quite a few times.  I wish you could all see it too.  Oh wait!  You can!  Here:

http://youtu.be/9aT1ENrCfXs




Did you have the volume turned waaaaay up to hear the crashing? There are plenty of videos like this online but I'm pretty proud of this one. (Glaciers are just as predictable as whales.)

We loved these three towers that were at the top of the glacier. We kept hoping they would crash into the water while were there. But with how hard it was to gauge the distance, they may not have come down yet.  Or maybe they are calving right now as I'm typing this. Or maybe next month?

The mountains in the background were gorgeous too.  We really lucked out with the weather!  It's normally foggy there.

Here's proof that we didn't just get all these pictures off the internet.

One last picture of the detail.  There were little caves and inlets.

Haha.  I don't know why this is funny. But it is.

After staring at the glacier for hours, we were cold and hungry so we found a nice restaurant on-board where we could stare at it little more. That's quite the view.

We each got our own pizza, made to order.  Mine had shrimp on it.

The Glacier Bay Park Rangers were on our ship all day, giving info over the speakers. When it came time for them to leave, we watched their return boat come up alongside us (while we were still cruising). They threw their gear in and then climbed down a rope ladder.  It was pretty cool to watch. I wonder if anybody has ever missed.

Bon Voyage! Those were Days 1, 2, and 3 of our Alaskan Cruise, complete.  (Next stop, Skagway!)

Anchorage, Alaska!

Alaska!  We finally made it!  Ben was born and raised (mostly) in Anchorage and we've been planning for years to make a trip up there. So Ben and I ditched the kids for ten days and made it happen.  We spent the first three days in Anchorage and then went on a cruise down the coastline. There's no way I could cover it all in one blog post so it is divided up for your viewing pleasure. I have to say, between the two of us we took 1,308 pictures. Whew. This post will be about our time in Anchorage.

When Ben's mom picked us up at the airport (thank you!) we were greeted soon after by her friend, a Native Alaskan. Ben told me we weren't going to see any igloos or Eskimos on our trip, so I jumped all over my chance to speak to a native. She humored me with a little U'pik:



http://youtu.be/PnQ1cfQP85o

Our first stop was at Norm Duquette's house.  This is Elizabeth's father --  Ben's stepmom's dad.  I have only known Norm through mail correspondence so I was thrilled to finally meet him.  He is an amazing person and absolutely delightful to talk to.  He will turn 93 this summer. His condo is full of treasures that he's gathered during his travels with the military. And his flowers on his back patio - wow.

Next, Ben's stepdad Ed drove us to see his daughter Rebecca.  Holy Big Dog!  His foot is longer than mine!  We all took Max for a walk. There are biking trails and trees and streams everywhere in Anchorage.  Everywhere!

This is when I first got to meet the Alaskan State Bird. The mosquito. They're huge.

Who doesn't love a super huge chocolate fountain? I am so very thankful to Ben's mom and stepdad for driving us around and letting me be a tourist. We went in all the shops and saw all the sights.

That evening we ate at The Sourdough Mining Company, complete with entertainment and an amazing meal. Corn fritters that taste better than doughnuts - who knew?!

After dinner Cathy drove us up above the city so we could get a view of the coastline.  Amazing! We could see for miles and miles - the photo doesn't do it justice. Apparently it's rare to have such a clear view in Anchorage.  It didn't rain at all while I was there; in fact it wasn't even cloudy, and people commented on it everywhere we went. Perfect weather just for me!

At this point in the "evening" it was almost midnight and still not dark. The sun goes down so late! The next three pictures were taken even later, that same night. I would never sleep if I lived here.  It's too much fun to stay up!

We visited the first LDS church that Ben ever went to. (Nobody at church at midnight?) And in that very same parking lot, built since the last time Ben was here --

The LDS Anchorage, Alaska Temple!  Ben told me about this temple on our first date. I was impressed. Alaska is so cool.

And here we are!

The next morning we visited a bunch of places that Ben remembers from his Alaska days.  It was so fun!  I loved it. I hope I can label them correctly. Above is Chinook Elementary.

Service High School.

His mom's place on Moose Run Circle.

His dad's place on Julianna Street.

I took this picture from a meadow off to the side. A meadow where Ben ditched me to go take pictures in back. A meadow where I was certain a bear was going to come out and eat me at any instant.  I think there were twenty of them hiding behind the trees and licking their chops. I could hear them. I was waiting for Ben to come back and save me, until I realized that he had taken a different route back to the car. It's a miracle I survived those imaginary bears on my own.

Moose crossing signs!  We don't have those in Idaho.  But I'm not sure they're necessary in Alaska either, because the Moose there are polite and cross on people crosswalks:

We passed this moose on Strawberry Road and stopped in time to turn around and follow it.  (But it didn't use the crosswalk the next time. Maybe I was wrong.)

Ben got a fun video clip:

http://youtu.be/tLpfocNI_vM

This is a nice little lake where locals were enjoying the 70 degree heat wave. In the winter, this same lake is used for ice skating.

Hi Mom! This is lunch at Guido's Pizza.  As a big lover of pizza, Ben has always insisted that Guido's makes the BEST pizza anywhere.  I admit, it was really really good. We might have to go all the way to Alaska again just for the pizza.  (I have lots of pictures of Ben eating pizza but only one of his mom watching him eat pizza.)  Their garlic bread was yummy too.

This is their pet doodle. She's tall and friendly and hypo-allergenic. And she barks a special bark when bears come into their yard. (I'm happy to say I never heard that one.)

This is me and a rock guy.  (I'm thinking I should have read the sign.)

That evening we went to dinner with Ben's friend, Connor Murphy, at Simon and Seafort's seafood restaurant. The food was incredible! We had a fun evening and sadly this is the only picture I took. The reflection in the lake was amazing but I do wish I had turned around and taken a picture of Ben and Connor too. They are hilarious and revert back to high school (junior high?) instantly in each other's company. I learned a lot about my husband in a couple hours' time...

The next morning it came time to leave Anchorage, and Cathy and Ed were kind enough to drive us a couple hours away to our next destination. The scenery along the way totally caught me off guard. It was breathtaking!  Pictures don't do it justice so you'll just have to go see for yourself.  I do have to share this next picture though.  I saw a train coming fast from the opposite direction and I tried to time it just right:

Not too bad!

On our way to Wittier we stopped off at the Alyeska Ski Resort to go for a tram ride.

Waaaaaay up there!  That itty bitty building down there is actually super huge.  I'm not afraid of heights but I am afraid of skiing in terrifying places.  This is one of them.

(Note to self:  Never visit Alaska in the wintertime.)  The view was gorgeous though.

We did have a snowball fight at the top of the mountain, in June, wearing shorts.

And we made it back down.

Next stop was Portage Glacier.  It's that white river of ice on the other side of the lake.  And this was the first iceberg I've ever seen. Cool!

When Ben told me we would be driving through a tunnel to get to Whittier and the cruise ship, I didn't realize how loooong of a tunnel it takes to get through an Alaskan mountain.  Or that we would be driving on train tracks.

While driving through a train tunnel, I had mixed feelings when I started to see a light ahead. (Too many action movies for me!) But we survived - whew- and were immediately rewarded as we came out of the tunnel:

That's our ship, right there waiting for us!

It was sad to say goodbye to Ed and Cathy, and our adventures in Anchorage, but that was the plan all along so we went with it.

The vacation continues!