Category Archives: Travel

Christmas Tree Travel Memories

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The day after Thanksgiving my husband and I start decorating for Christmas.  We pull out the tree, fluff it up, and start putting on the ornaments.  My favorite ornaments are the souvenirs from the places we have visited.  It is always fun to reminisce and relive those memories as we decorate the tree. This year we didn’t have any new ornaments to add to the tree and maybe that is why I am reflecting more on the ones that we do have.

The first ornament my husband and I bought was back in 2005. It was March and I was on spring break.  Now most people go somewhere warm on spring break, but when you live in Florida you sometimes feel like seeing snow. Not often, we do live in Florida for a reason, but once in a while it’s fun to see other seasons.  We flew into Calgary and met up with my brother who was living there at the time and made our way to Banff. Banff is a beautiful town and with the quaint streets and snow, maybe that is how the idea came about to start buying Christmas tree ornaments as souvenirs. The Christmas ornament we ended up buying that first year was a maple leaf, but in hindsight we should have bought a pair of skis because that was the most memorable part of the trip.  See my brother thought it would be a great idea if the first time I tried skiing in the mountains, I started at the top of the mountain.  Let’s just say it took a LONG time for me to get down, and once I did get down, I enjoyed the rest of the time in the lodge!

Another Christmas ornament from a more recent time, and one of my favorites, is of a black bear holding a salmon from our first trip to Alaska.  We made this trip in August of 2018 to visit my brother and sister-in-law who were now living in Alaska.  On this trip we drove from Anchorage to Valdez which is considered one of the most scenic drives with mountain views, glaciers and waterfalls along the way.  Our first night in Valdez we visited The Solomon Gulch Hatchery where we saw LOTS of salmon trying to make their way upstream.  It was a pretty incredible sight.  However, it was even more amazing when on our way back to the hotel we saw black bears along the side of the road.  We pulled over along with a few other people and saw the bears fishing for salmon.  At first, I wasn’t too excited to get out of the car, there was only a guardrail and shallow creek separating us, but soon it became obvious they were way more interested in the salmon than anything else.  We continued to come back to this location the following two nights and saw more black bears catching and eating salmon.

The starfish ornament is from our first cruise.  We sailed to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral. On one of our shore excursions, we went kayaking.  I remember the water was so crystal clear you could see straight to the bottom.  At one point as we were looking down in the water, we saw a starfish. Later when I saw this starfish Christmas ornament, I knew it would be the perfect ornament to remember our vacation.

Another trip in October of 2009 was to North Carolina to see the fall leaves.  We were also celebrating my husband’s promotion which meant he would now have weekends off.  We decided to take advantage of that by taking a weekend road trip.  We enjoyed driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway and checking out the Biltmore in Asheville.  Our little dog Addy even made this trip with us and she enjoyed exploring the grounds of the Biltmore as well!  The only thing missing from this ornament is a little dog!

One of our favorite vacations was to Costa Rica in 2011 and one of the places we stayed was the Peace Lodge.  The Peace Lodge is located about 45 minutes from the San Jose Airport and is in the rainforest.  Not only are the rooms amazing, but they also have a Nature Park and Wildlife Refuge on site.  There are trails with beautiful waterfalls, birds, butterflies, monkeys, frogs, sloths, and my personal favorite…the hummingbirds. There were so many of them.  You could grab a feeder and they would come right up and start drinking the nectar.  Listening to their little wings buzz right next to your ear is a pretty cool experience.  So naturally when we saw a Christmas ornament with hummingbirds on it, we knew that would be the perfect gift. 

Then there was the road trip where we spent one night in New Orleans.  Not enough time.  I found a self-guided walking tour online and we started off, admiring the architecture and learning a bit of the history.  Unfortunately (fortunately?) the third stop on the tour was Pat O’Brien’s, a popular bar known for their Hurricane drinks and dueling pianos.  We sat down, had a drink, and ended up not leaving for hours as we were having so much fun.  And that was the end of the walking tour! Afterwards we headed back to our hotel, and enjoyed what looked like an impromptu parade with musicians and people throwing beads, from our balcony.  To remember our time in New Orleans, the next morning we purchased an antique street light ornament.

Our most recent vacation in 2019 was to London and Paris. We spent 10 days between the two cities and with so much to see and do we never actually got around to buying any Christmas ornaments.  Once we got home and I realized my mistake, I decided to create an ornament from our trip and sent in a picture of the Eiffel Tower to put on an ornament.  Our first night in Paris, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and watched the Eiffel Tower all lit up.  It was even more amazing than I expected and the following two nights we again watched the Eiffel Tower light up from the rooftop at Montparnasse Tower and up close off the Rue de l’Universite where I took the picture on the ornament.  Now, since I didn’t technically buy a Christmas ornament in either London or Paris, I am thinking a return trip is probably necessary!

These are just a few of my favorite ornaments that bring back fun memories. Hopefully 2021 will allow us to collect a few more ornaments and fun memories.  How do you decide what souvenirs to buy when you go on vacation? Let me know in the comments below.

Exploring Seward, Alaska

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Seward, Alaska.  A port city where many people either begin or end a cruise.  In fact, that is where I was hoping to be today.  Hopping on a cruise ship and sailing the Inside Passage to Vancouver.  Obviously, that is not happening now.  But despite being a cruise ship destination, Seward is a great place to explore in and of itself. And last summer, I enjoyed spending a few days there.

A cruise shipped docked in Seward, Alaska.

Seward is located about 2 and a half hours south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula.  To get to Seward by car take the Seward Highway which starts by following the Turnagain Arm, part of the Gulf of Alaska, on your right and the mountains of Chugach State Park on your left.  The contrasting scenery is what makes this drive so spectacular.  Look carefully as you drive along, you never know when you might spot a beluga or a mountain goat climbing among the cliffs.  I have yet to see a beluga along this route, but have spotted some mountain goats. 

One stop to check out along the way is the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, about 45 minutes from Anchorage.  Here you can take an aerial tram up 2300 feet to the top of Mt. Alyeska where you have beautiful views of the Turnagain Arm as well as seven glaciers.  You can also eat lunch or dinner at the top before heading back down.

View of Turnagain Arms from Alyeska Resort in Girdwood.

As you continue the drive you will enjoy driving through the mountains before arriving in Seward.

Seward Boat Harbor

One of my favorite things to do in Seward was the Kenai Fjords Tour.  They offer multiple different tours as well as different times.  We chose The Kenai Fjords National Park Tour that allowed us to see both wildlife and glaciers and was approximately 6 hours long.  The boat has both inside and outside seating and although it is tempting to grab a spot outdoors when you first get on the boat, you are better off finding a spot indoors. First of all, it is a 6 hour cruise and it will be cold.  I recommend bringing a warm jacket, windbreaker, and stocking cap to keep warm.  Second, as soon as we departed, we were given a box lunch which they served indoors at our table.  As we enjoyed our lunch, we took in the breathtaking scenery heading out of Resurrection Bay.  The tour is narrated and we spent lots of time walking around the boat taking lots of pictures of everything including sea lions, sea otters, puffins, murres, eagles, and whales. 

Whales! Wish I had a better camera!

Seeing the Aialik Glacier up close was also amazing.  We even saw the glacier calving!  As a result, there are lots of ice chunks in the water.  The staff grabbed a net and scooped some of the ice chunks out of the water.  After the obligatory tourist photo with the glacier ice, they take it downstairs and chop it up to make margaritas.  Yup of course I had to have an Aialik Glacier Margarita. 

I love the pretty blue color of the Aialik Glacier.

As you start heading back towards Seward, the smell of chocolate chip cookies wafts through the air and before long the staff is passing out fresh cookies to everyone.  Between the beautiful scenery, wildlife, glaciers and yes chocolate chip cookies I would definitely go on this cruise again.

Rush hour in Seward, Alaska.

Another must do in Seward is to rent a charter and go out fishing.  There are many different charters to choose from that range from half day salmon fishing to all day salmon, rockfish, and halibut fishing. We chose the latter.  The day started early.  We had to be at the boat by 6am.  But when the sun rises at 4:30 in the morning, it makes waking up a bit easier!  Heading out of port it was a bit foggy, but as the day progressed, we had beautiful blue skies and calm seas.  After about an hour and a half ride out while passing spectacular scenery we started fishing for salmon.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any luck catching salmon, but I did manage to catch a shark! It was also about this time that we spotted whales, and so I gave up on the fishing and watched the whales instead.

I didn’t come all the way to Alaska to catch a shark!

After a couple of hours salmon fishing, we headed out even farther to try to try our hand at catching halibut.  After quite a few false alarms I finally reeled one in the boat.  No lie. You should probably work out a bit before trying to get one of those in the boat!  After everyone finally caught a halibut, we were on our way back in.  We took some pictures of our catch and walked around while the crew cleaned our fish. We then had the option to ship our catch back home.  This was super easy and convenient. We told them how much we wanted to ship and the day we wanted it to arrive.  A week later it arrived in Florida 5000 miles away still frozen solid.

Our catch. Pretty sure the biggest halibut is mine!

Seeing glaciers in Alaska is one of my favorite things to do and just outside Seward is Exit Glacier, an easily accessible glacier by foot.  It is a beautiful 15- 20 minute walk and part of the trail is even paved.  Unfortunately like many glaciers, this one has receded a lot over the last few years and where once you could touch the glacier from the current viewing spot, it is now hundreds of feet farther away.  It is sad to think how these glaciers may not be around that much longer due to global warming.

Exit Glacier. Where we are standing use to be covered with glacier ice.

Back in Seward check out the Resurrect Art Coffee House.  It is a former church that now sells coffee, tea and art from local artists.  Grab your coffee and then head up the narrow staircase to the choir loft which has amazing views of Resurrection Bay and the mountains.

Resurrect Art Coffee House is a great place to grab a hot drink.

Finally, the Alaska SeaLife Center is worth checking out.  It is a marine mammal rehab and educational facility that opened in 1998 using funds from the 1989 Valdez Oil Spill settlement.  It is very well done and very informative with lots of interactive displays including a Touch Tank.  Make sure you check out the Seabird Aviary where you will see a variety of birds including puffins up close and the Harbor Seal Habitat where if you time it right you can see the seals catching a meal. They also offer different Animal Encounters where staff interact with the animals, so check the schedule prior to arriving.

For most, this will be a summer spent close to home.  Maybe exploring our own backyards, a bit more than we normally would. But soon, we will start venturing out a little farther and exploring new areas again.  So, start thinking about that next great trip. It’s never too early to start planning a vacation for next year.  Maybe it will even be Alaska!