Alaska

Ahh, vacation. There's something about getting away to a place you've never been before. The excitement, the anticipation, the expectations and the unknown adventure. For us the adventure began when we were accidentally dropped off at the wrong pier.

We wheeled our bags around and noticed that the three cruise liners in port did not include our Royal Caribbean ship. A short taxi ride through the rough part of Vancouver and we found our boat and long queue lines to board. Once we made in through line one (waiting area), line two (security), line three (cruise line information), we zipped through line four - customs, which we thought would take another hour.

Our ship, Serenade of the Seas, consisted of 13 decks included a movie theatre, mini gold course, climbing wall, basketball court, water slide, indoor and outdoor pools, library, and the usual dining room, three restaurants, saloon, spa and a couple clubs. We found the pool tables on the second night and got a kick watching the self leveling mechanism at work.

Our first day at sea was a sunny and warm one. With temperatures around 70 J and I were excited to lounge outside and enjoy watching the ocean whisk by while searching for wildlife.

We ported at Icy Strait (Hoonah) the next day. This port opened in 2004 and only takes one ship a day which means that the town is not completely overrun with tourists. We decided to take the zip line tour, which is supposed to be the longest zip line in Alaska. You zip down for 90 seconds reaching speeds of 60 mph. We took the tender to shore, wandered through the fish cannery museum and then boarded a bus for the top of the mountain.

Our driver talked about the town of 900 and the police department consists of 5 officers while the fire department is all volunteer. On top of the mountain is an old army communication tower that is now known by AT&T and used for cellular service. We ended up waiting for about 2 hours on top of the mountain watching the eagles soar in the sky as the zip line operators worked to get the return line computer up and running.

Day two took us to Glacier Bay. The icebergs floated by in teal green water and the beautiful white cap mountains towered us on three sides. The ship served hot chocolate on the open air decks while ship spun around in circles allowing for all sides to enjoy the various views.

The next port was Skagway, where the population is the same as Hoonah, but due to the gold rush and the fact that the port can host four cruise lines a day the town is more developed. It has wooden sidewalks throughout the downtown making it feel like an old western town. We explored the town after our horseback riding excursion. We saddled up with eight other riders for a trail ride. It was great even with the rain. We stopped into Port of Call, which a little pizza place just down the street from the famous Red Onion. If you want good food without the crowd check out this little spot.

Our last port of call was Juneau and we definitely didn't have enough time to explore the capital city. We took a kayaking trip which ended up sucking up more time than estimated. The wind was kicking up and the water was quite choppy, so we didn't get very far and found the kayak spinning in circles as we fought the currents. The biggest disappoint was once we beach the kayaks, changed out of our rain gear and enjoy our snack, we had to wait over an hour for the bus to come and take us back downtown. We had about an hour left to explore the city. The last shop we stopped in featured local artists and I had the opportunity to meet a local photographer who had an amazing shot of a bald eagle perched high on a black lit iceberg. He said it one of the few pictures he imagined and spent three years trying to capture it.

It was a good trip but we learned that we would rather create our own timeline then be on someone else's. So, if we want to stay longer we have that option.