Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Green Alaska

There are many things to enjoy on a cruise, fabulous food, exotic drinks, lazing by the pool, going to classes or movies or demos or tours or shows. You could exhaust yourself pretty quickly trying to do it ALL. I took advantage of some of these events, and enjoyed them very much. But I also enjoyed our stops, getting off the boat and exploring Alaska. We stopped at Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria B.C. Each of these towns had it's own personality, but what they all had in common was GREEN. Alaska is lush, almost rainforest like. Here are some of my tourist shots to celebrate that color.  

This is in Juneau, our first stop.  In the background of this shot is the Mendenhall Glacier.  We took a van tour and since our group was so big, we had the whole van just to ourselves.  Our tour guide, Annie, was just a stitch.  Cracking jokes, driving us around, telling tales of the old days.  She's lived in Juneau 35 of her ?? years and knows it well.  What I appreciated most were the little slices of life that seeped through her story telling.  No script, just her own bubbly personality, and tailored to our questions.  "Well if you want to know about that, let me just take us here for a few minutes," and off the main tourist-infested track we'd go.  

Here's most of our group; we're minus my mother-in-law aka The Boss, and my aunt and uncle The World Travelers who opted for a purchased through Holland America tour.  (By the way, we were on the MS Rotterdam.)  Just for the record, from left to right are my brother-in-law Trouble, The Engineer, me (yes, actually brave enough to finally show my face) hugging YellowBoy, my nephew Mr. Independent, my fabulous sister-in-law Patience, her daughter Engineer In Training, then you probably recognize Jake and behind him is The Engineer's cousin Mr. Casino, next is Language Man, my other nephew, and last but not least my father-in-law, The Advocate.  Annie took this picture.

Two days later we were in Sitka.  Wonderful town of friendly people.  We saw the Russian Orthodox Church which has been there since (gotta check the brochure, brain rot), and then headed to the "totem park" aka Sitka National Historical Park.   

 A leisurely hike through the lush forest 

led us to many totem poles, 


The Boss was able to come on this one

a bridge where we could watch the salmon run, 


and a chance to hike pretty far out into the bay during low tide.



A day later, more green was found in Ketchikan, as well as more salmon running.
                         
Our last stop before returning to Seattle was Victoria, B.C.  Our wandering around town took us to this (appropriate for summer color school green) buoy. 


 I was by no means ready to return, but alas, all good things come to an end.  I know I cheated and made you watch my vacation pictures, but all is fair in alphabe-Thursday.  Check out the other great posts related to the color green, and feel free to join us.  Jenny Matlock is our fab hostess over at off on my tangent.





20 comments:

Mama of 3 said...

Great "green" post. Love the pictures. I would love to take an Alaskan cruise someday!

Brian Miller said...

fun. fun. love the vacation pics...sounds like you all had quite the adventure...and looks like...

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

My best friend and her husband are cruising Alaska next week.


Your photos are wonderful. It looks so lush!!

Unknown said...

Great photos! Sounds like you had a fantastic trip :) I hope I get to visit Alaska one day too. It looks like it's a fun place to visit.

Unknown said...

I have never been to Alask before. I really enjoyed seeing it through your eyes.

Miss V said...

Wow! These pictures remind me of home:) I was born in Anchorage Alaska and lived there until I was 5. I am 9 now and I miss the mountains and the snow. Check out my blog and we can be Alaska buddies:)
http://lilmissvsworld.blogspot.com/

Cheryl said...

For once I didn't mind sitting through a set of vacation photos. You all look as though you had a fabulous time. Lush is absolutely perfect.

Chatty Crone said...

I went to Alaska two summers ago. It was so green and beautiful. Part of me would love to live there. Oh yeah - then I remember the winters there.
sandie

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

Going on a cruise to Alaska is on my bucket list. After reading this, I may have to move it up a few notches...

Susan Anderson said...

This is the vacation I most want to take with my family. Your photos have only encouraged me!

=)

Amanda Lee said...

Looks like you had an amazing time! Can't wait to hear more about the trip. :)

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful display of green for this post. It looks like you had a wonderful time, and I so sorry you had to come back to reality!

Teresa

easternsparkle said...

I so want to cruise to Alaska! One day maybe...great pics!

Tracy said...

Wow I am so jealous lovely pics. Thanks for sharing

Terra said...

I want to hug a real totem pole...how cool

Jo said...

the vacation pictures are wonderful! I love the city of Victoria ... and i so want to cruise to Alaska one day ... so i'm a bit green with envy lol

Jenny said...

Oh this is lovely. AND YOU HAVE COATS ON!!!! And I am soooo green with envy because it was incredibly hot and humid here today AGAIN AND you are lovely...(even though you are still trying to hide there) AND this is such a fun, fun, fun link to Rainbow Summer School's journey through the color GREEN!

Sorry.

I got pretty excited here in my comment.

What fun!

A+

~✽Mumsy✽~ said...

What a wonderful vacation, and lovely pictures of the family. A cruise sounds so good at this moment for me..

linda said...

Sitka was my home for a while. I lived there on a boat in Thompson Harbor. It is a gorgeous place. I used to go to the park to pick huckleberries, they were the biggest i had ever seen.
Very nice trip down memory lane. Thank you.

Susan said...

Sounds like your trip was Marvy!! Thanks for sharing a bit with us. Great green post :)
Susan