Home from Alaska ~ Trip of a Lifetime

Alden and I had the privilege of going to Alaska ~ and we are one happy couple!

We enjoyed God's majestic creation, friends, family, and time together as a couple.

WOW! and WOW again!!!!

We did a land tour to Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and on down to Anchorage, arriving in Seward, where we boarded the cruise ship. We did the Inside Passage ~ just beyond beautiful sights to behold.

And LOTS of this was going on!!!!!!!

We did Alaska with these special friends ~

Art & Linda, John & Alice and Bart & Nita

and......what FUN we had!

We did side trips on both ends of our Alaska trip ~

saw Dianne and Chuck (my sister and brother in law) on the end of the trip. What fun it was being with them!

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And Doug and Jan in Seattle

(whom I just deleted by accident on this post....so sad. Those who do blogging

know you can't just insert the picture right where you want it.

I will add them into another post soon.)

Doug and Jan showed us Mt. Ranier ~ which we could see out in their backyard!

What a wonderful way to begin our time away.

We then met up with Russ and Margie, also in Seattle

and they showed us around the city.

We fell in love with this city!

We flew on to Fairbanks, Alaska

to begin our Alaska adventure!

We girls had so much fun!

We boarded a glass domed train

to head toward Denali National Park.

We were constantly LOOKING ~ for animals

and the never-ending BEAUTIFUL scenery everywhere!

It simply filled us up

Arriving at Denali ~ where we took a short hike

arriving at a pretty creek

Off to bed ~ and a gorgeous sunset

(sunsets were around 11:30 p.m. and only "darkened" for about an hour and a half)

We hiked into Denali the next day ......

yep still looking for wildlife all around us

Soooooooo much to see ~ and so peaceful as we take it all in!

Caribou ~ awesome

hiking ~ remember it is cool and we walk as slow or as fast as we want ~ simply a peasure to be out in nature

The next day we headed for Seward

beautiful sights as we drove along in our bus

We were excited to get to the ship ~

Celebrity Millenium

Our first day of cruising was stormy ~ rainy and cold

It cleared enough for us to see Hubbard Glacier ~

to hear the calving take place was amazing ~ sounds like thunder! Our ship was watching from only a 1/2 mile away

The next day we arrived in Juneau ~ a sunny day! We went whale watching ~

and there they were ~ humpback whales ~ WHAT???!!!!! We were watching whales?!!!!!!!

It was about too much to fathom sometimes. :)

They were feeding ~ called "bubble netting"

More on that later ~ AMAZING to watch!!!!!!!

Orca whales ~ killer whales

The next day we went on to Skagway ~

Looking at Mendenhall Glacier ~ isn't it beautiful?!!!!!

Finished the day going up a tram ~ beautiful sights ~

our ship from up the mountain!

On the deck after dinner ~

so many wonderful moments.

We most often left port in the evening ~

with just beautiful sights to be had.

Peaceful ~ we slept GREAT!

We took a raft ride down a river in Skagway ~

and saw MANY eagles. This was an Eagle Preserve.

hee hee ~ had to be geared up with rubber boots and life jackets

going down the river

Much time was spent on the balcony of our room ~

just enjoying the scenery

(it NEVER got old!)

We loved every minute of it ~

and it filled us up with pure contentment.

Fireweed at Icy Strait Point ~ more to come on that

Isn't it beautiful???!!!!!

Took a hike into the woods to "look for bear"..........down by the river.

AHHHHHHH ~ we saw them!!!! Truly amazing!

they're playing!!!!!!

Off we go.........to our last port

so peaceful ~ again and again

Ketchikan ~ a cute little town

salmon ladder ~ what an amazing thing that is watching the salmon swim UPSTREAM!

We then headed to Fresno ~ to see my sister and brother in law ~

Dianne invited my Aunt Audrey, Cousins Jennifer and Melinda ~

and Jennifer's daughter, Shannon and her girls ~ Brooke and Amanda.

What a wonderful time we had getting caught up! A special blessing.

Our "formal" night ~

Again, just simply an amazing trip ~

Alaska ~ we love you!

Thank you God for Your amazing work in the creation of this earth.

Content ~ with wonderful memories.

{I will slowly be adding a number of posts highlighting the specific places we visited}