We stopped at the first shop that was open to buy bottled water (for some reason, our unlimited drink package did NOT included bottled/canned water) and we needed supplies for the hike. First impressions - wow, town is VERY hilly, reminiscent of Seattle/San Francisco.
It was about two miles before we left the residential area and started along the road to the trails.
The views were truly spectacular!
Heading up the lower trail and I was pretty impressed with how "tame" and not technical it was.
Fun fact, the lower "trail" section was actually Alaska's first road! I can't imagine how they were able to get up the mountain in old timey vehicles, but on foot it was quite nice.
 |
| Aliya and Ariel |
We were about 3.8 miles in before we even got to the official trail for Mt. Juneau.
With all the rain the trails were a bit muddy and slick - PLUS, it took a lot longer to get to the trail than we expected - we turned around after only going another 3/4 of a mile or so.
Everyone seemed much happier on the way down - and the only one who fell was me!
We had to be back on the ship by 11 and the brewery that Tyler recommended didn't open until 11. We went with Ariel and Aliya to find coffee and went into a few shops before we decided to just wait for them to open (along with at least a dozen other people). The beer was worth the wait!
We had enough time to have two beers before we had to walk the two miles back to the ship - we made it with about a half hour to spare. We got back to the cabin and showered and changed clothes before heading to the atrium to watch the Thriller dance lessons! I am ashamed to say that even after watching the tutorials I still can't really figure it out. I have MORE of it, but... it still eludes me.
We knew that we would be seeing a glacier later in the day so we headed to the observation deck to find Celine and Bill. They thought it would still be hours before we would be seeing it, so we went to the brewery since the windows were really good for viewing. We made plans to meet up with the girls closer to the estimated time. So pretty!
We ended up going out on the helipad as that was supposedly the best viewing area but (shockingly) people are jerks and no one close to the railing would move out of the way for others to get good photos. Finally we went up to the very top of the ship and we were able to get some decent pictures.
Later dinner at Savor with Celene and Bill. Delicious, like usual.
There was a free gondola to the cannery and a restaurant and some shops. It was raining and the line was pretty long, but the girls wanted to go on it, so we waited.
We hurried over to the building that advertised the excursions, but they were sold out of whale watching ones. We walked over to the beach and found some starfish in the rocks.
We also saw MULTIPLE WHALES!!! Not sure that the experience in a boat would have been all that much better and we saved over $800. We weren't sure what there was to do in "town" but we decided to walk the few miles and find out. It was lightly raining the whole time, so it was relatively unpleasant.
There was literally nothing at the end of the line other than a brewery and a few shops. The girls weren't thrilled about the walk back so we paid the few bucks and put them on the shuttle to get back to the ship. We went to the brewery. It was very crowded and the beer wasn't very good. Service was also less than stellar and it was a decent amount of money, so we weren't upset at all to head out. In Alaska they have a law that you can only be served 3 beers per person - we had to stop in at the pub that advertised with the sign below because we thought it was hilarious.
Skipped the gondola back and did the walk through the woods instead, which seemed to be a time saver anyway. Yet another dinner at Savor:
Can't really remember what we did in the evening other than watch the sunset. Brewery? Did I mention we had an unlimited drink package?
Thankfully I knew the name of the trail I wanted to go to because it seemed like we were just in a town and I wasn't sure how to get there. The directions initially had us going on a nice paved "trail" behind some houses. I had no idea what I was expecting, but I was mildly disappointed if this was what I had picked, even though it was pretty.
We took a quick detour through City Park:
More signs for bears (which we did not see) and amusing to me, phone numbers for taxis at the trail head.
THIS. TRAIL. WAS. AWESOME. I so, so, so wish that this hadn't been one of our shortest times off the ship. Having discovered that Alaska is a rainforest, it was SO lush and green and pretty! My hair was frizzing in minutes, which was fine because this was such a beautiful and well-maintained trail.
I was keeping an eye on the time because I wanted to make sure that the girls had time to get coffee and do shopping in town. The sign at the trailhead indicated that the first overlook was a mile in, so we compromised and said we would hike to that.
Since we basically started at sea level, it was neat to see the below sign right before the overlook.
I had mapped a different way back in hopes that we would have time to stop at the Totem museum. Unfortunately, it 1). started to rain and 2). we really just didn't have enough time, nor did any of us want to stay outside in the rain again (after being out in it all day at the Icy Strait the day before). There were a few breweries in town and Ben and I picked Bawden Street. I only had one beer since it was an imperial (oof).
We of course still had to walk back to catch the shuttle and they had claimed the last bus was at noon. Well we got to the area around 11:30 and the line was INSANELY long. We ended up in line with a guy that also had been at Deer Mountain and he said that he tried to summit and didn't even make it because there was too much snow at the top. So, I feel better about not going much further. The shuttle driver assured us that we would NOT get left behind and we got on the ship with like 3 minutes to spare. We showered and then got a few plates of food at the buffet before heading to the atrium to watch blind Mario Kart, which was fascinating! Dinner with everyone.
Another evening watching the waves at the District.
Also did some weights and strength training. Up to the buffet for lunch. We managed to find the girls and Ben's parents playing cards on the Observation Deck, so we joined them for a bit. We decided we needed to shower and get some packing done. Ended up napping before having dinner - This time at Manhattan.
We only had a 3.5 hour stop in Victoria, so we planned to get off the ship right at 8. YES, 8 PM. Ugh!!! There was a shuttle to go to downtown area, but it was expensive, so we decided to walk. The signage claimed it would take a half hour and I thought we could get there quicker. Turns out, no, it took that long.
Arrived right at sunset, which was cool!
The girls wanted ice cream and we were hoping to find a brewery. Neither of us seemed to have any phone service or internet, so after a long time we gave up and decided to just go to the bar/restaurant near the harbor area. Once we got on the WiFi we found out there WERE some breweries, but now we didn't have time to go there. So, we found the girls and headed back to the ship.
It also looked REALLY stormy and Ben was worried about hail, so we headed home. Well, better than nothing I guess!
Took Olive for a long walk after that.
Did a short upper body workout and when I got off work met Ben at Costco so we could pick up groceries. We then got caught up on Criminal Minds.
 |
| Dawes Glacier |
Aliya asked if we could go to a comedy show, which didn't start until 10. We got there at 9:30 so we would be able to get some seats. Kinda wish we had gone to bed, it was a crass and raunchy show and frankly, it was pretty embarrassing to be there. Bed immediately after.
Wednesday (18,457 steps) - We weren't sure what there was to do, so we determined we didn't need to be the first people off the boat. We had no idea what there was to do other than whale watching, and we hadn't booked a tour, but according to the activities guide there were multiple options. SO, we had breakfast first.
Thursday (22,158 steps) - To the best of my knowledge we I had found another nice trail to hike. But once again, we were further away than expected and we still had to take a shuttle to get to town first, which I hadn't planned on. We did breakfast separately and met the girls to get off the ship and took the shuttle to town.
Shortly after that was the road that would take us to the Deer Mountain trail. Once again, I thought that maybe we would have had time to get to the summit, but without knowing about the shuttle and additional walk to get to the trail I had not allowed enough time. We saw some of our only wildlife off the road:
We got some pictures at the overlook and then immediately started the hike down.
The girls stayed up late and went to the Jersey Boys show, I kinda wish we would have went, but we were exhausted.
Friday (22,376 steps) - Ariel had left a note in our room to meet her and Aliya for breakfast. They messed up the time change and ended up being late, but we ended up finding Ben's parents and we all had breakfast at The Local. It was fun because we were able to see the big TV in the atrium and watched trivia and a cooking challenge. Ben and I had to spend the rest of his coins at the casino, which took about a half hour to lose. THEN, we went to the gym. More treadmill - another hill program, although this time it was after a Bloody Mary and it felt horrible.
Once again, barely made it in time! We were going to have to get up really early to get off the ship :( so we went to bed as soon as we got back.
Saturday (11,107 steps) - Met everyone for an early breakfast, at you guessed it, Savor. They had a very limited menu since it was the last morning, but it was really good to have a last meal all together. Ben's parents had the earliest flight, so they were off the ship first. Ben and I were next. For some reason when the cruise booked all our flights they did NOT put the kids on the same flights as us! Our flight was at 1 and theirs wasn't until 5 something. They had plans to store their bags and hang out in Seattle. We figured out the shuttle to the airport. The shuttle took forever because there was a 5k happening on the road, so we had to detour. We got there in plenty of time but then had to wait in a really long line to drop our one bag. Once we got rid of the bag we just needed to find somewhere to hang out until our flight. The security line was long but fast. Seattle does not require you take anything out of your bag and you can keep shoes on, so it was quick! We were able to figure out the airport and found a bar near our gate that had decent beer and we got a buffalo wrap and fries for a snack. Our flight left on time and I started re-watching Gossip Girl to pass the time. We landed in Denver and then had to get our dropped bag. By the time we got outside to catch the train to Union Station it was 5:45. Ben agreed the train wasn't awful, we got the truck and then drove to Littleton to pick up Olive from Camp Tami. Tami said she was very well behaved and welcome back anytime and she didn't end up using the crate at all. See how happy she is to be back with us??
From Tami's we drove up to 4 Noses for a beer. We ordered food from Torchy's and picked up on our way home. Ariel got home (Aliya's dad picked them up at the airport) only about 20 minutes after us!! We started watching Handmaid's Tale and didn't get to bed until after MIDNIGHT.
Sunday (11,828 steps) - Tried to sleep in, but shocker, couldn't. Unpacked and started on laundry and other things around the house. Ben mowed the lawn and by the time Ariel got up around 11 we still hadn't decided where to go for a run. A decided that she DID want to start her move today (to her new townhome), so I took Olive for a walk while her and Ben got the first trip loaded up. We decided we would take Olive with us (basically since she refused to let us out of her sight) and stop at North Table and get some vert in on the Quarry Road. We saw a tiny snake on the way down.
Ended up having to do TWO more trips with Ariel, although I didn't go on the last one because I took Olive for a walk instead. By the time we made dinner it was something crazy like 9 pm. We barely had time to watch the rest of Handmaid's Tale before going to bed.
Monday (22,872 steps) - Work from home. It didn't take long to get caught up from my vacation and I headed out early for my run. Garmin gave me a -3 within the first half mile, but I still felt like I had a pretty decent run.
Stats:
- 141,251 steps
- 21.94 miles run
- 18.5 miles walked
- 0 minutes of cardio
- 28 minutes of strength
