Clayton took one of the coolest pictures of the mountains from the plane. The window had been down most of the trip and he happened to open it and saw this outside.
We waited at the airport for my brother so that we could all board the ship together. My mom was a little stressed but we all made it on the boat with some time to spare.
Here is a look at our stateroom. The bed took up most of the room but there was a small desk and a love seat packed in. It was nice having a large window to look out of and to be honest the room wasn't that bad, there were a lot smaller rooms on the boat.
Next we had to line up at our Muster Station to go over the emergency procedures. This is where we first learned of the very bad stomach virus that can run rampant on a cruise ship traveling to Alaska. We did not realize at this moment how clean we all would be throughout the cruise but we would soon learn our fate. The hand sanitizer was brought out and every where you went there was a crew member sanitizing every person onboard. You also encountered these employees as you were getting off and on the boat at port. But even though these employees annoyed just about everyone on board, there was not an outbreak on our ship and for that I am thankful. 
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The boys played in a Ping Pong tournament. Clayton lost in the first round but Matt just missed a medal placing in fourth.
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I will say the person that won the tournament took it pretty seriously; his wife video tapped the championship game.
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It was nice being on the boat with no land in sight, the water was beautiful and the views were unbelievable.
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I will say the weirdest thing was that the sun was out for about 18 hours, we would be walking around the ship at 10 or 11 at night and the sun would be setting.
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We arrived in Juneau and the views even from our room were amazing. After we got off the boat we ventured into town to do some shopping before our first excursion.
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Matt found a hat that he was thinking about buying. He decided his money could be spent on other items. The shopping was not what we had expected. There were Jewelry shops every where.
The glacier was an unbelievable sight to see.
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I found a piece of ice laying around and picked it up.
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We all gathered together and got someone to take a family picture. I guess because of the cold weather the camera lens had a spot on it and the spot happened to be over Diana.. So dad took another one of mom and the kids.
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The kids went on an adventure and climbed up on top of a rock not using the path. Mom was right behind us until she saw a lady fall and get all muddy. She then realized it might not be the best idea and retreated. We made it to the top and took a kids picture.
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The people that worked at the Zip line place could not believe how tall Matt was. They also thought he was hilarious. They handed out all of the gear and everything Matt was handed was very very tiny and had to be loosened up and everything that I got was huge, we probably should have traded.
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We all had a blast on the 5 different Zip lines and my mom even smiled most of the time. She said that the first one scared her the most but after that she had fun.
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On our way back to the boat the bus driver pointed out a couple bald eagles. Clayton and I ventured over to one of them and got as close to it as possible to take some pictures.
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We arrived in Skagway in the morning and the kids decided to head into town. From the boat we took a short walk along a marina. Clayton was determined to find a fire station in Alaska. We stopped in a store and asked one of the employees where the nearest station was, they directed us a couple of blocks up.
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The directions were not spot on but we started walking around and eventually stumbled on the station. We all walked in and met a couple of the firefighters. There were patches from all over hanging on the walls. Clayton traded a Houston Patch for a Skagway patch and talked a little about the call volume and other fire fighter stuff. Matt, Diana, and I got a little bored and walked outside to sit down and enjoy the cool weather. We walked around town a little more did some shopping and ate lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch we walked back to the ship to drop off what we bought and get ready for our excursions.
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On the way back to the ship I some how lost my SeaPass. When we checked in to get on the boat Matt asked if we could get back on the boat without our SeaPass. The woman checking him in said No that an individual would not be allowed on the boat without his/her SeaPass. This caused me to go into full panic mode. Clayton and I walked back into town, retraced our steps, but were not able to find my SeaPass. We walked back to the boat and asked the security guard if anyone turned in a SeaPass, surprisingly someone actually turned one in and I was able to get back on the boat. After the whole ordeal, Matt and Diana had found out that I could get back on the boat as long as I had my passport. O well now we know for next time.
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The girls had signed up for a glassblowing excursion. The experience was really cool, mainly because I think glassblowing is interesting. We got on a bus and as we made our way to the excursion sight our tour guide talked a little about the city. We each had an opportunity to create a Christmas ornament. I choose to make a blue and orange ornament. It actually turned out pretty cool. We had a lot of fun making our own Christmas Ornaments and watching the other workers making various other items. What was really cool was they shipped our ornaments to us, and mine had arrived at the house before we even made it home. We also had a chance to explore the gift shop and gardens. You had to look closely in the gardens to see which plants and flowers were real and which ones were glass.
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The boys signed up for a Yukon Jeep Excursion. They said it was amazing and they had a great time. I think this picture is pretty funny because of the height difference between my Dad, Matt, and Clayton. Clayton is not a small person but compared to my very tall Dad and Brother he looks quite small.
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My Dad was able to drive the Jeep for the first part of the tour. There was a caravan of Jeeps with CB radios in each one. The guide was able to communicate with the Jeeps along the ride.
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The boys encountered a slight problem, their Jeep broke down and they had to split up and ride with other people.
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One of the interesting facts that we learned about a tradition that originated back in the gold rush days. Skagway was "the end of the line" for the ships carrying men and supplies to Alaska. With virtually no means of communications, and no port agent or authorities to keep track of the ships coming in and out of Skagway, the logo on the wall was a way to tell other captains that you had made it safely to that point and had headed back. Sometimes a new logo would be painted, other times just the date of arrival was changed. Now when a ship arrives in Skagway for the first time it is a tradition for the crew to go up and paint a sign/logo of the ship and the Captain's name. It is said the higher up the sign is the more liked the Captain is.
We woke up early on Day 5 because we were cruising through Tracy Arm Fjord. It was weird waking up to ice floating in the water. We had ordered room service the night before and when it arrived we took our food to my parent's room. They had a balcony and we were able to have an uninterrupted view of the Sawyer Glacier. This is where we first saw seals; we were not able to see this but some people reported that they had seen baby seals born on the ice while we were cruising through. This was probably one of my favorite sights of the whole trip.
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We were pretty close to land and were able to get some shots of mountains from the boat.
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We also took a family picture before Dinner. The photographer surprised all of us when he asked my parents and my Aunt Edda and Uncle John to sit on the floor instead of us or my cousins.
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We went on a whale watching excursion, after we got out on the water we realized that we would not be seeing any whales. The people that had gone out in the morning had not seen anything and none of the other companies had any luck locating any whales. The girl that was leading the discussion on the boat mentioned many times that the whales were further out then we were able to go in the time frame of the excursion. We did see some seals and a lot of seagulls. We ended up sitting inside the boat on the way back and talked with some people we had met on the ship. By the end of the trip we were wanting to rename the boat from Orca Spirit to Seagull Spirit. We should have gone with my aunt and uncle in Juneau; they saw a whole lot of whales.
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My parents went to the Butchart Gardens, and they had a great time. The Butchart Gardens is a National Historic site of Canada. The Gardens are still privately owned by the family, and offer 55 acres of wonderful floral display. Butchart Gardens are the inspiration for the gardens at the Canadian Pavilion in Epcot at Disney World. My parents said they enjoyed walking around and seeing everything the gardens had to offer. They also visited Craigdarroch Castle.
We all had a lot of fun on the cruise. The time flew by and we were not ready to get off the boat on Friday. I will leave you with our towel animals we had throughout our cruise. Up next Seattle.
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The rest of our first day was spent looking around the ship, eating and going to the first show. We were all pretty tired and crashed out early.
DAY 2: CRUISING
The boys played in a Ping Pong tournament. Clayton lost in the first round but Matt just missed a medal placing in fourth. 
I will say the person that won the tournament took it pretty seriously; his wife video tapped the championship game. 
It was nice being on the boat with no land in sight, the water was beautiful and the views were unbelievable.
I will say the weirdest thing was that the sun was out for about 18 hours, we would be walking around the ship at 10 or 11 at night and the sun would be setting.
DAY 3: JUNEAU
We arrived in Juneau and the views even from our room were amazing. After we got off the boat we ventured into town to do some shopping before our first excursion.
Matt found a hat that he was thinking about buying. He decided his money could be spent on other items. The shopping was not what we had expected. There were Jewelry shops every where.
We headed back towards the boat and got on a bus to head out to the first stop of our excursion, Mendenhall Glacier Park.
The glacier was an unbelievable sight to see.
I found a piece of ice laying around and picked it up.
We all gathered together and got someone to take a family picture. I guess because of the cold weather the camera lens had a spot on it and the spot happened to be over Diana.. So dad took another one of mom and the kids. 
The kids went on an adventure and climbed up on top of a rock not using the path. Mom was right behind us until she saw a lady fall and get all muddy. She then realized it might not be the best idea and retreated. We made it to the top and took a kids picture. 
Up next on our excursion is Zip lining.
The people that worked at the Zip line place could not believe how tall Matt was. They also thought he was hilarious. They handed out all of the gear and everything Matt was handed was very very tiny and had to be loosened up and everything that I got was huge, we probably should have traded. 
We all had a blast on the 5 different Zip lines and my mom even smiled most of the time. She said that the first one scared her the most but after that she had fun.
The weirdest part of the day was that most of the people on the excursion with us were from the Houston area. One girl thought that we all knew each other and didn't want to get in on the group picture since she thought we were taking a family picture.
On our way back to the boat the bus driver pointed out a couple bald eagles. Clayton and I ventured over to one of them and got as close to it as possible to take some pictures.
DAY 4: SKAGWAY
We arrived in Skagway in the morning and the kids decided to head into town. From the boat we took a short walk along a marina. Clayton was determined to find a fire station in Alaska. We stopped in a store and asked one of the employees where the nearest station was, they directed us a couple of blocks up. 
The directions were not spot on but we started walking around and eventually stumbled on the station. We all walked in and met a couple of the firefighters. There were patches from all over hanging on the walls. Clayton traded a Houston Patch for a Skagway patch and talked a little about the call volume and other fire fighter stuff. Matt, Diana, and I got a little bored and walked outside to sit down and enjoy the cool weather. We walked around town a little more did some shopping and ate lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch we walked back to the ship to drop off what we bought and get ready for our excursions. 
On the way back to the ship I some how lost my SeaPass. When we checked in to get on the boat Matt asked if we could get back on the boat without our SeaPass. The woman checking him in said No that an individual would not be allowed on the boat without his/her SeaPass. This caused me to go into full panic mode. Clayton and I walked back into town, retraced our steps, but were not able to find my SeaPass. We walked back to the boat and asked the security guard if anyone turned in a SeaPass, surprisingly someone actually turned one in and I was able to get back on the boat. After the whole ordeal, Matt and Diana had found out that I could get back on the boat as long as I had my passport. O well now we know for next time. 
The girls had signed up for a glassblowing excursion. The experience was really cool, mainly because I think glassblowing is interesting. We got on a bus and as we made our way to the excursion sight our tour guide talked a little about the city. We each had an opportunity to create a Christmas ornament. I choose to make a blue and orange ornament. It actually turned out pretty cool. We had a lot of fun making our own Christmas Ornaments and watching the other workers making various other items. What was really cool was they shipped our ornaments to us, and mine had arrived at the house before we even made it home. We also had a chance to explore the gift shop and gardens. You had to look closely in the gardens to see which plants and flowers were real and which ones were glass. 
The boys signed up for a Yukon Jeep Excursion. They said it was amazing and they had a great time. I think this picture is pretty funny because of the height difference between my Dad, Matt, and Clayton. Clayton is not a small person but compared to my very tall Dad and Brother he looks quite small. 
My Dad was able to drive the Jeep for the first part of the tour. There was a caravan of Jeeps with CB radios in each one. The guide was able to communicate with the Jeeps along the ride. 
The boys encountered a slight problem, their Jeep broke down and they had to split up and ride with other people.
A bear was also encountered during the tour. The guide told them that when the bears come out from hibernation their stomachs take a while to start working again. The bears eat dandelions to jump start their stomach but since it takes a while the flowers ferment in their stomachs and they act like they are drunk.
The boys had a great time exploring the country in a Jeep. The girls were a little jealous, we wish would could have done both.
One of the interesting facts that we learned about a tradition that originated back in the gold rush days. Skagway was "the end of the line" for the ships carrying men and supplies to Alaska. With virtually no means of communications, and no port agent or authorities to keep track of the ships coming in and out of Skagway, the logo on the wall was a way to tell other captains that you had made it safely to that point and had headed back. Sometimes a new logo would be painted, other times just the date of arrival was changed. Now when a ship arrives in Skagway for the first time it is a tradition for the crew to go up and paint a sign/logo of the ship and the Captain's name. It is said the higher up the sign is the more liked the Captain is.
DAY 5 & 6: CRUISING
Day 6 was mostly spent being lazy around the ship.
We were pretty close to land and were able to get some shots of mountains from the boat. 
We also took a family picture before Dinner. The photographer surprised all of us when he asked my parents and my Aunt Edda and Uncle John to sit on the floor instead of us or my cousins.
DAY 7: VICTORIA
Like the other ports, the kids walked around the city and did some shopping before we headed out to our excursion. Victoria was a very pretty city, and it felt the most normal out of all the ports on the cruise. Both Juneau and Skagway are tourist cities where the cruise ships are relied upon to keep the city in working order. Victoria was a normal city that cruise ships visited along the way. The shops would take US money but would give you your change in Canadian dollars. It was the weirdest thing. After we walked around a bit we went back to the ship to drop off our bags and catch a bus to our excursion.
We went on a whale watching excursion, after we got out on the water we realized that we would not be seeing any whales. The people that had gone out in the morning had not seen anything and none of the other companies had any luck locating any whales. The girl that was leading the discussion on the boat mentioned many times that the whales were further out then we were able to go in the time frame of the excursion. We did see some seals and a lot of seagulls. We ended up sitting inside the boat on the way back and talked with some people we had met on the ship. By the end of the trip we were wanting to rename the boat from Orca Spirit to Seagull Spirit. We should have gone with my aunt and uncle in Juneau; they saw a whole lot of whales. 
My parents went to the Butchart Gardens, and they had a great time. The Butchart Gardens is a National Historic site of Canada. The Gardens are still privately owned by the family, and offer 55 acres of wonderful floral display. Butchart Gardens are the inspiration for the gardens at the Canadian Pavilion in Epcot at Disney World. My parents said they enjoyed walking around and seeing everything the gardens had to offer. They also visited Craigdarroch Castle.We all had a lot of fun on the cruise. The time flew by and we were not ready to get off the boat on Friday. I will leave you with our towel animals we had throughout our cruise. Up next Seattle.
