Wrapping up Alaska

Continuing DAY 5

Bike, Brew and Glacier View

Geared up, ready to go!!

First time I EVER saw Dick Nash on a bicycle!!

CUTENESS!!

This is where we started. See the mountain in the background?

See the flat light blue ice under it?

That is our destination.

10 miles to glacier lake.

Janet and I. We are next to the glacier lake and the glacier is directly behind us,

at the base of the snow covered mountain. I love this girl!! What a blessing. Everyone should have such a mentor and friend!

Chunks of ice in the glacier lake. The water was very milky. Not sure why the water bottle company calls their water, "Glacier Water"......it is actually very cloudy water. In the winter, this lake freezes.

While on the bike, we saw many beautiful flowers and a few deer!! It was a fairly easy ride, only one hill. It started to rain the last 3 minutes of the ride. This was the ONLY rain that fell during our entire trip!!! Thank you God!!

We walked down closer where the people were standing, took some photos then headed back to the van. Our time was limited so we did not enter the center.

Our tour guide was a young, very knowledgeable young man. He was a native of the area and did a GREAT job! Upon arriving to the center, we placed our bikes on the trailer, hopped in the van and drove to our last stop. The Brewery!

Since I am not much of a beer drinker, the others enjoyed the taste of Alaska. They had a few wines but I wasn't interested. This guy was a piece of work! Very poor English and a typical BEER snob! hahah!!

Before getting back on the ship, we went to the Library used their computers to check our Facebook accounts and emails. This was the view!

We arrived back on the ship in time for our 5:00 Sushi/Hors devours, get ready for dinner and enjoy another feast! Tonight they had a special Dessert Extravaganza!! Dave and Janet were too tired but we HAD to check it out!! We said we were just going to LOOK!!!

Our plate to share.....yup, we finished it all!

I'll never forget.....after we ate our 'midnight snack' we walked over to the Karaoke. They were JUST introducing a couple from San Francisco, singing, 'Sweeeeeeeet Caroline. OH OH OH!!! Good times never seem so good. SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD!!!! hahahha! I initiated the audience participation!! Felt just like we were in Fenway Park, middle of the 8th inning!!! AWESOME!!

One and Only video

Must take more videos!! This turned out pretty funny!! hahah

Taken during the first sunset on the ship.

Over 3 months?

How can that be? My last post was on August 10 about an event that happened 1 month before so that makes THREE months away from blogging? UNHEARD of!! We've had an amazing last few months, living, loving and learning all kinds of stuff!!

I am disappointed in myself. I really wanted to blog the details..... I only have a few days saved as drafts. Bad bad bad. :-(

So, I will post mainly photos about our adventures and attempt to get us up to date.... I miss recording some things that have been on my mind and look forward to getting them on 'paper'.

More about Alaska!

DAY 2

The first full day we made ourselves comfortable around the ship, ran the track on the top deck and lounged by the side of the pool. This was a full day of cruising. No stopping. Aaaahhh, relaxing! Tonight was the first of two 'formal' nights.

Dressing up is always fun!

Partners in Crime aka Dave and Janet!!

Loooooking SHARP!!

So I showed you the fancy place setting that took us by surprise on the first night. Now we add the fancy 'palette cleanser'! Such she-she-lala!! We are really feeling pretty spoiled!!

We enjoyed eating in the dining room each night. It really was beautiful and we made friends with our waiter,Villegas, and his assistant, Paola, right away.

After dinner, all of us started enjoying a guitarist in the lounge for about an hour before going to bed. Some nights we'd walk around the casino, nothing much was going on. Dick wasn't 'feeling' the tables....One night we listened to Karaoke and sang loudly in the audience! hahaha!

DAY 3

Ketchikan

After a great nights rest, the boat docked in Ketchikan. This is a photo of the downtown. So, you've seen one so you've pretty much seen them all. This is a typical Alaskan port city. Similar shops and such, all having jewelry, knick knacks, local art...

I really cannot take enough photos of this ship! Isn't she beautiful? At each stop we went for a run through the city. You know us well enough, when I say RUN, I mean RUN.....our number one reason for running - to SEE things you never see while in a car! We just stayed on the main drag, ran for about 20 minutes, turned around and ran back.
We just finished our run and went back to the ship to put on a dry sweatshirt. We saw a Safeway grocery store while running and thought we'd return to get some pre-made Margarita mix, wine and some flavored coffee creamer - NONE on the ship!! Can you believe it? Yes, when we answered the questionnaire after the cruise, I made sure to let them know!!!

As we were taking pictures of the ship, fellow shipmates were standing near and offered to take our photo! Everyone is so friendly! We are all on a trip of our lifetime and feeling pretty pretty good! It is one big happy family!! This couple was from New York so we talked about our recent trip back east. Really nice people. I think of them when I look at this photo.

We walked around Ketchikan, bought some souvenirs, returned to the ship, cleaned up and met up with our traveling partners - Dave and Janet Hawkins! As we were pulling away from Ketchikan, we stopped and enjoyed the Kodak moments!

DAY 4

Icy Strait Point - tendered

No dock. A boat picked us up from the ship, brought us to the land, then back onto the ship. Looks like rain, but it didn't! YEAH!!

Postcard!!

We chose to go on a leisurely walk through the trees. Was peaceful and very pretty.

At the end of the trail was an informative museum - everything you

wanted to know about the area!

When we got back onto the ship, we lounged around the pool. We were able to watch a whale 'flirt' with us too!! They say there is a lot of wild life in Alaska, but they must know we were coming.....didn't see an abundance, but didn't realistically think we would.

The blob in the middle is the whale. Hey, it is difficult to get their pic!!

Check out the mountains in the background!!

By now we were getting the routine.....late to bed, 9 hours of sleep, exercise, eat, connect with David and Janet, explore, rest, eat, relax, dine with David and Janet for dinner, share, make memories, relax, REPEAT! We really enjoyed the SLOW pace!!

DAY 5

Juneau

The capitol of Alaska. I had a really good workout in the gym so I decided to skip the run. Dick went on a run through Juneau while Dave, Janet and I explored the town.

Go Dick Go!!

We took a really good hike up the hill and got a great feel for the neighborhood. We also stopped in a little museum of an old miner and enjoyed hearing the stories from the docent.

Only in Alaska!! OK, MAYBE Canada!

Better dispose of your 'butts' the proper way!!

We watched a lot of planes land. Pretty cool!

We went back to the ship to get ready for our first - of two - excursions - Bike, Brew, Glacier View!! The cruise lines offer so many trips at each port and charge a BUNDLE!!! Dave and Janet went on a zipline the day before and really enjoyed it.

NEW CONDO!!! July 2-6, 2010

Taylor went to his mom's on the 30th. We had ONE day in SF and headed to Huntington Beach to help Amy move out of her Tortuga condo - that she LOVED but needed to move to Dorado - same complex, one street over.

Dorado is also a 1 bedroom but has been upgraded in many ways. It has a LOFT!!! This means VISITORS are more comfortable!! Walk up the winding staircase and a large area awaits! Also, the bathroom downstairs has an access door from the living room, instead of the only access meant going through her bedroom!

Yes, after only one day home, we were off again! The things we do for love!! We left SF on Friday and stayed the night in Visalia with Dick's parents. We enjoyed a great dinner with them, David and Morri.

The next morning, Saturday, drove down to HB and surveyed the new condo. It was definitely 'turn-key' the way Dick likes. But, still, needed some TLC. We bought some supplies and got to work. We worked the rest of the day on Saturday and allll day long on Sunday, cleaning, painting, sweeping, mopping and bleaching some more.

We were invited to a BBQ on the beach with Amy's friend for the 4th of July (and really wanted to go) but had to pass since we were not finished. Instead we had a hot dog at Der Weinerschnitzel!! Can you believe that? hahahaha MOVING day was Monday morning. We had planned on leaving Monday afternoon so a lot had to be done!!

Her friends arrived and first thing on Monday morning and we ALL KICKED MAJOR BUTT!!! We hauled and walked all of her belongings down a few stairs out of her condo and up the many stairs to the new. We were SWEATING, huffing and puffing!! We don't get that much of a workout running 13 miles!!! DONE in about 3 hours!!

The end results? AMAZING!!! Amy is very happy on the top floor. She introduced herself to all of her neighbors and cannot believe she is in the SAME complex!! The eastside of this complex is the place to be!!

Here she is working to make it her own!!

While standing at the front door, you can see the stairway and loft area to the left

and computer workstation to the right.

Directly below is the bathroom door to the left, her bedroom to the back and the living room with the sliding glass door. Gabby liked it too! We made those wood floors SHINE with some Murphy's Oil Soap!!

The kitchen, BEFORE the new stove and microwave. Today she has a beautiful stainless microwave above a stainless stove. Yes, I painted the INTERIORS of ALL the cupboards! Cannot see, but it has beautiful dark granite countertops.

Of course, no trip through the Central Valley would be complete without stopping in and taking our granddaughter Kaelyn and parents out to dinner!!! Kaelyn turns 2 on August 23!

ALASKA!!!! July 8 - 17, 2010

So, ever think/dream of a cruise to Alaska? We have! I can clearly recall, thinking as a child it would be the ULTIMATE - something you dream BIG about. In fact, I can remember a childhood game, filling out a chart with 'Number of Children', 'Husbands Name' and 'Dream Vacation/Honeymoon..... EVERY TIME - mine was a cruise to Alaska. Hey, maybe THOSE THINGS WORK!!! This part came true for me!! Dick and I thought - yea, SOMEDAY, maybe we can cruise to Alaska.....

About 6 months ago, David and Janet Hawkins - college friends of Dick - called and said, "You know, we've been thinking about a cruise to Alaska and would LOVE if you joined us!" How can you say no to that? Dave's sister and brother-in-law have been twice and highly recommended the Celebrity Cruise Line. We searched online and found a 7 day, departing Vancouver on July 9 and returning the 16. THAT would work!

Yea, we felt we were JUST getting back from the East Coast trip with Taylor, and that in itself would be ENOUGH of a vacation. I'd never been on a cruise before, but was hoping it was as relaxing and glorious as people told me it was. Dick had been on three other cruises so he had more knowledge and he kept saying, "All I know is that it'll be great when someone else is doing the driving and taking care of all of the details!"

Making the reservation is weird because EVERYTHING is through the website - it made me a little nervous. I would often call and speak to an agent to double check status on certain items. We were told, because this is an "Inside Passage" cruise to Alaska, ANY cabin level would be fine since there shouldn't be much open water and swaying of the ship. We decided to take the 2nd level, outside cabin with a nice porthole window. Then came the excursions!! Sooo many to choose from and pretty pricey!!! Yes, this is a trip of a lifetime and you just have to pull the trigger and DO THEM. But, at the same time, we really wanted this trip to be a LOW KEY 7 days! We signed up for two excursions - 1) a Bike, Glacier view and Brewery visit and 2) a 3 mile hike up and river rafting down.

On Thursday, June 8 Dave and Janet drove up from Porterville. We set our alarm for 2:15 a.m. so we were ready when the Super Shuttle bus arrived at 3:00 a.m. Our flight out of SF was 6:00 a.m.! Ugghh....when making the flight arrangements, the cruise line did not want to take any chances on flight delays so better to be early than to be late!! We were all excited anyway and ready to start this party!

DAY 1

In our cabin, looking out over Vancouver, B.C and the Cruise Ship Terminal!

Departing Day has arrived!!

Our mini oasis! (mirrors on the left wall)

Large window! Vanity on the left and couch on the right.

Had to pay extra for the man in the room! He was worth it! ;-)

This little guy sat here and got a free ride for quite awhile as we made our departure.

First night Happy Hour!! Loved this spot at the back of the ship, sipping wine,

enjoying the Pupu's and watching the wilderness.

Dick found the Pupus!! Oh MY! It is 5:30 p.m., our dinner sitting wasn't until 8:30 p.m.

Just a little something to hold us over! hahaha

Every detail in food preparation!

Lots of Kodak moments!

Good-bye crazy world! We are entering our bubble for the week!

Then, at dinner time! Oh my!! Where is my Etiquette book?

Oh yea, 'outside in' or wait was that 'inside out?' LOL!

And it is just the beginning of many happy days ahead! I look back at these photos now....each and every one of them have a story! Definitely a once in a lifetime kind of vacation. If you every thought, perhaps one day.... DO IT! Do not hesitate!!! I remember thinking, "Is this really happening? Am I really on a beautiful cruise ship with my husband? Seriously, 'So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I've must have done something good!" There were many moments in the weak to come when I was overwhelmed with emotion - thankfulness, love, appreciation, respect, goodness, companionship and in complete awe of our surroundings and living in each moment. I also thank God for giving us loving and caring friends to enjoy it all with! I especially thank Him for this opportunity.... to be removed from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives and settle into the goodness of His glory and truly profound beauty!

Stay tuned, there is more to come!

Day 13 - Depart Williamsburg and fly out of Dulles Airport

Today is Tuesday, June 29, 2010.

We've spent the past 12 days traveling from Boston to Williamsburg. We put 1300 miles on our rental car driving from city to city. Traveling with an 11 year old is usually pretty challenging at times. NOT with this boy! Taylor definitely is the boy to take on trips!! He NEVER once complained "Are we there yet?", "I'm hungry!" or "I'm tired." We worked this guy EVERYDAY from morning til night!! He LOVES history and learning about new things. I know I complained more about my feet hurting than anyone else. Most nights I gave myself a hot foot bath and pampered them. I had good walking shoes but still, its a lot of walking nevertheless!!

We felt so blessed to be able to make such a trip and have everything work out. When we arrived at hotels early, we were able to check in, no mishaps, everyone stayed healthy and happy. We learned a lot about each other. We had good, quality time together, enjoying lots of laughs, and unforgettable adventures. We continued to pray each day that God watched over us and kept us all healthy and safe. Thank you God!!

On our shuttle bus ride home, I made the comment, "I don't FEEL like I've been living out of a suitcase for 12 days!" I felt fresh and relaxed! The last two days in Williamsburg was nice because we were in our hotel before 8 pm instead of 10 or 11 pm. It was a MUCH slower pace, we ate good food, not FAST FOOD and really enjoyed the company of each other.

This trip came in our radar because 1) Dick made a similar trip with his parents the summer before 7th grade 2) Taylor JUST studied about the Colonial Days in 5th grade last year. It was all perfect timing. During the trip, Taylor would say, "This is the BEST vacation I've ever had!"

Followed by, "Dad, we are studying Egypt next year. Can we go to Egypt next summer?" OH MY!!

Stay tuned!!

Day 11 and 12 - Leaving D.C., Mt. Vernon and Williamsburg

While our stay in Silver Spring was accommodating, in retrospect, we could have stayed in Washington D.C to get a better feel for this area. Taking the subway in for the four days was time-consuming but at the same time, always eventful!

Another stop, not really planned, but decided we'd better add it to our Colonial Days Vacation and we are so glad we did!! We traveled over to Mt. Vernon! It is well preserved and tells the story of another amazing man in history. We LOVE George and have the upmost respect for his character and how he formed our nation.

Ah, the green of this area!

Mt. Vernon - George and Martha's home!

Nice big yard eh?

Front

The well manicured lawns!!

We were early for our scheduled tour time so we just sat on the chairs on the back porch, over looking the Potomac River and enjoyed the warm afternoon. Only thing missing was my glass of lemonade!

At one time, many wanted George buried in the State Capitol Rotunda. He was placed there for awhile then he was moved back to Mt. Vernon. His final resting place along with Martha.

"I am the resurrection, and the life: He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John 11:25-26

The next 3 words in the Bible are: "Believest thou this?" I would have liked to see the last three words on the plaque too but Dick says, "They must have ran out of space." ;-)

We read many signs the importance and influence church had when forming our country. We were saddened to measure it against what our country is facing today.

After driving 2 1/2 hours, we arrived in Williamsburg in the later afternoon. The town was closing so we drove around the College of William and Mary - SECOND oldest university - first of course being Harvard!

We found a nice restaurant for dinner - The Yorkshire - and enjoyed a quiet atmosphere and really really good food!! AND, they had a REAL wine list!!! YEAH!! We enjoyed one of our favorite Napa wines and I was HAPPY!! I guess I am a little bit of a wine snob - darn you Napa for spoiling me!! Our waitress was from Williamsburg and only left ONCE in her life - for her honeymoon 10 years prior - to Hawaii. She'd never been to California - just to switch planes. Kind of put things in perspective for Taylor - this was a pretty special vacation and we were so blessed!

After dinner, we had a relaxing evening, watching baseball in our room.

The next morning we were devoting to the city of Colonial Williamsburg - the capitol of the colonies when the colonies were under British rule. We found it to be a nice, slower paced attraction. Everyone is in period costume and would tell stories and behave as if they were currently living in Colonial Times. This is the artillery building.

These guys were misbehaving so I locked them up! It's only about 100 degrees outside!

After spending all day in the hot sun, we headed back to our hotel - we stayed at another Marriott and were very happy - cleaned up and decided what was for dinner. Since it was Father's Day WEEK and our LAST meal, we let Dick decide. In full Dick Nash style, he chose.......The Yorkshire again. His reasoning? Why try something new and unknown when we KNOW we all enjoyed our dinner the night before? So, we asked for our SAME waitress and enjoyed ANOTHER meal. Everyone chose something different than the night before. I chose the crab stuffed trout!!

I liked it! And was too full to eat the rice and beans.