Alaska Cruise 2023

We got up at 2:30 am and Shannon drove us to the airport. 

Our flight left at 5:30 am to SeaTac.

Here is Mt. Saint Helens.

Of course, it's a beautiful day in the state of Washington.

We arranged for transfer service to Pier 91. This is the Princess ship that was also headed to Alaska.

It's a breathtaking day here in Seattle. I can't believe we lived here for 34 years. 

Sometimes I wonder how I ever wanted to leave. 

The embarkation onto the ship was slick and quick. We are on the Holland America cruiseline. 

We headed for the buffet for lunch. They had scoop ice cream everyday and it was delicious.

Fred got sprinkles and I sent this picture to Shannon to show M 

who loves sprinkles more than her Mom.

As we left the pier, this is the beautiful landscape that we saw. If only the sky could be clear and sunny most of the year instead of gray.

Seattle skyline.

 Our first port was Juneau. We have been to the Mendenhall Glacier before.

I didn't remember the waterfall. It is very powerful.

Here's Fred.

Look at this old retired couple.

Part of the excursion was a salmon bake. It was so delicious. I could have eaten a lot more, but it was the beginning of the cruise and I didn't want to go crazy.

The area that the salmon bake took place was really beautifully done. 

I took this picture of Fred at the Salmon Hatchery and sent it to the kids. It's a Daly thing.

This was us headed back to the ship.

The next port was Skitka. It was raining when we left to load the bus. The weather did improve a bit.

I loved these big leaves. This was in the Sitka National Historical Park. 

The highlight of the cruise was meeting Fred Bettes and his family.

We actually first met him at the buffet and asked if we could share his table. 

His wife Debbie and their daughter Amy joined us at the table.

As we introduced ourselves, it was a fun moment when we realized we had two Fred's.

These two had a lot in common. 

1. Same name

2. Both engineers by trade

3. Both born in December

4. Both collect ball caps on their travels.

5. Both are Mr Fix It

Another interesting fact, was Fred had been at the pickleball how to meeting

and we had been at a table right next to theirs one evening in the dining room.

Once we got acquainted that day, we met up for a couple of shows, shared two evenings in the restaurant and met up to play Five Crowns.

In Ketchikan we finally had decent weather. 

We had tickets for the Lumberjack Show. It was fantastic and so much fun!!

It was another beautiful day when we pulled back to port.

We had to scramble a bit to figure out what to do all day. We got off the ship around 9:30 and our fight was not until 8pm. First we tried to rent a car so we could drive to Bremerton or just sightsee. Cars were so expensive. We went back to the airport and rented a locker for our luggage. We took the Light Rail to Pioneer Square. 

We found a Mod Pizza for lunch and then just walked across the street and found a table. 

We simply sat and enjoyed the weather.

We headed back to the airport. Checked in and waited for our flight.

Shannon picked us up. 

It was a good time. We don't need to go back to 

Stuff going on around home

Almost every Sunday now, M and I bake some kind of dessert.

This was a recipe for Smore's in a Mug.

It turned out pretty much raw in the middle, but that did not stop the kids from slurping it up.

I want to try the recipe again, but figure out what to add to make it cake like and not soupy.

This is Blake's "graduation" ceremony from 5th grade. 

He will attend middle school next year and ride the bus.

We got together with three other couples at Top Golf on a Tuesday evening. 

 I went one other time with Fred and my left forearm got so cramped up and sore.

Sure enough even though I was trying to be careful, it got sore again. 

So I tried golfing left handed. It was bad!

This is Brian and Angie Erickson and Louise and Vince DeLaTorre.

It was fun to order food!

Gale Couch was the best at our table of four. 

The other two couples are pretty much real golfers, 

except for Angie. 

Here is Fred. He does pretty good too.

Brian here being a pro.

Here's me going right handed. 

Fred and I got tickets for Riverdance after Scott and Jess posted their experience. Jess helped me find affordable tickets. It was truly amazing. Not only the dancing, but the live musicians, 

backdrop video, costumes and singing.

Everything was AWESOME! I was bummed because there was no photography or video allowed.

Shannon and Brian and the kids took a roadtrip to Utah, Idaho Falls and Yellowstone. While they were gone we made ourselves comfortable on their new reclining couches. 

Trip to Corinne's

We were able to purchase tickets for the MCO concert in Salt Lake. 

Ben, Garrett, Spencer, Henry and Clara all participated. We reserved a hotel and hit the road.

We stop at Love's on our road trips. Fred bought two rollers from their "food court" so we were rewarded with this free Stawberries and Cream Dr. Pepper. 

 On Friday all of the kids had school except for Clara. Margot and Gary (Ben's parents) were also there visiting for the concert so Gary took Clara with him running errands. We wanted to take Corinne out to lunch for a late birthday celebration. She wanted to go to Leatherby's. So that's what we did. Their ice cream menu was very big so it was very hard to decide what to get. Our's was delicious!!

There was a dress code for the choir participants. This is the cute jumper set for Clara.

I was glad Ben thought to have this picture taken.

I'm not good about taking pictures anymore.

During preshow warm up and waiting, Garrett was messing around with some of the 

other boys and somehow fractured his forefinger on his left hand.

Miraculously Corinne was able to get him to urgent care and patched up and then 

get back in time for most of the first performance.

For Mother's Day Richard sent his Mom a card from the mission field. 

This is the picture that was inside. He looks so happy and content.

We went to church with Corinne on Sunday. She played the organ and Garrett gave a talk. 

After eating lunch and hanging out with them, we took off before dinner and headed 

to our friends in West Jordan to spend the next two nights. 

Shan and Judy are our good friends from St. George. They left St George before us and now have ended up back in West Jordan. That's a good thing because we will be visiting Corinne and can always stop by to see them too. They got us into board games so that is what we do together.

Judy works for Norweigian Cruiseline and works from home. 

She works the afternoon and night shift. So while she worked, 

we made our way to the nearby Zupas.

We have to do that everytime we go to Utah. We miss that place.

We had a very nice time. It was a very busy weekend at Corinne's. She left Monday morning for her next work trip to Richmond Virginia. I think we will be squeezing in short visits from now on with all of her business travels. That works. Short and Sweet that way.