You’ll never get me on a cruise. Unless it’s to ALASKA! Recap and New PTR Link! 2/1

[MAGICFOR2]

Okay, all I can say is WOW! What amazing cruise scenery! It is so awesome how you got so close to the glaciers and seals - and got to see the Mt. goats too! I think maybe I saw a bald eagle in one of the trees too.

Looks like just a perfect day on the ship!

 

[eandesmom]

Okay, all I can say is WOW! What amazing cruise scenery! It is so awesome how you got so close to the glaciers and seals - and got to see the Mt. goats too! I think maybe I saw a bald eagle in one of the trees too.

Looks like just a perfect day on the ship!

It was a perfect day, the wildlife and the scenery were just spectacular!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Wow, what amazing views! It is simply breathtaking. You have me wanting to do an Alaskan cruise sooner rather than later.

Can't wait to hear about your adventures off the trip!

 

[eandesmom]

Wow, what amazing views! It is simply breathtaking. You have me wanting to do an Alaskan cruise sooner rather than later.

Can't wait to hear about your adventures off the trip!

Thanks, it really was breathtaking, I highly recommend it!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MEK]

I certainly expected to find an update today, even though you weren't at the top of my CP. Oh Well. I know you'll put one out there soon!

 

[eandesmom]

I certainly expected to find an update today, even though you weren't at the top of my CP. Oh Well. I know you'll put one out there soon!

Going to try, it's been a nutty nutty week for sure and the weekend doesn't look any better but I hope to get one up at some point. It's funny, I thought of you this week while I was watching the Sing Off, the University of Delaware has a group on there (the Deltones I think) and it made me think of you

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Beautiful pictures, my favorite ones are the seals of course. They are so cute.

Thanks for explaining the FE stuff. I tried so hard to guess what FE stood for, and now that I know it means Fish Extender, I am cutting myself some slack. I would NEVER have guessed that.

 

[MEK]

Going to try, it's been a nutty nutty week for sure and the weekend doesn't look any better but I hope to get one up at some point. It's funny, I thought of you this week while I was watching the Sing Off, the University of Delaware has a group on there (the Deltones I think) and it made me think of you

One of my friend's sons was in that group (he is now out in the midwest continuing his masters degree). They are freaking amazing!!!!!! Each person literally sings a different part. That's a lot of parts!

 

[MEK]

Forgot to add that I think the emails may start flying again after I get home from HHI. I was thinking I should just make our October reservation at VWL at 11 months. That will be next month!!!!! Told Denny last night and, of course, he said he wanted to go. Right - he is going in December and June. I know darn well that he will not go three times in one calendar year. But I said - no problem - that we would just book a 1BR.

And if we really were to include Denny then maybe we should stay at AKL because of the extra bathroom. Plus I love that place, even though it's not convenient to Epcot.

 

[Stefy]

I just had to check out your TR after seeing your cute pic with Minnie in your sig

Loving everything so far, me and DH really want to do an Alaskan Cruise next year. After having done our first ever cruise on the Dream in September.

Tracy Arm Fjord looks amazing and how many seals were there on those ice caps. Was it really peaceful sailing through?

Looking forward to reading more

 

[eandesmom]

Beautiful pictures, my favorite ones are the seals of course. They are so cute.

Thanks!

Thanks for explaining the FE stuff. I tried so hard to guess what FE stood for, and now that I know it means Fish Extender, I am cutting myself some slack. I would NEVER have guessed that.

I had to ask too, I would never have figured it out either.

One of my friend's sons was in that group (he is now out in the midwest continuing his masters degree). They are freaking amazing!!!!!! Each person literally sings a different part. That's a lot of parts!

It's a huge group! They are wonderful. It's funny, we were talking about this at gourmet club last year. Kendall's choir teacher was in one of the groups that was on last year (Groove for Thought) and he runs 4 different choirs, including a Glee type group (without the choreography lol). I was in a 16 person Jazz choir but we were very much traditional vocal jazz (Manhattan Transfer, Four Freshman kind of stuff) and it is very cool to see how it's evolved. I guess I was lucky, it was never "not" cool to be in vocal jazz when I was in HS but according to some of my friends it was completely uncool where they went, so the Glee slushies rang home to then.

Of course it probably helped us that one of the cutest guys in the entire school was in it and had an amazing voice. Sigh.

Forgot to add that I think the emails may start flying again after I get home from HHI. I was thinking I should just make our October reservation at VWL at 11 months. That will be next month!!!!! Told Denny last night and, of course, he said he wanted to go. Right - he is going in December and June. I know darn well that he will not go three times in one calendar year. But I said - no problem - that we would just book a 1BR.

And if we really were to include Denny then maybe we should stay at AKL because of the extra bathroom. Plus I love that place, even though it's not convenient to Epcot.

Sounds good to me. I can't imagine getting Jeff to go but...you never know! He did love food and wine and might just be up for it. And if he didn't, and Denny really was...I could probably kidnap my sister.

I just had to check out your TR after seeing your cute pic with Minnie in your sig

Aw, thanks! And

Loving everything so far, me and DH really want to do an Alaskan Cruise next year. After having done our first ever cruise on the Dream in September.

Tracy Arm Fjord looks amazing and how many seals were there on those ice caps. Was it really peaceful sailing through?

Looking forward to reading more

It was incredibly peaceful sailing through Tracy Arm. I highly recommend the Alaskan cruise, we absolutely loved it.

 

[MEK]

I guess I was lucky, it was never "not" cool to be in vocal jazz when I was in HS but according to some of my friends it was completely uncool where they went, so the Glee slushies rang home to then.

.

Totally uncool to do band and choir when I was growing up and since I was a high school bad girl *gasp* I dropped out of everything in 10th grade. Singing Oklahoma was really not that fun for me. If I was in high school I would be SO into it. I would be the diva type who wanted all the best parts!

I am pretty sure that Denny is not at all serious about F&W. He just likes to see how I'll react. He isn't quite over the fact that I have my third girls trip coming up and he is working mega OT. Poor Denny!

 

[eandesmom]

Totally uncool to do band and choir when I was growing up and since I was a high school bad girl *gasp* I dropped out of everything in 10th grade. Singing Oklahoma was really not that fun for me. If I was in high school I would be SO into it. I would be the diva type who wanted all the best parts!

I am pretty sure that Denny is not at all serious about F&W. He just likes to see how I'll react. He isn't quite over the fact that I have my third girls trip coming up and he is working mega OT. Poor Denny!

Denny and Jeff need to get together. I have another girls trip in Dec (had one a few weeks ago) and he is less than thrilled.



YOU were a bad girl?

Hmmn...No wonder Brian stresses you out.



Ok, yeah, signing Oklahoma wouldn't have been that fun for me either!

Band was a little less cool than Vocal Jazz but our drum major(s) for the time I was in it, were pretty hot so that mitigated things as well. I did bail on marching band after 2 years but migrated to cheer and then flags. Sure there were some band folks that got a bit picked on but I'd say they were in the minority and Vocal Jazz was pretty cool.

 

[eandesmom]

Day 4 of our cruise dawned…a bit misty and grey and…next to land! Peering out of our verandah we were treated to a view of Skagway, mountains and railroad tracks. It is a bit odd, after 3 days of looking outside and seeing no one, to realize that people might be looking right back at you if you pop out on your verandah in your pj’s! Of course I didn’t take a picture. We had a 1pm excursion and a 7:30pm all aboard. With a 7:15 port arrival, we had plenty of time. We woke up at a decent hour but didn’t need to rush. Jeff and I went for our deck 4 walk while the kids watched TV and then we made our coffee and got ready for the day. Today we decided we’d try the other buffet and headed to Parrot Cay for breakfast. We were not impressed. As a non buffet fan to begin with, seeing my kids try to eat french toast that was hard as a rock left a bit to be desired. Everyone did find plenty to eat and it was fine but that was it…just fine. Fed for the moment we decided to head into port, finally on land, at about 10:30 am. Skagway was pretty cool from a docking standpoint, we were right there at the end of town!

It was a misty morning

This is actually a snow blower!

We found this amusing

This building was seriously cool

You can see how small the town is…there is the wonder at the end of the street!

We walked around, putzed in the shops (which annoyed is in all the ports….cruise line owned jewelry stores trying to sell stuff that really has nothing to do with Alaska, just icky if you ask me, though Skagway). We got a coffee, and just kind of strolled. It is a VERY small town and honestly, I think we putzed for 1-1.5 hours and that was probably pushing it. That included getting a coffee, a couple of bathroom breaks and the kids playing with lots of stuffed animals in stores. We did spend some time at the White Pass Railway train station, and one or two museum type places/historical info checking it out but honestly, there just wasn’t a whole lot to see and do. Which was fine. We’d expected it to be small and cute and just putz for a little bit. The kids did have fun with animals. You can’t go wrong with a moose puppet after all.

The moose were less than thrilled with the train station. Good thing this wasn’t our excursion! (much as Jeff wanted to do it)

Initial wanderings done, 2 cheap puppets and one cheap tee later, we headed back to the ship, we had enough time to grab a quick lunch and did our goofys/pluto’s everyone fend for themselves lunch again. Sadly Eric dropped his cheeseburger right after getting it but they were able to make another one relatively quickly. I went for a garden burger but skipped the fries. Though we weren’t all that hungry, dinner would be a LONG ways away. Finishing we swung by the room to drop off a few things, and got one shot from the verandah.

It was time to meet for our excursion. Our tickets told us to go to Wavebands, we made it there right on time but certainly not early. Once there we had release forms to turn in and stickers to pick up. We’d be the “Donald” group for our excursion. Which was….Ziplining!

None of us had ever been and this was a very specific request from the E’s. While the course in Ketchikan sounded a bit better, Eric didn’t weigh enough for it and he did for this one. Plus it was cheaper. Win Win as far as I was concerned. Our group was finally called and we headed out. All guys (and boys, Eric was the youngest) except for one other woman who turned out to be a CM who worked in the nursery.

Our exciting transport

A description of our excursion

In this amazing adventure you will walk on raised balance beams, cross exciting suspension bridges, and fly through the air on the series of zip lines! Join our expert guides for the ride of a lifetime! Perfect for all abilities and fun for the entire family!

Your adventure begins with a narrated drive through historic downtown Skagway and up the Klondike Highway. From the highway, a short nature hike brings you to the spectacular Adventure Park where expert guides will outfit you with state of the art safety equipment. Then you will be off to enjoy the thrill of the ropes course and zip line experience!

First you will enter into an incredible series of ropes course crossings including burma loops, suspended bridges and raised balance beams. Next up is a fantastic series of six zip lines through the lush Alaskan canopy. You will zoom from platform to platform while your friends and family cheer you on! Your heart will be pumping as you get ready for the “Walk the Plank” zip that soars high above the ground through the treetops!

I’ll spare you all most of the pictures of the drive to our course as…they just aren’t very interesting. It was pretty and woody, and mountainy and all that but they just didn’t really turn out.

You get the idea.

One thing we could see well from the ride was the White Pass railway route. This is a VERY popular excursion. I didn’t actually talk to anyone who went on it (our table mates opted for an Eagle watching raft trip) but I know there are a lot of reviews out there for folks who are interested in it.

Continued in next post

 

[eandesmom]

We were heading into the trees.

Literally

First thing is…to gear up.

Once you gear up (helmet and harness) you head into the trees. I opted to leave my camera and backpack behind and have Jeff carry the point and shoot.

You start out with some information, instructions, and demonstrations for the adventure course

Shockingly, when it was time to go, Eric wanted to go first. For the WHOLE group. Now Eric is a thrill junkie when someone else is in control but on his own? Let’s put it this way. He’s 11. He doesn’t know how to ride a bike. Needless to say Jeff and I looked at each other, wondering silently how this would go down. Would he hold up the whole group (of 12) or have a melt down, freaking out that he couldn’t do one or more of the courses?

Guess we’d see, and he’s off!

Followed by E1

Look mom, no problem!

My turn (not the most attractive photo lol)

Next course

A little bit harder than the first one (or scarier)

Time to zipline! They start you off with a “baby” course, followed by 5 real lines in increasing hight

Our guides were an absolute riot

SO MUCH FUN!

The scariest part is the takeoff, you just walk off a platform

And then fly

Neither of the E’s were terribly graceful, they just flat out didn’t weigh enough to go all that fast.

Jeff and I should have taken turns with the camera..or gone in front of the kids, instead we have pictures of the back of our heads, and none of Jeff at all.

Sadly…we were all done

At the end you hang up your gear and can buy a tee shirt, tip the guides, whatever. We were amused by one of our guides, who had lost a bet.

I would HIGHLY recommend this excursion to anyone. The guides were absolutely outstanding, level of thrill just right and the length, just right. Value for the money, outstanding. Our weather was perfect, even if it had been sunny or clear we wouldn’t haven seen much more than we did under the canopy as we were. It drizzled slightly but under the canopy, you don’t get much of it actually hitting you so it was just fine. And Eric? he was a rockstar, just went for it every time, without hesitation. The kids LOVED this and while it may not have shown "alaska" or skagway as much as others might, for us it was absolutely perfect. Everyone in our group seemed to agree.

Evan used some of his money to buy a tee and with that, we all climbed into the van. Our van was filled with our guides who were done for the day. They kindly offered to offered to drop everyone wherever they wanted. We’d had an idea of where we wanted to go after, they thought it was a great idea, in fact they were going there themselves. Another family with us, a dad and two boys who live not far from us, heard the guides get so excited out where we wanted to go, they decided to go to!

Where do you think we were going?

 

[natebenma]

The town looks cute. The pictures with the ship at the end of the street are really cool. Looks like the boat is going to tear through the street.

The moose puppets are neat. Love the pictures will the bear looking over the boys' shoulders.

What a great excursion in Skagway!

I'm glad you had so much fun ziplining. Sounds like a very well organized excursion. We went to an adventure park in Mexico last February with 2 ziplining courses- I think a total of 14 different zip lines.

The most amazing part is that my 9 year old son, who does not like extreme coasters and also did not ride a bike (until 4 weeks ago) had absolutely no fear. Ummm, did you not look down and see the ground way too far away???!!!!???

 

[nikkistevej]

LOving your pictures and review!!! We have the same picture with the snowblower and were amazed, and of course Sarah Palin.

 

[MEK]

I KNEW IT! I knew you probably posted last night and I didn't look! Double Of course, it will probably be 10pm before I get a chance to look tonight. I HATE that!

I also can't bring my mac to HHI next week because the screen is cracked and if I close it too many times I am going to kill the whole computer. So it has turned into a desk top essentially. I am trying to nurse it along until I can pony up the money for a new one. I learned an important lesson - no lap top should have a 17' screen. Its just too top heavy.

I am going to have to figure out a way to keep up next week or maybe I'll just go with the "what the hey?" attitude.

Maybe I can get my old pc to run!

Anyway - I am sure your pictures are awesome and I can't wait to see the zip lining. Sounds like a very cool place!

 

[glennbo123]

That looked like a blast. I'm glad the boys loved it and that Eric did so well being the first one. It sounded like they worked you up slowly to the scarier zips.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Ziplining looks like so much fun. It is amazing how small the town looked up compared to the Dream.

Oh, what a cliffhanger! I can't wait to see where you went.