A Different Kind of Cruise

For Sam's graduation he wanted to go on a cruise to Antartica.  Not that that isn't totally cool and I would totally be up for it if I was a millionaire, but since we aren't and we wanted everyone to go on the cruise with us, we made him make another choice.  His choice:  Alaska!

We started out in Vancouver.  And to show you how memorable this was, in August we played a game in Relief society- Never have I ever and I said, "never have I ever been to Canada."  Right!  Ya I just blocked it out of my mind, because this was June and it was freaking cold and rainy and cloudy.  The hotel room we rented was a joke, the owners were super rude and we ended up having to get another room for the two days we were there, but also paying for that one.  Super expensive.  I don't hold Canada as a country responsible for this terrible holiday experience consciously, but obviously I do unconsciously!

 We got donuts because that's what you are supposed to do in Canada, right?

 Walking in the rain, after we bought umbrellas.  We were still soaking wet and Rob had to change socks with Emma who wore a hole in her heel.

 We saw some cool things at Stanley park in the pouring rain at 54 degrees in June!

 Finally on the boat and ready to head out of Vancouver- yeah!

 We didn't do a ton on the boat.  We did a lot of sight seeing and stopping at different towns.  Our first stop Ketchikan.

 I believe in Juneau we took a kayak ride.  

 Emma was my partner and our kayak was broke.  It wouldn't go like the other kayaks.  The instructor even came over and told us to do certain things and we would do them and the boat wouldn't go the way it was supposed to.  Rob said it was operator malfunction, but I'm telling you it was lopsided or something!  In the end we figured out how to compensate for it's short comings as a kayak and made it go with the rest of the group.

 At the end of the kayak trip, Sam had to jump into the water.  He went to the end of the pier and did a back flip into the water.  They made us do an incident report, because it was the rules if anyone "fell" in the water!  

We also found the Alaskan Fudge company in Juneau.  It was soooo delicious!

 Cool black flowers.  Now you know there is such a thing!  I think they were just really deep purple, but I'm going with black flowers!

 In Skagway (I think- see what happens when you wait a year and a half to update your blog!) We saw a variety show and panned for gold. 

 Everyone got a little gold!

 Outtakes of us all trying to jump in front of the Welcome to Alaska sign!

 The storefront is made up of driftwood

 Glaciers and more Glaciers.  And yes, everyone recorded and whooped as they fell apart.  Cheering for global warming- I don't know about us!

 When we reached Whittier, I took the bus up to Anchorage, rented a car, drove back down and got the family and then we headed to the military resort in Seward.  Another horribly cold, raining not awesome stay.  But Sam got to try and snag some Salmon.  He didn't get any, even though he tried for several hours.  It was the very start of the season.

 Then we headed up to Anchorage to stay a day with our friends from Ohio and Germany- The Bedell's.  They are totally amazing people.

 From there we took our rental up to Denali for a couple days.  

 Sled dogs!  Actual working sled dogs.  They work hard in the winter months and show off for us in the summer months

 Mt. McKinley which is now again called Denali (but I'm old and learned the name the other way, so i keep forgetting!)  Sam really wanted to walk on it a little, but it is in the middle of the park with no roads to it.  You have to plan way in advance to get flown there or have some good money.  We just settled for looking at it from afar.

 We saw bears and moose and mountain sheep and antelope and caribou and lots of eagles.  

 These things are super heavy!

 We stopped in at Iditarod museum.  They had brand new sled dog puppies that they want visitors to hold and cuddle.  Apparently that makes them better sled dogs.

 In Ketchikan we also watched the lumber jack show.  It was super fun.  

 Look at those mountains!

 Icebergs- kind of disappointing, I'm not going to lie.

 More glaciers.  Joe brought Grandpa Kresses hunting goggles to see things closer.

Not your every day fun on the boat, beach, food, beach, fun on the boat kind of cruise, but definitely an adventure.  Something we will never forget.  Thanks Sam for choosing Alaska to explore!