Sunday, June 29, 2014

SkAgWaY: JuNe 17

We arrived in Shghagwei (shugga-hag-wee) - AKA a windy place with whitecaps on the water - AKA Skagway. Talk about nothing but wind and rain. They weren't joking when they called it a windy place. It was a really neat town town though.
Daily selfie.
 Notice N's umbrella? Right as I took the picture, a gust of wind blew up his umbrella. haha
 A very famous place back in the day. A saloon downstairs and a brothel upstairs. We observed from across the street.
 Those are real sticks and branches covering the front of this building.
 This town is neat because it's so small. The main road is called Broadway St. We walked up one side and walked down the other. You feel like you're on a movie set.



 Sugar Mamas. We were told to go here because they have delicious cupcakes. Oh boy was this girl happy when she learned they had GF cupcakes! Yahoo!!! I bought them out (it was only 4) - red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were worth every penny. 
 We met up with a couple from Tennessee that we had previously met in Ketchikan: Erin and Gina. We went out to lunch and ate for FREE. :) Some people also associated with Allied paid anonymously for our lunches - we still don't know who. We then took the road below to the cemetery and waterfall. We walked. In the wind and rain.





 As I have mentioned before, when you get back on the ship you have to go through "security." Thankfully you don't have to take your shoes off but there is a conveyor belt for your belongings and a metal detector. Because Skagway was soooo rainy, they also had towels for us and a cup of hot chocolate. Such a nice ship.
After getting cleaned up, we enjoyed another yummy crepe dinner at Bistro on 5 and enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we sailed away.


Tonight's show in the Solstice Theater was a magic show. I'm one of those people that doesn't dissect everything a magician does - sit back and enjoy the show.
After the show we headed on up to deck 14 to the Sky Lounge for Live @ Sky. The Sky Lounge sits right at the front of the ship with windows all around. Beautiful lounge. We met up with Dan and Margie and also met Josh and Davlyn - another LDS couple from Rigby, Idaho. There's a small stage for a band and a dance floor. 
There was a swing class beforehand, which we dominated. Ok not really, but we did well. :) Two of the main dancers came and taught it. We danced to live music and then the whole cast put on a 30 minute show of singing and dancing. 
After the show, we danced the night away. Literally. We stayed there until the band left and continued to stay in the lounge talking with Josh and Davlyn until...3 AM. We were the last people in the Sky Lounge.
What a great night! 

Friday, June 27, 2014

JuNeAu: JuNe 16

The morning of June 16 between 6 AM and 10 AM we sailed the Tracy Arm Fjord.
How it was described was a one-way street. You cruise down it to the glacier and then turn around and come back. Absolutely gorgeous. I could have posted every single picture I took, but I didn't. :) Enjoy!
But first...daily selfie.



 We even saw some seals hanging out on some ice.


 Do you see that really blue part of the ice? When it recently breaks off and surfaces, it gets that really pretty color of blue from being underneath the water for so long (I think).




 My attempt at being artistic. 


 Juneau was the only port that we had to take a tender boat in. Juneau can only be reached by plane or boat - no driving. So after casting the anchors, we got on a tender boat (short ride).


 The Gold Creek Salmon Bake is something you MUST do if you ever visit Juneau. Lucky for us, Allied basically bought it out for us to attend. Come and eat. Hang out if you want. Partake of the delicious salmon. And I did. :)
 After filling up on salmon (for me) and chicken (for N) we took a bus out to Mendenhall Glacier.
 There she be.



 Hey look! Mountain goats! No but for real. There really were mountain goats on this mountain. We got a very nice set of binoculars from Allied, so that's why we could see them. 
 It was a beautiful day in Juneau. While there, we learned the 5 kinds of salmon using your hand. Thumb = Chum. Pointer finger = Sockeye (poke you in the eye with your pointer). Middle finger = King Salmon (the biggest finger is the biggest fish). When you flip someone off it's the Salmon Salute. Ring finger = Silver Salmon (you normally wear silver on this finger). Pinkey = Pink Salmon. Who knew? I will now never forget thanks to Juneau.
Taking the tender back to the ship, we watched an eagle land on this lamp post. They really are everywhere in Alaska. 
After arriving back on the ship, we headed to the evening's show of Pulse. Singing and dancing. 


 There are 2 people in this net.
 Celtic tap. I could do that...right.