Jim Free's Big Vacation: We Finally Arrive in Alaska [PHOTOS]

*If you missed Jim's first article about his big, weeklong Alpine vacation, click below to read about and see pictures from the first two days of his trip!

On Sunday, September 1, we woke up in our hotel room in Seattle and met up with the couple that we're going on the cruise with. The four of us walked a couple of blocks to grab breakfast. After breakfast we drove from our hotel to the port in Seattle where it was time to board our ship to Alaska.

We departed from Seattle at 4 p.m. Sunday. The rest of the day Sunday and all day Monday we spent at Sea. We did different things while on the ship besides eating and drinking, but that's what I think we did most. We also visited the casino, participated in trivia and game show night, and checked out the live band that played every night of the week and the B.B. King Blues Bar and Lounge.

We arrived at our first port on Tuesday. Our first stop was Juneau, which is the capital of Alaska. We did a four-hour excursion that day. It was the Mendenhall Glacier and Mount Roberts Tramway excursion.

When we arrived in Juneau it was really cloudy with light rain. The couple we went with were supposed to do a glacier tour by helicopter, that's where they actually land the helicopter on the glacier and they get out and walk around on it. But because of the weather, their excursion was canceled.

Chris and I rode the bus to the Mendenhall National Park. Once inside, we hiked just over a mile to get to the waterfalls which are pretty close to the glacier itself. By the time we made it to the waterfalls, the sun was out and I was taking my rain jacket off.

After we enjoyed the view and took a couple of pictures, we made the one-mile hike back to get the bus to go back down into the city. Once we got to the city, we climbed aboard the Mount Roberts Tramway. That takes you high up into the mountains with spectacular views of Juneau, the mountains surrounding it, and the ocean.

While we were up there, we met up with our friends who's excursion got cancelled. We enjoyed a snack and a few beers.

On the way down the tram, we saw a couple of eagles and some people that were on our tram saw a bear, but it was on the other side of our car, so I did not see it.

We went back to the ship for dinner and the ship departed to make it's way to the Hubbar Glacier on Wednesday. I'll put those pictures up tomorrow.