Saturday Snapshot (Dec 1, 2012) Alaska Cruise - Towel Animals

Except for an occasional photo in the future, this is the last or our Alaskan Cruise Snapshot highlights.
[Next week I hope to start sharing from our visit to Hawaii as we leave 12/6!]
I always love the Towel Animals they make on the cruise so here are our six animals that greeted us at night.
There isn't one on Day 5 because we confused our cabin steward by eating at a different time and he didn't get to turn down the beds and leave a pet for us.

 Day 1 - Mr. Snake

 Day 2 - Mr. Pig with Attitude

Day 3 - Cutie Elephant

 Day 4 - Ms. Dino

Day 6 - Pup with Attitude

Day 7 - Heart :-)
A sweet note to end our cruise!
Which reminds me--- Yesterday, November 30, was my 27th wedding anniversary!!
(Too bad I spent the day traveling to and from Orlando to attend a real estate closing.)
I will have to pull out our wedding album and get some of the photos scanned. :-)

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Saturday Snapshot (Nov 17, 2012) Our Seattle Visit Days 1&2

We spent three days in Seattle after we disembarked from our lovely cruise. We stayed at the Paramount Hotel near downtown which was very nice and had a delightful and very helpful concierge! The first day we took a tour coach around the city with a fun driver pointing out the sites. We continued to have good weather and we were able to see Mount Rainier in the distance each day of our visit. That was the day I went to the Jayne Krentz Book Signing too.

Day 2 we road the Ferris Wheel and I got some good pictures.  

I love the postcard appearance of the Space Needle skyline from the Ferris Wheel.

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Saturday Snapshot (11/10/12) Our Visit to Ketchikan, AK

On the sixth day of our cruise we visited Ketchikan, AK. We did a bus tour to Potlach Totem Park, which is built at an old fishing village site. We continued to have nice weather.

The guides explained the sad history that the natives were pulled from their homes and sent away to "missionary" or government schools. Several generations almost lost the native traditions and they are just now starting to rebuild and relearn their natural heritage.
An interesting thing we learned - Juneau and Ketchikan are only accessible by boat (ferry, cruise or private) or air. 

In addition to the village shots, shown in the slideshow, there is an antique car museum at the park! Who would have thought?

Here are some photos as we went through the park.

I did a little shopping in town before going back to the ship - picked up some handmade Christmas ornaments. And of course - I had to take a shot of Downtown Books!

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Saturday Snapshot November 3, 2012 - Our Visit to Juneau, AK

On the fifth day of our cruise we visited Juneau. We did two great tours - the Mendenhall Gardens and Mendenhall Glacier.

We learned that the Tongass National Forest is a temperate (rather than tropical) rain forest. A mudslide had brought many trees down the side of the Thunder Mountain leaving it bare and messy. It was purchased in 1985 and the new owners took many of the trees and made them hanging planters. They are gorgeous! The staff bring the flowers out in the spring and put them all back in the green house in late September, after the tourist trips are done. We took a tram ride up the hill and saw the beautiful Mendenhall Valley from the top.

Once we finished at the Gardens we visited Mendenhall Glacier and it was beautiful too. It was fascinating to see the blue in the ice. This is a zoom in and you can see some of the blue along the edge.

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Saturday Snapshot 10/27/12 - Our Visit to Skagway, AK

I need to reply to last week's nice comments individually but I did want to make a global comment about my experiences with cruising.
My dad always had boats and we spent many summer adventures on the intracoastal, the Florida Keys and the Bimini Islands. I had an inner ear infection when I was in college which affected my equilibrium. Boating became most unpleasant for me. I tried the ear patches and they worked okay but more often then not I would just sleep on the trips. When my DH and I started cruising years ago I bought the cloth bands with the bubble pressure knobs to wear on your wrists. I have not had a single problem since! Even on the rough sea days I can go to the dining room while others cower in their rooms. :-)

We had no rough weather on our Alaskan cruise. The weather continued to be beautiful as we visited Skagway on day four of our trip.

As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 920. However, the population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with more than 900,000 visitors.

We took the three and a half hour train excursion to the White Pass Summit -- the train travels 20 miles from tidewater to the Summit of the White Pass – a 2,865 foot elevation.
The history is fascinating! Here are just a handful of the many pictures I took. 

And  of course I had to have a picture of the Bookstore. :-)

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Saturday Snapshot - Our Alaskan Cruise Days 1-3

I meant to post this early today but ended up busy cleaning around the house.

I have been wanting to participate in Saturday Snapshot and hope it's okay that I show case our Alaskan cruise through this forum.  I plan to do a group of pics in a slide show over the next weeks before we head off to Hawaii.
This first set is Day One and Day Three. ( I must have been reading and relaxing because no photos on day two.)

Several of these photos look like postcard images the days were so beautiful.

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.