Bend, Oregon at Last, and Glimpses of Alaska!

 Finally arriving in Bend, Oregon after nearly two months of leisurely travel, we reunited with our son Jeff and daughter-in-law Katie and started to prepare for one of the driving purposes of this trip--our family trip to Alaska by cruise. We spent the few weeks before the cruise doing what we do: visiting local natural and historic sights, hitting up farmers markets, riding our bikes and generally hanging out in the current campground.

Bend offered up a great spot to visit in the High Desert Museum, where we learned a lot about local wildlife and the original human inhabitants of the area.

We did a nice bike ride along the Deschutes River and enjoyed the marvelous Bend farmers market.

Vegan breakfast burritos, Yum!

Finally the day of  our flight to Seattle was here. We (Lynnae and I, our two sons, their wives and the two grandkids) were going on an 8-day cruise up the inside passage of Alaska. Our only other time in Alaska was nearly 40 years ago with our one-year-old son in a backpack, travelling by Alaska state ferries from town to town. We were eager to go back.

We had a marvelous time, ate too much food (including breaking our normal eating habits and indulging in much fresh salmon), spent many family meals together, marveled at the magnificent and ever-changing scenery and had several offshore adventures.  I'l just post a bunch of pictures and add commentary when necessary.

At the dock in Seattle before embarking

Saying goodbye to Seattle

The family hiking to the glacier

View of Juneau from the top of the tram

View from our cabin balcony as we enter Glacier Bay

We're not in Florida any more, Toto!

The ship approached pretty close to some glaciers in Glacier Bay. Some of our fellow passengers witnessed some large ice blocks calving off into the water!

The landscape in Glacier Bay was spectacular.Very mixed feelings as we were constantly aware that these wonders are melting and will certainly be diminished when our grandchildren are grown

A never-ending smorgasbord on board our floating city

This was a group of about a dozen humpback whales near Icy Strait. They were feeding, breeching and diving near our excursion boat

Returning to the ship

Creek Street in Ketchican

We also celebrated a birthday while at sea <3
Crown, courtesy of Lynnae

We returned to Bend after our Alaska trip and spent a few days relaxing before picking up the RV again and heading out to explore Oregon. 

View of Mt Bachelor from a nearby trail on Mt. Tumalo. 

It was two miles of climbing to the top, but what a vista!