Kidless Adventures: Part 2 - Ketchikan & Juneau
Okay, whew! Where to even begin?!! Since I last posted before we left on our cruise in Seattle, a lot has happened! And I have taken a billion pictures and the internet on the ship is OH SO SLOW so, big shocker, I'm not going to be able to share ALL of the pics with you that I wanted. I'm sorry. I'll do a huge Alaska cruise vacay PHOTO DUMP ONLY post when I get home and get back to much faster wifi, but until then you'll have to be satisfied with the few pics in this post...and you can always follow along with the #moonpepvacay2 hashtag over on Instagram where I've clearly overshared pics from our adventures.
Once we got off the boat we walked around Ketchikan -- our favorite place was Creek Street. It was a street literally built over a creek! We saw lots of fish and even an otter! Or seal. One of those :)
We did buy the kiddos a few souvenirs after we walked around for a bit, found the police station to trade patches (Mike's favorite thing to do when we travel!) and get a tshirt, before heading to a local Thai/Chinese restaurant for lunch. We then headed back to the ship before calling it a day.
We were at sea the rest of the day Tuesday well into Wednesday morning. Fortunately it was smoother sailing than Monday -- and very scenic! Mike stays up late and gets the best snaps!! -- so that was good for my unhappy body. There are a few pools on deck and Mike has been loving going to swim in them, especially Tuesday afternoon when it was super sunny out. Ben joined him as well. I should mention that Mike, my brother Ben, his wife Erin, and Charlie have been livin' it up since we got on board! They're totally taking advantage of their unlimited drink package and hitting up all of the shows and entertainment. I've indulged in some, but my sea sickness has really kept me in bed so I'm glad they are still living it up! My parents are having a blast too.
We have been eating in the same dining room with the same waiters every night and it's so great -- they are two great dudes and we've loved being able to eat with them every night! They'll definitely be getting a good tip from us!
Today we had a tour booked -- it was a 5 hour tour to the salmon hatchery, Mendenhall Glacier, and Glacier Gardens. I was happy again to get off the boat, after waking up early to see the scenic Fjord we went through before passing out again in bed for feeling sea sick and then waking up to go to our tour. The tour was AWESOME. I was not only happy to get off the boat BUT also super excited to snap some pics. We brought both cameras -- the 5D and 6D -- so Mike and I could both play photographer. I am SO GLAD we did -- we got such great pics! The hatchery was neat -- Mike got some great snaps of an eagle, and the Glacier was my favorite part. We hiked about a mile to Nugget Falls which was nearer to the Glacier base than the visitor's center, and it was so worth it. Despite it being cloudy and a bit foggy, the weather was great otherwise. We got some really good snaps! After the Glacier we went up 600 feet into the Glacier Gardens to see some pretty neat views of Juneau as well as oodles of beautiful trees and plants.
Let's just say by the time we got back to the boat (7:30pm) I was pooped and passed up on going to dinner and instead had a snack, edited pics, and typed up this here post for you before retiring for the evening.
Tomorrow I'm really looking forward to: we have a 4 hour photographer's tour scheduled in Skagway! I cannot wait! I hope it's nice out and we get some great snaps. We are back at sea Friday (boo hiss) so I'm hoping my tummy is okay and not sea sick again before getting into Victoria, Canada late Saturday. We are going to Buchart Gardens for the fireworks Saturday night before heading back to Seattle to head home on Sunday. I can't believe our vacay is already half over! We are having a blast, but I am anxious to get home too -- I desperately miss my babies!
Okay! Whew! I'm sure I'm forgetting a TON, but oh well. My brain is mush, I'm tired, and this slow internet is killing me...so that's all for now. I promise a huge photo dump when we get back of the hundreds (not kidding!! and those are just the ones that made my editing cut!!) of pics I want to share. For now, I hope you are satisfied with my words and the few pics here. Until part 3...adios friends!
Okay! So! We left Seattle late Sunday afternoon and are currently smack-dab in the middle of our week-long cruise to Alaska, with a quick stop in Victoria, Canada on our way home.
I was terrified of getting sea/motion sick before we left, so I had my doc write my a prescription for sea sickness patches that you wear on your neck and then got some sea bands, along with every other possible remedy for motion/sea sickness. Well, low and behold, my precautions were not totally effective (maybe there were a little and it would have been much worse had I not had them?! Who knows.) and OHH MYY GOSHH terrible terrible terrible sea sickness. I was literally in bed 90% of the day on Monday. Fortunately we were at sea all day so I didn't miss much, but I didn't get to explore the ship or take advantage of my drink package either. Oyyy. Awful. It did get better by the end of the day, but not totally. I definitely felt every movement of the ship and it was just torture. I'll spare you the details and not dwell on it in my future postings, but yeah, just know it's here in full force and I doubt will go away until I get off the ship.
We were at sea all day Monday, and then docked early Tuesday morning in Ketchikan, Alaska. I was SO EXCITED to get onto solid ground! Haha! We didn't have excursions planned for this stop, since we weren't there too long and were just going to explore.
We were at sea all day Monday, and then docked early Tuesday morning in Ketchikan, Alaska. I was SO EXCITED to get onto solid ground! Haha! We didn't have excursions planned for this stop, since we weren't there too long and were just going to explore.
Once we got off the boat we walked around Ketchikan -- our favorite place was Creek Street. It was a street literally built over a creek! We saw lots of fish and even an otter! Or seal. One of those :)
We did buy the kiddos a few souvenirs after we walked around for a bit, found the police station to trade patches (Mike's favorite thing to do when we travel!) and get a tshirt, before heading to a local Thai/Chinese restaurant for lunch. We then headed back to the ship before calling it a day.
We were at sea the rest of the day Tuesday well into Wednesday morning. Fortunately it was smoother sailing than Monday -- and very scenic! Mike stays up late and gets the best snaps!! -- so that was good for my unhappy body. There are a few pools on deck and Mike has been loving going to swim in them, especially Tuesday afternoon when it was super sunny out. Ben joined him as well. I should mention that Mike, my brother Ben, his wife Erin, and Charlie have been livin' it up since we got on board! They're totally taking advantage of their unlimited drink package and hitting up all of the shows and entertainment. I've indulged in some, but my sea sickness has really kept me in bed so I'm glad they are still living it up! My parents are having a blast too.
We have been eating in the same dining room with the same waiters every night and it's so great -- they are two great dudes and we've loved being able to eat with them every night! They'll definitely be getting a good tip from us!
Today we had a tour booked -- it was a 5 hour tour to the salmon hatchery, Mendenhall Glacier, and Glacier Gardens. I was happy again to get off the boat, after waking up early to see the scenic Fjord we went through before passing out again in bed for feeling sea sick and then waking up to go to our tour. The tour was AWESOME. I was not only happy to get off the boat BUT also super excited to snap some pics. We brought both cameras -- the 5D and 6D -- so Mike and I could both play photographer. I am SO GLAD we did -- we got such great pics! The hatchery was neat -- Mike got some great snaps of an eagle, and the Glacier was my favorite part. We hiked about a mile to Nugget Falls which was nearer to the Glacier base than the visitor's center, and it was so worth it. Despite it being cloudy and a bit foggy, the weather was great otherwise. We got some really good snaps! After the Glacier we went up 600 feet into the Glacier Gardens to see some pretty neat views of Juneau as well as oodles of beautiful trees and plants.
Let's just say by the time we got back to the boat (7:30pm) I was pooped and passed up on going to dinner and instead had a snack, edited pics, and typed up this here post for you before retiring for the evening.
Tomorrow I'm really looking forward to: we have a 4 hour photographer's tour scheduled in Skagway! I cannot wait! I hope it's nice out and we get some great snaps. We are back at sea Friday (boo hiss) so I'm hoping my tummy is okay and not sea sick again before getting into Victoria, Canada late Saturday. We are going to Buchart Gardens for the fireworks Saturday night before heading back to Seattle to head home on Sunday. I can't believe our vacay is already half over! We are having a blast, but I am anxious to get home too -- I desperately miss my babies!
Okay! Whew! I'm sure I'm forgetting a TON, but oh well. My brain is mush, I'm tired, and this slow internet is killing me...so that's all for now. I promise a huge photo dump when we get back of the hundreds (not kidding!! and those are just the ones that made my editing cut!!) of pics I want to share. For now, I hope you are satisfied with my words and the few pics here. Until part 3...adios friends!
