travel log: tracy arm, alaska

i love to travel. 

plain and simple. 

but one thing i've never been good at is waking up early.

this proved to be problematic for viewing Tracy Arm. 

tracy arm is a famous glacier,

but to see it I found out I had to be up on the boat deck between the

ghastly hours of 5-8am. 

big dilemma seeing as my body doesn't function before 7am.

and to be honest, the thought of waking up before 5am

and standing out on a FREEZING cold deck with glaciers and wind

wasn't exactly appealing to me,

someone who almost catches frost bite shopping at the grocery store.  

but this is where having a husband comes in rather convenient. 

i convinced Kevin, who wakes up before 5am on a daily basis,

to go out there early, and if it was cool,

to come and wake me up. 

so that's what happened. 

and i'm so glad he did. 

it was so much fun being out on deck with my whole family

and a thousand other people, 

all wrapped in cruise blankets,

viewing scenery so majestic and lovely. 

we even saw whales that morning too. 

and as a disclaimer,

i did just roll out of bed. 

hence the hat. 

and lack of pictures of yours truly.

haha! 

have a sweet weekend dear friends! may you connect with Abba in fresh ways today! 

love katie 

travel log: skagway, alaska

Skagway was our kind of place....

the entire town was part of the national park,

which entailed us to free tours

a free movie of the town's history

and free trails for hiking. 

did I mention that our family likes IS OBSESSED with free stuff? 

{as a side-note, there were like 500 jewelry stores lining the streets and each one had a sign outside that said "free gift" as a way to coerce you into the store. I kid you not my sisters spent the ENTIRE 5 hours in Skagway cashing in on free crap. Didn't matter if it was the lamest piece ever, free was free!  Polly has a nice aluminum foil ring to prove it. }

i digress.

back to alaska....

there is some incredible history in Skagway. 

if you were a gold miner in the late 1800's, 

you would have been a part of the 100,000 men who traveled to Skagway

in search of gold in the Klondike. 

these crazy men climbed 500 miles in the SNOW in WINTER. 

PEOPLE! Gold is cool but not at the expense of your sanity. 

and unfortunatly almost all these gold seekers either didn't make it to the Klondike

or once they got there couldn't find any free land to stake their claim. 

but what made it even more fascinating was the little town of Skagway 

that really became a boom town

Skagway's own infamous con-man was named Soapy Smith,

and you couldn't go more than 5 feet without hearing his name. 

kev and I even paid good money to watch a musical about Soapy! 

a few people in our family actually rode the old train around the White Pass 

which followed the footpath of the miners,

where some spectacular scenery abounded. 

{thank you to my sweet brother Peter for the pictures} 

in some small way I was encouraged in Skagway by the thousands of men and women who chased their dreams. It may not have turned out as expected, but they persevered on. I hope i'm remembered as someone who chased the dreams God has planted in my heart. 

enjoy your weekend dearest loves...let's chase dreams today. 

love Katie 

{do you see david the gnome? haha}

{sweet grandpa who we all adore}

Psalm 103:1-2

Praise the Lord, O my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

travel log: juneau, alaska

our second day in alaska

we discovered the amazing capitol city of juneau. 

looking at the small population of the town (ringing in at a whopping 30,000 ppl), 

you would NEVER guess that Juneau is the biggest capitol in terms of sheer land in the entire US...

(yes, that little fun fact came in quite handy during a cruise trivia competition...i'm glad my sister was listening!)

speaking of land mass,

i'm convinced I saw most of juneau from a bike on a sore bum.

my dad, who is quite the avid cycler

decided it would be a great idea for our family to take a 20 mile bike ride to see the Mendenhall glacier. 

and it was a good idea...before and after the ride. 

during it,

i honestly thought i was going to keel over and die. 

am I being dramatic? 

no (well, maybe)

but it's no secret i'm the worst biker in our family because I have no zero muscle anymore after slaving away at a desk job for a few years (well, maybe not slaving, but you know...)

i was freezing cold (because come on people, we're biking around glaciers!)

the wind was blowing hard right at me that all i could do was put one foot in front of the other for fear that if i went any slower i would literally start blowing backwards (no joke). 

my saving grace was that i was wearing the sweetest bright neon yellow poncho so at least if i started blowing away someone might see me! 

but despite the actual ride (which really was fun), the glacier was seriously breathtaking! 

before juneau i had no idea or concept of what a glacier really was, and it was beautiful to see the ice wall wedged between the 2 mountains. 

after the epic ride, we showered and went back out into juneau. it has some really adorable and colorful downtown streets, the quaintest little book store i've ever seen (where i indulged in a dark chocolate and coconut bar) and some awesome pubs that showcased the olympics:) 

Juneau, thanks for the most wonderful memories with my family:) 

I hope I see you again (and next time in better biking shape!)

love Katie 

{fyi, a lot of yellow poncho action is coming your way...consider yourself warned!}

 {notice my fuzzy beanie under the helmut...that's how cold it was people! i don't generally look like a dork for NO reason...ha}

 {whoa nelly, we're like the freakin sun in this picture it's blinding!}

{zumba moves...get it!!!}

 {glacier glory}

 {dad and his mini-me, girl version}

 {dad and his lone boy...love these guys}

have a wonderful week dear friends:) 

may we rest in the beauty God has created all around us, and thank him for the beauty of today.