Kelly Ann's Blog

Off to Alaska…

WOW…talk about a change in weather destinations…two weeks ago we were in the Caribbean and then on a plane headed to Seattle to travel up to Alaska.

Well…this trip started off a little rocky. With a 8:20am departure from Dulles airport scheduled we left home by 5am to park the car and check in for our flight to Seattle. As we are sitting in the departure lounge we notice that we aren’t boarding on time…no problem with think, we have plenty of time because we are flying direct. Well…that no problem turned into a very long delay, to cancelling the flight, to booking us on another airline to making it to Seattle just about 24 hours after our day started. But wait…there’s more…four of us traveling with 7 pieces of luggage total and leaving in a day for a 7 day cruise what are the chances our luggage arrives when we do…yup you guessed it…the chances were close to zero, I say close to zero because two of our pieces arrived on the plane with us leaving one of ours and four of theirs sitting back at Dulles airport…did I mention that we were leaving on a 7 day cruise???

After a few hours of sleep and lots of phone calls the rest of the luggage was determined to have arrived in Seattle so the guys headed to the airport to hunt it down. AND…Success…all luggage was found and the guys headed back to the hotel so that everyone could shower and put on clean clothes and we could head to dinner.

DINNER…OMGEE…Salty’s in Seattle was our destination and all I can say is WOWzer. Seriously, Scott wanted us to enjoy the view of the city from across Elliott Bay and the view did not disappoint…

The food was just as amazing as the view…so amazing that I forgot to take a picture but take my word for it, everything we ordered was a grand-slam, including the cocktails.

Bright and early the next morning we got up, had a bite to eat and headed to the cruise terminal. If you’ve cruised in the past but not since Covid, and traveled with Royal Caribbean, let me tell you, some things changed for the good. Quick and easy check-in and the muster-drill of lining up on the deck is a thing of the past, it’s all done on your phone with a check-in using your sea-pass card with a crew member at your muster station, easy peasy. It was all so easy we rewarded ourselves with the first cocktail of the cruise

A snapshot into our week on the ship…lots of inside deck sitting looking out on some beautiful landscape. While September may not be the best time to cruise to Alaska, Mother Nature showed us some beauty through the clouds and rain. We saw several pods of whales right off the deck, first the bubbles then these massive heads popping up. Lots of whales heading south, blows and a few tails slapping the water, they were on a mission so they didn’t hang around to entertain us. We did see a few otters playing and rolling around the ship, sea lions, some swimming and some hanging out snoozing on a bouy. We only saw a few eagles, but heck, even one out in the wild is enough to get me giggling like a kid. We pulled into Juneau and saw sun for the first time all week and the view did not disappoint, it was only for a few hours but the mountains surrounding the town showed off with various shades of green.

Our last night on the ship we dressed up and headed to the Chef’s Table for dinner…on your next cruise, take the time and make reservations at the Chef’s Table, it’s a foodie paradise.

Bright and early the next morning we packed up and pulled our luggage off and headed to the airport. We did have a good time with our friends and while waiting for our flight we decided that we would do another cruise to Alaska but making it a two week adventure and going in the summer when, hopefully, less rain and we’ll be able to see more…more of the landscape…more of the wildlife…and maybe a few glaciers (didn’t see one up close but did see Mendenhall Glacier from a distance.

And that wraps up trip 2…can’t wait to share with y’all trip 3 that might end up being two post with all the pictures I have to share.

Until Next Time

Be Kind

PS: No trip to Seattle would be complete without a trip to Pike Place Market…I’m always drawn to the flower vendors and this time, as usual, they did not disappoint.