On Saturday we ate our last meal on the cruise before disembarking the ship.
Then we took a bus from Whittier to the lodge near Denali State Park. On the way we saw some beautiful glaciers and passed through a very long, claustrophobic tunnel.
Lydia took this shot of Clarissa on the way.
The kids drew to entertain themselves. I took a picture of Soren’s drawing because I knew it would make Nana most especially happy!
When we arrived at the lodge we took a very short walk to the Treehouse, which had amazing views of Denali. It is such a breathtaking mountain!
After that the kids played at various parts in the lodge grounds before dinner.
The kids made all sorts of rock altars.
We watched a presentation from two climbers of Denali and a beautiful slideshow of pictures of the Aurora.
Abe made friends with one of the climbers who lost a leg and still broke records with his climbing accomplishments.
On Thursday we spent the day at sea and saw Glacier Bay National Park. While the kids were at kids club Abe and I just sat in the sunshine at the front of the boat and talked for hours and hours. It is so fun to visit with Abe!
Everyone got a kick out of the otters. Sometimes they would just float on their back leisurely. This one appeared to be playing with its food:
Skagway was so unexpectedly beautiful. I felt like I was in Yosemite. Everywhere you look the view is incredible, but my poor photography skills could not do it justice. I honestly did not even try to take many pictures because it was too impossibly pretty. Absolutely gorgeous.
We wandered into town and learned about the gold rush before going on a the Dewey Trail hike to a lake.
view from the cruise
boat taxi
Gold rush
After the hike Lydia, Mary, Sruthi and I wandered around downtown Skagway. I bought the girls some hats and popcorn. It was very relaxing and peaceful and fun–one of the best highlights of the trip for me!
Ketchikan was one of my favorite days, even though it was rainy and a little cold. We went to see Totem Pole Park, and then we went to the salmon stream and were awed by the way the salmon battle their way upstream. After we sampled some delicious salmon in a fish store on the way back to the boat.
When totems fall to the ground they are allowed to decompose.
We spent the day at sea. The kids had fun at kids club, and there was a fair like activity for the kids in the middle of the day that we all attended. They had face painting, cookie decorating, glitter tattoos, a clay boat-forming contest, and a dance party.
Abe ate this during one of our kid-free times of the day.
In the morning I got up early, did laundry, did Clarissa’s reading lesson with her, did story time with Ammon and Clarissa, helped Ammon with piano, helped Mary with piano, had Lydia practice the harp, and tidied the house.
Then at 10:10 we all piled into the car, washed the car, and picked up some picnic food from Harmon’s before driving to Rainbow Bay for lunch with the Tiemanns. The kids had so much fun all playing together by the reservoir, and we had a wonderful time visiting with Matt and Courtney.
By the end of lunch, though, I was exhausted and came home to nap while Abe took all of the kids to Orem Summerfest. Then he brought home Lydia and Mary so he could march in the parade with Ammon and Clarissa. I gave Lydia a foot massage before the girls got all ready for bed and have been blogging ever since.
Abe, Lydia, Ammon and Clarissa all went on this crazy ride.
Here is what Ammon and Clarissa had to say about it
After the second time, Ammon started to feel sick and he lay down in the shade for 15 minutes after that. Abe and Mary went on this ride.
fun with treats
Abe and Ammon went on the Aladdin fun house because no one else had close-toed shoes.
After work Abe went on a bike ride with Daniel Olsen. The waterfalls and river are insane after all of the winter snow!
In the evening we headed to the Olsens to play games. It was so fun as always to spend time with them, and after I was so tired and went right to sleep.
On Thursday I did laundry, walked Basil, practiced with Ammon and Mary, did Clarissa’s reading lesson, read with Ammon, cleaned the house, grocery shopped, and cooked. Oh, and I woke up early to do three reps of the 500 work out with Abe. It was a big day, and Abe is working incredibly hard too. We were both so tired by the end.
We woke up early on Saturday morning and drove an Nour and a half to Pinnacles National Park. Jere came with and helped us know where to go.
The trailhead was hard to get to because the rangers were blocking it off due to “10-15 cars up there circling for spots.” We convinced them to let us through to drop off another man who was trying to get back to his family at the trailhead. They said we could go through on condition that we returned immediately. But when we got to the trail head, there were no cars circling and a ton of open parking spots! We didn’t know what to do but eventually just parked because we couldn’t find a ranger to talk to.
The trail was amazing, and the ladybugs were swarming. There were literal clouds of ladybugs, and Clarissa was content to just stand in the clouds and try to let as many crawl over her as possible. The other kids loved it too, but Clarissa almost could not be persuaded to move from the clouds.
Poison Oak
After the Pinnacles, we drove back to San Francisco. We first parked in China Town and trekked to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. We bought a lot of fortune cookies and then parked near Little Italy. From there we walked down to Pier 39 to watch the seals, and then we hiked up to Coit Tower to watch the sun set.
After that we went to Tony’s Pizza and got some slices to go. We sat in a park by the Washington Square church and ate our pizzas at the end of the long, very fun day.
Fortune Cookie Factory
But our day was not over yet! After we got the kids down at 10pm, we rushed to shower and get to our friends, the Hongs. We visited from 10:30-midnight. It was SO fun to see them. Jon and Abe have been friends almost their whole lives, and Shirley and I text a lot. It was wonderful to visit in person. We love them so much!
