Skagway, Alaska

Pulling the curtains open in the morning and all we can see is a wall of trees and rock, we had already made port in a very small town called Skagway.

Once again we load up on breakfast and then head off the ship to explore the little town.

It being quite warm, I'd say around 28 deg, we headed out in shorts and t-shirt which felt odd for an Alaskan adventure, we had pictured glaciers and icebergs and white everywhere we looked, but their summers are actually quite nice and the only white you can see is at the very top of the many many mountains.

Our ship being the furtherest away from the town as usual we had a 20 minute walk into town, not that we minded as we loved being able to stretch our legs.

Arriving into Skegways Main Street it was like stepping back in time to the days of Sovereign Hill, the buildings were all made of wood and only one storey high, if it weren't for the paved road you would swear you were in another time.

Being that most of the shops sold jewellery or crummy Alaskan souvenirs we didn't hang around too long, opting to head back to the ship and spend our day sprawled out on a lounge chair by the pool whilst eating one of the best hot dogs ever for lunch.

We hung around the pool for majority of the morning and afternoon, then peeled ourself off the lounge and made our way down to the ensemble lounge for a spot of quiz.

First we tackled the TV theme quiz, while Adam wasn't the most helpful of players, Linnie who spent most of her childhood watching TV managed to get 11 out of 15, mind you all of the shows were American and about 20 years old. We ended up losing by 1, again...

Right after that quiz they ran a general knowledge quiz, knowing that we weren't the best ever at general knowledge, we decide to go head to head against each other to make it more interesting. Correcting each other's sheets Linnie, on her birthday mind you, lost... By 1... On the very last question, argh.

Then we grabbed our books and made our way up to our favourite spot on the ship, the lawn area, with there being trees on either side of the boat, the green seemed to continue from the grass on the ship and then seamlessly scale up the mountain with no other colour in between.

We laid out in the sun on our blankets until tea time where we made our way to the buffet, opting not to go to the dining room tonight. We found an amazing table at the very back of the boat and had a birthday feast, Linnie even had 3 different desserts for her birthday cake.

After that we climb back up to the top deck to witness yet another spectacular sunset and to our delight as the sun was going down, we spot not one, but 4 killer whales making their way past the ship.. What an amazing night.

To top Linnie's birthday off, we go to a show in the theatre featuring Ryan Joyce the magician, not expecting toooo much he turns out to be pretty damn good, even pulling off some tricks that we had only seen David Copperfield do, and this guy was funny!

After the show we make our way to grab a nightcap but stop at one of the shops and buy a very adorable little bear holding a fish carved out of jade, we thought this would go perfectly on Adams office desk at home where he keeps mementoes of every trip we've been on.

Night cap in hand, we bypass another of our favourite spots the observation deck as there was a horrid band playing in there and drunk people dancing...

So we walk back over the other side of the ship and drink our hot chocolates in the serenity of the Aqua spa indoor pool which is always warm and plays that sort of music you hear while getting a massage.

Now tired from all our relaxing, it was time to pull the curtains on one of Linnies best ever birthdays.

Perfect afternoon for a swim

Linnie's book that she has been reading

Linnie enjoying yet another epic sunset