Alaska

Miracles do happen. As in, Tony and I just returned from a 12 day Alaskan cruise completely kid free! In honor of our 10 year wedding anniversary, my mom flew in to New Mexico to hold down the fort (and the kids underwater if they misbehaved) to ensure that our marriage would stay strong and I would not be moving home again. Ever. Thanks Mom!
We set sail on June 25th, with 2 1/2 days travel time before we would dock at our 1st port. We managed to find various things to do on board, including running stairs, yoga, massages, board games, oh and making complete fools of our self on "The Newlywed Game" in front of hundreds of strangers. The older I get the more I have an "we should try everything once" attitude so when I saw the ad for sign ups I thought "what the hell!" We were 1 of 4 couples chosen to compete be completely made fun of out of literally boat loads of couples. Get it. Boatloads! Ha! We were selected to represent a couple being married between 5 and 15 years. After round 1 we were in first place due to the fact that we apparently agreed on things like on a scale from 1-10 what would Tony say is the rating that you would give his chances of dating you when you first met (we both said 0!) and where is the strangest place you ever...you know (which now complete strangers know the answer to and family and friends do not!) However, the tide turned after round 2 where we did not agree on questions like "what kind of animal would you say Tony most represents in the bedroom." He said a Lion. I said an Ape. Sadly, we came in last place but were awarded fabulous prizes like a personal fan, chip clip and a set of playing cards. From then on, we were cruising celebrities better known as "that funny newlywed couple!"

Our 1st port was Katchikan, AK where we went crab fishing, toured the red light district and saw amazing totem poles. I would have to say that it was my favorite port in Alaska!

Next stop was Juneau, AK where we did a "Bike & Brew" which consisted of a 9 mile bike ride to Medenhall Glacier and then a tasting at the Alaskan Brew Co. The glacier was an amazing sight and the beer was delicious!

We then sailed to Skagway, AK. Here we zip lined through the trees and then took a scenic train ride all the way across the Canadian border. Breathtaking...both of them!

Our next day we traveled to Endicott Fjord Glacier where the sightseeing was beyond belief. We saw whales, seals lounging on glacier pieces and extraordinary scenery.

Another day at sea resulted in Tony becoming the 2014 Champion of the World, Universe, and Solar System at arm wrestling. Keep in mind that the average age on this ship was 60...and if you weren't 60 than you were Asian. They didn't stand a chance.

Our last stop was Victoria, British Columbia, which also happened to be one of the places where we spent our honeymoon. We joined up with some of our cruise friends for an "off the grid" pub tour, starting at Spinnakers, where we also spent several days in 2004.

Spinnakers 2004

2014

We then ventured to several other local pubs to test the waters so to speak. By the time we stopped counting we had tried 37 local beers!

Which probably explains this picture to some degree....

The last 2 days at sea were full of Bingo, trivia, sleeping and eating. It was an amazing way to celebrate an amazing 10 years of marriage with the man I love on this journey through life together.