I love cruisin.....

That's where we've been for the past week, on a cruise!!  I am so excited to share pictures with you!  Now...just a heads up, I don't take selfi's...and my hubby doesn't like photos either, but he was a great sport this trip and let me take some of him.  I tried to take some of us, but they didn't turn out well...we do have one or two taken on the cruise ship, so I'll try and scan them in.  :)  It could have been a disaster from day one, but we were so blessed - I have to tell you, Heavenly Father was really watching over us.  We stopped at a rest area on the way into Idaho, and the car died.  I mean, it would literally not start!  The battery was stone dead.  We had a road worker stop that had a charger, and he charged it for us and told us where the nearest 24 hour wal mart was...and so we headed directly into Boise to find the Wal Mart and get the battery.  Hubby got to buy new tools because he'd forgotten to bring any with on this trip...which is a first, let me tell you.  He's the prepared in the Scout motto...he's always got tools and stuff should something happen.  Well...for some reason it didn't get brought this time.  Probably because I was the one that packed the car, lol.
So, we made it to our hotel, and the next morning we went and had the battery tested.  It was dead, so he installed the new battery and we were on our way.  No more problems the rest of the trip!!  So, just imagine the different locations we could have been stuck!!  It's enough to give you nightmares.  ;)

We started out driving through Oregon, stopping at the Portland Temple.  It's soooo gorgeous!  We got to do sealings, and it was awesome.  :)  Had dinner in the cafeteria, and just saying, if you get a chance...they have the BEST key lime cheese cake.  :)

Then we drove to Seaside...  which was one of my favorite places in Oregon.

This is from 2014 when we went with my mother-in-law ...but it was the same place we went - this time it was sunny  though.  There was several volleyball tournaments going on and people digging in the sand for clams. We had breakfast at the Shilo Inn which has a restaurant right on the beach, it was wonderful.  We went out onto the beach and found a whole sand dollar!! That's the first time I've ever found one.  :)  

Then we went up to Long Beach, which I vaguely remembered from my mission...we drove out onto the beach and enjoyed that for a moment, and then went on.

We drove up to Kent, which is where hubbies niece lives with her hubby.  It was fun to see her again.  We went with her to the Seattle temple...which I forgot to take a picture of!!!  :(  Dang!  It was way fun.  We did sealings there too...and then went home and got take out for our anniversary...which was Saturday the 25th.  30 years people!!  :)  I love this man.

Anyway -then after a rough night (unfortunately...he slept on an air mattress that went flat in the middle of the night...and that did not good things to his back...) we got up and went to church and came home and had breakfast before loading everything up and having them drop us off at the dock.

We went on the Ruby Princess.  This is the third time we've gone on a cruise, but we realized just today that it's been 10 years since the last time...  so I guess it's been a while, lol.  We've been talking about it forever!!  As you can see it was a gorgeous day...and check in went pretty smooth...we were onboard ship and unpacked by 2:30!  We went out to the main pool area and I watched hubby dance...I danced some, but this dang knee doesn't let me do as much as I'd like.  :(  He's awesome though...ever seen the movie Speed 2?  There's a scene where they're dancing up on deck, and that's basically the same idea.  It was way fun.  We had to laugh...we were getting ready to leave on Sunday and someone said they remembered us dancing on that first day.  He was all embarrassed...I thought it was great.  We're infamous, lol.

Anyway - it was pretty rough seas that night an into the next day.  Hubby was a little on the seasick side...but thankfully it went away and he was able to enjoy.

Our first stop was Ketchikan 

One of it's claim to fame is the street for the women...

  here's a photo of hubby by the street sign...

and then  some more of the fun buildings.    They also had gorgeous stream behind that used to be higher...  One of the locals said they don't get snow anymore...it's too warm.  They get rain ...lots of rain.

We found lots of fun goodies for grandchildren...I'm afraid we bought more for them than for the kids...oh well, that's what you get when you're adult, right?  Mom and dad don't think of you much...lol.  Our granddaughters were happy.

Here's a shot of the movie screen area...I liked the fish mural under it.  I'm thinking it would be fun to paint in my hall bathroom which is a ocean scene thing.  So far it's just the sand and sky, lol.

This is a glacier we could see on the way to Juneau.  It was awesome.  Then in Juneau we didn't go on any of the excursions...we just walked around, 

I didn't know that there was a USS Juneau...it was shot down in the pacific and if I remember right, almost everyone died...10 of whom were actually from Juneau.  They had a memorial right there at the docks.  It was really a neat dock...the benches were comfy and there were water catchers that would flip and ring on a pipe, almost like ringing bells, all up the dock.

This is a shot from the back of the ship...you can see the docks where some cool yachts were tied up, and the Holland American ship that was just above us.  It was about a third larger...maybe than our ship...it was huge.  We got to see bald eagles too!  They were flying around the ships, and then landed on a tree right in front of where the tram rides went.  They just sat there and looked at us.  I couldn't get a decent shot on my phone...they just look like white dots in the trees.  Here's a shot of my hubby looking at them with the binocs though...

They had some fun stores...we were already foot sore though, for some reason, and it was all we could do to walk around the main street area.  We had done the tram ride when we'd come 10 years before, so we weren't interested.  There was the usual amazing flowers again...  I'm trying to decide which ones to paint.

After Juneau was Skagway, and it's pretty much a tourist town maintained by the forest service.  All the main street buildings are restored, and it's like a museum walking through them.  It was fascinating.  They have a train ride up to Canada, and just amazing stuff.  We took a bus ride to a small glass blowing factory, which had amazing stuff...but it was so expensive!! I bought two little glass flowers that you stick in your plant and pour water into.  They're so lovely...  lol

We didn't pay for the tour of the glass blowing though...it was $13 per person...and we were feeling stingy.  I mean, I'd already bought the flower waterers, lol.

We went into one store that was a Christmas store and this kid comes walking up to us and says, you're from Utah, aren't you?  He was from our home town, knew my sister, and it was amazing.  I couldn't believe it.  There were a couple of other cashiers from the state in the t-shirt store.  Many of them like to go work for the summer and come back when school starts.  I wish I'd known about Alaska back then...although I did manage to do that in Jackson Lake and Jacob Lake...  Alaska would have been more fun than Jacob Lake, lol.

We went to this store because the kid had told us about it, and found some great jam for my daughter and her husband.  We almost got one of the fry breads, but we'd already had some ice cream...

We went back to the docks after we were done shopping, and hubby had to pose in front of the Disney ship to give my brother-in-law a bad time.  He keeps saying he needs to take his daughter on a Disney cruise...well, there's one that goes to Alaska!

Some of the scenery was just so gorgeous.  The water was a different color...I''m thinking it was partial glacier water.  Then the mountains in the background...  It was amazing.  One of the people we sat with at dinner told us about going up to the glaciers and climbing around on them and even drinking water from them.  I wasn't sure I'd want to do that, lol.
Anyway - the last stop was Victoria Island.  I was way excited because I've never been to Canada more than the bus ride from the airport to the cruise terminal when we went 10 years ago and started in Vancouver, BC.  They sealed the bus so we didn't need to have passports...it was bizarre.  :)  I tried to get a shot with the dock name behind us, but I guess I don't know how to do this well...get great shots of hubby though!  ;)
We rode a bus into town, and walked around.  It was so much fun.  One store had a large stuffed bear Mountie...so had to take a photo with hubby.  He's so awesome.  :)
Then we went into an Irish store...and it was great stuff, but sooo expensive.  They had some neat calligraphy done with wax seals, and I would have loved to have picked one up, but the cheapest print was $65...so took a picture instead...  I think I might make this a new rule for grandma's house..

Then we went down to a smaller dock...and it was great, they had a farmer's market going, and there were two girls playing what looked like box harps...they were really good, too.

We walked along there and listened to the music and generally enjoyed the whole feel.  It was marvelous.
Then we headed back to the bus, and I spotted some beautiful roses!

I might end up painting some of these...we'll see.  Like I said, I found many items of inspiration up there.  Right behind the roses was a bush that was created of orca.

It was really well done.  Then we headed back to the docks and our boat, and got ready to head home.  It was bittersweet...we loved our cruise and didn't want to get on the ship because we knew we'd be getting off it in around 12 hours.  :(   oh well.  We've decided that we're not waiting 10 years to go again, and that we might talk the kids into going.  They all want to...every time we talk about it, they want to all go, so we'll see how well they save their money.
So...there you have it.  Our travelogue of our anniversary trip.
Seattle was crazy...I'm not sure I'd want to live there - and I thought Utah had some crazy freeways!  This place would drive me nuts.  I would live with googlemaps or something directing me...
We stopped in a little town in Idaho on the way home...it was kind of scary after coming off the luxury that is a cruise ship...stark wake up call.  sigh.  The forest was gorgeous though.  I tried to just enjoy every moment, and not think about how long it might be till we return.  Who knows, right?
Well...got home in time for BBQ with family before hubby had to turn in for EARLY morning today.
Excellent life, I tell ya.  I've been SO blessed.
Have a wonderful day.