June 5th, 2010 - first full day on the ship and HUBERT GLACIER

Ice pieces in the water - looks C-O-L-D!! Glad we had hot chocolate with Baily's

Oh, and another nice thing about this excursion - they served hot chocolate with Baileys Irish Cream in a mug for $10.00 USD - mmmmmmm - Good!!!

The Hubbert Glacier was calving - meaning large chunks of ice were falling off into the water. We did see it and hear the loud ice groans, but I was unable to get photos of it - Sorry. Another view of Hubert Glacer in the Gulf of Alaska - for further information you may wish to visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hubbard_glacier

The weather cleared just long enough for a viewing of the Hubbert Glacier - it cleared as we entered the bay and stared to close in as we were leaving - what luck.

And another pic of the same colours

This is a close up of the glacier - notice the colours of blue and white - awesome!!

Hey, I even used my age to ask someone to take our picture with Hubert Glacier in the background of a picture of us, Why not?? Would you say No to an old lady in her 60's? I didn't think so.

I am sorry to say that a lot of my pics were overexposed because of the lighting of the day but I do hope I have enough pics to give you an idea of what we saw

Nota chance ol' lady!! You think I am crazy??
We never did see him take the plunge, but his mom came up and clapped her flippers together to encourage him to join her in that freezing cold water. When we were coming out of the bay we did see the same ice flow covered in blood but no baby - so he must have made the plunge!

Can you imagine coming out of that warm tummy and your crazy momma wanting you to jump into that freezing cold water!

This was just awesome to see - here is a newborn Stellar Sea Lion on an ice flow - he has just been born - his Mom is in the water trying to encourage him to come in and join her

Here is a Stellar Sea Lion and her baby

Pieces of ice floating in the bay

An ice flow - the grey material is sediment from millions of years ago - hard to believe - ancient history before your eyes!

I took lots of pictures for people with the glacier in the background for them. You could say I used my age to my advantage - who is going to tell at 60 year old woman to go to he-- when I ask them to step aside so I can take a photo of someone else. No one did (lucky me - I likely would have craped my pants if they had.

This was the guide who gave a verbal account as we entered Disenchantment Bay for a viewing of the infamous

Hubert Glacier

The day did not look promising for a viewing of Hubert Glacier - rain and fog

Desserts to die for!

This carving is made of cheese

Look at this dish of shrimp - to think I missed it!

Allan stayed back at too these photos. The ice carvings and watermellon sculptures were beautifuly done

A Breakfast Buffet was served this morning in the main dining room - this was a special event because it was our first morning on the ship. Everything you could think of was served, very decretively displayed and lots of it. We were at sea at the time and it was a little rough, had been all through the night, 18 foot waves they told us. Well that explains why I was not feeling too well. I started with scrambled eggs - because of the nausea you know, I wanted something light on my stomach. After the first bite was swallowed, my mouth started to water and the eggs were coming back! I got up and ran to the bathroom - another woman and I were neck and neck at the bathroom door but we both got through somehow and once inside our separate stalls we hurled in unison - Ya had to be there!

I went to our stateroom, took some motions sickness tablets and fell to sleep. When I awoke we were in a channel, waters were calm and I was feeling much better. Well enough to have lunch. Too bad it wasn't a spread like breakfast.

June 4, 2010 - Today ends our in-land tour and begins the cruise portion of our vacation

Today we travelled from Denali to Anchorage then on to Seward where we met our ship - the Celebrity Millennium. We are looking forward to our ports of call and the excursions we have planned for each. Should be fun!

We are tired and looking forward to a good nights sleep at this point. Dinner was delicious - you know me and food - food is one of the main parts of my vacations. Oh well, there will be lots of time to loose weight when I get back home.

Good Night!!

There, that takes you the complete circle I believe

The TV actually worked well, we got good reception and kept abreast of the news and favourite programs while on board.

It is small but quite adequate to meet our needs for the 7 night journey

We have an ocean view stateroom at mid ship of the first level above the water. I understand this is the best place to be if you want to avoid being sea-sick - this is the place for me!

These photos were taken prior to setting sail from Seward - we are on the water all night until late tomorrow.

I just could not believe the number of sailing vessels docked here!

Seward Bay, Alaska


Here she is "http:// http://www.celebretycruses.com/ " is the website - there are others too, you may want to look at " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5wPnya_hQw just to look at what we can expect on this part of our vacation.

The first glimpse of our ship at the Seward Docks

These pictures were taken at a highway rest stop between Anchorage and Seward. People are still doing their usual winter sports here, skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing....

There is still snow in sheltered places

The scenery is beautiful - but you know the people who live there full time probably don't appreciate it - they get so used to seeing it every day - like us here on Manitoulin with our beautiful scenery.

The highway travels close the the river and the railway tracks

This and the picture below show subdivisions of Anchorage at the base of the mountains

Leaving Anchorage and heading on our way to Seward

An interesting sea world mural painted on the side of a building. I love to see these - and then I wish I was so talented

Still in Anchorage, Alaska

For such short growing seasons the greenery and flowers are doing very well. Surprising how plants have adapted.

I do wish it had been a better day, because of the fog and clouds you can not see the mountains in the background.

We arrived in Anchorage for lunch, while there we did a little sightseeing as well. This is the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall

The gentleman of the left of this photo is our tour guide and the man on the right is the bus driver. A super pair - they really made our trip enjoyable and have left us with fond memories.

On the way we stopped for a bathroom brake and coffee at this war memorial park

It looks like rain, a good day to be on the bus.

We left Denali and our comfortable Lodge early in the morning for the long trek to Seward where we are to meet our cruise ship - Celebrity's Millennium. This is to be a distance of 252 miles or 405 kms.