Iced up Summer

This amazing story is told by Jerry and Judy Healey about their Alaskan Cruise on Holland America Cruise line.

We were planning on attending a family reunion in Portland the end of July 2008. One evening my husband (Jerry) said, "Since we are already over by Seattle for the weekend why don't we just keep on going and go on an Alaskan cruise?" I almost fell over since this is something I have always wanted to do! After poking around on the internet I decided to visit Linda Hofer at Morris Murdock Travel to see what kind of deals she could come up with. What a find-- on July 26, 2008, we left Seattle, Washington on Holland America for our inland passage cruise. Here are just a few highlights of our trip. At the entrance of the Glacier Park we picked up a Ranger, who answered all of our questions and explained everything as we went along. We were lucky because as we entered the Park, it was cloudy, but as you can see, once we arrived at our stops the clouds lifted and the sun came out.

Photo #1 This is the Margerie Glacier. You would hear a big clap and all the eyes would be on the glacier, since you knew that it was calving and if you were lucky chunks would fall into the bay.

Photo #2 is a zoomed in photo of the top of Margerie Glacier with the mountains coming out of the clouds. The ice pieces on the bottom of the photo are the tops of the glacier that would calve and break off. They are huge.

Photo #3 is just a small chunk that has fallen off and floating in the bay. We thought it was small (since we are quite a distance away) until we zoomed in and noticed the kayaker. We have changed our mind that it was maybe a tad bigger than we thought.

Photo #4 is one of the views as we were leaving Glacier Bay. Isn't it just beautiful? I could just stay and watch this all day! You would think this would be very cold-- true, it was a little cool as the ship was going from glacier to glacier, but all you needed was earmuffs, light gloves and a jacket. While the ship was stopped it was just like a spring day.

Photo #5 was one of the tours we went on when we stopped in Juneau, Alaska. It was the tour to Mendenhall Glacier and the rain forest. Since I have already included glacier photos, I decided to just show you the Rain Forest. What a beautiful sight! This is the enterance into the Rain Forest. The upside down trees are just out of this world. They were an accident that the owner of this garden created. He got frustrated when he knocked over a tree and slammed it in the ground upside down. The top where the flowers are, are actually the roots of the tree. Don't you just want one for your own garden? If I could just figure a way to do this!

Photo #6 we rode golf carts up 600 feet to almost the top of the Rain Forest and then walked a short distance to check out the view. The day was sunny (not a rain drop in sight surprisingly) and this is one of the views of Juneau from the top. We were lucky--no one could believe that it was NOT raining. Everyone we talked to said it was the time of year when it usually rained.

Our next highlight on our trip was our final stop in Victoria, Canada.

Photos #7-9 were taken in Butchert Gardens.

Photo #7 is from the top of the Sunken Garden. This is just one view. It was just beautiful!

Photo #8 is along one of the walk ways going to the Japanese Garden. Everywhere you walked there were flowers similar to this. Can you imagine your yard looking like this?

Phone #9 Lastly, this photo is in the Japanese Gardens. There were totem poles, fountains and 7 differant gardens to check out. If you got tired, there were benches you could sit on. We only got a few hours here, but it is definately a place you might want to travel back to and spend some more time. There was a concert stage and you could pack a lunch, sit on the grass, and spend the day touring the gardens. We were able to see all of the gardens, but would have loved to just take more time.

Well, this is just a few of the highlights of our trip to Alaska on Holland America. We took close to 500 photos and it still wasn't enough! You would be sitting along the windows in the dining room and whales would be playing outside-- needless to say, no camera. If you wanted photos of everything, you would have to have the camera around your neck constantly!

I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse into our trip. It is a trip that we will remember for a long time.

Judy and Jerry Healey