Alaska Adventure!

 Last summer, our Alaskan cruise got spoiled by COVID, but we tried again this year - this time with a different itinerary, and it was a success!  What a beautiful part of the world to experience!  Grandma and Grandpa got to come with us, and it was an incredible trip.  The trip began with a long day of travel from Albuquerque straight to Fairbanks where we joined up with a pre-cruise tour group.

This map shows our route and all the spots we were able to stop and explore.  It was so great!

When we landed in Fairbanks, we met up with our tour guide and got checked into our hotel: Pike's Waterfront Lodge.  It had been a long day, and we were exhausted and starving, but it was fun to check out the beautiful grounds of the hotel before getting to bed.  The sun didn't set until around 11:40pm so that also felt so weird.  We were so tired, but it seemed like afternoon when we got there!

Day 2: We left our hotel early and set out on a Fairbanks city tour.  Our first stop was the Alyeska pipeline.  We got a bit of a history lesson on the story behind this pipeline, and how it works.

 

Then from the pipeline, we boarded an open air train through the countryside to the Gold Dredge and got a great history lesson about the gold rush in the area.

They taught us all about the old equipment and the systems used to mine the gold from the area.  We later got off the train and walked around inside this gold dredge.  The smells and weird tools reminded me so much of the old shed behind my Grandma Moe's house! ha ha

We got to watch a demonstration of how to pan for gold, and then we got to try our own panning.  It was so fun, and interesting to learn how to swish the water just right to get the dirt and rocks out, but to keep any gold flecks in.

We all ended up with a few gold flecks and then took them inside to measure the weight and what it was worth.  We had anywhere from $4 to $26 worth in each pan.  Pretty fun!

After panning for gold we got some hot cocoa and toured through the dredge.  The best part of this whole experience was catching Bentley doing some crazy funny dance moves through the open doorway where the next train of tourists were getting their gold panning demonstration.  He would go back and forth through the opening doing different dance moves each time.  He was distracting a lot of tourists and getting a lot of laughs.  I don't know how long he was doing this before we caught him.  It was hilarious.

The gift shop had some awesome hats that we loved.

There was also a 19oz gold nugget for sale in the giftshop for $75,000.  I'm surprised they let us hold it!

Next stop, our tour bus took us to downtown Fairbanks to walk around and get some lunch.  We ended up at a crepe place, which was delicious.

After lunch we boarded the Riverboat Discovery Tour.  This had a fun upper deck where we could watch all the beautiful scenery along the river, but also a nice interior room to get cozy when we were cold.  We also had a tour guide teaching us about the history of Fairbanks as we floated down the river.

Along the path we saw a sled dog farm.  Our boat stopped and we learned a lot about the sled dogs and how they train them.  We watched them run and pull someone on a 4-wheeler behind them.  They were so fast.

Then we came upon a portion of the tour that taught us about the indigenous people and how they would survive the difficult winters there.  We learned about the salmon houses and how they would dry their fish on racks in these smoke houses.

From the boat we also saw some reindeer.  

Then the boat came to a dock and we were able to get off and get a ground tour from some indigenous people in Chena Village to learn more about their culture and how they lived in such harsh climates.  This is also where we saw our first bald eagle.

They taught us about how they would use all the parts of the animals for food, clothing, tools, etc.  We learned about how they would dry the hides, and how they made warm and beautiful clothing.

We learned about how they built boats and kept themselves warm in their tents, and created ventilation for their indoor fires.  It was all very fascinating.  We were all thinking how grateful we were for our warm house!

Then we got a closer look at the salmon house and all the drying fish! 

After our very cool and informative tour, we boarded back onto our boat for a scenic ride back.  It was so beautiful.

They also had some fresh salmon dip and crackers to snack on.  I was very proud of all the kids for trying it.

It was a long day full of cultural learning and we were happy to get back to the hotel that night to eat dinner and rest.  The kids found this cool musical patio and created some nice music for us before the rain came and chased us inside.

Day 3: The next morning we work up and went straight to our glass-dome roof train for our 4 hour train ride to Denali.  We started off with some hot cocoa while we waited for our breakfast table downstairs.  This was our first time doing any real travel by train and we were excited to add this to our list, and what a beautiful place to soak in the scenery.

We had breakfast on the lower level, including some reindeer sausage.  It was yummy!  Our first meal on a train was a hit!

Then we went to the back of the train and out onto the back deck. It was pretty crazy watching how quickly the tracks extended behind us.  Made me think about all those movies where you see people jump off moving trains - -yea, that's crazy.  It was chilly so we didn't last too long out there.

Then we hung out together upstairs, drinking more hot cocoa, looking for moose or other animals outside, and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Looking out at the views while we traveled through was really so awe inspiring.  It was so much more beautiful than the pictures can capture.

It was nice the kids could get up and walk around and even though it was four hours,  everyone did really well on this train ride and just enjoyed being together.

After a few hours, we got off our train in Denali and boarded a bus for the Denali Natural History tour.  We went first to a visitor's center where we could learn more about Denali National Park.

Then our bus took us into Denali National Park, and we drove a couple hours through the park, with a couple stops for different informative tours.  There was a wide array of different landscapes throughout this park.  It was very diverse and beautiful.

The kids got to try to "wear" some Moose antlers (upside down - oops!).  They were so heavy!

It felt good to do some trail walks and stretch our legs a bit.  The weather was gorgeous!

This was the stop on the tour where we were supposed to be able to see Mt. Denali off in the far distance.  Even though we had gorgeous blue skies overhead, the clouds were covering just right and we couldn't see Mt. Denali at all from here.  We were a little bummed about that, but still so grateful for all the beauty we could see. 

After our tour through the Denali National Park, we got dropped off at our hotel for the night: Denali Park Village Hotel.  It was another long and full day, so we were grateful to get to our stopping point for the night.

We got some dinner and played corn hole, and just hung out.  It was a beautiful night.

Day 4: Today we would travel by bus from Denali to Anchorage, and then on to Seward where we would board our cruise ship.  The kids were in good spirits and we were excited to get to our cruise.  Just a few hour bus ride standing in our way!  I will just note again here that the kids are awesome travelers.  They are so good at going with the flow, and finding ways to entertain each other while we were doing a lot of sitting on bus rides.  

On our drive out of Denali, the bus pulled over and we all got out to see the beautiful Mt. Denali that was in full view this morning.  Seeing the beautiful mountain worked out after all!

Here's our crazy bus tour group. All these folks were on this same pre-tour and would also be boarding the same cruise ship.  There were some we were hoping we would be able to avoid once we got on the ship.  ha ha

We made a pit stop at an old historic home turned into a cafe.  We had some beautiful views of Mt. Denali from here.  The tour guides kept telling us how fortunate we were today for these views because apparently Mr. Denali is clouded over most days of the year.  We also got some yummy cinnamon rolls, and that was pretty fortunate too.

Some day I hope these kiddos can more fully appreciate all these amazing adventures they are able to experience throughout their childhood!

Around lunch we made it to Anchorage and were anxious to get a break from the bus.  We had a couple hours to spend there so we had lunch and walked around through the city a bit.  We went in a few shops, but we really just wanted to go back to the park near the bus so we could stretch, run around and play freeze tag.  It felt good to move around and we were all a little more prepared for the final push to Seward. 

Though the bus ride that day had felt long, the last stretch from Anchorage to Seward was the most beautiful scenery of the day so it really made all the bus travel worth it so we could soak in all the variety of beauty of Alaska.

By early evening we made it to our cruise ship - the "Radiance of the Seas" with Royal Caribbean.  The pre-tour had been amazing, and we learned a ton, but we were all very excited to settle in and enjoy the cruise.  

As the boat was preparing to leave, we saw another bald eagle perched not too far off the ship.  They are beautiful creatures.

More hot cocoa as we departed!  We got a lot of hot cocoa this trip.

The kids were excited to get settled into their bunk room.  It was nice to unpack our stuff a little and not have to repack and move each night.  They are still small so this bunk room worked perfectly!

Day 5:  Today was a day at sea, but we did get to go on an excursion to see the Hubbard glacier.  We got off the ship onto a smaller boat which took us much closer to the glacier for a little more of an intimate tour, and up-close view.

Up close the glacier had the most beautiful blue hue.  We got to see parts breaking and falling into the ocean. The loud cracking sound it would make was also incredible. It really was so beautiful to view, and just awe inspiring to see nature in that way.

 One of the tour guides fished out a piece of the ice that was floating by and the kids got to hold some of Hubbard Glacier. That was cool!

Day 6: Today we stopped at port in Juneau.  The plan for today was to take a helicopter ride out to a glacier where we would get to experience dog sledding.  Unfortunately, we woke up to a rainy and foggy day so the helicopter cancelled the tour. It was definitely a disappointment because the dog sledding was the excursion many of us were looking forward to the most.  But we knew with Alaska this was possible, and we were so fortunate with weather so far this whole trip, so we found some other great experiences in Juneau.  Today we were bundled and our rain coats came in handy!

We had to get some famous Alaskan crab legs for lunch.  Everyone loved them!

After lunch we walked through the town and browsed some shops.  The girls had fun going into all the jewelry shops and collecting the free pendants they were giving out.  They had a chain full of charms by the end of the trip.

Then we came upon a tram and decided to explore Juneau from up high.  Olive wasn't too keen on this idea, but she was a good sport (just like Bentley was as we kept going in and out of jewelry shops). Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the ship, and the rest of us went up, up, and away!

At the top of the tram they had a little gift shop and cafe, and then outdoors there were several different hiking trails with lots fun totem poles.  We had some gorgeous views and it was so fun going for a nice little hike.  It was drizzly and rainy, and our shoes were getting wet and muddy, otherwise we probably would have explored much longer.

Karly and Brad were hot tub buddies on the ship.

day 7: Today we got off the boat in Skagway.  It was a tiny and interesting town.  It made me so curious about the people who live there, so disconnected from "the real world". We learned they don't even have a hospital there so anyone with medical needs, or a big emergency is in trouble!  So this fact made grandma even more nervous about our excursion that day - ziplining!   This was the first time for grandma and grandpa.  Kudos to them for saying yes and being brave and joining us on the  Grizzly Falls Ziplining Excursion.

We got to zipline through some beautiful landscape - over rivers and by waterfalls, and through lots and lots of trees.

Grandma was so nervous, but she was a champ!  I know this was scary for her and we were all impressed with her willingness to push through and trust the experience!  It was fun doing this with both my parents - I'm not sure I ever imagined a day like this with them!

After ziplining, we got to hang out in the mountains a little before catching our ride back to town.  It was so peaceful and beautiful up there.

When we got back from our excursion, grandma and grandpa headed back to the ship, and we headed out to check out main street Skagway.  But we didn't make it very far before the kids noticed a big grassy field and begged to stop and play.  Brad and I visited on the bench and watched the four of them play different yard games together.  It was dreamy. I was so happy soaking in life in this moment.

We went and got dougboys which was a highlight on the Skagway tour guides.  They were like big fry breads covered in cinnamon and sugar - yummy!

We came upon a little theater that was getting ready to start a music show. Bentley was very, very uninterested so him and I slowly worked our way back to the ship, while Brad and the girls attended the theater show.  This is a picture of Bentley in front of the snow plows that they push in front of a train engine to clear the snow off the train tracks.  It was intense!

These are some photos from the music show.  The girls even got invited up on stage to perform the can-can.  They had fun!

We enjoyed our down time on the ship to play card games, read, relax, and enjoy the beauty around us.

There was a family karaoke show one night and Karly and some friends she made at the kids club sang a Taylor Swift song together.  It was so brave of her!

We also got to make some sugar scrub with all organic and natural ingredients farmed there in Skagway.  The lady taught us about the different plants and herbs that were dried and available for our sugar scrubs.

Day 8: Today we woke up in Icy Straight Point and our excursion for the day was to go whale watching.  We didn't really know what to expect, but we were hopeful we would get to see some beautiful creatures today.

We boarded our sight seeing boat, just our family, two random men, and the captain and skipper.  It was nice being with a very small group.  Right away we spotted a bear on the shore so we watched him for a while, trying to catch some fish.

Then we drove out into a more open area, and the whale sightings began!  We were able to see lots of Humpback whales, and then also came upon a pod of killer whales.  Apparently the Killer Whales are more rare to see, so we were so lucky!   The humpback and killer whales all got so close and swam around our boats, and really a little too close sometimes.  It was really quite beautiful and spiritual watching these amazing and huge creatures glide around in the water around us.  I just couldn't get over how huge they were.  And the humpback whales would bring their huge tails up and out of the water.  The size was incredible. It was a memorable experience!

Our boat captain had a drone and got some great photos from above.  There was even a baby Killer whale in the group.

After our whale watching excursion, we spent several hours checking out the tide pools near the ship.  There were SO MANY star fish.  We had never seen anything like this.  There were so many cool creatures and shells that we ended up exploring there for much longer than we anticipated.

Eden found this rock that looked just like a little shark.  It was so crazy!

Back on the ship that night, Karly was very brave and ordered escargot to try for the first time! All the kids ended up trying some that night. I love that they will be brave and try new foods when we are out traveling the world.  She decided one was enough, but she was glad she tried it!

Eden had tried it before.  Bentley and Olive watched Karly's reaction first before deciding to try it too. Well done kids!

Day 9: Today we woke up in Ketchikan!  First thing that morning we headed out for our Eco Kayak Tour.  It was another beautiful and sunny day and we were so grateful for that!  It was the perfect day to be out on the water.  This was our first time ever doing a kayaking tour, and it was a blast!

We rode out across a lagoon and over to an island where we were able to go along the shore and seeing lots of different sea creatures in and around the rocks.  We got to hold more starfish, and a sea urchin.  We had really fun guides that taught us a lot about Ketchikan and the wildlife there.

Grandma and grandpa made a great rowing team.  There were some nerves around tipping over, but fortunately everyone stayed in the boats and completely dry!  Karly was my boat partner.  She was lounging and enjoying the ride.  I really got a great upper body workout that day.  Especially on the way back across the lagoon.  The wind had kicked up in the wrong direction and everyone rowed so much quicker than I did.  Karly just laid back and sang and I rowed my little heart out, but we made it!

Here's our kayaking tour group.  We had two guides and a couple new friends.

After kayaking, we visited downtown Ketchikan, and walked through creek street. It was so crazy seeing all those buildings built up over the water like that.

There were some seals down in the water there that were very entertaining to the kids.

We had some yummy fish and chips at the Ketchikan Fish House for lunch.

Outside there was a random platform that we were all trying to guess what it was used for.  So one by one the kids all got up and gave us a little monologue and "sun salutation".  It was funny.

Then we popped in and out of a few more shops on our way back to the ship.

The lamp posts along the dock had the most beautiful stained glass windows.  Eden and I were loving those and stopped to admire each one.

We also got to admire a beautiful sunset from the ship that night.

On board that night they had a "silent dance party" which ended up being one of our favorite onboard activities.  Everyone wore headphones and you could change to either the blue channel or the green channel, each playing a different genre of music, and then there was a dance floor.  So observing, the room was silent but people were dancing and grooving to different music.  It was so funny to watch all the different dance moves.  Brad and I tended to prefer different channels the whole night, but had fun dancing together.  The kids had a blast too.

day 10: Today was our last day of the cruise, and it was a full day at sea through the Inside Passage.  We had the most gorgeous views along both sides of the ship the whole day.  Brad and I, and grandma and grandpa, separately went for couples massages.  This was a first for grandma and grandpa and I think they learned that deep tissue was much too deep and the massage overall was a bit of a stressful experience.  ha ha  Hopefully they will try another massage again someday because they are always hearing Brad and I talk about how much we love them.  They were so brave this trip and did so many new things!

The kids enjoyed the rock climbing onboard and all made it to the very top.  Our babies are strong!

Day 11: This morning we had our final breakfast on board and then got off the ship in Vancouver, British Columbia.

From the ship we went and checked into our hotel for the night: the Sylvia Hotel - it was a little old and creepy, but the vines covering the front were pretty cool.

Karly won this crown from some game in the kids club on the last night on the ship so she was happy to get off that cruise as the queen.

After leaving our stuff at the hotel, we took an Uber to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.  This place was incredibly beautiful, and the trees were huge!

We added more totem ploe photos to our collection!

The main suspension bridge is 459' long and 230' above the river below.  It was a "mind over matter" experience to keep from feeling a little panic for sure.    We crossed the main bridge and on the other side there were a lot of trails, some more bridges, and a scavenger type tour for the kids to complete.  

It was a beautiful place to explore, and the size of those trees was leaving us awe struck.  Olive and I had to hug the trees to really appreciate their beauty.

On the way back, the main bridge was a lot more crowded which made it even less fun to cross, but we did it!  We saw one lady crying and holding so tight to the rail trying to get across - so we weren't the most timid ones on the bridge that day.

It was such a gorgeous place and I'm so glad we got to experience this and really soak in all the beauty.

After touring the bridge park, we went back to the hotel and crossed the road to the bay where the kids were so excited to play in the water.  We spent several hours there just enjoying the unstructured free time.

We got some free ice cream from some company giving out samples.  That was a special treat!

The girls created some beautiful "sushi" with shells and plants they found on the beach.  Their creativity was quite impressive, and their presentation was beautiful.

I love being at a beach and watching my kids play,  It's one of my favorite things.

Brad and the two older kids walked to Tim Hortons to get some dinner and donuts.  It was a great way to end another great day.

Day 12: This morning we were up bright and early to catch our flight home.  The travel day home is always the longest.  We had explored our hearts out, and we were ready to be home!

With this trip we were able to add a lot of adventures and experiences to our Justice family experience list.  It was amazing to explore such beauty in the world.  It was a very different trip than what we have experienced, but so grounding and deeply meaningful to more fully appreciate nature, and creatures, and culture.   I certainly came home feeling more appreciative and in awe of the wide and expansive earth.  There is so much beauty, we just have to make sure we slow down enough to really see it and appreciate it.  I am so grateful we got to experience this with grandma and grandpa too.  They have been talking about an Alaskan cruise since I was a kid, so what a blessing it was to be able to experience that with them.  Thank you to Brad for all his work to prepare such meaningful experiences for us to enjoy together as a family.  I'm grateful for ways he has pushed me to experience life more fully with the people I love most.  We are so blessed.