Alaska Vacation Continued....

(lots of pictures again)

We boarded our ship, the Sapphire Princess, on Saturday the 26th in Whittier, Alaska. 

This is a picture of our ship. I surprisingly forgot to take a picture of my own... so thanks to the lovely internet I was able to find a good one. :-)

SUNDAY:

 Hubbard Glacier, Yakutat Bay (Scenic Cruising)

First off Josh and I LOVED having the first 2 full days on board at sea. We were able to orient ourselves to the ship, relax on out balcony and not have to set our alarm to get up and off the ship for  excursions. While at both glaciers we were able to get really close because there were not a ton of icebergs in the way. They told us it was the closest they had gotten in about 10 years! There is no way to describe how big and beautiful the glaciers and even the icebergs are. 

Enjoying Some Yummy Desserts on our Balcony

First Look at Hubbard Glacier

One of the Huge Icebergs

We Thought it was Funny Seeing all the People on their Balconies Taking Pictures

Hubbard Glacier

Getting Ready for Formal Night While Looking at the Glacier

Beautiful Sunset at the End of a Lovely Day!

Monday:

Glacier Bay (Scenic Cruising)

You will see in the pictures that we were able to see some wild life (hehe) and lots of calving (when  ice breaks off the glacier...also called white thunder for the noise it makes) at the glacier.

See those small white dots in the middle of the picture??? Those are Dahl Sheep... :-)

It was a Bit Chilly Out

Margerie Glacier 

It is 21 miles long and about 1 mile wide 

Some Calving

 Cool Waterfall

Tuesday: Skagway

While in Skagway we did several fun activities. First we went to Liarsville where we watched a funny show and did some 'gold panning'.

Gold Panning Area

My Dear Husband

My Sweet Bear Friend 

All the supplies one would need in order (which equaled 2 tons) to go over the Yukon Pass into the Canadian Mountains during the gold rush.

The Show

Next we headed up to the Yukon Pass (Alaska/Canadian Boarder).

A Cantilever Bridge. Only supported on one side, due to the amount of seismic activity in this area. If the ground were to move they would only have to repair one side.    

Next we did out favorite activity of the trip....ROCK CLIMBING. We got to climb 4 different faces (highest being 80 feet) and rappelled down 80 feet as well. I was scared to begin with but once I got going and made it to the top it is all worth it. The amazing views weren't bad either!

Getting ready to rappelle...at this point I was sweating and getting nervous. 

No Turning Back Now

HI MOM!!

Josh flew down the wall

Josh was like a monkey climbing up the faces. 

Josh is the guy at the top

Making it up for the last time. Went hard and didn't quit! 

.....this post is getting LONG so I am going to start a new one. 

ALASKA VACATION

(Land Portion)

About a year ago Josh and I started talking about where we would like to go for our 5 year anniversary. We really hadn't been on a nice long vacation since our honeymoon and we decided 5 years of marriage deserved some celebrating! As you can see from the heading we decided on Alaska. We spent 12 amazingly relaxing, fun and spectacular days there and loved every minute.

 (be warned there are lots of pictures below...but I want to remember each moment)

On Tuesday we flew into Anchorage and spent the night there at Hotel Captain Cook. The hotel (below) had great views of Cook Inlet. Josh and I were also thankful for the nice thick shades in our room. During out time in Alaska the sun rose about 4:30am and set around 11:30pm, but it never really got dark at night. 

Our next stop was the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge. Oh, what a peaceful and relaxing place. The lodge had lounge chairs (as you will see below) on a huge deck that faced Mt. McKinley. The weather cooperated with us we were able to see the whole mountain, all I can say is WOW. We learned that about 1,000 people attempt to climb Mt. McKinley each year (the season lasts from April-July) and less than half make it to the top. While were there 120 people had already tried to summit, 17 made it to the top and one person had lost their life. We loved every minute of taking in the beauty of the Mt. McKinley area by, hiking and relaxing on the deck.

FYI: My pictures below don't do justice of how amazing the mountain really is.

Mt. McKinley is right behind us

The Mountain is to the left, looks like clouds

The Full View

Josh found some snow. We went from 90s in AR to 50-60s in Alaska

So Relaxing....

Our annoying woodpecker friend


Thursday we headed to the train station and took a 4 hour train ride to our next destination, the Denali Princess Lodge. We were able to enjoy some beautiful views, great conversation with our Aussie friends and Josh and I both ordered reindeer chili for lunch....yumm!

While waiting for the train (and throughout the whole trip) we saw several sea planes. 

Our Train

This one is for mom, I went outside on the platform between the cars for awhile...

Beautiful Views

The only somewhat decent picture I had of us on the train. 

DENALI PRINCESS LODGE


We spent 2 nights here and had lots of fun hiking in Denali National Park and shopping by the lodge.  

The main lodge

Below are pictures of our hike up Mt. Healy in Denali. It was a 2 1/2 mile (1,664 ft) climb to the top. We started at the bottom with a temperature of 65 degrees and ended up at the top with a windy temp of about 40. 

Mt. Healy a view from the bottom

We encountered some snow on our way up

 It was a constant up hill climb

Yea, pretty sure I can handle these views while hiking

Taking a break on the way up to enjoy the view

ALMOST THERE...

WE MADE IT!!

 A view of our lodge from the top (I had to zoom in pretty far to get it)

Our little Pika friend. It kept squeaking at us and freaking me out. 

Taking in the view

 What a beautiful place



 My handsome hubby

After 2 days in Denali we boarded a bus for the long, but fun 7 hour drive to Whittier, where we would meet our ship. 

That ends the land portion of our trip, which we loved every minute of. I will post about our time on the ship soon! 

Mom's Birthday Surprise

May 6th is a very special day.....it is MOMS BIRTHDAY! Several weeks before her birthday my dad and I decided it would be fun for me to fly up and surprise her. My brother picked me up from the airport and the next day all of us kids met up at mom and dads for the weekend. I have a couple pictures (like 2) from my WHOLE week there...my sister took more pictures and I will get them from her later. Anyway, it was a VERY fun and much needed family time week for me. Below are my 2 pitiful pictures, I will post the rest at a later date. 

Moms reaction when she saw me

(Mom I know you probably hate this picture but I had to post it....for memories sake!)

Sister Shopping Day

Do I Have To Say It Again???

Its been awhile....BUT we have been BUSY with house stuff so that is a good thing. :-)


There is a new(er) flea market near our house that I decided to stop at the other day. Once going in I realized it wasn't anything special, but you never know what one may find. I have had my eye out for a few things around the house one being a new kitchen table. Look at this lovely table I found, I LOVE it!!! 

 I am still deciding on what kind of chairs to get. Any ideas are welcome!

Top View

My other project this week has been painting the crown molding, base and casing for the main floor of the house. I know, I know you are all jealous. 

Have you ever used this?? It has a gel like consistency and once you brush it on it fills in so there are no brush marks. Another plus is a little goes a long way. 

My work area. Yes, I have a tv in the garage, don't judge (it is actually there for when I use workout dvds). I have been taking advantage of it and watching movies while painting to help the time go by. 

The best thing about all of this (and the part that is helping me get all this painting done) is knowing that in a week all of the new doors, trim, and carpet will be put in on the main floor and DONE. Ya'll don't know how happy I am to say that! 

Of course I must end my post with a picture to explain what our sweet Penelope has been up to. I looked over to the laundry area this afternoon to find this....

Again, she is not supposed to be there but what can I do when I have no doors to close her out of the laundry area and she is so cute?!?!

That's all for now

Thanks for Checking In....