Alaskan Fun

Warning - this post is picture heavy!  Proceed at your own risk!


As most of you know, we spent the week before our attempt at Rainier on an Alaskan cruise.  To spice things up, we flew into Anchorage and took a trip on the Alaskan Railroad to Seward, where we would get on the boat.  Prettiest views from a train ever.

Looking back on the train from the back of our car.

The mud flats.

The car my family was in.

Of course, Avery preferred playing with cousin Charlie and Gamma....or napping.  Kids these days!

How do you open this Gamma?

I'm dreaming of taking over the world.

In Seward, we walked around for a bit so that Avery could con Aunt Sharon into buying her a stuffed Alaskan Huskie dog, and then we boarded the boat.

And I will hug it, and hold it, and squeal with delight...

Our ship, Celebrity Millenium

Our first "port" was an at-sea day...but it wasn't a normal at-sea day because we cruised to the amazing Hubbard Glacier!

My whole family was impressed!  There were 26 of us on the boat!

One word.  Awesome.

Our next port was Juneau, Alaska.  The weather was GORGEOUS.  So gorgeous, some shops were closed!

In Juneau, Gamma, Aunt Heather and Aunt Jeanette were nice enough to watch Avery and her cousins....so that the rest of us could ride in a Helicopter out onto the Mendenhall Glacier for a hike with crampons.

Boarding!

Ready to get my hike on!

The gang

Aren't we cute?

What we were walking on and with...I'd be nice to anyone wearing these things!

In Skagway, Pops was nice enough to watch Avery so that Mark and I could go on a long excursion.  We took the White Pass Railway and then hiked out and onto the Laughton Glacier, a very different glacier from Mendenhall!

We were walking along this Glacier-fed river for a long time...yes, on those rocks.

Laughton Glacier

We're B.A. Two glaciers, two days.  Bam!

 Avery was so happy to have us all to herself when the ship was in Icy Straits, Alaska. 

I'm so happy I could spew oatmeal!

Although, Mommy and Daddy got a little cabin fever.  I even resorted to the evil treadmill so that I didn't kill anyone.  :)


We did get off the boat in Ketchikan, even though it was raining.  We took Avery into town and ran from shop to shop.  Somehow, in the process, she fell madly in love with a stuffed eagle.  At least it was on sale!

See Pops, the thing about Eagles is, they don't need glasses to see me.

The cruise ended in Vancouver, B.C.  My parents, Mark, Avery and I stayed in Vancouver for a couple days and really enjoyed it.  Stanley park is awesome!  I was able to get a perfect long run in along the waterfront.  After that, we drove from Vancouver to Washington for the Rainier climb (see: Humble Pie).


All in all, it was a fabulous trip.  However, I do not think I would recommend a cruise to anyone with an infant.  It was really hard to truly take advantage of all the typical "cruise things," and without my family, I don't know that it would have been fun.  Two hour dinners were an exercise in patience and ingenuity.  Avery got to try a LOT of new foods.  HA!

If you take my green beans, I'm gonna have to hurt you.

Many thanks to my awesome family for some incredible memories!!!  Extra thanks to those family members that helped out so that Mark and I could have some baby-free time as well!


Thanks for joining me on this picture-tour of my trip!


Mandy