Alaskan Cruise

After getting home from Lake Powell, Brett and I had one day to do laundry, get re-packed and head to the airport early Saturday morning for Seattle. Raylee and Bradock got to spend a fun-filled week with Grandma and Grandpa Flaherty while Brett and I joined my family to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday on the Golden Princess Alaskan Cruise.

DAY 1 - SEATTLE, WASHINGTON/BOARD THE CRUISE SHIP
We got to Seattle Saturday morning, which is beautiful and so green, and boarded our shuttle bus that took us to our cruise ship. I have never seen a ship so big in my life. It was gigantic. It felt like I was walking into the movie, "Titanic", but thank goodness we had a good and safe ending.

Here we are eating our first of many meals to come on the ship.

Later that evening, Sarah and I headed over to the cruise's Lotus Spa and got a Seaweed wrap massage. It was a great way to start off the trip.

DAY 2 - SICK SUNDAY ON THE SHIP
On Sunday, I woke up looked at my phone and thought it was just past 9am. I woke Brett up, got dressed really fast and we headed to the Breakfast buffet, so I could make a Port Shopping Seminar at 10am. After breakfast, my mom and I headed off to the seminar only to find out that it was really 7am, so I had woken up at 6am instead of 9 like I thought. Brett was kind of mad at me, but I was mad at myself for not even being able to sleep in on vacation. I think with all the rushing around my mom and I realized that the ship was really rocking a lot. My sister had bailed on going to the seminar because she was up all night sick. Since I had 3 hours to kill before the seminar really started I decided to hop back in bed for some extra z's. My mom and I headed back to the seminar around 10 and sat down. As the lady began her presentation my mom had to get up because she started getting sick. I am not one that normally gets sick to my stomach, but about 5 minutes after my mom got up I had to book it out of there too. Let's just say I found a barf bag just in the nick of time. I went back to my room to lay down, when I found Brett and Chance sicker than dogs and lying in our bed. Sarah and Chance's room was away from my parent's and Brett and I's room, so they were closer to the front of the ship. Apparently, their room was like a roller coaster and neither Sarah or Chance could stand being in there one more minute. That day ended up being a bad day for all of us as Sarah stayed in bed with my mom and dad and Chance was in bed with Brett and I. We literally stayed in bed all day and night. Come to find out we were experiencing some huge waves out in the open sea due to the aftermath of a hurricane and we were told that it is never like that...sure just when I come on a cruise for the first time do they experience the worst day at sea that they have ever had. Needless to say, I have no pics of that day. They would not have been pretty.


DAY 3 - JUNEAU, ALASKA
Thank goodness we woke up on Monday to find that the ship was back to smooth sailing and we were all feeling much better.
We had to make up for our loss of food and no eating on Sunday, so here I am stuffing my face at the breakfast buffet again after working out.

Our first stop was Juneau and it was a cold and rainy day when we got off the ship. We were so lucky to have gotten in contact with one of Brett's young men from Queen Creek who is now living in Juneau and working for the cruise tours. Nick hooked us up with a free kayaking tour.
Here's Brett and Nick.



Aren't our kayaking outfits just the cutest things you ever did see?


Brett is notorious for taking a million pics of just random things or scenery. It kind of drives me crazy because who seriously wants to look at a bunch of scenery pics years down the road? Anyways, Brett took this pic of one of the many bald eagles that we saw on our trip. The local Alaskans call them dumpster chickens.





Aftering a couple of hours of kayaking we were all starving. We decided to try some local Alaskan food instead of waiting to eat on the ship. We were told we had to try this restaurant, "The Hangar", because the food is delish. Brett is still raving about how good the fish-n-chips were.

DAY 4 - SKAGWAY, ALASKA
On Tuesday we docked in this small "train" town called Skagway. We enjoyed doing some tourist shopping and soaking up all the beautiful trees and greenery. I love visiting green places, but lots of green means lots of rain, so I will take my dry desert any day.




I love Chance's "deer caught in the headlights" look. I think he was just in awe of all the food we were eating. We definitely took advantage of the 24hr buffets, pizzeria, icecream stand, and the fun fine dining.



Day 5 - TRACY ARM
Wednesday was an "all day at sea" day. We enjoyed seeing whales and seals along on our way and ended up at the base of a glacier. It was breathtaking.


The ship rode right up to the base of this glacier...it was awesome!

Brett wanted a pic of us after working out, so he had proof that he actually went to the gym.

Since, we were on the ship all day we decided to get in on the Cruise's bingo game. Unfortunately, none of us won, but we sure had fun playing.



Here we all are enjoying yet another yummy dinner.



DAY 6 - KETCHIKAN, ALASKA
We landed really early in Ketchekan, Alaska where the boys decided to go on a Salmon Fishing excursion. My mom, sister and I got to walk around the cute, little fishing town of Ketchekan and enjoy some shopping while the boys were out catching a bunch of fish.


Here's Brett with his 25lb Halibut that he caught.



The guys caught 24 fish total, which I think made for a great day of fishing.



Here's Brett and I overlooking the dock at Ketchikan.

That night was "Formal Night" on the cruise, so we got to dress up and enjoy some yummy dinner.

This was our favorite server, Roberto. Brett instantly became best friends with him because Roberto is from Mexico, so him and Brett had a good time talking and joking in spanish.


DAY 7 - VICTORIA, CANADA
We spent most of Friday on the ship because we were headed to Victoria, Canada where we would land at 7pm and have until 11:30pm to do some sight seeing. We enjoyed a nice day of more eating and relaxing on the ship.


Once we landed in Victoria we got off the ship, went through Canadian customs and were excited to enjoy some beautiful sight seeing for a couple hours. These two guys that worked for a bike tour company convinced us to pay and take their tour, so we hopped in their bike trailer seats and went for a little bike ride through the neighborhoods of Victoria. These tour guides were a little wierd/annoying and just talked about how much they drink and how many people ask them for that good ol' BC homegrown. Needless to say, my dad cut the tour a little short once we got to downtown and we decided to enjoy the rest of our night walking. We did get to see some beautiful homes and the most gorgeous park called Beacon Hill. We actually got to hand feed some peacocks.






DAY 8 - BACK TO SEATTLE AND HOME SWEET HOME
I love taking vacations, but there is nothing like flying back to your familiar home town and soaking up that 100* weather. Brett and I were so excited to see our kids. It's amazing how much they seem to have grown up while we were gone. The last two weeks have been crazy and fun, but I think Brett had a really fun break from school. He headed back to school today and is officially a 3rd year dental student...hip hip hoora!!! Only two more years to go!!

Brett took this cute pic of Raylee when we picked up the kids from the Flaherty's. This little girl decided to start walking while we were gone, which I had a feeling would happen. Her and Bradock had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa. I am so thankful to have such great parents and in-laws who love to take fun family vacations and who are willing to take care of our kids any time.