Day 5 - Juneau

We woke up in Juneau this morning. We had a morning to sleep in so we didn't have to rush around. We went to breakfast and then got off the ship for a tour.

We walked around Juneau exploring.

We met up with everyone and were split into 3 groups. We were bussed through Juneau to the Mendenhall Glacier. We had an hour to explore around.

We went to the visitors center where Ethan bought Courtney an owl (great big brother) and then he bought a fish.

This was the company who took us around Juneau.

We then went to a dock where we loaded on a jet boat for a whale watching trip. I was nervous because the last time we went whale watching we didn't see anything and a bunch of people got sick. But this time was amazing!

The jet boat we were on was brand new. This was its maiden voyage. And it was a nice boat.

We went out to sea and saw a whale eating by the shore. It was fun to see the kids excited. 

We moved on and found some more shares to watch before the captain received word that there were orcas a bit away. So we went to see them. 

We were able to see a mother and a calf. It was great and the kids saw them.

Then we went to see a lot of seals. 

It was then time to go back to shore. So we sped back. 

After unloading from the boat, we loaded back onto the bus and went back to the dock. We had tickets for the tram so we loaded on there and went to the top of the mountain.

They had a female bald eagle on a cage on top. It had been found with a bullet hole through its beak. They kept it alive and now have it in a cage because it wasn't safe to release it. It was neat to see an eagle that close.

More pictures from the top:

 

Our babies in the eagle nest...

Checking their wing spans.

We rode the tram down but Bryan and Ethan wanted to ride it again looking out the front. Courtney and I watched them go up before going back to the ship.

After the boys got back we went to dinner and then dropped Courtney off at the kids club. They were doing a boys vs girls night.

Ethan went to the free arcade hour and played video games. He had a lot of fun.

Bryan and I went to watch the boat leave the dock.

Ethan had bought Courtney a stuffed owl. When the steward made up our room for the night, he made a towel owl and put it on Ethan's bed. 

We tried to watch the new Star Wars after Courtney got back but I was exhausted so I didn't make it long and neither did Ethan. 

Day 4 - Hubbard Glacier

It was our first full day in the ship and a day at sea. 

Courtney was supposed to stay with Leigh Ann in her room but the rooms were so far apart that Courtney didn't feel comfortable sleeping there. So we had her added to our room. She slept in our bed the first night. Ethan slept on a Shamir that made out to a bed. It worked.

We spent the time playing around, checking out the ship, Ethan went to a movie, and we went swimming.

Courtney and I went to a class to learn to fold napkins. It was a lot of fun.

We went swimming.

Then it was glacier time. We sat on our balcony for a long time watching it but eventually we went down to the deck to see more. It was great because we saw a lot of calving. It was cool to see all he icebergs in the water.

It was a great thing to see!

That night was the formal night so we got dressed up and went to dinner. It's fun to dress up and the kids did a great job with their manners. It's great for them to converse with adults. Ethan ate duck. He said it tastes good but was really fatty. 

The room steward made a towel animal.

We watched the sun begin to set.

Courtney went to the kids club again and it was survivor night. Bryan and I made Ethan go to the pool with us until it was time to get Courtney. We had a lot of fun!

Then it was time for bed! Courtney slept on the bunk.

Day 3 - Seward

We didn't wake up as early as the day before. Probably because we had been so exhausted from the day before.  We had plenty of time to sleep in, get ready, pack up and get in the bus to Seeard where we would load into the cruise ship. 

It was a pretty uneventful drive. We stopped a few times to look at lakes and walk around. 

This was our bus.

We finally got to Seward.

Here is our ship.

We were expecting a long wait to get into the ship because that is what happened last time we cruised. But it went really fast this time. We were soon on the ship and exploring around. 

We signed Courtney up for the kids club. She was pretty excited. She got to spend a few hours playing around in the kids club with other kids. She loved it.

We went swimming and then went to bed. It had been a long couple of days.

Day 2 - Anchorage

We woke up really early Thursday morning...because the sun was up really early in the morning and we were in a time zone 2 hours behind our own. 

We got up and got ready for the day. We ate breakfast and then went exploring. Our hotel was right next to Sheep Creek where a ton of people are fishing all the time. When there's only 4 hours of darkness a day it gives natives a lot of time to do things.

This was in front of the river.

We found a can of "Bear Scare" but it looked used so we left it there. They told us that bear and moose regularly walk into town.

At about 8:25 am we loaded onto the buses to go 2 hours to Talkeetna. They stopped along the way for us to buy snacks because we weren't going to get lunch and the tour was going to take all day long so we wouldn't be back for dinner. 

The bus ride was cool because we went through some beautiful areas.

When we got to Talkeetna we went in a jet boat tour down the river. It was cool. 

After taking us a ways down the river, we all got off the boat to look at a trapping cabin.  Out guide secured the boat and then came up to guide us down the trail. She had a 12 gauge shot gun. Ethan decided right then that he has found his dream job.

Right now is the time when moose have their babies so they came become aggressive. So she had the gun to keep us safe.

The cabin was pretty cool and the scenery was beautiful.

One tidbit of information we learned was that dandelions, which aren't native to Alaska, grow really tall here because of all the extra sunlight they get. It was crazy!

They loaded us back on the boat and we went to see a bald eagle nest.

We got back to the bus we took off for the lodge. There wasn't anything to do at the lodge but the views were beautiful.

Just hanging out at the lodge. 

We loaded back on the bus and went to see some Iditarod dogs. We watched a video about the race and its history and then we went out to see the dogs and ride on a sled. 

Just as a side note...the weather was beautiful and quite warm. I was really surprised at the lack of snow. The river guides even said they had a really mild winter. Crazy!

Anyway, the puppies were courtneys favorite part. Can you tell?

 

We took a ride in a sled pulled by dogs but the sled had wheels. It was so much fun.

We were exhausted by this point so the ride home was quiet. When we got to Anchorage we were starving. THey dropped us off in town and we asked around for a pizza place. A guide told us that Uncle Joe's Pizza was the best....and it was!

We then walked back to the hotel finally arriving 12 hours after we left that morning. Courtney went swimming. It was such a long day that the lack of darkness at night didn't stop us from falling right to sleep!!