Day 8 At Sea and 50th Anniversary Celebration

The whole reason for this fantastic trip was to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary.  My brother and I did some planning and scheming before leaving for the trip and decided that Thursday, while at sea all day, would be a great day to celebrate.

I started my day where I usually did--on the back of the boat, eating breakfast...amazingly alone.  Notice the cream cheese on the cucumber slices.  My brother and I had a ten minute discussion about this--why was cream cheese only available on cucumber slices? Why can't I have a scoop for my bagel that hasn't touched cucumber?  Why cucumbers?  And so on....

This is a classic note--left for The Girl, telling her where and when to meet us, since we didn't use cell phones on the ship

After breakfast, many of the family members participated in a rousing game of Calvin Ball.  Ok, it wasn't really Calvin Ball, but for you fans of Calvin and Hobbes, you would recognize the game---If my nephew made a goal, he got a point, if his dad missed a goal, my nephew got a point, if grandma or grandpa blocked a goal, my nephew got a point...and so on and so forth...

My dad and The Boy look cold, while my mom and brother seem to be taking off layers...the weather was interesting!

While Mr IM, my brother and sister in law and I decorated the party room, the grandkids entertained grandma and grandpa.  The staff were fantastic--we had deliberated for months..cake..no cake.. cake.. no cake (my dad is diabetic) and finally decided on a cake.  The staff not only provided the cake, but also beverages and candy in fun glasses.  Even a giant bowl of sprinkles for the cake...mmmm.

They were surprised (I think?)  We watched a slide show of the past 50 years (set to music) and ate cake.  We had a fabulous photo session, using the timer on my brother's camera.  Let's just say the photos came out as our timed family photos always do (there were a few good ones!)

We then proceeded to dinner in our matching 50th Anniversary cruise shirts, where the wait staff sang "Let me call you sweetheart" to my folks.

We were met in our room by this guy (now, he's quite impressive!)

And my parents kept some decor on their door the rest of the trip--earning them many "happy birthdays" from passersby.

We ended the day with some time watching for whales and other wildlife

and enjoying the semi-tropical, Alaskan evening (he, he...palm trees)

It was beautiful!

Happy (belated) 50th Anniversary to my parents!

Day 7 Scagway

Scagway is on my list of places I want to spend more time in some day.  Not sure how I'll get there (43 hours to drive from here--not bad, right?).  It reminded us a lot of Colorado mining towns--especially Silverton, Ouray, Lake City--those southwestern towns.  Same kind of mining--in fact, we found many "Alaska goods" again with "made in Colorado" stickers or manufacturers that we know to be Colorado (only) companies.  I think it was here that we had a conversation with the nice couple working in the "Shirt off my Back" store...who spend their winters working in Breckenridge Colorado!


Our day started with The Girl announcing that she didn't want to wear her perfectly good raincoat, but would rather wear a $3 poncho.  Here she is buying said poncho, while the creepy Bigfoot dude lurks in the background...

Our plans in Scagway were to explore. Before we left, I ordered a book from Amazon called "Scagway Gold Rush Cemetery and Town History"  My family was thrilled for me to read to them as we wandered around town.

Here is a train with some equipment that we recognized right away as a snowplow.  We deliberated for a couple minutes as we listened to a gentleman explaining to his adult son that it was a drill to drill through the mountain to make tunnels for the road.  We didn't say anything...but hoped they'd look at the descriptive sign before telling too many other people that theory.

Scagway is in the Gold Rush National Park and there are some great little "interpretive centers/museums" right in town.  We visited a couple--including this one, set up to look like an old time bar, complete with stuffed wildlife (notice the poncho...)

Some more shopping, of course...(Mr IM bought the top shirt...again, almost exactly the same as one we admire in Breckenridge...)

Some interesting architecture...

Another view of the gorgeous poncho as we walked through town to the Gold Rush Cemetery.


















No clue why stuff that looks like it is from a Mediterranean archaeological dig was by the road in Scagway, but it was interesting....There were train tracks near this area as well, where train cars not in use were stored.  Also this is next door to the town hall and town museum (they share a building)

Ok, these are out of order, sort of, but these are the Lower Reid Falls, which are reached after a short hike/walk beyond the Cemetery (which is a short 1 mile-ish walk from town, which was about a mile long from boat to edge...Its no wonder I had a couple 25,000 + step days)

According to the guidebook, this is a bear cave.  We believe that a bear (and/or other wildlife) probably live there--however, to us, it appears to be an abandoned test mine.

This is another view of the poncho, as the family read the sign about the Cemetery and town history.  It rained on and off all day in Scagway, but it was more of a gentle, warm, mist so we shed layers and just enjoyed it.

This is the road from town to the cemetery (well, walking back).  The sign was interesting "crumbling hill", perhaps?

This is the Scagway School--grades K-12--nice building, cool signs recognizing long serving staff.

We also had lunch at the Pizza Depot, where the locals hang out apparently, before doing our shopping and heading back to the boat.

Ooh, a red carpet welcome!  (As you can see, the rain picked up a bit...)

Where we were welcomed by this, um, eskimo?  Koala?

....

Day 6 Juneau and Glacier

Day 6 of our trip (Day 4 of the Cruise) found us docked in Juneau, very early, on a very rainy day.

 We discussed going to a Salmon Bake at a place that (on paper) reminded us of the Flying W Ranch in Colorado (with Salmon instead of steak), but ended up deciding to just walk around Juneau, figuring it was a capital city and there would be something to see/do.  Unfortunately, there is not much to do in Juneau at 8 am....Like any other city that appreciates, but doesn't depend on, tourism, there were many stores and restaurants, but most were closed.
We did find a coffee shop

Some fudge

Some State Government buildings

A bear...

And a really cool staircase leading up to the governor's mansion and other sites.

Including this cool house that is "just a house"

We even picked up some gifts and requests for friends in Colorado...and then headed for the (slightly drier) ship.

As we re-boarded the boat we got to quote one of our running jokes---from Pirates of the Caribbean (the movies).  Jack Sparrow says "It's the Pearl" a few times in his funny accent...and, look...it is the (Norwegian) Pearl..The Jewell's sister "following us!

The best part of Day 6 (Day 4? Whatever) came later, when we found ourselves sailing through a Glacier field!

We saw seals

and whales again (sorry, no pictures...they are fast)

 and a boat bringing Alfonso, who missed the boat in Juneau and had to find his own transportation.

The Girl and her crew had a group photo taken...

A beautiful day!