The trip in which we choose to go cold places during a beautiful summer.

We don't want our traveling to stop but we know that it WILL change drastically as our lives move forward.  It already has (in a minor way.)  We chose a cruise this summer because of the easy factor.  No packing up to go to a new city, no desperate searching for a bathroom to use, no deciding where to eat, no worries about food being nearby when I am hungry RIGHT NOW!  At the same time, a cruise holds the adventure we crave, with new cities to explore, on board culinary events, high tea and yummy 4 course dinners. This was the perfect way to travel while pregnant (minus missing out on the awesome happy hour deals!)  Luckily, since it was mostly cool and rainy, my raincoat, puffy jacket and snuggly vest could all still zip, which I won't be able to say in the next couple of months here!

 

We took a $7 Bolt bus up to our embarkment location, Vancouver, BC which has had the same gorgeous summer that Bellingham has enjoyed.

If you get a chance, look up Lisa Maxwell and George Newall.  They were two of the table mates that were assigned to us for the week.  They live in New York and they're practically FAMOUS! Lisa is a jazz singer (they gave us a copy of her CD at the end!) and George was a producer of School House Rock for years and years.  You know "Conjunction junction" and "Multiplication Rock," right?  That's him!  He entertained us with stories from the "biz" along with juicy tidbits about the real character of certain other unnamed famous people.  What a treat!

                                                          My favorite towel animal.

We "parked" in Glacier Bay for about an hour and listened as the the glacier pieces cracked like thunder and tumbled into the ocean with a splash. This was our favorite stop in the whole trip.

      

    

Tea time!

We took a train up into the mountains of Skagway to see the route used by people hoping to strike it rich during the Klondike GoldRush.

Having our own porch was totally worth it!

The "Crow's Nest" is a bar at the top of the ship that is surrounded by windows.  It's the best place to relax with an amazing view.  We enjoyed some trivia and line dancing (way to go Nate) up there as well.

In Juneau we saw a glacier, hiked to a waterfall and enjoyed some rich and delicious overpriced crab.

                     

Those legs aren't messin' around.

Ketchikan has one of the highest number of days of rain in the entire US...and we got a gorgeous, warm and sunny day to end our trip.  We ended up walking through the city and going back onto the boat to sit by the pool and bask in the sunshine!

At first I was sad to miss out on some beautiful Bellingham summer for drippy cool Alaska but in the end the stunning views and relaxation were totally worth it.