Checkin' Out the Views

Starting an Alaskan day the Alaskan way... with espresso!

This state is full of these little drive-up espresso huts. If I lived through perpetual darkness in the winter, I think I too would need a little caffeine each morning.

Kelli with her latte

Hot chocolate for the coffee hater. :)

The cutest breakfast place ever, Snow City Cafe. If you ever go, you need to get the Mandarin cream cheese-stuffed French toast with raspberry butter. Yum!

Kelli and Josh have a bald eagle nest just hundreds of yards away from their living room window. Using this spotting scope, we were able to watch the mom and dad feed their baby in the nest. So cute!

The best way to start a hike!

Old Alaskan gold mine museum

These were my favorite wildflowers -- cornus canadensis, or Alaskan bunchberry -- and apparently a common moose snack.

Sisters :)

One of Kelli's many culinary masterpieces -- roasted leg of lamb with asparagus and roasted tomatoes.

One night we went out with Josh's pilot friends and their spouses to this quirky bar in downtown Anchorage called Sub Zero.

Amber, Kelli, and Victoria

Up next: our journey to the Kenai peninsula (Seward, Cooper Landing, and Homer)

Nassau and Atlantis

The second of our two ports on the cruise was to Nassau. We took some time to roam the city a little and ventured over to Paradise Island to see the famous Bahamian hotel resort, Atlantis.

A view of the Straw Market

On a little ferry that took us to Paradise Island, where the Atlantis resort is.

We got a little tour down the waterway of many celebrities' mansions.

The late Mary Kay Ash's estate on Paradise Island

(The only picture where I could remember whose it actually was...)

Inside a shopping mall in the Atlantis Resort. Hand-blown glass like these sculptures were everywhere.

When there's a fun interactive photo spot, one must always take advantage...

The resort had this incredible aquarium exhibit called The Dig.

Look at that Eagle Ray!

Moray eels

Very Disney-esque aqaurium setup!

One of the water slides on the park's property is an inflatable tube ride that goes through this shark tank.

And for our next vacation? The Atlantis' famous bridge suite.

It rents for $25,000 a night requiring at least 4 nights (ahhem, that's $100K). But don't worry... it's booked solid for the next 5 years, so we have some time to save up for it.

Life on a Boat

In my estimation, there are 4 main aspects of life on a cruise ship, ports aside: food, fun, views, and entertainment. Here's a taste of what they were like for us!

PART 1: THE FOOD

The food definitely has to come first in the list. We ate like there would be no food tomorrow -- everything from escargot to lamb, duck to curry, salads to ice cream. And the always-open soft serve machine became an all-too-tempting friend poolside.

This, my friends, was our table at dinner one night. Three couples and a multitude of plates. Shaun and I shared three appetizers, four entrees, and two desserts that night. Gluttonous? Yes. Delicious? All.

Our table's waiter and wait assistant, Agnelo and Alejandro, who graciously brought us absurd amounts of food each night.

There was a midnight buffet on the third night of our stay. The DJ played while people danced poolside and ate their 4th (5th? 6th?) meal of the day. This was just a shot of the fruit table.

Ice sculptures!

One afternoon we decided to tour the galley with the chef. It was crazy to see how hard those men and women work all day long.

Mmm, midnight pizza! Food is never far...

PART 2: THE FUN!

Listening to live music before we went out and danced together.

Who says towel animals aren't fun? We loved our little surprises, like this monkey!

With a friendly bulldog, maybe?

A cool swan

Rock climbing is definitely fun!

All geared up for our rock wall climbs!

PART 3: THE VIEWS

Watching the world float by with yummy frozen concoctions

We would watch the waves from thcould not believe how blue the water was in the Caribbean.

I promise, there was no photoshopping!

Sitting on the deck after dinner, watching the sunset.

Because it was so windy, part of the time was spent with me behind a glass wall to keep my skirt from going Marilyn on me. This was before we thought of sitting on a bench instead.

We woke up early one morning to watch the sunrise too.

And another sunset....

PART 4: ENTERTAINMENT
One of the things we did each night was gamble in the casino. We each had five dollars a night to try and win it big. I ended up the trip's winner on the last night by winning us $20 with my $5, bringing us almost back to where we would have been without gambling! :)

Shaun in action

SHUFFLEBOARD! :)

And yes, Shaun and I are some of the oldest newlyweds you could ever meet.

And the shows were equally entertaining. This was our comedian on ship, Carl Banks.

A musical show through the decades that we watched one night.

After the show, the crew all came out so we could thank them for all of their hard work in making life on a boat as much fun as it was!