Yo-Ho! From Alaska

So here I am, sitting on the ship somewhere between Skagway and Icy Strait Point, which is where we arrive tomorrow - and I thought of you ;)

The trip so far is fantastic! We've visited Ketchikan, Juneau and today was Skagway. Things I love so far about Alaska:

1/ Lumberjacks!! I've requested Kenny grow a beard through the duration of the trip and I'm going to put him into a flannel shirt and live out my fantasy. So far he's complaining about the scratchiness of it, but he's doing it for the greater good (which is me).

2/ Whales!! We went on a whale-watching excursion and saw A LOT! It was amazing. We also saw Harbour Seals, Sea Lions and Bald Eagles. Fantastic time in Juneau. We also visited Mendallhall Glacier where I hoped to spot a bear, but no such luck. My quest for a bear-sighting goes on.

3/ King Crab! Man alive, have we enjoyed some of the best seafood on shore. Tonight we dined on raw oysters (ahem. some of you may know the folklore on what that leads to -which will help out on the whole lumberjack thing) and Red Alaskan King Crab. I'd say the best thing I've ever put in my mouth.

4/ Bald Eagles. Totally cool. We took this scary-ass tram up to the top of a mountain in Juneau and after I got over my height-fright I was able to enjoy the scenery and take a close up look at a bald eagle in captivity. While I at first felt bad for the bird, it's actually a good thing - she was shot in the beak, eye and wing by some dumbdick and they've actually saved her. We also saw a live giant bald eagle nest in Ketchikan, sitting high in a tree - it was cool. A big ol' mama bird was perched up watching over her babies in it.

5/ Train rides! We took the train through Skagway today, it was the original pass that was dug out during the Klondike gold rush days. That train HUGS the side of the mountain, it could be intimidating, but the views are totally worth it. We also went on a touristy panning for gold thing in conjunction with the train trip, and while it was hokey, it was also fun and I got to see a Malamute dog up close. And got a couple gold flakes.

There's much, much more, but these have been some fun parts so far. We still have a lot of stops to make. Some other fun things that happened include Kenny winning $4000 in the casino a couple of nights ago - that never hurts and made the start of the trip super fun.

I have decided not to do any kayaking or ziplining. I've discovered I"m not a fan of heights (the tram ride confirmed that for me) so I'll take a pass on ziplining over a rainforest or whatever. I'm fine on the ground. And Kenny's afraid his heart will give out after 2 hours of kayaking my ass around, so I'm giving him a pass since he legitimately does have a heart problem - I don't want to kill the man, especially now since he's growing his lumberjack beard and all :)

Our weather has been IDEAL - guess it had been raining for the past 3 weeks, but we've hit sunny days at every stop. Couldn't have ordered up better weather.

Hope everyone is doing great back at home. Read about Patrick Swayze. RIP, Patrick Swayze. I'm going to go and dirty dance in the nightclub in his honor. Or something.

Enjoy the rest of your week!