Honeymoon: All Aboard, Ketchikan Alaska

After a day of sailing, we made it to Ketchikan, Alaska on Monday morning. We were up bright and early to catch the bus for our shore excursion. I was really excited to get off the ship and see what Alaska had to offer. Unfortunately, Ketchikan is the rainiest city in Alaska. Needless to say it rained ALL day! Luckily, we had decided to go snorkeling while we were there.

When we stepped off the boat, the rain was already coming down. We quickly took shelter in a near by souvenir shop. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we were able to get onto the bus. There were only about 20 other people who decided to go snorkeling. The bus ride was quick and before we knew it we were squeezing into our wet suits.

{Matthew}

{Not so sure about this}

We boarded another bus and took a ride to the a little bay we were going to be swimming in. Snorkeling was a great experience, but the majority of the time I felt like I was dying! Surprisingly, the water was not too cold that day. The only part of your body that is exposed is a small portion of your face. This was my first experience with snorkeling and I don't know if I would ever be down to try it again. I think it would've been easier for me without the flippers and 20 other people to worry about. Matthew was able to get some pictures with the under water camera (which we sill need to develop). I'm excited to see what the pictures actually look like and if any of them will turn out.

{After}

After snorkeling we were pretty wet, semi cold, and hungry. We rode back to the snorkel shop and changed into our dry clothes. They had hot chocolate and a warm shower for those of us who wanted it. After our excursion was over, we rode back into town and stopped at the Asylum, a local bar that our tour guide suggested. Matthew FINALLY got to drink a beer! haha! After he had his drink, we walked around Ketchikan before heading back to the boat to grab some lunch.

{Alaska Ink}

{The Asylum}

{Funny Sign}

{Eagle}

{Welcome to Ketchikan}

{Orcacorn}

{Matthew was SO excited!}

{Drinking}

{Cool totem pole}

{Moss}

{View from the front of the boat}

{View from the side of the boat}

{Sea Plane in action}

{Ketchikan}

{Boats}

{Ketchikan}

{Dog Towel Animal}

{Mr.}

{Mrs.}

xoxo,

Megs

 *All Personal Photographs*

Fantasy Football

So I was convinced to play fantasy football this year. The jury is still out on how well I will do...but I did come up with an awesome team name....AND design my own logo thing :)

Introducing.....

xoxo,

Megs

Honeymoon: All Aboard (Part 1)

On Saturday, we were to get some good shut eye before heading down to the Pier to catch our boat. Before leaving the hotel, we headed down to the restaurant and chowed down on some pretty good breakfast. Then we headed back up to our room and got ready to leave. Luckily the hotel we stayed at offered a free shuttle down to the cruise terminal so we didn't have to walk or take a cab. While we were waiting for the shuttle to come back, we realized that the area we were staying in was quite busy. We finally figured out that there was suppose to be a huge parade happening in the afternoon. Apparently it is a yearly celebration in Seattle called Sea Fair. They kick the celebration off with a parade and then the next weekend they have a carnival type thing at the lake. Since we had to catch our boat, we were unable to see the parade.

Once we had finally made it to the Pier, we started the somewhat long check in process. Since there was only two of us, it made it pretty quick. After signing some documents and taking some pictures, we were aboard the boat. We arrived in our room before our luggage did so we decided to make our way up to the pool deck and grab something to eat. The weather in Seattle was great, people were already laying out by the pool. It's a good thing they got some sun then because the rest of the trip was pretty cold and cloudy! Anyways, we enjoyed people watching and listening to the music as the cityscape of Seattle began to disappear in the distance. 

Our first day, July 29th, was spent at sea. We wandered around the boat until we were pretty familiar with it. We found the game room and started a healthy competition of Yahtzee! Don't worry, I won the first round! :) 

xoxo,

Megs

{Mr. Renfro posing for me in front of Seattle}

{Me with Seattle in the background}

{Good thing I spent many years taking photos of myself! Ha}

{View from the front of the boat before leaving}

{Goodbye Seattle}

{Our first towel animal, an Elephant}

{Isn't he cute?!}

{Precious}

**All Personal Photographs**

Honeymoon: Sleepless in Seattle (Part 1)

On Friday, July 27th we started our honeymoon by catching a plane to Seattle. We were very anxious and excited to be starting our week and a half vacation. Matthew hasn't taken that much time off of work in a long time, so it was a nice break for him. I really enjoyed it because I start school in two weeks. With 22 credits, a part time job, and an internship Matthew won't be seeing a whole lot of me. Anyways, when we touched down in Seattle it was pretty overcast but wasn't too cold. We decided to save money and ride the light rail system to our hotel. The light rail stop was only 1/2 a mile from our hotel so it seemed logical just to walk. Boy were we wrong! We got pretty lost in downtown Seattle thanks to google maps! I had put the address in my phone but for some reason it took us to 1st Ave instead of 1st Ave S. We walked and walked and walked until the blinking light on google maps said we were in the right spot. After about 20 minutes of back tracking and walking in circles, we realized what the issue was. At this point, we were both pretty frustrated with the whole situation. We tried getting a cab but we must've been invisible and speaking in a foreign language. The first cab driver pulled over but then when we told him where we wanted to go, he muttered something under his breath and then drove off. The next few cabs just passed us by like we didn't exist. At this point, we decided to walk to the correct location. We were about a mile away. Poor Matthew had to pull the big bag, which weighed about 55 lbs, all over the city. While we were making our way to the hotel, some bum on a bicycle ran into the suitcase I was pulling and then screamed some profanities at me because apparently it was my fault. I had a good laugh for about two minutes and then I was frustrated again because I was tired, hungry, and mad at myself that I didn't double check the address BEFORE we got off the train. 

After walking a mile, we finally arrived at our hotel and were able to check in without a problem. Our hotel was right next to Safeco Field, where the Mariners play. It was also next to a brewhouse so of course we had to go eat dinner there. I figured it was the least I could do after making Matthew walk a couple miles while lugging around a heavy bag. The food was pretty good and the drinks weren't too bad either. Since we had wasted most of our time trying to find the hotel, we weren't able to go see any sights. I was kind of bummed but was glad that we had another day in Seattle when we got back from the cruise. So in the mean time, we headed back to the hotel to relax and watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. 

xoxo,
Megs

{Safeco Field}

{View of downtown Seattle from the roof of our hotel}

{Mr. & Mrs.}

{Kisses}

{Funny Faces}

**All personal photographs**