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!
Despite being the capital of Alaska, Juneau only has 32,000 people in it. It is also in a rain forest climate and we definitely felt that today as it rained all morning. While the kids were at kids club in the morning (which they have been LOVING, see below), Lily and I explored Juneau and bought matching rain jackets (yay!) and got umbrellas for the kids who already had good coats. We also signed up everyone except Meera and Mani (Meera wanted to stay in) for some whale watching.
When Lily and I returned to the boat, we picked up the kids from kid’s club, enjoyed our buffet lunch and then everyone to the whale watching tour. It was unbelievable and fortunately, nobody got sea-sick:
Walking to and waiting for the boat tour
Amazingly the rain stopped right as our tour began. We learned so many things about humpback whales. These whales feed here extensively during the summer. They eat and eat and eat and eat. They dive down for 7 to 8 minutes (max is 45) and they eat a ton of fish with each dive. Then they come up and because they are out of breath, they surface for breath 5 or so times in a row, and then they dive again. They feed this way almost all day it seems. After their months of feeding, they swim to Hawaii, give birth and mate, and then swim with their new calf all the way back to Alaska. The whole journey takes about 6 months round trip and they do the entire thing (nursing their young the whole time) without eating anything because there is no food for them on the journey or in Hawaii. So when they arrive in Alaska, they are starving, and they feast extensively. It was amazing to understand more about their patterns and see them up close.
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.
Today we woke up at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel and had a nice breakfast. Then we went to take the kids to a show like the Soren show that was in New York, but when we got there, the soonest available showtime was too late for us given the cruise boarding time. Lily used her amazing influencing skills to get our money back even though the company we bought the tickets from typically does not give refunds.
While we were running around town attempting to see a show, Swathi was giving a virtual lecture from the hotel room. She said it went very well! When she was finished, Clark, Sruthi, Mani, Soren and Meera picked her up from the hotel and we all met up at the boarding place for the cruise.
Lily had a mini-panic attack because she realized at the last second she didn’t have any of the emails, texts or communications that she was told she would get as the time got closer to the cruise. She did confirm that she booked and got a confirmation number, and we did pay, but she was very concerned because we got so few communications after we bought it. She called Princess Cruise Lines and learned that they have three separate systems. And in two of the systems we were registered and good to go. But someone forgot to check a box to get us registered in their third system which was for communications.
At the end of the day, everything went fine when we checked in at the cruise ship. We said our goodbyes to Clark and Swathi who were so nice to help transport us to Vancouver, and boarded the boat (after security, customs, bag checking etc). We were all excited to be on the boat, but especially Lily, who booked everything and carried the heaviest burden of making sure nothing went awry. Thank you again Lily for booking this amazing experience.
Even though the first half of our day was a bit stressful and anticlimactic (not getting to see the show, having to battle for a refund, and I didn’t even mention the broken elevators at the hotel which caused us and many others problems), the second half of the day was completely magical.
Once on the boat we had delicious food. The kids were all so excited and loved exploring the boat together. We looked out over the ocean from the deck as we pulled off and enjoyed the incredible scenery. After lunch, we all went swimming, and then I snuck in a workout. Then we showered and got dinner. We saw a whale while eating and we continued to enjoy the wonderful food. The kids had non-stop fun being together, and we were quite the group! Ammon had fun announcing on elevators, “sorry, we have a big family!”. After dinner, we dropped the kids off at the kid zone, and then Lily, Sruthi and I sat out on the deck with blankets, and watched “Ticket to Paradise’ on the big screen. It was a wonderful movie, and I loved cuddling with Lily. We picked up the kids at 10PM, then everyone went to bed and now I’m blogging. What a day!
Recently, Lily has been falling in love with Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest. She’s been going on walks at Point Defiance, and the beauty has astounded her, and she’s been wanting to take me on the walk. Today we woke up at 5:20 and went. Despite my zombie-like state from fatigue and work stress, I truly loved walking with Lily through that beautiful area. It was a complete gift and respite given the pressures I have been facing.
Then I had a normal work day, and Lily worked on packing up for the cruise. I wrapped up around 3:30, and we were all out by about 4:30. The plan was for us to pick up Swathi from work, and then she would drive with us to Vancouver, and drive our car back to Seattle the next day.
On the way to pick up Swathi, Lydia, Lily, and I had an intense discussion/argument about Lydia getting a phone as well as her harp practice. It left us all a little sore, but we had a productive and more peaceful conversation on the topic the next day that felt like progress to me.
After picking up Swathi, we had a delicious dinner at a local Washington sea food chain called Ivar’s. I LOVED their clam chowder.
When we arrived at our Hilton in Vancouver, we all went to bed.
Today was a good day. We’ve continued to eat Mani’s amazing food:
Also, I’ve been melting down from stress at work, but Clark and I had a fast run that was over 4 miles and at a 7:33 pace. It had a lot of hills and really made us work. We loved it!
While I was working and running, Lily was giving the kids an awesome day. I think she took all six kids to the park and ice-cream, and then dropped off everyone except Lydia and Clarissa, whom she took the Washington State Museum and Chihuli bridge.
In the evening, we had a wonderful dinner that Clark made.
