2016 is a big year for the Gifford gang. My mom turned 60, my sister turned 40, my brother turned 30, my brother-in-law graduated from college, and my dad will be retiring soon. It is a year to celebrate…so we did! My parents generously arranged for their children and their spouses to go on an Alaskan cruise altogether. Now, this trip was planned before we decided to up and move to the other side of the world. I was able to make the trek, but Cody took one for the team and stayed in New Zealand with the kids and continued to work full time. He was an amazing support to make this happen and we all missed him dearly! I was gone for 10 days, the cruise was 7 of those days and the rest of the time I was either in an airport or on an airplane. It was a tiring 10 days but worth every amount of money and effort to make it happen.
We all gathered at the Seattle, Washington airport on Sunday (coming from California, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Connecticut, and New Zealand) and headed to the cruise ship. We went straight to our muster drill, got settled into our rooms, and went to a yummy dinner. Our first full day was at sea all day. We slept in, ate, ate, ate, played games, went to demonstrations and shows, and ate some more. Each night after dinner, we would gather in my parent's room and have a devotional. It was a spiritual thought that was prepared by one of the men. Then we would play a game honoring one of the special people we were celebrating. It was definitely the highlight of each day. We reverted right back to our silly Gifford children selves and had to stop the giggling as we knelt in prayer each night. I loved the special spirit that was felt, the thoughts we discussed, and the laughs we shared.
Our first stop was in Ketchikan, Alaska. We were supposed to go on a seaplane ride bright and early. But the fog was heavy that morning so our plane ride was postponed with the possibility of it getting cancelled if the weather didn't improve. So we decided to kill the time and walked around and explored the cute town. They had some really fun shops that we took our time browsing. I bought some pearl earrings and a fur scarf for myself and chocolates and a book for Cody & the kids. We took pics of the colorful and quaint little houses and stores. We watched the salmon swim and jump upstream. We stopped at a restaurant right on the dock and had the yummiest smoked salmon chowder and corn bread. The view was gorgeous being right on the water surrounded by sailboats and pine trees lining the coast and the food was so delish. Luckily, the weather cleared up and we were able to head to our seaplane destination. Mom, Dad, Paul, Ryan, Alarie, and I all rode together in our little seaplane. The view was breathtaking! The land was completely carpeted with pine trees. We saw lots of waterfalls and greenery. We flew to the Misty Fjords and were surrounded by tall green cliffs. Our pilot landed us right on the smooth glass water in a secluded section. We all got out and stood on the plane float. It was so peaceful, calm, and quiet. It was awesome!
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