~Part 3 - JUNEAU AK~

Today we arrive in Juneau, the capitol of Alaska, It is raining..... Going to be a wet, kinda cold day... Before leaving the ship we "HUNT" for somewhere to get some breakfast... HAHA.... After breakfast we are off the ship and on our way to Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls (off to the right of the glacier).. Soon after arriving there the rain stops.. Great now we just have cool weather... What a HUGE chunk of ice... It is beautiful coming out of the mountains.. What a gorgeous view of God's creative imagination... This is a receiding glacier, it is getting smaller.

Now back on the bus for a narrated trip on down the road to Auke Bay, where we board a boat for Whale Watching.. What HUGE amazing creatures they are.. I LOVE watching them.. They feed in the waters of Alaska and then travel to the warm waters of Hawaii to have their babies. I was up on the open observation deck of the boat we were on taking pictures.. It was cold up there, but it was amazing to see these whales... Now back on the bus to head back into town.. We do a little shopping and looking around before heading back to the ship and Dinner.... I wish there were someway I could tell you every little detail of everything we did and saw, but there are just not words to describe it accurately.. It was just spectacular... And to be able to share this with my parents is beyond words... I only have about 1000 pics of this trip... and not one of them does justice to what it is of... So let's see where are we off to next... I believe Skagway....

~Part 2 ALL ABOARD~

Sept 3rd, we headed for the Pier and to board "Rhapsody of the Seas" for Alaska... I had done most of the checking in online before we left for Seattle.. So we got checked in and on the ship... You should have seen the look on mom and dad's face when they saw the ship.. WOW... It was spectacular.. So we are on board and found our cabins.. We are on Deck 7 with Balcony cabins.. They are ajoining so there was a door between our cabins.. Then it was off to expore the ship and grab a bite of lunch.. We headed for the Windjammer for a buffet lunch of all kinds of food, salads, desserts, and breads... Eat all you want and walk out, no waiting for the check.... Just as we were leaving the pier we had to Muster, a safety drill so you know what to do in the "Unlikely" event of an emergency.. So off to our lifeboat stations we go.. We made sure we were on deck 4 when the alarm sounded, so we did not have to go up or down alot of stairs, easier on mom's knees... After Muster, it was off to dinner we go... We went to the dining room this time. I heard the people seated at the table next to us talking about beans, cornbread, fried potatoes. I said, "You must be from the South" and guess what, they were from Berryville AR. they knew Sister Yarbrough and all her family. Small world we live in... We enjoyed chatting with them..

Now we are off to the Welcome Aboard show in the Theater with the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers.. Great show.. But it's time for a snack before going off to bed... Are you beginning to see a pattern here with "Food".. Yes, you can literally eat 24 hours a day somewhere on the ship... Tomorrow we are at Sea all day... Nothing to see but the Sea on every side... No sight of land...

~Where to START?? Part 1 Seattle ~

I am so far behind in posting.. I may break this up into several... Back on Sept. 1, mom, dad and I left for Seattle, met Larry at the airport as he was getting on his flight... He hung out with us for awhile, then headed home to regroup, print boarding passes and get ready to head out the next day to join us in Seattle...

We had a long travel day,, but finally made it to Seattle and our Hotel... Hotel shuttle took us to a local restaurant called "the Roaster" for dinner. Then it was time to turn in, because we had a busy day planned the next day..


Charles, Mashelle, Nick and Joe, picked us up around 9 and we headed for Snoqualmie Falls, beautiful place.. LOVED IT... we walked around the area and viewed the falls from all angles and waundered through the gift shop before heading out to our next stop..



On to the Seattle Space Needle. They were getting ready for the Labor Day festival that weekend.. Great park... Had lunch at the Food Court there in the park. Waundered around some of the street vendors, in the Space Needle gift shop (no one went up in it)... Weather was great, Not too hot and not too cold.. Got some great PICS....

Then on to a drive along the coast, where we saw beautiful parks and GORGEOUS hanging basket planters... Then back to the Hotel to wait for Larry to arrive... Then to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory... WOW,,, What a great dinner... We laughed and had a great time.. Thanks Charles and Mashelle for a WONDERFUL day aroud Seattle... It was great seeing them and getting to meet your 2 youngest sons.. I had not seen Charles and Mashelle since Josh was about 2 weeks old, that is A LONG TIME!!!! Hope it is not that long till I see you again...
Then we called it a nite. Tomorrow onto the Ship and North to Alaska....