Yes, we did miss you and now we envy you!! lol. You just took my hubby's dream trip and I'm glad it was so wonderful for you. Which port did you sail from and did you book through a local agency? We may get to go one day. Waiting for pictures. Ginny

Lori - If you and your DH enjoy road trips and don't mind gravel, IMO you might think about driving the Alcan Highway. We took a week and a half up, three weeks in Alaska, and a week and a half back (my parents were both teachers, so they had summers off). No blown-out windshields, but at one point the road was washed out and the crews were using bulldozers to pull the cars through the flowing mud. They told my father that it could break the axle on our car. He said "Go ahead", and the car made it intact. We had camping equipment for meals on the road, but only slept in motels and lodges, not at all fancy, but very colorful and rustic. We also had good rain gear, as it rains every day from the northern Yukon into Alaska. The rains aren't so bad, usually brief. Also a LOT of bugspray, as the mosquitoes are fierce. We saw so much wildlife - bear, moose, deer, and all sorts of small critters and birds. People were very, very friendly, went out of their way to be helpful. When we got to Fairbanks we checked into a "hotel" that my mother had reserved in advance. It was, ah, "primitive". The next morning she went down to check something at the front desk and rushed back in a huff and told my father and me to pack up, that we were moving out, as the "hotel" was off-limits to military personnel. I asked what that meant and she and my dad looked at each other, and my dad had a big grin on his face. As I wrote before, you will never forget this trip. Just plan it carefully, know where your stops are, keep your tires in good condition, and take everything you think you might need. I hope you go and that we'll read all about it here on KT someday! Sable

We took a Princess cruise and land tour several years ago. It was wonderful. We got a room with a balcony on the top deck so we could sit out there and look at all the sights without standing on deck being cold. We went in early May and the weather was not all that bad.....in fact, no mosquitos and very little rain. It was great to wrap up in blankets and call room service for coffee. We loved staying at one of the Princess Hotels in Denali and took the bus trip. Excellent! The train ride to Denali was OK but we took the bus back to Anchorage and enjoyed it much more. Our very favorite side trip was outside Skagway on the bus tour to the Yukon. There was also a train trip but the bus ride was a great experience. We got to stop along the way if there was something interesting to see.....like a big wolf near the side of the road. The guide was really a lot of fun and knew the history of the Yukon gold rush. We also stopped for lunch at a museum/gift shop. I bought the book Alaska by James Michener there and re read it. I would suggest you read it on your trip. We opted not to have scheduled meal times and that worked out very well. We met some people who were from a tiny town here in California where my maternal grandmother was born. Small world. We took the trip to Mendenhall Glacier outside of Juneau. Take lots of pictures and keep a journal so you can share your experiences with us when you return. Have a wonderful trip!

First of all ~ Congratulations on your up coming wedding! This is the only time (usually) in your life when this event is truly about you and your fiance - PLEASE, enjoy your ride!! It's only the first time once!! I too am having a destination wedding so I can totally understand your concerns with trying to acommodate everyone. I must warn you, when asking for opinions on this forum, you may not always like what you hear! I joined another forum - bestdestinationweddings.com - because they were more understanding and a lot more positive than many on this forum because everyone there IS having a destination wedding and can appreciate it! With that being said, we too had to invite a lot of people. Actually, what is now happening is that people I didn't think to invite are coming out of the woodwork and want to attend and that is awesome! What I did was a form letter on parchment paper and envelopes. I did a little "Save the date for the wedding of..." on the top third of the letter. On the rest of the letter I put "it is with much excitement and anticipation that we extend this invitation to you and your family. On (date) we will be exchanging vows at/on (the love boat - wherever). I did a short blurb of where and when it would be, a short blurb about which travel agency was handling reservations and gave a contact name and number there, a little short blurb about the hotel and 7 & 4 day all inclusive prices, two sentences about passports, one sentence about our wedding website and a closing sentence that said something like we hope you can make it, let us be the excuse you finally take a much needed vacation, etc. ~ and of course we signed the letters! I did attach a copy of the hotel's fact sheet and a color picture of the hotel (I took it off of the website - it had a PDF fact sheet) Based on the feedback, the attachment REALLY was a nice thing to do and by including the prices it gave a lot of people a dollar amount to associate what they were getting for their money. It wasn't a sales pitch, it just gave people an idea of what it would cost. Our wedding isn't until next November, but I sent the information out last month. For most working class folks with kids, we have to plan our finances accordingly and took that into consideration when sending out the letters so far in advance. Good luck and don't let the negative posts on this forum get you down.