Port 2 - Juneau

Our second port of call was Juneau. We went to Mendenhall Glacier. We called a taxi, and we then learned that the Taxi couldn't actually bring us all the way to the lake and glacier viewpoint because it is on a Native American reservation, so we had to walk for a while to get in.

But once we were in, it was BEAUTIFUL! The lake and glacier in the distance with Nugget Falls.

Dani and Jared took the short hike to get to the base of the waterfall. It is so much fun spending time in amazing places with friends.

The waterfall is beautiful!

Our next stop was a whale watching tour. We got to go out into the bay and search for the telltale signs of whales, the spouts, and the humps. 

On the trip, Michael Anderson's wife Kelly kept talking about seeing 'whale tails.' It was pretty funny. We were happy to see quite a few whales during our tour.

After our whale watching tour, we went to a seafood restaurant and had crab and chowder. YUM! What a beautiful place Alaska is!

 

Tracy Arm Fjord

One of the highlights of our trip was the tour of the Tracy Arm Fjord to see the glacier.

It was funny to go up the fjord with all the chunks of ice all over the place.

There were waterfalls EVERYWHERE! Water cascading down the hillsides from the snowfields at the tops of the mountains.

We had a great view out of our balcony and enjoyed much of the trip into the fjord from there.

At the end of the fjord, there was a beautiful glacier. 

We spent a long time on the top deck taking in the 360 views of the scenery with John and Vicki.

While we were there, we got to see a chunk of the glacier calving and crashing into the sea.

The ship did a 360, then turned a 180 before heading back out the fjord. What an incredible place!

Port 1 - Ketchikan

We pulled into port at Ketchikan, a small town nestled against on both sides of the water. The hills are so steep, so most of the building is right next to the water.

Our first excursion is one we were really excited for - a sea plane tour!

It was unique to float into the harbor, then pick up speed and take to the air - out of the water!

Alaska is INCREDIBLE!!! It is huge and vast. I really have no idea where we went - we turned and went out over the mountains

We passed over many lakes and rivers, waterfalls, and endless forests.

We eventually landed on a lake and enjoyed the stillness and silence and took in how remote we were. The lake we landed on was so peaceful.

The flight back was just as incredible.

After the sea plane tour, we had some clam chowder, and while we were there, we were given some tickets to a duck boat tour. We looked around and realized that we were younger than pretty much everyone on the tour! It was a pretty slow change of pace tour, but fun to try it.

Afterwards, we walked around and explored Ketchikan. 

It is BEAUTIFUL!

John and Vicki had a fun time going to a lumberjack show and enjoying the sights and colors of Ketchikan in one of the many picturesque places in town.

 

Setting Sail!

We set sail on the annual Precoa incentive travel trip. This year's destination - Beautiful Alaska. We departed from Seattle. This year, we had special guests - John and Vicki!

 

The view from the ship of the Seattle skyline was beautiful. We continued through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, enjoying the views of Canada and the Olympic Peninsula.

We spent the first hours exploring the ship and seeing all of the amazing features and looking forward to an incredible week to come!

Stafford Ward talent show

One of the best events of the year in the Stafford Ward is the Ward Variety Show. This year, Lisa Jensen was in charge, and she went all out! In the spirit of The Greatest Showman, they created an entire circus theme.

The 

The program was filled with a variety of acts, from gymnastics to guitar shredding, to musical acts, to an eating contest. 

Kate and Liam performed "There's a Hole in the Bucket" and absolutely OWNED it,

 

 and Jacob played his French horn.

They also had popcorn and cotton candy vendors

They had a cute drawing of a lion and circus master - 

It was an incredible show, as always!

Date nights

We have had some fun date nights this year! We love our date nights - especially with our oldest 2 able to watch the other kids.

We went to dinner with Ryan and Jessica at a Middle Eastern place called Aladdin's in Lake Oswego. It had good reviews, so we decided to give it a try. We were seated in a booth at a low table sitting on mats on the floor. The food was good - and it made for fun stories.

Who knows what was going on here... I think we had a Bunko night that evolved into arm wrestling matches!

Hamilton came to town, and we got to go see it. We were in the very last seats in the theater, but the production was incredible! The music was awesome, the lighting and dance choreography were incredible.

We also got to spend some time downtown enjoying the beautiful water fountains and scenery.

Sometimes, we need simply have some Buffalo Wild Wings with some romantic flowers in our pajamas.

One date night, we went downtown with the Battles and Jensens. We rented the red bikes and rode around town. We stopped at some of our favorite restaurants.

Lisa's bike was hard to pedal - which was pretty funny. She eventually traded with Eric. We love time in Portland!