Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Alaska!

We got back from our Alaskan cruise on Sunday morning and I think I need an after-vacation-vacation!! It was exhausting having to go back to work the Monday after getting back, especially when I have a whole closet full of laundry that I still need to get to! :/

As for our cruise...it was beautiful and very relaxing! We had very good weather except for one rain-soaked day in Juneau, so that was a big blessing. And when I say "good" weather, I really mean 52 degrees and at least semi-sunny as that is very nice weather for this time of year up there!

Our boat, the Holland America Noordam was very nice...definitely not one of the party ships, but very nice in a more traditional, classy sense. David had a good time laughing at all the tacky orange decor though...and I told him "if you think this is bad, you need to take a look at some of the ships that are 10 years older"...because our boat is only about 1 year old and isn't even 1/10 as garish as some ships I've seen pictures of, lol. I've come to the conclusion that being on a cruise ship is kind of like being on a mini-floating Las Vegas....you have the shows, the buffets, the fruity cocktails, and the crazy decor! We were definitely one of the youngest couples on board though, which was fine as we're totally not crazy part animals by any stretch of the imagination!

We spent our days walking around the ship, getting coffee drinks in the Explorations cafe and reading books from their library (they had a great travel section), taking naps, sitting in the lounge chairs on the Promenade deck watching the magnificent scenery go by, eating good food (gotta love that you can get ice cream cones about 12 hours out of the day!), seeing all sorts of cool wildlife, going on one lame excursion and one awesome excursion, watching movies and shows, drinking yummy mojitos, and mainly just relaxing!

I will admit though, as much as I enjoyed our trip...on our way back to Seattle when we hit some bigger waves I was kind of a bundle of nerves! I think I've seen Poseidon too many times and anyone who says you can't feel the waves in a boat that big is dead wrong! You can feel them even when they are only a few feet high, much less when you're in 8 foot waves! If I ever cruise again I want it to be somewhere nice and calm like the Caribbean!

Anyway, here are pictures of some of the highlights from our trip...

Adios Seattle!


First night at sea.


Our room, which was very nice and actually a pretty good size!


Cruising into Glacier Bay National Park.


The Margerie glacier in Glaciery Bay...it looks tiny, but it is actually about 250+ feet high, much bigger than our boat!



Cruising out of Glacier Bay.



Rainy Juneau.


Mendenhall Glacier...part of our excursion in Juneau (pretty, but the other half of the excursion was a salmon bake with yummy food, but a horrible location next to a wharehouse and smack in the middle of a very industrialized area...we left this excursion feeling rather ripped off!)




Dinner at the Pinnacle Grill...this was the ships fancy restaurant that you have to pay a surcharge for...but oh my goodness, it was one of the best meals I've had in my life. I had hors deurves (mom, you'd be proud, I actually ate a mushroom tart and it was good ;), clam chowder, filet mignon, scalloped potatoes, fresh baked bread and butter, after dinner chocolates, and chocolate volcano cake with fresh whip cream. Along with a guava mojito. It was fabulous! Thank goodness we didn't eat there every night though or I would have gained like 10 lbs.!


The cute little town of Sitka.


Our awesome Sea Otter & Wildlife Quest excursion in Sitka. The weather was beautiful (a day like this happens about 10 days a year all the locals said) and we had very few people on our trip so we had lots of room to roam around the boat and got to go out into the open ocean to a place called Jacob's Rock where we saw tons of Stellar Sea Lions (which are huge, like 1,200 lbs., not the small ones you'd see in CA). We also saw about 4 humpback whales even though it was early in the season for them to be there, as well as sea otters and bald eagles.





A picture of our cruise ship taken from inside our excursion boat.


Ketchikan...a town that gets about 200 inches of rain a year, but was magically sunny on the day we were there. :)


The view from our stateroom window as we left Ketchikan.


David and I on the 2nd formal night of the week.


And lastly...Theo after we brought him home from grandma and grandpas! He was tuckered out from all the adventures and mischief he had while on his vacation! :)

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Bon Voyage!

Tomorrow we are leaving on our cruise to Alaska! David and I are very excited for it...and quite frankly, just glad to get a much needed break from our jobs!

We still haven't even started packing, but I already know I'm probably going to pack way to much. But really, how can one not pack a lot when they're going to Alaska? I mean, we need fair weather clothes, cold weather clothes, semi nice clothes, dressy clothes, etc. I feel like I'm going to have to pack my whole stinkin' closet! But this cruise thing has given me an excuse to shop for some new clothes, which is kinda fun. David bought his first suit for the cruise as well...he's like an actual grown-up now, lol. But my favorite thing is that I got to get new shoes! I looove shoes, it's genetic, so it's really not my fault! ;)

These are my newest shoe purchases. Cute, but still practical for walking around a big rocking boat!



*On a side note, we had to drop Theo off at his grandma and grandpa's today (David's parents) and it was heartbreaking! I know they will take good care of him, but the minute we drove off I just felt sad, like someone was missing from our family. I got a little teary, but David told me I couldn't cry because if I did, then he might cry too. He said he was surprised at how hard it was to leave Theo. Clearly, we've become just a little attached! :)