alaska cruise: juneau

Well, we did it. We finally went our first real vacation since Sam was born. (Sorry, extended family members: we love to visit you, but there is a difference between traveling to visit family and going on a vacation with sightseeing and exploring). We decided that this would be a good time to go on a 7-day cruise to Alaska, partially because the cruise boat left from a Seattle port. Although we think that we'll live in Seattle for a while, we still wanted to take advantage of the nearby port (just in case we end up moving elsewhere in the next few years). And, plus, we just really needed a vacation. This year has been really busy for us, and we needed a break (and some time together).

It was really fun to have Sam with us on the cruise. I firmly believe that family vacations should be a time when our family can create shared memories and experiences - and I wanted Sam to be part of the experience. We'll continue to show him pictures so he can remember the fun time we had together.

And I have to admit, having the responsibility of caring (and playing!) with my kid made me feel a little less like an indulgent cruise tourist. Don't get me wrong: it was fun to be waited on and to not have to cook (yay!). But I liked feeling a little grounded by having some responsibility - I couldn't do whatever I wanted at any given moment, which was refreshing in a way. Does that make sense?

I'm planning on posting some pictures from our trip on Facebook, but I wanted to also post some of my favorites here (which I'll do in a series of posts). J took a lot of beautiful, artistic photos, but I think I'll let him post those on his own Facebook page. Hopefully I won't bore people with multiple posts of our vacation. This trip was a big deal for us, and I want to remember the fun things we did.

The boys at sea

Sitting in the lap of luxury

Squished in our very small stateroom (we tried to travel as cheaply as possible)

When we got to Juneau, we hiked the Mount Roberts trail. I think this hike was one of my favorite things that we did on this trip. Sam insisted on hiking for a good portion of the way - he wanted to stand on the top of each rock in the trail (he called them "mountains") and have J take his picture

I didn't think the city of Juneau was too interesting - it seemed like it was mostly full of dated, box-like architecture from the mid-20th century. But the mountains surrounding Juneau were beautiful. You can see some of the mountains and waterway (which our ship followed to arrive in the city) in the background. I didn't realize this, but there are no intercity roads which connect to Juneau. Everything that arrives in this city has to travel by barge.

The "snowcrooks" in the trees are caused by the weight of the snow in the winter. The whole mountainside was full of trees with snowcrooks.

You can see more of the city from this angle. Also, in the background is a wooden cross. It's a memorial for Father Brown, a parish leader who helped up build the trail in the early 1900s. Brown also established the first the Boy Scouts troop in Juneau.