Alaskan Surprise!

We did it!! Whew. It has been super hard keeping my dad's birthday surprise a secret from him. Teresa, Kris and I have been planning this for about a year. We wanted to take a vacation somewhere fun for his big 6-0 b-day. Originally, we looked at going to Canada for a few days, but, after we started researching, we found out that an Alaskan cruise worked out better. I've always wanted to go up to Alaska, too!

So, we booked it and kept it from my dad for about four months. I think Teresa had the hardest job....she had to tell Dad he was going on a vacation and not tell him where until about three weeks prior. Plus, she couldn't tell him that we were all going! It consisted of lots of secret conference calling, sneakery, and laughter. But, we pulled it off!

We (Kris, Dwane, Tom and me) arrived in Seattle about 45 minutes before my Dad's flight and after some confusion with which gate they were arriving at (idiots at SeaTac airport), we made our sign and prepared for our surprise. I think Kris and I were freaked we were so excited.

Story behind our sign: we couldn't decide what to do. We thought about getting a wheelchair and having a sign "Wheelchair for old man Worley", but, we noticed that there were two wheelchairs that had been requested for people on their flight and it probably would offend them. Teresa had told us that Dad had purchased a t-shirt that said, "Old Guys Rule" and would always say it to her. We went with it and viola:

It's kind of hard to see his face, but, if you looked closely, he is about to say "Sh*t!"'. He he!! That was his reaction when he saw us. Dwane's off to the left,, filming the surprise. :)

After that, we were off to the ship. We sailed the MS Amerstam with Holland America. Overall, it was great. The food was yummy, the drinks were plentiful, the casinos paid, and we had a blast the entire week.

We had one full day at sea, stops in Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria, Canada. In between our stops, we ate, drank, took lots of naps, played Phase 10, ate, drank, gambled in the casino, visited the spa onboard, ate, and drank. Do you see a repeat of anything? Yes, the rumors are all true. The food is plentiful and the drinks flow.

Enjoy the pics!

Dad, me and Teresa whale watching in Juneau.

Whale

More Whale (they are really big up close!)

Seals on a booey...I don't know how to spell booey, but, you know what I mean.

Hubbard Glacier

Me and Kris hanging on the bow, waiting while we creep slowly towards the glacier.

Me and Tom getting sunburned and enjoying the beautiful weather. Oh yeah, there is a huge glacier behind us!! It's six miles long and over 300 feet tall (above water).

More seals....on the ICEBERG RIGHT AHEAD!! Can't tell you how many times I said that and heard others saying it. The guide even mentioned it.

Here's a picture of our room. It was cheaper for us to have an interior room, but, we had a fake window. It even had a light behind it to simulate a window. It was hilarious.

Our steward left us surprises every night. These two were my favorite.

Our tiny bathroom

To be continued....