What a fun trip!

Brad and I got to have a fun getaway this last week - with Lindsay and Michael moving up here via cruise ship we got to join them and my parents for a wonderful cruise up Alaska's Inside Passage from Vancouver, Canada to Whittier, Alaska.

We left the day before mother's day, and spent the weekend with my family who lives in Puyallup, Washington.




It was so fun to see my aunts and uncles, cousins, brother and sister in law, and other family members. We were only missing Ryan and Kevin, and my cousin Chris's husband and son. Other than that, we were all together - the family of my mom and her two siblings. We had a really nice family picnic on Mother's Day. We loved staying with Auntie Charlotte and Uncle Chuck, playing games and sleeping in their motorhome.

Lindsay made it a memorable mother's day by giving me a card addressed to "Grandma" and one to my mom addressed to "Great-Grandma"! She was announcing that she and Michael are pregnant! I know it is old news now for everyone,
but still so exciting and wonderful.
It doesn't seem real! We will be grandparents in November.
Wow!



Lindsay is starting to show and Brad asked to the two of them to stand side by side to compare their tummies. As you can see in the top photo, Michael hasn't much of a stomach but he can sure extend it if he wants to! We love his expression!


The Hibberts taught us a new game- "Ticket to Ride".
It is a lot of fun.

We were able to visit with my extended family and had a wonderful time.
This is a picture of all the cousins.

On Monday morning we boarded a Princess bus from the Seattle airport to the pier in Vancouver, where we boarded the beautiful Island Princess.

We had a very nice stateroom on the 12th deck.

We are aboard the ship at the port of Vancouver.

We were blown away by how huge this ship is!

Here is the Island Princess while docked in Skagway Alaska.

And there I am standing on our balcony.

We spent the next 7 days on the ship with ports of call in Ketchikan, Skagway and Juneau.
I hadn't been to any of those places, so it was fun to see them.

Ketchikan was our first port of call. Brad had to find a totem pole.

These were taken from the tram in Juneau.

Brad & I are standing on the front porch of Governor Sarah Pallin.
-She didn't answer the door-

There is not much there, especially in Skagway - just a bunch of tourist shops. There are a few old saloons and tours and things to present the history of the gold rush era. Ketchikan is another place where there isn't much except shops and history. Sad to say, even Alaska's capital city is pretty lacking. BUT, in the area of beautiful settings and scenery, it would be hard to beat any of them. The mountains, glaciers, one incredible vista after another, are just hard to believe. Cruising through Glacier Bay you just can't believe this huge ship can move down this fjord with land so close on both sides.

It was fun to see Alaska again through the eyes of people seeing it for the first time.
Everything is so awe inspiring, even the daylight.
We saw a couple whales too waving their fins at us and putting on a show.

Here are a couple of shots from our room/balcony.
We had very good weather and calm seas,
even in the Gulf of Alaska.
Brad was a bit disappointed about that.

This is a shot of leaving Juneau.

Life on the cruise ship is amazing. We ate so much food! The dining was first class and you could just have anything you wanted.
2 entree's? No problem! 2 desserts? Sure thing!
Breakfast, lunch and dinner.


We had the same waiters each night
and enjoyed getting to know them.
One was from the Philippines and one from Poland, so that was really fun, especially for Lindsay to practice her Polish.


All the crew members are from other countries, mostly Eastern Europe, so it was very interesting to hear some of their stories and learn more about them. Our one Filipino waiter has a wife and 2 kids at home, but he is on the cruise ship for 10 months at a time. They are grateful for their good jobs.
Here is a sampling of the food we enjoyed.

There were lots of things to do on the ship:
demonstrations, classes and shows.
One day there was a fruit carving demonstration.
It was done in the atrium.


This is just a few of the fantastic artwork done on fruit!



A couple of nights were "formal" night for dinner.

There was a card/game room where we enjoyed some time together.
Dad was having a time shuffling a deck of cards.

We arrived in Whittier on just a beautiful day...
a rarity for Whittier.


The trip went fast and was so enjoyable. I hope we can find an excuse to cruise again someday!! Grandma and Grandpa are already planning their next one through the Panama Canal!
That will be fun.
Thanks for all the fun times, family!!

Whittier Alaska
The end of the line....