Alaska

Oh, I am way behind here. So I'm not going to even try to catch you up...yet. I'll just talk about beautiful Alaska, which is where we spent the last week!!

 Well, technically we spent the week on a cruise ship, but we stopped in some amazing ports, like Juneau, where it rained all day and we saw a glacier (the Mendenhall) and a waterfall (Nugget Falls) which happen to be to the left and right in the above picture. A river of ice and a cascade of freezing-cold water. Awesome.

Olivia very much wanted to touch the cold water, but she was  little scared. So Joe carried her out there and dipped her hand in.

 And she was so excited to run back and tell me how cold it was!

 Our next port was Skagway, where we took a train through the White Pass...an old trail used by those seeking gold in the interior. I took about 600 amazing photos this day of the scenery, none of which do justice to the Pass, so I'll leave you with this one of our family from the coach ride back down the mountain. You can't see the top of the mountain, as it was covered in fog.

 That day, we also did some gold panning. Olivia got pretty good at it.

 

In the afternoon in Skagway, we found a little playground, which, of course, was the highlight of Olivia's day. Mountains? Scenic vistas? Gold? Heck, no! Give her a sandbox and some swings and she's happy. She didn't even notice the scenic backdrop to her playground!

Skagway was a neat old-west style of town. And it helped that the weather was f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s! We even shed our jackets that day.

Next up was a cruise through Glacier Bay National Park, which was amazing to see even if Olivia didn't fully appreciate it. It was weird to see ice in the water, as if someone dumped a bunch of giant-sized ice cubes in to keep it cool.

Ketchikan was our last Alaska stop. Olivia liked the totem poles.

I have about a frillion more photos to share and stories of a fun meeting in Seattle, but that will have to wait for another day. Laundry beckons!

 Oh, and I almost forgot!! I came home last night to an unexpected surprise...

Many, many thanks to Rachel! I opened the smallest blue one and almost cried at the sweetness of that tiny gift!! And I can't even post a picture of that...yet. But as soon as I can, I will so that you will all know just how awesome Rachel is!!