Jacob's Road Trip Ramblings ... The Alaska Frontier

Our first cruise stop was Skagway. In my opinion, this was the best stop of the three, for reasons I will share momentarily. Skagway is a tiny town of about 850 residents (400 year-round), and the local industry is actually tourism. They see around 700,000 tourists in their port every year, and I can see why. We all piled into a helicopter out the fjord and around to the glacier. This in and of itself was amazing because not only do I love flying, but it was also my first experience in a helicopter. After about 20 minutes of flight, we got out on the glacier with our steel-studded boots and climbing poles. This was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. A huge field of glacial ice spread out before us in brilliant blues and whites. Given the season, there was clear, cold water flowing through parts of the glacier itself. These small streams had actually bored huge tunnels straight down to the bottom of the glacier. We all carefully leaned over to get a look at the amazing sight of the water disappearing into a mass of brilliant dark blue. Where we were standing, the glacier was more than 200 feet thick, and a mile and half across.



While less eventful, Juneau was still very interesting. We got off the ship, took a tram up the mountain, and looked out over the beautiful view of the harbor and surrounding fjord. There was also a bald eagle that was in captivity being cared for due to injuries. She was an amazing bird! We saw several bald eagles on our trip, and it was easy to see why they are the national bird. After our stop at the mountain, we came back down and wandered through the Juneau downtown until we decided to board the ship once again.

Our final stop was in Ketchikan and I’ll tell you what, it was another amazing Alaskan experience! We wandered off the ship and found a great opportunity to go flightseeing back into the Alaskan wilderness. Granddaddy, Grandmother, Jesse and I got the opportunity to fly for an hour over some of the most magnificent natural sights I have ever seen. Words and photos cannot describe the grandeur of the mountains and cliffs and waterfalls and forests. We eve landed in the middle of a remote mountain lake for a few minutes to get out on the pontoons and gaze out at even more splendor. It is an experience that continually reminded of how small I am...and of how great and majestic our God is! Overall, it was a mind-boggling experience, and definitely one of the trip highlights.



Overall the cruise was a lot of fun, and quite cold! I will never forget the things I saw up in Alaska, and we always love cruising with Disney. It was a wonderful, relaxing vacation with our grandparents, and we all had a fabulous week. Now time to head back down the coast!

Beth's Wildlife Report ...

Still no moose!

Alaska and Back (Jesse)

The past week plus has been absolutely amazing and has held some of the coolest sights of the trip! When I last reported, I was very close to boarding the beautiful ship Disney Wonder alongside my family and Grandaddy and Grandmother! I will apologize for not blogging during that time, but we were devoid of Internet while on the ship.



Prior to getting on the ship however, our family ferried over and spent the night on Victoria Island. The next morning, we visited Buchard Gardens, which were absolutely beautiful! Some of the gardens that were included in the general garden were the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden and many others, featuring some incredible plants, trees and flowers.

Our Alaskan cruise was seven days long, with the following schedule...

Tuesday - Board the ship
Wednesday - Day at sea
Thursday - Day at sea with a view of Traci Arm
Friday - Skagway
Saturday - Juneau
Sunday - Ketchikan
Monday - Day at sea
Tuesday - Disembark the ship

The ship's boarding process was very easy and allowed us to embark on the second leg of our journey in a painless fashion!!! The rest of the day was super fun and entertaining and the food was absolutely awesome! I love Disney Cruises! Wednesday and Thursday were also very relaxing and enjoyable. The other reason that Thursday was so amazing was because the ship passed through the Traci Arm Fjord, an amazingly beautiful passageway through a series of tall hills, covered with trees, which came right down to the edge of the water. Around this passage, I was very privileged to see some whales (I'm not sure what kind), as well as some otters! In addition, the icebergs were plentiful and very pretty. Overall, I really enjoyed the first couple of days on the ship!

Skagway was awesome!!! I had so much fun! We planned a glacier-walking excursion for the day, which included helicopter flights to and from the glacier. The helicopter rides to and from both provided some amazing views and a really cool feeling! The glacier that we visited was called Meade Glacier. Meade Glacier is approximately 32 miles long, 1.5 miles wide and 250 feet deep! That's about 334,540,800,000 cubic feet of glacial ice!!! Our tour guide also told us that every one hundred feet of snow that falls compresses into about one inch of glacial ice, so that means that in order for the glacier to have formed the way it is now, at least 300,000 feet of snowfall would have been needed, not to mention runoff! Also, the water running into the glacier created holes in the ice that must have been hundreds of feet deep! We were allowed to look down into these holes in the glacier and view the beautiful shade of blue that the ice takes on further down due to the lack of light at great depths. Another thing that amazed me was the fact that we were allowed to drink directly from the streams on the glacier because the water was so clean! After we returned from the glacier, we walked around Skagway for a very brief time, (the town is only about 23 blocks long and 4 blocks wide) and then returned to our ship, ready for food and hot chocolate! The glacier was definitely the coolest part of the trip!



Our day in Juneau was fairly short and uneventful. We decided not to schedule a shore excursion for either Juneau or Ketchikan. As a result, while in Ketchikan, we simply wandered around a bit. First, we took a bus to a sky tram station, on which we learned about Juneau's gold-mining history. Then, the sky tram took us to the top of a mountain, where we visited a store and saw a beautiful Bald Eagle! Later, we returned to sea level and wandered into a couple of stores in the city. The next day, (in Ketchikan), Grandaddy, Grandmother, Jacob and I took a seaplane for an hour-and-a-half ride over a beautiful national forest, more than one million acres in area, commissioned by Theodore Roosevelt during his presidency. This seaplane ride was amazingly beautiful! We saw waterfalls, forests and even "The Wall", a 3,000-foot, almost-sheer cliff face. Halfway through the flight, we landed on a beautiful lake nested in the mountains for some photos. In general, we had an awesome time!!!

After that, the rest of the time on the ship went quickly. We spent one more day at sea, before disembarking and driving back into the United States, Seattle to be precise, where we visited Pike's Market, an amazing, open-air market, where they sold everything from delicious fruit and two-foot crab legs, to magic supplies and old, US Army knives! All told, the market had to have been one of my favorite parts of the journey! Finally, we parted ways with Grandaddy and Grandmother and settled down for the night at our hotel room.

Wednesday was great too! After driving for a little while in the morning, we were privileged to have lunch with the Coughlins, a family of missionaries on vacation from Japan. That afternoon, the Coughlins took us to an amazing nearby park, where we played frisbee, wrestled and ate dessert! What a fun day!

Jacob's Road Trip Ramblings

On Sunday (7/24), we finally arrived in Vancouver! We got there early, so we actually decided to get on the ferry over to Victoria! That in and of itself was quite an experience. We actually drove our car right onto the ferry, parked it among all the others, and went up on deck. It was such a new and neat mode of transportation. I couldn’t believe that some people actually ferry back and forth every day for work. After checking into the hotel, we drove through the city for a little while, and stopped at a little dessert diner for a bite to eat.



The food was delicious and the city itself was very nice, feeling very much like it has great influence from Vancouver. On Monday we collected our grandparents from the ferry and went to see Butchart Gardens. Oh my goodness, it was the biggest garden I have ever seen! The colors and smells and varieties of all the flowers were overwhelming. Everything there was in bloom, and exquisite. There was a whole section devoted only to roses, and another to only Japanese flora. Well, after the gardens, we drove around the coast of Victoria for a while, then boarded the ferry back to Vancouver for the night.

Beth's Wildlife Report ... Promises, Promises ...

Well, Canada sure talks big when it comes to wildlife, but have seen precious little wildlife for this reporter to report. Before entering Canada, we saw two foxes! They were out in a field, playing. I've never seen foxes before! We've also seen a few more deer, all does.



Once in Canada, we did see another bald eagle and a mother black bear and her cub That was exciting, although the rangers were shooing everyone away. I would like to report that Canada has a plethora of signs promising and warning about wildlife, but so far, I've seen far more "moose signs" and "elk signs" than actual moose or elk. Promises, promises...

Jesse Says ... "Eh!"

The past three days have been lots of fun! Thursday was just a driving day, but it was very fun and relaxing... We got to drive through Helena, the capitol of Montana and took pictures outside of the capitol building. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet day. We drove for quite a while and finally spent the night in Great Falls, Montana.



The next morning, we got up, ate breakfast and headed toward Glacier National Park. Once there, we drove an incredible 50 mile road called "Going-To-The-Sun Road" (no joke). The views from this road were absolutely amazing! At every turn, there were awesome views of snowy mountains, trees and waterfalls down rock faces. After exiting the park, we drove across The national border into Canada and then to the city Calgary. Overall, we had a great day and saw some incredible things.



Saturday was tons and tons and tons of fun!!! We were privileged to drive through Banff, a beautiful town between Calgary and Lake Luise, as well as to visit Lake Luise itself. However, what really made my day was canoeing in Lake Louise! While Mom and Jake hiked a little bit, Dad and I hopped into a canoe and paddled to the other end of the lake and back! I had lots of fun. To end the day, we drove a long way into British Columbia and didn't get to bed until about one o'clock! I hope to see everyone really soon!

Jacob's Road Trip Ramblings ... Crossing the Boarder Edition

It's been another few days of whirlwind adventures, and it's time to check in once again. I hope you are all enjoying our travel log, and that it's been as fun for you to read as it has been for us to write! Today marks one week down...two more to go! On Tuesday we hop on the cruise and set sailed for Alaska. But enough about that. Let me tell you about the past couple days.

On Thursday, after Yellowstone the previous day, we really spent a short day driving up through Montana in order to put ourselves closer to Glacier National Park. Wednesday night we made it to Livingston, Montana, and that's where we started from the following morning. We drove up through Bozeman and Helena, finally ending up in Great Falls in the evening. From there we just got dinner and tried to rest up for the next couple days.



Friday was the big day to go see Glacier! Given our time constraints, we were actually only able to drive through the park from West to East. And I use the word "only" very loosely. We drove through the park on Going-To-The-Sun Road. It was a harrowing drive up the mountains on a tiny little road. It was a two-way road...in some places. On one side we had the mountains towering above us, and on the other, sheer cliffs! That alone was exciting. But even better were the views. As far as natural scenic beauty, Glacier surpassed anything I'd seen on the trip so far. The mountains and forests and clouds and snow were indescribable. Between the road and the photo stops, it took us two hours to drive forty miles! Once out of the park, it was just a hop, skip and a jump up to the border of Canadia...I mean...Canada! After crossing, it was straight up to Calgary and crashing for the night.



And that brings us to Saturday, the one-week mark of our family adventure! Today we pretty much started out with an hour delay on the trans-Canadian highway. After we got through that, we drove through the quaint little town of Banff. It's nestled in a little valley with the mountains rising up on all sides! Once we got through Banff, we drove just up the road to Lake Louise. Even though it was crowded it was still well worth the stop. The lake is basically situated just in between two towering, forested peaks, with huge glacial snows in the background, the lake itself is a brilliant blue. We learned this is because the glaciers grind the rock beneath them to dust. This dust then flows with the water down into the lake, and dissolves there. This dust, or rock flour, in the water absorbs all colors of the spectrum except the blue and turquoise that get reflected back to our eyes. Isn't God's creation incredible? After the lake, our day was fairly uneventful. We got stuck in another huge delay on the highway and had to wait for another. Two or three hours. Once through that though, we drove straight on through British Columbia until we reached a town at about 1:30 am. So now we sit, more than halfway across BC, and ready to head to Vancouver!

Beth's Wildlife Report

Hi, everyone! We are having a great time out in the wild, wild wilderness. I've lost count of how many times we've crossed the Continental Divide...such a cool thing.

It's my job to give the wildlife report this trip. I guess that be for a couple of reasons...

- I'm the one who cares the most. I could spend hours looking out the window just certain that around the next curve of the mountain or bend in the river there will be a beautiful whitetail or a herd of buffalo or maybe even a bear! Turns out that I'm not right all that often, but it's still an adventure for me.

- It's rather nostalgic for me. I can hear my Daddy saying, "You're not looking for details, you're just watching for shapes." Brings back the memories of so many family road trips watching for antelope or deer.



On that note, here's what we've had the privilege of spotting so far...

-herds of buffalo
-a dozen (or so) deer, both whitetail and mule deer
-a LONE wolf in Yellowstone (I guess it's true what they say)
-two grizzly bears!
-one otter
-a herd of mountain goats high up in the Beartooth Pass
-numerous chipmunks & ground squirrels
-countless birds, including one bald eagle and two bald eagle nests)
-swarms of mosquitoes (wait, do those count?



Three of the deer have a pretty amazing story. We were driving at dusk along Palisades Lake between Idaho Falls and Alpine, WY. We came over a rise and standing in the road was a startled doe and her two fawns. It was so precious to see her actually standing over the top of her two fawns, protecting them from the coming danger. Amazing!

Signing off for now. Blessings to all our friends and family!

Jaocb's Road Ramblings ... Continue

It's been a few days and another post is definitely in order. Since Monday morning, we've made our way from Salt Lake City all the way to West Yellowstone, Montana. Let me tell you a little bit about the journey, and the stops along the way.

On Monday, we got to sleep in for a while, which was great after hiking Bryce Canyon the previous day. We took a while to drive around downtown Salt Lake. We drove by the substantial LDS temple square, and really just got a chance to look at the atmosphere and nuances of the city. After heading north for a while, we reached the great salt lake. In the southern part of the lake there is actually a large island/animal sanctuary called Antelope Island. We drove out to it on a long causeway, and spent a little while on the island. We got the chance to go down and stick our feet in the lake itself, and then we drove partway around the island looking for antelope, deer and buffalo. After our stint on the island, we continued our drive up through Utah. By the end of the day we had just crossed the Wyoming border and stayed in a small town outside of Jackson, Wyoming.



On Tuesday we got up and drove through Jackson and Jackson Hole. We stopped and ate breakfast at this great little place called The Bunnery. After fueling up, it was time to head out to see the Grand Tetons! After showing up there, we hiked around String Lake for several miles. The scenery was absolutely astounding. It was incredible to look out over the lake and out into the valley and the mountains beyond. Then you would turn around and gaze up at the still-snowy Tetons. The Grand Teton itself looks like a gigantic version of the Disneyland Matterhorn! After this scenic adventure we headed back to the car and got on the road to Yellowstone. After arriving in the park through the south entrance, it was still early enough to go see Old Faithful, which was pretty much on the way. Unfortunately though, a while before it's eruption, the thunder, lightning and rain began heavily. That meant getting back on the road and going out the west gate, into West Yellowstone, Montana. We barely managed to find a room for the night, and after a nice dinner, bedded down for the evening.

That brings us to today (Wednesday)! Wow, what a day. It was a fast-paced, incredible trip through Yellowstone. After getting up and eating some breakfast, we headed back into the park itself. Our first stop was at the Paint Pots. This small area is a combination of hot springs, boiling mud pits and small geysers. The pots themselves are the hot springs, and boy are they beautiful! The water is incredibly clear, and the colors caused by minerals in the ground are beautiful. There was so much steam, and the entire place smelled like hard-boiled eggs, due to the high hydrogen-sulfide content of the water and resulting steam. It was also neat to see the huge pool of boiling mud that kept bubbling up. After that first stop we headed off to Old Faithful for a second attempt. We waited for about 45 minutes, but it was well worth it, the eruption of this geyser was a truly amazing sight! It spouted a jet of boiling water to a height of about 180 feet, and the eruption continued for about three minutes. Absolutely fascinating and one of the highlights of the park for sure.



After Old Faithful, we drove along the beautiful Yellowstone Lake until we reached the mud volcano. This is another series of highly caustic and active mud pits, that are surprisingly fascinating to view. The sights and sounds and smells all combine to create an experience of awe, even for mud. Our final big stop on the way out of the park was the Tower Falls. As the name suggests, this site is comprised of some waterfalls created by the Yellowstone River as it flows out of the lake. The picture that you see of the waterfall is the second and most impressive of the two we stopped to see. Finally, we drove up and out of the park on the Northwest side, through Beartooth Pass. We were almost the only ones on the twisty, narrow road up through the mountainous wilderness, some of the views we got from the tops of the mountains were just breathtaking.

Is WOW and Adjective? ... No it's an interjection! (Jesse)

The past few days have been incredible! On Monday, we were extremely privileged to visit the Great Salt Lake, as well as downtown Salt Lake City. After spending the night in SLC, we drove by Temple Square and many other structures, including the Salt Palace, home to the Utah Jazz (a basketball team, I bet Joey knows that). The Great Salt lake was both absolutely beautiful and very salty! The island in the middle of the lake is called Antelope Island. This island features lots of cool animals, such as Bison, Deer and different varieties of birds. Overall it was a really fun day!



Tuesday was also totally awesome! We had the opportunity to drive through Jackson, a small town just outside of the Grand Teton National Park. Jackson was absolutely beautiful and featured a wonderful breakfast stop that filled us up for our long day! Once we reached the Grand Tetons, we hiked/walked 3.5 miles through some absolutely breathtaking terrain. The number of bugs was crazy!!! That evening, we enjoyed a nice dinner and then retired to our cabin at the hotel "Hibernation Station".



YELLOWSTONE!!! Oh my goodness, this national park was absolutely breathtaking! The combination of waterfalls, canyons, rivers, wild animals and everything else was amazing. Everything was so amazing that I can't do it justice, with words or pictures, however, I will do my best.

We started the sightseeing with a location called the Painted Pots, pools in the ground filled with boiling water and beautifully colored. After that, we visited Old Faithful, a famous geyser that blows water over 150 feet into the air every hour-or-so. Next, we drove by Yellowstone Lake and visited the Mud Pots, holes, much like the Painted Pots, but filled with bubbling mud. Both the Painted and Mud Pots smelled largely of Sulphur. Later, we saw Tower Falls, as well as another wonderful but unnamed waterfall. In addition, we drove through two beautiful valleys. To end this WOW (Is that a legal adjective?:P) day, we got to travel through beautiful Beartooth Pass as we exit the park. Overall we had an awesome time!!!

I would like to extend my most sincere thanks for following us on our blog, we are having an amazing trip and ask for your prayers for our safety. I hope to see everyone very soon!

I am sore from hiking (Jesse) ...

Wow. Another six months have passed and I am now traveling all the way to Alaska for a fantastic three-week trip! On this trip, Mom, Dad, Jacob and I will be driving up through Utah, Idaho etc., all the way to Vancouver. In this leg of the Journey, we will be visiting locations such as Bryce Canyon, The Great Salt Lake, Yellowstone and Bamff.



After that exciting adventure, we will enjoy a one-week Alaskan cruise on the Disney Wonder with my Mom's parents. This cruise will take us to Juneau, Ketchikan and Anchorage. In the last leg of our trip, we will drive down the California coast, visiting sites such as the Redwoods.



The past two days have been excellent. We have had a wonderful time driving through Arizona, where we got to see our Grandma, cousins and aunt and uncle. Utah has been wonderful and hiking in Bryce Canyon was tough but fun. The drive thus far has been incredibly gorgeous! The canyon was especially beautiful. We hiked a total of about five miles with incredible views at every turn! We are both enjoying ourselves and looking forward to lots more fun. I hope to see you all very soon!!!

Jacob's Road Trip Ramblings ...

Well, yesterday we started out on our long trek up the country, to Alaska and back! We're driving all the way up through Bryce Canyon, Salt Lake, Yellowstone and Glacier. Then we get up into Canada, specifically Calgary. From there we'll head West through Bamff and Lake Louise on our way to Vancouver. From Vancouver we'll be boarding the Disney Wonder for a whole week of cruising up to Alaska! Finally we'll drive back down the Pacific Coast Highway. Jesse and I will actually be flying home on August 7th from San Francisco in order to get started with the semester.

Now that all of the introduction is out of the way, let's talk about the past couple days, yesterday we got underway and headed up through Payson (to see Grandma) and Flagstaff (to see our cousins). From there we actually drove up through the Marble Canyon area on our way to Fredonia and Kanab. It was absolutely beautiful with all of its valleys and cliffs and rock formations! Especially with the sun setting, we could do nothing beside look on in awe at God's creation. After another couple hours we reached Kanab, just across the Utah border. We spent the night there in a cute little Victorian inn.



Once morning dawned we were up and back on the road. In about an hour and a half we got up to Bryce Canyon, our first big stop. We hiked about five miles down into the canyon....up and down, over and under, round and round. Whether we were down in the bottom portions, or standing up at the top, the views and scenery were incredible! You'll really have to see pictures to get a sense of the wonder it evoked. But even that can't compare to gazing out or up at all the rock formations. Once we dragged our exhausted selves back up the canyon, we continued our journey through Utah. After eating dinner in Provo, we finished up our day in Salt Lake City where we're staying tonight. Can't wait for the great salt lake tomorrow!

We're Back & On the Road Again!

We are back online (via our blog) and on the road, again! "Again" in the sense that we have set out on another extended travel adventure. "On the road" in the sense that for the first time in a very long time we are on a long road trip. Our travel adventure actually began on Saturday when we left Phoenix. Out itinerary has us driving north to Calgary, Alberta, west to Vancouver, British Colombia, setting sail on a cruise (the Disney Wonder) to Alaska, and driving the Pacific Coast Highway south, all the way home.



The above is a picture of the four of us, yesterday, as we hiked Bryce Canyon. It was beautiful ... and we are excited as more wonders await!