Alaska

At the Detroit airport waiting to board:




Andrew, me and Ryan ready to cruise:


Leaving Vancouver:


The Celebrity Mercury (our boat):


The room that Mom and I shared:


Ryan, excited to see the ship offered topless sunbathing (but it never got warm enough):


Our first port was Sitka, Alaska where we took a tour of the local culture. It included visiting the Raptor Center, a hospital and education center for birds of prey, watched a native dance ritual and toured some totem poles and saw the salmon trying to swim upstream.

Sitka, Alaska:


The Raptor center takes in injured birds of prey. This is one of their permanent residents:


Native Alaskan tribal dancers:


Totem pole in Sitka:


Ryan, Andrew, and me:


Our second port was Juneau, Alaska where we went on a float trip to see the Mendenhall Glacier in the Tongass rain forest. We were hoping for white water rafting but they didn't even give us paddles. We did get to see several bald eagles and one was fishing in the river directly in front of our raft.

Next came the Hubbard Glacier. We were able to get 1/2 a mile from the glacier, which according the ship captain is very close.

The Hubbard Glacier:


Pieces of the glacier floating in the water a few miles before getting to it:




Mountain view (the haze is from forest fires in Canada):


Gray water created by the glacier (called the glacier flower). Ground up bits of rock turn the water gray for miles around it:


Our last port was Ketchikan where we went zip lining through the rain forest. It was by far our favorite excursion of the trip and when it was over we all wanted to do it again!

Ryan and Andrew in the harnesses for zip lining:


The beautiful scenery we zip lined through:


The family out on a zip line platform:


After zip lining in Ketchikan, we met the crew of a private yacht and they bought us a few drinks:


Here are a few photos of our time on the ship:

Mom and Ryan sharing a cosmo at The Navigator Club:


Ryan and Andrew with their tiny cups of sorbet to cleanse the palaet before the main course:


Mom and Andrew at our first of two formal dinners:


Sonya and Ryan at the formal dinner:


Catching some sun on the top deck, it was still chilly but the ship provided blankets:


The boys and I with one of our waitstaff from the dining room. She thought they were cute :)


A print I bought from an Alaskan artist for our bedroom at a gallery in Juneau: