Alaska Pictures, Part 1 (flight-embarktation)

I decided to blog about our trip in parts....because it would be a LONG post otherwise. So! Here's part one! The pictures are a little bit out of order....but oh well!

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Goofing off at the PHX airport....we goofed off a lot on our trip! :)

Somewhere in the sky between Phoenix and Seattle...Brandon had the window seat!

Mt. Rainer....this thing is HUGE!

Okay, so Anchorage was our first time seeing cabbage used in landscaping. They had purple ones and green ones and little ones and huge ones....I could have made myself a salad out of their flower beds!

This is the river boat we rode on in Talkeetna on whatever river that was!

A view of the river...

Our shot gun toting guide! She was showing us furs.

Us at the Talkeetna Lodge...oh and you can't tell because I had my 1.8f lens on the camera...but there are mountains in the distance that got blurred. Opps.

Okay, back at the river....Brandon checked out the inside of a trappers cabin.

This is basically what it looked like inside the cabin...this table, a wood burning stove and a cot.

Stuff outside the cabin.

I loved the grass and flowers growing on the roof of the cabin. If we ever build the girls a play house...I want a roof like that!

This is the cache where the trappers would store their furs. The ladder would be moved and leaned against a different tree to keep animals out. Also, if you look close, you can see that there are stove pipes at the top of all four poles that hold the cache up...this was to keep animals out also. :) This was one moment when I was glad my kids were at home because they would have been dying to climb that ladder!

A beaver trap. Ouch!

I wish I could remember the name of the native tribe(s) that lived in this area...oh well...here's what one of their lean-tos looked like.

And this was their version of a refrigerator. They dug this hole...then covered it with sticks and birch...and it stayed cold.

Just a little path that I thought was pretty.

I am so glad to took this picture because it's the only shot I got of "The Three Amigos". They were three older guys traveling together. Two are widowers and one has a wife who is suffering from dementia (I think). Anyhow. They were on the cruise with our group and we'd say hi to each other whenever our paths crossed. One turned me down when I offered to help him on the walking tour we did...he stayed on the river boat instead.

This is the first bald eagle we saw in Alaska...and the only one I got a picture of. When we were in Kechikan, our last port, we saw a bald eagle flying into her nest with a fish in her mouth. Totally like on the Discover Channel!

That whiteness in the distance is Mt. McKinley/Denali.

Okay, this is a stop we made to see a glacier on our drive from Anchorage to Whittier. Look at how blue the water is from the silt! It was overcast and raining, so this isn't the best shot...but the whiteness that looks like snow there between those two mountains is a glacier with a blue hue to it.

Our home away from home at sea.

"The Fun Ship" That's what Carnival calls their "fleet". I thought land was pretty fun myself, but after a day on the ship and a LONG stormy night....I grew some sea legs that didn't work as well on land. We'd be in a store and it would feel like the place was rocking. Do you want me to tell you about our storm at sea? I was going to save it for later....but I'll tell you about it now. SO! Thursday (Aug. 27th) was out first "sea day". Everything was going fine until about 3p.m. or so....I don't know the exact time the "swells" started turning into waves big enough to rock the boat....but by dinner time (6 p.m.) half the passengers were sitting down, or in their rooms and not feeling too great. I made it down to dinner...but only lasted long enough to force myself to eat bread and a little soup so that I could take my motion sickness medicine. My poor sister in law Pam was throwing up so much that she couldn't even keep the medicine down. I left when my sister in law Celeste's lobster came and I just couldn't take the smell. Our room steward John took one look at me and gave me a barf bag that I thankfully never had to use. Well...I went and laid down for about three hours...the boat rocking and rolling the whole time. Brandon was feeling fine and then by 9 p.m. I thought I'd be okay to get up and go play cards on the Lido deck. Jeff, Kayla, Wynn, Kami, Brandon and I all played Phase 10 until close to 11 p.m. We were at the middle of the ship and it wasn't as rocky there. Well...our rooms were more towards the front...and when we got back...the storm, that we thought was calming down, just got worse. I took a shower and could hardly stand up because things were so bad. Then we laid down on our bed side ways because we thought that might help....but that didn't do much. At one point during the night our closet door and drawers where flinging open and then slamming shut. All I could think was, "Are you kidding me! When is this storm going to stop? I want off this ship!" And when morning finally came and we'd only slept a few hours and the storm was settling down...we went up top and I saw land in the distance. I have never seen a more beautiful sight! I wanted off that ship more than ANYTHING and I was seriously thinking about staying in Sitka and letting Brandon go on without me! It turned out that Sitka was a "tender port" which means we had to anchor out a ways from shore and take small boats in...but that was worth it to get to stand on land. We went to the post office to mail a post card home and the post master was talking to one of the locals about how bad the storm had been and how they don't get storms that bad very often. Of course they don't! Why would they have normal weather when I am on a ship out in the ocean? Even crew members were sick...and people with 20-30 years experience at sea were saying that they've never been in a storm like that. Which makes me wonder what kind of dare devil we had as a captain. Two other cruise ships who were in the storm at the beginning turned back....not OURS! Someone told us that the winds were 68 mph at one point and the waves were 30-40 feet high. Not really my idea of fun. But at least it never happened again.

So...there's my "Storm at Sea" story.

I made it home! Brandon is still in Vancouver working....he'll be back in a few days.....and my mom already left because she is catching a flight to California to go do flowers for Amy Sokoloff's wedding. It's good to be back! I missed my kids (but not the cooking and laundry). Alaska was AMAZING! Absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever been....which doesn't do justice to the place because I haven't traveled very much....but Brandon and I had so much fun.....even after enduring a storm at sea with high winds and waves. I'll tell you all about it........later!

Talkeetna trip

Greetings from Anchorage! We made it!

We began our trip Monday morning. We left home at about 8 a.m., after getting Kaitlyn off to school. My dad had driven up to Snowflake with my mom Sunday night so that he could drive back down to the airport with us and then drive our truck to his house. Me made it to the airport close to noon and had lunch there before boarding our plane to Seattle. We had a good, sometimes bumpy 3 hour ride...but it was so cool to look out the window as we flew over the Grand Canyon....or the Snake river...or Mt. Rainer. I loved seeing all the trees and just couldn't get over how green everything is there! SO pretty! We had a hour lay over...which was GOOD because we were told that our gate number was changed...so we took the tram over to the other terminal...only to find out that the gate was back at the terminal we were originally at....so we took the tram back and still had time to grab a bite to eat before boarding our plane at 6 p.m. The flight from Seattle to Anchorage was about 2 1/2 hours out over the Pacific Ocean. Let me tell you...I paid extra close attention when they went over all the pre-flight safety stuff...and I read the pamphlet and tried to memorize what to do if we had to land in the ocean! :) It was very cloudy....so that's about all we could see...clouds and we weren't by a window for this flight...a man watching cartoons on his lap top was.....but as we got closer to Anchorage, we could see the shore lines and mountains......we landed, got our luggage and took the shuttle here to our hotel....the Howard Johnson....not the nicest hotel or most comfortable bed...but it's a place to lay our heads! It's SO strange for it to not get dark until around 10 p.m.!

So...we got up this morning, walked down and bought a quick breakfast at a cafe down the road and then we boarded a bus to go on our group tour. (We are with the "Fun For Less" tour group....most of the people are from Utah. There is a couple from Riverside, CA (that's near where I grew up) and another couple with the last name of Barrett...which is my maiden name.) ANYHOW...the average age on the bus was about 60! Maybe not....but Brandon and I+ his siblings + in laws are the youngest people. We drove through Wasilla(sp?), that's where Sarah Palin is from...we saw her house across the lake. I told Brandon that we're going to move there...they have a Target...and it's so pretty there...what more could you want from a place? Well...we didn't stop in Wasilla. We keep on driving...and all of a sudden the tour guide and bus driver were all excited and telling us to look out the window to our left because "You can see Denali". Well....I had no clue what they were talking about. BUT...they finally explained to us about Denali...aka, Mt. McKinley. It is a mountain and it has the highest peak in North America. They told us that it is so high it creates it's own weather and it is usually hidden in the clouds and only 20-30 percent of all the summer visitors get to see it. So...we snapped a few pictures...then continued on to Talkeetna. (I love all the Alaskan town names!) In Talkeetna, we visited a gift shop then took the bus down to the river....I am not sure what the name was....but we boarded these jet boats and took a river tour. (OH...and by the way...we got very little rain...just some sprinkles...the weather today was beautiful...so glad the forecast was wrong!) The water in the river is mostly from glacier run off. The glaciers melt in the summer and help feed the river. So the water was like 38 degrees. But the boat was covered...sort of like a green house...lots of windows on the sides and ceiling....so it was warm in there. So anyways...we rode up the river a ways...stopping to look at the bald eagle...speeding past a bear in the bushes...(I guess we were supposed to yell out when we saw some wild life and they'd stop the boat to look at it...but we didn't know that so by the time the guide heard that we'd seen a bear...it was too late to go back.)....then we saw a huge bald eagles nest up in the trees. I think they said it's been there for 10-15 years....I don't remember...but it was big...way up at the top of a tree. Then we docked and went on a little trail tour. We saw replicas of places and things the natives to the area would have used only about 110 years ago. Then we saw a trappers cabin and cache. I have pictures...but no USB cord...I of course forgot to pack it...but oh well. Then we got on the boat again and zipped back down the river and disembarked! Oh! I forgot to say that when we were on the little trail tour...our guide carried a shot gun...which I was very glad for because I was having a hard time trying to figure out a way to use my camera to defend myself from a bear! Did you know that if a brown bear is after you...you can climb a tree to get away...but if it's a black bear...then you better try to put up a fight because they will climb the tree to get you. ANYHOW.... By now it was about 2 p.m.. The tour bus took us to the Talkeetna Lodge...which is a really nice place with a great view of a mountain range...plus we also ate lunch but had to hurry so that we could get to the Iditarod Headquarters. We got there and took a little one minute loop pulled by a dog sled team. There's no snow right now...so the dogs pull a 4 seater big wheeled "sled". Those dogs are fast and powerful! All of the dogs that pulled us have been in Iditarod race before. The Iditarod is the dog race that goes from Willow, AK to Nome...it is about 1100 miles long. The fastest time was about 8 days and some odd hours+minutes. We also watched a little video about the race...and it looks like a grueling race! Our tour guide said it cost about $4000 to compete in the race...but if you're the first to Nome, you win about $100,000....plus they have prizes for those who are first to the different check points. They said that the dogs run about 100 miles a day!... After Willow, we boarding the bus again and came back to the hotel. We spent a LOT of time on the bus today. Oh! We also saw a full rainbow from the bus!.....(back to what I was saying)....This seems to be a very nice group to tour with as far as friendly people go. We all took turns introducing ourselves while we were on the bus. There were 40-50 of us on there...and that's half our group. The rest are coming today. SO...we got here, to Anchorage...then a bunch of us family went to look for a place to eat dinner. Food is NOT cheap here! We walked a ways and found Uncle Joe's Pizza. I had the best pizza ever! It was so yummy with this creamy garlicky ranch sauce instead of marinara and it also had broccoli and tomato...which doesn't really sound good...but it was SOOO good. Then we went to JCPenny (there's a mall close to our hotel) and got a back pack because that's another thing we forgot to bring and it'll really come in handy when we are at port and able to go one shore.

SO....it's probably time for me to get ready for bed. It's 11 p.m. We have to get our luggage out the be stowed on the bus by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning...then we will have until 12:30 p.m. until we take the bus over to Whittier, AK where we will board our ship!

I have talked to the kids a few times. They are having fun with Grandma. She took them shopping yesterday and bought patterns and material for their Halloween costumes. Kaitlyn is going to be a cowgirl. Addie, who has been saying she wants to be a witch, changed her mind, and she's going to be a fairy....and Weston is going to be a cowboy. My mom is so excited to make their costumes...and I think she already has then cut out. That woman is AMAZING I tell ya!

Well...I am going to go get ready for bed! Sorry there are no pictures...but I will post them as soon as we get home...in a week!

Take Care!

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

We're leaving tomorrow morning to fly to Anchorage, Alaska....and neither one of us has packed a THING. I have been too busy trying to NOT think about the cruise...that NOW it's here...and I have no motivation to pack. Don't get me wrong. I know Brandon and I will have a great time together.....and we're going to make some great memories with Brandon's mom and siblings+in laws....not to mention all the wonderful things I have heard about the food they serve....but the thought of being out in the ocean...where I can't get to an airport quickly and get home to my kids if they need me is killing me! I love and trust my mom like NO other and I am so greatful that she's able to come stay with out kids....but I am still very worried and sad to be leaving.

Plus, we just looked at the forecast for all of our ports...and guess what!? They all have RAIN for the next 10 days...except for Vancouver Canada where we disembark and go home...except for Brandon who will stay there and work for a few days. I LOVE the rain....but it just makes me even more nervous about being out at sea with a storm or something.

I know what you are all thinking, "Cry me a river and get over it!" I know because I think that too.....

Just PRAY FOR ME!

I thought I'd share this (click on "this" then watch the youtube video)...I just came across it as I was looking for an article online for my Laurel lesson. It's a good message.

Did anyone else wake up to the sound of a "meeehiinggg" baby goat!? Lovely sound at 6 a.m.! :) I HAVE to once again....chuckle at "country life". I don't really think of living in Snowflake as "country"...more "small town"....but either way....what I am about to tell you would not happen in the more highly populated areas of any state. (I think). SO....if you have ever been to my house...you know that the majority of the people who live of my street don't enjoy yard work...and it shows in the amount of weeds that overtake their property. BUT....these non-lawn-mowers are getting resourceful! One neighbor has employed two goats to maintain his yard...and when he runs low on weeds (key word is "weeds"...there's very little grass)...he takes his goats and ties them up in other peoples weedy yards...(with their permission of course). He even tied them up down the street near the road where the weeds were getting out of control! But he's not the only one! I know of another family whose goat tenant works solely in their back yard...you don't see that one much. But this baby goat? It's a new one. Our next door neighbors brought this little one home yesterday and it just "mmmeeehhhheeeeddd" for the longest time! I imagine that he was saying something similar to what my kiddos say when they don't like what I fix for dinner! "Do I have to eat all of it?" I should really take pictures...and their little Pug dog just sat there staring at the goat like, "What are you and why are you here?"

...Now don't think that I am being judgemental talking about other peoples less than maintained yards. I am sure they have their reasons. Ours gets out of control sometimes too! Maybe we need a goat????

recent snap shots....

Hooray for the blow up swimming pool! The kids have had so much fun in it this summer! Their favorite is doing "cannon balls!"
Brynn came over to play today! She and Addie were little fish the whole time!
Addie wanted to take a shower by herself this morning and somehow that turned into a bath with Weston...the floaties were just a safety precaution! j/k They wanted to wear them...so I let them!

Love this...

...and this...the horse has wheels under it's hooves...and Weston likes to "ride 'em cowboy" on it!

Addie wanted her hair curled the other day...I did it for her and she loved checking herself out! I wish I knew how to curl my own hair.....