Gin's Decade: I'm Back!!!

After a LONG LONG hiatus I am back and dare I say, better than ever...much to catch up on!! At the end of July I went on an Alaskan Cruise with the WHOLE Wattson family and was lucky enough to have one of my best friends Tina join me, or as my family calls her "T". We had a blast. It was truly one of the best vacations ever, so beautiful and amazing. We started in Seward, AK and ended in Vancouver. Some of us then spend a day and a half in Vancouver which was not nearly enough time there, and then down to Seattle for another couple days. I did not want to come back and I think the feeling was mutual among all 17 of us:) So here are so pics from the trip...enjoy!

Going into the bay to see the Hubbard Glacier. It was a highlight for many of the family members. The weather was perfect and we got within 250 yards of the glacier face which is unheard of I guess. We saw calving, when pieces of the glacier fall into the water, and many seals hanging out on the ice floes.

We went Ziplining in a Artic Rainforest in Juneau...it was beautiful being among the trees

In Juneau we went to the Mendehall Glacier as well and hiked out to get as close as we could and found this gorgeous waterfall.(Jake, Paul, Tina, and Natalie)

My dad and I whale watching. My dad is so happy when he is on the water. It was a gorgeous day and we spotted some amazing humpback whales. No pics taken by me because it would have been a black dot on the horizon.

Mom and Dad whale watching (with our cruise ship in the background). They said they always wanted to take us to Alaska for their 50th wedding anniversary, they took us a 3.5 years early:)

The morning we were in Ketchikan, I woke up to this amazing view.

Tina, Paul, and I took a bus to the Saxman Village which has a large collection of totem poles. We talked to Woody Watson (a distant relative I hope because he was full of the info!) about the stories of the poles. Very interesting!

We ended our cruise in Vancouver, which I would love to go back to for a whole week. A very cosmopolitan city with tons to do! Here we are walking along the seawall in Stanley Park. It was record breaking highs, 30 degrees Celsius (so math geniuses figure that one out)

We went to Granville Island which is a big Public Market with shops and artists and of course tons of Food!! We had a fun morning vacation breakfast of whatever we wanted!! Tina had sushi, Natalie french fries, and myself...a nutella and banana crepe! Almost as good as the ones by Notre Dame...sigh...