Cruise to Alaska

With Tyler being a physician, post-residency, he is now required to get "Continuing Medical Education" credits.  These credits can be found at conventions and conferences that are usually held in vacation areas.  We also found that credits are offered during cruises.  Well, we took advantage of the cruise first thing.  We decided to take a 7-day Alaskan cruise, since it ports out of Seattle, and we didn't have to pay for any airfare.  

We were excited to experience a cruise for the first time, and I hear Alaskan cruises are pretty nice, as their isn't as much as a party crowd.  Tyler attended lectures during 14 cruising hours, which really wasn't too bad.   We had plenty of time to see all the ports and have downtime on the ship.

Our first stop was in Juneau.  The main attraction to see was the Mendenhall Glacier.  We found a shuttle to take us out there and we spent a couple hours hiking and exploring on our own.  

 

We spent a day cruising through Glacier Bay National Park.  

  

Our next stop was Sitka.  We spent the morning just exploring

 We learned a lot about totem poles and their history.

  

We stopped in Ketchikan.  We met up with some people we met on the boat to go deep sea fishing.  It wasn't my first pick, but Tyler really wanted to go.  Our friend found a private company to take us for a lot cheaper than what the cruise ship would do.  We all got out there and set up first thing in the morning.  And then we waited..... We saw some whales.  I got sea-sick and threw up on the side of the boat.  And we still waited for a catch, but nothing.  After about three hours, we decided it was time to go, but only to find that the boat wasn't starting!  We were on a time crunch.  The cruise ship would leave us if we did not make it back.  We started talking about if we didn't make it back to the boat.  The next stop was going to be in Canada.  We figured we would just have to fly right back into Seattle and wait for it to come in after that.  Luckily, we had a secondary boat that came out pretty quick to jump the boat's battery.  We got back to shore and into a taxi.  We made it back to the boat with 5 minutes to spare!  We also ended up getting a really good discount on the fishing trip because of not catching anything and having the issue at the end.   It all worked out.... with a huge sigh of relief!

 

Our last stop was in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.  We only had a few hours in the evening to tour.  I actually had visited here before, so it was fun to come back.  I wish we had more time, so we just settled for a city tour.  Victoria really isn't too far from us, so we plan to make a trip again with the family someday.  

There was plenty to do and see on the ship.  We had two fun formal nights.  I was able to find two formal dresses that I got for the occasions.  We were seated in large groups for dinner, so it fun talking to people and getting to know them a bit. 

One evening the waiter taught us a trick with balancing two forks on two toothpicks.  Everybody passed it around the table, but I was the one to drop it  (after 6 passes).  

 

There was nightly entertainment each night.  We saw a "Recycled Percussion" group one night,  a comedian, and a magician. 

Here is the second formal night.  

The couple with us is the ones that went deep sea fishing with us.  

They are from California.

Here is a sample of the gourmet food that we enjoyed.  

Tyler enjoyed the steak and lobster one night.

And of course, we enjoyed the little towel animals we got each day.