Christmas in San Diego

After deciding to enjoy a quiet family Christmas in Boise, it was announced that our Boise State Broncos would play their bowl game in San Diego, 2 days before Christmas. What to do...roadtrip??? Why not!

The trip began with a visit and a night with Gma Florence's in Palm Desert before we continued on to San Diego. Our first day in San Diego was rainy but we enjoyed exploring several museums in Balboa Park. That evening, we warmed up our vocal cords at a USD basketball game where they just happened to be playing Boise State.

Tuesday was Game Day! The pregame activities included a tailgate party with over a hundred of mostly our ole SoCal friends who were there to cheer on Ryan Winterswyk, who plays for BSU. We all sat together and enjoyed a great game.

On Christmas eve day, we enjoyed a fabulous beachfront breakfast in La Jolla and then took a stroll along the ocean, soaking up the coastal sounds, smells and sights.

Bryce showing up his skateboard skills.
Our little girl starting to look all grown up.

On Christmas day, we all drove to my sister's house near LAX and spent the day all together enjoying an amazing brunch Rebecca prepared and then seeing what Santa put in our stockings.

Before heading back to Boise, we had to soak up a little more sun and surf.

Thanksgivng in Boise

Thanksgiving is always a special family time and this year it was made extra special with a house full of some our most special people. Shelly's mom and brother and his 3 daughters joined us from Seattle and my folks made the long drive from San Diego. Everyone arrived Wednesday evening and by Thursday morning the kitchen was filled with activity and wonderful smells.

Great cooks and lots of smiles!

Hard to beat a orange rosemary smoked turkey!

Hungry cousins!

A little after dinner entertainment.

and a gingerbread house building/decorating competition.

Wonderful time together!

Alaska 08 Day 12 - Inside Passage

Our final day on the cruise began with a fabulous brunch with everything from eggs benidict to prime rib.

The remainder of the day was spent leisurely cruising through the inside passage to our final destination of Vancouver.

Alaska 08 - Day 11 Ketchikan

The famous "Creek St" in Ketchikan.

We took a float plane excurision to a nearby salmon that was a known black bear hangout.
5 of the bears enjoying the unlimited salmon buffet.

After our float plane trip, we returned to the ship for a special vow renewal ceremony performed by the capitan.

Alaska 08 - Day 10 Icy Strait Point

On day 10, we anchored off Icy Stait Point, a pristine forested setting. From our cabin, we could see several humpback whales. After a relaxing breakfast onboard, we went ashore and enjoyed a walking tour of the cannery wharf and found a trail took us through the woods and then along the beach.

In the afternoon, the kids, Rebecca and mom & dad went on a whale watching cruise on the boat in the foreground and had several up close encounters with Alaska's largest resident, the humpback whale.

Alaska 08 - Day 9 Skagway

We awoke on day 9 to find our ship docked in Skagway and looking forward to two different excursions.

The kids went with nana, papa and auntie on a narrow gauge train that followed the gold miners route from the port town up to White Pass. Their pictures show incredible views of this amazing territory.

With everyone else on the train climbing Whitehorse pass, Shelly and I enjoyed a leisurely float down the Haines river seeing bald eagles and spectacular mountains.

That evening back onboard, we enjoyed a special dinner in the premer dining room. Unbeliveible food and wonderful time together.

Alaska 08 - Day 8 Juneau

We enjoyed a little fellowship meeting in our stateroom before venturing out to explore the town of Juneau. Mendenhall Glacier was a few miles out of town but definetly something that had to be seen.

After seeing the sights and touching a real piece of 1,000 yr old ice, we decided to go on a little hike. Signs warned of bears in the area and they were right!

Just a dozen feet from the trail was a large black bear. Luckly he/she was more interested in the stream full of salmon than the trail full of us.

The bear's lunch!

Alaska 08 - Day 7 Glacier Bay

We spent our first evening exploring the HUGE ship. It is over a thousand feet long and 13 decks tall. The kids had their own room across the hall from us and it took them about 10 minutes to figure out the room service thing and it wasn't long before a steady stream of pizza, ice cream and cookies began arriving at their door. Later in the evening they discovered the onboard kids club and that was pretty much the last we saw them for the week. ha

After spending most of our first day cruising through smooth waters, we got our first look at Glacier Bay.

Pretty soon the ship was surrounded by bits of ice as we approached the wall of ice.

Pictures do not come close to capturing the beauty of this active glacier.

We got within a 1/3 of a mile and it was at that point you realized the true size of the glacier as it towered over the 13 story ship. You could literally hear it moving and we witnessed several large pieces come crashing down.

Many of the larger ice bergs carried seals.

That night we enjoyed our first formal dinner on the ship.