Whale Day in Juneau!

 

For this post, it's Sunday, and I'm SO EXCITED!!!

 

Cuz whales were what I really wanted to see on our trip!

 

We would be in Juneau by noon. 

 

 

So, first we had breakfast and eventually headed down to hang out in Stampers Base Camp for awhile–you know…candy and prizes? 😀

 

I remember THIS one!

Cuz I loved this embossing folder!!

Tin Tile Dynamic Embossing Folder

 

I can't wait to get the new Galvanized Metallic Paper to go with it!!

 

 

At base camp, we also caught up with some friends we met on our SU! weekend getaway in DC a few years ago.

 

ALSO, Todd was inspired to follow Stampin' Up!'s suggestion and fill out the form: "Stampin' Up! has allowed me to"

 

Todd:

go on awesome trips and have lots more female friends (and my wife is ok with it).

and to see my wife unleash her creativity into a business that impacts people far & wide.

 

Ha! Isn't he hilarious and awesome all at the same time?

 

I love how he supports me and encourages me!

He's the best.

 

 

So after we hung out for awhile, we went back to our balcony room.

 

We actually saw our first whale on our way into Juneau.

Todd was taking pictures and looking out on the water and thought he saw a little water spout.

 

He called to me, and I grabbed the binoculars!

I ended up seeing one too, and THEN I saw the tail!

It seemed pretty small–but SO COOL!

I was happy!!

 

Then Todd saw something flying along with us but way out.

We just thought it was a seagull, but when I looked in the binoculars, it was a bald eagle!!

 

I was so excited to already be adding to my [list of wildlife seen.]

 

Did I tell you I was writing everything down to share with my nieces and nephews and Sunday School kids? 🙂

 

 

So our Juneau excursion was a Whale Watching, Mendenhall Glacier Photo Safari with Gastineau Guiding. We had guide (through Mendenhall National Park), Adriane, and Captain Jen.

 

They were both amazing!

 

The glaciers we saw didn't look AT ALL like I pictured them to be!

(and I didn't realized until I just looked it up that there are lots of different kinds.)

 

Mendenhall was a valley glacier.

The sediment and nutrients that melt away from the glacier are a huge reason whales come to Alaska–to feed and bulk up.

 

The milky water is a big indicator of those nutrients.

 

sockeye salmon in the stream going away from the glacier

 

Oh–somehow when we were walking to the glacier, someone spotted a porcupine sleeping up in a tree!

 

So we saw a big black lump anyway. 😉

 

 

When we were riding back to the harbor, we saw TONS of eagles at low tide.

 

It was shocking!

There's a local saying, "when the tide is low, the table is set."

The eagles were just waiting!

We didn't see any bear, though.

And WE didn't get any good pics.

 

But we were with a few people with more powerful cameras that did.

 

**DISCLAIMER: we got these pics from other people in our tour group.

 

These were near the dock by our boat:

 

from Jim

from Jim

from Curt

 

 

 

So next was whale watching from the boat.

 

The first whale we saw surprised us all–even Captain Jen!!

 

She drove us quite a way out and just stopped the boat.

We sat there a few minutes–looking for water spouts.

Then suddenly a huge humpback whale breached straight in front of us!!!

 

It was an incredible sight that I'll never forget!

No one got pics, but I think somehow everyone saw it.

 

We saw 2 other whales–first the spout and then waited for the tail.

 

These are just from my iphone; I held my finger down to get a burst of the dive and tail flip. However, I'm only showing you a few of the pics:

 

dorsal fin–starting the dive

 

 

just watching and waiting!

 

we went to another area for this one

 

 

**Disclaimer: I'm sure you'll be able to see that these next pics are not mine at all!!

 

But are they amazing or what???

 

from Jim

from Curt

from Curt

from Curt

 

 

When we were done, I took my favorite pic of all!

Doesn't it look like a postcard???

We just kept being IN AWE of the beauty we saw EVERYWHERE!!

It's spectacular to be surrounded by these beautiful mountains!

 

This was an amazing day, but we were so ready to get back to the ship that night!

 

And even though we were sweaty and exhausted, I really wanted to have dinner with our cruise family! 🙂

 

It was great–except that one of the couples didn't make it back to the ship in time for our dinner hour–and the doors are closed at 8:15.

 

Bernardo had Lisa Marie's gluten free bread sitting there under a cover waiting for her, though.

 

It warmed my heart!

 

 

Here was my pillow gift waiting for me when we got back to our room:

Merry Christmas to All bundle

 

Woohoo!! It made me happy to cross stuff off my wish list without even having to order it!!

 

 

We were READY FOR BED that night!!

But I had to finish my postcards for all my kids before that, so I could drop them in Skagway the next day!

 

 

We were docking at 7am and had to be ready for an excursion at 8am.

 

It was a good day!

 

 

I'll be back later with info on new promos this month!

 

Have a fantastic day!!

 

 

 

 

**Truth in advertising: less than 1% of all Stampin' Up! Demonstrators earn the incentive trip each year.