I'm well behind the 8-ball. Months ago, I was to have logged my memories of our Alaskan cruise from this past summer. Epic fail. How do I make up for it? Do it as a blog! Two birds with one stone....
First, an extremely sincere thank you is due for my father-in-law and mother-in-law. They were generous enough to take the WHOLE family, kids and all, on a 2-week Alaskan cruise, airfare and hotel included. Denise and I, and for sure the kids, had a blast and created a lifetime full of memories.
We were given the itinerary as a surprise last Christmas. Thank goodness, because it gave us several months to plan for the trip, and we needed it! After all, getting a family of 5, including 3 young children, ready and packed for a 2-week trip to Alaska takes a bit of planning. We bought clothing, luggage, supplies...and some sanity for the trip.
We flew out of DFW on American Airlines. It was the boys' first plane ride, and they were in such anticipation, they were just pacing in grandma's house waiting for the shuttle. Of course, the shuttle ran into construction, and lo and behold, we nearly had to do the airport-dash to get to the plane on time. DFW has so many entrance gates, though, that I just knew it should be a short line to get in. WRONG. We got in line behind an entire youth group that had just gotten there! The nice ladies at the ticket area saw our plight and ushered us ahead and right through....and the plane started boarding almost as soon as we got to the gate! The flight was flawless, the kids had a blast, and we got to see some amazing scenery when we began to descend into Seattle...lots of mountains and even Mt. St. Helen's volcano!
We flew in a day early and got to see the Seattle sights the next day. Downtown was really neat, the space needle was amazing, Pike's market was a blast, and the duck tour (the WWII era water-land craft) was great! The kids loved driving through the city, THEN driving directly into the lake!
Detailing every memory would create a near-unreadable blog, so I'll hit my favorites. Every port had something just a bit different and unique, and each was worth the stop. Our first port was Ketchican, an early gold rush town. We saw a great lumberjack show, then saw Creek Street...which was just that, a walkable street that was built on top of a salmon creek....for you see, the way the law was back then, any "area" above "water" could not be monitored for prostitution! Probably my favorite port was Homer. Here, Denise and I went on a guided kayak tour into the sea bay and connecting fjord. There were mountains rising on all sides, bald eagles flying about, cool breezes....just an amazing shore excursion! Our guide, Steve, was later spotted giving the same tour to Sarah Palin on her Alaska TV show.....cooooooool.
In Skagway, it was the railway that took us up the old goldrush trail. Talk about scenery! How they built that railway is a miracle, what with the hairpin turns cut right into the mountain-side. In some areas, you could still see the old walkway trail, with broken wagons and tools still littering the area. And of course, the graveyard of those that built the railway was still there. We also walked about Skagway's village, and found me some salmon jerkey....yum. Sitka housed the raptor rescue center....you guessed it, the most majestic-looking creatures up close and personal....bald eagles! We got to see them up close, as they were rehabed from injuries, and one was brought live into our room!
Juneau was the boys' favorite....whale watching....and whale watching we did! The boat drivers knew exactly where they were feeding, and we saw a myriad of whales! The put on quite a show, up close and personal. I'm not sure why they say it is good luck to get sprayed by a whale, cause that stuff stinks! One whale even rolled up on its side and flapped its flipper at us...then came all the way out of the water to see US. What beautiful creatures....why anyone would want to hunt them is beyond me, but that's another blog.
I must also mention Glacier Bay National Park. Sailing through an ice field up to glaciers and scenery galore was amazing. We got to see ice falling from the glaciers, seals swimming about, mountains and forests. Just beautiful....and COLD!
On the ship was just as fun. My wife dragged me kicking and screaming to a bingo match....where I promptly won $1,200 dollars! Otherwise, the casino enjoyed taking my money (my usual luck at 3-card poker was absent!!). The nightly musical shows were well-choreographed and the singers very talented. My favorite show was the ventriloquist, who just happened to find the lone Kentucky hick-redneck on the entire ship and get him up on stage for a little embarassment! And of course, there was the food. I ate my weight in crab and seafood, I think. The formal dinners were so much fun, especially for Cameron. He had such a good time ordering the fancy food from the big menu......and even got to ask the waiter for more crab legs and chevice' along with his lobster bisque!
One of the best features was Club Hal. It was daily kid care that allowed us to go be adults when we wanted. They had daily activities for the kids, Wii and XBox consoles, and a great staff of young women that took excellent care of our children for us. The kids still talk about the friends they made at Club Hal.
Oh, the balcony. We had spent many hours on the balcony enjoying the scenery, especially in the narrow pass. But nothing compared to the end of the cruise, when we got to see porpoises and whales galore one last time! One even did the jump out of the water for us....we later learned it is called bubble feeding.
All in all, it was the vacation of a lifetime. To get to share that with our young children was worth any minor stressors of traveling that far and long with kids. It is my sincere hope to go back to Alaska again, it was an amazing state to visit.
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