Alaskan Cruise With the Gunnells

Steve's father,J.Darwin Gunnell, passed away a little over two years ago at the age of 94. He was a remarkable man who accomplished many things during his lifetime. I feel one of his greatest accomplishments was his family. With his wife Olive (who I never got to meet,she passed before I met Steve) they had six children. When Darwin's estate was settled there were some excess funds that the family decided should be used for all the siblings and their spouses to go on a vacation together. It was decided that we would go on an Alaskan Cruise through Princess Cruises. On July 11th we set out on our adventure and we had a great time!

My pictures below are a not in order but I want to get this post done and I don't want to start over with my pictures. 

We were cruising through Glacier Bay our first two days at sea where we had a chance to check out a few glaciers. Those two days had our worst weather,a little rainy and foggy. The glaciers where still very visible but not the best for taking pictures. I posted this picture of Laura to show that we had balcony rooms. The only way to go on an Alaskan cruise.

Steve really was having a good time even though it doesn't look like it. He is standing on our balcony.

Me on our balcony with the Marjerie Glacier behind me.

Our first stop was Skagway where we immediately boarded a boat to Haines Alaska for our Eagle Preserve outing.These are the rafts we would spend the next hour and a half riding.

Steve's brother Doug,his wife Ellen and Steve waiting to board.

I love this picture of Steve's brother-in-law Mark walking the plank.

They provided us with the life preservers and the boots.

Our party was split between two boats and this was the guide for the other boat.

Steve's brother Scott and his wife Rachael. Poor Rachael was sick the entire cruise but she was suck a trooper .

The life preservers had names on them. Mine was Eagle Stew?????? Comforting.

This was our very interesting guide. I enjoyed hearing about his experiences in Alaska,his family and the very small town of Haines especially in the winter. Needless to say they wear many hats and have several jobs,winter jobs and summer jobs!  The gentleman in the front of the boat was traveling with his brother. He lived in Florida and his brother in Tucson. Originally from New York. The brother from Tucson has a quarter horse gelding named Scooter that is 32 years old. He has owned him since he was 4. He still gallops him through the washes in Tucson! 

Steve's brother Lamoine and his wife Susan.

We stopped briefly as one raft was ahead of the other and the guides wanted to stay together. there were fresh bear tracks on this beach.

Not a great picture but that is actually a wolf we saw. Our guide said he had only seen one 2 or 3 times the entire summer.

Hard to see it but this is a bald eagle in flight. I took several pictures of bald eagles as we saw so many of them. None of the pictures do justice to these majestic birds. 

In Juneau some of us took a helicopter ride which landed on the Taku glacier! I have to say that this was the highlight of my trip. I had never been in a helicopter before or on a glacier. Steve could not attend as he has a fear of heights! 

Ellen

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Taku glacier with one of our copters. That is not running water, it is the glacier.

Looks as if we are standing on water!

In Ketchikan we went on a rainforest hike. At the end of the hike we got to feed some reindeer.

The bald eagle and the great-horned owl both have injuries and can not be returned to the wild.

This man is an apprentice to his Uncle learning the art of carving Totem poles. This totem will be a bear and it will take 5 months to complete.

After our rainforest hike we were taken by bus to our all you can eat crab feast. A feast it was! I was telling Steve that we will try the rest of our lives to find crab as good as this and be unsuccessful. These were not the King crab legs but the dungeons (sp) crabs. Little Ellen sitting to my right in the picture ate three crabs!

They emptied our bowl of shells three times!

Read this sign in Ketchikan,very interesting. The best pizza in town at the mexican resturaunt!

This was our table for dinner every evening.

On our way to Alaska at the airport.

On our way to Haines we had to pass through this famous 3 mile tunnel. The trains use this tunnel also. It is so narrow the bus has no room on either side.

A few more random helicopter photos.

This actually had a small waterfall on the glacier. 

Walking on water. Yeah right!