Yesterday morning we woke up in a hotel in Chadron, Nebraska, around 6:30am. We packed our things into the minivan one last time and headed southish — destination, home. GPSes are funny little devices; according to ours, there’s no major highway between Chadron, Nebraska and Oklahoma City (or at least Salina, Kansas). For roughly seven hours we took two lane highways and back road main streets through a dozen towns, regularly alternating between 65mph and 20mph as we made our way through a dozen speed trap towns. We saw a dozen flea markets, thrift stores, and antique malls that, on… (read more)

Today was Day 13 of our vacation. At the end of Day 14, we expect to be home and sleeping in our own beds. This is almost the end. Today consisted mostly of driving, with three stops of note. The first was at Ten Sleep, Wyoming. Ten Sleep, Wyoming has a posted population of 260. We stopped there for lunch because Susan, at the age of 10, visited the town during her stay at a Girl Scout Camp. We visited the same gift shop she had visited almost 30 years prior and had a round of ice cream shakes there.… (read more)

Technically the “Destination Alaska” label is incorrect at this point as we are actively traveling away from Alaska, but I might as well stick with it through the end of the trip. This morning we left Missoula, Montana, heading east on I-90 around 9am. At least I think it was 9am. We’ve been through so many time zones at this point that nobody really knows or cares what time it is anymore. We get up when we get up, we eat when we’re hungry, and we stop driving when we get to the hotel. Our only destination today was Yellowstone… (read more)

When we woke up this morning, the cruise ship was docked in Seattle. We made it! At least, we made it back to the lower 48; we’ve still got 2,000 miles to go in the minivan before we’re “home” home, but after spending a week mostly out at sea, even Seattle felt like “home”. When disembarking from a cruise ship, there are two ways to do it. The first way is to carry all your luggage off the boat. If you can do that, you’ll be one of the first people off the boat. If you can’t do that, then… (read more)

Mason and I began the day with a 2 1/2 hour tour called Behind the Fun. During the tour, Mason and I saw everything from the laundry rooms two floors below the water line to the captains bridge, where.we got to see all the controls. I will write more about the tour when I am behind a deal keyboard again. These updates via phone are getting old. At lunch today they had a chocolate fondue fountain so after eating chicken Parmesan and Chinese food we had cheesecake, bananas, and donuts dipped in melted chocolate. At times I wonder if this… (read more)

Woke up with the ship already docked in Ketchikan, Alaska. We ate breakfast on the ship before heading out. Our first stop was at the local lumberjack show. It sounds hokey but it was pretty entertaining. After the show Mason and Morgan had their pictures taken with the lumberjacks. Yo ho! After that we spent a couple of hours walking around town. I’d estimate 50% (and maybe more) of the stores were jewelry stores. Mason’s been doing this free coin hunt at each dock. Different designated shops hand out gold coins and kids are encouraged to collect them all. The… (read more)

The ship sailed last night from Skagway to Juneau. Room service brought us our breakfast around 6am. We were off the boat by 7am. Today’s adventure started in a bus that took us to the Mendenhall Glacier. Apparently I got glaciers and icebergs mixed up because a glacier is not a big piece of ice out in the ocean. That’s an iceberg. A glacier is a giant pile of snow and ice — this one was in a valley between two mountains. The Mendenhall Glacier is receding, which means its melting faster than its growing. We stood relatively close to… (read more)

On day seven, we hit land in Skagway, Alaska. The “tourist” part of town is about seven blocks long and looks like an old western movie set. Each building is painted a different color, and each one makes their living by selling to cruise ship tourists. After walking around town a bit, we had lunch at the Red Onion Saloon. The Red Onion was, back in the day, a brothel. Now it’s a combination restaurant and brothel museum. All the waitresses were dressed as old western madams. After lunch we boarded a bus that took us to a train. The… (read more)

It’s getting harder to tell the days apart. It’s light outside almost all of the time and most areas of the ship are open 24/7. This morning I had to check the computer to confirm both the date and the day. We are now in the Alaskan time zone, so it’s 3 hours earlier here than it is back home. Readjusting the other way going back home is going to be difficult. Today has been the most scenic day of the trip so far. For much of the time yesterday, all you could see was ocean water all the way… (read more)

(Due to limited internet connectivitiy, these posts have been delayed.) This morning we had breakfast in one of the official dining rooms. The window tables seat 8, so if you ask for a window seat, you’ll most likely get seating with another group. We ended up with a party of three (a dad and his two kids) and another teenager who was there by himself. The converation was light and interesting. Then the dad’s two year old threw up at the table. I guess that’s one way to find out that your kid gets seasick. After breakfast there was a… (read more)