Good morning and happy Tuesday!  Hope your week is going well!  I’ve got a cold – Wayne just got over it –  but…that’s sorta to be expected after spending a week on a cruise with a couple thousand folks, right?!  I mean…washy washy is all well and good but…c’mon.  It sort of seems inevitable!

I did think this would be a good day to share a few highlights from our trip!  I mean – it was because of y’all that we got to go!!  And I don’t have enough words to say THANK YOU!!  It was a blessing to be able to do my fave thing – cruise – thru one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world – Alaska!

I love even the start of trips to Alaska – we always go a little ahead to spend some time in the area.  Port Ludlow was our destination this time around and we spent a lovely week at The Resort at Port Ludlow.

We did a lot of exploring – back to Sequim, Port Gamble, Poulsbo, Port Townsend, Kingston and more!  So we spent a few hours on the Washington State Ferry System – that was fun!  When we chose our rental car at SEATAC – we found a brand new – new car smell and everything! – Honda Odyssey!  It was like coming home!  And – WAAAY easier to handle on the ferry than our truck would have been! 😳

We got lucky on several days!  Mt. Rainier – one of the most beautiful mountains (IMHO) made a few appearances including on our day in Seattle while we were having a great lunch with LeAnne and Carole!!

And we saw him again from our cabin on embarkation day, too.  Score!

I took our traditional first-day-in-the-cabin selfie! That’s Wayne checking our the chocolate covered strawberries that Amy sent to us and to Karen and Gene to welcome us aboard.  We sure did miss her!  But – the strawberries were…BERRY yummy! 🙂

Our first port was Sitka – and we did what I’d call our best excursion!  It was an “expedition” boat – and we all wore cold weather gear and life vests.  AND we got a picture with Capt Cameron – our skipper for the journey and a most wonderful young lady!  That’s her on the left – then me, Wayne, Karen K and Karen’s husband, Gene!

And….Captain…there be WHALES!!

We sat and watched the two gray whales for about 20 minutes.  Jesse – our naturalist/guide for the trip…

…told us that gray whales can be identified by their spout – it’s sort of short and heart shaped!  See it?!?

We made a fast run over to Fin Island…

…for a good meal and a fire with S’mores!  So fun.

Even the eagles said hello!

That was hands-down our fave excursion of the whole trip!

We did a cool train ride in Skagway – the White Pass Train rolls up to the Canadian border and then back down to town!  Stampin’ Up! gifted us all this cool – and pretty! – ride!

Such gorgeous views!  We could see all the way back to the water – I do believe that’s the Anthem sitting there!

On our way to Juneau, we transited the Endicott Arm…low hanging clouds added a surreal feel to the amazing landscapes!

..and then we got to the end of the arm and there was the Dawes Glacier!  The captain did a masterful job of pivoting the massive Anthem 270 degrees – giving everyone a stunning view!!

Unfortunately, those same cool clouds resulted in the cancellation of our Float Plane glacier tour in Juneau.  I mean, it was a good call, but…boo!

We had a day and half of cruising down to Victoria, BC and Wayne and Gene played a little ping pong!

They were pretty well matched and they had fun!

And – we went (twice!) to see the We Will Rock You Show.  This is the same show we saw on Anthem two years ago and it was just as good this time!  They really do a good job.  And, really.  Who DOESN’T love them a little Queen!?

I got one of my fave pictures from our cabin the next morning as we steamed south to British Columbia.  Sunrise on a ship – I could get very very used to seeing that every day!  Or sunset.  That would work, too!

Our final stop in Victoria had us visiting the spectacular Butchart Gardens.  Y’all.  If you EVER have a chance to go there – DO!  It.  Is.  Stunning!

On the way back to the Anthem for the last time – we stopped in at the Butterfly Garden!  Wayne and Karen BOTH got a visitor!!

Our walk back to the cabin was sobering…. worst part of the cruise – everyone setting their bags out in preparation for the next day’s disembarkation.

Monday dawned – there was no stopping it! – over the Seattle skyline.  Final sunrise.  Last Day.

Even Mt. Rainer was a little sad.

But we made it home – tired but happy!  Ready to pick up the kids the next day and start to transition BACK to reality!

This is such a small sampling of the photos I took – I’ll upload more on my Stamps-N-Lingers FB page so be watching for them!  I hope you’ve enjoyed the quick glimpse into another AMAZING trip that we were able to take thanks to YOU ALL! 🙂

All the hugs!

Oh –  before I go….Stampin’ Up! needs me to say that earning the incentive trip is something very few Stampin’ Up! demonstrators achieve—less than 1%, in fact! It takes a ton of hard work and tons of support from my amazing team and my amazing customers!  Done! 🙂

TTFN

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