Alaska here we come!

A year and a half ago Grandpa Olson decided he wanted to have a family a trip before Brendon graduates from high school and goes on a mission. Grandpa gave us the option of either going to Hawaii or on an Alaskan Cruise. The verdict was in. All 21 of us decided that the Alaskan Cruise is where we would all have fun.

July 23, 2008

Leaving: Salt Lake City @ 8:25 am

Arriving: Anchorage Alaska @ 1:30 pm

(Doesn't Shane look thrilled? This was his expression in most of the pictures the entire trip.)

After their ride was late and a couple of wrong turns Aunt Amy and Cameron barely made the flight. Glad they were able to join us for this fun filled week.

(Brendon and Cameron taking a snooze)

After arriving in Anchorage, we boarded a bus for an hour drive to the cruise ship. The landscape was absoultely gorgeous! Not many pictures to show how beautiful this drive was, because we were sitting on the wrong side of the bus. With the glare from the windows we were unable to take pictures. The best part of the drive was to see snow in the mountains in late July! These mountains had beautiful waterfalls and cascades running down the sides them (which were located at sea level) from all the rain we experienced. This area reminded me and Gordon of some pictures he and Brendon had taken when they went to Patagonia, Chili.

Before we could get to our destination for the day we needed to pass through the Whitter Tunnel. This tunnel was built during WWII to ship supplies to Alaska from the US by rail. The tunnel was 2 1/2 miles long and only built to fit a train going one way. Now, traffic is limited to 15 minutes of travel per side and 15 minutes to clear exhaust.

Destination: Whitter, Alaska

Carnival Cruise Line--The Spirit