Alaska!

Last week, Justin and I went on an Alaskan Cruise! Grandma Sherri had the boys for the week and then Justin's mom helped out for 3 days as well. We're so grateful for them! It was so fun to have some time away from all the stress of life and be able to talk uninterrupted. The food was so fabulous. We fell in love with all the chilled fruit soups.  We saw some good movies. We saw at least 30 to 40 whales (and didn't even go on a whale-watching tour!). Justin had managed to upgrade to a verandah room at the last minute for a sweet deal, so we didn't miss any of the scenery. The shows were so good, too. One of our favorite things to do was to take a dip in the jacuzzi at the back of the ship. It's so fun to be out in the cold air, see the snowy peaks, and even see the floating chunks of ice trailing the ship (at Tracy Arm) as we stayed hot and toasty in the water. Here are some highlights from the ship. I'll post about the different ports later. 

Our ship, the Oosterdam, really focused on artwork. There was even an audio art tour that we did, but it was not very informative. We thought it was nice that the rugs in the elevator would let us know which day of the week it is. We couldn't help but laugh (and be a little frightened) whenever we walked by the blue grape-haired lady.

One of the nicest afternoons was spent lounging in the sun on the Lido deck. We read books, took a nap, had some cheese fries, ate an ice cream waffle cone, and did a little Sudoku. 

There was a cooking show area on the ship and we attended the Dutch pancakes lesson. It's really the one lesson I didn't need since I grew up with my Dad making Dutch pancakes every Saturday, but we went because the captain of the ship happened to be teaching. Yes, he's Dutch. Every time Captain Van DerLoo would speak on the intercom or during the class, we felt like our neighbor Ed was there with us. They had the same accent but even their voices sound alike.

Here's our room. On this day, we happened to see LOTS of blue whales. Everywhere we looked we could see their blow spouts and then watch for their backs to surface and their tales to flip over. It was so fun! Unfortunately our camera is having a hard time lately and really isn't good at capturing the whales. I did get one good picture of a whale in Sitka. I'll post that soon.  

Time to head home. There was luggage everywhere! On the train to the airport we happened upon a couple from Logan, UT that know Justin's grandparents. Small world. And it was a nice surprise when Justin got upgraded to first class for the flight home and gave me his seat. It was a short flight, but it was nice to get extra drinks and snacks!