Day 3: Ketchikan

We arrived in Ketchikan Monday morning.

Facts about Ketchikan: It's the southernmost sizable city in Alaska. It has an estimated population of about 7,368, making it the 5th most populous city in Alaska. It is known as the "Salmon Fishing Capital of the World". It has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles. It gets an average of 152 inches of rain a year and an average of 37 inches of snow.

Side note: Through NCL, cruise passengers can book "shore excursions" in each town the ship docks at. K&S booked a trip for the whole family in another town. Steven and I decided we would explore Ketchikan on our own.

There's not much land between the water and the mountains so we got off the ship and the town was right there.

The Norwegian Star, looking at the back.



View of Ketchikan from the dock.



The sign welcoming visitors to the "Salmon Fishing Capital of the World".



We stopped at the visitors office and got maps of a walking tour. We went with 3 other siblings and spouses.

Ketchikan has quite a collection of totem poles. I learned some interesting things about totem poles. They were carved to honor deceased ancestors, record history, social events and oral tradition. They were never worshipped as religious objects.



The picture above shows the Chief Kyan totem pole. According to the sign next to it, the figures represent the Crane, the Thunderbird and the Brown Bear.

We saw totem poles all over Ketchikan and there's a Totem Heritage Center in town that houses a display of original totem poles.

This next picture shows a salmon ladder. It is a concrete structure that was built to help the salmon on their way up the creek to their spawning grounds.



This is a view of the Thomas Basin Boat Harbor from Stedman Street. The ships are docked just to the left of the harbor. There's a wooden street in front o fthe buildings to the right.



Creek Street. Ketchikan Creek runs through the middle and the buildings are built on pilings that overhang the creek. This was the "red light district" of Ketchikan.



Dolly Arthur was Ketchikan's most famous madam. This was her house.



Ketchikan Creek. See all the green moss on the rocks--this area gets over 100 inches annually of rainfall. The area is very lush and green.



Another view of Ketchikan from the docks near the ships.



Ketchikan is very hilly and some streets are actually built of wooden staircases. These are called staircase streets.




This is a view of Newtown (which is located west of the historic district) from the ship. You can see that there is very little land between the mountains and the water. We saw this in each town we visited. You can also see how the mountains are solidly covered with evergreen trees. We also saw this everywhere we went.

4th of july dessert

We usually have a BBQ to celebrate the 4th of July. This year I found a great deal on raspberries, strawberries and blueberries so I made this great shortcake dessert.



The recipe:

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar

SHORTCAKE:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Dash salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream
Whipped cream, optional

In a small bowl, combine the strawberries, blueberries and 2 tablespoons sugar; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine milk and sour cream; stir into crumb mixture just until moistened.

Spread batter into a greased 9-in. pie plate (batter will be thick). Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 350° for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes; cut into six wedges.

Split each wedge in half horizontally. Serve warm with berry mixture; garnish with whipped cream if desired. Serves: 6

canning season has started

[ cherries ]

On Sunday (7/5), a ward member told Steven about a farm in Utah County where you could pick your own cherries. These type of farms are called U-pick or pick-your-own farms. The farm was charging .65/lb of cherries, which was quite a good price so I got a friend to watch the children and went there to pick cherries. I got about 25 lbs and today (7/7) I canned them.



This was my first experience canning cherries. I've done peaches, pears, apricots and applesauce before. Cherries are definitely one of the easier fruits to do, I think, because there's not much prep work to do. All we did was pull off the stems, wash them, and put them in jars with light syrup. We didn't bother pitting them.



Those 25 lbs of cherries gave me 16 quarts. I would have had 17 but I dropped the last jar as I was bringing it in from the outside stove. Glass jar + tile floor = one big mess to clean up. Ugh! I was mad that I lost that jar!




I would love to go back and get another 25 lbs but I have lots of other canning I plan to do so I need to think about my storage space and how many jars I have. But now that I know about that farm, I will definitely go back next year!

Day 2: At Sea and the Surprise Anniversary Party

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Our first full day on the ship. We woke up and had breakfast at the Market Cafe which was the cafeteria-style restaurant on board. It has huge windows so you can see outside.



Then everyone did their own thing until 4 pm when we had a "Family Conference", which was pretty much a sacrament meeting without the sacrament. We had prayers, songs, and different family members shared spiritual experiences related to the family. Steven shared the story of when I had the severe bleeding back in May and was told I had placenta previa and needed to be really careful. After we told Christie and Jordan what was going on and how we (mostly I) needed their help, they were very helpful and every night after that until Alex was born, they prayed that he would be healthy. He also shared how, during labor with Alex, his heart rate dropped and stayed low to the point where I came thisclose to needing a c-section, he prayed that everything would be OK and I wouldn't need surgery. His point was that he was grateful for the power of prayer.

We then headed to the Versailles Room, which is a French-style decorated restaurant for dinner and a surprise anniversary party.



The point of this cruise was to celebrate Steven's parents' (K&S) 50th wedding anniversary (actual date is in September). During the previous few months, Steven's older brother M and his wife K collected pictures of K&S's life from the day they were married to the present, including pictures sent from each family. All these pictures were made into a beautiful book that was presented to them, along with a box of letters and cards from their grandchildren, extended family members and friends. They were completely surprised by this!





Steven's older sister B announced to the room at large that we were celebrating a 50th anniversary and would everyone please join in a round of applause. Then several of the wait staff sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart".



Then one of the waiters brought a tray of root beer floats, which is our family's celebration drink. Someone in the family (can't remember who) made a joke that most people celebrate an anniversary with champagne but we celebrate with root beer floats!





A funny side note: Most of the ship staff (waiters, photographers, cabin stewards, etc.) that we met were not American. They all wear name tags with their name, position and country of origin. Most of them were from Asian nations. The waiter that brought the root beer floats had never heard of them! S (Steven's sister who arranged for them) had to explain over and over what they were, and then how to make them. We all got a good laugh when she explained the ordeal!

Day 1: Seattle

Saturday, June 6, 2009

We woke up and got ourselves ready. Some of us went to IHOP for breakfast while the other half went to run some last minute errands. Then we waited around in the motel room for the shuttle van to arrive to drive us to the pier in downtown Seattle.

Once we were dropped off at Pier 66, the first thing to do was have our tickets and passports checked. Then we went to drop off the luggage. Just like at the airport. Then we went through security, which included a health survey (concern about swine flu). After that, we were able to actually get on the ship. The ship's name is Norwegian Star, of the Norwegian Cruise Line (hereafter referred to as NCL). The Star had just arrived that morning from a previous Alaska cruise so the cabin stewards were still working on cleaning and stocking the staterooms. So we went to one of the restaurants on board for lunch. Once we were given the go-ahead to go to our cabins, we unpacked and then walked around the ship to get our bearings before heading up to the 12th deck which is where the observation decks are.



We departed Seattle around 4 p.m. The rest of the evening we spent on the observation decks watching Washington State go by, exploring more of the ship, eating dinner and visiting with each other.

Alaska: Unofficial Day One: Last Day of School and Flying to Seattle

Friday, June 5, 2009

We started off Friday, June 5th with the last day of school. They had a normal early out day. Steven went to work for the morning to finish up some projects while I did the final packing and cleaning. He came home at 12:30 or so and then at 1:15 we went over to school to take pictures of Christie and Jordan with friends and teachers and to deliver the year-end thank you notes.

Christie and her best buds


Christie and her teacher Mrs. Francis


Jordan and the boys from his class


Jordan and his teacher Mrs. Hanzon


After picking up Christie and Jordan from school, we went to Applebee's for an "end of the school year" celebration lunch. Then we came home to pick up their stuff then took the children over to my best friend Diane's home. She and her husband had the three children stay with them from Friday afternoon through Monday morning.

We then ran back home to get our stuff and headed over to the airport. We were a little behind schedule but fortunately getting through security didn't take too long and we had about 45 minutes to spare.

We flew on Delta to Seattle.


All except two couples had arrived that day (June 5th) so Steven's father had arranged for us to stay at a motel a few miles from the airport. We were supposed to call for the motel shuttle to come pick us up. Only problem was that we were flying alone so there was no one to make the call for us. I'm not sure how Steven's father thought we were going to handle that but then again, since a very young age, Steven's been expected to figure things out for himself so in a way, it's par for the course. LOL. Fortunately, a fellow traveler made the call for us and after about a 30 minute wait, the shuttle came. The funniest thing about the whole episode is that Steven's older sister Pam and her husband got on the shuttle at the same time! They had been waiting at the opposite end of the shuttle pick up area. We got to the motel, said HI to everyone, took a short walk over to a nearby 7-11 to get some food and then crashed.

End of Day 1.

The Last Week

It's the last week of school, and the last week before our Alaska trip! I can hardly believe the school year is over already! It will be a busy week--tomorrow (Monday) Jordan goes to Hogle Zoo with his class, and Christie goes on Wednesday. Thursday is Field Day and Friday is the last day of school.

I am so excited for the Alaska cruise that I can hardly wait! I don't think I've explained about this trip before. Steven's parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year and they decided to take their 6 children and spouses on a cruise to Alaska. They told us about this trip 2 years ago, right around the time we bought our house. Two years ago was our 10th wedding anniversary. We had always talked about taking a trip to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary, but with the news that Mom and Dad S. were going to take us on a trip, we decided to forego the Hawaii trip and buy the house instead (with a bigger down payment!). Now it is finally here! I have been doing some research online to see what there is to do in the various towns we will visit and it seems the biggest problem will be deciding what to do in the time we have!

My best friend will have our three children stay with her for the weekend, then my sister will pick them up and have them through the rest of the trip. Many thanks to these wonderful ladies for being willing to have our children stay with them!

The best part of it all? Our last night on board (6/12) will be our 12th wedding anniversary! We have some big plans to celebrate!

While I will be taking my laptop, it will only be for downloading pictures from the digital camera and keeping a journal. We won't have internet access (well, the ship does have internet access but it's not free) so I won't be able to tell about the trip til after we get back.

This week is already so busy---Friday will be here before I know it!!