Alaskan Cruise: Part deux

Are you ready for more pictures? I've got lots.

For the rest of the cruise, we made two stops: Ketchikan and Victoria.

For our visit in Ketchikan, we went on another hike through the Tongass Rainforest, which was really cool. Did you know this rainforest covers 17 million acres of Alaska??? Yup, there's a little fun fact about Alaska for you there. It felt like I was in the movie Ferngully because it was so green.

 There were giant slugs too.

Ward Lake 

After our hike, we went and hit the shops in town. Our hike guide told us to go to a chocolate store and get their chocolate covered oreos... 

So we did. And they were so good that I had to take a picture. Chocolate covered oreos, why didn't I ever think of that??

We also saw saw some totem poles and pretty flowers....

Ketchikan was great... and very wet. They get over 200 inches of rain every year (I could be an Alaskan tour guide now with all of these fun facts). It actually seemed busier than Juneau, which surprised me. So, if you ever go to Ketchikan, go to the rainforest and grab yourself some chocolate covered oreos. I suppose you could make some at home, but that just wouldn't be the same as Ketchikan oreos, right?

The next day, we stopped in Victoria, BC for a few hours that night. Everyone told us that Butchart Gardens was the place to go in Victoria, so that's where we went. We're really good at doing what people tell us to on vacation. It's a good thing too, Butchart Gardens was probably my other favorite excursion. I also took the most pictures here.

 You walk in, and see some stuff like this...

And then you walk some more and you look over a ledge where you suddenly see this:

Gorgeous, right? This is just the beginning. 

 All of this was part of "The Sunken Garden"

And then we went through the Rose Garden (do you see that great new Alaska jacket I have on? Got that in Ketchikan)

And then we went through the Japanese Garden

I didn't get a ton of great pictures here because my camera kept taking blurry shots... as seen above. 

Anyways, after all this, we were at the end of Butchart Gardens.

I loved it there, I would love to go back someday. 

After Butchart Gardens, we went and walked around Victoria for a bit... although I'll be honest we were there later in the evening so there wasn't a whole lot to do. But, it is a cute city that was fun to see!

 The Empress Hotel, very popular place

 The Legislature Building at night

 We got some mini donuts that melted in your mouth.. they were so good that I had to post a picture of the stand we got them at. 

I would love to go back to Victoria one day when we have more time to enjoy the city since we didn't get to very much while we were there.

On our last day, we just walked around Seattle for a bit until it was time for us to go to the airport. I didn't take many pictures there just because I took so many pictures from Butchart. :)

So there you have it, that was our Alaskan cruise! I totally recommend going on one someday. This was my first cruise, and I loved the experience. If you are thinking about a cruise, here are my tips:

- If you want to sleep great and save some money, get an interior room with no windows. We slept great at night because it was so dark.

- That being said about the interior rooms... If you get claustrophobic easily and want to see sunlight in your room every now and then, it's worth the extra money to pay for a room with a window or a balcony (which is what my parents had) 

- we went through Norwegian Cruise Line, where there is freestyle dining. You can eat when you want and where you want and you don't have to dress up super nice. This was nice because we didn't feel like getting cute after going hiking and stuff. 

- take motion sickness medicine with you. 

-eat all the food you want (don't tell weight watchers I said that..)

We loved our trip, like I said, we may have to go live there now. We probably won't, but I'll at least go visit again someday. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Alaska: The Last Frontier (and cruise review)

We are back and safe and sound on land... but sad that we had to leave. How do you sum up our trip to Alaska?

I think the front of this shirt sums up how I feel about Alaska:

You guys, you have to go there. Alaska is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen, I think I may need to live there... except.. just in the summer time when it's not freezing out there. Anyways, enough my rambling, I have a lot to show from this trip so I can't make this post any longer than it needs to be!

Days 1 - 3: Sailing and a day in Juneau

Like I said here, we were pretty much just sailing the first day and a half. But we saw beautiful views like this:

What time do you think this picture was taken? Take a guess, I dare you.



This was 10:45... PM!!! I love it!

Ok... I'm rambling again.

Anyways, on Tuesday we made our first stop in Juneau where we went whale watching and then went to Mendenhall glacier. This was probably one of the best excursions we went on... it was so neat seeing the whales so close.

 We saw humpback whales, here they are popping their heads up, our guide says there were about 14 of them all together!

 There are some seals on that buoy... with some pretty scenery.

 Mendenhall Glacier... very pretty

And our whale friends again.

Downtown Juneau

Days 4 & 5: On Wednesday we stopped in Skagway, where we took a bus tour over the White Pass into Yukon Territory... and the bus driver was a BYU student from Utah! He was great. And the drive was really, really, really, REALLY pretty. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

 That's a super long pipe that had some sort of historical significance that I don't remember anymore.

 I thought this place was cool, it's called Tormented Valley.. it's real Alaskan Tundra!

 Scary suspension bridge

We are larger than life.

After our bus ride, we went on a hike and float trip. 

 Rainforest.

Then we saw Sarah Palin. Sorta.

The next day we went to Glacier Bay... which was cool because you can only access that area by boat, so if you go on an Alaskan Cruise, make sure they go there!

Steven climbed the wall, what a champ!

I still have a lot of pictures to go through... so I think I'll post about the rest of our cruise later, but I'll leave you with more beautiful pictures of the sunset from the boat:

Get ready for the next post... there's still lots of great pictures!

Hasta la vista, baby...

I will be gone for a few days folks, because I will be on a cruise going here:

I will be leaving the not-so-hot summer weather in Salt Lake to go somewhere even more not-so-hot. I will probably be cold most of the time, but I will love every minute of it. I'll see you in a week after all my Alaskan cruising is done!

Early Father's Day Special

"The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan." -- Garrison Keillor 

Since we are going to be leaving town this Sunday (Alaskan cruise, anyone?) I wanted to do a special blog post about my dad a few days early for Father's Day. 


Introducing.....

 John Ralph Goodell (the John stern-stare)

Let me tell you a bit about my dad. 

My dad is a pretty cool guy. One of the coolest I know, in fact. Here are the basics about him: 

He was an only child growing up. His mom's name was Marilyn (hmmm... I may need to add that to my baby name list) and his dad's name was Ralph (hence the middle name). 

He went to Highland High where he was Captain of the Football team and also participated on the wrestling and track teams. He taught me how to throw a football spiral style once, I was pretty good at it, or so he told me...

He has two Bachelor's degrees in Finance and Mining Engineering, plus an MBA. After getting his first degree (I believe it was mining engineering) he served a mission in Detroit.

Sometime after marrying my mom at age 27 and getting his MBA, he started working for my Grandpa at Dan's Foods, where he eventually became Vice President. 

Everyone asked me if I got free groceries because my dad worked at Dan's. 

The answer is no, I didn't.

 (happy face picture, being the MC for my Grandpa's 90th Birthday Bash)

My dad also keeps in tip-top physical shape. When I was growing up, he would run just about everyday. He doesn't run everyday now, but he still gets a good workout in at least 5 days a week.

Something you may not know, but John Ralph Goodell is the clothes ironing KING. Yup, he is the guy who taught me how to iron a shirt. Do I still iron shirts today? Hmmm... not as much as I should, but at least I learned how to from the best.

 Dad, me, and my mom at graduation

Not only is he the ironing King, he is also the breakfast Prince (he can't be King yet, because my Grandpa still has that role). Whenever we go out of town, you can be sure that you will get a huge, delicious breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage, strawberries, orange juice, you name it and he will make it. Come up to the cabin with us sometime if you'd like to enjoy.

He loves Garrison Keillor, so I had to put a quote from him above, of course.

He also loovvvesss chocolate chip cookies. I usually give him a huge box of cookies for Christmas and his Birthday. 

My dad is a great guy with a big heart. He is always, and I mean always, soooo willing to help. He sees whatever needs to get done and he takes care of it. He will also sit on the phone and talk with me for about an hour once or twice a week, isn't he great?? I'm so lucky to have him and I love him so much. I love him so much that I needed to share his greatness with all of you.

Happy Father's Day to all Father's out there!

Friend Profile: Sara

 For this post I wanted to write a little shpeel about my friend Sara (although she's basically like a sister).

Sara lives in Arizona (so I don't get to see her that often anymore) right now and she came to visit Saturday and Sunday. 

Before I tell you about the awesome day I had with Sara and a bunch of our old friends, let me tell you a little more about her. Sara and I have been friends since 3rd grade, where we met in Mrs. Mittens class. Since then, we have pretty much been BFFs. We spent a good amount of our childhood watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch on Friday nights and then having a sleepover. Sara is one of the nicest, most loyal people I know. She has always been there for me. Through the random girl (and boy) dramas we had and who knows what else, we have stayed friends all these years! She's one of those people I know I'll always be friends with. She moved to Arizona a few years ago to go to Beauty School and now works down there as a hair stylist so I don't get to see her very often, so it was a treat to see her Saturday and Sunday!

 We started the day with all of us getting hair cuts from Sara... for free! Cutting five girl's hair without a break is no easy task. Not only that, but she is really good at knowing what cuts will look good on you. Here she is cutting Heather's hair. 

 Steph getting her hair curled

 I got a beachy hair-do, it was so nice to have my hair up again! She also curled my hair for me for church the next day, I told you she was nice!

 Angie and Me

 Later, after making a trip to Tres Hombres (a wonderful mexican place by our house) we made dirt cups. Who doesn't love instant pudding, cool whip, and oreos mixed together?? Seriously folks, it's delicious.

 Sara, Angie, Melinda, Heather

Then we sat in Melinda's hot tub... oh I love summer.

Angie, Melinda, Me, Sara, Steph, and Heather

Friends are so great, aren't they? We had such a good time with each other and it was so fun to see Sara again. Thanks for being such a good friend to me and come back to Utah soon! :)

Cooking Adventures: Part 1

Since I am now a college graduate and need something to do in the evenings, I made a goal to try some of the recipes I have been wanting to make for a while and also learn new things with baking and cooking. I just think food is so great, and that I should make more of it. Last night, I had the chance to go to a cupcake decorating class (something I've wanted to get more practice on) and took some pictures of what I got to make:

Exhibit A: The Daisy Cupcake

Exhibit B: Hydrangeas 

Exhibit C: Ice Cream Swirl (that's what I call it) 

I think the icing on this one is bigger than the cupcake itself, but that's what makes it soooo yummy.

Other things I'm going to try? Stuffed pasta shells, chocolate-almond torte, caramelized bananas, among other things. It will be wonderful and delicious... or at least I think it will be.

Awesome blog

I just found a great blog. It's a girl from London working in a book store and she blogs about her random conversations with the customers. If you need a good laugh, check it out:

http://jen-campbell.blogspot.com/search/label/weird%20things%20customers%20say

Also, I'm sorry I haven't blogged much. I'm still suffering from a loss of ideas. If anyone has any for me, please let me know.

Oh wait! I actually just had an idea.

So, I am helping NAMI with their annual NAMI Walk this September (I am in charge of the Entertainment for all the kids!) and I get to be a team captain. Only problem is... I don't know what to call my team. I have no idea how to create a good team name. Here are a few of my favorite ideas I've heard from others:

Team Gryffindor
Team Chocolate
and Team Von Trapp (ha ha)

If you have any ideas, plllllllease tell me on here or on facebook. I need to decide like... by tomorrow.