This is the scavenger hunt that I made and we used on one of our days at sea. It was fun to see how everyone interpreted the list.
Here is the cruise word search that I made. I hope I didn’t forget any of the words.
HAVE FUN!
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums
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Don’t overpack! We took too much luggage and didn’t need all that we brought. We weren’t sure how to pack for such a variety of weather so we packed for warm days, rainy days, cold days…….
4 checked bags (bags fly free), 3 wheeled rolling carry-ons, 3 backpack carry-ons.
Our trip was during the first 2 weeks of June. We did not have any days above 70 degrees. Vancouver was supposed to hit 70 the day we boarded the ship. Our other 3 days were in the 60s.
On the ship, it was cool to cold outdoors.
Ketchikan…….50s and rainy……3 layers plus we had to add our rain layer for part of the day
Juneau…….50s and cloudy……3 layers for most of the day; 4 layers for whale watching
Skagway…….50s but very windy and rainy……..we needed our 4 layers plus a warm hat and gloves to walk around the town
Whittier……cold and windy – just a short walk from the ship to the train
On The Train……warm upstairs if the sun is shining…….cold and windy outside
Denali……40s – 50s……..cloudy and rainy. 3 layers when it wasn’t raining, 4 when it was
Denali Park……very windy in the tundra……4 layers plus a hat
Mt McKinley Lodge/Talkeetna……40s – 50s……cloudy, rainy, a chilling cold……3 to 4 layers
Anchorage……50s, cloudy, rainy, very windy 1 day…….3 to 4 layers
On days in port on the ship, the doors to the gangway stay open until all passengers have boarded at the end of the day which makes the atrium and surrounding areas on several floors cold and breezy.
This is the list we used for packing. We travel a lot so we don’t use a detailed list.
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
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Or so we thought. Delayed more than 24 hours – YUK!
After a tasty meal at Glacier Brewhouse once again, we headed to the airport about 6pm with our many many bags.
Our plane left Anchorage on time and we thought we were headed south to Dallas. After a few minutes, I noticed that we were not gaining altitude but staying flat. Then the pilot announced that one of our generators had blown and we would have to return to Anchorage. So after 45 minutes, we were back at our gate and began deboarding within about 20 minutes. I knew we weren’t leaving tonight.
We were near the front of the plane and I walk fast, so we got in line to rebook as instructed and were 2nd in line. American Airlines system would not unlock all the passengers on our flight since we were supposed to be in the air currently. We stood in line until almost midnight. It was chaos behind the counter.
Our guy offered us seats on an Alaskan Air flight getting into Tampa the next day around 4pm. Wasn’t great, but we agreed. Then he discovered that we had paid by miles so we were not eligible to move to another airline unless we paid out of pocket. He looked for other AA flights but came up empty. He assured us that we would be in Tampa by 10pm the next night. We were tired and didn’t do the math. We had 8 to 9 hours of flying time and a 4 hour time change – 10pm was not possible.
AA was transferring everyone via shuttle to a Marriott so we jumped on. It’s shocking that Marriott had over 100 rooms available on such short notice. It was raining so us and all of our stuff was now wet. We were told our flight would be leaving at 11am and that the shuttle would bring everyone back to the airport at 8:30am – no exceptions. We arrived about 12:30. We were tired. I had gotten up at 4:15am – just couldn’t sleep – so I was running on about 4 hours of sleep at this point. By the time we got checked in and got a bed for Abby, it was 1am, so not a lot of sleep since we needed to shower, eat and be ready to go before 8:30.
Oh, and guess who also got sick once we got to the hotel……Al. He now has Debbie and Dave’s illness. Abby and I are so thankful that so far we are healthy (except she still has her gluten issue) and crossing our fingers for continued good health. It must be all that glacier water we drank:)
GOOD NIGHT AGAIN ALASKA!
By morning, our flight was delayed to noon but we still had to leave by 8:30. When we checked in, our lady said the plane was repaired, inspected, and ready to go. Cool!
She also told us that there was a 10:30pm flight out of Dallas getting us into Tampa before 1am and that we would just use our same boarding passes from one day prior. this doesn’t seem right to me, but she assures us and others that no further rescheduling is necessary.
Noon came and went, no boarding, no announcement. Around 1pm, they told us that they were testing the plane. People gathered at the windows to watch. One engine would start right up and rotate so fast that you could no longer so the detail. They other would run fast for a couple of seconds and then slow to a crawl. YIKES!
Then we noticed a crowd gathering at the window on the opposite side of our plane. Abby ran over to check it out. The baggage loader was on fire!
Another YIKES!
After all the excitement we started taking pictures of interesting things around the airport to kill time. We’ve now been here for 5 hours! For some reason we found these cargo planes interesting…….
Especially the name of this one.
We found a MOOSE!
We were traveling home as twins – haha. We were part of the 30% club that actually saw the top of Denali/Mt McKinley.
There were lots of ‘fur’ shops along the way. Debbie wondered who in the lower 48 would actually buy a fur and take it home. We found him. He’s on our flight to Dallas.
By this time, we are online and on the phone looking for our own flights. I’m even shopping around the other gates to see if anyone has 3 seats for us. Finally Al gets to customer service and they book us on a 6am flight from Dallas to Tampa for the following morning. She says we can’t sit together but tells him the 3 rows that we’ll be seated in. No problem. We’ll take it. She says she will send an email with all the info. Oh, now they’re calling for us. Is it really time to board???
Around 2:30 we finally board. We booked our flights in September – it’s June now – and first class was already sold out but we were able to get extra leg room seats. When we got on, our seats were taken, so we were redirected back 2 rows, but someone’s stuff was there. As we are discussing where to sit with the flight attendant for about 2 minutes, the guy in between us finally speaks up and says ‘Oh, that’s my wife’s stuff. She’s in the bathroom but she’s not sitting in that row. She’s sitting up here with me.’ OK…..who puts their stuff in the wrong row??? AND, who goes to the bathroom within minutes of boarding? Why wouldn’t you go in the airport where there is considerably more room???? OK this lady is losing some serious marbles.
We finally settle in and the plane is loaded. About half of the passengers are missing. YEAH! The entire row opposite us is empty. Abby jumps on the opportunity. You can see she is very sad to sit alone.
Time to go, right? Wrong. The pilot heads to the back of the plane with a mad look on his face. I didn’t bother to turn around. I was trying to nap. After a few minutes, he returns escorting a guy off the plane. Then there is a ‘meeting’ in the front of first class, which has cocoons!, and then the police board the plane. Are we ever leaving?
Finally, 1 hour after boarding, we are in the air!!! Within minutes, our plane starts to shake like an earthquake. This goes on for several minutes. I start to think that all these mishaps must have been a sign not to fly on this plane. Then the shaking stops and the pilot announces that it was just the strong winds blowing off the mountains and we are above it now and it should be a smooth ride all the way to Dallas – 6 hours! Maybe a heads up, Mr Pilot, would have been reassuring.
Goodbye Anchorage.
And just like that, we’re over the mountains.
Here is our route.
Relaxing with a movie. No dinner though. AA did pass out sandwiches at the airport when they realized noon was not happening and they had no projected time of departure for us.
We were about 2 or 3 hours from Anchorage at this point. Not sure which mountains these are, but they sure are snowy.
Hello Dallas! We’re happy to see you!
Or so we thought.
Al checked his email for our flight confirmation and seat assignments – not there. I feel like these people are lying to all of us to get rid of us and pass us along to someone else.
Once we got off the plane, we were supposed to stand in line to get hotel and meal vouchers. That was a slow line too. We got in line around 12:30am and left the line sometime after 1am. We overheard the lady telling the people ahead of us that Dallas had run out of hotel rooms. How does a huge city run out of rooms????
Now people are even more upset, mad, frustrated……Who could blame us? We are tired and now we have nowhere to sleep.
So we move on to trying to get seats on the Dallas flight. She cannot find us on the early flight so she puts us on for standby so we need to be here early – just in case, so there really is no point trying to even find a room at this point. We are sent to baggage claim to get our luggage. We are concerned thinking that security is probably already closed and how will be get back into the airport.
We get to baggage claim and our luggage is not there of course. The 2 ladies at the counter are typing typing typing and then they both agree that our bags have not even left Anchorage yet. WHAT? We spent hours at the airport. How could have our bags missed their flight??? Then a guy comes to check out the situation. He insists that our bags have made it to Dallas and are in this airport – somewhere. It’s now 1:30am. We asked him if there is any way for us to get back into the airport. He enthusiastically tells us that security opens at 3:30. In 2 hours???
So we tried to entertain ourselves for a while.
And then we gave up and thought about taking a nap. There are no couches, just connected arm chairs. Oh, AA did give us 4 little blankets!
Trying to get comfortable. We walked around a bit, but we only had access to a small area. There were a number of others who were also stranded in baggage claim.
YEAH! It’s finally 3:30 – time to go through security and find our gate. Certainly we can find more comfortable seating/lounging chairs there.
Security doesn’t open until 4! Another lie!!! Does anyone know anything or tell the truth???
4AM – We’re in!!! First people of the day through security, but not the only ones in line.
There are a number of people sleeping on the floor, so I join them. I’m all set. I build my barrier wall, spread out my AA blankets, unpack my pillow and put on my socks with my sandals. Good Night Dallas!
Little did I know, this moment would be documented forever! What a Great shot – what big butts we have! Is that comparable to a Kardashian??? OMG!!! I can’t believe I’m posting this. I must still be sleep deprived!
There we are, right at the top. We’re optimistic and hopeful. That soon ended. They are asking people to give up their seats in exchange for $300 because this flight is overbooked. Oh, and this isn’t even the early flight, it’s at 7:25. What happened?
We packed up, grabbed a bite with our vouchers and moved on to the next gate to wait. Still no comfy chairs or loungers. Abby snuggled up around the arm of the chair and got well over an hour of sleep.
We boarded on time, whatever time that was and left about 20 minutes late, but we were finally headed for home.
HELLO SunCoast! You’ve never looked so good. When we left Anchorage is was cloudy, on and off rain and 55. When we got in our car, it was 95 and sunny. WOW What a Shock! Over 100 heat index too.
Oh, Marly……How we’ve missed you!!!! She usually shows her mintie to her best buddies before she eats it. Strange Girl.
We crashed for a few hours, unpacked very little, realized that one of our AC units was out (the front, most important one (our bedroom/bathroom, kitchen, family room, den, living room, dining room, entry)), and then headed back to the airport to pick up one of Abby’s best friends from Ohio. It’s an exciting reunion for them. They’ve been counting down for more than 60 the days. That’s a long time for a kid.
We finally get home well after midnight and crash at 1am. I slept all the way until 9am! That is unheard of for me, but I woke up well rested.
WOW! What an adventure.
HOME SWEET HOME!
GOOD NIGHT FLORIDA!
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
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We have a full day ahead in Juneau – exciting!
The state’s capitol with a population of only 32,000 people. Juneau is landlocked. You can only reach this city by boat or plane. That’s hard to imagine.
Guess who’s up for sunrise at 4am?
From our balcony.
Yesterday at breakfast there was no bread pudding, but it was back today. YEAH!
Coming into port.
There are a couple of ships already here, so it will be a busy day in town.
We noticed just before we left our room that there were about 30 eagles flying around, feeding not too far from our boat. Cool.
We had to stay and try to get pictures.
We only shot with our nicer camera and big lens.
Al got all of these great shots.
We had to leave the ship even though we were fascinated by the eagles and their feeding habits. We have a schedule today. It looks like there might be a little glimpse of sunshine.
We started our day on a tour with Juneau Tours to visit the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. It was about a 20 minute bus ride outside of town. On the way out we saw a festival/parade of Native Americans.
The glacier was huge and very scenic.
We took a lot of pictures all along the way.
We got as close as we could.
Be Careful! Don’t hurt the camera.
Teamwork
What a beautiful waterfall! WOW!
Mendenhall Glacier is just in front of us and the waterfall is slightly to the right.
I wish we had time to hike to it, but we don’t. It’s only about a mile, but we are on the glacier and whale tour, which is different from the dam tour, and they have a schedule that we’re expected to respect.
This is the first glacier that any of us has seen in person.
If I had known that you could canoe/kayak right up to the glacier, guess where we would be?
Little icebergs
There are several places to get great views.
Heading to the Visitor Center.
Notice how I took the G-rated family photos and Al took this.
Debbie looks guilty. She knows they got caught!
The Visitor Center has a great view from several stories above the road.
From inside
Reading about how big it used to be
Amazing!
Maybe my favorite glacier picture and it was taken with my phone so I could text it to Stephanie, our Ohio daughter – we miss you!
As we were heading back to our meeting place, a guy from our bus, who calls himself Trouble, told us about some black bears hanging out just under the boardwalk.
We ran over to get some pictures – 3 cubs and a mom – how cool.
They were literally just feet from us but it was hard to get good shots because they were in tall grass and rarely looked up to pose for our cameras, but they were cool to see.
The adults only get to about 150 pounds and are generally not too aggressive. When we walked up the naturalist was quietly reminding everyone to whisper in order to not scare the bears. Shen then began telling us, through her microphone, about this bear family and their habits, and said the cubs would probably leave the mom within the next couple of weeks.
Oh, now we have to run to catch our bus.
Next we boarded a bus with about 40 of our closest friends and we were off to our whale watching tour.
We were expecting to see Humpbacks and were hoping to also see Orcas but not too optimistic.
The boat we went on was brand new. Where does that expression even come from – ‘brand’ new?
This was its 3rd voyage. It was nice, comfy and most importantly warm. It didn’t take too long to find a humpback. You will first notice a water spout and then he or she will surface.
They travel alone, unless a mom still has her calf. This whale was pretty inactive in my opinion. No jumping, no tail flips, except when we were all inside the boat- one flip.
After a while we moved on and found a couple of others but pretty much the same story so no good pictures today.
Law requires that the boats stay 100 yards from the whales and not disturb them but our boat stayed hundreds of yards away which made for really difficult picture taking. There were several smaller boats and they got much closer.
Our guides were friendly and knowledgeable. By the end of the day, we saw 4 whales but nothing exciting.
Auke Bay looks pretty scenic. I can only imagine if it was a sunny day. At least it wasn’t raining.
We can see Mendenhall Glacier way off in the distance.
Top middle: Mendenhall Glacier; Center slightly left: Auke Bay
Lower right: Downtown Juneau and the Port
This is interesting……When we left downtown Juneau, the temperature was around 50 degrees. Not sure what it was on the water, but cold, especially when the boat was moving – even just a little. We stayed inside for faster traveling. We did a whale watching tour in Boston a couple of years ago (wonderful) and when we left Newport RI and headed north the temperature was 95, but once we got on the water on a moving boat, it was freezing – about the same as Alaska! Funny but true.
On our ride back into town, our driver gave us some history facts, but my family all napped.
Next we took the Roberts Tram up the mountain 3300 feet for a scenic overlook.
I never even noticed, until I looked at this picture that Al took, how the upper tram station just kind of hangs there.
Our ship, taken from the tram.
Made it to the top.
We had lunch at the top. It reminded me of a 1970s style western diner. Our overly made up waitress wasn’t friendly and the food was nothing to get excited about. I think we waited for quite a while to get it also.
Today was dry but cool. We needed jackets and a couple of layers. The rain started just as we were getting back on the boat in the later afternoon.
As we were boarding the ship we noticed this young eagle in the marina.
Then we found these 2 also, maybe a father and son??? Looks like the dad is teaching a lesson.
Meanwhile back on the ship.
Good Night Alaska!
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums
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Good Morning Ketchikan, Alaska’s southern most city.
We’ve heard from several different people that Ketchikan gets somewhere between 200 and 300 inches of rain a year. June is the start of rainy season – oh joy!
Guess What?
It was raining when I woke up, sometime around 5ish. I don’t know why I have to wake up so early- Grrrrr! Raining at breakfast, but now it wasn’t so we thought we better grab a few pictures of the town while we had the opportunity. Wonder what I’m taking a picture of? I wish I didn’t make that ugly face when I shoot.
We climbed the hill across the street (it doesn’t look very steep in the picture, but it is), in the rain, to try to get a picture of the entire ship.
Most people would probably say that it wasn’t worth it. Oh well, it’s only 10 minutes of my life that I can never get back.
We had planned to go to Totem Bight Park to see totem poles, but we saw lots in Vancouver and Victoria so we stayed in town and visited the shops instead.
We did find a few minutes of rain-free sky but we spent most of it in this store. We did buy a few things, like my bright salmon colored jacket that I will gets lots of use out of.
We meet up with Debbie and Dave but only briefly. Debbie is on a jewelry mission and Abby is shopping for souvenirs. There are so many jewelry stores in town, it’s crazy……5 jewelry stores, 1 souvenir shop, 1 restaurant, repeat, repeat. repeat…….you get it. Crazy!
D & D were startled when they opened their door this morning to find caution tape streaming from top to bottom. Several guests were concerned that someone died in there so they had to take it down. Looks like we got someone’s attention.
We’ve only been in Alaska 30 minutes and she thinks she’s an eskimo.
We found the tourist sign!
Captain Jack from The Deadliest Catch is on our boat. He said he doesn’t drink, cuss, smoke…….We found him at the bar. haha
I never knew this existed. I need to get out more!
After a couple of hours of shopping – way too much, we find the Great Lumberjack Show at the south end of town. Princess docks north, so it’s about a 10 minute walk. Just as we get there, the rain stops. The seating is covered (YEAH!) but the lumberjacks lumber, jack, throw, chop, climb, saw, and entertain in the open. Eventually it starts to rain again.
It is bleacher style seating but they are cushioned and have backs. Another YEAH!
There are 2 teams of 2 lumberjacks. US vs Canada.
We are Canadians for the day or at least for the hour. We cheer and end every sentence with ‘Eh.’
All of the lumberjacks are good. Our guy is in black.
The US team. We have to boo them when they win.
Our other Canadian guy.
The final deciding event……Canadians win.
The show was entertaining and made us smile and laugh.
Ketchikan is a short stop plus we were soggy so we headed back to the boat.
But before we get there, we stop for a snack, king crab legs and crab chowder. While we’re eating we notice that the restaurant is owned by a Floridian.
Then Abby spies out the Christmas store and has to go in.
She has been admiring Russian nesting dolls for years and she finally decides to buy some of her own. Not really sure what you do with them…….So we pose them and take a picture.
Now, we started heading back again and the rain stopped briefly.
I couldn’t pass up all these cool colors.
Meanwhile, back on the ship…….
When we return to our room, Abby’s friends are always sitting at the edge of her bed, looking outside. Our room steward, Jarrod, is great. He is friendly, nice, helpful, funny……
Docking here looks very intimidating.
Finally it’s time to go. We get an escort out of town.
They are pretty heavily armed. I guess there are a lot of pirates in this area.
Somewhere not too far north of Ketchikan.
Looks like this area has had some troubles.
After dinner, we saw a comedian from Joisey (New Jersey). We was pretty entertaining. He talked about just how stupid people really are, and that everyone should be given 10 marbles to start their day. Every time you say or do something stupid, you lose marbles, one or more, depending on the level of stupidity. Once you’re out, you’re done for the day. We will get a lot of mileage out of this for the remainder of our trip.
Dessert and a drink for the show.
11:30pm from our cabin.
Good Night Alaska! Land of the Midnight Sun
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
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Good Morning from somewhere in the North Pacific. We are finally sailing north from Vancouver, British Columbia to Ketchikan, Alaska. We will be there tomorrow at 6:30am.
What to do until then?
Let’s start with breakfast. I’m very picky about my breakfast foods. I’m picky about a lot of foods. I eat almost everything and I try anything, but I like my food to be high quality. I am not a fan of fast food or chain restaurants. I’m not a snob. I just like good food. It’s really my husband’s fault. I grew up eating a very limited menu. Even as a young adult, I didn’t venture out. I just ate fast food, box meals, and salads. My very first date, who actually took me out to dinner, when I was in high school, took me to Chi Chi’s. I had the tostada – remember the one that was piled so high with almost nothing but shredded iceberg lettuce – well I loved it! I thought it was just about the best thing I had ever eaten. I’ve come a long ways:)
Anyways back to breakfast. The buffet is large, as expected, and good. I found plenty to eat and discovered that they have a wonderful bread pudding with warm vanilla sauce. I can’t wait to get more tomorrow!
Each day we get a newsletter called the Princess Patter that tells you a little about the port or what to expect to see and lists all the day’s activities on the ship. Sounds like a great idea. You just have to take the time to read it.
We went to a fruit carving demonstration that was fun, but before it started, we had to wait through some horse racing.
Yes. I said horse racing. I think it’s a run for the roses.
It’s finally time to get started……
It’s looks like each creation will be cute, fun, and adorable. Abby has a front row seat.
Aren’t they cute? We can’t decide which one is our fav.
I don’t know what the occasion was, probably a jewelry ‘party’ that I didn’t attend, but just walked by, but I thought the tower was impressive. They bombard us with invitations to shows, demos, parties, give-aways, promotions, events……all in an effort to sell us some overpriced jewelry.
I really don’t remember what else we did that day. Probably not much. Cruising is really not my thing. I prefer to be out doing things.
Al and Abby did spend some time on the balcony and I sat at the desk just inside the door looking at the many pictures we’ve taken so far. I have a camera, Al has a camera, and we all have our phones – so many pictures to look at and sort. We might be at 2000 so far!
I had hoped to update my photo blog during the cruise and at the lodges. We paid for the middle internet package for the cruise $80 so we could keep in contact with our dog sitters. Our phones work in port but no more than 10 miles off shore which is considered international waters. Verizon does not have a plan to cover that area. Princess doesn’t tell you until you get onboard that the internet plan only includes 200mg of data per day. Do they think it is 1990???
If you turn on the tv, don’t expect much. There is a channel that shows you ‘ship stuff’, where we’re headed, live cam from the front, stats…..nothing too exciting. There is usually a movie playing somewhere and one channel repeats Frasier, Cheers, Everybody Loves Raymond, Blackish, and THE LOVE BOAT every few hours.
This was our first formal night.
We were told that on these cruises people really go all out and not dressing formal was not an option. We were not thrilled about having to bring extra clothes and shoes for dinner, except for Abby. She loves to dress up.
We were also told that if the men didn’t have a jacket and tie, they would not be allowed in the restaurant. Not true. About half of the men wore golf shirts or dress shirts, no ties, and no jackets. We even saw one guy in a wind breaker.
We searched for a nice background, but had to settle for this window.
Posing for a test shot.
In the main atrium.
Most of the ladies were not over the top fancy either – mostly just nice dresses. The staff said they could not turn anyone away. I wish someone would have shared this info with us. I’m sharing it with you.
Just before midnight, Abby and I snuck down to our friends’ cabin on the 9th floor (Dolphin Deck) and decorated their door. We had to get into stealth mode so we wouldn’t be caught. We made a sign ‘Wild & Crazy Grandparents Onboard’ and hung yellow CAUTION tape in front of their door. Abby had tape on each of her fingers and we pre-taped all the strips of Caution tape. We thought we were so organized. Unfortunately we forgot to bring a camera.
OH YEAH! Photos have surfaced!!!
I was hoping to see a ‘midnight’ sunset, but usually there is very little sun or mountains are blocking.
Good Night Alaska!
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums
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I am a photographer who loves to travel. I have always liked photography since I was a kid with my little Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera. I was born in Ohio and had never left the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana until I was an adult! I flew on my first plane at age 21 (to Hawaii), and on my second flight, I jumped out. What a Thrill! Oh, did I mention that I like adventure too?
I have been married for almost 25 years. We met in 1992 working as IT geeks, I mean systems programmers, doing government contract work. That seems like a lifetime ago. We have 2 amazing daughters, neither of which are geeks – yet, and a very cool Golden Retriever, named Marly.
Meet the Fam: Me (Cyndi), Steph, Marly, Abby, Al
We got our first real camera in 2005 – a Canon SLR. My husband just brought it home one day. We were leaving for China in about 2 weeks to adopt a baby girl. We didn’t have time to learn how to use it so we set it to auto and started clicking. We were thrilled with our results – until a few years later when we learned how to shoot, but we are so thankful for all the memories our mediocre photos have created for us.
I live in Sarasota FL and I’m thrilled about it. It’s a wonderful lifestyle if you love beautiful sunny days, the ocean, dolphins, manatees, boating, blooming flowers year round…..there’s so much to love. You do have to learn to tolerate the rainy, muggy, hot summers and know how to roll with the threat of hurricanes and alligators. It’s all good!
We all love to travel and have developed quite a passion for it. We’ve been to many states and a number of countries. I feel very fortunate to live this wonderful life. We have quite a list of places we still want to visit. From now forward, I hope to do a better job photo journaling our travels. Photos help keep our memories alive for me, but I’ve noticed as I’m getting older, I don’t remember everything as clearly as I used to, so my plan is to start documenting more.
Be sure to check out my website and FaceBook:
https://www.facebook.com/GanleyPhotography/
Other blog sites:
http://www.sweetmemories.cc/blog_china05.html
https://vegasandbeyond.wordpress.com/
https://puertovallartaadventure2017.wordpress.com/
https://thebestofsarasota.wordpress.com/
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums
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We are Cyndi & Al and Debbie & Dave. We’ve been friends for a long time. We have fun and laugh together and because of that, last summer we decided to embark on an adventurous, exciting journey to the Great Northwest in June of 2018, and it’s almost here. We booked our trip during the first week of September 2017 – during Hurricane Irma. Although we had our hurricane shutters on and a supply of food, water, flashlights, and candles, we had electricity and internet, so the planning began.
Our venture starts in Vancouver and then takes us to Victoria, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Whittier, Denali, Mt McKinley, and Anchorage.
Our countdown begins……we are under 1 week!
Here we are practicing for iceberg weather. We’re having ice cream in single digit temps with below 0 wind chill – not in FL of course. I think we’re ready!
We all met in Ohio, but Al and I now live in warm and sunny Sarasota. I think Alaska weather will be a shock to me – even in the summer.
This sweet girl, our daughter Abby, is going with us. I hope she can keep up with the old folks.
To learn more about me, your tour guide on this Northern Adventure, visit the About Me page.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
For more images from Vancouver and Alaska, visit my facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/GanleyPhotography/photos/?tab=albums
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Alaska & Vancouver 