ALASKA

The best place to go in the dead heat of summer is Alaska! Most of the family thought they wanted to go to a beach for vacation this summer, but when we found out about Alaska through Cruise Lady and that Brad Wilcox and Randal Wright would be doing some seminars on the ship, we decided to join them! It was such a wonderful, relaxing vacation with the family. You could bundle up, eat all you want because you're not getting in a swimsuit, and just lounge around the boat at any open time. When we weren't out touring, we went to the seminars while we were at sea and they were wonderful. Both of the speakers are youth speakers, so they were entertaining for all ages. I just wondered how they can always come up with new material when they speak all the time, and they're still able to make it engaging and inspiring each time. We heard seminars about relationships in families, the Atonement (an introduction to Brad's new book The Continuous Atonement), how to keep a 3 word journal, how to better study the scriptures, and more. They were all excellent, and it was especially fun to get to know the speakers and other members of their families during the trip.

Brother Wilcox loves to give hugs! He's great.

The fam with The Wrights

Every night we ate dinner in the same place with all of the other people who came to listen to the speakers. You'd think we'd eat a lot of salmon on a trip to Alaska, but I think I only ate it once. There were too many other things to eat... like pizza, lobster, crab, and soft serve ice cream. You know James and I hit that spot daily. It was so creamy and delicious.

So I didn't get a picture of the best part of the cruise... the man we so lovingly referred to as the "Cookie Man" who walked around with a cart of warm cookies and milk. He had a little sailor hat that even said Cookies and Milk. Well, it wasn't the BEST part of the trip, but it was one of the highlights of being on the ship.
James and I tried to see everything they had to offer onboard and tried out most things, such as mini golf, swimming, exercising (we went twice! yes!), going to a magic show, eating constantly, playing shuffle board and basketball, playing ping-pong and watching movies under the stars with popcorn and hot chocolate. We loved every bit of it.



The 1st excursion was to Ketchikan, Alaska, where James and I did different activities. James went salmon fishing with part of the crew, and they caught a bunch of fish! You know my dad was happy. It's his favorite. I went with the rest of the crew in a boat to look underwater at some fish and a tour to see a park filled with totem poles.

Then we really found out why people go to Alaska. We woke up really early the next day to watch the scenic cruise through Tracy Fjord. I'm not usually a fan of the early mornings, but it was worth it when we got up on the top level of the boat. Pictures can't show how beautiful the water, mountains, and glacier were. It was stunning.

Do you spy the large ship that looks tiny on the bottom left?

Very cold... very early. =)

I couldn't believe the big ship could navigate so well through that narrow passage way. And that's what made it so neat was because we were pretty close to the land on both sides in some areas. When we got close to the glacier, the ship made a very slow 360 degree turn so people could get different views of the glacier. It was incredible.

In Juneau- stop 2, we took a tour of the city, went to a salmon hatchery where they save millions of salmon each year, went to the Alaska state museum, walked through a garden, and went to the Mendenhall glacier.

Bella wanted James to take her around the museum. How cute is this picture?

Dane & Angie outside the garden. See the face on the tree above her head?

The Mendenhall Glacier

The 3rd and last stop in Alaska was a tiny city called Skagway. From a look out point, we could see the entire city-- only about 5 by 8 blocks or so. Their entire economy is centered around the cruise line business. There, we panned for gold and took a tour around the city. Our guide told us stories of people traveling there during the Gold Rush and another story about one of the outlaws, whose grave we saw in the most interesting cemetery I've seen.

The hero (on the left) who killed the con man, "Soapy" (right).

And in between the lectures and excursions, we did enjoy some delicious food, such as lobster and this ice cream cake.

The kids were very much amused by the Kid Zone on the ship and the iPhone at dinner. =)

Our final stop was in Victoria BC Canada. We didn't really know what to expect on this stop, but we were very surprised. We took a long drive along the coast and saw tons of large cottage like homes along the way. They all had so much character, and the landscaping was just incredible. It's extremely expensive to live there, and I can see why. A lot of retired people live there, but there's also a small college there. For some reason, there was a ridiculous amount of black rabbits hopping around. Anyway, our driver took us to our final destination which was...

We really had no idea how beautiful it was going to be. It's one of the most amazing places I've ever seen! We couldn't believe all the flowers and greenery that were everywhere. James was having a wonderful time being a photographer and taking a billion pictures of each flower. It was great to see him enjoy his camera. Again, the pictures just don't give the overall feel you get looking over the "Garden of Eden" as I called it. So gorgeous.

The Sunken Garden

I loved these flowers.

A view of the bay through a hole in the trees.

The Japanese Gardens

The Italian Gardens

The Rose Garden - there were 100's of varities I had never seen before.

And the make an even perfect day better, we ended it by watching an amazing firework show on the lawn of Buchart Gardens. They only show it on Saturdays in the summer, and they change it each year. I always said nothing was better than Disney, but this was preeettty close. It was just so different and fun. Needless to say, we LOVED it all! It was such a great vacation and a great way to spend quality time with the family.