Let the Cropping begin!!

Yeah .... today Susie dropped off my Creative Memories order so now I can begin working on my Alaska Trip album ..... and I really thought I would do some house cleaning this week .... ha ha ha .... will save that for the weekend!!

Speaking of our Alaska Trip ..... We are a cruising couple and we usually have our next adventure planned before we are done with the first one. We have wanted to take an Alaskan Cruise after hearing so many people talk about how beautiful Alaska is. After mentioning it to a few of our friends we were able to gather up 4 other couples and set sail to Alaska.

Along with another couple we drove from Redding to Seattle, WA, caught a Motorcoach into Vancouver, BC and set sail on the Coral Princess for 7 days of cruising and sight seeing.

Our first port of call was Ketichican, known for being the Fish Capital and that is exactly what was it was. While we were in port the Salmon were running and I have never seen so many fish in one spot at one time .... you could have walked across the creek beds on the backs of the Salmon.

We even took a walk around town and found the trail (Married Man's Trail) that heads to Miss Dollies home (the local hangout for the men back in the day!!)

Our second port of call was Juneau - we did some sight seeing around the town and took a tour of the State Capitol. Of course Sarah Palin was out on the campaign trail so was unable to meet her but was able to pick up a card with her Autograph on it and not a stamped signature but her actual signature. This was the second of three autographs I was able to obtain while on this cruise.

Our third and final port of call was Skagway. This was my favorite town. Very old fashioned with wooden walkways around town. We took a Streetcar tour of the town and was able to get lots of local history. Skagway is known for the White Pass Trail train which goes into the Yukon Territory and gives the history of the Gold Rush days of Alaska. One thing I found quite interesting is due to no hospital and lack of medical personel all pregant women must leave the area 3 weeks prior to their due date. Rosie (our guide) asked us where they went? We didn't know .... she didn't either as long as they were not in Skagway!! :-).

We journeyed on for another couple days at sea with sightseeing into Glacier Bay and College Fjord which had some marvelous Glaciers. Probably the best way to describe the beauty is they are the color of Windex.

Once we were done with our Cruiseing journey we hopped aboard the Alaskan Railroad for our 4 day stay in the Denali Park Wilderness area which was lots of sightseeing from Bears to Caribou and even the state Bird which looks like a chicken with furry white feet! We were lucky enough to go into the park on a day when it was clear enough for us to see Mt. McKinley which is not often done during early September. Wasn't as clear as seeing Mt. Shasta but it was clear enough to be able to get some nice photos.

The trip was well worth the 14 days we were gone and my suggestion for anyone who wants to take the cruise and train trip all together ..... do the train trip first! It was very enjoyable but not very relaxing - lots of go go going so you can see the sights.

As I said before we have our next trip planned before we are done with our first one .....next cruise ...... 2010 to the Panama Canal! Want to come?