Victoria B.C.

We only had a few hours in Victoria but it was the most beautiful place. The flowers are unreal. We went to Buchart Gardens. I am just going to unload some pictures from the Gardens on here. I was very frustrated that I didn't have my tripod with me to help hold the camera still. We had perfect lighting, but it requires you to not move the camera on the special setting. I was not very successful so I had to just use the general setting which doesn't capture it as well.

Ketchikan Day 6

Ketchikan was Alaska's first city and is the Salmon capital of the world. We got there at 7 am and had to be back by 1pm. Way too short. Our trip for the day was the Jeep 4x4 trip with canoeing and nature hike. This was the funnest excursion by far. As you can see from the photos, it was raining. Big surprise.

Here is a creek that was right outside from where we parked our Jeeps. Very pretty.
The coolest part about this trip was that we were allowed to drive the Jeep's ourselves. I have never experienced such fun reckless abandoment. It was awesome. We went up these old mining trails in 4 wheel drive and just bounced the things all over the place. We went through huge puddles and over rocks at 15 miles an hour. I have never seen Eldon in this light. He loved it. We had two passengers with us, a mom and her teenage daughter that just wanted to ride, not drive. We all had a blast. It was great because we were dry and having a great time.
Here is the picture of us with our passengers. Of course my eyes are closed in both pictures.

After we got out of the Jeeps, they put Ponchos and life jackets on us and then we got into canoes, in the rain. I didn't get any pictures of us canoeing because it was raining and there were some very weak paddlers in our boat so Eldon and I had alot of the work to do to get us across the lake. It was pouring, and the wind was blowing but it was beautiful.

When we got across the lake, they had a shelter with hot chocolate, chowder and smoked salmon. It tasted so good. They had you put raspberry jam on a roll with some smoked salmon and it was delicious. I had a bowl of soup, a sandwich, and hot chocolate. They then took us on a nature hike. You can see the huge tree below. I do have on a sweater, parka, life jacket and poncho here. I know I look 1200 pounds. I have no idea who the lady is behind the tree.

Here is the typical outfit in Ketchikan. This is just some random man but I thought the outfit said more than what I could write.

Juneau

So when I woke up Tuesday morning I looked out the window and saw the town of Juneau. Notice I used the word town. It has a population of about 30,000 people and is the capital of Alaska. There was a mist coming down over the mountains that was really cool. Our excursion for the day was White Water Rafting at the Mendenhall Glacier. It was raining outside and you could see your breath in the air. Hmmmm. The only thing that we were told was that we would get wet and to bring extra socks. I decided to not take the big camera on this trip and just took our little one. Good decision. We had breakfast delivered to our room and then ran out the door. Here is Juneau from the view of my balcony on the cruise ship.

Here I am waiting for the bus that would take us out to the drop in point for the rafting trip. As you can tell it is quite balmy and that the style of clothing in Juneau is HOT!
When we got to the drop in point, they gave us fishing waders (one size fits most), boots, and a life jacket. I should have put my coat on the outside of the waders. I'll tell why in a few minutes. We were paired with 10 people we didn't know and a very talkative guide. The water was covered in mist and you could not see 20 feet in front of you. Eldon thought it was like in Lord of the Rings.
If you look closely, it's hard to see with all the mist, you can see Mendenhall Glacier. It's really cool. It is very, very blue in many places. Never in my life did I think I would be rafting next to a glacier.
Here is my handsome paddling partner . The lady behind him had a partner of the same gender. As luck would have it, they were on our next excursion with us in Ketchikan as well.
There is a beautiful waterfall off in the distance. This is still at the drop in point.

Here is what was floating in the water when we rafted by. Did I say that it was cold? While going down the river, a very large amount of freezing water went down my waders and provided a floating effect in my jeans. It was very cold. Hence the reason I should have put my coat on the outside. The water also filled up in the bottom of the boat where our feet were under about 6 inches of water. Although they were dry, freezing water does provide a perfect effect of what it would feel like to be standing in ice through the boots. When we got finished, I took the waders off and my pants were soaked through. I looked around and no one else had the same wet look that I did. Also it was raining through the whole thing so my hair was wet. All I wanted was a nice pair of warm sweatpants. Irony would show that my socks were completely dry and I didn't need the extra pair they had recommended. For future trips, I would recommend extra pants and underwear. Eldon was totally dry. I was so cold that I don't have a picture of the after effect. You will just have to believe me and create an image in your head. I was going to go back to the boat to change, but we only had a few hours before we were to set sail again and we had a lot of shopping to do as well as some King Crab legs and chowder to eat. I was already wet and the rain was not letting up so why go get another outfit wet I said? I bought a headband to cover my ears and offer some support to my ailing hair that says Alaska across the front of it. (Just in case I got lost, I would know where I was) I got a very cute fleece jacet thing, gifts for the boys and others, some wonderful fudge from the Alaksan Fudge Company (highly recommended by the Washburns who have lived there), and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the crab legs and chowder. MMMMMM........

When we got back onto the boat, we were allowed to go up to the bridge with the Captain and watch them sail away from Juneau. It was very cool. Everything is very computerized, but they do have the wheel that they use when they are not out at sea. While we were "pushing off" a small fishing boat kept approaching. We heard the crew radioing to them to move as we were going to win a fight if it came to that. Finally they called the coast guard because they were not responding. Their were sirens going off and everyone was gathering to check out what was going on. Very cool.

That night we ate the high end restaurant. We were not hungry. The crab legs had put me into a stooper of joy and I was not looking forward to eating again. This was my first meal where there was a cheese course. I don't like stinky cheese at all. I was a huge whimp and tried the cheese that had no flavor and it was great. That night was also the midnight buffet. I was absolutely not going to eat again, but Eldon wanted to at least see it so he would know what it was like. It was very cool with ice sculptures and it was mostly a dessert buffet. That night we had hit rough water and the boat was bouncing all over. We had to hold onto the wall almost to walk. I have no idea how the ice sculptures stayed standing when everything was moving like that. I was so ready for bed that night. It was cool to go out on the deck of our room and watch the storm. The waves were rough and it was cold, but it was amazing to see how the ship just ran right through it.

The Alaskan Cruise

Here is the first three days of the cruise. There are two days on a different camera due to the wet and wild nature of our excursions. This was a beautiful amazing experience. We started in Seattle and cruised up to Sitka Alaska, on to the Hubbard Glacier, on to Juneau, and then to Ketchikan Alaska. When we left there we ended the trip at Victoria Brittish Colombia. It was definitely not a trip for kids, all scenery and either wild trips down rapids or looking at beautiful things. The boat was fun, but the excursions and land time were the best. So here are the first three days. I will put the last three on later tonight.

The boat and accomodations at the start of a great trip.

A picture of our welcome in our ridiculously small room. We thought the champagne was a nice touch but disappointing that there wasn't something there that we could actually partake of. But as luck would have it, on the left there is an ice and water pitcher that was refilled regularly throughout the day. I brought on some contra-band diet coke as well.

For those of you who have cruised before, you know that it is regulation that the ship go through a "fire/sinking" drill before you cruise. Everyone has to go to their assigned locations with their life preservers on and stand in line for a pretend life boat. The life boats now days are much nicer than the ones on Titanic. They also have more than enough for all on board the ship. Here is Eldon doing the drill. It makes me wonder if this procedure was done before the Titanic sailed?

Here is a picture of our ship The Celebrity Infinity. We were on Deck 8 with a Balcony on the Port side. The Balcony was so nice as I spent a ton of time out there with my camera and my book while Eldon was in meetings.
Here we are in Seattle right before we sailed out. Everyone always thinks it's a great thing to have the wind blow through your hair for photos. I think we can all agree that this is not always the case.
Off our balcony on Monday night.

Sitka, Alaska

Sitka was our first day off of the ship and first day in Alaska. When I woke up and looked off my balcony, this is what I saw. Our excursion this day was going on a Sea Otter and Wildlife boat tour. It was the perfect situation for photography and it was a beautiful day. No rain. The water was so still I was dying to waterski on it even though it was 35 degrees and filled with whales. Waterfall, obviously. Very pretty .
I thought this picture showed some idea of scale. The boat out there is a yacht. If you look beyond that, it shows you how huge the mountain ranges are. Sitka only has 11 miles of paved road in their town.
Here are two little sea otters just hanging out. They are really cute up close.

This picture is too small to show how close we were to this Bald Eagle. They are so amazing.
WHALE!
More eagles.
This is a house constructed to look like a light house.

Hubbard Glacier

Here is one of my favorite scenes at the Hubbard Glacier. I love the blue color in the glacier and the bright green mountain. Also, I love the texture and color differences in the water.

As I woke up on Monday morning, this is what I saw out on my patio. The glacier is next to the water there. It is 300 feet high and we are about 5-7 miles away from it here. So maybe you can just get a small idea of how grand it is.

Here is right before the glacier just about 2 miles from it. I believe I saw this exact picture in Maui until I look behind it and see snow capped mountains.
Here is the glacier up close or only a mile away. The water is so still and pristine. If you can see the blue ice in there, it is shockingly blue up close.
This should show you the color variations in the area. The very blue water, green mountains, blue snow in the glacier, the white ice field in front of the glacier, and the huge mountain behind it.
I just thought this was a cool picture. It was about 45 degrees with high winds but the sun was out and it was a beautiful day.

Star Wars always has biblical meaning

Max came home from church yesterday and surprised us with some gospel knowledge. He started telling Eldon the story of the Good Samaritan that he had learned in Primary. Eldon said, "Wow Max that is a story from the Bible." Max asked Eldon to tell him the story, so he did. Then Max told it again with a small twist. The thieves in the bushes were really sand people. The Chancellor and Darth Vader left young Anakin on the road to die, but it was Obi One who came to the rescue with his light saber adorned and saved young Anakin from his wounds from the Sand People. He also told me later that Obi One was from Samaritan Land. I am just happy that he told the story correctly before he imagined it with the Dark Side.