Cruising to Alaska

Last week, the Schmidt family+Ty loaded ourselves onto a cruise ship in the Seattle Harbor and headed up to Alaska for a week of card and dice playing, abundant eating, great sight seeing and some pretty killer land excursions. The itinerary featured stops in Juneau, Sitka, Ketchican and Victoria, B.C. And me and Ty's personal itinerary (as pictured above) included hiking in Juneau, biking in Sitka, kayaking in Ketchican (while wearing waterproof pants) and adoring Victoria.

In short, it was amazing. Along with learning that Alaska is ridiculous amounts of beautiful and fun, I also learned the following while on the trip:

1. Many of the waterfront cities in Alaska are only accessible by water -- not roads. Water planes and boats are in no shortage there.
2. The mountains, along with everything else in Alaska, are humungous. Ravens, dandelions, eagles, you name it...in Alaska it's bigger (sorry Texas).
3. The mountains in Alaska are located approximately one-quarter of a mile from the ocean front. Ocean - nestled city - mountains. That's how it goes.
4. Juneau gets roughly 16 days of sun a year (it was totally sunny the day we were there -- hey yo!)
4. If you keep your eyes open on a bike ride in Sitka, you might just find yourself a sweet, free bandana.
5. Secondly, while Sitka may seem lame from all the sources you can find on the internet, it is actually the coolest town in Alaska and serves the most supreme clam chowder imaginable (insert Ludvig's Bistro here).
6. Overcast weather in Ketchican is actually preferred for kayaking because sunny weather brings wicked wind and unbearable kayaking conditions.
7. Sea cucumbers look entirely different in Alaska than they do in Southern California.
8. I still get wicked sea sick.
9. My dad wakes up at 5:00 every morning, but happily isn't quite the snorer he used to be.
10. Burger Queen in Ketchican sells $10 burgers and $5 shakes that are worth every stinking penny.
11. Victoria, B.C. is totally charming and I would be more than happy to live there one day.

Hope you all had a great week last week too! Soon to come are pictures from staying at my brother's house pre and post Alaska trip. As usual, much fun was had and documented. Not as usual, I got a surprise, long-awaited gift from my brother while we were there! Booyah! I'm excited to share. Pictures to follow.