Alaska Cruise - Day 4: Icy Strait Point

The first disappointment of our trip came when we learned two weeks in advance that the port of Skagway was being nixed and instead we were headed to Icy Strait Point.  Skagway had been a port that we were anticipating as the male Zs were going to take a ride up the gold rush mountain and then bike down on the road, while the ladies were headed for a hike through the woods and then a rafting ride down the river (as Addison wasn't old enough to do the road biking)......but instead we had to scramble and shift to Icy Strait at the last moment, which caused just a wee bit of stress.  But all was well, and we pivoted quickly and were able to book a whale watching tour in the morning and then the boys did the tallest zipline supposedly in North America in the afternoon (they did the longest in Whistler last year, it seems like they all have the moniker of the "biggest and best" something or other! :)

Icy Strait was pretty cold that day, so we were thankful to have a boat that had an indoor area!  Addison has enjoyed fishing now that the Js live in our backyard, and the Hollands were going to fish for halibut in Alaska and she really wanted to give it a try so we let her go with her friend Blake and while they didn't catch anything themselves, they had a great time and even saw some whales themselves.

Ready to go!

One of the fish that the group caught

Fishing!

We went to a cove where we saw probably 5-6 whales that would repeatedly come up to the surface and see their blow spouts and tails - did you know that a whale tail is unique (similar to a fingerprint) and that you can upload the picture of their tail to some website and it will identify the whale and share specific information?  We certainly didn't!

With the Bergherms, ready to go to the whale watching boat ride!

In addition to the whales, we saw beautiful scenery and sea lions, very fun!

We were bundled up as it was raining as well as cold!

Up close and personal to the seals on a water buoy!

On the ride to and from on the boat, the kids of course were engrossed in various devices (boo!) while Amy nodded off and Karis captured the mouth wide open view - not attractive but it was a great little power nap!

Karis with his sneaky little camera!

At least there was no snoring - Kaleb is sitting behind watching this all go down!

After the morning whale watching boat ride, the boys had tickets to go on the zip lining.  We didn't realize that one parent had to be at the top and one parent had to be at the bottom (if a parent wasn't actually riding.....wish we had known that as we would have just paid for one parent to go as that made for a very long wait and time spent with Addison not doing anything while we waited for the boys turn.....but oh well.  Amy went with them to the top and was accompanied by another Mom --Leslie.  There were bear signs everywhere as we went down the walk to the mountain, so we asked for a drive back up the mountain after the boys went on their zipline as we were a bit uncertain about walking alone---more to come on that!

The ride up the gondola was beautiful, with a great view of the ship and the water.

Allen created a video of our trip (which we will post on the final update), and he would take advantage of each day's activities - here he is filming the boys for one part.

The group is ready and raring to go!  Kaleb, Zach, Sergio, Philippe, Ethan and Tangie/Allen Isidro

These signs did not make us feel super great!

And then this sign....as we walk down the very trail it is telling us not to!!??  Leslie had a smile on her face but we were a bit trepidatious!

When we got down to the zipline, we asked how often they see bears, and the guides pulled out their phone and shared this picture (which is right where the zipline starts) of a bear from two weeks ago.  Wow!  And look at all of that snow from just two weeks prior - thankfully the snow was gone when we were there.

The view of where the boys would launch

All ready to go!

And so is Zach!

Leslie and Amy were relieved when the guides agreed to drive us back up the trail to the entrance.  When the driver came, we asked him about his experiences with bears and no joke, he pulled off his tuque and said "I have survived a bear attack, look at the scars in my scalp!"  He then shared how he had been attached 24 years earlier coming out of a gas station in town, didn't realize but he scared a mama bear and she attacked him 5 times, fracturing his skull in multiple places, 36 puncture wounds over his body, and he finally was able to get away and run for help before being airlifted to Anchorage.....and got out of the hospital 2.5 days later!?  What!?  We were even more thankful for that ride after his story!

Safe in our little truck's backseat!

It was a great day in Icy Strait, and we got this great little picture as we left of the kids.  Sweet!