On Saturday, we got up and had the biggest breakfast I think I’ve ever had.  And it was cheap.  The cool part about Lubbock is that it’s really quite reasonable to eat.  We then headed to the Tech -vs- New Mexico football game.  It was pretty cool.  The school has alot of its own traditions which were on full display.  I did find it humorous that the crowd was estimated to be 53,000 and was pretty much a sell out.   Seth and I were at a Texas game the week before and it wasn’t quite a sell out at 93,000.  Auburn holds 90,000 as do most of the SEC stadiums.  But give Tech a few more years with Leech at the helm and that stadium will be alot bigger.  BTW, it was great as there wasn’t a bad seat in the house.

After the game, Hannah was dying for some wings so Jill and took she and Tara out for a bite.  We packed up on Sunday and headed back!

I’ve got pictures posted - just click on the picture in this post and you’ll be taken to the galleries!

I posted the pictures in 2 spots - new updates to my Tennessee galleries where I added just a few of the best and a new personal gallery which contains everything.  Just click on any of the pictures or highlighted links to be taken directly to those galleries.

To set the stage, we took a cruise aboard the Star Princess (Princess Cruise Lines) to Alaska’s inside passage.  It was mine and Jill’s gift to one another for 25 years of marriage that we celebrated earlier in the summer.  We went with 4 other couples from Austin - 2 that we knew and 2 that we met for the 1st time on the cruise.  Not that I’m a cruise afficianado, but doing a cruise with others is the only way to go.  We had a ball with all of them.  The couples were Joel and Deborah Altsman, Fred and Gaynelle Bahrenburg, Ron and Sue Revell, and Chuck and Barbara Hammel.   The cruise was a 7-day cruise leaving from Seattle with ports of call in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway with a half-day scenic cruise through Tracy Arm Fjord.

We got to Seattle on friday night and met up w/everyone on Saturday.  The forecast was for rain in Seattle but it was nowhere to be found on Saturday.  We had a beautiful day to explore the city with temperatures in the 70s and blue skies - a far cry from the 100+ degree days we had in Austin all summer.  We started our exploration with a “duck” tour through Seattle and then went to the Pike street market.  The market was gorgeous as there were flowers everywhere.  Speaking of everywhere, LSU was playing the University of Washington that night so there was more purple and gold than you could shake a stick at.  We had lunch at Athena’s in the market and dinner at Anthony’s Pier 66.  Jill and I went back to the space needle where I grabbed a few shots of the skyline at night.  On Sunday, the weather returned to Seattle-normal where it was rainy and cool.  I managed to do a little hiking up the hills on the north side of the city where I got one of my favorite shots of the skyline.  We all loaded up the van about 10:30 and headed to the pier to board the ship for a 4:00pm departure.  The good news about rainy weather is that mother nature blesses you with rainbows which we got to see 2 on our departure.

Monday was a cruise day where we steamed to Alaska and got a chance to rest and explore the ship.  The Star Princess was gorgeous.  The crew was as spectacular as the ship.  We had our 1st formal night Monday night where everyone got all dolled up.  Jill looked particularly gorgeous as did all the ladies.  Even the men cleaned up nicely.

On Tuesday, we sailed into Ketchikan and spent the day exploring the shops in the rain.  We had read about the rain forest and there’s a reason they are appropriately named.  It rained every day we were in Alaska.  Apparently that area gets rain about 300 days each year.  We learned that sunny days are so rare, that when they do happen, the schools and governments declare a holiday so everyone can go out and enjoy them.  Kinda like snow days in Texas.

Wednesday was the best day of the trip.  We started the morning early with a scenic cruise through Tracy Arm Fjord to Sawyer glacier.  It was the most scenic of the entire trip.  That afternoon, we arrived in Juneau and took a wildlife exploration tour to see humpback whales and then a trip to Mendenhall glacier.  It was awesome as we got to see a number of whales, bald eagles, black bears, seals and of course the glacier.

On Thursday we arrived in Skagway and took the White Pass rail into the mountains and then finished the day with shopping.  Fred and I tried to do a helicopter tour with a hike to the glaciers but it got cancelled due to the weather.  Apparently, the helicopter tours get canceled due to weather about 60 percent of the time.  No biggie - got to spend the day hanging off the back of the train taking snaps instead!

Friday was another cruise day as we headed to Victoria, BC on Saturday.  Jill and I got a couples massage on Friday and even managed to get all dolled up again Friday night for a lobster dinner.  Turns out our ship set a record for the amount of lobster consumed in one sitting.

Our last port of call was Victoria, BC and fittingly it ended up a visit to Butchart gardens which were simply stunning.  We got there late enough that we got to see everything with daylight and at night.   I got to take some time-elapsed photos on tripod where it looks like nobody else were in the gardens.

The trip was simply excellent and lived up to everything we had hoped.  I hope everyone enjoys the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.   The gallery contains pictures that all of us took - the ones that include a copyright from me are the ones that I took.  Make sure you click on any of the pictures to see more in the gallery.

I started the month out in Las Vegas at ops reviews.  You’ll see pictures from the event (mostly the best systems engineering team in the world).  These guys let their hair down a bit when we went go-cart racing and overall had a ball.  What a colorful group.  I was out on the west coast w/Jeff doing interviews so you’ll also see pictures from San Diego.  What a beautiful city.  And the weather was outstanding.  I was actually a bit cold at night - and then returned to Austin where 100 degree plus days have been with just most of June.

Anyway - I did manage to have a little fun in an otherwise grueling month of business travel!