Vacation 2008

Well, I guess that since we've now been home a week and things are starting to settle back down I could finally post what's happened with us the last month. Our really long vacation started on September 3rd at 5 am as we started on the road toward Seattle. We did split the drive into 2 days, spending our first night in Pendleton, OR. We then stayed in Seattle for 2 nights. Our first day there, we took the kids to the Seattle aquarium so Kaiden could see the Sharkies, and of course had to buy another one while he was there. Nathan was able to go to the Mariners/Yankees game later that night. After we were in Phoenix for Grandpas funeral at the same time as the Yankees and weren't able to see them then, I promised Nathan that at some point in his life he would get to see the Yankees play.

That Saturday we then boarding the Holland American "Oosterdam" for our week-long cruise to Alaska, with one stop in Victoria BC. Since our ship was called the "Oosterdam" and all of the Holland American ships are "Dam" ships, we had some fun shopping for "Dam" merchandise. I got myself a "Dam good cook" apron!

Our first stop was in Juneau, the capital of Alaska. I thought that this was the most beautiful of all of our stops. We went on a temperate rain forest tour, which I think was actually the most beautiful place I've ever been to. We got to ride the tram to the top of the mountain. We could see the entire city from there. It was truly amazing and breathtaking.

Our next stop was one that we weren't able to get off the boat, but was still as spectacular as anything. It was Hubbard glacier, one of the few glaciers in the world that is still expanding every year. This glacier is about 6 miles wide! We were there in the bay for over an hour and the boat just spun in a slow circle so everyone could get a perfect view. We even got to see quite a few pieces break off off, creating a sound that the Native American tribe would call "White Thunder." It was simply magnificent!


Next stop was Sitka, the location of the capital before they moved it to Juneau. This consists of a series of little tiny islands. It's actually funny here because you see this little tiny island with one house on it. Talk about a private island! For our shore excursion we went on a Sea Otter Wildlife Quest. We were on this little boat, going around all the little islands, watching for any wildlife. Here we were able to see our first whales of the trip. Our tour guide was able to spot them a ways off and pulled the boat right up to them. The kids thought the whales were really neat.

Our final stop in Alaska was Ketchikan. This was actually one of my favorite stops. Ironically, it's the rainiest part of Alaska (they get about 160" of rain a year, and measure their rain in feet, rather than inches) and it's our one stop there that it didn't rain. Hmm... But that's very okay with me because I hate rain. Here in Ketchikan we went to a lumberjack show, that was my favorite thing we did. I loved it! It was so hilarous! What it was, was lumberjack's, competing against each other in sports that were similar to what the lumberjacks used to do before there were machines to do it for them. We also loved this show because they actually have a nationally renowned chain saw artist as one of their competitors, and in between events, he made a little tiny log chair that we were able to take home with us, since we were the only ones in the audience that had kids with buns small enough to sit on it.

Our final stop was Victoria BC. I had been looking forward to this stop for a really long time. All the pictures I'd ever seen of it were just filled with flowers, and as late in the season as we were there, the flowers were still every where. They are actually famous for the hanging baskets they have hanging on every light post throughout the city. I was also looking forward to seeing the parliament building all lit up at night. We were able to get some pretty good pictures of it.