On Saturday, we left our car parked and boarded the Majestic Princess for a 10-day cruise to Alaska. It was a delightful cruise with stops in Ketchikan (Tera and my 1996 summer home after our wedding), Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, and scenic cruising days in Glacier Bay and to the Hubbard Glacier.  This was the first chance to really take advantage of my Inteletravel Travel Agent cruising discount (1/2 price cruise fares on Princess) and since we all shared a 4-person balcony cabin, the price and the experience was just right.

Highlights:
1. Large balcony room with space enough for four
2. Cool tech on Princess Cruises with medallion and app
3. Ketchikan – Creek Street walk with Salmon jumping, taxi ride to Totem Bight park and our old mobile home, and the church
4. Juneau – public bus to Mendenhall Glacier
5. Skagway – Rainy day in town, the Soapy Smith Show
6. Glacier Bay – Grand Pacific and Marjorie Glacier and Lampugh Glacier and something straight ahead
7. Icy Strait Point 
8. Hubbard Glacier – Grand descending 7-mile wide tidewater glacier
 
Lowlights:
1. Mendenhall Glacier tour cancellation
2. Somewhat tired Naturalist  – “This is Alaska!  This is why you’re here!”

​(click below-right to read more)

Our first leg of the trip was to drove to Vancouver.  Our departure date was delayed multiple times because our son Tyler was in the midst of getting a mission call (which he received to the Brazil Santa Maria mission) and then doing home MTC, and then being delayed in his visa receipt, which kept him at home with us for longer.  We could finally delay our going no more, because we had a cruise to catch, so we sent Tyler over to his Aunt’s house to finish the home MTC and wait for his Brazilian Visa, while we drove north.
 
Highlights:
1. Biking the famous Idaho/Montana Hiawatha “rails to trails” site
2. Family camping for the first time in ages
3. Explore North Vancouver and Lynn Canyon Park

Lowlights:
1. Saying goodbye to Tyler, leaving him with Krissy 
2. Saying goodbye to our house for 4 months and leaving it with renters
3. Slightly wet and rainy day- muddy biking
4. Recognizing the things we forgot, and tossing some of our 25-yr old camping gear

(Click below right for more)

​3 ½ years ago, I wrote the last published post on our family travel blog. Today I pick up the pen again to write and journal our latest travel adventures. We have begun a 4-month travel trip with our two youngest children Megan and Jacob. 
 
Our general plans will take us to Alaska and Canada in September. Southern France and Eastern Europe in October, Italy in early November, before jumping on an extended cruise which will take us to Croatia, Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa. Our final two weeks of December will be spent in South Africa, with a possible trip north to Victoria falls.
 
After four months on the road, we’ll return to the US just in time our annual new year’s eve Polar plunge in freezing temperatures in our neighbors swimming pool, and then our son Nathan will be married on January 5th!
 
Stay tuned for our weekly highs and lows and pictures and write-ups of our adventures.