Alaska Cruise - First Excursion

This was our first official Excursion Day.

We woke up to rain and clouds.

We jumped on our assigned buses. They were very comfortable. Our driver/tour guide was a student from Logan. He was LDS (of course) and the same driver we had last night that drove us to the Salmon Bake. He said a lot of the drivers are from Utah. They train in Provo. He is the one that told us about how he and his wife live in the dry apartment (no running water) and have a gym membership so they can shower. (ick)

First we went to the :Trans-Alaska Pipeline

The 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is one of the largest pipeline systems in the world, stretching from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in North America.

 They even provided these nifty ponchos even though Fred was totally prepared with our own.

We are both stylin!! Really glad we had good rain gear and warm clothes. It was a nice change to wear sweaters. I was glad not to be on vacation where it was hot and muggy.

Isn't Fred cute! 

We got to ride this little train on the railway. It was fun. Everything was so interesting. The sound system for the entire tour was excellent. The people outside on the shoreline along the way were hooked up so we could hear them. It was really great.

 Everything was so interesting, but I don't remember may details to tell you. You will have to go and learn it for yourself.

 This is the next part of the tour: 

Gold Dredge # 8

From a ride on the Tanana Valley Railroad into the gold fields of the Interior to a tour of the mining camp and gold panning, Alaska's mining history comes alive at the Gold Dredge #8.

 Panning for Gold

I didn't want to do it, but I did.

 Here are all the workers -  very patient with everyone.

 The couple who sat across from us at this lunch we later got acquainted with while on the ship and have exchanged our info with. We hope to maybe cruise with them again. 

Riverboat Discovery

A cruise aboard an authentic sternwheeler riverboat along the Chena and Tanana Rivers offers a demonstration of a fish wheel, as well as insight into Athabascan Indian culture and the Iditarod.

This is the "training camp" of Susan Butcher's iditarod dogs. This is her husband on shore talking to us. She is the second woman to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1986, the second four-time winner in 1990, and the first to win four out of five sequential years. She is commemorated in Alaska by the Susan Butcher Day.  

We got off the riverboat here and walked around this area.

They brought in some of the Iditarod dogs so we could ask questions and get a closer look at them.

This is salmon drying,

 Bi planes are a big deal here. This is one that took off and landed. 

         The pilot was talking to us from the plane.

This is a map of our southbound journey. 

Like I said on my first post, at the moment when Fred and I were cracking up on that bus going back to the lodge, I just knew we were going to have a great time. I honestly was not that excited about the cruise to Alaska. I figured we had lived in the Pacific Northwest for 34 years and I had seen beautiful scenery with green trees and water before. When our good friends had to cancel coming along, I really dreaded the trip. I just figured it was going to be 10 days of eh. I did not want to come back. 

It was fabulous. 

We have already booked a cruise to the Panama Canal for 15 DAYS - January 2018!!!!! 

Alaska Cruise - Day One @ Fairbanks

First of all this is our disclaimer, there will be no pictures of live wild animals. We saw up close one Mama Moose and her two babies right outside our bus and then anything else thru our binoculars from far away. 

 I had Fred take this picture when we arrived at the Fairbanks Airport for one of my friends back at work as kind of a joke. So then I took one of him too. It's probably a good thing since we didn't really end up seeing many wild animals on this trip. 

Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day. A friend at work went on this exact land and sea cruise a couple of weeks before us and it rained every single day for her, We couldn't believe the wonderful weather we had. The following pictures are of the lodge and grounds.

This is the lodge sign from the deck. They have a chef's garden along the river. You can get a salad from the chef's garden, They actually pick the produce from the garden. 

 Here is said garden. 

We sat on the deck between shuttle runs. I enjoyed reading my iPad and Fred consulted his maps. We were both very content with our individual activities.

All the bus drivers were awesome. Lots of drivers were from Utah, They have training in Provo. The driver that drove us to Denali was from Logan and his wife also is a driver. They live in a "dry" apartment. No running water. It's too expensive. They sponge bathe and buy jugs of water to cook and clean with. So they join a gym so they can shower regularly - not so much to work out. Life in Alaska is SO INTERESTING!!!! 

Fred took this picture of this Northern most McDonalds in the USA. 

We got a headset for a walking tour of downtown Fairbanks from the visitor's center. It was very interesting. I don't remember details. Learning about the history of Alaska was amazing. How they survived the extreme elements and why? Gives me the shivers.

We stopped in here for an ice cream cone. It was yummy.

Originally this Catholic church was on the opposite side of the river from the hospital, but it became too difficult for the priests and nuns to cross daily so one winter they brought in lumber and rolled it across the frozen river. 

 Lots of buildings in Alaska grow plants on the roof. They said they actually mow on this roof.

  

 This is a mileage marker. It's alphabetical. The other side shows A-K.

Pretty much self explanatory what this sign depicts.

Pioneer Park is where we went for the All You Can Eat Salmon Bake.

 Actually salmon, prime rib, beer battered cod, salad bar, rolls and dessert.

It's free entrance to the park and it would be a great place to hang out with your family. 

Someone had their dog tied up here. We thought he was pretty awesome.

Once inside there is a lot to look at and stuff to do. Some attractions have a fee. 

 Great old downtown buildings.

We went to The Palace Theatre Show to see The Gold Heart Review

 The middle ugly chick is a guy. He was so hilarious!

After the play was over we walked out to jump on our fabulous shuttle home,

It made for a fun ride back to the lodge. Fred has been helping me with picture taking on the move.

He will say "now" when we are moving through obstacles along the road.

We wanted to get a shot of the sign "Pioneer Park".

I kept saying "now, now, now, now," but we were being kind of loud and we were both crackin up and I knew then that we were going to have such a great time on this trip, 

AND WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Oh so Fred got this little zit on his nose the day before we left on the cruise. He has never had a zit on his nose before. Well it went into Hulk mode as the days continue.....

Birthday #59 and other stuff

This year my work buddies Pam and Becky took me out to lunch for my birthday. It was super fun because it was during our lunch break and we were gone for almost two hours. Great fun. I've never taken a lunch break that long on this job. Felt sinful. 

We went to a Casa Dona Maria Mexican Restaurant here in St George. It's good. We've been here together before. Our waiter was a really nice kid and took good care of us.

On Saturday, first Judy met me at Charming Charlies to buy me jewelry "for our cruise" and then took me to Benji's Thai Restaurant. I've never been there before. It was very good. 

Judy likes to order appetizers....wontons, tempura shrimp, veggies...good too!

I ordered orange chicken....very delicious!

Very impressed with their birthday dessert!

In the evening, Fred and I took Dad with us to Brigham's Playhouse to see 110 in the Shade. It was really a fun musical. We've been to quite a few productions there and only once have we not enjoyed the production. 

On Thursday night, we started an unofficial RS book club. It will be really good for me. It will help me find books to read and a monthly social outlet of women to hang out with. I miss that so much. This ward is SO HUGE and they only have RS activities every other month and no ward activities. 

This is the first summer that choir practice was canceled for the summer. It was a mistake, but the new director made the decision. So we just started back up last week and now we are going to limp along until we get the attendance back up. Also yesterday in Sacrament meeting, they annexed out a little section of our ward and added it into another ward. One sister who will be leaving is one of my most favorite person in the world and I will miss not seeing her. 

I think Fred and I are going to start going to the Empty Nest FHE when they start back up. We didn't want to go because neither of us want to ever give the lesson, but the group is so huge that you really can get away without ever having to give a lesson. I can see that the people who participate in FHE really do seem to have a social connection that we absolutely lack. Now that we've been here three years and still feel kind of out of the loop, it's time to try a little harder. We do have a ton of fun with the Hubsmiths and Bakers, but it's good to be social with a lot of people and mix it up.