Vacation Part 3: Tracy Arm Fjord, Victoria BC, and home again

This was still the first week Alaska and the Inland Passage were open to cruise ships because of ice breakup. We were suppose to see the glaciers in the Tracy Arm Fjord, but the captain took us to Dawes Glacier instead so that we could get closer (Tracy Arm still had a lot of ice pack).

Beautiful cruise towards Dawes Glacier. We told the kids to stay in the cabin and watch cartoons (Tom and Jerry - we received no resistance!). Then Matt and I went up to the top deck on this drizzly morning to check out the views which were breathtaking.

The low clouds made everything seem more majestic.

It was cool to see all the icebergs float by the ship and to take in the beautiful igneous outcrops.

Hard to tell but this iceberg was larger than a truck.

The ship turned and we could see the glacier from our room.

That is a four deck boat - for scale so that you can see how massive the glacier is. We were about 1.5 miles from the glacier and saw/heard some calving (when part of the glacier breaks off). It was so neat - likely quite the view for the people on that smaller boat!

Great smile from Brenner.

Look close to see the bald eagles!

We left the glacier mid-morning so did ship activities the rest of the day including a great ice skating spectacular.

The pamchenkco :) Nola and Brenner got wide eyed!

Great costumes. The show was called sounds of the seasons - music was great and moves were fantastic.

And - they added a special performer :) Nola was so excited!

This performer was from the Ukraine. He skated and did maneuvers with this ring. It was very cool!

 

The final scene - a really great time. We also saw a Broadway-type musical in the theater. It was good - although Brenner fell asleep!

Forgot some of our new pets - the elephant.....

....and a bunny!

Oh Canada! We cruised into Victoria British Columbia for our last stop. I didn't book an excursion because I thought the kids would be tired this late in the trip and I was right. We walked a few hundred yards to the beach and let the kids explore during low tide - it was awesome!

We found this HUGE oyster shell - it was a great find according to some of the locals we talked with that day.

The beach at Victoria with the United States across the water.

Brenner was fascinated by the driftwood.

Lunch time find - food trucks!!!! Mommy loves food trucks and was glad to introduce the kids to them. They were outside the British Royal Museum.

Inland Harbor in Victoria.

Then back to the beach - Matt and Brenner ventured into the water - it was crisp :)

Sea otter on the rocks - it was the size a dog! I didn't realize they were so big!

By Canada - it was a quick trip but warm (finally). Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared and forgot the sunblock in our cabin :(

The warm weather allowed for the Flowrider to be open and Brenner was all over it.

Nola wasn't tall enough but was there to cheer him on.

Brenner was a natural!

Had to stick out the tongue a little!

He did awesome! That water was cold and the air temp was in the 50s. Kids are brave!

On Friday morning, we left the ship and made it back to the airport early (8 hours before our flight because we didn't ask for assistance off the ship). I checked and there was another flight leaving in 45 minutes so we changed our tickets and got home 7 hours earlier than expected - yahoo. As you can ell - we were tired! In fact, that night Nola went to be at 9 pm and didn't get up until 10 am Saturday - unheard of for that girl! Lots of good memories - we are thankful for a safe trip. We are also thankful for Grandma Val who spoiled KC while we were gone - thanks Mom!

Vacation Part 2: Juneau and Skagway

Juneau was our first shore excursion. It was pouring down rain and attitude - a tough start but things worked themselves out as the day went on.

A beautiful morning in Juneau? Or at least a typical May day in Juneau.

We did see six whales. I even caught a picture of a tail of one! The naturalist on the ship gave a great presentation on whales - they only spray water out of their spout every 6-7 minutes. And when you see their tail - they are diving deep and could be underwater for 30 minutes. No wonder we couldn't find him/her after I snapped the picture!

Mendenhall Glacier - with the rain stopping for a few minutes. A local gal (looked to be early 20s) said that it was three times larger when she was a kid. One of the reasons I wanted to take the kids now instead of waiting until their older - climate change will continue to destroy these magnificent features.

Nugget Falls near the glacier. It was huge. And the name caused potty mouth from Brenner. Sigh.

It was so loud!

One of my favorite pictures from the entire trip (except that Matt wasn't in it with us!).

Look at the blue glacier ice. The cloudy day was good for the pictures!

Next we went to the Rain Garden. It was neat - a landslide occurred after the glacier recessed and implanted the trees upside down. A local turned it into a garden with a tour up the "mountain". It is next to the Tongass National Forest (the second largest rainforest in the world).

The road had to be made with all natural materials and could not remove any trees from the forest.

Cold and rainy at the top but we managed some smiles.

The next day we were in Skagway.

We learnt how to pan for gold - we definitely need more practice!

Once you separated the gold, you put your flakes in a little container to take with you.

This lady was a hoot - she taught us all the steps.

Next, we went to have it weighed.

I added mine to Nola's and Matt added his to Brenner's. Each kiddo had exactly 2.90 grains which was worth $18.28. We had Nola's made into a necklace - she was so proud!

Next we learnt about dog sledding from a musher (Mark?) who has participated in 7 Iditarod.

This was his sled, dog booties, etc. It was an excellent presentation - we all learnt a lot but I have forgotten his name!!!

Next we got to meet the dogs!

And then we learnt how the dogs get hooked up to the sled.

And we met 7 day old puppies.

Next we went into the -40 experience. Basically we were put in a meat locker. Matt and I laughed about paying money to do this but it was included in the panning for gold and dog sledding so why not!?