Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

A close second to our whale watching experience was our next stop at the Hubbard Glacier. We spent the day slowly cruising into the bay and then spent several hours looking at the icebergs and finally Hubbard Glacier.

Sometimes it was peaceful and other times, huge chucks of ice broke free of the glacier and spilled into the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful. When my nephew, jack, gets his flip videos uploaded, I'll add a link so you can see the icebergs in action.

Kelly & Andrew at the Hubbard Glacier.

The Hubbard Glacier ice wall.

Ice calving off the glacier and spilling into the ocean.

We also saw some seals sunning themselves on an iceberg. Another iceberg was empty but it had a huge patch of red stained ice. Whatever was there must have made a nice lunch for something. I took a picture of the scene of the crime but I won't post it. Just focus on the cute (living) seals below.

Three seals hanging out on an iceberg.

Another seal on yet another iceberg.

Being summer in Alaska, the sun didn't set until 11:30 at night and then it started to rise at like 3:00 in the morning (I wouldn't know about the rising part, I'll just have to take my niece, Teresa's word for it!) Here's a shot I took before heading to bed one night:

An Alaskan sunset.

Juneau, Alaska

It may seem strange to schedule an Alaskan cruise in the middle of this extensive RV trip across the US. Well, I suppose it is but we didn't really plan it this way. Of course, if you read this blog regularly, you may have notice that we don't usually plan too far in advance.

I like to think of this cruise as a happy accident that sort of collided with our Crazy Bus Tour. When we found out that the cruise was definitely a "go" and the dates were confirmed, we just planned out last route out west to coincide with leaving from Seattle on July 9th. So in some ways, this last leg of our journey had a little more structure to it but we still tweaked our path along the way.

As I mentioned in our last post that this trip of a lifetime was a gift from Tom's Mother, Sue. We joined her and Tom's other two sisters' and their families for a 7-day cruise on the MS Westerdam from Holland America. Here is a snap shot of the itinerary:

As you can see, our first stop on the cruise was Juneau, Alaska. We lucked out with the weather again. It was 85 degrees and sunny the day we were in Juneau! We totally thought it would be cooler out on the water so we wore jeans and lugged our coats with us when we got off the ship. Big mistake but who would have thought it would be that warm?!?

We signed up for a photo safari excursion. Basically, it was a combined hiking and whale watching trip guided by a professional photographer who gave us tips on how to take better pictures. Our guide, Cam, was fantastic and a lot of fun to hang out with for five hours.

Tom & Kaitlyn at the Mendenhall Glacier.

First we took a mile hike through the forest to the Mendenhall Glacier. Of course, we forgot the bug spray and quickly found out that the mosquitoes in Alaska are the size of small birds! The scenery was gorgeous and the hike was fun. We saw a porcupine waddle across our trail but we couldn't get a good pic for you. Sorry!

That was the only wildlife we saw on the hike other than birds. Cam said we might see a black bear and if we do, not to panic and stay together as a group so we look bigger and more intimidating to the bear. Right. He also said if we were to encounter a grizzly bear we should slowly walk away and let him use his bear spray. Right.

Those two strategies seemed to have a lot of holes in them but we hoped for the best and hiked on. Andrew kept trying to run ahead and all I had to do was remind him to let us know if he saw a bear and he would come right back to hold my hand. Nice.

After the hike, we jumped on a boat in hopes to see some whales. We lucked out again because we came upon a group of five or six whales who were bubble net feeding which is apparently a rare phenomenon to observe in the wild.

Whales bursting to the surface while bubble feeding.

So from what I understand, bubble net feeding happens when a group of whales work together to trap a school of herring so they can eat them. One whale circles around the fish and releases a curtain of bubbles about three-fourths of the way around the school of fish. The herring won’t swim through the bubbles. Then, another whale makes a load noise scarring the rest of the fish into the bubble net. The fish start swimming up to the surface and the whales swim under the trapped fish. Then they swim to the surface with their mouths open catching a lot of the fish and finish by exploding out of the water as a group.

The pictures don’t do it justice. It was an amazing thing to watch. We were able to see them do this five or six times. We also watched them swim along the boats and flap their tails at us.

Whales swimming in Juneau.

We also saw eagles flying around everyday while we were on the cruise. Here is a pic we took while we were whale watching:

An eagle watching us watch him.

I asked the kids what their favorite part of the cruise was and they both said, "the whale watching!" I think I would have to agree!

Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington definitely makes our top 10 list of favorite places. The food was amazing, there were lots of fun things to see and do and the city was clean and well designed. The only negatives were the traffic and I seemed to notice more homeless people than in the other cities we have visited recently.

The Seattle skyline.

We were meeting the rest of Tom's family in Seattle so we could go on a family trip with Tom's two sisters and their families and Tom's mom, Sue. I can't quite remember how it all came about but a couple of years ago, Sue mentioned she wanted to take the entire family on a trip. Tom and his sisters came up with the idea of an Alaskan cruise and after all those months of planing it and looking forward to the trip, it was finally here.

We met up with Tom's sister, Cathy and her family in Seattle a few days early so we had time to explore the city. We were fortunate enough to arrive on a day that was completely sunny and 85 degrees! The first thing we did was walk over to the Space Needle for a look at the city from above.

The view from the Space Needle, Mt. Rainier is in the distance.

A different view of the Space Needle.

Tom thought he would be funny and jumped in front of the camera when I was trying to take of picture of something from the observation deck. He probably doesn't even remember doing this but I thought I should document his attempt at being funny for everyone to enjoy.

Tom being "funny." ;-)

Pike Place Market was amazing. The fresh fruit and vegetables looked delicious and even the fish and seafood looked like something I would eat (or at least be more willing to taste). The kids got a big kick out of watching the fishmongers throw the fish to each other. And the flowers...did I mention the fresh flowers? Huge big beautiful bouquets of flowers for sale and they only cost $10!

Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington

The fishmongers and the fresh seafood.

Fresh fruit and veggies galore at the market.

Fresh bouquets for only $10!

Kait and Andrew with one of the Pike pigs.

Our nephew, Jack, hijacks a pig.

We also had time to check out the Seattle Aquarium. The kids really enjoyed hanging out with their older cousin, Jack. Cathy and I especially liked the sea lion and sea otter exhibits. They had a pelt from a sea otter for us to touch and feel how dense and soft the fur is. I made the mistake of saying how nice it would be to have a blanket made from the fur. Apparently, they frown on suggesting using the pelts for anything other than educational purposes. The aquarium lady said if I kept talking like that, they would have to search me to make sure I wasn't carrying a club! Oops.

Enjoying the octopus exhibit.

Sleeping sea lions.

Andrew and Jack having fun at the aquarium.

Seattle will definitely be somewhere we visit again!

Newport, Oregon

Our trip through Oregon was a bit of a blur. We actually stopped in Medford for a night after we made it down from Trinity Lake and then back up across the California-Oregon border. Since we arrived in Medford late in the afternoon on the 4th of July and we were exhausted from the drive, we didn't really do anything while we were in town. Although, had our timing been better, we would have had plenty of options. Medford looks like an interesting place to visit.

After a quick stop in Medford, we drove on to the Albany/Corvalis area. We really wanted to get a taste of the Oregon coast so we drove over to Newport for lunch and a little shopping.

We stumbled upon a restaurant called Mo's which is (supposedly) world-famous for their clam chowder. We actually had to wait in line to get into this place but it was definitely worth the wait.


Waiting to get a seat at Mo's restaurant.

Newport was a quaint little fishing town with gorgeous views, sunny skies and cold winds along the water. This is one of those areas we would like to come back to someday and spend a little more time.

Views from the harbor in Newport, OR.

And apparently, they have a wicked sense of humor in Newport too... ;-)

Translation: Support your local fishermen.

Trinity Lake, California

Ah, Trinity Lake, where should I begin?

I guess I will start with the drive. We found out the hard way that there is only one way to get there, straight up a mountain road, and one way to get out, back down the same road. Oh, and did I mention that the road is barely wide enough for both directions of traffic? And did I mention the 90 degree turns every 20 yards? And that it took us two hours to drive 70 miles? Good times.

We finally arrived at the Trinity Lake KOA. If you ever find yourself looking at this sign...run! LOL

Maybe it was just that the 4th of July weekend brought out the extra special breed of campers. I'm not sure if it was watching the guy who brought his pit bull with the heavy duty metal chain as a leash into the pool area that made me uncomfortable. Or if it was the drunk chic who stumbled through the pool area asking me if I had a "light for her smokes" that turned me off to the whole scene. I was definitely ready to go as I watched that same woman proceeded to ask various children if they had a lighter for her to use. Seriously people. Really?

OK, there was a silver lining and that was Trinity Lake itself beacuse it is beautiful.

The view from our boat on Trinity Lake.

We rented a pontoon boat for four hours and took off to explore the lake, do a little fishing and maybe take a swim. The kids were excited because we have never rented a boat before and I don't think they have ever swam in a lake before either.

The Skipper and Gilligan out for a four hour tour.

I guess it would be more accurate to say, they were excited to swim in the lake in theory only. When in came time to jump in, they where suddenly in fear for their lives. They were convinced something in the lake would get them after they jumped in.

So Tom "helped" Andrew get in. By helped, I mean he pushed him over the side. Tom claims Andrew told him to push him in but I'm not sure I'm buying that one.

For the first few seconds, I really thought Andrew was going to drown. Thank goodness we suggested he wear his life vest since it was so deep. My kids are great swimmers but the fear of the lake monster had a tight grip on Andrew until we could get him back on the boat.

Eventually, after getting in a few times and nothing ate them, they got over it and jumped in on their own free will. Tom and I even took a dip. The water was crisp and refreshing. (And by crisp and refreshing, I mean it was freaking cold!)

Kait and Andrew swim in Trinity Lake.

Everything was going smoothly until we refueled the boat and started the return trip back to the KOA marina where we rented the boat. As soon as we cleared the marina where we refueled, the engine stalled and wouldn't restart. There we sat drifting in the wake.

Fortunately, the guy who prepped the boat wrote down his cell number for us. "Just in case anything comes up, not that it will," he said.

Unfortunately, the guy who wrote down his cell phone number also carried it off with the clipboard he was carrying. Of course we didn't realize it until we were sitting on the dead boat, looking for his number and replaying those last few moments in our mind.

After calling information and getting the campground number and then calling the campground 5 times because it kept going to voicemail, we were able to get in touch with the guy who came out and towed us back to the marina.

He was nice enough to not charge us for returning the boat late.

And that about sums up the good times we had at Trinity Lake, California. Consider yourself duly warned.

West Sacramento, California

Our next stop was suppose to be San Francisco, California but we blew it off. I know, you are probably thinking "How could you skip San Francisco?!?"

I don't know, we were tired and after driving through the LA area we weren't too excited about another big city that wasn't really designed to handle RV's.

Instead, we drove to the West Sacramento KOA and took a couple days to just hang out, do laundry, clean and go to the grocery store.

Andrew sick and tired.

Luckily, this was also the place that Andrew decided to get sick. He couldn't have picked a better time to not feel like doing anything because we didn't have anything we wanted to do so that's just what we did.

Coursegold, California

After the Sequoias, we were excited to be heading to another great place, Yosemite National Park.

The drive from Visalia was suppose to be quick but unfortunately we arrived at our next campground to find out it was full (the internet said there were sites available) so we had to drive back down the winding, narrow road to the campground that had space.(Incidentally, it was also the campground that we had passed a few hours earlier.) Let's just say it was a stressful day and leave it at that.

El Capitan, the largest monolith of granite in the world.

Of course, we were reminded why we made the trip as soon as we arrived at Yosemite. It was an absolutely gorgeous place to visit. We took some short hikes and packed a picnic lunch which the kids devoured in one of the parking lots!

Enjoying lunch on the side of the road (literally!).

Bridalveil Fall

Andrew and I hiked to the base of Bridalveil Fall and were rewarded by the wind shifting and blowing gallons of freezing cold mountain water on us! LOL Tom gave me the camera so he and Kaitlyn could make their way up but the wind never kicked up and they came back dry as a bone!

Drenched but happy.

Yosemite is one of those places that you could visit many times and never see it all or do it all. My only advice is to make your reservations early and for as long as you can and then submerse yourself in the park. Yosemite is VERY popular and crowded so brace yourself for that too.

Tom and the kids at Yosemite.

Another pretty pic of Yosemite National Park.