Cruise to Alaska

This last week we had a great trip to Seattle, Washington to visit with Brandon and Karen. We then met John and Nancy at the port to board the Golden Princess for a cruise to Alaska. It was a great trip. Sandra has done a great job with her first effort at a blog entry and selected a great set of representative pictures. The only part of the the trip that we would change is we wish more of our family and friends could have been with us on the great adventures.

Day 1 - August 29 - Seattle. When we went to make shuttle reservation, we learned that it was cheaper to rent a limousine than hire a shuttle. Here we are getting ready to leave Karen and Brandon's apartment in style.

Here are Karen and Brandon at the back of our limousine.

Our departure weather was great and we had a wonderful time. Notice the Space Needle and Seattle skyline in the background.

During our tour of the ship, Brandon volunteered for the acupuncture demonstration. As you can see this is a painless procedure - actually he was only acting and stated that he did not even feel the needle.

One of the features of the ship was "Movies under the Stars" which was a large movie screen by one of the outdoor pools. Here are Sandra, John, and Nancy enjoying the show. I think this feature is designed more for a Caribbean Cruise than a cruise to Alaska.

Day 2 - August 30 - At Sea - The big event of the day was the celebration of John and Nancy's anniversary.

As always, food was a big part of the trip.

Here is the happy couple celebrating their 25th anniversary (a little earlier than September 13, but the ship give a 2 month window). Congratulation to John and Nancy.

Day 3 - August 31 - Juneau, Alaska. Our first stop was in Juneau. Of course one of the most important events was shopping. Nancy and Sandra had developed a very effective strategy for getting all the good deals.

Here are Karen and Brandon shopping at the top of Mount Roberts.

Here are Sandra and Grant on the top of Mount Roberts.

We took a tram up about 2,000 feet to the top of the mountain. There were several great views.

Here is one of the view points from the top of Mount Roberts.

Day 4 - September 1 - Skagway, Alaska. Skagway is a historic town that was at the center of the gold rush.

We took a train ride that went up along the trail that the gold seekers followed in the quest for riches.

The views from the train were fantastic.



John and Karen even ventured outside of the train.

Here we are at the top of the train ride at the Canadian boarder.

Back in town we saw the Skagway museum

Of course there was always lots of food on the ship.

Day 5 -September 2 - Cruising the Tracy Arm Fjord. One of the best parts of the trip was spending a day going up a fjord cut by glaciers. The weather was fantastic, but the temperature was quite cold. Here are Nancy and John at the front of the ship.

Karen and Brandon also enjoyed the cold view.

We sailed to within one half mile of the Sawyer Glacier at the end of the fjord. It was very impressive.

Rather than enjoying the cold, we could also enjoy the view from inside the ship.

Day 6 - September 3 - Ketchican. We had a great day in Ketchican and went sea kayaking. Here are Karen and Brandon showing their kayaking expertise.

This was my beautiful view of the scenery and the back of John's head from my position in the kayak. We saw lots of whale, fish, eagles, etc. but the pictures do not really capture the wildlife.

After our trip, we had a salmon breakfast on the boat that operates the kayaks.

We even went for a little site seeing before returning to the ship. While we were kayaking, Sandra and Nancy went to see the totem poles and a Lumberjack show.

We had our second formal night after our kayak trip. We also celebrated Grant and Sandra's anniversary (September 16 - Number 34!!!)

Day 7 - September 4 - Victoria, British Columbia We spend most of the day at sea. We toured the galley.

Took pictures of our anniversary celebration balloons.

The ship arrived at Victoria, British Columbia in the evening after dark. We went to see the Buchart gardens.

They had lot of flowers on a light display and a very impressive place. Next time we will go in the day time.

Again, it was cheaper to take a limousine to get around Victoria that taking a shuttle so we traveled in style.

It was a great trip with a lot of fun for everyone. We now all need to start planning are next vacation. Let us know if you are interested.