Our Trip To Mammoth and Yosemite

Alaska Cruise Trip- Day 6

Today we arrived in Skagway, the northernmost point of our trip. It was one of our favorite days because we got to experience some amazing scenery and took a wonderful tour. We took the "Experience the Yukon" tour and would highly recommend it to anyone taking an Alaska cruise. Our tour guide was named Bruce and we lucked out because he's the guy who trains all the tour guides in Skagway. It was a 7 hour tour and it went by so fast, it seemed like it was about 3 hours instead.
As we headed out of the town of Skagway on our bus, we were immediately impressed by the view around us. It wasn't too long before we were crossing the Canadian border into the Yukon Territory. On the ride, we learned a lot about the the gold rush, the trail that the gold seekers took, and what life was like for them. We saw all kinds of terrain including subarctic tundra. It kind of looks like the moon because of the lack of tall trees and all the rocks. The land in that area is actually called permafrost because it stays frozen all year round. This causes the trees to not be able to grow very tall because their roots are very shallow.
After numerous stops for photo opportunities, we arrived in Caribou Crossing for lunch and some time to explore the area. The BBQ lunch was good and included all you can eat homemade donuts. We just happened to sit right next to the donut serving area so we treated ourselves to a few. They were little. ;-)
Caribou Crossing is home to an Itidarod sled dog camp and we got to visit with the dogs and hold puppies too! They were so cute and definitely a highlight. They also offered rides in wheeled sleds but we didn't do that. We watched some other people do it and were highly entertained by how excited the dogs get when they are about to pull a sled.
We did some shopping in the gift shop and it was time to head back to the bus. We took a quick little side trip to a very pretty lake called "Emerald Lake" and then headed back toward Skagway.
We stopped next in a tiny town named Carcross and had a few minutes to look around there. We were able to get our passports stamped there so that was neat. There was a little girl who couldn't have been older than 9 or 10 and it was her job to stamp everyone's passports. Very cute!
The drive back to Skagway was even more picturesque than the drive out, because the fog had lifted and we were able to see the majestic mountains surrounding us. They were all carved by glaciars and the valley is just amazingly beautiful!

The Town of Skagway

We saw this young bear from our bus. It was eating dandelions!

What an amazing view!

I loved holding the sled dog puppies

Some more beautiful scenery

One the way back, we were able to stop and walk around the subarctic tundra. These tiny trees are hundreds of years old but don't grow any taller because of the permafrost and the snow pack. It was so cold here, my hands were frozen within about 10 minutes. This area is where the movie "Into the Wild" was done.

All in all, it was a fantastic tour. If you're ever in Skagway, make sure you get to do this excursion. I would rate it a 10!

Alaska Cruise trip- Day 5

Today we woke up at 5:30am so we could view the Tracey Arm Fjords. It was well worth it and we had a wonderful time scenic cruising. Since we didn't have a balcony, we went up to the top deck to watch the scenery go by and take lots of pictures. For a while we could also hear the naturalist narrating the tour. Once we got further into the Fjords they had to stop broadcasting on the outside decks as to not disturb the wildlife in the area. It was absolutely freezing but it was so beautiful, we stayed outside for several hours. At one point we went inside to warm up and then hurried back outside so we could see the Sawyer Glacier- the highlight of the trip through the Fjords.

You can probably tell it was pretty cold by taking a look at this photo :-)

The amazing scenery

This is the Sawyer Glacier. It was pretty interesting to see how the captain maneuvered the ship through the Fjords. When we had the glacier in view, he turned the ship sideways and then flipped it around the other way so both sides of the ship could get a good view. There were a lot of people who had balconies in their rooms and were viewing everything from there.

This shows you what our view from our room was like. We were actually quite happy with it because when we booked the room we got a discount for booking a "fully obstructed view". I was picturing not being able to see daylight at all, so the fact that we could see this much was nice. That orange thing is life boat.

We sailed through the Fjords until about 10:00am and then went back to our room to warm up and get some more sleep. The ship was now headed to Juneau and we had several hours before we would get there. After napping we got up and went to go get some lunch. Today we chose to get pizza because it was quick and easy. The buffet lines were really long because everyone had the same idea and went to eat before we arrived in Juneau.

Once we arrived in Juneau we took the shuttle to town for $3. We went shopping and walked around the town for about an hour before we had to catch the shuttle back to the ship to meet our shore excursion bus. We boarded the bus and went on a tour of the city, lead by a man who has lived in Juneau for 35 years. It was really informative and we learned that there is no property tax or income tax in Juneau. The government makes all their money from oil. The residents even get dividends each year based on how much money is made. Pretty cool, huh?

The bus took us next to the Mendenhall Glacier where we went on a hike and then went to view the glacier. We were warned that there may be black bears in the area but we only saw a porcupine in a tree. It was funny though because a lot of people thought it was a bear and starting yelling, "bear! bear!".

The Beautiful Mendenhall Glacier

Chad and the Glacier

A huge waterfall next to the glacier. If you look closely you can see people at the bottom which gives a perspective on how large the waterfall is.

Kayakers in front of the glacier

Some neat ice bergs

After our tour we got off the bus in town and did some more shopping and walking around. We found a very tasty fudge shop and treated ourselves to some chocolate mint fudge. yum! When it was nearing time for the ship to leave, we took the shuttle back to the ship and went back to the room.

Dinner that night was French themed and Chad was very adventurous and had frog legs. eeek! He liked them a lot. :-) After dinner we went to the internet cafe to try to check our e-mail but the ship was having satellite connection issues so it was closed. Because we had gotten up so early in the morning, we were pretty tired. So we went back to the room to go to bed.

Tomorrow we arrive in Skagway and get to take a 7 hour tour into the Yukon territory!

Alaska Cruise Trip - Day 4

Today we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska. We didn't even hear the boat get to the dock so we were surprised when we woke up to see land outside our window. Ketchikan is a neat place. It is located on an island and is known as Alaska's "First City" because it is the first major town that travelers reach as they go north. We got up and had breakfast and got off the ship at 9am so we could get to our tour bus to take us to the Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary. While going through downtown we noticed a lot of Salmon shops like the one in the photo below.

Some homes in the town of Ketchikan

We reached the Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary and it was raining. It was actually raining the whole way there too. The Tongass Rainforest is a temperate rainforest and they get over 200 inches of rain per year. The Tongass is the largest National Forest in the United States and is comprised of 17 million acres. We explored a tiny portion of this forest and I found it to be one of the prettiest places I'd ever seen. It was so green and lush and quiet, we felt like we were in a movie.
Our guides warned us that we were entering black bear habitat and made sure none of us were carrying any salmon jerky in our pockets. That seems like a funny thing to have in your pocket but I guess it's common in Ketchikan. :-) We learned a lot about the black bears and saw some of their markings on the trees. The adult bears mark the trees to show the other bears how big and strong they are.
We also saw gigantic King Salmon jumping out of the water in the hatchery. They had come back to the hatchery to spawn. They return to within 6 inches of where they were born to complete that process. Pretty impressive internal GPS!


The moss you see on this tree is a type of Lichen that only grows if the air is very clean. We took lots of deep breaths so we could absorb as much of the clean air as possible ;-)


After hiking through the rainforest and hatchery area we walked through an old saw mill and into an area full of reindeer. We got to feed the reindeer and they were pretty funny... and hungry. :-)
After the reindeer's tummies were all full of leaves, we walked over to visit a bald eagle and an owl that are kept up there because they are injured and couldn't live in the wild on their own. The amount of bald eagles we saw in Alaska was astonishing. They were pretty much everywhere and it wasn't uncommon to see groupings of 10 of them sitting in a tree. What a treat!
We really enjoyed this tour and would highly recommend it to anyone who visits Ketchikan. At the end of the tour they also provided smoked salmon and hot chocolate for a snack.
We rode the bus back into town and went on a hunt for a quilt shop that I had seen online. It took a while but we managed to find it and a bunch of other fun stores too. We even bought a winter coat for me because we were starting to realize that 52 degrees was going to be as warm as it was going to get on this trip. And on the ocean, it felt more like the 30s. Thankfully the winter coats were only $19.99! I am wearing that coat in many of the photos from our trip. :-)
The boat left port at 4:30pm and we enjoyed some scenic cruising before dinner. And of course I will mention the dinner since cruising is a lot about food too. hehe It was Italian night. I had an eggplant parmesan appetizer, minestrone soup, salad, spaghetti, and a stuffed peach for dessert. That sounds like a lot of food!
After dinner it was still light out until about 11pm so we went looking for whales. We didn't find any but it was a beautiful night. Tomorrow we wake up early to cruise the Tracy Arm Fjords and then we're off to Juneau!

Alaska Cruise Trip - Day 3

       Today was our first "At Sea" day on the Star Princess.  We were looking forward to relaxing and doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. :-)   We slept in late and went up to the buffet for breakfast which was very good. There was lots of variety and it wasn't too hard to find a table.  After breakfast we went for a walk around the promenade deck of the ship which is the only deck you can walk around the entire ship continuously without running into a wall or a kitchen, etc.   It was pretty cold outside so we walked quickly.  

This is the pool at the aft of the ship that I pictured myself hanging out in but it was a little cold for that. It's still pretty cool to have a pool there. 

After our walk around the ship we decided to check out the gym and spa areas.  In the picture below you can see the lap pool and the paddle tennis courts and running track in the background.   It felt really odd to work out as the ship was moving. I did the elliptical and Chad did the treadmill. I kept feeling like my body was getting heavier as the ship went over the swells.  The gym is in a really nice location because you look right over the bow of the boat from the windows.

Us after our gym experience... 

    After the workout we went on a search for the miniature golf course or "Princess Links".  We found it but realized there was a tournament going on at the time and decided to try back another day. 

      We had signed up for a wine tasting in the Amalfi dining room the night before, so we went to that at 3pm.  It was a pretty good deal ($9.50) and we got to taste 6 wines and snack on cheese and fruit.  The wines were all very good and there were a couple we considered getting for our dinners.  If you order a bottle of wine for dinner and don't finish it, they save it for you for the next night. 

      After the wine tasting we went back to the room and relaxed for a while, napped, and read.   That evening was the first formal night so we got all dressed up and went to dinner at 8pm.  That night I had the grapefruit and kiwi appetizer (yum), a salad, beef tenderloin medallion, and the Princess Loveboat Dream Dessert.  A very very nice meal.

       After dinner we headed over to the Princess Theater and watched their presentation of "Cinematastic". It was a celebration of songs performed in  movies over the years.  It was pretty good. Some of the songs I wasn't familiar with but I enjoyed the ones I knew a lot. 

      After a relaxing a busy day at sea we slept really well.  I think I slept better on the ship than I do at home!  While we were sleeping the ship left British Columbia and entered Alaskan waters.  Tomorrow is Ketchikan!
     

Alaska Cruise Trip - Day 2

        Day 2 of our trip was embarkation day for the cruise!  We were very excited about getting to the ship but we had some time in the morning so we decided to go to the Pike Place Market. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the market so we took a walk down there to check it out.   Once we got there we had about 25 mins to walk around before we had to head back to the hotel to check out.  The market has a very fun energetic atmosphere and I would definitely recommend going there if you are in Seattle. 

The Front of the Market

The Famous Pike Place Fish Co. where they throw the fish around

We stopped by the Daily Dozen Doughnut Co. to get some tasty fresh doughnuts.  This is also a fun place because they toss the doughnuts in the air and into your bag. 

        After we got back to the hotel, we got our stuff, checked out and went out in front to wait for a taxi. There were quite a few people waiting to get taxis to the ship but we weren't concerned because we had until 3pm to get there.   The taxis were all tied up for a few minutes so the hotel's taxi coordinator put us into an SUV to take us to the dock. That was pretty nice considering it was the same price as a regular cab.  It cost 20 dollars to get to the dock.  Princess is located at Terminal 30 which is the furthest south of all the docks. Don't try to walk there from downtown- you will end up having to get into a cab at some point. 

         The check-in process for Princess was not bad at all. We waited in line for about 10 minutes and dragged our luggage till we got to the door. That was probably the hardest part of checking in (which isn't really that hard).  Once we got to the door they took the big luggage and we went into another line to get our cruise cards.  On Princess and I think all cruise ships they give you a cruise card which serves as your key to your room and your payment for everything on the ship that you buy. (things from the shops, any alcohol, and any special things like wine tasting you might participate in)  That line went very quickly- about 10 mins and then we were off to the gangway. All together it took about 30 minutes to go through the whole process and be in our room. Pretty impressive! Princess definitely has streamlined that process. 

         Once inside the ship we decided to walk around and see everything since we had time. In the middle of our walking around we ran into the start of a tour of the ship. It was lead by one of the cruise entertainment people  named "Boogie".   We decided to take the tour and learned a lot about the ship and found out where everything was. That was very helpful.  We continued to run into Boogie the rest of the trip and he was always very friendly and seemed to remember us. 

This is the indoor pool with the glass roof

After our tour we went back to the room and our luggage was there waiting for us. yay!  We unpacked a little bit and then went up to the top deck for the Sail Away Party.   They had a band and the atmosphere was very fun. 

The Sail Away Party

As we left Seattle, the views of the city were great

      We had our first sit down dinner at 8pm in the Amalfi dining room that night. It was a casual dress night so that made it easy.  We met our table mates who were two older ladies who were best friends. Very cute and fun to talk to.  There were two other seats at our table but no one ever showed up for them.  For dinner that night I chose the spring roll appetizer, the salad, a pasta dish and some struedel for dessert.   All the meals were wonderful and consisted of an appetizer, soup, salad, main course, and dessert.  Each course had at least 3 selections to choose from. 

       After dinner we went to the Sail Away show at the Princess theater. There was singing and dancing and introductions of the major department heads on the crew.  It was fun but it felt kind of weird because the boat was rocking quite a bit.  That evening was the choppiest of the entire week with 4 foot swells - probably because we were in open ocean.  It wasn't bad though and we didn't get seasick at all.  

The Princess Theater is the largest theater on board the Star Princess

       We went to bed pretty late that night and were looking forward to a relaxing day at sea the following day.  At dinner we signed up to attend a wine tasting the next day and that was the only thing we had planned.

Alaska Cruise Trip - Day 1

      My husband and I recently returned from a wonderful trip. We took a cruise to Alaska on Princess Cruises' "Star Princess" ship.   We left out of Seattle on July 6th and returned on the 13th.   It was a great trip and I'm going to be blogging about each day of the trip.  I will include pics and stories about the trip as well tips for people who might be thinking about taking a cruise to Alaska in the future. 

      We left home on the 5th of July and flew to Seattle on Virgin America. This was our first time on this airline and it was pretty interesting.  It has all kinds of mood lighting and purple plastic on the interior and each seat gets their own entertainment system that includes movies, television, video games and a food ordering system.  The movies and premium television require payment to use them but most everything else is free. 

       The plane wasn't very full and we had a great opportunity to upgrade to first class for a very low cost so we took advantage of that.  We were served a nice meal and got to use all the entertainment services without paying extra.  I watched "Horton Hears a Who" and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Chad watched "Sweeney Todd" but was sad that the movie didn't end by the time the plane landed.  Most of movies available were too long for our flight to Seattle.  But we had a nice time being pampered and it was a great start to our trip. 

       Once we arrived in Seattle we caught a cab to the Red Lion on 5th Avenue.   It cost 30 dollars for the cab ride from the airport.  The hotel is located in the center of downtown Seattle and surrounded by restaurants and shopping. It's a great location for anyone who wants to see downtown on foot.  It's very nice and updated and I would definitely stay there again. We settled in and then decided to take a monorail to the space needle. The monorail was only 2 blocks from the hotel so that was very convenient. We got to the space needle very quickly and bought tickets to go up to the top.   It was very fun and we enjoyed the beautiful view. The sunlight at that time was great for picture taking too. 

        After leaving the Space Needle we were starving and tired so we took the monorail back to the hotel area and ate dinner at P.F. Changs.   After that we went back to the hotel and went to bed early so we would be ready for our big day ahead of us.  It was nice to arrive in Seattle the day before the cruise. It took a lot of the stress out of getting to the ship on time and we had extra time in case our luggage got lost or the flight was delayed. 

The Space Needle

Chad enjoying the space needle

The view to the south from the Space Needle

A very interesting building that we could see from our hotel room

Big Brown is still a great horse

Yesterday was the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes.   At stake was the triple crown of horse racing- a prize that hasn't been won for the past 30 years.  Horse racing fans were very hopeful that Big Brown would finally be the horse we've been waiting for.  Most everyone was confident that he would win by a great deal of lengths and we would all celebrate seeing history being made. Instead, Big Brown didn't seem to feel like racing yesterday. And I can understand that as it was in the 90's at the track and this was the longest distance Big Brown had ever run.  Running 3 races in five weeks is a lot of racing and maybe Big Brown was worn out.  Maybe it was his cracked hoof that was bothering him, or maybe he got bumped in the beginning of the race and that caused him to get upset. No matter what the reason, no one can deny that Big Brown has talent.  He won the Derby and the Preakness with ease and is a very fast, high endurance, beautiful horse.  I read an article today that said he was posing for photographers today like he had won the race yesterday. :-)  Here is one photo that I love that was taken by associate press photographer Kathy Willens.  It's Big Brown' owner giving him a hug after the race yesterday. 

I went to Hollywood Park to watch the race with thousands of others who had high hopes for the day. This is Big Brown getting ready to get into the gate. 

A couple photos of one of the later races at Hollywood Park on the turf.  It was a pretty day.  If you click on this one you can see it bigger. 

My first try at "The Grocery Game"

Tonight was my first try at "The Grocery Game" and I'm thrilled with the results! (and so is my wallet)  For those of you who haven't heard of it, "The Grocery Game" is a website that a woman created to help other people save money on groceries.  She created this huge database that keeps track of all the coupons and sales the happen at the major grocery stores.  Each week all you have to do is clip the coupons out of the L.A. Times or other major paper, and hold on to your coupon mailings.  On the weekends, "the list" is published which tells you what is on sale for that week. At Ralphs where I shop, the sales happen on Sunday,  Monday and Tuesday.  The list is color coded. Blue means it's time to stock up on an item because it's at the lowest price. Green means that you can get the item for free. And Black means that the item is on sale, but you should only buy it if you need it or want a treat.  That information, combined with the coupons that she tells you to use, add up to huge savings. And the philosophy is that you would only buy items when they are on sale, stock pile those items, and then go to your own pantry to go shopping once you need the item.  Tonight was my first time trying out this system and I was so happy to see how much I saved!  The bill would have been 106 dollars, and I paid 53!!!!!!  I'm a grocery game convert now and will definitely be using it to save money from now on. :-)

Trip to Paso Robles

Chad and I took a trip to Paso Robles this weekend to visit his parents and we had a very nice time. It had been a while since we had been up there and it was great to see them and catch up on everything that's been going on. As a little sidenote- my camera has been "on the fritz" lately and we were able to pick up a new one on our way up there at Best Buy. I got the Canon Powershot SD1100 IS - Digital Elph and these pics are some of the first I took with the camera. I've been very happy with the results so far.

This is their dog Skipper and he is such a little bundle of energy. He provided much entertainment during the weekend. :-)

This is Skipper posing for me with his favorite toy ball.

We went out to dinner here the first night we were there and it was very tasty!

The pretty foliage around their house.

We went over to the stables near the house and made some horse friends while we were there. This one liked Chad a lot and was licking his hand. :-)

Another horse friend posing for the camera.

My camera was on "kids and pets" mode when it caught this horse's tongue mid-lick. :-)

This horse also liked Chad a lot. :-)

And he liked Chad's shirt even better... we think he thought it was food.

A sneaky hiding horse. :-)

Lake Nacimiento- near the house.

All in all we had a wonderful time and look forward to our next trip.