Alaska/Vancouver: Days 9 & 10

Sunday was our last day at sea, and we made the most of our lazy day onboard.  We read, attended a magic show, took a juggling class, and enjoyed one last fancy dinner.  After so many days of delicious, elaborate meals, we became spoiled by the wonderful food.  I lamented once we got home, "Where is my menu with multiple dinner courses listed, and where are Sam and Mahesh (our servers) to cater to our every desire?"  Menu planning and grocery shopping in the real world are not nearly as fun!

Learning how to juggle.

A few other tidbits about our time on the Disney Wonder:  

• Luke lost a tooth in the middle of the week, and for those who are wondering, the Tooth Fairy does come to cruise ships!  
• There were multiple opportunities to take photos with Disney characters onboard, and our kids scoffed at every one.  I was perfectly ok with avoiding the long lines to take pictures, but it is funny how little L&L cared about Mickey, etc.
• The shows every night were amazing.  There were live musical productions, award winning entertainers, and great family friendly fun for all.  
• The Kids' Club onboard was our children's favorite thing to do during unstructured time, and there were scavenger hunts, games, and sports that they loved!
• One day, Leah had 3 bowls of jello for lunch.  She thought that this was the best thing in the entire universe.  Cause ya' know, when on vacation, Mommy doesn't make you eat veggies with each meal...

On Monday morning, the ship returned to Vancouver, and we all (very glumly) disembarked for the final time.  We weren't flying home until the next day, and our mood brightened as we checked into our hotel and hopped on a bus to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in North Vancouver:

The park is part of Tongass National Forest, which is the largest temperate rain forest in the world.  Tongass is also the largest national forest in the United States, and it stretches over Vancouver and much of Southeast Alaska.  The park contained many areas and included educational displays about the geology of the Pacific Northwest and the ecosystem of the living forest.  Many of the trees were huge, and the oldest one that we saw was almost 1500 years old:

View from the forest floor to the canopy.

Learning about different rates of tree growth. 

Giant Douglass Fir.

Totem Poles are made from these Red Cedars.  

Beautiful rainforest vegetation.

The kids had fun exploring the park, hugging trees and climbing on stumps:

The main attraction of the park is the 450 foot long suspension bridge that was built in 1889 and crosses over the Capilano River.  This bridge is HIGH (230 feet) and narrow, and sways considerably as you walk across it.  Some of us liked this more than others, but even those of us who do not embrace heights (Daddy) thought it was a neat experience to cross the bridge:

Looking down at the river below.  

View of the bridge from afar. 

We also enjoyed a squirrel's eye view of the rainforest as we walked along the TreeTops Adventure section of the park.  We ventured through a series of 7 smaller suspension footbridges which connect eight giant douglass fir trees.  These 250 year old trees each have a viewing platform attached to their trunks, and we had great views as we perched 110 feet above the forest floor:

We also checked out the Cliffwalk at the park, which is a series of cantilevered and suspended walkways that jutt out from the granite cliff face above the Capilano River: 

Back on solid ground, we spent the rest of the morning exploring the forest and having lunch at the park: 

On Monday afternoon, we walked along False Creek in Downtown Vancouver and found a playground, where the kids played for a long time as we soaked up the sunshine and admired the views of the city:

We had dinner at an adorable Italian pizzeria/gelateria, where we dined alfresco and thoroughly enjoyed our last evening in Vancouver.  On Tuesday morning, we woke up bright and early to get to the airport and through customs.  It was an easy day of travel, and with the time change, we arrived at our home right before bedtime.  It truly was the trip of a lifetime, and we are forever grateful to have so many wonderful memories of our Alaska vacation!

Alaska Day 8: Ketchikan

On Saturday, we docked in Ketchikan, which is known for its abundant salmon, record setting rainfall, and rich Native Alaskan culture.  We had an authentic Ketchikan experience as we woke up to gray, cloudy skies and light drizzle.  This did not dampen our spirits a bit, and we may not have believed that it ever rained in Alaska if we hadn't seen it for ourselves:

We checked out the Liquid Sunshine Gauge downtown, which shows Ketchikan's average annual rainfall (150 inches per year!), and helps explain its nickname as the "Rain Capital of Alaska":

Ketchikan houses the world's largest collection of standing totem poles, and is home to the Tlingit, the idigineous people of the Pacific Northwest.  The Tlingit are one of three distinct Native tribal groups in Southeast Alaska, and they have inhabited the land for thousands of years.  We visited Saxman Native village and learned about the Tlingit culture.  We watched them perform a native dance in their clan house, and were awed by the beauty of their ornate robes:

Next we had a tour of the Totem Pole Village at Saxman and learned about the stories and meanings embedded in the carvings.  We visited the carving shed and watched Tlingit carvers work on current projects.  It was a special privilege to be able to have glimpse into their culture:

Downtown Ketchikan looks, feels, and smells like a fishing village, and we watched dozens of boats as they unloaded the day's catches and delivered them to restaurants along the channel:

Our afternoon was filled with a unique form of entertainment, and we absolutely adored the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show.  This family friendly attraction in Ketchikan came highly recommended, but I thought it may consist of actors putting on a performance as they posed as lumberjacks.  The entire audience was from our cruise ship, so Goofy came out at the beginning to get the crowd pumped up about the show:

Much to our surprise and delight, the show was a competition between two teams of real ESPN lumberjack athletes, who completed a series of 12 feats of agility and strength.  The lumberjacks competed in axe throwing, chain saw demonstrations, free falling from trees, and running atop spinning logs in the water.  This show was high energy and pure excitement for the crowd, and we were amazed at the lumberjacks' skill.  I'll admit that we've never watched timber sports before, but it was an awesome show, which brought the rich logging history of southeast Alaska to life:

After the show, the skies cleared, and rainy Ketchikan was touched with the most beautiful late afternoon sunlight:

Another Alaskan city captured our hearts, and we love our special memories of our day in Ketchikan!

Alaska Day 7: Juneau

I wasn't sure any other port could match our amazing day in Skagway, but our Day #7 in Juneau was incredible!  It was sunny and warm again, and the views from both sides of the ship were lovely as we docked:

As we disembarked in Juneau, there was a bald eagle sitting on a post close to our ship.  This special welcome to the city was very exciting for us, as these national birds are plentiful in Alaska's capital city, and we were anxious to spot one.  Juneau boasts one of the highest concentrations of bald eagles in North America, at almost one per person (30,000 bald eagles are estimated to live in the city, whose population is 32,000 people).  

After admiring our new feathered friend, we took a short bus ride to Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, where we viewed the 13 mile-long Mendenhall Glacier.  On our way there, we saw numerous bald eagles sitting on top of light posts and flying over the water.  

One of the first things we saw at Mendenhall Glacier were colorful salmon in Salmon Creek.  The reddish color of the salmon is due to the high concentration of carotenoids in their diet.  These carotenoids are absorbed into their scales and transferred to the skin and eggs as the salmon spawn.  Since it was spawning season, we saw many salmon in the stream as they returned to the place where they were born (after spending several years in the ocean):

Guess who likes being near salmon more than people?  BEARS!  Right on the other side of salmon creek, there was a mother bear accompanied by her two cubs.  They were up in a tree for most of the time that we watched them (and were hard to photograph), but it was such a unique experience to watch this bear family in its natural habitat (and not in a zoo enclosure):

It's kind of like Where's Waldo, but you can see one of the cubs here.  Its muzzle is in the bottom right quadrant of the picture, with the head and ears above.  The body is the dark shape in the middle, behind the branches.

Next, we hiked several trails which allowed us to get closer to the glacier and see its massive size better:

The glacier empties into Mendenhall Lake.

There were so many moments in Juneau that made me pause and appreciate the blessing of this day.  I want to always remember how crisp and clean the air smelled (it is unlike any other forest I've ever visited), the vivid red of the berries along the trail, the textures and shapes of all the trees and plants, and the roar of the waterfalls in the distance, which grew louder as we approached.  The fact was not lost on me that my children were hiking through a national forest thousands of miles from our home experiencing the wonder of God's creation:

Our favorite hike while visiting Mendenhall Glacier was to Gold Nugget Falls, which were enormous.  I can't capture the size here, but if you look at the bottom left corner of the photo, you will see how tiny the people are at the base of the falls:

There was a strip of beach where we stood and touched the freezing water (which was literally ice cold) and took pictures: 

At one point, Luke was skipping stones at the base the waterfall and there was no one else around him:

We hiked back to the Visitor Center and hopped on the bus, which took us to our next stop, Macaulay Salmon Hatchery:

Beautiful mountain backdrop.

We toured the hatchery, and watched the adult salmon swim up the 450-foot fish ladder and into holding ponds, where they stay until they are ready to spawn:

Each summer, masses of salmon return from the ocean to their birthplace.  

Checking out the fish ladder up close. 

Thousands of adult salmon filled these holding ponds.

Salmon jumping out of the water.

The indoor skybridge at the hatchery housed hundreds of thousands of baby salmon.  L&L can now tell you the 5 types of salmon (chum, sockeye, king, silver, and pink), using a cute pneumonic device that they learned.  We soaked in lots of information about the hatchery's operations and purpose (they release over 130 million salmon into the wild each year).  There was also an aquarium downstairs which contained over 150 types of aquatic species.  There were educational exhibits and interactive displays, including a touch tank and tide pool where the kids were able to handle many different types of sea life.

The baby salmon undergo smoltification here, which takes place prior to migration from fresh to salt water and allows them to adapt to life in the saline ocean.

Lunch in Juneau was a highly anticipated outdoor salmon bake that was set in the cutest wooded glen.  I may have commented to Mark, "Can we make our backyard somehow look like this?" and we oohed and ahhed over the idyllic setting:

Hot cider, fresh salmon with maple glaze, and cornbread = the way to his heart!

The salmon was the freshest, most delicious fish we've ever eaten, and we feasted at the all-you can eat buffet.  There was also an adorable area to make s'mores at the salmon bake.  Afterward, we followed a short wooded trail which led us to an abandoned mine, picturesque creek, and waterfall:

The kids played in the waterfall and we spotted another bald eagle in the treetop above.  We watched him for a long time before he flew off and boldly showed us his 7-foot wingspan:

At the end of our salmon bake and waterfall adventure, we returned to downtown Juneau, where I asked my family if they'd like to do "just a bit more walking and sightseeing":

After receiving the above dramatic reaction (which was also accompanied by a chorus of groans), I decided to snap a few quick photos of the downtown area and get everyone back on the ship ASAP:

Pretty planters lined Juneau's streets.

Juneau's bus terminal sure is cuter than any other I've ever seen.

Once we were back on the ship, the kids got a second wind and put on their bathing suits right away.  They spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and going down the waterslide (because what could be more perfect when it's 78 degrees in Alaska?):

While Mark lounged poolside and watched the kids, I was scheduled for a surprise on the ship.  Mark attended a tour of the spa during our first afternoon onboard, put his name into a raffle, and was chosen as a winner.  He sweetly gave this prize to me, and I was the recipient of a wonderful massage at the spa.  This is definitely something I would not have done otherwise, and was the cherry on top of a perfect day!  How we love you, Juneau!