Amazing Sights

We are home, following a wonderful trip to celebrate our 50th anniversary that is in October. We took our first cruise beginning in Vancouver, Canada. We boarded the Grand Princess, completed the safety essentials review and toured some of the ship while we waited for our luggage to be delivered to our room.

We cruised for a day and a half to Ketchikan, Alaska, our first port to visit. We walked around town known for its totem poles, even though there was steady rain. We walked Creek Street, formally the red district during gold panning days.

The next day we arrived in Juneau, Alaska, where we boarded a boat for an outing to whale watch. We spent four hours watching and saw at least 12 whales surface, blow, and shake their tales at us. Again, it was raining.

Next stop was Skagway where we boarded a train that took us along mountains, with views of glaciers, waterfalls, and trees. It was a beautiful sunny day. We walked through the town and admired the beautiful views.

The next day we cruised through Glacier Bay National Park. The views were amazing and we spent most of the day on our balcony watching the sights. The next day was scenic cruising of College Fjord through Prince William Sound. We saw 16 tidewater glaciers, some 300 feet high. The views were breathtaking. The largest glaciers were Hubbard and Yale Glaciers.

The next day we moved to our land tour beginning at Whittier. We traveled by train to the Denali Wilderness Lodge. We were fortunate enough to see the top of Denali mountain several times when the clouds broke away. It is rare to get a sighting of Denali because it is so often covered by clouds. We arrived in McKinley for the night then the following day we took a school bus for a Natural History Tour about the building of the road to Denali Park.

Finally we took a motor coach from McKinley to Anchorage where we spent the night in Hotel Captain Cook before an early flight back to Des Moines by way of Dallas. There will be photos to follow.

"In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level; the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it," (Isaiah 40:3-5 NIV).