That about sums up our awesome honeymoon cruise to Alaska! We had a blast! I will not describe each day in detail, but I will talk about some of the highlights :) We spent the first official day of the cruise at sea where we slept in, explored the boat, relaxed, and had our first dinner with our table mates, who were a couple around my parents' age- the woman turned out to be a church administrator at this United Methodist Church in Texas! They turned out to be really nice and fun and we enjoyed wonderful dinners with them every night of the week. Our first stop on the cruise was Ketchikan, Alaska, which is this small fishing town- very cute. We spent the day walking around, checking out the totem poles, and checking out the shops- all in the rain- but it was worth it.
The next day we spent in Juneau, the beautiful capital of Alaska. This was probably my favorite day of the trip because it was the most exciting- we spent the morning at the Mendenhall Glacier, which was really neat- and our bus drivers there and back were full of interesting stories about the area and kept us entertained. The guy on the way back started getting off track though and started telling us about spoiling his grandkids, followed by this creepy cackle of a laugh. We were beginning to wonder if we'd make it back to the downtown area- haha. Then in the afternoon, we went on the whale watching and wildlife tour- which was the coolest thing we did. We saw a whale in the first 5 minutes! Then the rest of the 3 hours were filled with whales, sea lions playing with whales, and even some baby whales! We also saw some eagles and a seal. It was awesome because we were on this little boat in these little cove areas of the ocean, and the whales were literally right next to our boat. It was amazing! The unlimited hot chocolate made it even better :)
The next day we were in Skagway, Alaska, known for it's history of the goldrush. There honestly was not much to do, but we walked around the little town and looked at some shops before our train ride in the afternoon, which took us 20 miles up the White Pass trail into Canada. We basically got to see what the miners had to do and what they went through in their travels. The views were beautiful, and it was also scary to look down and realize that we were in a train that looked like it was hanging off the side of the mountain! I have to be honest though, I was kinda bored...and REALLY tired. Corey took tons of pictures, but I was trying to stay awake through most of it! Oh well- it was still worth doing and it was neat. A funny side note- Skagway's sidewalks had occasional coins on them as we were walking, and Corey bent down to try to pick one up- a quarter I believe- but he soon found out that they were embedded in the sidewalks! I had a good laugh ;)
The next 2 days of the cruise were filled with exploring the glaciers- Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. We got to see glaciers that were miles long and hundreds of feet tall- above and below the water. They were blue in color and we could hear and see chunks of ice falling off into the water (called calving)- it was so cool! We also saw more wildlife, including MORE whales, seals, sea lions, otters, and even a bear! We caught sight of one on a cliff right off of the side of the boat- so I got out the binoculars and got a good view. I even saw a whale on the ocean as I was working out in the gym one day! How cool is that?
Other highlights included the amazing food, the desserts (we had "Baked Alaska" on the last night), some of the shows were good (others not so much), and the people watching. We saw lots of "epic" (Corey's word) sweaters and sweatshirts worn by the older crowd, including a purple velvet track suit on a man- Corey took a picture. Yes, we sound mean, but it was all in good clean fun! And of course, I enjoyed spending a whole week with my wonderful husband on our honeymoon. I got lots of rest- sometimes I took multiple naps a day, just because I could :)
Other fun tidbits-almost every person we talked to in any depth on the trip had something to do with the church- our dinner friend was a church administrator, and one day we randomly ate lunch with a retired Presbyterian minister. Isn't life funny that way?
There were some not so fun moments, too- like trying to get back home to IN from Alaska- we left the ship at 8 am on Monday, and our flight didn't leave Alaska until 11:30 pm...so we were in the airport all day, up all night, and our next flight didn't leave until 4 hours after we got into Denver. So we have spent the past 2 days in airports getting home- but at least there were no delays...until we finally got to our car in the airport parking lot...and saw that we had a flat tire! Here we were, exhausted, not feeling so great, and just wanting some food, sleep, and home, and we had a flat...well, Corey, being the hero he is- he changed the tire even though he felt like crap, and we were headed home again. I told him that we would look back at this moment and laugh in a few years, but he wasn't too amused at the time :)
Anyway, it's good to be home. I will miss our boat, our dinner friends, the food, and the funny people, like the cruise director with the British accent, and being out in the middle of the ocean in Alaska in the quiet looking at nature with no one else around. But life goes on, and I'm a routine kind of person :) So here is to our wonderful honeymoon and the memories we will have! Pictures to come soon!
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