Alaska

Sophia and I joined my parents on an Alaskan cruise. We flew to Anchorage, AK and spent the night. The following day we enjoyed time at our hotel before catching a bus to Whittier. On our way to Whittier we stopped at an animal reserve, as well as a glacier. The ride was incredibly beautiful. I would like to spend more time on land next time. My goal is to rent a car and drive to Denali National Park.
In Whittier we boarded our ship, The Diamond Princess, for a seven day cruise to Vancouver. This was my fourth Alaskan cruise. Honestly, the scenery never gets old. We spent our first two days visiting Hubbard Bay and Glacier Bay. Both had spectacular glaciers. On the way out of Glacier Bay the ship stopped to view a whale that had washed to shore in May. It was a great place to view bears. I did see one bear crawling out of the carcass. It was so cool! I wish we would have been just a bit closer. Other animals we spotted were whales, an eagle and a mountain goat. We were hoping for more, but were lucky to see what we did. =)
Sophia was really great. This was her 6th cruise, so she knew exactly what to do and what was expected of her. She was so great during all of our dinners. She ate a shrimp cocktail every night (one night she ordered a second for herself), she usually had a bit of a main course and then of course had an ice cream sundae. She was proud of herself, as she mastered using a real goblet while on board. She participated in kids club, although I had to go with her... according to the cruise line she is a little too young to go on her own. That was fine though, because they put her with a group of kids ranging from 3-9. To me, that is too big of a span. Anyhow, she made crafts and got a little tee shirt. She also enjoyed riding around the deck with Papa. He would bundle her up and walk her around and around. One other thing she enjoyed was dancing. She had one club that she would go into after dinner.
There was always a little trio in there playing and she would dance and dance. It was rare that couples were dancing, so she didn't get in the way.
We enjoyed our ports of call. On our last port we took a sea plane. It was so cool. Sophia thought it was too loud and laid down most of the way. We landed on a lake in the middle of no where and were able to get out and walk around. It was so serene. Our goal of the flight was to see a bear, but our guide said there weren't many in the area. A lot of bears have been killed by hunters. What is sad, is it is all about sport, the hunters skin the bear and leave the meat out in the woods.
Our cruise ended in Vancouver. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to stay, as my parents had another vacation they had to get to. We took a bus from Vancouver to Seattle and then a flight to SLC, as it was a lot cheaper than the direct flights from Vancouver. Oh what a pain! The line to get in the US was reminiscent of that in Tijuana. My dad was sitting by a guy that I noticed had Arabic on his blackberry. Well, when we stopped in customs he was detained. I wonder if it was just racial profiling or if this guy was on some sort of list. It was weird.
Well, all in all we had a great trip. My mom and I decided that we could do an Alaskan cruise every year (not that we will) but it is an option. =) Our last big vacation of the year is going to be at the end of Sept. We are doing a roundtrip cruise out of New York, we go as far North as Quebec and hit a place I have always wanted to go, Prince Edward Island. =)