Skagway

Port three was Skagway. We had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get ready, eat breakfast and be to our shore tour by 8am. We did the scenic Whitepass train ride... a really really long train ride... i think it was supposed to be 20 miles round trip but ended up being 28 miles or something. Let's just say that it was 2 hours too long (four hours total and it was supposed to be three hours... which is still too long). It was also a cold rainy day.

Here's the big long train. I'm not sure how many cars, but it was long... just like that train ride. LONG.
We started out having a pretty clear view of everything we passed. And it was pretty scenic.
And as we climbed higher and higher up, it got a little foggy. Ok, a lot foggy. But it still looks kinda cool in pictures.
But after you cleared all that fog, it was clear again and pretty!

We saw a lot of random things. Like this old bridge. Looks a little rickety...
We even went into Canada and up as far as Frasier, BC... which doesn't mean much to me because i'm not sure exactly where that is. So here is the US flag, Alaska flag, BC flag, some unknown flag... oh maybe Yukon? i dunno... and the Canada flag at the midpoint of the train ride.
And this sign showing... well, you can read.

On the way back down it was foggy most of the way. We went through this tunnel and the tour lady over the loud speaker said "and after we come through the tunnel, you will be able to see an immaculate view" ...and we came out and... ta da... what a view.
By the end i was just ready to get off, plus we had inhaled a lot of sooty air on the way down... and ugh, it was just getting uncomfortable and... a little boring. Back in town, we found a good touristy spot for pictures...
And then did some shopping in this cute little town! They've tried really hard to keep it looking like it's original self.

And for some reason, i thought this was hilarious, so I had to take a picture. Something about the word butts.... yeah, i'm in high school still. hahaha.
More cute Skagway (yeah, you hate all these boring pictures)
After a full day of outings, we went to the chocoholics buffet on the ship in the later evening. Like the last cruise, the smell was overwhelming but there were several cool chocolate sculptures. Here's a samplin'.

I took a few things to sample... and gross, it was all a mistake. I'm not sure I liked any of these things...

Last port coming up: Prince Rupert, BC!

Juneau

Welcome to the capital of Alaska - Juneau. Glaciers were our main attraction today.

We didn't have a shore tour scheduled here. But we hopped on a bus and went to Mendenhall Glacier. Here's our group.

And here's me at the glacier!

And here is the pretty glacier on its own. You can't get any closer because that lake is in the way. Actually, you could pay for a helicopter tour that lands on the glacier... but that costs like $500! Loaded people do it though, we saw at least 3 or 4 of them while we were there.

After seeing the glacier and doing more shopping in town, we went back on the ship to rest. Later that day after departing Juneau, we went down Tracy's Arm to see Sawyer Glacier... it's there in the distance.
But since there was so much ice in the water, we couldn't get much closer without it being too dangerous. No Titanic incidents here! Here is a piece of glacier ice in the water.
More ice in the water. I was trying to do some interesting shots. And here's me. I know, I look like i've photoshopped myself in. But really, i'm there, don't I look cold?! Because it was. Freezing that is.
Skagway's up next!

Alaska! - Ketchikan

Well, it's been a while. A long while. But I did go on an Alaskan Cruise for work earlier in September. It was a jolly good (and tiring) time. We had 13 participants and 2 staff go. It was a bit breezy and chilly at times - although that didn't stop me from wearing flip flops on a daily basis. But on the ship, I didn't feel like there was as much to do as there was when we went to Mexico. Probably because it was sunny and warm going to Mexico so we could swim and be outside and play basketball... but this time we were cooped up in the ship for some of the time and could only stand about an hour or less when we stood on the deck outside because it was so cold! They had the normal shows in the evening... but oddly enough, 4 of the 5 shows I'd seen the previous cruise! Even the menus on the ship were mostly the same. In fact, we were aboard the SAME ship that we were on when we went to Mexico. The Norweigan Star.

Anyway, I know you just want to see pictures so here goes (of the first couple of days and when we were at our first port, Ketchikan. This here is Seattle, our starting point. We were eating lunch with this lovely view when we boarded.

Then we set sail and all night and all day and all night again we were at sea.

In the morning we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Salmon Capital of the World (except we didn't eat any)

We shopped for souvenirs (of course! ...as soon as we boarded the airplane to go to Seattle, a few people were already asking about when we were going to shop for souvenirs. Oh brother!). Then we explored a little. And visited the Totem Pole Museum (or something like that).

We passed this sign which I thought was hilarious so of course I had to take a picture.

And did a little waiting around (those are a couple of our guys) for what we really came to Ketchikan for....

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack show!!! They did all the fancy competition stuff... chopped wood, sawed stuff, climbed these thingys, you know, all that stuff you see on ESPN. But it was also like an entertainment show so there was a lot of talking and trying to be funny and whatnot.

Here they are log rolling and this guy on the left just won!

After the show we had to hop right back on the ship so we could set sail for our next destination. We went outside and braved the cold for a while and there was a beautiful sunset. Actually, we were outside because we were told we might catch a glimpse of some whales during this time.

And we did! What? You can't see it? See that little bump right in the middle of the picture? Aw yeah, that's a whale, baby!

Here's a closeup of it... in case you don't believe me.

That's right, I made up for the whale I missed seeing in Hawaii! We actually saw a number of whales and water blowing out of their blowholes. And a bit more of them, but really, it's hard to catch a picture when they are only up for a couple of seconds AND your fingers are about to freeze off. Here's another whale. Yup, right in the center again.

Here's the zoom in... it's its tail going in the water! Woot woot!
So yeah, that excitement ended our day and it was fabulous to watch the whales. So that's Ketchikan. Next stop: Juneau, and hopefully I'll get to that post sooner than later!

A Model... Idiot?

Movie?

My friend Troy had this party at his ranch and we took this picture and then thought, huh, it kinda looks like an ad for Abercrombie. Except it needs to be black and white. Also, on closer look, my facial expression is not so abercrombie. Hahaha.

Yeah, there's nothing interesting going on in my life at the moment but I thought I should post something!

Freedom Days!

Our RAH clients saying Thank You to the soldiers who are fighting overseas.

Each year, Provo has it's Freedom Days. This includes a balloon launch every morning at 6am. The Kiwanis Club also serves a pancake breakfast to the public. Of course it does cost $6 per person to eat it. It's a fundraiser breakfast and they donate money to charities. So naturally, RAH is a charity and we provide volunteers to help keep the breakfast flowing. We arrive at 5:45am to set up and our duties include refilling the syrup and butter, cleaning up tables, collecting trash, and helping people find their seats. In past years, it has been pretty chaotic but I felt like it was pretty smooth this year. Plus I remembered my camera this year and managed to escape a number of times to snap some photos...

The stars and stripes!

My co-worker Lindsey and I... yup, it's like 6am and look how chipper we are.

This was the first day. We watched the balloons get filled with air.

Smokey the Bear makes a yearly appearance. I always thought he looked a little... strange.Balloons up and ready to lift.
Unfortunately, on the first day, the winds were not suitable for flying and so no one got to take off. So everyone just packed up after they got the balloons deflated... like in this picture here. You're liking that Tony the Tiger in the background aren't you?The next morning gave a beautiful sunrise. The weather was still a little ify for launching balloons.
More balloons showed up this day. Probably about 15 or so.And it turned out to be good flying weather and a great sky to get some cool pictures. I must've taken a million pictures but it looked so cool! Lucky for you, I only selected a few to post. I especially love the pig and how it looks in the air. My good friend Liz's brother flew that balloon.The 4th of July brought another lovely sunrise, even a few more balloons than the previous day and another good flying day. I didn't take as many pictures since I took a whole load the day before and we were pretty busy at the breakfast.And as a side note, on July 3 I experienced my first massage ever. It was fine although I didn't feel much different afterward... I mean, it was relaxing but I don't feel any more loose or anything. This place also had an oxygen bar... you put those hospital looking things in your nose and breathe in pure oxygen that is also flavored. It was a very different experience and I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to do for you....

Bathroom Mats

A couple of weeks ago, I went to clean the bathroom and discovered that the floor mats were stuck to the floor. I tugged to pull them up and I heard tearing noises. Not wanting to deal with it, I just cleaned around the mats and called it good. Today I decided since the mats were filthy and they were going to be toast once I ripped them up from the linoleum, I went to Target and got some cheep "step out mats", that have no rubber backing on them and went to work on getting the mats off the floor. This one is the mat that wrapped around the toilet...

And here is the other mat by the vanity that I ripped up. I used a butter knife to scrap the remains off the floor. Took about 20 minutes...I decided to have a little fun in my chore :)
I'm not sure how this happened. Alyssa and I decided that it was either from when she cleaned the bathroom before and put the mats back on the floor when it was wet. Or it was when I last washed and dried the mats and put them back on the floor when it was still a little warm from the dryer. In any case, they are now in the trash and these are the pretty red mats I purchased.

In other news, last week was RAH's annual Lagoon day. It was pleasant day with sun but not too hot. Alyssa came along with me and rode many of the rides that I wouldn't. Thanks Alyssa! Here is a group of the participants with Alyssa sitting in the 2nd seat.
She actually wouldn't ride this roller coaster because she doesn't love the loop dee loops it had. And though you can barely see them, the participants are sitting in rows 1, 2, and 5.

And here's us right at the start of Rattlesnake Rapids. The water ride in a tube type thing where water splashes around while you move down a river current. You know what I'm talkin about right? The one where you come off soaking wet and freezing cold.