We started off with a week on land where we toured Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, & Seward. Our highlights were walking the farmers market in Anchorage, seeing a moose walking right in the city of Anchorage, taking a dome train ride through the mountain range & seeing Mount McKinley (only 3% of tourists actually get to see it - you need a clear day), touring Denali National Park & seeing all the wildlife. Once we got to Seward, that is where we boarded the cruise.
Next we spent a week on the Celebrity Millennium Cruise Ship. While on the cruise we cruised by Hubbard Glacier and ported in Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan, & ended in Vancouver. We did some amazing excursions during our ports. In Juneau we went on a whale watching excursion where we saw breaching humpback whales & a pod of orca whales. While in Skagway, we took a helicopter ride up on top of a glacier, got out & went dog sledding, & then took the helicopter ride back down. In Ketchikan, we went on a bear excursion & got to experience a momma bear protect her 2 cubs from another bear that wanted to share food. Then once we landed in Vancouver, we stayed an extra day & enjoyed Grouse Mountain, walked one of the largest suspension bridges over Capilano Canyon (450 ft long & 230 ft high), walked the Cliffwalk over the canyon as well, & hiked through the rain forest. Vancouver is absolutely breath taking!
We took 971 pictures while on this vacation & yet none of them truly capture the "aw" of the moment. And now I sit, trying to figure out which pictures to post & what are the best stories to share. I could obviously go on & on, as we just had the most amazing time ever. So, I am going to do my best to try to limit the amount of pictures posted, but here are my favorites:
We saw this moose on the outskirts of Anchorage while taking a trolley ride through the city
We took this picture while on the train ride, Mount McKinley is way out there
Denali National Park
We saw 13 caribou
Our family in Denali National Park
We saw 6 Grizzly Bear while in Denali National Park
Bon Voyage!
While on the cruise, we sailed near Hubbard Glacier
Our family in front of the Glacier
The kids on formal night
Our family in Juneau
Our whale watching excursion - we saw Humpback whales
And we saw tons & tons of seals
And we saw a pod of Orca whales
In Skagway, we first took a helicopter ride on top of a glacier
Then we went dog sledding
In Ketchikan, we went on a bear excursion. We were on a boat that brought us to many streams, where the bears feed. Notice the bear in the back ground?
Here's the Momma bear & her cubs. We ended up seeing 16 black bear!
Our family, on the cruise
Docking in Vancouver
The top of Grouse Mountain, notice the blue mountains in the middle of this picture? I love it!
We walked the Capilano Suspension Bridge, over a canyon
And we walked the cliff walk over the canyon
And time to head home. We had 13 bags of luggage, all full to the 50 lb. max. weight limit!
It was bittersweet as the vacation came to an end. On one hand, we were all having the times of our lives. The boys loved that they could eat pizza & ice cream at any time of the day, all day long. Lauryn & I were enjoying the shows & night life. Jim loved not stressing about work. Yet, we were all ready to get home after being gone so long & we all couldn't wait to see the dogs. And it was time for us all to try to get back on schedule before school starts up. Alaska is 3 hours earlier than MN, so we were eating dinner at 7:00 (10:00 here), going to bed at midnight (3:00AM here), and waking up at 9:00 (noon here). So we've been having lazy days at our house since returning!
No comments:
Post a Comment