Wild River State Park

We headed to Wild River State Park June 23 - 26, 2011. The State of Minnesota may shut down July 1 because our budget hasn't been approved and that means the state parks will close down as well. So we decided to take a few days off and camp when we knew we could. Wild River had some non-reservable sites open so we headed there. We camped in site D16. It was a great site - lots of space and we could have shade or sun. We needed the sun as it's been a very cool and wet summer so far. I forgot my camera so the pictures below are ones I found on the web.

This is the sign at the entry to the park.
This is a hiking trail. They have 3 miles of paved biking trails which take you from the campground to the visitors center and to the trail center. They also have a group camp, a horse camp (which was full) and a guest house along with 6 camper cabins. The campground was full this past weekend.

These are the bathrooms. There are 5 loops in the campground (A, B, C, D, E). Only C and D have electric sites. There are 2 bathroom facilities and each loop has an outdoor biffy. All of the sites are private and most are very wooded.

Here is a view of the river. You can hike on many trails along the river as well as rent a canoe and float down the river and they'll pick you up and bring you back to the park.

Alaska Cruise, May 27 - June 4, 2011

This isn't camping, but it is travel! We sailed to Alaska on the Norwegian Star May 28 - June 4, 2011 with friends. We flew into Seattle on Friday so we could see the city and relax before the cruise on Saturday. Our flight was uneventful. We had a towncar from All Ready There pick us up at the airport. This was really nice. I'm not a fan of doing the super shuttle thing and with four of us and our luggage we would've been crammed in a taxi.

We went to the Space Needle and saw the city views and then headed downtown to the Pike Market using the monorail. There were lots of street musicians at the Market and the fruits, veggies and flowers all looked wonderful. I bought a Seattle print.

We stayed at the Travelodge near the Space Needle and shared a room. We got a great pre-cruise rate of only $114 for all 4 of us. The hotel itself is fine for what we needed.

Space Needle

View from the Space Needle

We took the Monorail down to Pike's Market

Pike Street Market

Travelodge Hotel Space Needle, Seattle WA

Saturday morning we took a taxi to the pier. We were about 20th in line. When they opened the doors we had to show our passports and e-docs. Our friends had brought their expired passports - oops! They wouldn't be allowed on the ship unless they could fax current passports or birth certificates. Fortunately their daughter was home and could do this for them. We then stood in line to get our sign and sail cards and met some nice people from Scotland. They told us there was a group of about 100 brits that would be sailing on this cruise.

Getting ready to board the ship!!

Norwegian Star

As part of the Cruise Critic meet and greet group we got a tour of the Bridge and met with the Captain and Senior officers. It was fun to see what they look at all day.

Bridge of the Norwegian Star Captain of the Star
The ship didn't leave until almost 5pm. Maybe it was because of all that luggage!

The Versaille is one of the free restaurants on board the Star. We ate lunch here the first day and a few dinners during the week. The other free restaurants include the Aqua (same dinner menu as the Versaille), Blue Lagoon (serves hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, fries and chicken wings, etc. and is open 24 hours), and the Market Cafe which is the buffet and has a wide variety of food.

Versaille Restaurant

Stardust Theater

The Stardust had a show each night. This week's shows were Band on the Run, Elements, Extreme Vegas, Second City comedy and the crew talent show.

Elevators

Spinnaker Lounge
The Spinnaker had events such as the Not so Newlywed Game, a hypnotist, Name That Tune game, Second City and Majority Rules game (which we won!)

outside the ship

Inside room (9223)

We had an inside room on the 9th floor. The location was great - 3 floors up to the Market Cafe and 2 floors down to the Spinnaker, Stardust and Versaille restaurant. It was very quiet and Rod, our steward, was super friendly. The inside room worked well for us as we were never in the room and only went there to sleep.

Red Lion Pub
The Red Lion had free popcorn all the time. It was a great place to sit and read, watch the scenery out the windows or watch a game on TV. Kenny G. played here each night and did a Neil Diamond tribute one night.

Ping Pong!

There were a couple ping pong tournaments during the week. Some people even brought their own paddles.

Pool area
The pools weren't too busy this week. Not many kids on board. I did use the hot tub one afternoon.

Atrium
The Atrium area had a band each night and there were shops in this area as well, so it was pretty crowded at some times.

Market Cafe

We ate breakfast here every day. They had pretty much anything you wanted - eggs, pancakes, french toast, sausage, oatmeal, grits, yogurt, cereal and some really good cinnamon rolls.

First stop was Ketchikan. We did some shopping first - great prices on jackets and souvenirs. We did a tour with Sourdough tours. Ray, our guide, has been a Ketchikan resident his entire life. He was very knowledgeable and took us to where the salmon run (too early to see many yet), a waterfall, saw some eagles and then onto Saxman Totem park. After the tour we went through Dolly's House (she owned a brothel), took the funicular up to Cape Lodge and walked back down Married Man's Trail.

Ketchikan

Saxman Totem Village

Downtown Ketchikan

View from the top of the funicular

2nd stop was Juneau. Did some more shopping here and then headed to our helicopter/glacier tour. We had to watch a video and put on boots with crampons so we could walk on the glacier. The skies were clear blue so the views in the helicopter were awesome. The glacier was amazing. There are guides on the glacier and they explained what we were looking at and told us to watch out for crevices as they are all over and some are very deep. Then we could drink water from an area where the water was flowing - it was very clear and cold.

Juneau

Helicopter/Glacier Tour

Back on the ship this day we then travelled through Tracy Arm Fjord. We saw lots of icebergs, saw a couple of seals and just sat outside and watched the stunning views. The weather was absolutely beautiful.

Tracy Arm Fjord
Next stop - Skagway. We had planned on renting a car and driving the Yukon trail, but with the passport issues ended up taking the train up and back to the Whitepass Summit. The views were stunning. We also did a bit of shopping in town and ate lunch at a pizza place.

Skagway

Views from the train out of Skagway

Our last stop was Prince Rupert, Canada. This town is pretty depressed and there isn't a whole lot to do. It probably didn't help that it was cloudy and overcast and it was the last stop so we were all tired. The shopping here is pretty much the same as Alaska, but the prices were twice as much. NCL will no longer be stopping here after 2011.

Prince Rupert The last day of our cruise was a sea day. We did a bit of reading, napped, went to a towel animal demonstration and a detox program in the fitness center. We also saw a few whales while eating lunch. There were a group of Thai people on board and they were watching the seas so as soon as they'd see a whale they'd all ooh and aah and have the cameras ready so we just had to listen for them. The weather was beautiful again today so we also spent some time outside enjoying the scenery.