Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > United States
Reload this Page >

Amazing Alaska - InnerSea Cruise and Self Land for 2 weeks

Amazing Alaska - InnerSea Cruise and Self Land for 2 weeks

Old Jan 23rd, 2012, 09:54 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Amazing Alaska - InnerSea Cruise and Self Land for 2 weeks

Sorry it took so long to get this up - its not as detailed as I wanted it to be - so feel free to ask any questions!

Juneau
July 21..The longest day of my life!! Up at 4 am EST to catch crazy flights from Miami to Dallas, Dallas to Seattle, and Seattle to Juneau. Landed in Juneau and it was the most gorgeous day!! Flying in was sooo beautiful! Great views of the glaciers and ice fields! Took a cab to the Capital Inn. Our cab driver was very friendly and chatty! Although we would have loved to get in bed and crash, we had a snack and hit Juneau with the inn's complimentary passes for the Mt Roberts tram. After spending some time taking in the views we were starving and went to Dinner at Twisted Fish. By the time we finally walked back to the inn and went to bed (it still wasn't dark out) it was 10:30 pm Alaska time!

July 22… after a fun communal breakfast with some neat folks, we planned our day with the super friendly Linda. We decided to make a reservation for the Taku Lodge float plane and Salmon Bake. Linda was able to make reservations for us at a discounted rate and pass the savings to us! Our flight was in the afternoon so we took a taxi to Mendenhall glacier. A jokulhlaup (http://www.seattlepi.com/news/articl...ps-1547126.php) closed the waterfall hike trail. We explored the boardwalk areas and watched a young black bear fish under boardwalk. He was tagged and oh so cute!! Hubby's camera was low on battery and we headed back to the inn to recharge before hitting the sea plane. The Inn was great for the kids!! They hung out in the main house, playing on the computer, playing with Duffy the little dog, snacking on treats, and looking at books. Our comfortable rooms were below the house, down a flight of stairs, off the garden. We were a little early for our Seaplane flight. We didn’t want to miss it!! We waited patiently for our boarding time. Our plane carried 9 passengers!! <Insert scream here> I was excited and nervous. Take off was a breeze and the day again was soo gorgeous!! Blue crisp clear skies and sun!! Very great flight seeing and loads of fun at the salmon bake with one salmon crazed black bear. He actually stuck his head in the grill to lick up the salmon grease from the soot! The food was great and the lodge was cute. We had a lot of fun! On the way back my 11 year old got to co pilot the plane. He was sooo excited!! We were so full from our salmon but had to get something for dinner so we opted for Ice cream. Yummy!

July 23... Our bags had to be at the Goldbelt hotel by 1 for our cruise and Linda was kind enough to drive us over with our bags after breakfast. Breakfast was a treat! Linda had asked my kids he day before if they wanted pancakes or french toast the following morning. My 11 year old said, well we’re in Alaska and I really want bagels and lox! Our breakfast included fresh bagels from the Silverbow bakery and smoked salmon. Super delicious!! After we dropped our bags, we took the city bus to Hatchery. The bus driver and a few locals were extremely nice in helping us get off at the right place and explaining to us where to get back on. The Hatchery was a 1/2 mile walk or so from there. We got sucked into upgrading to the VIP tour. Don't do it! Not worth the money. Our tour leader wasn't very nice, maybe she was having a bad day. We had fish and chips at The Flight Plan for lunch, fun. We walked around Juneau until it was time to meet at Goldbelt hotel for our InnerSea Discoveries cruise.


CRUISE
Day 1…boards ship, orientation.

Day 2…It wasn’t easy sleeping my first night. I’m not sure it ever really got dark and I woke up at 430 am thinking my watch had stopped.
We spent the morning on a DIB boat ride in Fords Terror. Beautiful waterfalls carved into the sheer granite cliffs and adorable harbor seals popping up for air. Our morning excitement... Our Boat ran out of gas.
After lunch we headed to Dawes Glacier and took the DIBs out again. It was tough moving over the Bergie bits. Ice kept getting stuck in the rutter. We spotted lots more seals, terns, stunning icebergs, and small amounts of calving.
My 11-year-old son has made friends with the folks on the bridge and has been wildlife spotting. During dinner he grabbed us from our table ...he spotted a humpback!!! We took off for the bridge and spent an hour in idle watching this amazingly glorious animals pop in and out of the water. No breeching but lots of fluking!! We leaned that these whales spend their summers in Alaska fattening up and move to Hawaii for the warm winter to give birth, nurse, and mate. A momma whale loses much of her fat while nursing her calf and when she returns to Alaska, food is what's on her mind.
After dinner lecture on Marine Life of Alaska.

Day 3
Morning hike in Wyndham Bay. Saw lots of bald eagles on the DIB ride to shore. Also saw seals and sea lions and more salmon jumping. On shore we hiked a very muddy bear trail with bear scat, we also saw momma and baby bear tracks in the sand, but no bears. We learned about different plants and trees. The skunk cabbage is the first thing a bear eats out of hibernation, which is a natural laxative. 9-year-old fell in bear poop and slide down a hill of mud. Back on the DIB we briefly saw a humpback.
DH and the kids went paddle boarding off the boat. 9 year old took a swim. He claims a seal knocked him over. He was fine but wet!! DH and the kids all said the little seal was curious and kept popping his head up to check them out!
In the afternoon we headed to Fredrick's Sound to find whales. We were treated to quite an afternoon. Breaching humpbacks galore!! We even saw a mother and calf breaching together. We counted as many as 9 whales in one area. It was almost as if they were performing for us.
Just as everyone sat down to dinner a pod of orcas showed up and hung out with us for a bit. It was a whale of a day!!

Day 4
Morning Waterfall hike to Cascade Creek complete with moose poop, but no moose.
Family Paddle boarding including me this time. Freezing feet, but sooo much fun!!!
Afternoon Baird Glacier hike...Angry Terns and Boot sucking mud!!
We were warned over and over that the mud at the snout of the glacier was like quick sand and to move fast or risk loosing a boot. I guess the kids were too tempted. My 11 year old somehow lingered too long while passing over an expanse of mud and started to sink. He freaked! DH went in to the rescue and got him out but of course got sucked in himself. Our amazing guide Jayne went in after DH. They were both almost up to their knees. It was quite a site!! 4 or 5 fellow pax started pulling them out. DH managed to stay in his boots but Jayna was not so lucky. A smile never left her face! She was soaked with mud and kept on smiling! Did I mention it was freezing and really wet too?? I cant remember if it ever stopped raining that afternoon. I managed to capture much of this on video, which had everyone on the ship laughing for the rest of the week. The still shots made it into the end of cruise slide show. The rest of the hike was really fun. We did make it up on the glacier. Part of the hike had to conducted on our tushies since it was sooo slippery!
After dinner lecture on the 3 bears of Alaska: black, brown, and polar.

Day 5 – Rainy Wrangell
Today when we woke up we had 3G service since we were docked in Wrangell!! All our voice mails, texts, and emails started downloading on our phones! It was a strange after being out of communication for a while.
In the morning we had 2 Tlingit women (a mother and daughter) came on board to give us a presentation of native culture. We learned about Moiety, which is either eagle or raven. There were samples of regalia, head dresses, blankets, baskets, dried salmon, devils club salve, etc...
The day was pretty rainy – surprise and we were a bit tired! We hung around on the ship and made phones to the grandparents and DH’s office to check in.
The kids were able to do some fishing off the boat and dock. They used lures and salmon as bait. They caught rockfish, sole, flounder, sunfish, and a ginormous sea star. People over 16 need a license to fish in Alaska – but the kids were able to participate license free!
Tommy- a deck hand on the ship was great with the kids and super patient!
After lunch we participated in a walking tour of Wrangell, stopped to see murals, totem poles. The tour ended at Chief Shakes house. http://shakesisland.com/
We were entertained with a Tlingit presentation complete with dancing, singing, and story telling.
After that we headed over the Wrangell Museum http://www.wrangell.com/visitors/att...istory/museum/
After dinner we had a lecture on Russia and Alaska history.

Day 6 Yes Bay
http://www.yesbay.com/
After breakfast we signed up for a 3-hour guided Kayak tour of Yes Bay. We saw a brown bear, loons, ravens, and seals. We did a brief stopover at Yes Bay Fishing Lodge to check out the premises. We learned it was built as a casino and prostitution house before statehood and then turned into a fishing lodge when the previously mentioned activities were illegal. Kids and hubby played pool while I took a little walk. I was in full Kayak gear – including the skirt and I didn’t feel like peeling it all off – I was quite a sight!
After lunch we took a DIB out in the bay and saw a momma black bear and her adorable cub. The baby was close to the water and was very curious of us. Did I mention how cute he was? Anyway – the momma was out of view and quite annoyed that baby was just watching us. She started yelling at him. And man - that little guy tore off!! I think she grounded him! We also saw kingfishers. My 8-year-old fell asleep sitting up in the rain; I had to wake him to see the bears.
After getting off the DIB we went kayaking on our own. DH and I each took singles and split up for peaceful time on the water. The kids were invited to take out the DIB parent free with one of the expedition leaders – David. They had a blast – he let them take turns “driving.” They also went around and check out all the crab pots that had been put in that morning. They caught tons of very large crabs! They were told since the kids caught them – only the kids could eat them at dinner. My kids don’t eat crabs and I am guessing there were others who didn’t either so after dinner the kids all got to pick a crab and race them on the deck! It was quite hilarious!!
After the races we had a lecture on Oil and fossil fuels.

Day 7-
We woke up and were still in Yes Bay. The captain’s voice actually woke me up announcement, “There’s a bear on the beach,” over the PA. It was 630 am. I threw on a sweatshirt over my pajamas and put on my glasses and headed up to check out the bears in action. Funny- most of the other passengers were out in the cold in their jammies too. We were treated to a black bear momma and her 2 cubs looking for a snack down by the water.
After our little bear show – we left for Misty Fjords.
After arriving in MF we took a guided kayak tour with Will around Walker Cove. There was a brown bear (grizzly) on the shore for hours, we watched him eat sedges from our kayaks. The 8 year old fell asleep again!! He was in the front of the kayak fast asleep – which was great because he was complaining that he wanted to check out the rest of the cove but I wanted to watch the bear. He woke up an hour later... “Where are we?” There are many photos of him sleeping and he still denies it. We also saw seals and eagles.
Later that day the kids took out paddleboards to cruise around the ship.
That night we had the Captains dinner and a fun slide show after dessert!!

Day 8- disembarkation day...
Bags have to be packed and in hall by 630. Early breakfast, Joe williams-Ketchikan mayor and Tlinglit talks about culture. Off ship around 900.
Southeast discovery center
No cruise ships in port so very little open! No charge at discovery center. No charge on tram for cape fox lodge.
Lunch Pirate Fish
Fly to Anchorage. 3 flights! Ketchikan to Sitka to Juneau to Anchorage

Sun July 31-laundry at hotel – Spring Hill Suites
...only 2 washers and 2 dryers...traffic jam!!! Best shower of the trip!!
Drive to Denali, check into McKinley Village
Dinner 229 Park...empty but they were really weird because we didn't have reservations.
Ordered boxed lunches from hotel for morning pick up.

Mon Aug 1-
Picked up boxed lunches, which were ridiculously expensive, 15.95 for a small packaged sandwich, chips, cookie, orange, and a soda.
Took about 10 minutes from lodge to WAC. Stood on line to pick up bus tickets.
7:30 am shuttle bus to Eielson, sat on left side of bus, but I don't think it makes a difference. Wildlife was on both sides. We did sit in the back which was good bc there were some empty seats and when we saw something it was easier to move around.
Bus ride in....
McKinley base and parts of the ridge were visible throughout the day but the peak never came out.
Stop at Eielson visitor center. 12:00 ranger hike.... Alpine Hike. Very windy hike top the top of a ridge with gorgeous views!! Ranger was a fellow Gator! At top of ridge 9 year old was afraid he would blow away, he curled up in a ball and "made like a rock." before hike ranger spoke about BMW ..bear, moose, wolf- the 3 most dangerous animals in the park. If you encounter…. A bear-wave your arms and identify itself as a human, don't run! A moose-run like hell! Wolf- yell at him like a bad dog.
Bus ride out - back at WAC at 7.
Grizzly total of the day...7
Caribou
Pika
Red fox
Arctic ground squirrel
Dinner Chubby Salmon – in the hotel
Bear Count to date...
Brown 9 ( 2 coastal, 7 Denali)
Black 7 (all coastal)


Tuesday Aug 2-
Sleep late....
Skipped breakfast and headed straight to lunch at Prospectors Pizza. We were the first folks to grab a table. It was a round 1130 am. Our waiter was odd. My husband ordered coffee. The waiter brought out coffee. No milk or sugar. When DH asked fir milk or cream the waiter brought the container from the fridge. Weird!! When we asked questions that he didn't know the answers to, he just stood there looking t us. We had to tell him to go ask someone that knew the answer. So needless to say our service was SLOW. We starting asking other servers for things like napkins, refills, etc. We never saw our waiter again. Pizza was very good. We were stuffed when we left.
After lunch we went straight to Denali Visitor Center. We were just in time for a ranger hike. This was a little on the slow side, but my son had fun asking the ranger which berries were edible (the answer was all of them!) and then eating them off the brush- just like a bear.)
After our hike we went to the sled dog presentation near park HQ. This was fun. The dogs are friendly and we enjoyed playing with them. The summer puppies has just been born. They were 6 days old. They were in an enclosed pen in a doghouse with their momma. You could see them nursing and wiggling around -so cute!!
After we decided to drive as far in as we could and see if we could find wildlife on our own.
Dinner-
Perch-bizarre service. Waitress was horrific. Had to send back my sons burger for being to rare and my salad because I ordered salmon and it came with chicken. Someone else came over to take over for the wet noodle personality waitress, he tried, but we were pretty unhappy.
Dessert - since dinner left us feeling blue we went for dessert @a place down the road.
The waitress was very nice and super fast. My oldest son is allergic to nuts so we asked what desserts were nut free. We got a delicious brownie ala mode and dome yummy apple pie ala mode. My son saw some cookies that were for tasting and asked again if the had any nuts. The waitress said no. We all took a bite including my nut allergic son. Immediately we all said this is PEANUT BUTTER!! Thankfully ds is not anaphylactic or we'd be in serious trouble. Waitress said, oh sorry I thought you meant crunchy nuts. Was she for real!! ugh!
Driving back to the hotel we were on the highway and I spotted a moose!!! She was our first for the trip! She was grazing off the side of the road. We watched her for a while from the safety of our rental minivan. At first she didn’t seem to mind the company but then there was a point that I swear she was going to charge us!! I had to make my husband drive away.

Wed Aug 3-
Check out
Morning ride into park for last hurrah to spot more wildlife. We couldn’t get enough!
Drive to Talkeetna
Lunch at Wildflower Café
Ice cream
Drive to Girdwood
Check in to Alyeska
Swim
Dinner at the hotel

Thursday Aug 4
Breakfast – The Bake Shop - http://www.thebakeshop.com/menu.php
Gold planning at Cow Creek Mine
Ice cream
Dinner -Jack Sprat

Friday Aug 5
Pack up and check out, drive to downtown Anchorage
Lunch- Glacier Brewery
Afternoon -souvenir shopping
Airport
Dinner Humpy’s
Fly home!!
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Old Jan 23rd, 2012, 11:42 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 5,904
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sounds like a great trip, thanks for the report. I love that your DH was the star of the slide show on the Ship.

By the way what is a DIB?
emalloy is offline  
Old Jan 23rd, 2012, 12:15 PM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,935
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks for the report, I remember seeing your posts as I was researching for our Alaskan trip. Glad you had a great trip.
We enjoyed Prospectors Pizza also and experienced the super slow service too. We had lunch at Jack Sprat. We drove 1500 miles in 14 days, as far north as Denali and as far south as Homer and Seward. We saw 9 calvings of 2 glaciers, at least a dozen moose and 5 calves, 5 orcas and 4 humpbacks in Seward. In Denali we spotted a wolf trotting along a stream, saw 4 grizzlies near Eiselson, numerous caribou laying on icy patches (to keep bugs to a minimum)
Our favorite memory was flying over Denali and the Alaskan range (in a 10 seater plane that left from Talkeetna)
deladeb is offline  
Old Jan 23rd, 2012, 12:33 PM
  #4  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
emalloy - its basically a motorized raft.
http://www.dibboats.com/

deladeb - WOW!! A wolf - thats the one animal we missed!! cool!
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Old Jan 23rd, 2012, 01:04 PM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 7,443
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sounds like you pretty much got a taste of everything. what is DIB?-some kind of boat i presume.
spirobulldog is offline  
Old Jan 25th, 2012, 04:39 AM
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
sprio - yup - DIB is a motorized raft.

Also forget to mention we were on the Wilderness Adventurer with Innersea Discoveries for the cruise. If anyone wants info on cabin selection or other specialized details - just give a shout.
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Old Jan 25th, 2012, 08:59 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 13,823
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
WOW! What a wonderful fun filled, acitivity filled adventure you had. This will be something your son will never forget.
schmerl is offline  
Old Jan 26th, 2012, 11:06 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 19,228
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
MBM, great report.

I've been thinking about one of those Inner Sea Discovery small boat cruises.

Which boat were you on, and how did you like the accommodations?

Any comments/advice you can offer would be appreciated. TIA.
panecott is offline  
Old Jan 28th, 2012, 08:11 AM
  #9  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We all loved InnerSea Discoveries!!! We were on the Wilderness Adventurer. Honestly, the accommodations were comfortable, but pretty basic. I booked in March for the summer and got the last 2 cabins on the ship, so they were the 2 closest to the galley. My kids could care less - but it I would have rather been on the other deck a flight up. Those rooms were a little bigger as well and had more space for your belongings.
Listen, its not like being on a big cruise ship - its small and every inch of the boat has been utilized. I would never have traded the experience for more space. And as the week progressed I was so exhausted by bedtime that I hit the pillow and was out.
Our crew was beyond incredible! They were so kind and patient with all the pax, young and old. The excursions choices were nicely geared to all levels of fitness and age. You could choose to ride on a motorized DIB or take out your own kayak. You could do a long rigorous hike or a shorter easier one. It was up to you.
Each morning and afternoon the choices were listed on a white board in the dining room and you would take a little magnet with your room number to save your space on what you wanted to do.
After the afternoon activities we would all come back for a happy hour that was always fun.

Does that help??
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Old May 7th, 2012, 11:40 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What a great report! My wife and I are now fired up to head out in to Anchorage end of June. Was curious what car rental place you used (at airport?) and how much? Did you have any problems renting and did you choose option for returning car with full tank or pay for gas at time of rental. Appreciate your feedback.
goeurope is offline  
Old May 7th, 2012, 12:48 PM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 19,228
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
MBM,
Thanks very much for your informative reply. Somehow I missed it back in January. Your info is very helpful.

I wanted to do the cruise in May or early June but for various reasons had to postpone it. But I'll bookmark this for next year. Thx again.
panecott is offline  
Old May 20th, 2012, 05:28 AM
  #12  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
goeurope - We rented a car from Dollar at the Anchorage airport. I made the reservation and secured the rate online a few months in advance (its cheaper that way.) Our one week rate was about $500 - its expensive up there!!! When renting car I start with Expedia to see who is the cheapest and then I go to that rental company's web site and look for coupons.
I don't remember if we choose the pay for gas in advance, but we probably did. When traveling we usually do - many years ago we almost missed our flight looking for gas.
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2012, 12:50 PM
  #13  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We leave for Alaska (family of 4) in 2 weeks and are on the Inneersea Discovery Cruise from Juneau to Ketchikan. Our kids will be 13 and 9 at the time of the trip. A couple of questions on packing:

1. Did you use/need the rubber boots or should we just use what is available on the boat?
2. What about over the ankle hiking boots vs. regular walking shoes? Are they necessary?
3. What about luggage - we are planning to bring soft sided duffels but will be bigger than the 22 inch limit I thought I saw somewhere (which is only carry-on size). Probably closer to 28 to 30 inches - any problems with that?
4. Anything else you might suggest for packing to make sure to take or not worry about taking? After the cruise we will spend 4 days inside Denali at one of the lodges so the whole trip will be outdoor exploring and hiking based.

thanks.
stephenholdridge is offline  
Old Jun 8th, 2012, 04:25 PM
  #14  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
stephen - you are going to LOVE this trip!!!
Ok - answers....

1. We brought our own boots and I highly recommend it. I don't think they had all sizes on the ship for borrowing. We wore our boots almost everyday. I was lucky and found mine and my then 8 year old's at Target. Husband bought his at Outdoor World, my then 11 year old was the toughest - I ended up ordering expensive ones from Zappos. But I would have done it again. No regrets. We sloshed around without a care.

2. For the hikes on the cruise were just wore the rain boots. It is really wet and muddy. Especially getting from the Dibs to shore. For Denali we wore our sneakers. I have hiking sneakers - low top - that I wore - we didnt really do much hiking in Denali though - just the ranger led ones - I was too petrified to run into a grizzly with the kids on our own.

3. Duffels are perfect. You need to store them under your bed on the cruise. As long as you can smoosh them up, you will be fine.

4.
A) Bring the waterproof rain pants. We wore them every day on the cruise. It rained every day at least some portion of the day on the cruise. Not a Florida monsoon - but a constant wet and cold light rain. My youngest also fell on every hike in the mud - we hosed him off on the back deck.

B) Bring a good waterproof rain shell - mine was the North face one - it was good enough - I didn't splurge on the gortex.

C) Fleece sweatshirts. Bring enough that you can alternate and layer under the rain shell. Some days - especially the glacier hike were really cold.

D) Lounging clothing - sweats. While lounging on the ship I had jeans and it was uncomfortable - I wish I had sweatpants or comfy Pajama pants. I was always cold.

E) Juneau was really warm and sunny - my kids wore shorts and t-shirts and would have killed me if I hadn't packed them. They also wore them hanging around on the ship - they never got cold.

F) Bathing suit and flip flops for hot tub and polar bear swim.

G) Dont pack anything dressy or dry clean only! Its very casual.

Also - after the cruise we spent one night in Anchorage after flying back from Ketchikan - try to stay somewhere were you have access to laundry machines. Your clothes will be dirty.

Any other questions please let me know! You are going to love!!!! My kids had the best time!!! My oldest spent a lot of time on the bridge - he learned so much from the crew. They were all really great!!
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Old Jun 10th, 2012, 06:12 AM
  #15  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
thanks for you advice on packaing - the whole family is looking forward to the trip. On the backend we are going to stay at Camp Denali for 4 nights -

I just noticed your listing of trip reports ---- it ironically matches our family travel for the last 3 years - just in a different order. This year we will be in Alaska, last year we took the family to Italy (rome, tuscanny, vienice, lake como) and the prior year we went to costa rica (lapa rios, peace lodge and around). We made a list of potential places to visit about 5 years ago - every family member voted for their top 5. We then added in some parental editing and every year or so pick out the place for the next year until our oldest (she is turning 13) heads out of the house in 4 years. About 10+ choices still on list that we need to pick 4 or 5 more from.
stephenholdridge is offline  
Old Jun 15th, 2012, 12:43 PM
  #16  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Camp Denali will be amazing!! Friends of ours left last night for Alaska and we were so jealous!!
I am curious to see your top 10. We still have to many places to visit in the world I wonder how we will get to them all!!
Our summer trip this year is to Spain. None of us have ever been and we are very excited!!
On our top top must do list is Thailand, African Safari, Galapagos, and Israel - we will go when my youngest turns 13. Traveling with our family has been an amazing experience!
Please post your trip report when you get back from Alaska - would love to hear all about it!!!
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Old Jun 16th, 2012, 07:23 AM
  #17  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Will post a trip report when we get back. My wife and I went to Spain before the kids. Spent all our time in Andalucia area and Madrid - all the small white towns in the hills are fasciniting. Loved seville and granada as well.
stephenholdridge is offline  
Old Jan 25th, 2013, 03:38 PM
  #18  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thank you for the great trip report. We are going on a Kids in Nature cruise in June on the Endeavor with InnerSeas, now called Un-Cruise Adventures and my husband keeps balking at buying rubber rainboots -wants to just use his hiking boots - but I think from this post it sounds necessary to get the rubber boots.

Contemplated going to Denali after the cruise but am going to save it for another Alaska trip and instead take the ferry up to Haines, maybe a day in Skagway.

very helpful!
doorcountygirl is offline  
Old Jan 31st, 2013, 02:50 PM
  #19  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,237
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
door - your welcome!!!! Denali was amazing!!! Cant comment on Haines and Skagway - we didnt do either. Have fun!!!
MiamiBeachMomma is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
TravelinVic
United States
11
Sep 19th, 2013 07:44 AM
stephenholdridge
United States
19
Feb 5th, 2012 09:52 AM
liner80
United States
12
Jun 10th, 2009 01:33 AM
vp4
United States
21
Jun 11th, 2008 09:00 AM
ALS5077
United States
8
Nov 3rd, 2006 05:11 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -