OUR LITTLE FAMILY: Alaskan Cruise!!!

To celebrate my brother Matthew's homecoming from his mission my parents took the whole family on an Alaskan cruise! We went the first week of August. I have always wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise and was SO EXCITED to see bears catching salmon in a river, whales and all the other beautiful landscape that is the Alaskan frontier. We had a FABULOUS time and I loved spending time with my dear family.

One of the ER doctors I work with, Dr. Boesch, has a summer home in Ketchikan and to our delight, was going to be in Alaska during our trip. Our first port was in Ketchikan. Dr. Boesch picked up Jason and I and my sister Elizabeth and her husband Patrick. Dr. Boesch first took us to his house on the water. We put on rain boots and went out on the shoreline to see all the fun creatures that are left on shore at low tide. We saw tons of crabs,starfish, eels, sea urchins, jellyfish, and even fish caught in small tide pools. We enjoyed some hot chocolate and took a swing over a cliff on a tire swing. Then Dr. Boesch took us out on his boat. We rode 30 min to a small island, a favorite fishing and bear spot by Dr. Boesch's family. Once on the island it was a 2 mile hike to the spot where they have seen bears catching salmon. We saw a total of 6 bears, including a mother and her cub. I saw a big bear catch salmon right out of the river and another eating his salmon lunch surrounded by a bed of flowers. We saw tons on bald eagles and great blue herons. Running short on time we hiked back out and took the 30 min boat ride back to the dock. We were tempted to pick up Dr. Boesch shrimp and crab crates out in the sea but decided we didn't have time. It's a good thing we did because it took a little longer to get back to the cruise ship than we anticipated. We called my parents to tell them we were on our way but were running late and to see if they could hold the boat for us. They actually did!! We were the last ones on the boat and were about 30 min late....oops! But what a WONDERFUL day and a great story!

Exploring the tide pools

beautiful purple starfish

Sea anemane

Eel, I tried to hold one but jumped when it moved and dropped it! I guess I'm just too squimish

Liz and I holding sea urchins

a cute little crab. we saw really big ones too!

Liz and I swinging on the tire swing. in high tide it goes completely over water

Dr. Boesch's cabin

Me in my cute rain boots

Jason and I at Dr. Boesch's cabin

Dr. Boesch's boat

on the trail, during our 2 mile hike

I tried my hand at fishing but didn't catch any salmon. they were jumping out of the water all over the place though

what beauty was all around us!

a bear eating salmon right by our trail


Me, Jason and Dr. Boesch

Our next port was Juneau. We walked the town and rode the skytram up a mountain and then walked the beautiful trails overlooking the city. It was a perfect warm sunny day. Very unlike Alaska. We had planned to take a whale watching excursion in the evening with my parents and Matt. Due to a lot of crazy things, Jason ended up missing it! Another story full of frustration for a different venue. Anyways, the excursion was really fun and we saw I think 5 whales.

on the trail

Juneau has a rich native culture

breathtaking sight from on the mountain

Bald Eagle, blind in one eye and unable to fly

Jason took this picture, I don't know why


Whale tail on our Whale Watching excursion. We saw a lot of dorsal fins and tails but none of the whale jumped out of the water. The guides said is was because they are focused on eating and storing up fat for their migration south.

Our final port was in Skagway. We planned a kayaking excursion with Kat/Collin, Liz/Patrick and Matt. Jason and I really tried hard not to mess this excursion up and showed up right on time at the meeting place only to find out we needed our passports as the actual glacier lake we would be kayaking was in Canada. So once again we held everybody up (although Matt had forgotten his passport too) to run back to the room for our passports. It was only a 10 minute delay and didn't effect the rest of the trip. We took buses to the lake in Canada and then had a GREAT time kayaking. It was another beautiful sunny day. Then we had snacks and rode the Yukon train back to Skagway. Skagway is a really charming small little town. I really liked walking the streets and checking out the stores there.

Silly Matt on the bus ride to Frasier

Kat and Collin

Liz and Patrick

Awesome scenery on the way to the lake

Getting all dressed up to kayak

settling into our kayaks, Matt rode with another woman that was solo. too bad she was older

getting my kayaking groove on

yep, that's my hubby

We traded cameras with another nice couple and got a great pic of both of us

cheese, i don't think my smile can get any bigger

only 3 kayaks decided to take the challenge to go to the end of the lake and back and two of those couples were me and Jason and Kat and Collin! We rock!

Fraser, Canada is where the glacier lake was

Oh, Canada

Unbelievable views

The Yukon train we rode back

Nice and comfy inside

The group of us! We had a great time

So it took us twice as long to get back as it did to drive up to Fraser. Jason spent the whole 2 hours outside the train car taking pictures. So here are a couple

I was a little annoyed that he didn't come back in because I needed a shoulder to rest my head on. I stayed awake for the first 30 minutes then fell asleep. Yep, Jason is shameless. Little did everybody know, I was 11 wks pregnant at the time and was EXHAUSTED!!

in Skagway

Main St. in Skagway


Us and the front of our cruise ship and Diamond Princess.

Our last day was visiting Glacier Bay and College Fiord where we were up close and personal with amazingly beautiful glaciers and the only day it was cold and rainy!

Evening were spent eating with family and enjoying the amenities of the boat. oh yes...and lots of canasta! Lots of yummy food was had, as the scale reminded us when we got home. One of the highlights was the karaoke contest they had. Christine and Jennifer Anne had qualified and on the night of the finals we had fun signing people up to sing unbeknownst to them. I signed Jason up to sing She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy by Kenney Chesney. It was hilarious. You should see the video. Jennifer Anne ended up winning the karaoke contest, YAY!