Cruisin'

So, yes, we went on a cruise. If we don't sound particularly excited, it's because it was the exact same cruise we went on 3 years ago, except with different people and a slightly different intinerary. Same boat, same food, most of the same shore stops. This time we went with my dad's family, last time it was mom's. Another thing that was different (and great) was that Korin and Brian got an "Owner's Suite" (check out a picture/floorplan here), which mom, dad, and of course, Charli, stayed in with them. It had a big bedroom, a ginormous bathroom, a closet big enough to put Charli's crib in, a big living/sitting room, and a deck with a hot tub. Plus the butler, concierge service, and the super-special restaurant at your disposal. It had an espresso machine, and they gave us 3 big bottles of booze, and champagne on the first day. Brent, Sam and I spent most of our time there, just coming back to our puny inside stateroom to sleep. Here are some pictures of people enjoying the suite:



Don't we look like we're having a great time? We could shoehorn a lot of people in there.

The first stop was in Ketchikan, where Brian, Sam, Brent and I all went on a nice hike up Deer mountain. It was pretty foggy all day, and we ended up hiking right up into the clouds, but it was really pretty up there.

In Juneau we rented bicycles and rode around Gastineau Channel and across the bridge to Douglas. We found this great historical park there that had all of these awesome mine ruins. Unfortunately, we were running sort of late, and couldn't stop to take any pictures. We should have, but the ship may have left without us, and that would be bad. We had to be back because we were taking a sightseeing trip up Tracy Arm Fjord, where we saw seals, eagles, whales, waterfalls, glaciers calving, and lots of people with binoculars.

Skagway was the last stop, and we went looking for some internet (wireless on the ship is unbelievably expensive). After wandering around in town for a while, we went on a short guided hike along a portion of the Chilkoot trail, a 30+ mile hike that the gold miners had to take over White pass. The hike was great, and our guide was really cool, and it was all capped of by a nice float down the Taiya River.

Here's the full Yang/Davis/Lawler/Yamashiro/Palafox/Metzger party. A good time was had by all!

-Kim