Digital Scrapbooking - more Alaska

I used the same template (templates rule!!!) for each of these pages, but I flipped it around, so they don't all look 100% the same.

I think I like the Juneau page the best, although the word "Skagway" is a really cute alpha I downloaded.

All my digital scrapbooking materials were downloaded for free! Thank you Ikea Goddess!

Digital Scrapbooking - Alaskan Cruise

You might be ashamed to learn that I spend a lot of time digital scrapbooking on our cruise.

Now I didn't take any time away from all the ports or other things, but there was a lot of downtime on the ship. I would take my computer to a martini bar that overlooked the huge atrium area, or sit in the ship's library and scrapbook away. It was fun to play with all the photos I had just taken.

That "Alaskan Amber" page is one of my favorites.

If I haven't gotten you into digital scrapping yet - what are you waiting for?!?

Alaska sunset

Our last night sailing the 'seas' of Alaska.

The sun is setting behind us ... and it's probably about 10:30pm.

Got to love those really long sunshiny days!

Ice, ice baby

Our Alaskan cruise ended at 9am, and our flight wasn't until 9PM, so we had a lot of time to kill.

We signed up for a boat trip (small boat) that drove up close to a glacier near the cruise port.

Since it was still early 'summer', there was still tons of ice on the lake. The boat blasted thru some of the ice to get us closer to the glacier. The ice didn't look thick, but it really was!

Check out how think it is. And it's all crystallized. It reminded me of Superman's ice lair.

Seals

More Alaska stuff ...

Walking off our cruise ship in Whittier, AL, there was a big 'ol seal sitting on ... well I'm not really sure what he's sitting on.

But it's a seal! Cool!

Coral Princess

It was kind-of off to see a cruise ship next to snow capped mountains.

When I always thought of "cruise" I always thought "Caribbean" and "sunny" and "tropical"!

This is a photo of our cruise ship, the Coral Princess, in our last port, Skagway.

Red Onion Saloon

The Red Onion Saloon was around in 1898, when the big gold rush came (and went). I guess there were over 70+ bars and saloons in Skagway back in the good old days.

You can't really read the sign very well, but it says that the Brothel Tours are "$5 for 15 minutes ... just like back in 1898!"

Welcome to Alaska!

In Skagway, Jonathan took a train shore excursion and I took a bus tour. My bus tour went to the Yukon (in Canada), then back into Alaska.

We stopped a bunch of times for photo opportunities, and one of them was at the Alaska border.

Look out for bears!

I guess brown and black bears are everywhere in Alaska. When we were touring in a residential area, all the garbage cans (it was garbage day) were closed, and bungee cords were wrapped all around them.

The garbage cans in downtown were all large metal cans. They all involved a semi-complex way of opening (or maybe it was only complex for me).

Juneau

This was the scene we saw for 7 days in a row. Snow covered mountains were everywhere!  We never got tired of sitting on our cruise deck (in a lounge chair, all bundled up) and looking at the mountains.

One cool part of our cruise was the fact that we never cruised in the open ocean.  We were always really close to land, so there was always glaciers and mountain ranges to look at.

These particular mountains were in Juneau.

It's kind-of odd to be back in Florida and there are no mountains in sight.

You've got to hand it to Alaska, it was a very pretty, clean, and green state!  Now I'm motivated to plant some more trees.

Burger Queen

Check out this lovely burger joint we saw in Ketchican. The cute little Burger Queen.

Eagles!

We did a shore excursion in Juneau. One stop we made was near an old church with a great view.

While we were getting back on the bus, about 10 bald eagles put on a show for us. They were flying circles all around us.

Taking a photo of them was nearly impossible, but I wanted some proof I saw an eagle!

Mendenhall Glacier

The main shore excursion we did in Juneau was a trip to Mendenhall Glacier. I'm not sure why it is so famous, but it was a pretty cool glacier.

In hindsight, we saw about 10 more glaciers through out the cruise.

It's hard to see from the photo, but there is a bright blue spot on the bottom left side of the glacier. This is where a spot fell off the glacier over night. We never saw a glacier 'calve' (meaning, have a giant piece fall off), but when they do calve, it shows off the bright blue-ness of a glacier. I guess glaciers are so compact, that the only color that can penetrate thru them is blue. It's the same concept as deep underwater.

It wasn't very cold in Juneau, but when we got close to the glacier it was downright cold!!! I felt bad for the US Parks worker who was sitting right outside the glacier.

Ketchican

Our first stop was Ketchican, Alaska. We were only there until 1:30pm, so we had to hussle to see everything.

We didn't have any plans, but we found a walking tour map, so we started walking! Jonathan knows it's not a real vacation unless we walk a zillion miles around towns.

Each Alaskan city we visited had dock full of fishing boats.

Our stateroom (again)

More photos of our huge room and the cool roll in shower.

If you've never been on a cruise before, you might not think that room is large, but trust me, it's a mansion! As we walked down the halls, sometimes we could see into other people's "normal sized" rooms. There is about 1/2 the space. Jackpot!

I threw in that photo of Jonathan and I to show off the cool t-shirt I'm wearing. I bought it in the Vancouver Canuck's gift shop. His name is Johnny (I didn't make that up). He's a lumberjack/hockey player. I thought he was cute.

Our stateroom

If you know me, you know that I'm super thrifty (hence, we can afford this cruise).

Check out the SWEET view from our stateroom!

Actually, it wasn't so bad. I like having a window room b/c that way you know if it's morning, noon or night (I'm assuming a non-window room would be kind-of confusing). A balcony would've been sweet, but I like leaving my room to go to an open deck to sit outside. If I had a balcony, it would feel like I never left the room.

We also lucked out and got a handicapped room. The room was HUGE. There was ample space along both sides of the bed (enough for a wheelchair to fit). And, say what you will about roll in showers, but I like them!

Every morning we were welcomed by a nice view of snow capped mountains. It was odd at first to be on a cruise ship in the snowy mountains. I mean, I always associated cruises with tropical paradises. But it was nice to do something different for a change.

Sarah Palin lives here!

Jonathan got much better photos of Sarah Palin's governor's mansion, but I thought this photo was kind-of funny.

A big old RV next to the governor's mansion.

The "mansion" was really just a semi-large house. And it was in a regular old rural area of town. No fancy walls, or guards or anything. The backyard was in plain sight, with just a regular fence. I guess Sarah and her family were out of town the day we were there.

We're *almost* home

Jonathan and I are sitting in the Anchorage International Airport.  This place is QUIET.

There are literally 5 additional people here.  That's "here" as in "in the entire airport"!

Did I mention it's 5:30pm Alaskan time, and our flight isn't until 8:59pm.  Talk about snooze time.  Although Jonathan and I are trying to keep each other awake, b/c we'll have all night to sleep on the airplane.

We connect to an Orlando flight in Houston tomorrow morning.

Photos coming soon!!