The Great Northwest Vacation- Day 7- Ketchican

When we got to Ketchican, we had planned on heading up to Totem Bight State Park, but Malinda was in the bathroom and Jody and I had a minor miscommunication with the guy at the visitor center, so we ended up walking through downtown Ketchican for an hour or so until we figured out that we were not at the right place.  Still, there were some cool things to see along the way.

Giant flowers . . .

funny road signs . . .

a tree with eyes . . .

the world's largest gold nugget . . .

and this car...

...with these cigarettes inside (which we thought was kind of funny).

Luckily, we discovered our error soon enough to make the trip that we had planned, and we jumped on the city bus to get us up to Totem Bight.  Sarah had a ball playing with Ben on the bus ride.

Malinda checking out the Clan House.

After checking out all of the cool totem poles, we had a little time to kill so we headed down to the shore to see what the tide had left behind.  It was smelly!

The kids on the ride back to town.

After making a couple of stops at the local gift shops, the kids wanted to show off their souvenirs.

There was a short class offered about folding cool napkin designs, so all of the girls (minus Abby) decided to give it a try.

Sarah saw this wall art and wanted to join in.

Later in the afternoon, Charles Peachock gave a juggling course in the Spinnaker lounge.  Malinda and the kids all got in on the act, juggling pairs of socks.

With Charles Peachock.

One of the most fun towel animals left behind by Dedy.

The night show was a tribute to broadway with musical numbers from a variety of shows, including Wicked, Movin' Out, Mamma Mia, and In the Heights.  They ranged from great to just OK.  After the performers, the crew did a finale which was mostly lame and not at all entertaining, but at least Dedy gave Abby a cool towel peacock as he left the theater.

The Great Northwest Vacation- Day 6- Glacier Bay

We spent much of the morning in Glacier Bay up in the Spinnaker Lounge doing more wildlife watching, card playing, and relaxing before the ship actually got to the glaciers.

On the way up to the glaciers, there was one humpback whale that kept slapping his tail on the water, over and over again (Elise claims that it slapped the water 48 times).  Unfortunately Malinda and Abby didn't see it because they had gone down to the room to get some stuff.  Later, while I was making a trip to the room, I looked out our room window and saw a whale raise its tail out of the water only a couple hundred feet from the ship.

Lots of wildlife to see including these mountain goats.

We made it to the end of the channel where the Grand Pacific Glacier and the Margerie Glacier almost meet.  The Margerie Glacier was way cooler due to the fact that it is an advancing glacier, and we got to see some great calving action for the hour or so that the boat spun around in circles right in front of the glacier.  The sound from the calving chunks of ice was pretty amazing.

Just barely caught the end of this big splash!

On the way back out of Glacier Bay, another humpback did some acrobatics for us, and was nice enough to do it several times.  We took this photo from the Spinnaker Lounge looking back behind the ship.

A group of sea lions near the front of the ship.

After so many hours of glacier and wildlife watching, the kids were ready to relax a bit in the hot tub.

After an early dinner in the Garden Cafe, we went to the evening show, a juggler names Charles Peachock.  It was amazing all of the stuff that he could do, and even more amazing that he could do it all on a swaying ship.

The Great Northwest Vacation- Day 5- Skagway

The kids and the Pearl.

Getting ready to head out on the tour bus up to Canada.

Our first stop in Skagway was at the local cemetery, and a little waterfall nearby.  Our tour guide told some stories about the history of Skagway and some of the well-known people buried in the cemetery.  Elise was creeped out by this tombstone that she was sure was just the lid to the coffin.

Reid Falls.

I told Abby that I would carry her like a sack of potatoes on the way down the trail to the waterfall if she didn't whine or complain about walking to the falls.  She kept her end of the bargain.

Our Skagway tour guide, Candy from Houston, Texas.  She only works summers as a tour guide in Skagway.

The view of the canyon looking back toward Skagway.

Here we are at the "Welcome to Alaska" sign just inside the border with Canada.

We continued a bit into Canada, to what our tour guide called the "Tormented Valley" because it is so cold.

Jody, Sarah, and Abby stayed on the tour bus for our short stop in the Tormented Valley, so I brought back a little present for Sarah.  All she wanted to do was eat it.

We stopped at this overlook on our way back into Skagway.  The Pearl is the one right up front in the middle.

This is typically what I see if Malinda knows I'm trying to take her picture.  She's a beauty! :)

The old retired railroad snow plow.

The girls enjoyed trying out the more eccentric products at the T-Shirt shop.

Our cool towel elephant that was waiting for us back at our room...

...and here is our cool towel elephant maker, our room steward, Dedy ("Day-dee").  He was super nice and had memorized our kids names by the second day we were there.

After our long day ashore, Malinda felt like a nap, so I took the kids up to try out some shuffleboard.  We didn't know all (or any) of the rules, so we just made up our own.

We tried out one of the kid-friendly activities, the "White Hot Dance Party".  Jody and Sarah liked it a lot more than any of us did, but I think the girls enjoyed watching Sarah having fun.  We are just are not joiners for that type of thing.

After the party, Jody and Sarah went to bed and we went to the comedy show, which was some members of the Second City improv comedy troupe.  It was OK, but not as funny as Bud Anderson the night before.  The funniest part of the evening was watching Abby imitate when one of the comedy troupe ladies pretended to be a blow-up "companionship" doll.  The joke was way over the kids' heads, but watching her imitate the blow up doll getting inflated was priceless.

Quote of the day-
Elise: "Why couldn't our toilet have a different sound, like Beethoven music?"