Another Great Trip!

We all flew to Seattle on Friday, my parents arrived first and went to the hotel, then we got there, followed quickly by my in-laws. We rented a mini van so we could all go see the sites together before we boarded our cruise ship. We had a wonderful dinner at Jai Thai in Fremont. If you have time on a visit to Seattle, drive around Lake Union to get to Freemont, it's got great shops and restaurants and is one of our favorite places to spend some time when we're in the area. Jai Thai and 35th Street Bistro are two of our favorite restaurants. I took the picture below from our balcony before we left the port. We couldn't believe the weather we had, just look at the beautiful blue sky in Seattle!
As we sailed off into the sunset, here's how it looked. The water was so calm as we made our way to Alaska.

Our first stop was Ketchikan, and I love boats, so I was very happy when I looked out and saw the shot below. We walked around town and saw the Totem Poles, beautiful streams, and the brightly colored buildings. I went in to a quilt store with my mom, and saw a flier for Mission Street Arts and Fiber, a wonderful yarn store. Two bags of yarn later, I felt very good about helping Ketchikan's economy. There was also a Salvation Army store down on the waterfront, and I've never met a second-hand store or flea market that I didn't like. This one was no exception. One man's trash is truly another's treasure!

In Skagway, we rode the White Pass and Yukon Railroad up into the mountains across the border into Canada. The scenery was unbelievable. The railroad was built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush. It is an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (like the Eiffel Tower, and the Panama Canal).

After our train trip, we went downtown and sampled some brews from the Skagway Brewing Company. The Spruce Tip Ale is now my absolute favorite beer in the world. Unfortunately, it's not sold anywhere outside of Skagway. The brewery doesn't have a bottling facility. If you are ever in Skagway, make a point to stop by and have the beer sampler. Like an old sailor, I have my Spruce Tip lady waiting for me at the port, should I ever return. Until then, I'll be drinking my water out of a Spruce Tip pint glass.

I think it's funny that I caught someone's hand dropping a cigarette butt in this ashtray. It looks posed to me, but it wasn't.

I'll post more pictures later. It's going to take me a while to go through the thousands that I took over the week.