Why Alaska?

 
Why would we want to go to Alaska?
Vacations have never been a part of my family's life. My parents did not go on vacation. When our kids were growing up, vacation meant going to visit grandparents or going camping. We were experts at the one day quick vacation where we crammed lots to do in one day and then go back home.
A few years ago, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go on a dream trip of hers. I said yes and enjoyed a wonderful trip to Greece and a cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea with Kay Arthur and my friend. I have never dreamed of being on a boat for more than a short trip around Weiss Lake but I survived and had a great time.
As I approached my 60th birthday and my 40th anniversary year, I decided that to celebrate, my family and I would take a vacation that would fulfill the dream of Frank, Granny and Paul. All of them wanted to go to Alaska but none of them ever made it. Paul tried to get a job in Alaska when we were newly married but thankfully it didn't work out. When Frank retired from Republic Steel, he had a van like the one in this picture that we saw on a street in Seattle and a camping trailer that they were going to take across the US to Alaska.
I wanted to make sure that all my family would see it together and not put it off until their lives were over and they did not go.
So I'm calling this the Hunt memorial trip to Alaska. We chose to go on a cruise ship because I am not a planner. I probably will never go on another cruise but I am thankful we got to go on this one. It was good to sit on the deck and have such great memories of the ones who wanted to go but didn't.