A few more favorite pictures of Alaskan cruise

There is no place like home

Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz said "there's no place like home". There are many times on this trip I wished I could just click my heels together and be back home. It was a wonderful journey but it is so great to be back home, sleeping in my own bed, looking out my own windows, smelling the fresh air of good old NC. Tippy our dog was so excited to see us. Our neighbors filled us in on all the happenings in the neighborhood. Kelly and the grandkids came over and caught us up on what is happening in their life. I can't wait to reconnect with friends, get back to my normal routine, start going to the Y and playing tennis again, and taking my afternoon naps. Our trip was a whirlwind and it has been go, go, go for a month. Now it's time to relax and enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

Don is out working in the yard, cleaning up from all the storms we have had. The tree that fell on the shed didn't do any damage, but we will need a professional to clean up the broken limb, it is so high up in the tree. There is a lot of work to be done, grocery shopping, washing, cleaning, and lots of errands.

It is time for this blog to come to an end. It has been fun writing about our trip out west. I will end with saying I hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip as much as I have enjoyed writing about it. I'm going to publish some more of my favorite photos.

Almost home

We are almost home. We spent the last 5 days traveling in Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ill, and Indiana. We are now right outside of Indianapolis. We have stayed in Super 8's almost the whole way over and back except for a very few nights. My goal was to pick up more states on this trip so as to accomplish going to all 50. Don has visited all 50.We didn't get to Iowa or Nevada, and I still have La., Mississippi, and Alabama. Maybe that will be the next trip.

To me the highlights on the trip back were Glacier National Park in Montana and Bayfield in Wisconsin. In Glacier we saw deer, lakes, waterfalls, snow capped mountains, and clear rivers. We hiked up to a lake and toured the lodge. It would be a wonderful place to plan a vacation. Montana is a huge state with little traffic. You see a lot of horses on the range, and a lot of cowboys. The countryside changes from mountains to plains as you head east. Idaho was also beautiful. It has mountains and plains too, and beautiful countryside. We liked Minnisota and Wisconsin because of all the lakes. They look a lot like NC, only the weather was much cooler. In a small town in Minnesota, we saw a hugh replica of Paul Bunyon and Babe. In Bayfield, Wisconsin we spent a few hours. It is a small resort community on Lake Superior. They had shops and restaurants and places you could rent sailboats. We spent one night in a little motel on the shores of Lake Superior. It was so pretty especially at night. I would love to go back there someday.

Don and I are both very tired at this point of driving and staying in motels. We have logged over 6000 miles on this trip. Our little toyoto prius has been a great car to take across the country. It has averaged 48-50 mpg. We have seen gas prices average from $4.27 out in the west, to $3.82 as we travel closer to home. We have eaten all different kinds of food ranging from pancakes in Utah, to salmon in Alaska, to burgers in Montana, to fish chowder in Wisconson. Our trip took us from NC,Va, WV, Ky, Ill, Ind, Ms, Ks, Neb, Utah, Wy, Idaho, Oregon, Wash., Alaska, Canada, North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconson, Michigan, Ohio, and some of those same states back home again. It has definitely been an adventure. I have read 6 books on this trip. Luckily Don likes driving and I like reading so it has worked out well.

I can't wait to get home.

More Alaska pictures

Alaska!

Alaska was amazing, or as the people on our tour bus shouted after whale watching, bubblelicious! I don't even know where to begin to tell you all about what we saw! We cruised with Holland America and everything was absolutely wonderful. We were treated like kings. The food was delicious and plentiful, our room was spacious, we had fantastic service and the views of Alaska were breathtaking! We also had very fun entertainment on the boat, including singing and dancing by the ship performers, a husband wife team that sang called the 88's, and a magician. The last night I saw the final of the ship's very own Holland American Idol-- some of the cruisers,these amateurs, were as good as the professionals. A guy from S.C won, and his prize was a free cruise to the Caribbean!

One of the first things we saw on the cruise was Glacier Bay National Park. We could look right out from our room deck and see the glaciers. They were hugh and had a blue hue. Did you know that when ice falls from a glacier it is called calving? You hear thunder and then you see ice fall from thousands of feet. What a sight! We also saw seals and lots of very blue water. There were kayakers and other smaller boats cruising up the bay.... they looked so small against the huge glaciers.

Our first port of call was Juneau. I did a little shopping and then later in the day we took the tour bus to Mendenhall glacier and went whale watching. I have to tell you about our tour bus drivers at every stop, they made the trips so much fun. Our first was Annalise, who was from Canada. She was a college student working in Alaska for the summer and she told the funniest jokes and made the tour just really fun. At the glacier, we actually got to walk around at the bottom. It was huge! In the afternoon, we went whale watching. The tour guides were young and told us lots of information about whales. We were able to see orcas up close, but the highlight was seeing the humpback whales, a whole pack of them! The tour guide said it was very rare to see that many humpbacks at one time, in fact it had only happened 5 times this year!

Our next port was Sitka, a port we could only access from boats that took us ashore, because there is really not a port there where the ship could dock . Sitka was cold and rainy but we enjoyed in anyway. Our excursion was a to the raptor center, to see birds of pray that have been rescued. We saw up close and personal eagles, peregrine falcons, hawks, and owls. All of the birds had been injured and some could not be released back in to the wild. We also went on a nature walk through a rain forest and saw totem poles, and some being made. Our tour guide was also a college student. His name was Adam and he was from California and went to Cal State, but was in Alaska for the summer to earn some money. He was really good and told us a lot of local lore. He looked like one of the natives so they were very friendly with him. We saw a river where salmon spawn and he told us how to remember the 5 different kinds of salmon. Take your hand and splay your fingers. The first is chum(thumb), the second is sock eye(pointer finger), the third is king(middle), the fourth is silver(ring finger), and the last is pink(pinkie). Salmon is a big topic in Alaska. Once the salmon spawn they die and right before they spawn they get a hump on their back and are not good to eat then. One of the other interesting things he told us is there are many more men in Alaska then women. The local men have a saying...."The odds are good, but the goods are odd!".

Our next port was Ketchikan. In this port our excursion was to a native village. Our tour guide was a native and her name was Pebbles. (She told us yes, like the one who played with Bam Bam. I should have asked her how she got that name. ) We saw native dancing and more totem poles and heard the stories behind them. Pebbles told us the stories were told to the children as a form of discipline, and in all the stories someone dies in the end. The totem poles are built to show honor or shame. Some of the totem poles we saw were very old.

Our last port was Victoria, British Columbia. Our tour guide was Wayne, an older guy but very friendly. We toured a castle and got to see all around the beautiful city of Victoria. Victoria is a city of flowers and everyone takes great pride in their beautiful gardens. We also saw the Lt.Governor's mansion, beach houses, upscale neighborhoods, city streets, and old hotels and government buildings. We were only in Canada a short time, so didn't get to experience Victoria like we did Alaska. But it was still a great time.

We are now heading across Montana after disembarking on Sunday. We stopped at Glacier National Park and hiked up to a beautiful lake, and have spent two days driving across Montana. We are almost in Minnesota and the time has changed three times from pacific to mountain to central. One more state and we will be on eastern time. We are really looking forward to getting home!

One last thing, remember my first blog where I told you about the tree that had fallen on our van? After a lot of phone calls to our insurance agent and Pat's Body shop, we were able to get it all fixed and will not have to pay anything! That is the good news. The bad news is that another tree fell on our shed out back at our house, but hopefully that will not be too much damage.

We should be home in three days and can really say this has been a trip to remember in more ways than one!

more views of seattle