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PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.

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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.

So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!

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Old 10-12-2010, 10:24 PM   #61
MAKHayes-DisneyDiva
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More Fun - On and Off the Ship

Dining on the Ship
We all enjoyed the food on the ship. Ice cream and pizza were available all day and evening at the pool deck, which was almost too convenient! I tried to eat a healthy breakfast each morning, usually at the buffet. We ate lunch in the dining room a few times, but Peter and Chris seemed to prefer the variety of the buffet, so that's typically where we ate lunch. Dinner was another story. We ate dinner in the dining room every night but one. I liked slowing down, relaxing, and being served at dinner, so the guys let me win that one. One day for lunch there was an Alaskan buffet on the pool deck. The crab cakes were amazing! Despite the fantastic and plentiful food, we were able to stay active enough that we didn't gain weight on the cruise. Believe me, we ate!

Running clothes, hiking gear, rain gear, fleece, swimsuits...all of this stuff took up a lot of space in our luggage. We decided that if we could fit formal-ish wear, we'd take it, and if it wasn't dressy enough for the two formal dinners, we would go to the buffet on those evenings. Thankfully, the clothing we squeezed into our duffel bags passed muster, and we attended the formal dinners. We were among the more casual of the formal diners, but we were not bothered by this, and no one seemed to care.



Skagway
Shore excursions can be really expensive. By the time we budgeted for plane tickets, the cabin near Denali, the cruise, and the rental car, there wasn't a lot left over.
We chose to take one shore excursion on the trip: zip lining in Skagway. We had a blast! The scenery was incredible, and it turned out to be the perfect family activity.



Juneau
In Juneau, we planned to climb Mt. Roberts, then take the tram down the mountain. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. Visibility was about 0, and a deluge of rain drenched the city for the entire day. We dressed in our rain pants, rain jackets, and waterproof hiking boots, but when we stepped off the ship we realized that a change of plans was necessary. Instead we walked around the city, did some shopping, and eventually went to the public library, where internet access is free!

I looked all over Alaska for the perfect shirt. I wanted something unique, attractive, and kind of cool. I found what I was looking for in a shabby, small, storefront in Juneau. A group of artists called Aurora Project formed a co-op. They create designs for shirts, and the customer picks the style, the shirt color, the design and the design color. I chose black with a subtle purple design - I'm wearing it in the photo below. I highly recommend this shop!

Ketchikan
Though a slight drizzle was falling, we decided to climb Deer Mountain. Up and down took us 5 hours. The trail was beautiful, but pretty wet. I think we only saw 2 other people during the hike. We took this photo of ourselves near the top. It stopped raining just before we took it.

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Last edited by MAKHayes-DisneyDiva; 10-14-2010 at 08:17 PM..
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Old 10-13-2010, 01:56 AM   #62
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Another great update! Sorry the weather didn't cooperate in Juneau.
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Old 10-13-2010, 08:38 AM   #63
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More great updates Michele!
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Old 10-13-2010, 12:21 PM   #64
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Quote:
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Sorry the weather didn't cooperate in Juneau.
Rain in Southeast is pretty much typical. Know how a lot of places have "snow day?" Well, I've heard that Juneau and Ketchikan have "sun days."
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Old 10-13-2010, 10:24 PM   #65
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Great update! The ziplining sounds really cool!
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Old 10-14-2010, 06:00 PM   #66
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Cool shirt!
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Old 10-14-2010, 06:01 PM   #67
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Quote:
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Rain in Southeast is pretty much typical. Know how a lot of places have "snow day?" Well, I've heard that Juneau and Ketchikan have "sun days."
How cool!
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Old 10-14-2010, 08:41 PM   #68
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The Inside Passage
The final days of our cruise were spent sailing south, through the Inside Passage. We saw so much beauty throughout the trip, yet we were still astounded by the remarkable scenery of the Inside Passage.









The trip was amazing! I'm so glad we took the plunge and went to Alaska.
The only thing I would do differently: I would skip the final dinner on the ship. It was the only meal that was excruciatingly slow, and watching the wait staff prance around with baked Alaska just wasn't all that thrilling.
I highly recommend Alaska (land, sea, or both) to everyone who loves to travel. My son Peter ranks Alaska as his #1 favorite vacation destination!
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Old 10-15-2010, 08:46 AM   #69
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Thanks for sharing Michele! We're debating Alaska for next year or the year after, so this certainly helps me out!
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Old 10-15-2010, 12:16 PM   #70
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I highly recommend Alaska (land, sea, or both) to everyone who loves to travel. My son Peter ranks Alaska as his #1 favorite vacation destination!
So very glad you enjoyed my home state and am very gratified that your DS ranks us so high! I am a little jealous....lived here 41 years and have yet to see Southeast. Keep hoping work will send me to the Academy or that I will need to go down to the Juneau or Ketchikan Posts to do some work on their evidence rooms. Also, I think it is wonderful that you saw more than just Southeast. So many people take cruises and that's all they see....there is so much more to this beautiful place.
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I can still remember my cute little Tiger Cub!

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Old 10-16-2010, 10:47 AM   #71
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Oh wow - what beautiful shots to finish with! Thanks so much for sharing your trip. We're off to Alaska next year and I can't wait!
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Old 10-16-2010, 05:21 PM   #72
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What a great trip and beautiful pictures. I can't imagine how much more beautiful it was to see in person.
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Old 10-17-2010, 09:51 AM   #73
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What a great trip! Thanks for sharing!
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Old 10-20-2010, 07:14 PM   #74
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Wow, what a great trip! I MUST cruise to Alaska someday!
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Old 11-28-2010, 11:35 PM   #75
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sounds like you had a great trip
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