Day 2 Bon Voyage

So our day started pretty great with a lovely cooked breakfast at the more crowded breakfast area in a hotel I think I have ever seen. We almost had to eat outside since there was just no room but at the last minute a spot opened up. So we shuttled back to the airport and headed for the Princess counter.

Of course we stopped for a quick airport picture on the way. It's a good thing it didn't take too long because we were the very last 4 people on the shuttle. Because the bus was already full we got to sit in the 2 front seats which was awesome because we got the bet view out of the front of the bus. Our driver gave us a fabulous tour on the 50 minutes or so it took to get us to the dock. We drove right through downtown which is gorgeous. Checking in was pretty slick and easy and before we knew it we were headed to the ship....finally after 10 months of waiting.

The view from our balcony!

Princess upgraded us to a balcony room for FREE! Yes we were pretty excited about that since we paid for a inside room. The room had so much more space and the view was incredible.

We did what anyone would do after getting on board...headed to the buffet. It was pretty crowded since everyone had the same idea. A great way to start. We sat with a couple from Arkansas for lunch and got to know them a little. I mention this because we ended up seeing them alot during the cruise and the land tour. In fact they were the last people we saw as we were catching the shuttle to the airport on the way home.

We looked around the ship a bit too and got settled in. Then quietly with no fanfare at all we noticed we were on the way. Luckily we were on our balcony to see it!

The view of the harbor on the way out was so fun! We had a lovely "Sail Away" dinner that night in the dining room and watched then our first performance that night in the theater. Oh yes and the deal of the century for us...we bought a drink card that was all you can drink soda, hot chocolate AND non alcoholic drinks! We got our moneys worth on that for sure.

It was smooth sailing all the way into the inside passage:

Day 1 of North to Alaska!!

I think it's time to start sharing our trip with you guys. We have about 1100 pictures to sift through plus all the pictures from the Jensens too so I am going to do this day by day again. That seems to help keep me organized in my thoughts. I committed the grave error of not keeping a trip journal this time!! So Shelie when I write something that's just plain wrong correct me will you so I can be somewhat accurate.

Our flight from Vegas to Vancouver was actually Tuesday July 17 in the early evening so I took the day off to finish up packing and any errands I would need to finish. Even with just two people it takes a huge effort sometimes to get out of here. I like to come home to a somewhat clean house and I insist on clean sheets to return to after a cool trip so that stuff takes time. I didn't get the house perfectly clean because I figure why dust and stuff when in 2 weeks it will be right back with more but I am so glad I left the day open. The packing didn't go as smoothly as I hoped. I was apparently taking too much crap basically. Even though I was pretty organized I planned on changing way more than we actually did. I also thought it was going to be dressier than it was too so lesson learned for next time ha ha ha ha.

The Jensens came with their pick up so all our luggage would fit and off we went to Vegas. We picked up Kyle Jensen in Henderson who dropped us off and kept the truck. I had looked online when I checked on our flight and verified that we flew out of terminal 2....WRONG. They had no terminal 2 anymore and we had to drag all our stuff over to the new terminal 3. Darn it Kyle was long gone by this time. So after we finally got there we got checked in and ready to go.

It was so fun that Ashley came to see us off with Rees and Cooper! Rees wanted to come with us and couldn't understand why everyone gets to go to Alaska but him. She tried to meet us in terminal 2 also and we all trekked over together. I am so bummed that I didn't think to get a picture of our little bon voyage team. Anyone who really knows me also knows I don't like flying so I was happy to get going and just get there. So that means we got stuck waiting for our plane to come in for an extra 1/2 hour. But it all went well and we arrived safe and sound and problem free.

OOpps its blurry! If I would have had my glasses on I would have noticed that huh.

The Jensens enjoying the flight.

Jackson Hole

 Mendis had a business trip in Jackson Hole July 11-14 so we made a vacation out of it. On our way out of the valley we found out that Christina could come with us so we picked her up in Orem and headed up to Wyoming.
We had a condo up there so there was room for her on the couch. While Mendis went to meetings Christina and I played. Sounds fair right! We headed up the mountain to the alpine slide first thing. It was super fun...

View from the top of the slide.

Let's light this candle!

A quick self portrait before we go

I tried to video the ride most of the way down. I don't know why I guess I thought it would be cool but it's really not that awesome. We thought we were pretty high up until we did our next adventure.

We took the "scenic trip" up to the very top of the mountain on the chair lift. On the way over Christina asked me if I was nervous and I said heck no. Well about half way up I changed my mind. I don't love heights anyway but man it was high up. Apparently it is the steepest chair lift in North America!! Yikes

The view from the top was incredible. There was a 1/2 mile nature walk up on the top that we did. It was beautiful up there.

We could see for miles and miles from the top and then all too soon it was time to face the long steep ride down. Going up was scarey enough so I was not looking forward to the trip down.The worst part was when they kept stopping the lift for one reason or another and just left us swinging up there especially at the top!

Believe it or not going down was much easier!

So we had a lunch at the ski resort and dinner with Mendis at a banquet they put on for everyone and their families. It's never my favorite thing to attend functions and especially when I don't know people but it was really great. Good food and we met a very interesting man who told us all about Alaska. He has a hunting lodge up there so now we were all primed for our upcoming cruise to Alaska! After dinner we drove out to Teton Village to look around and ended up going into the park because the entrance booth was closed for the day. We saw beaver, elk, lots of deer and even two moose. I fun, fun night.
The next day after Mendis' meetings we decided to head into Yellowstone.

We had lunch at Jackson first and did a little shopping and then headed over to the park. We were supposed to have Jeff & Rachel meet us for dinner there but they had an expensive and exhausting night the night before. They had a blowout on the way home from Ogden. So we decided it would be better for everyone if we just went to Rexburg to them instead. We had a blast going all through Teton Park this time.

Here's a great picture of Christina enjoying nature with us!

As soon as we got into Yellowstone itself we decided to take a back road a ranger told us about instead of going around through Yellowstone on the main road. It was awesome because it was beautiful and so peaceful that way.

You could really see the old fire damage as you drove right through it!

So it was gravel most of the way and narrow so we thought for sure we would see lots of animals...nope just deer and squirrels. Oh well it was very scenic and we enjoyed getting away from the crowds. We hit Rexburg just in time for a great Mexican dinner. It was great to see Jeff & Rachel again and visit with them. Christina was happy to see them putting her couches to good use too.

 After dinner we hoped to meet up with Tori & Dreah for dessert. Originally they just needed an hour or two so we enjoyed touring campus for for awhile. It is a beautiful campus and we love the gardens especially. Then we drove around and showed Christina some awesome gorgeous homes. When we found out Tori & Dreah needed more time we thought we better grab dessert and go back with out seeing them. Bummer. SO Jeff & Rachel to us to Sammys for "PIE" shakes. Holy cow they were good. They seriously take a piece of pie and blend it into the milkshake. Oh yeah good. After we said our goodbyes we headed back over the mountains to Jackson. What a mountain pass that was too I might add. It was harder to see in the dark but maybe that's a good thing. All I could think about was Jeff drove that road when it was snowing in the winter!! Not cool. There are some serious cliffs through there.
The next morning we hit the road and drove all the way home. We decided to be tourists and take the back way through Bear Lake and Logan like we did years ago. Another beautiful drive. So we dropped Christina off at her place and headed home. We got home late Saturday night just in time to start packing and to get ready for our cruise!!

July 4th

July 4th was different for us this year in away. We never go up to the fair grounds for breakfast and stuff so that was the same. Actually Mendis tried to start that years ago but he never really got many takers from the family to go up there bright and early on a day off so it died out fast. We heard about the free fireworks at the smoke shop again this year and that is a must do now for us. A couple of years ago we went out there when they first got it going and it was a mad house. Complete chaos. It was so much fun though. People were lighting off fireworks everywhere you looked. We even drove over a couple of launch pads by mistake because we couldn't even tell that's what it was. There were so many people lighting off huge fireworks that you couldn't even tell when the official show started because it was mass fireworks. So when it really started people kept on lighting theirs so it was crazy!! Seriously crazy but alot of fun so we were looking forward to it this year.
Last year it was alot more under control and even more so this year. Gone are the days of random fires catching out in the dessert and stuff. What  bummer. It was so under control it wasn't much fun really. There were official launching pads and people were parked in straight lines and everything. Buzz kill. Get this...I even got into trouble because I was doing sparklers in the parking lot with Rees & Cooper. Wow this has changed. So we watched the free show which was great and just went home. It was fun this year to have Ashley & Benjy join us but the grand adventure is so tame now. I am glad we got to witness the few rowdy years because it was hilarious if not a little dangerous.

"The guys" watching from the back of our pickup

Rees

Cooper...he was banished to his car for awhile since he wouldn't sit on anyone's lap and wanted to wander off. It was great until he got into the carmel corn and smeared it all over their car.

So this all happened the weekend before the 4th. For the official holiday we went up to Rob & Beth's for a yummy barbeque.  It was a great evening. When we got home we went walking and didn't even feel like going up to the fairgrounds for the fireworks so ..we didn't! Wow what rebels we are. We watched them on our walk and enjoyed them from afar.

Camp & the Hickman Reunion

Girl's camp was a day longer this year for our stake but not for me. I had to work. So Mendis and I went up on Thursday to join in the fun. We were late leaving because Mendis had to look up some parts online for the generator up there. When we finally got on the road we got stuck in the gorge behind a semi that burnt to the ground. We were stuck there for about an hour and a half! When we finally pulled in it was almost dark again! Someday we are going to get there earlier. So we set up our tent and got settled. It was nice and cool up there compared to here so I loved it. Lots of people thought it was too hot but I knew what we had just left behind so I was enjoying the change. We managed to visit almost all the camps which is no small feat because there are so many. We enjoyed watching the girls have fun up there especially on the cope course. It was a blast watching the leaders go down the water slide they made on the hill by the amphitheater. Too messy for me and I didn't want Mendis to trash his knee any worse than it already is. It was a fun girls camp and I am  really glad we made it up there. There were problems as always: a girl passed out and had to be flighted to the hospital when her vitals were eratic in the ambulance. That was pretty nerve racking but I think she is okay now.

The day girls' camp ended was the day of the Hickman family reunion. So although we tried to hustle on home early we were one of the last ones out waiting for the flight helicopter etc. We got home and after a quick shower rushed down to the Old Overton gym for lunch. There was an awesome turnout. Ashley & Benjy and the boys came out from Vegas to meet the family. Mike & Kathy & two of their kids were there. We saw Gary & Karla and their kids, and Clayton and all the Mendis' aunts from the Hickman side. We were really glad we went.

After the Reunion we had a bbq at our house with Charlie and Alisha and Ashley's family. It was a great day.

Everyone