ALASKA!

Mom flew up to SF on Thursday, the day before so we could begin our vacation relaxed and ready to board the cruise ship the next day. Friday we boarded the ship around 1:30pm and went to check out our room. Mom's very first cruise, my second, but it was my first time in a room with a little balcony! Made such a difference. Really not much bigger than the windowless room I shared with Mel on our cruise, but with the sliding glass door all the way across and mirrors on one side of the room, it was so much more spacious and fun to hang out in. Plus I could just be in my robe and stand on the balcony and get some good pictures, way more warm than being up on the deck with the wind blowing you around.

Our cruise left San Francisco and our first port was Victoria, British Columbia. Mom and I had been there on another vacation a few years ago, so we decided to do the bus tour through the city and up to Craigdarrach Castle.

Ketchikan was the next port on our itinerary. Not a long stop, but we had time to go on a rain forest zipline tour. I loved it!! While on one of the little bridges we saw movement in the trees below, noticed a half eaten salmon on the ground and were able to get a glimpse of a black bear walking around under all the foliage. That's Mom to the left coming down the last line.

We had a full day in Juneau which started with a bus ride and a little city history on our way to the our guided hike out to the

waters edge of Mendenhall Glacier. It was really pretty to see it so close and mom and I took a photo with a chuck of the glacier :) After that we headed out on a whale watching boat. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the boat was all windows, closed for the ride so we would stay warm and then once we found the area where the whales were feeding, all the windows folded up. Our driver, a 4 generation native, said that they almost always found whales, but would consider seeing a couple flukes a very good day. We saw like over 30! There were a handful of whales in the one area and they were up and down, up and down, cruising and then they would doing a really tight arch to begin their dive down and that is when the fluke pops up out of the water.



Skagway: White Pass train ride, bus tour up to Canada to see the Yukon suspension bridge, Liarsville/salmon bake

- work in process