Cruisin' on the Star Princess!

The first picture here is of the beautiful skyline in Seattle. We love to go to Seattle, it is a fun place.





The second picture is of the Lido deck on the ship. This is where we spent a lot of time looking and the beautiful scenery... and it was close to the food as well! Yummy!


We spent the whole first day out to sea on our way up to Ketchikan. What a beautiful town. We got to go on a tour to see the Totems.






Miland, as you can see, is the low man on the totem pole, which contrary to the saying is actually the most prestigious place to be on a totem pole. There were a few tribes that had thier poles in this park, they were very interesting to look at and it was to learn the stories that they tell.







The picture of the Eagle downtown was also very cool, you can't see it but it has a smiley face painted on its tail feather. The natives have a sense of humor. We had a fun time shopping in town. Miland was a sweetheart and bought me a beautiful tanazanite and diamond ring while we were in Ketchikan. Happy anniversary to me! Yeah!

The next morning we got to travel through the Tracy Arm of Alaska to see a few glaciers. It was cloudy so we couldn't see much, but what we did see was beautiful.



Our second stop was in the Capital City of Alaska, Juneau. It was rainy and cold, but still beautiful. We got to go on a tour of an old Gold Mine. It was very interesting to see how they mined the gold. We also got to pan for gold in soil that they brought up from the river beds. Miland and I both got about 10 or so FLAKES of gold and a few small garnets. It was fun and addicting!

After our mine tour we got to walk through town and shop a little bit. It was kinda cold so we didn't spend too much time in town, but is sure was pretty. We saw something that was really funny... they name their stairways there. Because they are on the side of a mountain, they really only have a few streets that all run the same direction, you have to climb a million stairs to get to the homes build above the town, so they named the stair cases to help people find where they wanted to go.

We went to Skagway next. This was our favorite town to visit. They have really cool train, called the White Pass Train. We didn't ride the train, but took a bus tour instead, we got to see a little more than we would have on the train. We got to see the Gold Miners Cemetary. It was pretty cool to see such old headstones. We learned about all of the people that flooded the area in search of gold and wealth. We saw some beautiful sights. This is a picture of where the train passes over a beautiful waterfall.



We got to go into Canada at the top of the White Pass and on our way back in our driver took a picture of us infront of the Alaska sign.




We spent 48 hours cruising after Skagway. It was nice to spend a little time relaxing. Our last port was Victoria Island. We went on a tour to the Buschart Gardens. What an amazing place. The best tour we went on by far. They had a sunken garden and a japanese garden that were my favorites. There were so many beautiful places that I did not know how to choose what to put on the blog... so here are just two. You'll have to come and see us to see the rest.

The water fountain was down at the back end of the sunken garden. It was breath taking. We were surprised to see the flowers still so beautiful, even in September.







Here is one last picture... it is of Miland and I on one of our formal nights. We had the ship photographer take a picture, it was lame... so we had just some Joe Blow take it for us with the beautiful sunset in the background and it turned out great. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to do this with my husband!