We are back in Seattle for the night, ready (or maybe not) to fly home tomorrow. The cruise was awesome! The weather - eh. It rained for a good part of the time we were at sea, but we were lucky to have clear port days. I don't know where to start... Let's see - Peter's favorite part - the all-you-can-eat ice cream. Jimmy's favorite part (Happy Birthday Jimmy on the 1st day) - the basketball court. Alexa loved the sea days and hanging out with her new friends. John and I liked the ports. Our first stop was Ketchikan. We started the day with a duck tour with a great guide. It was warm - no sweatshirts needed (we had them, of course, and carried them around all day). John & I then took a seaplane to Misty Fjords National Monument. It was a 2-hr flight - awesome! The pilot kept saying that we would stop and take a walk around - I though that meant on land, I was wrong. He set down in the middle of a lake surrounded by nothing but wilderness and told us we could walk around - on the pontoons of the plane! The scenery was spectacular - I have never been on anything like it. While we were on our trip - the kids were with Grandma & Grandpa Hilston, enjoying the ship and taking in the sites of town. We all made it to the salmon ladder - you could actually see fish flinging themselves up the rapids- something I had heard about but had never seen. Sad note - did you know they die after that? OK so that was Ketchikan. Later that evening, back on board, we sailed through a common ground for whales and the naturalist on board narrated the porpoise and whale sightings as we went by. We woke up early the next day as we sailed through Tracy Arm Fjord from 6-10am. It was exactly what you would picture on an Alaskan Cruise brochure - chunks of ice floating in the water (small chunks, I convinced myself) a narrow passage, snow covered mountains with steep rock faces and of course, a glacier. It was not raining, but it was COLD and windy. Later that day, we arrived in Juneau. Side note here - there were other cruise ships at every port and we always seemed to arrive last and get the worst parking space - the furthest away from town, hmmph. We went to see the Mendenhall Glacier and took a 2 mile hike to get as close to is as we could - just across a lake that it was emptying into and next to a rushing waterfall. A nice walk and it didn't start really raining until we were waiting for the shuttle bus. Its so interesting to see things you learn about in school and have always pictured, but then it is right in front of you - like the glacier, the salmon ladder, etc. Also in Juneau, is Tracy's Crab Shack - featured on the TV's Top Chef, which I am a fan. We stopped and looked, took a picture, but we were having crab legs for dinner on board that night and it didn't seem to make sense to spend a gazillion dollars on crab legs. On to Skagway and Happy Birthday John! In Skagway, we rented a car and drove to the Yukon territory. This rental car was interesting - it was a Grand Caravan with a cassette deck and 164,000 miles on it. Thats ok - it got us up and over the mountains and into the Yukon. More absolutely breathtaking scenery. No trip to the Yukon would be complete without panning for gold, we stopped and did that before returning the car - they weighed the gold flecks we all found and each of us had about $10 worth of gold in our pans. We had a sea day and then a nighttime stop in Victoria, British Columbia - gorgeous city - we took a double decker bus tour. We saw mile 0 of the main highway that runs through Canada, we saw the other end a couple of years ago in Nova Scotia. More about the cruising part - the food was delicious, the buffet was kind of weird food, but there was always the grill and pizzeria to fall back on. Everyone came together at dinner so that was always nice (Gma & Gpa Hilston, Chuck, Mary, Jason, Peyton, Landon & us) The boys enjoyed the kids club, sports deck, ping pong, the pool (thankfully it was indoor (still cold I thought)). Not a lot of time was spent outdoors because it was cold and wet most of the time. One night, John and I wanted to watch the Movie Under the Stars on deck. I wanted to see the movie so we stayed the whole time, but I didn't think I'd ever get warm again. That was with sweatshirts and wool blankets. We enjoyed trivia and the shows. One morning we sat in the library and played Monopoly. Alexa was given and enjoyed a lot of freedom and hung out mostly with new friends. She slept in Gma & Gpa Hilston's cabin, but had to check in with us every night and she was always at dinner. We did run into her around the ship, but she was definitely enjoying the teen club and the freedom. Our cabin was comfortable, even though it had 4 people and 7 suitcases - you could actually still move around. The boys really liked being on the bunks. It was a good time. Today, after getting off the ship, we took in a Mariners vs. Orioles game - which I am happy to report that the Os won in 10. Dinner and some relaxing, suitcase shuffling (did everything really fit - yikes!) and some pool time. We've had an amazing trip and really enjoyed being together. Tomorrow morning Alexa, Peter and I get on the plane. John and Jimmy take the red eye tomorrow night. Next year's trip plan is already taking shape - we'll keep you posted!
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