Chapters:
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December 2010 thru January 2011
February thru May 2011
Thru mid-Sept 2011
October - November 2011
December 2011 (mainly Christmas)
2012 (Five months worth)
May thru November 2012
2012 thru half of June 2013
2nd half of 2013
Alaska Cruise August 2014
Almost a year's worth of 2014 photos!
Tuesday the 17th, we embark and sail out of Seattle around 6:00 p.m. A lovely blue-sky day. This is the view from Pier 91, on the north side of Elliott Bay. Aboard the Carnival Miracle along with 2,500 of our close friends and 900 some staff.
Jack, Natalie and Sara on the top deck, looking out at the Smith Cove Marina where Joseph used to keep his boat. The kids were already elated, saying this is the best ship ever (before they even got to exploring). It actually did look like a Las Vegas casino inside, rather gaudy but well constructed.
By sunset on Tuesday we were passing Port Angeles, enroute to the "outside" west of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes. 30 MPH winds and medium seas this evening.
The kids got bunks, and we had a large comfortable "suite" with a king bed also and an outside large balcony with lounger and a couple chairs.
Kids spent hours in the pool pretty much every day. It was interesting how the water sloshed around some times as the ship rolled in the waves..
Hot tub, much warmer than the cool pool.
Cardinal sin of photography (tipped horizon). By the second day we were off the Queen Charlottes and the wind dropped to pretty near zero. Waking up the next day was entering into Frederick Sound, past Admiralty Island and the Tongass forest.
Pretty much the whole of day 3 was a jaunt past Admiralty Island and the Tongass forest, up into Tracy Arm fjord, the boat got incredibly close to the edges but the water is very deep. Notice a few icebergs.
You can see the tidewater glacier at the end here. I was impressed with the navigation, but they had a couple pilots aboard to augment the Italian captain, plus awesome bow and stern thrusters so they could turn on a dime. Having zero wind probably helped too.
I looked this unusual boat up, it's the "A" (named after the Russian billionaire owner's supermodel wife), cost $300M, designed by Phillippe Starke and built in Germany. I think that square thing in the background came out of the garage door that's open on the side.
Out of Tracy Arm, a more typical SE Alaska view. Fantastic weather--no wind, warm, sunny, each and every day. We really lucked out on the weather.
"Downtown" Skagway, mostly tourist traps and jewelry shops. We skipped the expensive shoreside extras like train or bus rides, just wandered around town. The boat got in early morning, and stayed until almost dark.
Here's a distant view of our ship in the middle, 4,000 or 5,000 foot mountains rising up behind (typical SE Alaska geography). As you see, there were two other ships in port.
Leaving Skagway for the overnight into Juneau.
Aerial view from the tram in Juneau. I think someone said about 38,000 people live here, tucked up against a mountain. This was Sara's favorite stop.
Gastineau channel looking north out of Juneau (I think).
The tramway took us up 1,800 feet above town. They said it was the steepest tramway in the Western Hemisphere but I didn't fact-check that. I'd swear the one at Squaw Valley CA was steeper.
You can kind of get an idea of the topography here, look at that stream running thousands of feet down the mountain. Lots of bears here, but we didn't encounter any.
Kids and I went for a hike. Sara and her folks were below perusing the town.
Another view (from the boat) looking along the harbor into town.
After leaving Juneau in the evening, two days of sailing took us back to Washington. This shows Tatoosh Island looking into the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the West, a rather unusual perspective.
Ben and Judy Smith (Sara's folks) enjoying yet another spectacular sunny day as we approached Victoria.
Our boat docked in Victoria.
Three quarters of the Porters, at Victoria Inner Harbor in front of the Parliament building.
We took a horse-carriage ride back to the ship. This is the only photo we got where the normal photographer Dave appears, I think.
Our steed "Sergeant" turning into the parking lot. 19th century meets the 21st.
A handsome Clydesdale. The one on the right.
"Ogden Point" just south of our dock. Dave took a fairly long walk out to the end of the breakwater. This was Monday night, the ship left around 11:00 p.m.
From the breakwater, looking towards our ship. I pasted an arrow pointing at our suite on deck #8, one deck below the restaurant. Notice the green curly water slide topside, which the kids probably went through a couple dozen times--they were so enthusiastic about it.
Returning to Seattle, just after dawn the next day, Tuesday August 26th (Natalie's 10th birthday). Thanks for looking at our photo album! Please send an E-mail if you have any comments or corrections, or know something we don't!
