I went to Alaska, really, I did!

 

Several months ago, Wendy says, we are going to Alaska in September, so I said sure, never believing she could make it happen.  She made it happen.  Up to the day or two before we left, I still figured that something would get in the way.  Nothing did.  She made it happen.  She really, really wanted this bad.  I know she is concerned as her mobility gets harder, but she really wanted to see Alaska.  So, we flew to Seattle, jumped on the Norwegian Encore and by sometime Monday, we were in Alaskan waters.  We made our first stop in Juneau, went dog sledding with some Huskies, saw some awesome terrain and drove past the Mendenhall Glacier.  We even saw an Eagle.  Next stop was Skagway, and we took the White Pass train line through some mountains and all the way to a place called Fraser, Canada.  There, we stopped at a pretty cool suspension bridge, took a picture at the welcome to Alaska sign and purchased something called Ketchup chips.  Delicious!  Thursday was utterly spectacular.  Without having to leave our stateroom, we saw the beauty of Glacier Bay.  The scenic views were breathtaking, as was the incredible sight of ice floating in the water.  We spotted one small whale playing in the water, some kind of sea creature, like an otter, a couple of mountain goats and one lone bear playing on a beach.  The ice in many spots looked blue and then we witnessed about 5 calvings.  This is when large amounts of ice give way and slide into the water.  The sound is incredibly loud.  Friday, we started back south to Ketchikan where we took a Deadliest Catch adventure.  We boarded the Aleutian Ballad that was actually in the show about 17 years ago.  We saw how the equipment worked, watched them haul in a pot of crabs, fed some eagles, such a majestic bird, and held something called a box crab.  We saw a 50lb. octopus and so much more.  This was my favorite excursion.  Ketchikan was incredibly wet and cold that day, it was a struggle for Wendy, but she endured.  We cruised south from Ketchikan to Victoria, British Columbia, in some incredible gales and swells.  Made for an interesting ride, although overnight, I slept like a baby because of the rocking motion.  After spending all day on the water, we had a very late evening stop in Victoria but we decided to stay in.  All we really missed was a carriage ride around the town.  We were busy participating in the Olympic sport of packing, where Wendy excels at cramming a houseful of stuff into several suitcases.  It's actually quite exhausting.  We returned to Seattle today, have been chilling in the Alaska Airlines Lounge all day awaiting an overnight redeye into New Orleans.  Despite my doubts and disbelief, Wendy made sure this all happened and now I can say that I have been to 49 states, including the two that are the youngest, Alaska & Hawaii.

Hopefully, after an all-night flight into New Orleans, we restart all our various routines and get back to normal.  Even though a trip of a lifetime, there is no place like home.  Thanks for reading.