And here we go on a 10 day journey. Friday morning we arrived at the airport. You saw Nell and Kimi hugging at the airport as the final picture in our last blog. After checking luggage, Trevor and Nell took us to the Delta Sky Club, which Trevor qualifies for through his business travel. He knew I would love it.
In fact, this painting graces the front of one of Trevor and Nell's Utah art books, and I had admired it in the past. The art collection was pretty amazing. There were even 5 huge art pieces by an artist by whom we own a small work.
It was great to get a meal before taking off, as it allowed me to take my pain pills, so that was a plus, and helped the day to get off on the right foot.
Here are a few of us in front of the cruise ship.
Following are most of our pictures that were taken on the ship. This one is Becca and I in Nordic Sweaters.
First off, we all had magnets on our doors with our 50th anniversary notice. It made it so much easier to find each other, especially when it came time to deliver Secret Ben gifties. Emily conceived the idea based on the secret sister from girls' camps past, and secret Santa gifts we have done at Christmas on occasion. More about that later.
Here are a few of the kids doing a bumper car activity.
Here's Kimmy at dinner one night. It was so fun to have her along. She was super positive, and she and Ashley did a lot of fun things together, except that Kim got sick one day and they hibernated.
Mike, Brittany, Emily and Becca, also at dinner. We tried to dine together each night, as we had so many different activities with different combinations of people during the day.
Here am I with Dad, Spencer and Brittney. We were always seated at two adjacent tables.
Kimi and Ashley the last night, when it was just the four of us.
The evening Davin and Bri were in sick bay, with Nell and Trevor in attendance, Brittany gave out the funky cat shirts she had gotten for all. It was a little anti-climatic, as our hearts were all in sick bay with Davin, who had, that afternoon, swallowed something in his roast beef sandwich that scratched his esophagus, and then imbedded itself. They were planning to have a helicopter come to get him. The seas were rough and I was terrified what such a flight would mean.
Here we see a girls night in Becca and Emily's cabin. Here Darby is having a makeover, while Emily proves there is room to lay down in the window. I also got a makeover, thank you Becca.
Another fun activity that we did twice was to watch movies on deck. First of all was The Proposal that is 'set' in Sitka, that we would soon be seeing. Of course, when they played Wicked, I was also in!
The brave ones sat in the hot tub, as it was chilly on the open deck.
Here are Becca, Emily and Trevor. The first night it was me, Brittany and Emily.
This is Dad and I the second night.
Another fun thing was the 'Paula and Scott anniversary socks' gifted by Brittany for all, modeled here by Ashley.
Here we are with the Hall cuties.
Dad relaxing in our room.
and me too, Emily took the picture when she saw what I was reading. Its William's favorite book and he had challenged me to read it when we were there in the spring. Its The Lightening Thief.
Ready for formal night. Unfortunately, everybody ran off before we could get a picture together.
But we ran into this handsome man in the hall.
And his cute wife too.
One night Darby and Davin took a Cha Cha class, how fun is this?!
You'll note that they are wearing our cruise shirts.
So here we all are in our Cruise Shirts, all of our children on earth, save only Belinda, from whom we have not heard in years. We are missing Emily and Becca's husbands who were holding down the forts at home.
Of course, this group out did ours size wise, but they were not really a group. I asked someone what encompassed their group, work? Family Reunion? or? he said, "Its somebody's birthday whom we don't know." I walked away confused, but Trevor had asked someone else and found the back story. Hahaha It turns out someone on the precruise website had invited people to buy the same shirt she was buying for her husband's birthday. I am pretty sure that there were more than a hundred people involved.
We loved this piece of 'art' in the hallway where most of us were staying. Its been my word of the year for a few years now. Today in Conference Elder Carlos A Dodoy quoted Russell M Nelson when he said, "The Joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." He then said that if our focus is on Christ, and living the gospel that He has provided for us, we will feel that joy. I had always thought the quote meant focusing on the good in our lives, to stay positive, but I actually prefer this meaning.
Here Dad and I join with Kim, Hannah and Bryan Scott to hear a lecture from a Former Park Ranger, about the Public Trust Lands in Alaska. Brittney watched the same presentation from the floor above us, as we heard later.
There was a shortage of seating, and Kimi and Hannah share a chair.
Later in the week we went to another lecture by the same man with Spencer and Brittney, about how the CCC restored the native peoples' cultural history, mainly by the recarving, or copying of antique totem poles. Interestingly, they also established dog kennels to house large groups of sled dogs needed for winter travel, off road in the territory.
Here Becca and Emily, who shared a room, and left their husbands at home to manage the children.
This is the Solarium, where the kids spent a lot of time, even eating in the smaller buffet there.
There were lots of these huge round chairs, and they enjoyed relaxing, while watching the ocean through the glass walls. They saw several whales and even a seal.
Now I will share each of the four stops we made. The first was Juneau, the state capital. The only state capitol in the USA that cannot be reached by car. We saw many totem poles while off the ship on this cruise.
We spent the day with Emily, Becca, Ashley and Kimi, who found this painted rock, and got to take a picture which she sent to the website on the back before rehiding the rock somewhere else to find.
This statue is of Secretary of State Seward who manage the purchase of the Alaska Territory from Russia.
This bear statue was a lot of fun.
How funny are our girls ...
But they did overcome and tame the wild bear.
Behind them here is the State Capitol building. I know that my uncle Harry Arend, who was a supreme court judge here for 5 years during the 60's would have been in and out of this building a lot. I tried the handle of each of the locked doors along the front, knowing that I had grasped a handle that he used during his tenure here. I never met him, though I did meet my mother's sister LaRee, who raised my mom, once when we lived in Bountiful. She was his wife.
There were a lot of Bald Eagles in Juneau, we saw one fly into a street and when we stepped past the corner, we saw it turn a corner at the end of the street and continue on its way. This picture was taken by Spencer. He and Brittney spent the day hiking, how beautiful.
Another Totem ... After we walked around town and saw a couple of beautiful Finnish looking buildings and churches we headed back to the ship, while some of the kids joined together and did some serious hikes in the hills about the town.
The next docking was in Skagway. Trevor and Spencer had made arrangements to rent a car to drive up a long canyon that lead to White Pass which is in a Canadian Provence.
A bit of the sunrise at an overlook.
The good looking part of our party, so nicely color coordinated for an Autumn sunrise.
On the way up we noticed people stopping their cars and looking at the Mountain Goats, so we followed suite.
This is a lake, along the drive that has a large island in it.
This is the smallest desert in the world.
What a beautiful lake, its called Emerald Lake with the nickname of The Jewel of the Yukon.
Here Trevor balances on the guard rail to get a better picture of the lake.
I took this picture that shows how green it is in the shallower waters.
We saw these beautiful, if small churches at Carcross, the town name is shortened from Cariboo Crossing.
Thanks for the pictures Papa.
Others of our party had taken a train ride part way up the same canyon, it looks like they were having a lot of fun.
Before turning in the car, we stopped in Skagway and ran into other members of the party who had been able to take the shuttle into town after their train trip.
The next day we mostly all went into Sitka. Here is the old church in town.
We also climbed up to the site where the transaction of Russia selling the Alaskan territory happened.
Yeah us!
I laughed when I saw the fur swimming suits, and laughed even harder when I realized ....
This store is also in Utah!!
In one of the gift shops Trevor and Kim found real Alaskan license plates. Becca came along later and bought another one.
Kim thought Papa would get a kick out of this grandpa pun. Meals on Wheels.
Trevor and Nell went into this art gallery with us and it had a mounted set of Walrus husks. So perfect for our own personal 'Walrus'.
And Dad found a bear friend.
After our day in Sitka, we had a sea day. It was a pretty rough day, and most of us were watching a big production show. Trevor had saved seats for us all and then had gotten a text and left suddenly. He later messaged Nell to say that he was in the medical center with Davin who had choked on a roast beef sandwich and had coughed up blood.
About a half an hour later he messaged to say that the Doctor couldn't see anything on an xray, and did not have an ultrasound machine, or an endoscope, so he wanted to get a helicopter to come and take Davin off, because of the blood and the pain of the embedded item he feared an esophageal tear.
The whole long row of us stood up in the middle of a lively scene and left.
We took turns visiting Bri and Davin, and after several hours the doctor found something to control the pain. The sea continued rough, and there was even an announcement to the ship while we were at dinner, that we would be late into port the next day as an individual with a medical emergency would be taken off the ship by helicopter. In the end, the waters were deemed too rough, and Davin's condition was considered stabilized. They would have an ambulance ready as soon as the gang plank was in place the next day.
We had a view of the gangplank from our room. Here you can see a fire department vehicle that came in advance of the ambulance.
The ambulance came and they wheeled Davin out as he could not lay down on the gurney.
Britt followed them out and took pictures, because, well, we are all about the memories in this family.
Our steward helped us celebrate 51 years since we'd met on October 2, 1974 that morning, and we found it after breakfast.
After knowing he was on his way on Vancouver Island to a hospital in Victoria, we all continued with our various plans. Spencer and Brittney who had both served in the Vancouver mission many years ago, but had never been on the island, but had heard amazing things about the Butchart Gardens wanted to finally see them. That was nice for us because that is what we wanted to do also. Here you see me in the wheel chair I knew I would need. Dad was a champ and pushed me on and off four two hours. Here we are at the gates of the Japanese garden. Lots of wonderful moss in this garden, and I'll be sending pictures to J. Scott, or should I say Moss Boy.
Brittney shared this picture with us.
and this one too.
This is the sunken garden, which was not accessible to wheel chairs.
Here I sit by a short wall and view a beautiful synchronized fountain display in the sunken garden which is actually a rehabilitated quarry.
Loved this ever-green wall.
another view,
Extraordinary flowers.
there were several autumn displays.
And the beauty of leaves turning too.
Brittney took this lovely picture of the living railings along one of the paths. All strung on wires between poles.
Then I talked everyone into joining me for Tea in the Conservatory of the beautiful Craftsman house that the family owned who had built the gardens.
Beautiful food too.
I was allowed to walk around after tea and took some pictures of favorite details.
Another tea table,
Our appetizer.
Spencer and Britt admire the details.
This is the woman who built the gardens.
On our way back to the ship we dropped Spencer and Britt in China Town, where they met up with the four couples who had gone on the food tour.
I heard the food in China Town was great, and we want to go back there, when serious walking is an option for me. The walk to the dock is a mile and a half and they all walked it.
After we got back to the ship we had dinner with Ashley and Kim, the picture is shown above. Davin had been scoped and scanned, and whatever was imbedded in his esophagus had been knocked out of place by the scope. The doctor had looked at it and gave him a clean bill of health.
Unfortunately when they had ubered back to the ship, the doctor would not allow them to come aboard. Yes, lots of angst here. Much was said and done, but the doctor would not be moved. They ubered to a hotel for the night.
That meant that we had to have our Big Secret Ben reveal without them that night. We met in the Solarium, and told all.
Dad had gotten a U of U sweatshirt, complete with tags, and had guess that only Brittany would spend that kind of money. Then when it came time, Kimi stood up and opened her jacket to reveal the twin of Dad's sweatshirt. Everyone was so amazed, she is just so fun. Unfortunately, Dad had already packed his in our big luggage to be taken off the ship that night, so there is no twinner picture.
But who had been giving Becca a Rock Star every day? We were all perplexed that one of them was canned in Canada. (Remember when Ian loved all things Canadian?) Turned out it was Spencer, who had bought the Canadian one when we drove up to Carcross, which is in Canada. What a tricky boy he is. Everyone love remembering Ben this way, it was a bit like having him along.
In the morning on Friday, Davin and Bri ubered to the ferry and took it to Port Angelos in Washington State. Becca would spend her Friday renting a car at the airport in Seattle and then drive up there
to get them. It was something like 2 and a half hours each way. Her bit of a bonus was that she got to get a picture of the restaurant that Bella goes to in Port Angelos in the Twilight movies, that she loved, back in the day. Bri was exhausted from being up all night in the emergency room Wednesday night, and then all the stress at the hospital and slept all the way back to the airport. But Becca had a nice visit with Davin who was now pretty much back to being himself.
We had planned to just uber strait to the airport from the ship, but were rescued by Trevor and Spencer who invited us to go along with them. What we had thought would be a long boring day turned out to be our second favorite day of the trip.
So, after we got off the ship, we took a huge transport van, which is good because we also had all of Davin and Bri's luggage as well. We were dropped off all the luggage at Spencer and Britt's hotel, as they were staying another day. Then while they napped, Trevor and Nell and we headed to the famous Farmer's Market on the bay.
Trevor, a serious art collector needed to buy this shirt. Buy Art Not Crack, which reminded me of something Ben would have gotten a kick out of as well.
We got to see the guys playing catch with fish at the fish market, always a good time.
We stopped for grilled cheese sandwiches too, always a favorite for me.
Then there were steep steps down from the market into the gum ally, I have no words.
But when we surfaced we found Left Bank Books, where Nell, who was wearing a top bun that day, which prompted me to tell her she reminded me of Little My, a character in the Moomin books. I told her I had never seen one in English, so I was not sure just who Little My was. So, while I was checking out the dollar books outside, she ran into this book of Moomin Comics IN ENGLISH. Happy Little Me, thanks Little My.
Dad found a comrade at the cigar store next to the jewelry store we girls were checking out.
I loved this little bird's tweedy looks ... and next we ubered to ...
The Chihuly Glass Gardens. These dark purple glass grapes were each a foot long, and reminded me of the Moon Drop Grapes that Edi and Tom shared with us once.
These tall red glass stems take on the look of tree trunks here in this picture of Trevor and Nell.
These lovely orange to red floral vines swirled their way around the ceiling of the glass house.
Inside the museum area are huge blooms.
And a boat load of fun.
An indoor glass garden.
and a view from outside of the glass house. What an amazing flaming tree.
The reflection on the glass lake was stunning here.
And giant snow crystals too. This glass garden was the absolute opposite of the Butchart gardens, which was absolutely my favorite, but I love the modern passion and color of this one too.
Dad and Trevor share incites outside.
The Space Needle was next door.
As well as a peace Garden. This is a bust of Ghandi. There was also a Chesnut tree grown from a start taken from the tree that gave Ann Frank such solace when she was hidden in Holland. It had been sent by the Ann Frank Museum.
Our next uber was to the Frye Art Museum, where we met up with Brittney and Spencer who had walked there from their hotel.
The beautiful work was from the collection of the Fryes, who left it to the city of Seattle on the condition that no one would ever have to pay admission to see it.
I loved many of the painting, as Brittney had told me I would, this one was a favorite and the only one they had for sale in poster size at the museum, so it came home with me.
These are portraits of the Fryes.
From there we all walked back to the hotel where our van came back for us to take up and our luggage to the airport. We left Spencer and Brittney for one last day of fun in Seattle.
At the airport we got to have dinner in Seattle's version of the Delta Sky Club's lounge. Before we knew it we were back in Salt Lake. Its, kind of funny that we had been threatened with rain all week. Rain is normal for these fall cruises, and last week the patrons were poured on all week. But we had sun all week. However, our dry spell was over, just after we had gotten our luggage into the van, it poured all the way home. The lightening show was wonderful. Then in the night the storm reached Payson so that I was awoken by brutal rain against our French doors and got up to look at an inch of rain just outside the doors, which, thankfully have a ledge. I've never seen rain like that at our house. But we were safe and dry and knew that Davin and Bri were home safe too.
On Saturday we watched conference, then Dad went and picked up our business card size art, and here they are.
Today I seemed to spend the whole day listening to more conference and working on this blog with its excess of a hundred pictures. There could have been so many more, but we'll save them all for our cruise book. Remember to put your cruise pictures in the shared file on Google. In the meantime, we'll wait for Kim to get back from Hawaii, then we'll take her to lunch and get the U of U Sweatshirt twinning picture with her. Have fun Kim! She is off to a destination wedding with her boyfriend.
And last but certainly not least, here we have Nell's birthday collage, compliments of Papa. We hope your day was spendid.
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