Ryan and Miranda’s Blog

I’m sitting here in our owner’s suite right now with a chair pulled right up the balcony door… and the door open so that I can actually get on someone’s network. Surprisingly it’s not all that cold. Actually kind of refreshing.

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to post so I’ll do my best to sum up the past few days. We took off from Denali Nationaly Park on Friday morning heading to Anchorage for lunch, then the ship in Seward. It was a pretty long drive… and amazingly we saw very little wildlife. Miranda is convinced that there is no wildlife in Alaska. We only saw a beaver and a bald eagle – both from a pretty long distance. Even though we didn’t see the animals we were looking for, the drive was still gorgeous. Amazing scenery everywhere we looked. Our tour guide and driver were great too… lots of interesting facts.

We got to the ship at around 5:30 on Friday, so we ended up just going to the Windjammer (buffet) for dinner. We toured the ship… went to the show and just kind of hung out on the first night. We woke up on Saturday to the roughest seas that I’ve ever been in… and that’s saying something. Just about everyone was buying dramamine. The boat slowed down eventually and the waves became much less of an issue. We slowed down to go cruising by Hubbard Glacier which was amazing. It’s really incredible to see something like that up close. I’m sure that the pictures and video we took won’t even come close to doing it justice. We got to see a few chunks of ice fall off (or calve, as it’s called). The sound that it makes sounds just like the rumble of thunder… incredible. The blue of the glacier ice is pretty indescribable.

We had our first “formal” night for dinner last night in the main dining room. Our waiters seem like they’re going to be pretty cool. I think they’re always a little hesitant on the first night because they want to see if we’re going to joke around with them or just be snobby. The food, as always, is amazing.

…back to the hotel alive after rafting the Nenana River!! All I can say is BEAUTIFUL!!! We got some good pics but for some reason we can’t upload them right now!   But, it was about an 11 mile trip down the river- we were in full dry suits (basically human sized condoms) but still got spashed in the face and were cold by the end. The river is glacier fed and is a brisk 37 degrees!! Brrrrrrr!! Tomorrow morning we head out for Anchorage for lunch and Seward to board the ship! I can’t believe how much of our trip we still have to go– and I can’t imagine anything topping what we have already experienced! We saw the peak of Denali Mountain today too! The peak is only visible like 30% of the time and only 6% of the time can you see the whole mountain (without cloud obstruction)— well it was our lucky day! It’s breathtaking– to think something is THAT BIG from 60-70 miles away!! We could spend at least a week in Denali Park and not get bored– we’re sad we’re leaving tomorrow. Although, I’m sure the best is yet to come! This is an amazing experience! Can’t wait to get pictures to y’all! And I have to say…. we miss our kids! Shout out to Jelly and Denali! Caretakers- give them kisses for us!!!! xoxo (and of course, we miss our family that’s not up here with us too!!)

Alaska is AMAZING!!! We are now in Denali Park and it sure is gorgeous!! J Let’s see, what have we done since our last blog??  Tuesday we were in Fairbanks—  we started our day at 5:30am (still adjusting to the time difference) and were ready to go pretty quick. The problem was Fairbanks is full of late risers. We headed to downtown Fairbanks and basically saw it all within an hour. Not much goin on in downtown Fairbanks. The highlight was trying on hats at the Carhardt store. It was pretty cold and starting to rain, so we went to Pioneer Park. It’s a cute old “amusement” park with a bunch of little shops, some museums, and a carousel.  We spent a couple hours there until it started to rain. Tuesday was pretty cold and rainy so we went back to the lodge, took a nap, and ended the day with episodes of Deadliest Catch and delivery subs. Sound boring? Wednesday more than made up for it.

On Wednesday the weather was not looking good—it was FREEZING COLD and RAINING!!  But we went to El Dorado Gold Mine and panned for gold anyway! We rode on a train and learned about the history of mining in Alaska- then we able to pan for gold! Ryan and I found about $13 worth of gold and my parents got almost $20 between the two of them! We were expecting it to be cheesey but it was actually really fun! We had lunch in downtown Fairbanks and then started the drive to Denali Park. It was so awesome to see how the land was changing as we were driving! We could see more mountains in the distance and the weather was clearing up! The difference between Fairbanks and Denali is incredible! Fairbanks didn’t actually FEEL like Alaska—maybe like West Virginia… but Denali is SPECTACULAR!! Breathtaking views everywhere you look! Our hotel is right on the river and there are snow-covered mountain peaks all around us! We went ATVing last night- it started at like 7:45 and we didn’t get back until after 11 (and it still wasn’t even close to dark!). ATVing was awesome—baja-ing through the mud and trails just outside of Denali! We took a trail to a dry bed left by glaciers- with views that looked like oil paintings! Don’t worry we have lots of pictures!! On the way back to the hotel we saw our first MOOSE!

Today we are getting ready to go into Denali National Park for a tour—we are expecting to see lots of wild life! And tonight we’ll be going whitewater rafting!! Tomorrow we will be traveling down to Anchorage and Seward to board the ship (and begin enjoying our Owner’s Suite!! J ) I really don’t think I came anywhere close to describing how beautiful it is here or how much fun we’re having!  We’re off to enjoy the sunshine, blue skies, and brisk air…. We’ll blog more when we can!

I’m sitting in our hotel in Fairbanks. It’s 6:50 in the morning here in Alaska, but it still feels like 10:50 to me. Getting used to this time change is going to take a little while. Another thing that’s pretty weird is this midnight sun. We got in to Fairbanks at roughly 7pm last night. We checked into the hotel then went out to Pike’s Landing restaurant and sat on the patio for dinner. It was really good. I sampled two of the Alaskan Brewery’s beers – the White Ale and the Amber. Both were fantastic. I also sampled some of Dad O’Bryan’s fish and chips – also fantastic… which is odd, because normally I hate fish. Miranda got some grilled cheese and fries.

By the time we were done with dinner it was around 9pm and we were all beat. We headed back to the hotel room and went to sleep at around 9:45 – or 1:45am Cleveland time. It remained light out all night. Weird.

Today I think we’re going to swim in some hot springs and possibly canoe. Miranda will probably make another post at some point tonight… so keep an eye out for that.

Well, we’re sitting in the Anchorage airport right now.

Waiting at the Anchorage Airport

Getting ready to get on a puddle jumper airplane to take us to our final destination – Fairbanks. The flight will take us about an hour, then our marathon day of travel will be over. It started this morning at 4:30am and won’t end until about 10pm Cleveland time. So far we’ve lost 4 hours. We’ll be staying 2 nights in Fairbanks- at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge.  We got a voicemail from my Dad saying there was a 5.7 earthquake in Anchorage a few hours before we got here… but that’s all we’ve heard of that. No one up here is talking about it… guess it’s “Breaking News” in Cleveland… but not in Anchorage.

Flights have been pretty uneventful so far. Everything has been on time. It is kind of weird here though. We basically just walked up to our gate for this last flight… without having to go through any security at all. Makes you feel really safe. Guess they don’t have terrorists in Alaska.

Welp… That’s about it for right now. We’ll keep everyone posted as often as we can. Check back!!

We are SO excited to be going to Alaska (and staying in the Owner’s Suite) that I’ve been looking stuff up and figured I would share–

Here are some of today stats in Fairbanks (where we will begin our Alaskan Adventure!)::  Current Temp is 66 degrees and party cloudy. Sunrise was at 2:58am and the sun will set at 12:45am…. that’s 22 hours of daylight people!!

We’re meeting with an Event Lighting company tonight and then booking our excursions (among many other tasks we have to do!!). Busy Busy Busy!!