Our first cruise to Alaska!

Bon voyage! J  About a year ago, Dan’s family signed up for a cruise to Alaska.  We were invited, but felt we should decline.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, we looked at prices, and they had dropped significantly.  I checked with my mom to see if she could watch our kids, and this was the one week in a long time she didn’t have to work.  She told me it sounded like it was meant to be and she was excited to spend so much time with the grandkids before we move.  She is the best!  So we booked and we sailed away!

Thursday, we drove with Brian and Randy to Idaho to stay at Grandma Carol and Grandpa Chuck’s house overnight.  We had a great time all talking together, jamming out to Brian’s tunes and Dave & I cuddling in the back seat.  I love Carol & Chuck.  They are so fun, so kind, and so good! 

We left Friday morning, and met up with all of Dan’s siblings.  They’re fun people, too.  Though it’s sad to see the choices some are making.  It makes me thankful for Dan who has stayed true & faithful his whole life and helped his kids do the same.  If it weren’t for him, Dave probably wouldn’t be in the picture for me, and that would be sad.  We all loaded up in three Honda Pilots (which we started by the way, Grandma & Grandpa and Dave’s aunt and uncle have them too!), so I joked we were the Pilots on parade.  We drove through Oregon and part of Washington, chatting the whole way.  Then we stopped for the night in Yakima. Our hotel was okay, but way cheap, only $40 for the night.  We ate some dinner at Mel’s Diner (nice name, no?), which was a fun old place.  We did some shopping at Target and a few other stores,  Dave & Randy and a few others got selfie sticks...haha! I got a haircut because my hair was getting so out of shape it was driving me nuts.  Then we watched a movie on TV and went to bed. I didn’t get much sleep that night, and I’m not sure why.  

Saturday, we woke up early to get to Seattle.  We stopped quite a few times on the way, this rest stop in Washington was a pretty cool place.  Then we finally made it to board the beautiful Norwegian Jewel.  We had to go through the lines and get registered and get our passenger cards.  Then we boarded the ship.  All of the employees were way nice and strive for complete customer satisfaction.  But it just seemed that these are happy, genuine, positive people.  We ate lunch – food everywhere you look!  There was a dining room and Garden buffet, about five restaurants, ice cream machines, and snacks all over.  Yum!  The interior was beautiful and fun, too!  We explored around the ship, it was so huge and it’s amazing how complicated and complex it is!  We unpacked our stuff in our room 9662 on the ninth floor (which was small, but I never felt claustrophobic), went to the bridge where the captain was at, met everyone for dinner at O’Sheehans, then we went to the “Welcome Aboard” show in the Stardust theatre, which was a variety show with all of the performers who would have a show that week.  Grandma Carol and Grandpa Chuck were recognized for being the couple on the ship who’ve been married the longest.  They got a diamond necklace and a bottle of champagne (which they gave away).  When asked what the secret to their long relationship was, Grandma Carol said that “He’s so kind!” and Grandpa Chuck joked that “It’s the other way around, she’s being too nice!”  Dave scored a free t-shirt, which he was excited about.  

Sunday, was rather quiet but a nice day at sea.  We went to Bingo to watch those in our family who played, but we didn’t buy any cards, learned to country line dance, saw whales out the ship window, went to the trivia (we went most days), had lunch with the family, watched a movie in the theatre, listened to some of the musicians in the lobbies, attended the “Band on the Run” show, and went to the band Prism (Dave’s favorite) show where they did love songs.  

Early Monday morning, we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska.  We sat at the port and ate outside so we could overlook this beautiful place!  It was overcast, but not rainy, which the locals said was ideal weather!  We got off the ship and walked around, went shopping for souvenirs, went on a totem pole tour, and went on a walk and explored the town!  It was probably my favorite stop on the cruise!  I loved the beautiful rivers that ran through the place, the lush greenery and colorful flowers, and wildlife we saw. We saw many beautiful birds, butterflies, sea animals, and even saw jelly fish in the water, which I didn’t know lived in cold weather places.  When we got back on the ship, they had a Memorial Day BBQ and party by the pool.  We had some food and listened to the patriotic music.  That afternoon, some of us went to learn how to do balloon twisting.  Grandpa Chuck was laughing so hard at one point at Dave & Randy, who were struggling with their balloon swords and dogs, he was crying.  And we were all laughing and crying along with him.  We watched a little of the NBA playoffs during the cruise, there were some good games!  We did some more dancing lessons, went to eat at Tsar’s Palace with everyone, went to the comedy show featuring Andrew Kennedy, who was so funny and finally watched the “Newlywed, not so newlywed game” which was SO funny!  Each day was so jam-packed we were exhausted by the end of the night!

Tuesday, it was to Juneau.  We ate a quick breakfast, and then got off the ship.  We found our bus for the whale watching tour.  Dan, Sue, Brian and Randy also came.  Our tour guide/bus driver was fun!  We saw the city of Juneau and it was nice, bigger than I thought.  We drove out to Allen Marine’s dock and got on the St. Nicholas to go whale watching.  I always thought on TV it seemed a little boring, but seeing those whales was amazing!  I didn’t get any amazing pictures, it’s hard to know when and where they will jump or breach.  The tour guide again said this was the best weather they’d seen in a long time and the first week the whales had started breaching.  To see something as gigantic as those whale jump out of the water and to learn about their amazing life cycles was fascinating!  I can see why that is on most people’s bucket lists.  After whale watching for half the day, we went to Mendenhall Glacier, and hiked to Nugget Falls.  The glaciers and ice that had broken off were so blue, it was amazing!  The falls and forestry surrounding it were breath-taking.  We also checked in at the Visitors Center for a little bit.  On the drive to and from our destination, we saw a huge field with around a hundred eagles just sitting there.  We barely made it back in time on the boat, then ate lunch, went and played Pictionary with our family, we did a Scavenger Hunt on board, went to the Acrobat show, which was amazing!  They were a married couple from Russia and so good!  Then we ate at Chin-Chin’s Chinese restaurant, listened to the Show Tunes show, and watched the Ultimate Dance Competition, which was hilarious!  They paired up passengers with the cruise staff and it was kind of like Dancing with the Stars, but they had some twists and it was great!  

Randy caught this one!  I missed all of the breached shots!

This light house was neat, and it is no longer in service but you can rent it out to stay a nigh or two.

Probably my best picture of the whales! 

The water was so green and beautiful!

Crazy hair after being in a hat all day...yuck!

Wednesday was the only day I went to the gym, ha ha!  I think I maybe worked off an ice-cream cone or two.  ;)  It was a nice gym though and I loved the track that went along the outside of the ship.  We ate breakfast and then landed in Skagway.  We walked around town, went to some of the U.S. Forrest Service’s little museums, ran into the missionaries and talked to them, went to the train station, and did some final shopping.  It was a neat little town and we had fun there.  We got back on the ship, ate lunch, went to the Visual Trivia, looked at the art on auction, attended the Le Cirque Bijou show, then went to the Beatle’s tribute show, and listened to part of the comedian’s show for adults, but left after a few jokes because it was pretty crude.  

Thursday, it was our day at sea, and it was a rough one!  I had to take motion sickness pills and it usually doesn’t bother me.  There were bags near the garbages and we had to step over the results of someone’s sea sickness in the hall.  I went to our room to take a nap, which I did almost every day and fell asleep during shows sometimes. I think I got way more sleep than I’m used to and that made me more sleepy.  Dave and I were brave and went swimming.  Dave had a great time in the pool, which was salt water from the ocean, but I wasn’t brave as the weather was pretty overcast/light rain/windy so I hung out in the hot tub, which was nice.  Dave was getting quite the waves in the pool!  We went to all three meals at the Garden this day, as everyone can just get what they want.  The food was all excellent.  Finally, we went to Magic/Comedy show by JP.  Randy was picked to help the magician out.  The magician let Randy pick a plain orange and put it in a bag and then had a card that someone picked later on in the show in the orange he put under his chair!  It was crazy!  Randy was a good sport.  After that, everyone on the boat knew him and Grandpa Chuck & Grandma Carol.  The tricks were amazing and this guy had us laughing!  Then we had to go see Prism again, lol!  And finally, went to the white hot party after that, which was a black light dance.  We mostly just sung along to the music, and it was fun. Each night, we'd get the agenda for the next day on our bed along with a towel animal or something - they were so fun!

 Friday was a beautiful day!  It was a half day at sea and then Victoria, B.C. In the morning, we had breakfast with everyone, went to a Q&A with the ship captain, main engineer, and hotel director.  It was fascinating!  And we found out our ship embarked and began its maiden voyage on August 10, 2005, our anniversary!  Meant to be, Dave said!  J  We also attended the Q&A with the entertainers, which was fun and interesting.  We played our last game of visual Trivia and didn’t do well at all on this one, which was airports around the world, but then rocked the 80’s name that tune trivia.   Dave and I were unable to get passports in order before we left, so we stayed on the ship.  We had the ship to ourselves!  We played basketball on the deck, soaked up some sun and relaxed, looked all around the area, hung out near the pool.  Way nice!  We had a dinner with everyone at one of the restaurants, tried to take a picture with everybody, but people kept leaving.  We played our first game of shuffleboard, as it was actually open.  Then we went to the Farewell show, followed by Karaoke, got one last ice cream cone, and off to bed to get our things in order for the next day.  While talking to Grandma Carol that day, she expressed her sadness to me that none of her kids except Dan had stayed true to the Gospel.  Chuck is not a member but is very supportive.  But none have followed the Gospel path and she disappointingly said “I must have done something wrong!”  But no!  She has not, she has done her best and is a wonderful woman!  We all have our agency, but I told her there’s still time and everyone one will be compensated for their losses and none of our efforts are not in vain to our Heavenly Father.  I also pointed out how because Dan has followed in her footsteps, she has six grand kids with four of their spouses, and several great-grandchildren who are following the Savior.  I thought of how if she hadn’t reared her children right, Dave wouldn’t have been in my life, which really got me!  How thankful I am for her and her example to us all!  Her other kids are great, but some have made some poor choices and now they are dealing with the consequences.  One of their kids is literally dying from stage 4 lung cancer, as she smoked most of her life.  She stopped smoking, and her husband quit but picked up the habit again.  Some of the grandkids of Chuck and Carol had been to jail, or struggled with substance abuse and other problems, which is sad.  When we were talking about it one afternoon, I light-heartedly joked but with some seriousness told Dan’s one sister that there was still time!  She laughed.  As we were on the cruise ship, I saw so many different lifestyles and paths that people chose and felt so thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  Truly, there is “safety and peace” in living the Gospel.  I felt so strongly to share this experience at the senior branch we went to with my parents where the serve the weekend after the cruise.  I told them to have no regrets about their past and that the Lord is pleased with the lives they’ve lived, and how there is great peace in life when we live the Gospel every day and do the little things to strengthen our faith, for they really are big things.  I’m thankful to have grown up in a home where the Gospel was taught by a father and mother and for the testimony I have!  It is everything!

Final day, we packed up, had breakfast (I just had a teeny bit…I was getting sick of food by this point) exited the Norwegian Jewel for the last time and went on our way!  We drove back, caravan style with all of the family.  When we stopped a few times, I felt like we were still rocking.  It was a really great time, with memories to last forever, but SO good to get back to the family!  We drove all day from Seattle back to Bountiful, and made it back just around midnight. 

While we were gone, I don’t think the kids missed us.  They went to the park, played tennis, practiced the guitar and piano, went with Mark & Mayela and played with Amber, saw movies, helped in the garden, got a gold fish, made a tire swing, swimming and water fights, did arts and crafts, slept over at Jerry & Stacy’s and swam over there.  They did pretty well we heard, but Cov broke down once. I was on the phone and my mom said “Cov’s been really good and hasn’t cried for you once,” then all of the sudden he started bawling and saying “I miss my mommy!”  He also asked if Grandma could take him to Daddy’s hotel a few times and would also go to the window a few times to wait for us.  I missed them like crazy though!  We’ve never been gone for more than a few nights at a time, so it was hard for me and the cruise seemed to go by so slow.  When I got back, the kids kept hugging us tight, so glad to see us again and never wanting to let go.  But it was so great for Dave and I to have this alone time, and some relaxing time to be waited on hand and foot!  I’m so not used to it, and it was nice for a change but will be nice also to get back to hard work and reality again.  For a good time, head to Alaska!!  It was a wonderful, beautiful experience I'll never forget!  :)