Alaska and the Yukon Territory, August 2009

We enjoyed an 11-day Cruisetour with Holland America in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. The trip began in Anchorage, Alaska. Then we took a train up to Denali National Park. Wow! It was amazing! If we are able to make it back to Alaska some day, we want to spend more time in Denali.

From there we headed to Fairbanks, AK where we panned for gold, saw the trans-Alaska pipeline, and went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska. Everything there is "Farthest North ____." We saw the Farthest North Girl Scout Council office, along with many others.

Leaving Faribanks, we made our way to the Yukon Territory, Canada. We stayed in Beaver Creek and Whitehorse. Then we took another train down to Skagway, AK where we boarded the ship. Before getting on the ship, we did a shore excursion where we canoed out to the Davidson Glacier. It was amazing!

The cruise took us through Glacier Bay and we also had a stop in Ketchikan. The cruise ended in Vancouver, BC, a place we want to go back to and visit some day.

New Orleans Jazz Festival 2009

We went to New Orleans this past weekend for Jazz Festival. This was my 3rd Jazz Fest and David's first (and his first time to NOLA). Some of the people we saw at the festival were: Drive By Truckers, Joe Cocker, Rebirth Brass Band, and James Taylor. We had beignets at Cafe Du Mond on Sat and Sun mornings, went to come great restaurants, and also went on a Steamboat Cruise on Sunday.

We enjoyed hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's and Hand Grenades from Tropical Isle. The person on the screen above is James Taylor (we weren't very close to the stage). It was a fun weekend!

Tracy's Wedding

My cousin, Tracy Baker, married Eric Drewa on March 14, 2009. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun. They had it at a local bar in Houston where they like to hang out.

Locks of Love!

I decided a few years ago that I wanted to grow my hair out someday to donate to Locks of Love. It's an organization that provides hairpieces for financially disadvantaged children in the US and Canada. The minimum length of hair you can donate is 10 inches. I've been growing my hair for this since August of 2007. It's taken a while, but I finally have 10 inches to donate. These are some pictures from the haircut- before, during, and after. David is not excited about the haircut because he likes my hair long. I keep telling him it will grow back!

I was pretty nervous about what my hair would look like after it was cut. My hair probably hasn't been this short since I was in elementary school. I think Kelly did a great job with what was left.

Scotland and Ireland- October 2008

We took a trip to Scotland and Ireland October 6-17, 2008. Both countries are places that David and I wanted to see and we decided to take advantage of this time before we have children to do some traveling. Our trip was with the tour company CIE Tours International. They specialize in trips around Great Britain and Ireland. Overall, we are very glad we did this trip with a tour. We feel like we were able to see more, because we didn't have to focus on driving. Plus, they drive on the wrong side of the road over there! :) Our travels in Scotland included time in Glasgow, a tour of Loch Ness, and a couple of days in Edinburgh. We then took a 2 hour ferry ride over to Ireland. We went through Belfast, did a hop on- hop off tour in Dublin, visited the Guinness Brewery, went to the Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney Stone, and visited the Ring of Kerry in Killarney (David asked did I mention we went to the Guinness Brewery? I said yes, but he said to mention it again. Whatever.) Our Irish adventure ended back in Dublin, where we had a little more time to kick around the city before leaving for home. We saw some beautiful scenery, met some great people, and enjoyed our time with each other. David also enjoyed drinking the rest of my pint of Guinness at the brewery as well as his own. He says it really does taste better over there. Whatever. Did I mention that we went to the Guinness Brewery, Ireland's #1 Tourist Attraction?