One of my favorite days of this trip was the day we spent cruising around Glacier Bay National Park. It was the best of both worlds--relaxing on board and exploring cool new places at the same time. Some park rangers boarded the ship and pointed things out and shared facts over the loudspeaker while we enjoyed these enormous glaciers from our balcony. It was a cloudy, drizzly day. The perfect moody backdrop for glacier watching.
^^This is the glacier where we spent the longest amount of time. I think it's called the Margerie glacier? It's such a neat experience to just sit in the presence of these enormous glaciers and take them in. We even got to hear the thunderous "crack" of a big piece of ice splitting off and crashing into the ocean. 
^^There were some yachts that were able to get real close to the glaciers, and we even saw some people on the beaches taking them in.
Glacier Bay is for sure one of the prettiest. most majestic places I've visited. These mountains were just beautiful.
^^One of our favorite cruise past-times. Reading in our room haha.
^^Formal night #2. It was about halfway through our cruise before we realized that there was a dress code listed at the top of each day's schedule. On the first formal day we showed up to a production show wearing actual sweats while everyone else was in cocktail dresses and suits. Cruise newbs.
^^Our final port of call was Ketchikan, Alaska. I didn't bring my fancy camera this day because I knew we'd be spending the day sea kayaking and didn't want to worry about it getting wet. The phone in the ziploc situation worked out just fine though.
^^I loved having a dual kayak so Jared could do most of the work while I relaxed and enjoyed the scenery! It was a really rainy day when we pulled into Ketchikan, but by the time our kayaking excursion started the rain had stopped. It was still a bit cool but just right for working up a kayaking sweat. We kayaked to a few small islands. This one, clover island, is popular among locals. It's a big spot for scouting. There were ladders leading from the water up the rocks, some rope swings, and a giant fishing net canopied in the trees as a hammock. Apparently all the locals have kayaks and these little whimsical island adventures are part of the culture. They even send their fifth graders on "survival trips" on these islands. We saw some starfish and a bald eagle or two.
^^The wind kicked up pretty strong when we were at the furthest point from shore. Felt pretty mild compared to Wyoming winds, but it was strong enough that we were getting nowhere trying to row against it. Our guides called in a boat to come rescue us off the side of this island and take us back to land. A fun lil' bonus adventure.
^^A cute school by our kayaking place. Ketchikan was very cute. Lots of brightly painted buildings to cut through the frequent rain. I'd love to go back and explore some more by car.
^^Our last day on ship was spent at sea. We played some scrabble, read a bunch, and caught up on sleep. The perfect end to an amazing cruise. When we made it back home to Jack and Savvy, they were
very excited to see us. Jack told us every detail of the amazing week he had with grandma and grandpa, and Savvy couldn't stop jumping up on our shoulders for hugs.
^^Jack's sleep is still recovering. He did great while we were gone, but now that we're back he says he's scared every time he goes down and demands to have one of us in his room. Might have to do some sleep training again to get him back on track before he starts preschool this next week, because I was up from actually 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. last night attending to sleep needs, and eventually ended up on his floor to catch a last few hours, and woke up with horrific back pain. But a sleep regression was worth it for a week of wonderful me and Jared time! Until next cruise!!!
