Happy Monday! I’m starting the week with Holly and all of you! I hope you’ll link up with us for Hello Monday!

We had a great weekend. It was pretty relaxed with some pool time on Saturday and a rainy Sunday. We had dinner with my parents on Friday and breakfast with Jeff’s family on Sunday morning.

Today I am sharing our first excursion day in Icy Strait Point near the village of Hoonah. Get comfy because there are A LOT of pictures in this post. I am not kidding!! Icy Strait Point is on the original land where the Tlingit people lived for centuries. The Tlingit people moved into the Hoonah area during a little ice age when advancing glaciers took over their homeland. In 1912, the Hoonah Packing company built the original salmon cannery. It was a major hub for fishing ships and salmon packaging. There was a devastating fire in the 1940s that destroyed the village and most residents moved to the cannery while their homes were rebuilt. The cannery was sold a few times and eventually was purchased by the Hoonah Totem company. This company revitalized the site into a major cruise ship destination to share the Tlingit culture and way of life with visitors from around the world. It was interesting to see the art and culture and hear the stories of the Tlingit people when we were there. The cannery site and other buildings are still there and some are used as restaurants, shops, and musuems. The village of Hoonah is just down the road.

When we were looking at excursions in Icy Strait Point, there were a few that caught our eyes. Jeff, the boys, and I wanted to go kayaking. No one else was excited about that. My mom, dad, and sister’s family wanted to ride the gondola up to the very top of a mountain and hike or take a tram ride around to see the nature up there. Luke and I thought the gondola looked cool too, but Jeff and Jack do not love heights and decided it was not for them. We figured out that we could book the kayaking for 6:30 am and then Luke and I could do the gondola with the rest of our group after that. It was perfect!

We were up and ready to start kayaking as soon as the ship docked. We had a quick, low to the ground gondoloa ride over to the cannery area.

When we got off the gonodola, we walked along the boardwalk past all the cannery buildings to the kayak center. We got fitted in our life jackets with our paddles. Then we walked down to the water with the group. At this point, our guide looked at the water and advised that anyone without a decent amount of kayaking experience not go out on the water. The water was rather choppy and the looked rougher than I was anticipating. We have ZERO experience, but we were up and ready so we went kayaking. Everyone else in our group was rather experienced.

Jack and I kayaked together and Jeff and Luke were together. Our kayaks had rudders to make steering easier. The pedals for the rudder were in the back where both boys were sitting. As soon as we got out in the water, they both “lost” the pedals and we were unable to steer for the entire 2 hour tour. Super! We kayaked for a little while, then the guide would call us all together to discuss different things – animals, Tlingit stories, Hoonah stories, and other personal things he wanted to add. Well, the inexperienced Parsons were at the back of the pack for most of it and crashed into the group every single time. Everyone was so kind about it, but I am certain some thought we were a bit of nuisance. While we were out there, we saw bald eagles, sea lions, humpback whales, and sea stars. As we were getting more comfortable, Jeff and Luke t-boned Jack and I pretty hard and we almost tipped over. Jack and I were leaning past 45 degrees and my arm was wet up to my elbow! I was terrified we were going to tip into the freezing cold water!! We didn’t and everyone thought it was funny eventually. Never a dull moment with the Parsons gentlemen!! Aside from that fun moment, we stayed pretty dry while kayaking. That is until we were almost back. A pretty big boat came cruising out of the Hoonah port and made a big wave. It wasn’t surfing big, but it did have white caps on the top of it. We all knew to point our nose into the wave, but it washed right into the kayaks. We were absolutely soaked!

Our clothes were soaked, our gloves were soaked, our shoes were soaked. They were so wet that our shoes were still squishing out water as we walked back to the cruise ship. They took two rounds in the dryer to fully dry them out.

We rode the gondola back to the ship, changed immediately, and grabbed brunch at the buffet. At this point, everyone was ready to ride the other gondola up the mountain. I don’t mind heights, but I also don’t LOVE them. The gondola is close to the mountain, but you can definitely tell you are getting pretty high. The views were beautiful if you were looking out and not at the mountain. When we got to the top, we took some pictures at the lookout and figured out what we could/needed to do.

Mom and Dad rode the tram around and saw a bunch of animals while their guide shared stories about the land and the Tlingit people. Luke took off on the nature trail with his camera. Annie, Zach, Maggie, and I hung around with my parents until they hopped on the tram, then we headed to the trail to find Luke.

When we got back to the gathering area, we saw a Tlingit man sharing part of the culture, lighting a fire, and sharing a blessing for all who visit. We were getting a little hungry so we got smores and some salmon jerky. Guess what? Salmon jerky is not for me. Not at all!! Luke didn’t mind it though. The fog literally rolled in while we were at the top of the mountain. It was wild to watch. I felt bad for the people that came up the mountain after that because the views were definitely limited.

Luke took a little time with his phone because he had service for the first time since we boarded the ship.

After the tram, the walk, and the snacks, we headed back down the mountain. We were completely surrounded by fog on the way down.

From there we went back over to the cannery area. Jack and Jeff had been there all afternoon and headed back to the ship. My mom did, too. We ran into the ship’s naturalist on our walk around and he stopped Luke. Rob, the naturalist, also had a Canon camera and offered his super big lens for Luke to try on our camera. He also helped him with some settings to get better pictures. It was pretty cool. After that, Luke, Maggie, Annie, and my dad went down to the water to skp some rocks while we were looking for whales. There is a spot that is known for orcas and we hung out there for a while. We eventually did see orcas and they were so cool!!

We had dinner reservations at 5:30 so we headed back to the ship a little before 4. We walked back instead of taking the low gondola and saw a bald eagle’s nest. It was HUGE!!

Dinner was delicious and we had someone to celebrate! It was my mom’s birthday! It was fun to get dressed up and celebrate Mom!!

And that completes our day in Icy Strait Point. It was our first adventure off the ship to see more beauty of Alaska. We had a great day and so much fun! I hope you are still here after all of those pictures. Pictures help keep the memories fresh and I have a bunch!

For your reference, we were on the Discovery Princess and our itinerary for the trip was:
Saturday 6/27 – board the ship in Whittier, AK
Sunday 6/28 – day at sea, Hubbard Glacier
Monday 6/29 – day at sea, Glacier Bay National Park
Tuesday 6/30 – Icy Strait Point/Hoonah
Wednesday 7/1 – Juneau
Thursday 7/2 – Ketchikan
Friday 7/3 – day at sea
Saturday 7/4 – disembark in Vancouver
Sunday 7/5 – Vancouver and red eye home

I hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed our day in Icy Strait Point! If you blogged today, be sure to link up with Holly and me below. We love reading all of your posts! Have a great day full of sunshine and summer beach books!!