Alaska and Seattle
First, some photos from the first few days of the cruise. Elizabeth and I got up at an ungodly hour on Monday and went outside just after the sun had come up. The scenery was beautiful and we got to see some whales.
Early morning on the deck:
The glacier at Endicott Arm:
In front of the glacier:
The second half of our cruise was really fun. We stopped in a port every day – Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria, B.C. In Sitka, we went kayaking and saw tons of spawning salmon. Here we are in our rain gear:
In Ketchikan, we went on a zipline course, which was a blast! They have a series of eight lines running from one tree to the next, with some rope bridges in between.
Here’s Elizabeth, me, Loren, cousin Phoebe and Aunt Lynn on one of the bridges:
Here’s Elizabeth on the zipline:
The last night of the cruise, we docked in Victoria and spent the evening walking around town. It’s a beautiful town – really quaint (if I’m using that word correctly, that is…). Nice neighborhoods, a fun little downtown area and the harbor area is beautiful. This is us in front of the Parliament building:
I have to admit that I enjoyed the cruise much more than I expected to. Spending the week with the whole extended family was really fun and being on the ship is a great way to have family time – it was always easy to find people and hang out, but it was also easy to escape to our cabin and enjoy alone time. And seeing Alaska any other way would be about a bazillion times harder.
We got off the ship this morning and we’re spending this weekend in Seattle. Today, we just walked around – checked out Pioneer Square and Pike Place Public Market. No training today. I did a nice run in Sitka and a long run on the treadmill on the ship yesterday. The treadmill was so mind-numbingly boring that I ran hard just to keep myself awake. Tomorrow, I’m going to try to get in a nice long run along the water or maybe in one of the parks. We fly home Sunday morning. Training starts again in earnest on Wednesday or so.
Run – August 7
Distance: 5.5 miles
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 153
Course: Sitka, Alaska and Totem Park trails
Conditions: Sunny, warm, really nice
Strength Training – August 8
Run – August 9
Distance: 7.3 miles
Time: 60 minutes
Average heart rate: 163
Treadmill run