Back on the road in the Land Yacht

NOTE: I started this entry in August but got sidetracked with bad locations for internet and seeing grandkids so I apologize for the delay. Hope you enjoy!!!

After returning from Alaska we spent a day at the Public Market in Seattle. The Pike Fish Market where they throw the fish is part of this market but it also includes so much more as you can see from the the pictures

We even went in the very first Starbucks store at the market. Very busy place!!!

We had planned to stay another day or two in Seattle but Barb was missing her babies and needed to start the trip east again so we left Seattle headed to Yellowstone National Park.

We made a couple quick stops in Idaho and western Montana and arrived at West Yellowstone, Montana where we parked for a few days beside a lake that we learned was called Earthquake Lake. Beautiful spot that the earthquake left us.

Yellowstone was amazing and of course our quest for wildlife continued with many rewards especially elk!!!! We also saw coyote, buffalo, ravens and a moose but I will tell you that story later.

Yellowstone is an combination of different sections - geysers, forest and mountains. The geysers were fascinating and Old Faithful started out as a disappointment but redeeemed itself later in the week.

Old Faithful shoots up about 120 feet every hour and 20 minutes - the first time we saw it the steam went about 120 feet but the water only went about 20 feet - not impressed! We happened to be in the same area the next two days and each day was spectacular - 120 feet of water plus some. So glad we retruned for the encores!

The bubbling mudpots and paintpots were also fascinating to watch but no colors like they had been for my sister.

Just some examples of the variety of steaming and boiling holes and areas - my thoughts were - is this place going to explode at any minute? Mother Nature sure is a creative lady!!!

We drove the 180 mile loop around the entire park and saw beautiful sights - waterfalls and views beyond description.

From where we stayed in West Yellowstone, Montana we had to drive through Yellowstone to get to Grand Tetons National Park just south of Yellowstone in Wyoming - another jaw dropper. We stopped and saw Jackson Hole and just admired the beauty of the mountains and a glacier. Actually saw a bear close up and some deer.

Our next stop was South Dakota and revisiting the beautiful Black Hills for Barb and getting to show Bill what Patsy and I had seen on our mission trip to Pine Ridge Reservation in 2006. Stay tuned!

Cruisin' to Alaska

Hi once again - we pick up with our cruise to Alaska - our first cruise and we are ready to go again anytime. even back to Alaska - alot of port excursions that are left to take!!!! Cruisin' was so much fun with so many choices of things to do on this floating city. Didn't feel the wave motion much either but we had perfect weather - even the locals in Alaska were exclaiming how beautiful it was!

My first pictures are leaving the port of Seattle taken from our balcony!

Our first port of call was Ketchikan. Bill went on an excursion on one of the Bering Sea crab boats as seen on the Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel. He had a extraordinary adventure and it was everything he had hoped it would be (without the big waves crashing over the ship). Barb went on a hike in the Rainforest Sanctuary and learned a lot and saw many eagles and got to feed the reindeer (anything with wildlife makes Barb happy) - also some salmon jumping! At the end she met a master carver of totem poles and you can see his work in the pictures below. Of course shopping was necessary to make the visit complete!!

Our next port of call was Juneau and we only had about half a day here so we did our excursion to go whale watching but alas we had NO time for shopping. Boo hoo! The whales were magnificent and of course the pictures don't show it at all. Of course when I am looking through binoculars and they look so much closer and I'm telling Bill to get the picture (it just doesn't look the same as what I saw). The pictures are of the tails flipping which we didn't see in Maine and then we had three swimming together. The one that we didn't get was a mother and baby jumping simultaneously. A wonderful day but I will never get enough of watching them.

On our way back to Juneau from the whale expedition our bus driver stopped so we could take pictures of the famous Mendenhall Glacier. What a beautiful sight - you can see it right above the tree line.

We only had half a day in Juneau because we were off to see the Sawyer Glacier but the fiord was too full of ice and we couldn't get close enough so the captain announced we were going to the Dores Glacier. Going up the fiord was wonderful and then icebergs start floating by the ship and finally you are there with the glacier at the end. Breath-taking and after you see it and take a zillion pictures the ship has to turn completely around to go back out of the fiord - also breathtaking.

Skagway was the third port of call and our excursion was the musher camp and dog sled ride (not on snow but fun just the same). The dogs were barking and jumping and ready to run - there were 15 dogs to pull us and they loved it and so did we. By the end they had had their workout but were still loving the attention and of course Barb had to extend her thanks and appreciation to each of them. We then had a sledder tell us all about sledding and what is involved in the Iditarod. After that we could play with some of the pups. A great stop. There was also enough time for shopping in Skagway! Yeah!!!!

Port-au-Prince, Canada was our last port of call. We had not planned an excursion on this stop so we just walked around the town and did a little more looking and shopping!

Now a little about life on the ship. First a picture of the Norwegian Star and a few shots inside the ship - unbelieveable all the first class accommodations. Living in the lap of luxury for a week. We enjoyed different restaurants each night, the casino was a lot of fun and the shows were very entertaining especially the crew's talent night - we laughed until we cried. We also enjoyed late night concerts by an exceptional quartet in the lobby area.

The windows on the back of the ship are the grand dining room where they held the Chocolate Buffet on Thursday night at 11:00 pm. You have never seen such beautiful chocolate and so much of it along with ice sculptures. A beautiful sight that didn't last very long.

The end of the day was always fun when you went back to your cabin and found a new little friend to greet you. I even went to a demonstration class on how to make these darling animals. Do you think I will be able to reproduce them for my grandchildren??? Certainly will try!!!

I will leave you with some beautiful scenes of a a magnificent state and we only saw such a tiny bit of it. We highly recommend that everyone say yes if you ever get the chance to go up North to Alaska!!!!