North to Alaska!!

Last April after sharing a great weekend together at Sigh-Bar with Lee's two high school buddies and their wives, Frank & Maureen Leifson and Rod & Ann Dart, the six of us decided that we needed to plan a vacation together every year. We came up with several destinations on our bucket lists, but finally agreed on an Alaskan cruise in 2016. So, right after the first of the year, we paid our deposits and started planning!

The Leifsons and Darts both live in Utah Valley, so they flew from Salt Lake City to Seattle, while Lee and I rode the Amtrak train from Whitefish. We met up on the deck of the Norwegian Jewel and spent the next 7 days on an amazing adventure.

The ship was an incredible floating adventure in itself! We absolutely loved the ocean view from the big window above our king-sized bed. We ate at several of the restaurants onboard, and tried some interesting tastes as well as many favorites. The food was fabulous! We made sure to always get seats at the live show , which was something new and entertaining every night. I jogged around the jogging track, we sat out on the deck to "ooooh and ahhhh" at unbelievable scenery, and let Frank teach us new card games.

Our first port was Ketchikan. It was a cool but sunny day to enjoy the lumberjack show and competition there, then a visit to a Saxman Native Village. We learned all about the Saxman culture and their awesome totem poles. I was the brave one that volunteered to put on one of their beautiful robes and dance with them when they performed a native dance.

Our next port was Alaska's capital city, Juneau. We got on a smaller boat and had the most thrilling experience of seeing up close and personal orca whales, humpback whales, several porpoise, an entire community of sea lions, and 20-30 bald eagles all in their natural habitat. We also visited Juneau's Mendenhall Glacier.

Next was the northernmost stop on our trip in Skagway. Onboard the White Pass Railway we climbed up the pass through the Yukon gold rush area. We spent some time wandering around the little town, and had some yummy local halibut for lunch.

The last stop on the return to Seattle was the beautiful city of Victoria, B.C., Canada. We toured the city then spent a couple hours wandering through the Butchart Gardens, where we also rode the carousel and treated ourselves to gelato waffle cones.

All too soon it was time to walk the gangplank one final time as the ship docked back in Seattle. We said "good-bye" after an absolutely fabulous week together, with a renewed commitment for another "Frodlee" event in 2017. We are greatly blessed to have experienced some of the most beautiful scenery in our country, with some of the most awesome friends in the whole world!