2012--Alaskan Cruise
Day One----Wednesday, May 23, 2012 (Fly to Anchorage)
The Anchorage Grand Hotel
I’m sitting at Denver International Airport, waiting. Waiting to board our flight to Anchorage; waiting to decide if and where we should get something to eat, and waiting for my battery in this contraption.
But, I’m thinking the hard part of this day is over. I hate the whole TSA security procedure. It’s dehumanizing, stressful, and in truth is more annoying than effective.
But, this is not the way I want to start my first day of vacation; with a bad attitude. Margo and I have 10 more days in front of us; all in Alaska. We board our Anchoragebound plane for a scheduled departure of 6:10 PM. We fly 5 ½ hours for a touch down of 9:50 PM, local time. That will be 11:50 PM Denvertime. By the time we get our rental car and to the hotel it will be well after midnight. The next morning we drive to Healy, AK, about 12 miles north of the entrance to Denali National Park. We take a covered wagon ride late that afternoon. In Friday we take a tour of Denali NP, and we are done by early afternoon. We have the rest of the day free. I imagine a nap might be in order.
Saturday we drive back to Anchorage, drop off the rental car, and link up with Princess Cruise Line. They will get us down to Whittier, where we board the Sapphire Princess, for a 7 day cruise. We spend the first two days at sea, with stops to see Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Then we stop in Skagwaywhere Margo and I plan to do a zip line. The next day finds us in Juneau, where we will tour a Dog Sled Summer Camp. Next up we stop in Ketchikan, where we will take in the city and finish up our shopping. One more day at sea, getting to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and then home. Here is a link to our itinerary.
I think we caught a break when we checked in for our Frontier Airlines flight. They were assigning seats at the gate and we got 1A and 1B, right up front. At least we won’t be cramped.
Continued………
Our flight was uneventful; just the way I like’em. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. We didn’t take off until 6:26, but the flight only took about 5 hours, so we were still in before I figured we would be. I was in a middle seat with a big fellow in the aisle. But, it was still not bad. When we got close to Anchorageand saw all of the snow covered mountains, we got our first hint at how beautiful the state is.
We landed, got our bags and rental car with minimal fuss and we were on our way. The mountains are much closer than Denver, and truthfully more stunning. We drove to our hotel, the Anchorage Grand Hotel. The room is huge. It is a suite with a kitchen, king bed, and living area. You could easily live here.
But, we did not immediately go up to our room. Even though we had gotten a sandwich and a snack before we boarded, Margo and I were both starved. The hotel clerk recommended a bar, called Humpy’s. It was loud, as they had a singer, but both the food and the local beer were good.
Back to the hotel and we are now getting ready for bed. We got back to the hotel and Margo decided she needed a soda. Our
room is on the 4th floor, so Margo trekked down to the lobby to find our where the vending was. She was told it was on the 1st floor. The lobby is actually on the 2nd floor. So she went down and looked at the machine and discovered she did not have enough singles. So she went back up to the 2nd floor to get change. She got change, went back down to the 2nd floor, and the vending machine would
take any of the bills. So she went back up to the 2ndfloor, and changed her singles for quarters. With $8.00 in quarters in hand, she went back down to the first floor and got two Pepsis and two water.
That was pretty much the end of a long day. I think we got to bed sometime around 2 AM, local time. Not smart, but the extra sunlight really messes with you. I got on line and checked the weather report. It is not looking good for tomorrow, but we are hopeful.
But, I’m thinking the hard part of this day is over. I hate the whole TSA security procedure. It’s dehumanizing, stressful, and in truth is more annoying than effective.
But, this is not the way I want to start my first day of vacation; with a bad attitude. Margo and I have 10 more days in front of us; all in Alaska. We board our Anchoragebound plane for a scheduled departure of 6:10 PM. We fly 5 ½ hours for a touch down of 9:50 PM, local time. That will be 11:50 PM Denvertime. By the time we get our rental car and to the hotel it will be well after midnight. The next morning we drive to Healy, AK, about 12 miles north of the entrance to Denali National Park. We take a covered wagon ride late that afternoon. In Friday we take a tour of Denali NP, and we are done by early afternoon. We have the rest of the day free. I imagine a nap might be in order.
Saturday we drive back to Anchorage, drop off the rental car, and link up with Princess Cruise Line. They will get us down to Whittier, where we board the Sapphire Princess, for a 7 day cruise. We spend the first two days at sea, with stops to see Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Then we stop in Skagwaywhere Margo and I plan to do a zip line. The next day finds us in Juneau, where we will tour a Dog Sled Summer Camp. Next up we stop in Ketchikan, where we will take in the city and finish up our shopping. One more day at sea, getting to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and then home. Here is a link to our itinerary.
I think we caught a break when we checked in for our Frontier Airlines flight. They were assigning seats at the gate and we got 1A and 1B, right up front. At least we won’t be cramped.
Continued………
Our flight was uneventful; just the way I like’em. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. We didn’t take off until 6:26, but the flight only took about 5 hours, so we were still in before I figured we would be. I was in a middle seat with a big fellow in the aisle. But, it was still not bad. When we got close to Anchorageand saw all of the snow covered mountains, we got our first hint at how beautiful the state is.
We landed, got our bags and rental car with minimal fuss and we were on our way. The mountains are much closer than Denver, and truthfully more stunning. We drove to our hotel, the Anchorage Grand Hotel. The room is huge. It is a suite with a kitchen, king bed, and living area. You could easily live here.
But, we did not immediately go up to our room. Even though we had gotten a sandwich and a snack before we boarded, Margo and I were both starved. The hotel clerk recommended a bar, called Humpy’s. It was loud, as they had a singer, but both the food and the local beer were good.
Back to the hotel and we are now getting ready for bed. We got back to the hotel and Margo decided she needed a soda. Our
room is on the 4th floor, so Margo trekked down to the lobby to find our where the vending was. She was told it was on the 1st floor. The lobby is actually on the 2nd floor. So she went down and looked at the machine and discovered she did not have enough singles. So she went back up to the 2nd floor to get change. She got change, went back down to the 2nd floor, and the vending machine would
take any of the bills. So she went back up to the 2ndfloor, and changed her singles for quarters. With $8.00 in quarters in hand, she went back down to the first floor and got two Pepsis and two water.
That was pretty much the end of a long day. I think we got to bed sometime around 2 AM, local time. Not smart, but the extra sunlight really messes with you. I got on line and checked the weather report. It is not looking good for tomorrow, but we are hopeful.
Day Two----Thursday, May 24, 2012 (Drive to Denali area)
The view from our balconey, near Denali National Park
I was up about 8:30 AM this morning, after going to bed about 2 AM. Margo was up even earlier. I slept just OK. The room has no A/C, but that should not have surprised me. So we opened windows. That did let in fresh air and cooled the room down, but it also let the street noises. There was an occasional truck, at least three different trains, and gulls from the nearby shore. I think if w were staying another night I would have been able to ignore them. Margo said she slept fine.
We got dressed, packed up, and were soon on our way north. The weatherman was accurate, unfortunately. It is drizzly, gray, and
yucky outside. That didn’t stop me from snapping a few pictures of the area. The visibility wasn’t too bad and the mountains looked pretty. I couldn’t tell how the pictures came out.
Margo said she could put off eating until we got to Wasilla. So that is what we did. Wasilla is only about an hour from Anchorage. We ended up making three stops in Wasilla. The first at Wal-mart to get an elbow brace fro Margo. Her right elbow was acting up. Stop number two was to eat. We stopped at Mat-su Family Restaurant, at Park Highway and Swanson. The food was really good and the
portions were large. We each had breakfast. Our final stop was to top off the tank. Gas was $4.45 a gallon. That is the most I have ever paid for gas. I have a feeling that record will not stand long.
The drive to DenaliNational Park, where we make a quick stop to pick up tomorrow’s tour tickets, was a kind of a tease. First, with all of
the stories about the abundance or wildlife I expected to see at least an elk. But, we saw one dove-like bird and two Canadian geese. Not elk, no moose, no bear. Second, the weather reports said rain. And we were not disappointed, but 100 miles south of the park, it cleared up and seemed to be breaking. Then half an hour later it started to look uglier and began to rain. Then ten miles before
the park it cleared up again.
We picked up our tickets at the Wilderness AccessCenter and then headed to our hotel. We had left Anchorageat about 10 AM and arrived at the Denali Lakeview Inn at 4:20 PM. We made a stop for gas, a stop for lunch, a stop to pee, and a stop to pick up tickets. All of that probably added to about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. So it was about 5 hours on the road.
When pulled into our hotel, I started to wonder if maybe I had made a mistake. The lake, OttoLake did not seem like much from the ground. The hotel needed a coat of paint. Check in is done remotely. This hotel is more like a house or apartment building. It’s two stories, with no elevator. You have an entry way, and a hallway with three rooms down stairs, and our room upstairs. We had prepaid for our first day, and they have my credit card info for day two, so check in could be done remotely. They left an instruction card,
posted on the bulletin board that told us exactly how to get to our room, and to take off our shoes before we walked on the carpets. All around the place is dirt, grass doesn’t grow well this far north, but it does rain. So they are very concerned about the wear and tear and cleanliness of the carpet.
We got dressed, packed up, and were soon on our way north. The weatherman was accurate, unfortunately. It is drizzly, gray, and
yucky outside. That didn’t stop me from snapping a few pictures of the area. The visibility wasn’t too bad and the mountains looked pretty. I couldn’t tell how the pictures came out.
Margo said she could put off eating until we got to Wasilla. So that is what we did. Wasilla is only about an hour from Anchorage. We ended up making three stops in Wasilla. The first at Wal-mart to get an elbow brace fro Margo. Her right elbow was acting up. Stop number two was to eat. We stopped at Mat-su Family Restaurant, at Park Highway and Swanson. The food was really good and the
portions were large. We each had breakfast. Our final stop was to top off the tank. Gas was $4.45 a gallon. That is the most I have ever paid for gas. I have a feeling that record will not stand long.
The drive to DenaliNational Park, where we make a quick stop to pick up tomorrow’s tour tickets, was a kind of a tease. First, with all of
the stories about the abundance or wildlife I expected to see at least an elk. But, we saw one dove-like bird and two Canadian geese. Not elk, no moose, no bear. Second, the weather reports said rain. And we were not disappointed, but 100 miles south of the park, it cleared up and seemed to be breaking. Then half an hour later it started to look uglier and began to rain. Then ten miles before
the park it cleared up again.
We picked up our tickets at the Wilderness AccessCenter and then headed to our hotel. We had left Anchorageat about 10 AM and arrived at the Denali Lakeview Inn at 4:20 PM. We made a stop for gas, a stop for lunch, a stop to pee, and a stop to pick up tickets. All of that probably added to about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. So it was about 5 hours on the road.
When pulled into our hotel, I started to wonder if maybe I had made a mistake. The lake, OttoLake did not seem like much from the ground. The hotel needed a coat of paint. Check in is done remotely. This hotel is more like a house or apartment building. It’s two stories, with no elevator. You have an entry way, and a hallway with three rooms down stairs, and our room upstairs. We had prepaid for our first day, and they have my credit card info for day two, so check in could be done remotely. They left an instruction card,
posted on the bulletin board that told us exactly how to get to our room, and to take off our shoes before we walked on the carpets. All around the place is dirt, grass doesn’t grow well this far north, but it does rain. So they are very concerned about the wear and tear and cleanliness of the carpet.
c
Our Covered Wagon Tour Guide. He's taking someone's picture.
We walked up the stairs, and I knew this had been the right choice. As soon as you walk in your attention is drawn not to the room, but the view of Otto Lakeand
the Alaska Range through the four windows and glass door to the balcony. I would say that 25 foot wall has more window space than wall space. Even in the cloudy conditions the view was awesome.
After you have taken in view, your eyes refocus to the room. There is a couch facing the small entertainment center and a king bed. The couch and bed are plush and inviting. When you actually walking into the room you see a combination kitchenette and small bedroom (Somehow it works) to your left and a dressing area and sink to your right. Once you clear that hall and enter the main room, it opens by a third and you see another king size bed and a kitchen table. It is a corner room and to your right are two more windows giving you more mountain view. This was nice.
The not so nice part was hauling all that luggage, seven pieces, up those stairs. It is a fairly short flight of stairs, but I was winded each time I got to the top. I’m not sure of the elevation, but I’d guess 6000-8000 feet. I’ll have to ask someone. I spent the next 20 minutes fighting with my computer. I finally got it to reboot and I was able to do a little writing. Margo used the time to unpack what we need for the next couple of days. I am not looking forward to taking those damn bags back down to the care.
Our first real taste of Alaska came about an hour later when we drove the one third mile to Black Diamond Adventures for our covered wagon ride. We were early, so the owner of the place, Marilyn, bought us a beer. Margo had Pepsi. I had local amber. It was pretty good. We spent the next half hour of so consuming our drinks and talking with the very gregarious waitress, Sammy. She is from Connecticut and spent most of the time cracking jokes with us, and telling us about getting to Alaska from her home state. It turns out she and a couple of friends actually drove. They had a planned stop in Chicago, where she had a friend. Then there was an unplanned one in Washington State, where some aggressive driving on a dirt road did a number on a U-joint and they dropped the drive shaft. She said it turned out well, as they met some really nice people who helped them out.
Sammy’s story, or at least the part about being from some other state, or country, seemed to be the norm, rather than the exception in this area. Every one we talked to, that was working in or near Denali, was only here for the seasonal work. The impression we got, because I did not ask, was that they were here, as in here in Alaska, for the adventure. That being opposed to being here as Alaska was the only place they could find work.
the Alaska Range through the four windows and glass door to the balcony. I would say that 25 foot wall has more window space than wall space. Even in the cloudy conditions the view was awesome.
After you have taken in view, your eyes refocus to the room. There is a couch facing the small entertainment center and a king bed. The couch and bed are plush and inviting. When you actually walking into the room you see a combination kitchenette and small bedroom (Somehow it works) to your left and a dressing area and sink to your right. Once you clear that hall and enter the main room, it opens by a third and you see another king size bed and a kitchen table. It is a corner room and to your right are two more windows giving you more mountain view. This was nice.
The not so nice part was hauling all that luggage, seven pieces, up those stairs. It is a fairly short flight of stairs, but I was winded each time I got to the top. I’m not sure of the elevation, but I’d guess 6000-8000 feet. I’ll have to ask someone. I spent the next 20 minutes fighting with my computer. I finally got it to reboot and I was able to do a little writing. Margo used the time to unpack what we need for the next couple of days. I am not looking forward to taking those damn bags back down to the care.
Our first real taste of Alaska came about an hour later when we drove the one third mile to Black Diamond Adventures for our covered wagon ride. We were early, so the owner of the place, Marilyn, bought us a beer. Margo had Pepsi. I had local amber. It was pretty good. We spent the next half hour of so consuming our drinks and talking with the very gregarious waitress, Sammy. She is from Connecticut and spent most of the time cracking jokes with us, and telling us about getting to Alaska from her home state. It turns out she and a couple of friends actually drove. They had a planned stop in Chicago, where she had a friend. Then there was an unplanned one in Washington State, where some aggressive driving on a dirt road did a number on a U-joint and they dropped the drive shaft. She said it turned out well, as they met some really nice people who helped them out.
Sammy’s story, or at least the part about being from some other state, or country, seemed to be the norm, rather than the exception in this area. Every one we talked to, that was working in or near Denali, was only here for the seasonal work. The impression we got, because I did not ask, was that they were here, as in here in Alaska, for the adventure. That being opposed to being here as Alaska was the only place they could find work.
c
Me, Dick and Dan
We had about 25 total pioneers on our covered wagon ride, and the wagon capacity is only 16. So they added another wagon. We were supposed to go on the wagon with Sammy’s friend and co-cross continental adventurer, Savannah. But, we somehow got crossed up, and ended up with Wojo. Wojo is not his name, but it is as close as I can remember. He did tell us and I tried to listen, even as he spelled it. But, Wojo is from the Czech Republic and has a heavy accent. He was also funny and self-effacing.
We had a good time listening to him tell stories, mangle the occasional word, and visit with the drivers. Margo and I sat right up front. Will and Todd had the reins. We had two French draft horses; Percherons, named Dan and Dick. Wojo warned us that should we hear the drivers saying things like “C’mon, Dick” Step up, Dick” That it was not sexual. As it turned out, Dick was tad lazy and kept trying to shift the burden to his partner. So one driver or the other was always saying something to Dick.
We learned very little from Wojo, but it was fun listening to him. Will, from Southern California and Todd, who spent time in Kremmling, CO were driving the team. It sounded like Todd was an experienced teamster. They were both interesting to talk to and we learned a little about the horses. For instance Percherons are war houses and were used by knights many centuries ago. And, Dan the left horse of the team is the leader, and walks slightly ahead. The horses become very accustomed to their harness mate and will mourn the loss, if it’s mate should die or be sold.
We rode out into the forest, on a dirt road, for about 45 min to an hour, and then came upon their compound which they call the
Pavilions. It has a couple of buildings and is used to feed us dinner. The meal was served family style in plastic gold panning pans. The menu was steak tips, baked chicken legs, BBQ pork ribs, cod, potato salad, cole slaw, pasta salad, corn bread, wine, soft drinks, water, tea, and a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler for dessert. Everything was included in the price of your ticked, including the alcohol.
Margo and I visited with a couple from South Carolina and got a few tips on what to see and do when we get to that state. When we had had our fill we went outside and got pictures with the horses. The weather had cooperated nicely. No rain, no wind, and it seemed pretty dry overall. It was jacket weather, but I did not even zip mine.
Having been well fed, we were getting sleepy on the way back. Wojo and the drivers kept up with the stories, but they were running out, too. It was a good time and we tipped the guys $20. We made a quick run to Glitter Gulch to pick up some food for tomorrow. That was all we could handle. Margo and I were beat. We went back to the hotel, got undressed, set our alarm and went to bed. It was 9:50 PM.
We had a good time listening to him tell stories, mangle the occasional word, and visit with the drivers. Margo and I sat right up front. Will and Todd had the reins. We had two French draft horses; Percherons, named Dan and Dick. Wojo warned us that should we hear the drivers saying things like “C’mon, Dick” Step up, Dick” That it was not sexual. As it turned out, Dick was tad lazy and kept trying to shift the burden to his partner. So one driver or the other was always saying something to Dick.
We learned very little from Wojo, but it was fun listening to him. Will, from Southern California and Todd, who spent time in Kremmling, CO were driving the team. It sounded like Todd was an experienced teamster. They were both interesting to talk to and we learned a little about the horses. For instance Percherons are war houses and were used by knights many centuries ago. And, Dan the left horse of the team is the leader, and walks slightly ahead. The horses become very accustomed to their harness mate and will mourn the loss, if it’s mate should die or be sold.
We rode out into the forest, on a dirt road, for about 45 min to an hour, and then came upon their compound which they call the
Pavilions. It has a couple of buildings and is used to feed us dinner. The meal was served family style in plastic gold panning pans. The menu was steak tips, baked chicken legs, BBQ pork ribs, cod, potato salad, cole slaw, pasta salad, corn bread, wine, soft drinks, water, tea, and a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler for dessert. Everything was included in the price of your ticked, including the alcohol.
Margo and I visited with a couple from South Carolina and got a few tips on what to see and do when we get to that state. When we had had our fill we went outside and got pictures with the horses. The weather had cooperated nicely. No rain, no wind, and it seemed pretty dry overall. It was jacket weather, but I did not even zip mine.
Having been well fed, we were getting sleepy on the way back. Wojo and the drivers kept up with the stories, but they were running out, too. It was a good time and we tipped the guys $20. We made a quick run to Glitter Gulch to pick up some food for tomorrow. That was all we could handle. Margo and I were beat. We went back to the hotel, got undressed, set our alarm and went to bed. It was 9:50 PM.
Day Three---Friday, May 25, 2012 (Denali National Park)
We needed to be up by 4:30 AM, to be ready for our 6:15 Tundra Wilderness Tour. We knew we were going to be tired, but it was worse for Margo, because she had a bad night. About an hour or two after we went to bed, she got up coughing and hacking like she was chocking. She has acid reflux, probably a hiatal hernia, and had aspirated some of the acid. It took her another hour of intermittent coughing to clear it out. But, the acid was still bad. She settled down, but was at it at 2 AM again. I convinced her to take some of my acid medicine and to pound the Tums to kill the acid she had built up. That, and having her sleep on her other side, seemed to do the trick. She slept the remainder of the morning.
I got up first and showered. Margo slept in a little longer and then got up. We got ready, I packed up a bunch of food, as we were
told that the box lunch provided was pretty small. With that accomplished we got into the car and went the McKinley Chalets in Glitter Gulch. Our tour bus was to depart from there.
Our guide was Dan Soileau. His name was right above the front aisle where I could see it for the next 7 hours. He turned out to be both entertaining and knowledgeable. Once we got started we were in the park about 10 minutes later. He started telling us about Denali National Park and Reserve almost from the first. He made constant references to using the seat belts, even though he knew that almost know one was. It ended up being a running joke.
He told us early on that this was the Tundra Wilderness Tour. He guaranteed we would see tundra and wilderness, but not the animals. He said it was always hit and miss. The Big Four animals that we were keeping an eye out for were; Grizzly Bear, Moose, Caribou, and Dall Sheep. There were others that we would keep an eye out for. We were instructed that if we saw, or even thought we saw an animal to yell out “Stop!” and he would.
Some of the facts about the park that stood out to me included; The park goes through all four seasons from May through September. Winter lasts eight months. You could really tell this as we drove from Anchorage to Healy. In Anchorage spring had started. It looked like early-mid April in Colorado. By the time we got to Healy, the tree were just starting to leaf out. More than half had just buds. When we to Denali NP and gained a little elevation we returned to the later stages of winter, or maybe very early spring. Also, Denali only gets 16 inches of rain each year. That makes it fairly arid, and they get only two-three feet of snow each winter. On the other
hand, once it’s there it doesn’t leave until May. Lastly, the fishing really sucks in Denali. They don’t even require a license. This is because most of the rivers are glacier fed and have too much silt for the fish to live. Dan told us that one river had some species of
Grayling in it, and that was it. The lack of fish was one of the big reasons why the Denali Grizzlies top out at about 600 pounds.
It took close to an hour into our trip before we got our first wild life sighting. Margo had the window seat, and we were in the middle of the bus. So, we were never the first to see anything. But, someone yelled that they saw something. It turned out to be caribou. As promised Dan brought the bus to a stop and soon had everyone looking in the correct direction. Margo and I both got pictures. You aren’t allowed out of the bus, but the window dropped down so you could get a clear shot. Dan made sure everyone got to see before we were on our way.
One note about park access. Denaliis not like almost every other national park. The public is not allowed to drive into the interior. Dan explained that they took the cue, at least partially, from the animal induced traffic jams that happen at Yellowstone NP. Margo and I have personally witnessed those. Someone sees a buffalo or elk and stops in the road. All the other cars nearby do the same, in
both directions, and they all get out to take pictures. A hundred yards or so in either direction, the other drivers don’t know what is going on, but they are still held up. Traffic comes to a halt until the animal wanders off. Even if it doesn’t to so quickly, those drivers that didn’t get their pictures move up, stop, and get out. Traffic doesn’t clear up until the animal moves on. Denali NP only has one road that goes in. There is no loop. You go in and turn around to come out. If a hundred cars were all driving on that one road, stopping for each sighting, traffic would never move.
I got up first and showered. Margo slept in a little longer and then got up. We got ready, I packed up a bunch of food, as we were
told that the box lunch provided was pretty small. With that accomplished we got into the car and went the McKinley Chalets in Glitter Gulch. Our tour bus was to depart from there.
Our guide was Dan Soileau. His name was right above the front aisle where I could see it for the next 7 hours. He turned out to be both entertaining and knowledgeable. Once we got started we were in the park about 10 minutes later. He started telling us about Denali National Park and Reserve almost from the first. He made constant references to using the seat belts, even though he knew that almost know one was. It ended up being a running joke.
He told us early on that this was the Tundra Wilderness Tour. He guaranteed we would see tundra and wilderness, but not the animals. He said it was always hit and miss. The Big Four animals that we were keeping an eye out for were; Grizzly Bear, Moose, Caribou, and Dall Sheep. There were others that we would keep an eye out for. We were instructed that if we saw, or even thought we saw an animal to yell out “Stop!” and he would.
Some of the facts about the park that stood out to me included; The park goes through all four seasons from May through September. Winter lasts eight months. You could really tell this as we drove from Anchorage to Healy. In Anchorage spring had started. It looked like early-mid April in Colorado. By the time we got to Healy, the tree were just starting to leaf out. More than half had just buds. When we to Denali NP and gained a little elevation we returned to the later stages of winter, or maybe very early spring. Also, Denali only gets 16 inches of rain each year. That makes it fairly arid, and they get only two-three feet of snow each winter. On the other
hand, once it’s there it doesn’t leave until May. Lastly, the fishing really sucks in Denali. They don’t even require a license. This is because most of the rivers are glacier fed and have too much silt for the fish to live. Dan told us that one river had some species of
Grayling in it, and that was it. The lack of fish was one of the big reasons why the Denali Grizzlies top out at about 600 pounds.
It took close to an hour into our trip before we got our first wild life sighting. Margo had the window seat, and we were in the middle of the bus. So, we were never the first to see anything. But, someone yelled that they saw something. It turned out to be caribou. As promised Dan brought the bus to a stop and soon had everyone looking in the correct direction. Margo and I both got pictures. You aren’t allowed out of the bus, but the window dropped down so you could get a clear shot. Dan made sure everyone got to see before we were on our way.
One note about park access. Denaliis not like almost every other national park. The public is not allowed to drive into the interior. Dan explained that they took the cue, at least partially, from the animal induced traffic jams that happen at Yellowstone NP. Margo and I have personally witnessed those. Someone sees a buffalo or elk and stops in the road. All the other cars nearby do the same, in
both directions, and they all get out to take pictures. A hundred yards or so in either direction, the other drivers don’t know what is going on, but they are still held up. Traffic comes to a halt until the animal wanders off. Even if it doesn’t to so quickly, those drivers that didn’t get their pictures move up, stop, and get out. Traffic doesn’t clear up until the animal moves on. Denali NP only has one road that goes in. There is no loop. You go in and turn around to come out. If a hundred cars were all driving on that one road, stopping for each sighting, traffic would never move.
c
Dall Sheep rams in Denali. They had stopped to chew their cud
The terrain of Denali ranges from thin and moderate forests, to bare tundra, to rocks. The mountains, which look like home, are only 3000-4000 feet, at least in the general area were we were. That really surprised me. Tree line is only about 3000 feet. It is more like 10,000 ft back home.
Our next wildlife sighting was a pair of moose in the trees and the brush on our side of the bus. But, they were partially hidden. We got pictures, but they weren’t the greatest. Dan told us a few moose stories and
facts though out the day. First he said that mama mooses are fearless when protecting their babies. They have been know to chase grizzlies away from the area. Also, the area around the employee’s trailers appears to be a favorite spot for mamas to drop their calves. This makes for some adventurous comings and goings for the park employees.
Like I said this tour is a long one. I signed us up for it after checking the reviews on Tripadvisor. There were plenty of people who addressed the length of the trip, and spending that much time on a bus. They all mentioned that there was a break about every 90 minutes, where you got to get off, stretch your legs and go to the bathroom. There was near universal agreement that the time passed pretty quickly and it didn’t feel as long as it was. Dan mentioned the breaks early on and our first one had an over look of a scrawnly looking glacial river, with a huge gravel bed. We didn’t stay very long, it was only about ten minutes. But that was enough to get a picture and go to the bathroom.
Soon after we got back on the road from our first break, a bald eagle was spotted. He was just sitting by the side of the road, as we
were climbing up a mountain. Dan stopped the bus well short and engaged a unique feature of this tour, an on board zoom video camera. There were drop down screens placed at regular intervals above our heads. We could press a button, the screen would fall, and we could see what Dan was zooming in on. He brought the eagle in close. It was a very pretty and majestic bird. It was also quite large. Dan told us this was an unusual sighting, as bald eagle did not nest in Denali. This particular bird must be migrating,
and we were very lucky to see him. Margo and I each snapped a picture, Dan made sure everyone had gotten to see it, and then he tried to ease in closer. As expected the eagle flew off. Margo got a picture of it in flight.
Our next wildlife sighting was of Dall Sheep. We did see some earlier, up high. That is the most common way of seeing Dall Sheep; way up high so they look like white specks. But, these were down right by the road. These males were just laying down chewing their cud, not caring about us one way or another. Margo and I both got good pictures. The only interesting fact I can recall about the Dall Sheep was that their leading cause of death in the park, is starvation. This is because their habitat, up in the mountains, is not exactly prime terrain for plant growth. They need to come down where the wolves and bears are to eat. But, those dead sheep come in handy around spring time, when the bears come out of hibernation. They are hungry and not above a little carrion.
There was no official break for lunch, but our second rest stop was fifteen minutes and most everyone at least organized their lunch
box, deciding what they liked and started eating. The box had a very small roll, a small package of sliced sausage, a small package of cheese, mustard, carrots, and a small trail mix pouch. They had bottled water to drink. It was OK, but I’m glad we brought extra stuff.
By now everyone was wondering about seeing a bear. We had seen the other three of the Big Four, so that became the focus of Dan. He told us all about bears, as he said talking about them seemed to make them appear. He’d already told us that they were omnivores, which meant they would eat pretty much anything. The Denali grizzlies eat mostly plants. Not that they don’t or won’t eat meat. It’s just that meat is harder to come by. We learned that the bears actually dig their own dens, as opposed to finding a cave to curl up in. In the Alaskan winter, a tight fit is mandatory for a den. The bear has to heat it with it’s own body, so the less space to heat, the warmer it will be.
But it did not seem to work. We saw a willow ptarmigan, which is the Alaskastate bird. We would end up seeing several of those and both Margo and I got pictures. But, no bear. We kept looking. We came across an Arctic Ground Squirrel. It looked like a prairie dog,
with a longer tail. But still no bear.
Our next wildlife sighting was a pair of moose in the trees and the brush on our side of the bus. But, they were partially hidden. We got pictures, but they weren’t the greatest. Dan told us a few moose stories and
facts though out the day. First he said that mama mooses are fearless when protecting their babies. They have been know to chase grizzlies away from the area. Also, the area around the employee’s trailers appears to be a favorite spot for mamas to drop their calves. This makes for some adventurous comings and goings for the park employees.
Like I said this tour is a long one. I signed us up for it after checking the reviews on Tripadvisor. There were plenty of people who addressed the length of the trip, and spending that much time on a bus. They all mentioned that there was a break about every 90 minutes, where you got to get off, stretch your legs and go to the bathroom. There was near universal agreement that the time passed pretty quickly and it didn’t feel as long as it was. Dan mentioned the breaks early on and our first one had an over look of a scrawnly looking glacial river, with a huge gravel bed. We didn’t stay very long, it was only about ten minutes. But that was enough to get a picture and go to the bathroom.
Soon after we got back on the road from our first break, a bald eagle was spotted. He was just sitting by the side of the road, as we
were climbing up a mountain. Dan stopped the bus well short and engaged a unique feature of this tour, an on board zoom video camera. There were drop down screens placed at regular intervals above our heads. We could press a button, the screen would fall, and we could see what Dan was zooming in on. He brought the eagle in close. It was a very pretty and majestic bird. It was also quite large. Dan told us this was an unusual sighting, as bald eagle did not nest in Denali. This particular bird must be migrating,
and we were very lucky to see him. Margo and I each snapped a picture, Dan made sure everyone had gotten to see it, and then he tried to ease in closer. As expected the eagle flew off. Margo got a picture of it in flight.
Our next wildlife sighting was of Dall Sheep. We did see some earlier, up high. That is the most common way of seeing Dall Sheep; way up high so they look like white specks. But, these were down right by the road. These males were just laying down chewing their cud, not caring about us one way or another. Margo and I both got good pictures. The only interesting fact I can recall about the Dall Sheep was that their leading cause of death in the park, is starvation. This is because their habitat, up in the mountains, is not exactly prime terrain for plant growth. They need to come down where the wolves and bears are to eat. But, those dead sheep come in handy around spring time, when the bears come out of hibernation. They are hungry and not above a little carrion.
There was no official break for lunch, but our second rest stop was fifteen minutes and most everyone at least organized their lunch
box, deciding what they liked and started eating. The box had a very small roll, a small package of sliced sausage, a small package of cheese, mustard, carrots, and a small trail mix pouch. They had bottled water to drink. It was OK, but I’m glad we brought extra stuff.
By now everyone was wondering about seeing a bear. We had seen the other three of the Big Four, so that became the focus of Dan. He told us all about bears, as he said talking about them seemed to make them appear. He’d already told us that they were omnivores, which meant they would eat pretty much anything. The Denali grizzlies eat mostly plants. Not that they don’t or won’t eat meat. It’s just that meat is harder to come by. We learned that the bears actually dig their own dens, as opposed to finding a cave to curl up in. In the Alaskan winter, a tight fit is mandatory for a den. The bear has to heat it with it’s own body, so the less space to heat, the warmer it will be.
But it did not seem to work. We saw a willow ptarmigan, which is the Alaskastate bird. We would end up seeing several of those and both Margo and I got pictures. But, no bear. We kept looking. We came across an Arctic Ground Squirrel. It looked like a prairie dog,
with a longer tail. But still no bear.
c
Me and Margo in Denali NP
We came across an area with a lot of dead spruce trees. Dan explained that these were killed by porcupines. This particular area had been hit with a lot of snow, which trapped a group of the prickly critters in that area. The porcupines chew down through the bark into the Cambrian layer of the tree for nourishment. If the porcupine makes a complete circle around the tree, it is called ‘girdling the tree’ and it kills it. The animals don’t usually do that to a tree, but with so many animals in a confined area, they had
no choice.
The subject returned to bears, trying to work the magic. We learned that Dan is skeptical that bears really hibernate. His evidence was that if you were to hypothetically take a hibernating marmot out it’s den during winter, it would be completely unresponsive, with no perceptible heartbeat, and it would feel cold. It would seem dead. Bears, on the other hand, if you were to disturb them, they would awake, and make a winter snack out of you. They also give birth during the winter. Dan was skeptical that mama would sleep through that, even though the cubs are only one pound at birth.
Finally, just before our final break, a bear was spotted. But, I am not counting it. Even with the zoom camera, and my own 16 power binoculars, you only make out a vague shape. So as far as I’m concerned this was a short muscular cow that wandered into the park. I have still not seen a bear.
With our final break behind us the focus turned to changing our Grand Slam (seeing the big four) into a Slam Bang. This meant
seeing either Mt McKinley, a wolf, lynx, or wolverine. We were to be disappointed. We did see some distant caribou and Dall sheep, but nothing new. Dan did tell us how fortunate we were, comparing it to another nature tour that only went as far as our first break. They end up focusing on the Little Four; Arctic Ground Squirrel, Marmot, Willow Tarmigan, and Porcupine.
It was nice to see what we did, but no bear. On the way back Dan told us a bit about other events going on at the park. The only one
that jumped out at me was the Dog Sled demonstration at 2 PM. It would have been nice to attend, but after being dropped off back at McKinley Chalets, there wasn’t enough time to rush back. And we were going to see something similar in Juneau.
After we were dropped off, we decided to cross the street and check out the shops that were there. There were only two souvenir shops, with more farther down the road. But, these two ended up being enough to entice us into spending $125 or so. That only took us an hour, maybe less. But, that was enough. The last two nights had caught up with us and we went headed back to our hotel.
On the way out we stopped at a place on the side of the road called Iceworm Gulch. With a name like that, we had to see what could
inspire it. It was easy to figure out with just the turn of your head. The gulch was fairly narrow, maybe 70 feet across. The water and snow had frozen through the winter. But now in May, the stuff on the sides was all melted, leaving a trail of white snow and ice that meandered back up the gulch, looking like a worm made of ice.
Margo and I got back to our room, crashed and took a nice nap. We each got a least an hour in; it was likely close to two. When we got up we just kind of lazed around for another hour, enjoying the view of Otto Lake. Margo got a start on repacking, as we were leaving in the morning. We had no more real plans for the evening. We needed to eat supper and pack for tomorrow. We settled on Prospector’s Pizza, after reading through the menus in the back of the hotel guide. The good turned out to be good. I had a spaghetti with elk meatballs. It was a little smaller than I would have liked, but we had snacks left that we would not be taking aboard the ship. So they needed to be eaten.
We thought about taking in the other shops, but both Margo and I felt we would have plenty more shopping opportunities in the
Inside Passage. So we went back to the hotel; with Margo working on packing, and me on this blog and our financials of the
trip. I always track expenses to both prevent us from going over on budget, and to better plan our future trips.
I was deeply focused on this when Margo yells out “There’s a moose!” Now maybe for native Alaskans a moose sighting is common enough to not elict much commotion, but for us, even after seeing a pair in Denali, it was more than enough to stop what we were doing to see the animal. This moose turned out to be a mama with two babies. But, she was way on the other side of Lake Otto. I have no idea how Margo saw it. We got our our binoculars, which made the image just big enough to see that one of the little Bullwinkles was nursing. It was pretty cool. It was too far away for a picture, but we both tried. Maybe we can blow them up and see something.
After that, our day was over. Margo went to bed at 10 PM. I stayed up until midnight working on this blog. I plan to do that whenever
there is dead time, as I know there will be so much to record and I would love to get this posted soon after we return home.
no choice.
The subject returned to bears, trying to work the magic. We learned that Dan is skeptical that bears really hibernate. His evidence was that if you were to hypothetically take a hibernating marmot out it’s den during winter, it would be completely unresponsive, with no perceptible heartbeat, and it would feel cold. It would seem dead. Bears, on the other hand, if you were to disturb them, they would awake, and make a winter snack out of you. They also give birth during the winter. Dan was skeptical that mama would sleep through that, even though the cubs are only one pound at birth.
Finally, just before our final break, a bear was spotted. But, I am not counting it. Even with the zoom camera, and my own 16 power binoculars, you only make out a vague shape. So as far as I’m concerned this was a short muscular cow that wandered into the park. I have still not seen a bear.
With our final break behind us the focus turned to changing our Grand Slam (seeing the big four) into a Slam Bang. This meant
seeing either Mt McKinley, a wolf, lynx, or wolverine. We were to be disappointed. We did see some distant caribou and Dall sheep, but nothing new. Dan did tell us how fortunate we were, comparing it to another nature tour that only went as far as our first break. They end up focusing on the Little Four; Arctic Ground Squirrel, Marmot, Willow Tarmigan, and Porcupine.
It was nice to see what we did, but no bear. On the way back Dan told us a bit about other events going on at the park. The only one
that jumped out at me was the Dog Sled demonstration at 2 PM. It would have been nice to attend, but after being dropped off back at McKinley Chalets, there wasn’t enough time to rush back. And we were going to see something similar in Juneau.
After we were dropped off, we decided to cross the street and check out the shops that were there. There were only two souvenir shops, with more farther down the road. But, these two ended up being enough to entice us into spending $125 or so. That only took us an hour, maybe less. But, that was enough. The last two nights had caught up with us and we went headed back to our hotel.
On the way out we stopped at a place on the side of the road called Iceworm Gulch. With a name like that, we had to see what could
inspire it. It was easy to figure out with just the turn of your head. The gulch was fairly narrow, maybe 70 feet across. The water and snow had frozen through the winter. But now in May, the stuff on the sides was all melted, leaving a trail of white snow and ice that meandered back up the gulch, looking like a worm made of ice.
Margo and I got back to our room, crashed and took a nice nap. We each got a least an hour in; it was likely close to two. When we got up we just kind of lazed around for another hour, enjoying the view of Otto Lake. Margo got a start on repacking, as we were leaving in the morning. We had no more real plans for the evening. We needed to eat supper and pack for tomorrow. We settled on Prospector’s Pizza, after reading through the menus in the back of the hotel guide. The good turned out to be good. I had a spaghetti with elk meatballs. It was a little smaller than I would have liked, but we had snacks left that we would not be taking aboard the ship. So they needed to be eaten.
We thought about taking in the other shops, but both Margo and I felt we would have plenty more shopping opportunities in the
Inside Passage. So we went back to the hotel; with Margo working on packing, and me on this blog and our financials of the
trip. I always track expenses to both prevent us from going over on budget, and to better plan our future trips.
I was deeply focused on this when Margo yells out “There’s a moose!” Now maybe for native Alaskans a moose sighting is common enough to not elict much commotion, but for us, even after seeing a pair in Denali, it was more than enough to stop what we were doing to see the animal. This moose turned out to be a mama with two babies. But, she was way on the other side of Lake Otto. I have no idea how Margo saw it. We got our our binoculars, which made the image just big enough to see that one of the little Bullwinkles was nursing. It was pretty cool. It was too far away for a picture, but we both tried. Maybe we can blow them up and see something.
After that, our day was over. Margo went to bed at 10 PM. I stayed up until midnight working on this blog. I plan to do that whenever
there is dead time, as I know there will be so much to record and I would love to get this posted soon after we return home.
Day Four---Saturday, May 26, 2012 (Drive to Anchorage, Cruise at Sea)
I was up at 6 AM, after telling Margo to set the alarm for 6:30, so we could be on the road by 8 AM. She had gotten all caught up on she sleep and was up at 5:30 AM. We both consided it a very good night’s sleep. The beds at Denali Lakeview Inn were comfortable. They even had a couple of quilts to use if you didn’t like the blankets and comforters provided. One quilt was like my Mom used to make, and I slept like a log with it.
We got on the road at 7:30 AM. I was sad to leave. I thought we could have figured out enough things to do to fill up one more day.
The dog sled demonstration in the park, midnight golf, ATV tour, and the other shops come to mind. It was a very relaxing place to stay, even in the Glitter Gulch area. Maybe that changes in the weeks to follow, but the week preceding Memorial Day had a slow and relaxing atmosphere.
But, we were leaving. The weather started out nice. It was mostly cloudy, but the sun seemed to be dodging the clouds. That did not
last, and before we were twenty miles, it was obvious that we would not be among the 30% of visitors who see Mt McKinley when they visit. Oh, well. That would have been nice, but it does continue this year’s streak of not photographing major mountains when I visit. I missed getting Mt Hood and Mt St Helens when I went to Portland this past January.
Our ride down was mostly uneventful. We saw two more moose just south of the abandoned igloo building. I don’t know anything about
that building and the moose did not seem to care either. They crossed the highway and went into the woods on that side. We stopped in Trapper’s Creek to get Margo a drink. I topped off the tank, just because. There are a lot of nice people in Alaska. The local doing the same with his work truck asked me if my car was an electric. He said he didn’t think he handle ‘not feeding the Arabs’. I had to laugh and agree.
We made one more stop, this time in Wasilla. We got a picture with each of us in front of the “Welcome to Wasilla” sign. Then we headed back to the Mat-Su Family Restaurant. I saw the name Mat-su around the area and it looks like it is an abbreviation used to describe the combination of Matanusku and Susti, as opposed to it being a Japanese name. Not that it matters; the food was really good. They serve traditional American fare with big protions. And, like I said the food is pretty good.
The rental car return went quick and smooth. We have a ot of luggage and I did not account, in my budget for rentng a luggage cart.
Not a big deal, but it is a learning experience. We loaded up the car, traveled over to where we saw a Princess display by the luggage carosels. It turned out to be the wrong place, but a airport rep got us directions over to the right area, and we were there in about two minutes.
We got on the road at 7:30 AM. I was sad to leave. I thought we could have figured out enough things to do to fill up one more day.
The dog sled demonstration in the park, midnight golf, ATV tour, and the other shops come to mind. It was a very relaxing place to stay, even in the Glitter Gulch area. Maybe that changes in the weeks to follow, but the week preceding Memorial Day had a slow and relaxing atmosphere.
But, we were leaving. The weather started out nice. It was mostly cloudy, but the sun seemed to be dodging the clouds. That did not
last, and before we were twenty miles, it was obvious that we would not be among the 30% of visitors who see Mt McKinley when they visit. Oh, well. That would have been nice, but it does continue this year’s streak of not photographing major mountains when I visit. I missed getting Mt Hood and Mt St Helens when I went to Portland this past January.
Our ride down was mostly uneventful. We saw two more moose just south of the abandoned igloo building. I don’t know anything about
that building and the moose did not seem to care either. They crossed the highway and went into the woods on that side. We stopped in Trapper’s Creek to get Margo a drink. I topped off the tank, just because. There are a lot of nice people in Alaska. The local doing the same with his work truck asked me if my car was an electric. He said he didn’t think he handle ‘not feeding the Arabs’. I had to laugh and agree.
We made one more stop, this time in Wasilla. We got a picture with each of us in front of the “Welcome to Wasilla” sign. Then we headed back to the Mat-Su Family Restaurant. I saw the name Mat-su around the area and it looks like it is an abbreviation used to describe the combination of Matanusku and Susti, as opposed to it being a Japanese name. Not that it matters; the food was really good. They serve traditional American fare with big protions. And, like I said the food is pretty good.
The rental car return went quick and smooth. We have a ot of luggage and I did not account, in my budget for rentng a luggage cart.
Not a big deal, but it is a learning experience. We loaded up the car, traveled over to where we saw a Princess display by the luggage carosels. It turned out to be the wrong place, but a airport rep got us directions over to the right area, and we were there in about two minutes.
c
Dead evergreens from the 1964 earthquake
We checked in with a Princess rep over by luggage carousel #1 (Alaska) and we were officially in Princess’
hands. I was very relieved. As their current slogan goes it was time to “Escape Completely”. I now did not have to worry about how to get from place to place, or worry about the rental car. Now our big decisions were which restaurant to take the elevator to, and how late to sleep in.
But, Princess still had to get us to the ship. We ended up having to wait about half an hour, but that was OK. The trip from Anchorage to Whittier, where our ship is docked, is a bit over an hour away. I don’t know why I didn’t give any thought prior, but thisbus ride was like taking another tour. Our Princess bus driver was a little new at being a tour guide, but he gave us he highlights and answered any question thrown at him.
We saw a lot of dead evergreens, that looked like white husks sticking in the ground. We learned that these were all killed by the 1964 earthquake, a 9.2 that hit Anchorage. When it did the area flooded with the salt water from Cook Inlet. The trees could
not tolerate the salinity of the water and it killed them.
Out guide also pointed out of first glaciers of our trip. They were pretty small ones, but you could still see the blue ice. We could also see how the melted glacier water, which is filld with silt would change the color of the water to a pale, milky blue. I tried getting pictures from the bus, but I don’t think they show the color very well.
The last thing we learned about was the mud fields along Cook Inlet. They looked fairly solid, but I was told both my the driver and a friend who lived there, that these things are death traps. If you walk out you will sink and get stuck. The tide comes in very quickly and you would drown if someone doesn’t pull you out.
We got a mile from Whittierand came to the strangest tunnel that accommodates auto traffic, I have ever seen. This tunnel, the Arlo Anderson Tunnel, was built to for rail traffic; in one direction. That means it is just wide enough to fit a railcar in. Just wide enough. When you drive a bus through it probably has three feet of clearance on each side. The speed limit is 25 MPH and I didn’t see anyone who looked like them wanted to move any faster.
We did have to wait. Because it is so narrow it work just like when the shut down one lane of a two lane road. First the flagman lets traffic go from one direction, while the other’s wait, and then the other direction goes. There are a couple of differences; first they charge a toll. I don’t know if there is an alternative way to get there, but if there is, I’ll bet it takes awhile. Second, they line the traffic back about an eighth of a mile, in four lanes. The lanes are controlled by stoplights. The lanes are segregated by vehicle type. Buses are in one, cars in another, and so forth.
hands. I was very relieved. As their current slogan goes it was time to “Escape Completely”. I now did not have to worry about how to get from place to place, or worry about the rental car. Now our big decisions were which restaurant to take the elevator to, and how late to sleep in.
But, Princess still had to get us to the ship. We ended up having to wait about half an hour, but that was OK. The trip from Anchorage to Whittier, where our ship is docked, is a bit over an hour away. I don’t know why I didn’t give any thought prior, but thisbus ride was like taking another tour. Our Princess bus driver was a little new at being a tour guide, but he gave us he highlights and answered any question thrown at him.
We saw a lot of dead evergreens, that looked like white husks sticking in the ground. We learned that these were all killed by the 1964 earthquake, a 9.2 that hit Anchorage. When it did the area flooded with the salt water from Cook Inlet. The trees could
not tolerate the salinity of the water and it killed them.
Out guide also pointed out of first glaciers of our trip. They were pretty small ones, but you could still see the blue ice. We could also see how the melted glacier water, which is filld with silt would change the color of the water to a pale, milky blue. I tried getting pictures from the bus, but I don’t think they show the color very well.
The last thing we learned about was the mud fields along Cook Inlet. They looked fairly solid, but I was told both my the driver and a friend who lived there, that these things are death traps. If you walk out you will sink and get stuck. The tide comes in very quickly and you would drown if someone doesn’t pull you out.
We got a mile from Whittierand came to the strangest tunnel that accommodates auto traffic, I have ever seen. This tunnel, the Arlo Anderson Tunnel, was built to for rail traffic; in one direction. That means it is just wide enough to fit a railcar in. Just wide enough. When you drive a bus through it probably has three feet of clearance on each side. The speed limit is 25 MPH and I didn’t see anyone who looked like them wanted to move any faster.
We did have to wait. Because it is so narrow it work just like when the shut down one lane of a two lane road. First the flagman lets traffic go from one direction, while the other’s wait, and then the other direction goes. There are a couple of differences; first they charge a toll. I don’t know if there is an alternative way to get there, but if there is, I’ll bet it takes awhile. Second, they line the traffic back about an eighth of a mile, in four lanes. The lanes are controlled by stoplights. The lanes are segregated by vehicle type. Buses are in one, cars in another, and so forth.
C
Our first Look at the Sapphire Princess
Our wait was not just because it wasn’t yet our turn. The toll taker told our bus driver that an ambulance had been given priority and he was coming the other way. We waited about 10 minutes before he appeared. It was a little weird driving through a tunnel that was just wide enough to fit us. But, once we got through it, we were there. It felt just like coming out of the Moffat Tunnel back home, and seeing Winter Park.
We parked, were let off, and pointed in the right direction. We walked in the door, filled out a three question form about our general health, took out the boarding pass that we had printed before we left, and our passports, and got in line. We were completely through check in, in less than ten minutes. Disney was much worse. But, the boat was twice as large and we had missed the rush hour that was hours earlier. Sounds like the way to do it again.
Another difference was when we were let in, we were directed right to our stateroom. Less than five minutes after boarding, we were at E-421 (Emerald Deck-8th floor), with our key cards. We were supposed to have an obstructed view, but the view was gorgeous, with no
noticeable obstructions at all. It made the room feel so much larger. After the suite at the Anchorage Grand and the suite at Denali Lakeview, I was wondering how bad the transition was going to be. The bathroom is tiny, but the refrigerator works great, and I have a nice desk area, to type on. The beds are tiny, with firm mattresses. But, I think they will be OK.
We got the daily newsletter from our little mailslot, and saw that the mandatory muster drill was not until 8 PM. Margo and I were both good an hungry, so we decided to got up to the Lido Deck (14th floor) and get something to eat. It was probably about 4:30 or a little earlier. There was really nothing else to do. Margo and I had our carry on bag, and we put the stuff away that we could and then we went to eat.
I liked both the food and the selection at the Horizon Court. I imagine we will be eating here a lot. That’s the way it worked at Disney; the majority of our meals were at the buffet restaurant. Afterwards we went back to our room to see if our luggage had been delivered. No luck. So we decided to wander the ship. I think we killed another hour or so, where we at found where the restaurants were, the shops location, bought a soft drink sticker for each of us ($72.46 total!) and where we were to go for the muster drill. With that accomplished we made it back to our room.
Our muster drill station was on Deck 7 and in the Internet Café. There they told us what our signal for assembling at the muster station was, and what to do. (get warm cloths, meds, and life jacket. Then go to muster station) They told about the safety features of the boat, and had us put on our jacket. I think the whole thing lasted about 20 minutes once they got started.
By the time we got back to our room our luggage had arrived. I wrote in this blog, staying out of Margo’s way. All she neededme for
was to lift the heavier luggage to the bed so she could work. We each have our strengths. I do most of the planning. Margo does the packing and unpacking. She drives. I navigate. It works, and it actually works well.
At 10 PM, Captain America; The First Avenger was the feature movie on TV. I had never seen it, so I watched that. Margo fell asleep by 10:30. I finished the movie some time after midnight and went to bed. We did not set an alarm. We were going to escape completely.
We parked, were let off, and pointed in the right direction. We walked in the door, filled out a three question form about our general health, took out the boarding pass that we had printed before we left, and our passports, and got in line. We were completely through check in, in less than ten minutes. Disney was much worse. But, the boat was twice as large and we had missed the rush hour that was hours earlier. Sounds like the way to do it again.
Another difference was when we were let in, we were directed right to our stateroom. Less than five minutes after boarding, we were at E-421 (Emerald Deck-8th floor), with our key cards. We were supposed to have an obstructed view, but the view was gorgeous, with no
noticeable obstructions at all. It made the room feel so much larger. After the suite at the Anchorage Grand and the suite at Denali Lakeview, I was wondering how bad the transition was going to be. The bathroom is tiny, but the refrigerator works great, and I have a nice desk area, to type on. The beds are tiny, with firm mattresses. But, I think they will be OK.
We got the daily newsletter from our little mailslot, and saw that the mandatory muster drill was not until 8 PM. Margo and I were both good an hungry, so we decided to got up to the Lido Deck (14th floor) and get something to eat. It was probably about 4:30 or a little earlier. There was really nothing else to do. Margo and I had our carry on bag, and we put the stuff away that we could and then we went to eat.
I liked both the food and the selection at the Horizon Court. I imagine we will be eating here a lot. That’s the way it worked at Disney; the majority of our meals were at the buffet restaurant. Afterwards we went back to our room to see if our luggage had been delivered. No luck. So we decided to wander the ship. I think we killed another hour or so, where we at found where the restaurants were, the shops location, bought a soft drink sticker for each of us ($72.46 total!) and where we were to go for the muster drill. With that accomplished we made it back to our room.
Our muster drill station was on Deck 7 and in the Internet Café. There they told us what our signal for assembling at the muster station was, and what to do. (get warm cloths, meds, and life jacket. Then go to muster station) They told about the safety features of the boat, and had us put on our jacket. I think the whole thing lasted about 20 minutes once they got started.
By the time we got back to our room our luggage had arrived. I wrote in this blog, staying out of Margo’s way. All she neededme for
was to lift the heavier luggage to the bed so she could work. We each have our strengths. I do most of the planning. Margo does the packing and unpacking. She drives. I navigate. It works, and it actually works well.
At 10 PM, Captain America; The First Avenger was the feature movie on TV. I had never seen it, so I watched that. Margo fell asleep by 10:30. I finished the movie some time after midnight and went to bed. We did not set an alarm. We were going to escape completely.
Day Five---Sunday, May 27, 2012 (Day at Sea, Hubbard Glacier)
Margo is thrilled to be here!
We were up at about 8:30 AM. I had slept pretty well. Margo thought the bed was a bit hard. The shower was different. It has two knobs, on top of the other. I still have not figured it out completely. The top knob turns on the water. The bottom knob adjusts the temperature. But, there is a push switch on the bottom knob, that I think engages the hot water. Who knows, I just clicked and turned things until the water was at the right temp.
After looking over the “Princess Patter”, the daily ship newsletter, Margo decided she wanted to attend this shopping seminar at 10 AM. It was to give an overview of the shops, mostly in Skagway, and promised a free gift. So we had to get a move on, if we wanted breakfast, too. So we went up to Deck 14 (Lido deck) to the Horizon Grill for our first taste of their buffet breakfast. They had a nice selection, including salmon. The scrambled eggs were a bit runny, but I was able to find some that were acceptable anyway.
We made our way to the Princess Theater for Margo’s shopping seminar. If anyone is reading this, I have two words of advise; Don’t Go.
The seminar itself was OK, it at least let us know what to expect in Skagway. But, I knew I was in the wrong spot, when James, the Princess Shopping Director, told us that diamonds were the most popular souvenir purchased in Alaska. Now, I am sure that there is some biased way to count that would make diamonds the correct answer. But, there is no way that more diamonds are sold than t-shirts. But, these people were here to sell jewelry. Make no mistake here. This is not a shopping seminar. This is a jewelry seminar. More specifically it is a jewelry seminar geared to steering you towards the jewelry stores that have paid Princess to promote them. They pushed a coupon book called the “Savvy Traveler”. It sells for $30 and your get a cheap (retail $89 my ass) coupon portfolio, and a ton of coupons for free charms and such. They were selling a necklace at this seminar for $99. In this coupon book was a coupon to get one of these for free. So I let Margo get one. It sounded like a good deal, but I knew there had to be a catch. I was sure it would find me.
We went to the Photo Gallery to see how our embarkment photos turned out. The take photos every time you come on or leave at a port. Margo liked how they turned out, so we spent $40 for two 8 x 10 pictures. I just could not wait for tonight (we really need a scarcasm font), when it was formal night, and they would have 10 stations set up to take our picture with 10 different background. But, Margo could see the how money was going to disappear and she came to the same conclusion I did; not matter what, we would buy one formal picture.
We headed back to our room to plan tomorrow’s Skagway shopping. If we had shelled out money for a coupon book, we might as well get out money’s worth by mining all of these free things. Besides, Margo likes charm bracelets, and we figured she could create one dedicated to Alaska.
We had a couple of things on the agenda for today; checking out the Hubbard Glacier and then it was formal night. Formal night meant pictures and a nice dinner. But the glacier wasn't until 3ish or whenever we got close. So we had a slice of pizza on the Lidodeck and wandered the ship a little bit. Margo thought she should check on our formal cloths to see how they had survived the trip. While she ironed, I wrote until, Sandy the resident naturalist started making announcements about whales and things being sighted.
After looking over the “Princess Patter”, the daily ship newsletter, Margo decided she wanted to attend this shopping seminar at 10 AM. It was to give an overview of the shops, mostly in Skagway, and promised a free gift. So we had to get a move on, if we wanted breakfast, too. So we went up to Deck 14 (Lido deck) to the Horizon Grill for our first taste of their buffet breakfast. They had a nice selection, including salmon. The scrambled eggs were a bit runny, but I was able to find some that were acceptable anyway.
We made our way to the Princess Theater for Margo’s shopping seminar. If anyone is reading this, I have two words of advise; Don’t Go.
The seminar itself was OK, it at least let us know what to expect in Skagway. But, I knew I was in the wrong spot, when James, the Princess Shopping Director, told us that diamonds were the most popular souvenir purchased in Alaska. Now, I am sure that there is some biased way to count that would make diamonds the correct answer. But, there is no way that more diamonds are sold than t-shirts. But, these people were here to sell jewelry. Make no mistake here. This is not a shopping seminar. This is a jewelry seminar. More specifically it is a jewelry seminar geared to steering you towards the jewelry stores that have paid Princess to promote them. They pushed a coupon book called the “Savvy Traveler”. It sells for $30 and your get a cheap (retail $89 my ass) coupon portfolio, and a ton of coupons for free charms and such. They were selling a necklace at this seminar for $99. In this coupon book was a coupon to get one of these for free. So I let Margo get one. It sounded like a good deal, but I knew there had to be a catch. I was sure it would find me.
We went to the Photo Gallery to see how our embarkment photos turned out. The take photos every time you come on or leave at a port. Margo liked how they turned out, so we spent $40 for two 8 x 10 pictures. I just could not wait for tonight (we really need a scarcasm font), when it was formal night, and they would have 10 stations set up to take our picture with 10 different background. But, Margo could see the how money was going to disappear and she came to the same conclusion I did; not matter what, we would buy one formal picture.
We headed back to our room to plan tomorrow’s Skagway shopping. If we had shelled out money for a coupon book, we might as well get out money’s worth by mining all of these free things. Besides, Margo likes charm bracelets, and we figured she could create one dedicated to Alaska.
We had a couple of things on the agenda for today; checking out the Hubbard Glacier and then it was formal night. Formal night meant pictures and a nice dinner. But the glacier wasn't until 3ish or whenever we got close. So we had a slice of pizza on the Lidodeck and wandered the ship a little bit. Margo thought she should check on our formal cloths to see how they had survived the trip. While she ironed, I wrote until, Sandy the resident naturalist started making announcements about whales and things being sighted.
c
Humpback Whales
That was incentive enough for us, so we made it up to the Sun Deck (15), and found a spot on the rail. We did end up seeing a few humpback whales and sea otters. I took a few pictures, but I will have to blow them up. I had not planned on seeing either animal, so this was a bonus.
The body of water we entered is called Yakutat Bay. Deep inside that is Hubbard Glacier. We watched it gradually get larger and larger, and the frequency of ice grow more and more. These hunks of ice are
officially icebergs, and the Captain was doing his best to steer around the larger hunks. I kept wondering when he decide enough was enough. But, he kept going and going and going. By the time he cut the engines, and turned on the thrusters to spin the ship on it’s center axis, we were less than a quarter mile away.
The weather started out cold and rainy, and didn’timprove a whole lot. Sandy the Naturalist made a point of telling us several
times how unusual it was to get this close. It must have been true because I saw quite a few crew members taking pictures. Then they lowered a boat with a photographer. They zoomed around taking pictures of the glacier and the people waving at the boat. Margo and I had taken a break by then, so no picture.
But before then we took a lot of pictures and Margo saw it calf, which means pieces broke loose, turning into icebergs. I kept looking right after it happened. Two things kind of caught me off guard about the glacier calving. First, only little pieces usually fall off. Too much
of my information obviously came TV, which shows these big Titanic sinking pieces falling into the sea. But, all we saw were comparative shavings. The other was the sound they make. It sounded to me like something between a rifle shot and a clap of thunder. Then it sounded similar to an avalanche. But the sound would arrive after the calving had begun, so I was missing it. But, right
as the Captain had stop spinning the ship, so he could head back out to see, I was looking in the right place and I saw it. Very cool, even though it was again a small one.
But, it was time for pictures and dinner. We went to two different locations and had our pictures taken, right after 5 PM when they began taking photos. I thought Margo and I both looked pretty nice, and I thought we would take a good picture.
Dinner was in the Santa Fe Room, where Francisco took care of us. We ordered a bottle of wine and had filet mignon. The food was
great, and the steak almost melted in your mouth. I did think the assistant waiter was going to gag when I asked for A-1 Sauce. But, A-1 is how I like to spice my steak. I was offered pepper. I don’t see the difference. We didn’t finish our wine, and Francisco told us we could have it recorked, they would store it for us, and we could finish it at any restaurant on another day. That worked for me.
The body of water we entered is called Yakutat Bay. Deep inside that is Hubbard Glacier. We watched it gradually get larger and larger, and the frequency of ice grow more and more. These hunks of ice are
officially icebergs, and the Captain was doing his best to steer around the larger hunks. I kept wondering when he decide enough was enough. But, he kept going and going and going. By the time he cut the engines, and turned on the thrusters to spin the ship on it’s center axis, we were less than a quarter mile away.
The weather started out cold and rainy, and didn’timprove a whole lot. Sandy the Naturalist made a point of telling us several
times how unusual it was to get this close. It must have been true because I saw quite a few crew members taking pictures. Then they lowered a boat with a photographer. They zoomed around taking pictures of the glacier and the people waving at the boat. Margo and I had taken a break by then, so no picture.
But before then we took a lot of pictures and Margo saw it calf, which means pieces broke loose, turning into icebergs. I kept looking right after it happened. Two things kind of caught me off guard about the glacier calving. First, only little pieces usually fall off. Too much
of my information obviously came TV, which shows these big Titanic sinking pieces falling into the sea. But, all we saw were comparative shavings. The other was the sound they make. It sounded to me like something between a rifle shot and a clap of thunder. Then it sounded similar to an avalanche. But the sound would arrive after the calving had begun, so I was missing it. But, right
as the Captain had stop spinning the ship, so he could head back out to see, I was looking in the right place and I saw it. Very cool, even though it was again a small one.
But, it was time for pictures and dinner. We went to two different locations and had our pictures taken, right after 5 PM when they began taking photos. I thought Margo and I both looked pretty nice, and I thought we would take a good picture.
Dinner was in the Santa Fe Room, where Francisco took care of us. We ordered a bottle of wine and had filet mignon. The food was
great, and the steak almost melted in your mouth. I did think the assistant waiter was going to gag when I asked for A-1 Sauce. But, A-1 is how I like to spice my steak. I was offered pepper. I don’t see the difference. We didn’t finish our wine, and Francisco told us we could have it recorked, they would store it for us, and we could finish it at any restaurant on another day. That worked for me.
c
Our formal picgture
Going along with formal night was the Captain’s Welcome Aboard party. We missed all of the opening festivities while we ate, but they were taking photos with each guest having an opportunity to pour champagne into the ship’s Champagne Glass Tower. Back home the BrownPalace does this every New Years Eve. But the guests don’t get to pour. We got our picture taken in front of it. We’ll have to see how it turned out. I think I made a face.
They were still taking formal photos, so we tried another location, and then joined the party downstairs. They were giving away complimentary champagne, so we each grabbed a glass. Margo is not crazy about most champagne, and this was no exception. So she got rid off it pretty quickly. The newness wore off the party and dress cloths, quickly, so we went back to the room to get ready for the 70’s trivia game that was going on in Explores Lounge.
It was also about this time that we figured out filling and refilling our souvenir cups for our drinks was not worth the effort. I’m not sure what they held, but we seemed to go through them quick. During breakfast this morning our waiter asked if we wanted a large drink, when we requested our Cokes. He brought us plastic restaurant style cups, that came from the bar outside. For whatever reason, Princess has no drink station in the large Horizon Grill. So every soft drink has to be hoofed in from the bar. But, it did give us the idea of how to solve our drink problem. We went back up to the Calypso Bar and got large drinks there.
I was expecting the 70’s trivia to be a general 70’s knowledge contest. But, it turned out they focused primarily of disco music. That was never my thing, so Margo and I did not participate. But, for a few questions they turned to 70s TV shows. Those we both knew. I won a deck of cards and Margo got a Princess lanyard. To win, you had to rush up, and high five the MC, and tell her the correct answer.
There was one lady, sitting behind us that must have danced disco every night when Jimmy Carter was president. She got answer after
answer, and was actually becoming annoying. The MC good naturely banned her, but she came up again. When they turned to TV, and I immediately recognized the theme to Gilligan’s Island, I got up to answer. I saw her also coming out of the corner of my eye. But Margo and I were in the front row and I had a much shorter distance to get there. So when it was obvious I had her beat, I turned and did the mature thing; I stuck my tongue out at her.
Margo won by answering “I Dream of Jeannie” We had just switched seats, so she was not blocked by the table, because she knew the answers and really could not get out without knocking things over, before. So after winning our “cheap, Chinese junk” as the MCs described it, we were happy.
After the trivia warm up, they put on a 70’s disco music and dance show. The audience was encouraged to get up and dance in front of theband. But, Margo wanted no part of that, so we just watched the others. We went back to our stateroom after that. I worked on this blog until 11:15 and then it was off to bed.
They were still taking formal photos, so we tried another location, and then joined the party downstairs. They were giving away complimentary champagne, so we each grabbed a glass. Margo is not crazy about most champagne, and this was no exception. So she got rid off it pretty quickly. The newness wore off the party and dress cloths, quickly, so we went back to the room to get ready for the 70’s trivia game that was going on in Explores Lounge.
It was also about this time that we figured out filling and refilling our souvenir cups for our drinks was not worth the effort. I’m not sure what they held, but we seemed to go through them quick. During breakfast this morning our waiter asked if we wanted a large drink, when we requested our Cokes. He brought us plastic restaurant style cups, that came from the bar outside. For whatever reason, Princess has no drink station in the large Horizon Grill. So every soft drink has to be hoofed in from the bar. But, it did give us the idea of how to solve our drink problem. We went back up to the Calypso Bar and got large drinks there.
I was expecting the 70’s trivia to be a general 70’s knowledge contest. But, it turned out they focused primarily of disco music. That was never my thing, so Margo and I did not participate. But, for a few questions they turned to 70s TV shows. Those we both knew. I won a deck of cards and Margo got a Princess lanyard. To win, you had to rush up, and high five the MC, and tell her the correct answer.
There was one lady, sitting behind us that must have danced disco every night when Jimmy Carter was president. She got answer after
answer, and was actually becoming annoying. The MC good naturely banned her, but she came up again. When they turned to TV, and I immediately recognized the theme to Gilligan’s Island, I got up to answer. I saw her also coming out of the corner of my eye. But Margo and I were in the front row and I had a much shorter distance to get there. So when it was obvious I had her beat, I turned and did the mature thing; I stuck my tongue out at her.
Margo won by answering “I Dream of Jeannie” We had just switched seats, so she was not blocked by the table, because she knew the answers and really could not get out without knocking things over, before. So after winning our “cheap, Chinese junk” as the MCs described it, we were happy.
After the trivia warm up, they put on a 70’s disco music and dance show. The audience was encouraged to get up and dance in front of theband. But, Margo wanted no part of that, so we just watched the others. We went back to our stateroom after that. I worked on this blog until 11:15 and then it was off to bed.
Day Six---Monday, May 28, 2012 (Day at Sea, Glacier National Park)
Bald Eagle of an iceburg. Notice the blue color of the ice
Today was going to be another day at sea. I’m not crazy about those days, but at least we were going to be touring Glacier Bay National Park. This place was no by must see list, when I was planning the trip, so I was jazzed.
We were up at 7:30, got ready and went up the Horizon Grill for breakfast. It was the most popular way to do breakfast, but we have had not real trouble finding a table. We finshed and then went up top to try to view wildlife as we passed into Icy Straits, the entry way to Glacier Bay.
Sandy the Naturalist was on the PA system announcing killer whale sightings. We missed them, and they we didn’t see anymore the rest of the day. But, we did see other things that I was not expecting. There were two different icebergs with bald eagle perched on them, watching the world go by. We saw sea otters floating on their backs, and at least one other catching fish. It was pretty cool. We also saw a few mountain goats way up on Russell Island. You needed you binoculars to bring them in.
We were still a ways from the actual glacier and it was cold and drizzly outside. So we went back in, when we heard we wouldn’t actually get to the glacier until 1:45 PM. We went back down and found Crooners Bar. We found seats in the area where we could see outside and ordered a couple of specialty drinks from the bar. I had a Molten Glacier and Margo had an Alaskan Chocolate Mudslide. Mine was basically punched up Hot Chocolate. Margo’s was a mudslide. It had Kalula, Irish Cream, vodka, and cream. They drizzled the glass with Hershey’s syrup. It was really good.
We looked at our formal pictures from yesterday. We each had our own favorite, so we arranged each of the groupings putting the best shot on top, and then put them back. We would make our decision later. But, again, we decided one formal picture was all we would be buying. At $25 a piece they are just too expensive. With that done, it was about Noon and still about an hour until we got to the glacier. We weren’t hungry so we went back to room. Margo decided to take a short nap. I went back up top to look at wildlife
We were up at 7:30, got ready and went up the Horizon Grill for breakfast. It was the most popular way to do breakfast, but we have had not real trouble finding a table. We finshed and then went up top to try to view wildlife as we passed into Icy Straits, the entry way to Glacier Bay.
Sandy the Naturalist was on the PA system announcing killer whale sightings. We missed them, and they we didn’t see anymore the rest of the day. But, we did see other things that I was not expecting. There were two different icebergs with bald eagle perched on them, watching the world go by. We saw sea otters floating on their backs, and at least one other catching fish. It was pretty cool. We also saw a few mountain goats way up on Russell Island. You needed you binoculars to bring them in.
We were still a ways from the actual glacier and it was cold and drizzly outside. So we went back in, when we heard we wouldn’t actually get to the glacier until 1:45 PM. We went back down and found Crooners Bar. We found seats in the area where we could see outside and ordered a couple of specialty drinks from the bar. I had a Molten Glacier and Margo had an Alaskan Chocolate Mudslide. Mine was basically punched up Hot Chocolate. Margo’s was a mudslide. It had Kalula, Irish Cream, vodka, and cream. They drizzled the glass with Hershey’s syrup. It was really good.
We looked at our formal pictures from yesterday. We each had our own favorite, so we arranged each of the groupings putting the best shot on top, and then put them back. We would make our decision later. But, again, we decided one formal picture was all we would be buying. At $25 a piece they are just too expensive. With that done, it was about Noon and still about an hour until we got to the glacier. We weren’t hungry so we went back to room. Margo decided to take a short nap. I went back up top to look at wildlife
cThe Margorie Glacier calving!
Margorie Glacier. See all of the ice that came from it
It was increasingly odd watching the waters become, littered is the best word, with chunks of ice. There was just tons of relatively small pieces everywhere, the closer you got to Marjorie Glacier. Margorie is the
one responsible for most of the ice. It terminates over open water and moves several feet a day. Sandy the Naturalist let us know that it was possible we would see calving. She was right. We ended up seeing about half a dozen incidents and I even managed to video several of them. The best one I got start to finish.
At about 1:15 I went back down and got Margo and she got to see some of the wildlife sights I mentioned earlier with me. In particular
the two bald eagles on the iceburgs. We went to the port side, which was going to be the side to the glacier until the Captain started the viewing spin. We watched the glacier for 45 minutes. It was a bit surreal, seeing all of that snow and ice. We learned that the ice on the front of the glacier was snow that fell 240 or so years ago. The snow never thaws, more and more is added and the pressure turns it to ice. To blue ice actually. The blue color is caused by the density of the ice and the lack of oxygen. The ice eventually turns white.
We were only going to stay here for an hour and Margo wanted to be present for the Photo Drawing at 3 PM. There we would have a chance to win a $100 credit. At $20 & $25 per 8x10, a $100 would be a big help. And we were hungry by now, so if we wanted to eat before the drawing, we needed to get a move on.
Lunch was at the Horizon Grill again. I had way too much to eat. Princess was doing a good job with buffet in always having something
that was familiar and something that was enticing enough to try. We finished lunch around 2:30, and then had no luck with the Photo Raffle. We went back to our cabin where Margo determined that we would need to be at the end of the pier tomorrow, to catch our ride to go ziplining.
one responsible for most of the ice. It terminates over open water and moves several feet a day. Sandy the Naturalist let us know that it was possible we would see calving. She was right. We ended up seeing about half a dozen incidents and I even managed to video several of them. The best one I got start to finish.
At about 1:15 I went back down and got Margo and she got to see some of the wildlife sights I mentioned earlier with me. In particular
the two bald eagles on the iceburgs. We went to the port side, which was going to be the side to the glacier until the Captain started the viewing spin. We watched the glacier for 45 minutes. It was a bit surreal, seeing all of that snow and ice. We learned that the ice on the front of the glacier was snow that fell 240 or so years ago. The snow never thaws, more and more is added and the pressure turns it to ice. To blue ice actually. The blue color is caused by the density of the ice and the lack of oxygen. The ice eventually turns white.
We were only going to stay here for an hour and Margo wanted to be present for the Photo Drawing at 3 PM. There we would have a chance to win a $100 credit. At $20 & $25 per 8x10, a $100 would be a big help. And we were hungry by now, so if we wanted to eat before the drawing, we needed to get a move on.
Lunch was at the Horizon Grill again. I had way too much to eat. Princess was doing a good job with buffet in always having something
that was familiar and something that was enticing enough to try. We finished lunch around 2:30, and then had no luck with the Photo Raffle. We went back to our cabin where Margo determined that we would need to be at the end of the pier tomorrow, to catch our ride to go ziplining.
cThe Margorie Glacier calving!
Our Casual Picture
I decided that I had worked much too hard today and I took a nap. Rough work, but someone has to do it. I got back up around 5:15 and we lounged around for another 45 minutes or so. Princess was taking casual photos today, so we decided to hit them up before dinner. They were also taken Alaska themed pictures. We did those as well, but Margo’s costume showed her street cloths. We both thought that would ruin the shot. Our photographer disagreed. We took them, but we were skeptical about how they would look.
We made our way over the Santa Fe to check out the dinner menu. Princess offers evening dining in two ways. First there is the traditional way. They assign you a table in the International Dining Room, and you eat at the same time each night. Or you can sign up for Anytime Dining. With this you show up, or make a reservation, at one of four of their other restaurants; Santa Fe, Pacific Moon, Savoy, or Vivaldi. Each will have the exact same menu, with one off menu exception geared toward the restaurant theme. So, when Margo and I saw the menu posted outside the Santa Fe, we knew what the other three would be serving. Margo did not care for menu, and neither did I.so we made plans to eat at the Horizon Grill later.
But first we decided to take in the Dan Horn Ventriloquist Show at 7 PM. It only lasted half an hour, and while he was a good ventriloquist, he was not in the league as Ronn Lucas or Jeff Dunham as a performer. It was still a good show, even with it being only a two skit show. Once the show was over, we ate our dinner at about 8:15 and we were back in our room by 9 PM. Once we got back Margo, read, watched TV or worked Sudoku, and I worked on this blog. Even with our nap and really doing nothing all day, we were tired. It wasn’t long after 10 and we were both in bed. Our 6 AM wake up call would come soon enough.
We made our way over the Santa Fe to check out the dinner menu. Princess offers evening dining in two ways. First there is the traditional way. They assign you a table in the International Dining Room, and you eat at the same time each night. Or you can sign up for Anytime Dining. With this you show up, or make a reservation, at one of four of their other restaurants; Santa Fe, Pacific Moon, Savoy, or Vivaldi. Each will have the exact same menu, with one off menu exception geared toward the restaurant theme. So, when Margo and I saw the menu posted outside the Santa Fe, we knew what the other three would be serving. Margo did not care for menu, and neither did I.so we made plans to eat at the Horizon Grill later.
But first we decided to take in the Dan Horn Ventriloquist Show at 7 PM. It only lasted half an hour, and while he was a good ventriloquist, he was not in the league as Ronn Lucas or Jeff Dunham as a performer. It was still a good show, even with it being only a two skit show. Once the show was over, we ate our dinner at about 8:15 and we were back in our room by 9 PM. Once we got back Margo, read, watched TV or worked Sudoku, and I worked on this blog. Even with our nap and really doing nothing all day, we were tired. It wasn’t long after 10 and we were both in bed. Our 6 AM wake up call would come soon enough.
Day Seven---Tuesday, May 29, 2012 (Skagway)
Margo being fearless
We were up at 6:00 AM; Margo even before. We were both excited to finally get off the ship. The glaciers were very cool. They were definitely the highlight of the previous two days. Without them I would have
considered both days a waste of time. It was going to be so nice, however, to actually get off the ship.
We had a light breakfast and then made our way off the ship. The weather was cloudy and about 50 degrees or a little less, but it was dry. We met our shuttle, driven by Ryan, who worked for the zip line company. We were to find out that the employees of this company alternated jobs. The company does rock climbing and zip lining locally, and has other endevours all over the world. So today Ryan was driving the bus and givng us the nickel tour as we went through town. But, tomorrow he might be one of the zip guides.
It was about a 10 minute drive to the zip line camp. We were turned over to our three zip guides; Joel, Sam, and Sara. They had us pick
out helmets and got us geared up a few minutes later. We covered the safety rules. The most important was that we have to safety lines and one is to be attached at all time. To make sure that happens, only the guides would attach or detach the line. We had five zip line to do, but first we had to conquer the“adventure park” Remember the name of the company was Adventure Parkand Zip Lines.
The adventure park consisted of three traverses between three sets of trees. The first was a rope bridge. The bridge part was made out of wood planks, but about half of them were missing. The second was another rope bridge, with the steps being actual rope loops. The final one was called “The Plank” It was another bridge, this time with a 4 x4 as the bridge part. It was suspended on a series of loops. They were not as hard as they looked, but they were not simple easy. Margo did great, walking them like she did it ever day. I managed not to fall off or lose by balance. The biggest test ended up getting off, as I always seemed to end up with my bad hip pushing off. But, the end result was to build our confidence. After these the zips were going to be easy.
We started out with a real easy one. It had a gentle slope and was about 30 feet. I ended up having no apprehension at all. I got up,
on this, and the subsequent ones, and when I was told I could go, I went. If there was room I even ran to get some momentum. Margo had a good time as well. She had no trepidations about any of it. She just went. Both of snapped pictures of each other and even switched to video and got some live action of us on a few of the lines.
considered both days a waste of time. It was going to be so nice, however, to actually get off the ship.
We had a light breakfast and then made our way off the ship. The weather was cloudy and about 50 degrees or a little less, but it was dry. We met our shuttle, driven by Ryan, who worked for the zip line company. We were to find out that the employees of this company alternated jobs. The company does rock climbing and zip lining locally, and has other endevours all over the world. So today Ryan was driving the bus and givng us the nickel tour as we went through town. But, tomorrow he might be one of the zip guides.
It was about a 10 minute drive to the zip line camp. We were turned over to our three zip guides; Joel, Sam, and Sara. They had us pick
out helmets and got us geared up a few minutes later. We covered the safety rules. The most important was that we have to safety lines and one is to be attached at all time. To make sure that happens, only the guides would attach or detach the line. We had five zip line to do, but first we had to conquer the“adventure park” Remember the name of the company was Adventure Parkand Zip Lines.
The adventure park consisted of three traverses between three sets of trees. The first was a rope bridge. The bridge part was made out of wood planks, but about half of them were missing. The second was another rope bridge, with the steps being actual rope loops. The final one was called “The Plank” It was another bridge, this time with a 4 x4 as the bridge part. It was suspended on a series of loops. They were not as hard as they looked, but they were not simple easy. Margo did great, walking them like she did it ever day. I managed not to fall off or lose by balance. The biggest test ended up getting off, as I always seemed to end up with my bad hip pushing off. But, the end result was to build our confidence. After these the zips were going to be easy.
We started out with a real easy one. It had a gentle slope and was about 30 feet. I ended up having no apprehension at all. I got up,
on this, and the subsequent ones, and when I was told I could go, I went. If there was room I even ran to get some momentum. Margo had a good time as well. She had no trepidations about any of it. She just went. Both of snapped pictures of each other and even switched to video and got some live action of us on a few of the lines.
cMargo and I doing the Zip Line
I'm a bad boy
We had a nice group of people with us; nine total including Margo and I. One of the group was lady about our age with her two late teenage daughters. They were one another Princess ship; the Golden Princess
maybe. Their ship was traveling north to south, while we were doing the reverse route. Anyway, we happened to be walking back with then once we were all done, and Ryan had dropped us back at the docks. When we had left this AM, we noticed that they were painting out ship. On our way back we noticed an area below that where the ship had a dent and scrape of pretty good size. I told the girls that we had hit an iceberg in Glacier Bay. One of the girls’ eyes got very big and she said “Really?!”. I could have shined her on for awhile, but I told her I wasn’t sure what we had hit or when, but there was a lot of ice in the bay and that all are technically
icebergs. So, yeah we hit one, No, I don’t think it caused the dent. Margo and I had a good laugh. I think they did, too.
We were back on our ship at about 11:45 and ate lunch at the Horizon Grill. After dropping a layer of clothes and getting everything we needed we were back of the ship about an hour later. We were now on a quest. Margo had her coupons and a couple of maps, and it was time to find all her charms and other free stuff.
Mistake! I should have known better, and it was obvious after the first stop, but every single trip inside a jewelry store was the same. They would have to show at least one piece of jewelry before we could get our free gift. Then no matter what reason you gave, they had an answer, or another piece of jewelry. Don’t like yellow gold? Here is our sterling. This is too expensive? How about this? Once more for everyone in the cheap seats; Don’t go into the jewelry stores unless you are looking to buy! It is just too painful.
After several hours of this, plus several breaks to shop for other souvinirs, Margo had completed nearly all her list for Skagway. One thing not on her list was $165 doll that Margo found and fell in love with. It’s some sort of Eskimo or other Indian tribe. She had it direct shipped home.
I told her the only thing on my list was to have a beer in the Red Onion Saloon. The Red Onion is a former whorehouse and a fun place to go to. The waitresses are all dressed in period costumes and they give a 15 minute tour (because that’s all the time the guys needed back in the day) of the upstairs which was where the girls originally worked. Of course we were going to take the tour. The lady that was our guide was very gregarious; posing seductively for all. She told us all about the history of the place, including that it is not currently standing on it’s original location. It was moved, but placed backwards with the back door in front. To fix that, our Madam told us, the men, and she made a point of emphasizing that word, cut the façade off and nailed it back on, on the now front side. In the end I was going to tip her $5 for a picture, and she suggested that the picture should be with me stuffing it into her bra. Like I would turn that down. I hammed it up for the picture.
Afterwards we went back down and we had something to eat and I had an Alaskan Amber. I ordered that beer a lot since Anchorage. While we ate our meal a group of three couple came in and sat at the table behind me. Margo had a clear view. They were all middle aged people and tourist like Margo and I. I saw Margo’s eyes follow something going on behind me, and I turned just
in time to see three of the girls lift their long skirts and throw them over the men’s heads. The girls all had on the old fashion long bloomers, so it wasn’t Rated R, but it was hilarious. The ladies at the table were shocked for an instance and the burst into laughter.
maybe. Their ship was traveling north to south, while we were doing the reverse route. Anyway, we happened to be walking back with then once we were all done, and Ryan had dropped us back at the docks. When we had left this AM, we noticed that they were painting out ship. On our way back we noticed an area below that where the ship had a dent and scrape of pretty good size. I told the girls that we had hit an iceberg in Glacier Bay. One of the girls’ eyes got very big and she said “Really?!”. I could have shined her on for awhile, but I told her I wasn’t sure what we had hit or when, but there was a lot of ice in the bay and that all are technically
icebergs. So, yeah we hit one, No, I don’t think it caused the dent. Margo and I had a good laugh. I think they did, too.
We were back on our ship at about 11:45 and ate lunch at the Horizon Grill. After dropping a layer of clothes and getting everything we needed we were back of the ship about an hour later. We were now on a quest. Margo had her coupons and a couple of maps, and it was time to find all her charms and other free stuff.
Mistake! I should have known better, and it was obvious after the first stop, but every single trip inside a jewelry store was the same. They would have to show at least one piece of jewelry before we could get our free gift. Then no matter what reason you gave, they had an answer, or another piece of jewelry. Don’t like yellow gold? Here is our sterling. This is too expensive? How about this? Once more for everyone in the cheap seats; Don’t go into the jewelry stores unless you are looking to buy! It is just too painful.
After several hours of this, plus several breaks to shop for other souvinirs, Margo had completed nearly all her list for Skagway. One thing not on her list was $165 doll that Margo found and fell in love with. It’s some sort of Eskimo or other Indian tribe. She had it direct shipped home.
I told her the only thing on my list was to have a beer in the Red Onion Saloon. The Red Onion is a former whorehouse and a fun place to go to. The waitresses are all dressed in period costumes and they give a 15 minute tour (because that’s all the time the guys needed back in the day) of the upstairs which was where the girls originally worked. Of course we were going to take the tour. The lady that was our guide was very gregarious; posing seductively for all. She told us all about the history of the place, including that it is not currently standing on it’s original location. It was moved, but placed backwards with the back door in front. To fix that, our Madam told us, the men, and she made a point of emphasizing that word, cut the façade off and nailed it back on, on the now front side. In the end I was going to tip her $5 for a picture, and she suggested that the picture should be with me stuffing it into her bra. Like I would turn that down. I hammed it up for the picture.
Afterwards we went back down and we had something to eat and I had an Alaskan Amber. I ordered that beer a lot since Anchorage. While we ate our meal a group of three couple came in and sat at the table behind me. Margo had a clear view. They were all middle aged people and tourist like Margo and I. I saw Margo’s eyes follow something going on behind me, and I turned just
in time to see three of the girls lift their long skirts and throw them over the men’s heads. The girls all had on the old fashion long bloomers, so it wasn’t Rated R, but it was hilarious. The ladies at the table were shocked for an instance and the burst into laughter.
c
Soapy Smith's grave
We finished eating and visited the one (I think) other store on Margo’s list, and then we were on our own. We stopped and got an ice cream at Klondike Kones. We did eat of this trip. We weren’t even hungry we just wanted to try a local brand of ice cream. I can’t remember what it was, but it had the word ‘Glacier or Glacial” in it. It was good.
But, there was one other thing I wanted to do. It was 5:30 by now and I wanted to visit the old Gold Rush Cemetery and see the grave of Soapy Smith. I knew of Soapy Smith from back home. He was a famous conman that worked in Denver in the 1880s. He got his nickname in Denver. His most famous con was to take ordinary bar soap, wrap money in various denominations, up to $100 around a select few, then wrap all of the bars in plain brown paper. He would make a big
show of it, and then sell the normally 5 cent bars for a dollar. Of course the only money won was by Soapy’s men in the crowd.
So I talked Margo into letting me go off alone and hike to the cemetery. I had only the general direction where it was and that it was 1
½ miles away. That’s a 30 minute walk, plus 30 back, plus a few minutes to poke around. We were supposed to be back aboard by 7:30 and the ship would leave at 8 PM. That gave me about a twenty minute cushion.
It turned out to be more like a 1 ¾ miles, so my cushion was cut in half. But, I walked briskly, knowing I had to be quick about this.
With a little help for a local I found the cemetery easily. I had my pictures of his grave, plus the guy who killed him; Frank Reid. Reid turned out to be a city father as well and his headstone was much more impressive than Smith’s. When I finished I saw a sign that said ReidFalls was just “a short walk” and I could hear it roaring. So I thought I would spent a little of margin for error as I knew how long my walk back was. The walk turned out to be less than 100 yards, but mostly up. I made it in about a minute. The falls were really quite nice and I managed to get a picture of myself with them using the camera timer.
I made it back to our cabin at 7:20 and found Margo writing me a note to say she was heading to look and see how our pictures turned
out. As expected the Alaska Old Time pictures turned out bad. We just could not get past Margo’s street cloths sticking out. We decided to come back after dinner and make our final selections.
Dinner was at Vivaldi’s, the 8 PM restaurant. We thought we might spend some time in the hot tub tonight, so we stopped by, first, at the Passenger Desk to request a couple of robes. The dinner was nice. We got really good service from an Asst Waiter named Phillips. He was always smiling and joking. We also finished off our wine, with Phillips pouring my glass extra full to finish off the bottle and commenting “You’re not driving”
Back to Photo Gallery and we purchased one formal picture. It was my first choice out of all the shots and Margo’s second choice.
Plus we added one of the casual photos that we took in our street cloths. I think Margo really looks good in that one. Those cost $50 and I figured we would not be spending anymore money on pictures.
We went back to our rooms, stuffed from dinner. Neither of us complained too loud when our robes never showed up. By the time our
stomachs were empty enough to think about moving it was 10:30 and we were tired. So we went to bed. Tomorrow would be another early wake up call. But we were both looking forward to our trip to the Dog Sled Summer Camp.
But, there was one other thing I wanted to do. It was 5:30 by now and I wanted to visit the old Gold Rush Cemetery and see the grave of Soapy Smith. I knew of Soapy Smith from back home. He was a famous conman that worked in Denver in the 1880s. He got his nickname in Denver. His most famous con was to take ordinary bar soap, wrap money in various denominations, up to $100 around a select few, then wrap all of the bars in plain brown paper. He would make a big
show of it, and then sell the normally 5 cent bars for a dollar. Of course the only money won was by Soapy’s men in the crowd.
So I talked Margo into letting me go off alone and hike to the cemetery. I had only the general direction where it was and that it was 1
½ miles away. That’s a 30 minute walk, plus 30 back, plus a few minutes to poke around. We were supposed to be back aboard by 7:30 and the ship would leave at 8 PM. That gave me about a twenty minute cushion.
It turned out to be more like a 1 ¾ miles, so my cushion was cut in half. But, I walked briskly, knowing I had to be quick about this.
With a little help for a local I found the cemetery easily. I had my pictures of his grave, plus the guy who killed him; Frank Reid. Reid turned out to be a city father as well and his headstone was much more impressive than Smith’s. When I finished I saw a sign that said ReidFalls was just “a short walk” and I could hear it roaring. So I thought I would spent a little of margin for error as I knew how long my walk back was. The walk turned out to be less than 100 yards, but mostly up. I made it in about a minute. The falls were really quite nice and I managed to get a picture of myself with them using the camera timer.
I made it back to our cabin at 7:20 and found Margo writing me a note to say she was heading to look and see how our pictures turned
out. As expected the Alaska Old Time pictures turned out bad. We just could not get past Margo’s street cloths sticking out. We decided to come back after dinner and make our final selections.
Dinner was at Vivaldi’s, the 8 PM restaurant. We thought we might spend some time in the hot tub tonight, so we stopped by, first, at the Passenger Desk to request a couple of robes. The dinner was nice. We got really good service from an Asst Waiter named Phillips. He was always smiling and joking. We also finished off our wine, with Phillips pouring my glass extra full to finish off the bottle and commenting “You’re not driving”
Back to Photo Gallery and we purchased one formal picture. It was my first choice out of all the shots and Margo’s second choice.
Plus we added one of the casual photos that we took in our street cloths. I think Margo really looks good in that one. Those cost $50 and I figured we would not be spending anymore money on pictures.
We went back to our rooms, stuffed from dinner. Neither of us complained too loud when our robes never showed up. By the time our
stomachs were empty enough to think about moving it was 10:30 and we were tired. So we went to bed. Tomorrow would be another early wake up call. But we were both looking forward to our trip to the Dog Sled Summer Camp.
Day Eight---Wednesday, May 30, 2012 (Juneau)
Our group in the Summer Dog Sled
Our phone started chirping at 6 AM. Princess offers an automated wake up call service. It was easy to set up and it worked perfectly. Perfect, except that it was 6 AM, but there was no helping that. We decided against a big breakfast and settled for a doughnut and a Coke at the
International Café on Deck 5. It was enough to tide us over.
We were early for our 7:45 shuttle and our shuttle driver was late. So we waited in the mist of Juneaufor about 25 minutes. We weren't complaining, except for one of our excursion mates was from Chicagoand was much too chipper for this hour of the morning. Or to put it bluntly; he never shut up. His wife was a timid little thing, that seemed a bit embarrassed by his carrying on, and would occasionally shush him. But, he was a really nice guy.
We were picked up by at 8 AM by a lady shuttle driver whose name I can’t remember. She loaded us up and took us on a route that was
not the most direct. But, it was interesting, as she narrated the whole time telling us about Juneau; it’s early history and more current
history. She told us about there being constant talk of moving the state capital, likely to Anchorage. She told use about attempt go bring
a road into Juneau. You can only get to Juneau by air or water. There are no roads into Juneau. And, she told us about the attempts to
begin mining gold again, with the price per ounce so high. But, what caught my attention was her talk about the environmentalists opposing any renewal of mine operation, new infrastructure to support that, and building the Juneau Access
Road. She seemed genuinely surprised and dismayed that the enviros would not compromise. She complained that as soon as one problem was solved, these people would bring up another, never giving their blessing to the project. I felt like telling her they never would, either. But, I was on vacation and I bit my tongue.
The mountain route that she took us served the purpose of showing the second shuttle driver, behind us, how to get to the dog camp using this way. This direction also took us through an old mining area that was going to become part of a tour soon. We were kind of getting a free tour of it, and she did narrate and tell us all about it. I didn’t get any pictures, as I always let Margo have the window seat, and more likely, my mindset was on the dogs. The most interesting part of this little detour was the superintendent’s house. It had been a nice building that had spent the last half century sliding down the hill it was built on. It was twisted and stretched at odd angles as gravity had it’s way with it. It was still mostly intact, but appeared to be about one groan away from collapse. That would likely put it remains on the little road used for our passage.
The whole trip through the little mining encampment and to Gold Rush Dogs took us about half an hour. The weather was cold and drizzly. It was in the upper 40s or lower 50s. I had seen pictures of a dog camp before and I knew what to expect. There would be scores of animals; all with their own dog house and all tethered to the dog house by about 5 feet of chain. I hate to
see dogs tied up; but I had to tell myself these animals are not pets; they are work animals. Being tied up was for their safety; so they wouldn’t fight, form packs, and injure themselves.
We arrived got out of the shuttle van and were greeted by John (?). He was our immediate host and maybe the owner. I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention to him, at first. I was looking at the dogs. They, almost exclusively, don’t look like King from Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. The classic Husky look, with long fur, heavy chest, and alert ears. None of them had short hair, but almost all of them looked like mutts, instead of pure bred.
John got my attention back when he started going over the rules. There weren’t many. They were all about safety, especially around the dogs. Most were friendly, but not all. We were not pet them unless we were instructed we could. Things along that line. We were then introduced to Tonya. Tonya is the musher. These are her dogs and she does race them. She has never done the Iditarod, as it is becoming too commercial. Maybe, maybe not. But she has competed in the Yukon Quest, which is more grueling than the Iditarod.
International Café on Deck 5. It was enough to tide us over.
We were early for our 7:45 shuttle and our shuttle driver was late. So we waited in the mist of Juneaufor about 25 minutes. We weren't complaining, except for one of our excursion mates was from Chicagoand was much too chipper for this hour of the morning. Or to put it bluntly; he never shut up. His wife was a timid little thing, that seemed a bit embarrassed by his carrying on, and would occasionally shush him. But, he was a really nice guy.
We were picked up by at 8 AM by a lady shuttle driver whose name I can’t remember. She loaded us up and took us on a route that was
not the most direct. But, it was interesting, as she narrated the whole time telling us about Juneau; it’s early history and more current
history. She told us about there being constant talk of moving the state capital, likely to Anchorage. She told use about attempt go bring
a road into Juneau. You can only get to Juneau by air or water. There are no roads into Juneau. And, she told us about the attempts to
begin mining gold again, with the price per ounce so high. But, what caught my attention was her talk about the environmentalists opposing any renewal of mine operation, new infrastructure to support that, and building the Juneau Access
Road. She seemed genuinely surprised and dismayed that the enviros would not compromise. She complained that as soon as one problem was solved, these people would bring up another, never giving their blessing to the project. I felt like telling her they never would, either. But, I was on vacation and I bit my tongue.
The mountain route that she took us served the purpose of showing the second shuttle driver, behind us, how to get to the dog camp using this way. This direction also took us through an old mining area that was going to become part of a tour soon. We were kind of getting a free tour of it, and she did narrate and tell us all about it. I didn’t get any pictures, as I always let Margo have the window seat, and more likely, my mindset was on the dogs. The most interesting part of this little detour was the superintendent’s house. It had been a nice building that had spent the last half century sliding down the hill it was built on. It was twisted and stretched at odd angles as gravity had it’s way with it. It was still mostly intact, but appeared to be about one groan away from collapse. That would likely put it remains on the little road used for our passage.
The whole trip through the little mining encampment and to Gold Rush Dogs took us about half an hour. The weather was cold and drizzly. It was in the upper 40s or lower 50s. I had seen pictures of a dog camp before and I knew what to expect. There would be scores of animals; all with their own dog house and all tethered to the dog house by about 5 feet of chain. I hate to
see dogs tied up; but I had to tell myself these animals are not pets; they are work animals. Being tied up was for their safety; so they wouldn’t fight, form packs, and injure themselves.
We arrived got out of the shuttle van and were greeted by John (?). He was our immediate host and maybe the owner. I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention to him, at first. I was looking at the dogs. They, almost exclusively, don’t look like King from Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. The classic Husky look, with long fur, heavy chest, and alert ears. None of them had short hair, but almost all of them looked like mutts, instead of pure bred.
John got my attention back when he started going over the rules. There weren’t many. They were all about safety, especially around the dogs. Most were friendly, but not all. We were not pet them unless we were instructed we could. Things along that line. We were then introduced to Tonya. Tonya is the musher. These are her dogs and she does race them. She has never done the Iditarod, as it is becoming too commercial. Maybe, maybe not. But she has competed in the Yukon Quest, which is more grueling than the Iditarod.
C
After our introduction and a little biography; Tonya is a life long Alaskan, from Fairbanks, and she has been working dogs since she was a little girl, we followed her down a rock path between two sections of dogs. The dogs had been fairly quiet to this point, but seeing people get near the sled got them going. Tonya told us that the two things the dogs like most in the world was eating and running. So, anytime they saw a group go near the sled they would start to bark and carry on. This would start a train reaction and soon the whole dog camp was asking to be picked to go for a ride. I managed to get video of that on my camera. It is shaky, but it captures the dog’s barking well.
Our sled is not really a sled. It’s a summer sled and looks more like an eight man golf cart. But instead of a gas engine, it is powered by thirteen barking and yapping huskies. Once we all got loaded up all the dogs got very excited and would bark and snap and jump. The dogs got us moving in short order and up to full speed, pretty quickly. I would guess around 15 miles per hour. I think Tonya said our ride was to last a mile. The dogs got two rest breaks, and the time spent being pulled around seemed to be less than two minutes
Tonya gave us some warning about the breaks. She said there would be a couple of ‘fire hydrants’. I’m enough of a city boy, that while I gave it no thought, I was actually expecting fire hydrants for the dogs to pee on. What was actually there was a spot on the trail where the dogs knew they could stop, rest, and relieve themselves. These summer sleds are quite a bit heavier than a normal one, plus it was loaded with about 1200 lbs of human cargo. The dogs ran flat out the whole time and needed a rest.
But, it was a quick on, and then we were rushing (mushing?) down the trail again. Around a bend and to the right was a large puddle of water. I figured this was the work of erosion and run off, and Tonya and her partner would steer the dogs to the left of it. I though it very funny when the dogs went right for it and drank, laid down, or both. Tonya went on to explain that these dogs were used to very cold temps when they work, were wearing heavy fur coats, could only pant to cool down, and were pulling a heavy cargo and a good clip; they were in danger of heat exhaustion if they weren’t allowed this break. So the puddle was dug and filled, probably my nature, and the huskies had a grand time.
I videoed the very start of the trip, but that is it. Too bad. As we pulled back into camp and action photo was taken. Margo and I would end up buying it. When we were all parked, and the brakes set, we were allowed to pet certain dogs. They all loved the attention, but we ended up getting a bit dirty, as muddy water tends to do that.
We were then let to the first of two wood stove heated buildings. The first of which we were offered baby wipes to clean our hands (we accepted) and hot chocolate to warm ourselves (we declined). Here and the next building Tonya told us more about her life, the dogs, and answered any questions we have. The one that stuck out for me was that these animals are on a special dog food, made by Dr Tim’s called Momentum. It is specially formulated to give the animal the extra calories and nutrients it needs.
I’m sure the real purpose of these two little buildings was to make your experience a little longer. The actual dog sled ride couldn’t have been much over 5 minutes, even with the two breaks, and our last segment, the one I was positive we would enjoy was likely about 10-15 minutes. What am I talking about? Puppies! We were taken over to the doggie nursery and three puppies were taken out of the pens and handed to us. I got one that was about ten weeks or so one. Margo’s was much younger, maybe 3-4 weeks. It had just opened it’s eyes, and was grunting and whining the whole time. The third puppy was about the same age, 3-4 weeks, and was given to another lady.
We were told a story about a lady who fell in love with one of the puppies. She tried to buy it, but it was already promised to someone else. Then she stole it. She made it all the way back to the ship, before ship security caught her. They were really cute and I could see why they might inspire a life of crime.
Our sled is not really a sled. It’s a summer sled and looks more like an eight man golf cart. But instead of a gas engine, it is powered by thirteen barking and yapping huskies. Once we all got loaded up all the dogs got very excited and would bark and snap and jump. The dogs got us moving in short order and up to full speed, pretty quickly. I would guess around 15 miles per hour. I think Tonya said our ride was to last a mile. The dogs got two rest breaks, and the time spent being pulled around seemed to be less than two minutes
Tonya gave us some warning about the breaks. She said there would be a couple of ‘fire hydrants’. I’m enough of a city boy, that while I gave it no thought, I was actually expecting fire hydrants for the dogs to pee on. What was actually there was a spot on the trail where the dogs knew they could stop, rest, and relieve themselves. These summer sleds are quite a bit heavier than a normal one, plus it was loaded with about 1200 lbs of human cargo. The dogs ran flat out the whole time and needed a rest.
But, it was a quick on, and then we were rushing (mushing?) down the trail again. Around a bend and to the right was a large puddle of water. I figured this was the work of erosion and run off, and Tonya and her partner would steer the dogs to the left of it. I though it very funny when the dogs went right for it and drank, laid down, or both. Tonya went on to explain that these dogs were used to very cold temps when they work, were wearing heavy fur coats, could only pant to cool down, and were pulling a heavy cargo and a good clip; they were in danger of heat exhaustion if they weren’t allowed this break. So the puddle was dug and filled, probably my nature, and the huskies had a grand time.
I videoed the very start of the trip, but that is it. Too bad. As we pulled back into camp and action photo was taken. Margo and I would end up buying it. When we were all parked, and the brakes set, we were allowed to pet certain dogs. They all loved the attention, but we ended up getting a bit dirty, as muddy water tends to do that.
We were then let to the first of two wood stove heated buildings. The first of which we were offered baby wipes to clean our hands (we accepted) and hot chocolate to warm ourselves (we declined). Here and the next building Tonya told us more about her life, the dogs, and answered any questions we have. The one that stuck out for me was that these animals are on a special dog food, made by Dr Tim’s called Momentum. It is specially formulated to give the animal the extra calories and nutrients it needs.
I’m sure the real purpose of these two little buildings was to make your experience a little longer. The actual dog sled ride couldn’t have been much over 5 minutes, even with the two breaks, and our last segment, the one I was positive we would enjoy was likely about 10-15 minutes. What am I talking about? Puppies! We were taken over to the doggie nursery and three puppies were taken out of the pens and handed to us. I got one that was about ten weeks or so one. Margo’s was much younger, maybe 3-4 weeks. It had just opened it’s eyes, and was grunting and whining the whole time. The third puppy was about the same age, 3-4 weeks, and was given to another lady.
We were told a story about a lady who fell in love with one of the puppies. She tried to buy it, but it was already promised to someone else. Then she stole it. She made it all the way back to the ship, before ship security caught her. They were really cute and I could see why they might inspire a life of crime.
Part of our Dog Sled Ride
Me at the Red Dog Saloon
We followed the same winding, dirt-mud road back down the mountain to the docks. We got a few directions from our driver, and then headed back to the ship to have a late breakfast. We were back on board by 10:15, which was good. We were only in Juneauuntil 4 PM, and Margo was still on her
charm scavenger hunt.
We ate, took off a layer or two of cloths, and then headed back to town. We bounced around from jewelry story to jewelry store and adding other shops as they appeared. We managed to get all of the charms that
were supposed to be in this city, except one. The way this scam works is that this particular consortium of jewelry stores has locations in all three of the cities; Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, that we would be visiting. In order to give this company as many bites at the apple as possible, they spread the charms out over three different stores in each of the three cities. So we had nine of their stores to visit, plus the others Margo had determined she liked.
Well, we got to one of the consortium stores and was told they didn’t have the totem pole charm they were supposed to. But, we would be able to get it at the main store in Ketchikan. I was skeptical. What we were going to do if he was just getting rid of us. We had not been buying anything, so I’m sure this guy wasn’t too pleased with us. On the other hand, we might buy something at another store of theirs, so pissing us off wasn’t smart either.
When we finished with the last of the jewelry stores, I told Margo I wanted to have a beer at the Red Dog Saloon. The Red Dog is a
Juneau institution. It apparently dates to around the turn of the previous century as they claim to have a gun the Wyatt Earp did not have time to reclaim, as he needed to catch an early ship to Nome. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the red bat-wing saloon doors gave us a hint. We got a table and I was surprised by the deep sawdust on the floor, as we were led to it. The waitress was dressed in
period clothing, so I had to make sure I got a picture. When I did the lady lifted up her leg and told me that if I didn’t hold it up, she was going to fall on her ass. I was happy to oblige. I had an Alaskan Amber. Did I mention I was really starting to like that beer? Margo had a coke. We took a few pictures, and got the requisite t-shirt from the gift shop.
As we still had plenty of time, I told Margo I wanted to go see Sarah Palin’s old house. Margo was less than impressed when I explained I was talking about the Governor’s Mansion. Juneauis pretty small and the trek from downtown to the government district was only about 15-20 minute walk. We did see the mansion, off to the side, but as the walk had been all uphill, Margo did not want to venture another step past the Capitol Building, which has no dome. The area wasn’t that impressive, so we just started our way back. I got a few pictures, but managed to miss the mansion.
Fortune smiled on us, when on our way back we chose a different route, just to see other shops. We stumbled across a Ben Franklin’s store. The one in Brighton has been closed since about the time I graduated from high school. We had to go in. I think we got some batteries for Margo’s camera and some other such common item. When we went to check out I asked the cashier, who up to that point had been fairly friendly, if she got a lot of people in who talked about their old (closed) Ben Franklin’s back home. She sighed and answered in the affirmative. When I began telling my own B/F story she got quiet and began giving me the cold shoulder. I almost laughed. Her boss, who I assumed was the owner, chimed in saying he tells people that they are still a 5 and 10, but now it’s $5 and $10, instead of nickel and dime.
charm scavenger hunt.
We ate, took off a layer or two of cloths, and then headed back to town. We bounced around from jewelry story to jewelry store and adding other shops as they appeared. We managed to get all of the charms that
were supposed to be in this city, except one. The way this scam works is that this particular consortium of jewelry stores has locations in all three of the cities; Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, that we would be visiting. In order to give this company as many bites at the apple as possible, they spread the charms out over three different stores in each of the three cities. So we had nine of their stores to visit, plus the others Margo had determined she liked.
Well, we got to one of the consortium stores and was told they didn’t have the totem pole charm they were supposed to. But, we would be able to get it at the main store in Ketchikan. I was skeptical. What we were going to do if he was just getting rid of us. We had not been buying anything, so I’m sure this guy wasn’t too pleased with us. On the other hand, we might buy something at another store of theirs, so pissing us off wasn’t smart either.
When we finished with the last of the jewelry stores, I told Margo I wanted to have a beer at the Red Dog Saloon. The Red Dog is a
Juneau institution. It apparently dates to around the turn of the previous century as they claim to have a gun the Wyatt Earp did not have time to reclaim, as he needed to catch an early ship to Nome. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the red bat-wing saloon doors gave us a hint. We got a table and I was surprised by the deep sawdust on the floor, as we were led to it. The waitress was dressed in
period clothing, so I had to make sure I got a picture. When I did the lady lifted up her leg and told me that if I didn’t hold it up, she was going to fall on her ass. I was happy to oblige. I had an Alaskan Amber. Did I mention I was really starting to like that beer? Margo had a coke. We took a few pictures, and got the requisite t-shirt from the gift shop.
As we still had plenty of time, I told Margo I wanted to go see Sarah Palin’s old house. Margo was less than impressed when I explained I was talking about the Governor’s Mansion. Juneauis pretty small and the trek from downtown to the government district was only about 15-20 minute walk. We did see the mansion, off to the side, but as the walk had been all uphill, Margo did not want to venture another step past the Capitol Building, which has no dome. The area wasn’t that impressive, so we just started our way back. I got a few pictures, but managed to miss the mansion.
Fortune smiled on us, when on our way back we chose a different route, just to see other shops. We stumbled across a Ben Franklin’s store. The one in Brighton has been closed since about the time I graduated from high school. We had to go in. I think we got some batteries for Margo’s camera and some other such common item. When we went to check out I asked the cashier, who up to that point had been fairly friendly, if she got a lot of people in who talked about their old (closed) Ben Franklin’s back home. She sighed and answered in the affirmative. When I began telling my own B/F story she got quiet and began giving me the cold shoulder. I almost laughed. Her boss, who I assumed was the owner, chimed in saying he tells people that they are still a 5 and 10, but now it’s $5 and $10, instead of nickel and dime.
c
Ben Franklins of Junuea
We made it back to the ship about 2:30. On our way from Deck 4, where we go back on board the ship, we were joined in the elevator by a young lady of about 25. She needed to go to Deck 12. I think we picked her up on 6. We were going to 8. The young lady asked Margo to push 12 for her. Margo was tired and hit 11, instead. Then realizing her mistake she panicked and pushed 10. She finally got it right, as we got to deck 7. That made buttons 8, 10, 11, & 12 all pushed.
The young lady got very wide eyed as Margo fumbled with the buttons. Then she exclaimed, in good humor.
“You’re that person!”
I busted out laughing to the reference to the parenthetical person who pushes every elevator button for either fun or spite.
I told Margo to push 9 as well. Our companion laughed and yelled “No!” She did threaten to get even should we be in the same elevator again. I needled Margo for the rest of the cruise. I couldn’t wait to tell her daughters. Jolene was "that person" when she was five.
Margo and I had been walking past the Explorer’s Bar the whole cruise. In front of it was a piece of art titled “All Dogs Go to Heaven”
It was painted by Jim Warren. Margo wanted it, but I was fairly sure it would be out of my price range. But, I also figured there was nothing lost be going to art action preview and at least seeing what the reserve price would be. I ended up asking the Auctioneer/Art Director and he told me the reserve price was $550. My limit was $300. Even at $300 once you at the $75 shipping fee and the 15%
commission, the actual price is $420. So I stayed firm and we did not bit. We later heard that it sold on the second auction on the last night of our cruise.
On the plus side we did get to enjoy another Alaskan Mudslide. Those things just went down way too easy. But at $18 plus for two, they were at least as deadly on the wallet as on the brain cells. I don’t think I mentioned that Princess automatically adds a 15% tip to every alcoholic drink sold. I supposed I don’t have a problem with that, but do they also have to include a blank tip line, as well? As if 15% was not enough.
The Art Auction concluded at about 4:40 or so, and we went back to our cabin. Margo watched a little TV, read, or played on her iPad.
I worked on this blog until about 5:20. At that time we decided we were hungry or bored enough to go check on the dinner menu. If it met with our approval we would eat at one of the restaurants, otherwise we would hit the Horizon Grill. Neither Margo nor I were thrilled l about the choices, so Horizon it was.
After dinner, at about 6:30 we went down to deck 6 where the shops were. They were selling Gold-By-The-Inch, and Margo needed enough to make a bracelet for the second charm bracelet she was working on. We got a price, but she didn’t get it just yet.
At 7 PM we wandered over to Facets the ship jewelry store to see if we had guessed the weight of the sapphire. We hadn’t, but there was going to be a raffle for some other jewelry after their latest sales pitch, I mean seminar, on jewelry. This one was on Ammolite. This is the latest innovation by the jewelry industry to siphon money out of our pockets. Ammolite, as best as I understand is fossilized shell of some sort of prehistoric shellfish. Most of them are green, but the multi-colored ones are the expensive ones. Luckily, they didn’t fascinate Margo so I escaped unscathed. We did win anything in the raffle, either.
We need to kill time, as our remaining plan for the night was the Marriage Match Game; Princess’ version of the Newlywed Game. I had heard it was hilarious. Margo was dead set on signing us up. But, that was not until 9:30 PM. It was only about 7:30. It took Margo half an hour to lose $40. I managed to win $8.25. We both quit and went back to our cabin. I had plenty of writing to do, so that is what I did for the next hour or so.
The Marriage Match Game started at 9:30. We wanted to make sure we got good seats so we were in the Explorers Lounge at shortly after 9. As promised the show was hilarious. It was the best show we saw the whole trip. Margo did sign us up, but thankfully we weren’t chosen. Princess sets it up so they have three couple; a newlywed couple, one mid-range (our group) and an old married couple, the Nearly Dead, to rhyme with Newlywed.
The questions:
To the ladies:
What is your husband’s most disgusting habit?’
What does your husband do to show you he wants to have sex?”
Your husband can give a one-way ticket to the moon to someone in your family, that you like, who is it going to be?
Where is the oddest place you have had sex?
To the guys:
Where was your first kiss and how would you rate it?
You wife forgot to pack any bras and sends you to get one; what size do you bring back?
What would your wife say is her pet name for your penis?
What kind of car would your wife say your penis represents?
The mid-range couple won, but they were all given identical prize bags. We laughed and laughed at most of the answers. The
newlywed lady got up and demonstrated the little dance her husband would do when he was in the mood. She also said VW Beetle and added because “It’s small” The elder couple got both the oddest place they had sex and the pet name for his penis (Macidocious, whatever that is). The mid-range couple matched sending the father of the bride to the moon, and he was on the cruise with them! The
Princess MC did a great job. He would have made Bob Eubanks proud.
We walked out of there happy and not really ready for bed. We went back to our cabin and did the TV/Blog thing for 45 minutes. At
about 11:30 we decided to use the robes, which we had finally asked our room steward to get us, at the hot tub. But, it was closed. So it was back to our cabin and to bed soon after. The only other thing of note was the seas had turned rough. At times we were losing our balance and I was actually getting queasy. But, as soon as we climbed into bed and lied down, we stopped noticing
it. We both slept pretty well that night.
The young lady got very wide eyed as Margo fumbled with the buttons. Then she exclaimed, in good humor.
“You’re that person!”
I busted out laughing to the reference to the parenthetical person who pushes every elevator button for either fun or spite.
I told Margo to push 9 as well. Our companion laughed and yelled “No!” She did threaten to get even should we be in the same elevator again. I needled Margo for the rest of the cruise. I couldn’t wait to tell her daughters. Jolene was "that person" when she was five.
Margo and I had been walking past the Explorer’s Bar the whole cruise. In front of it was a piece of art titled “All Dogs Go to Heaven”
It was painted by Jim Warren. Margo wanted it, but I was fairly sure it would be out of my price range. But, I also figured there was nothing lost be going to art action preview and at least seeing what the reserve price would be. I ended up asking the Auctioneer/Art Director and he told me the reserve price was $550. My limit was $300. Even at $300 once you at the $75 shipping fee and the 15%
commission, the actual price is $420. So I stayed firm and we did not bit. We later heard that it sold on the second auction on the last night of our cruise.
On the plus side we did get to enjoy another Alaskan Mudslide. Those things just went down way too easy. But at $18 plus for two, they were at least as deadly on the wallet as on the brain cells. I don’t think I mentioned that Princess automatically adds a 15% tip to every alcoholic drink sold. I supposed I don’t have a problem with that, but do they also have to include a blank tip line, as well? As if 15% was not enough.
The Art Auction concluded at about 4:40 or so, and we went back to our cabin. Margo watched a little TV, read, or played on her iPad.
I worked on this blog until about 5:20. At that time we decided we were hungry or bored enough to go check on the dinner menu. If it met with our approval we would eat at one of the restaurants, otherwise we would hit the Horizon Grill. Neither Margo nor I were thrilled l about the choices, so Horizon it was.
After dinner, at about 6:30 we went down to deck 6 where the shops were. They were selling Gold-By-The-Inch, and Margo needed enough to make a bracelet for the second charm bracelet she was working on. We got a price, but she didn’t get it just yet.
At 7 PM we wandered over to Facets the ship jewelry store to see if we had guessed the weight of the sapphire. We hadn’t, but there was going to be a raffle for some other jewelry after their latest sales pitch, I mean seminar, on jewelry. This one was on Ammolite. This is the latest innovation by the jewelry industry to siphon money out of our pockets. Ammolite, as best as I understand is fossilized shell of some sort of prehistoric shellfish. Most of them are green, but the multi-colored ones are the expensive ones. Luckily, they didn’t fascinate Margo so I escaped unscathed. We did win anything in the raffle, either.
We need to kill time, as our remaining plan for the night was the Marriage Match Game; Princess’ version of the Newlywed Game. I had heard it was hilarious. Margo was dead set on signing us up. But, that was not until 9:30 PM. It was only about 7:30. It took Margo half an hour to lose $40. I managed to win $8.25. We both quit and went back to our cabin. I had plenty of writing to do, so that is what I did for the next hour or so.
The Marriage Match Game started at 9:30. We wanted to make sure we got good seats so we were in the Explorers Lounge at shortly after 9. As promised the show was hilarious. It was the best show we saw the whole trip. Margo did sign us up, but thankfully we weren’t chosen. Princess sets it up so they have three couple; a newlywed couple, one mid-range (our group) and an old married couple, the Nearly Dead, to rhyme with Newlywed.
The questions:
To the ladies:
What is your husband’s most disgusting habit?’
What does your husband do to show you he wants to have sex?”
Your husband can give a one-way ticket to the moon to someone in your family, that you like, who is it going to be?
Where is the oddest place you have had sex?
To the guys:
Where was your first kiss and how would you rate it?
You wife forgot to pack any bras and sends you to get one; what size do you bring back?
What would your wife say is her pet name for your penis?
What kind of car would your wife say your penis represents?
The mid-range couple won, but they were all given identical prize bags. We laughed and laughed at most of the answers. The
newlywed lady got up and demonstrated the little dance her husband would do when he was in the mood. She also said VW Beetle and added because “It’s small” The elder couple got both the oddest place they had sex and the pet name for his penis (Macidocious, whatever that is). The mid-range couple matched sending the father of the bride to the moon, and he was on the cruise with them! The
Princess MC did a great job. He would have made Bob Eubanks proud.
We walked out of there happy and not really ready for bed. We went back to our cabin and did the TV/Blog thing for 45 minutes. At
about 11:30 we decided to use the robes, which we had finally asked our room steward to get us, at the hot tub. But, it was closed. So it was back to our cabin and to bed soon after. The only other thing of note was the seas had turned rough. At times we were losing our balance and I was actually getting queasy. But, as soon as we climbed into bed and lied down, we stopped noticing
it. We both slept pretty well that night.
Day Nine---Thursday, May 31, 2012 (Ketchikan)
We were not in a big hurry to get up early this morning, as we were not scheduled to get into our final port, Ketchikan, until 10 AM. I may have mentioned this, but I hate days at sea. I find them a waste of time.
But, when you cover the ground that we are, and you can travel at night, while you sleep, I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh.
I was up before Margo, about 7:45, and took care of my normal morning routine. I heard Sandy the Naturalist, actually her muffled voice is what woke me up, announcing wildlife sightings, and I could have sworn she said something about bears. As I still had not seen a bear, I decided to take my camera and binoculars and have a look-see. I supposed I was up top for about an hour or so. I saw plenty of bald eagles. They aren’t as common as sparrows, as one colleague back home told me, but it’s not unusual to see them. Sandydid announce that there was a bear on the shore. But, as we were close to a mile from that point, it was only a bit better than Denali. Could have been a cow, for a close as I got. But, it was pretty to watch the Alaskan shore pass by. The weather was cool, in the 40s, but my jacket made that nothing more than background noise. The air was crisp and clear. Visibly was pretty good, with no fog, but gray skies dominated. It was easy to just lean on the rail and watch mountains go by, the shore disappear around a bend as an island came to end, only to be replaced by another, and then another.
But, I was getting hungry and I’m sure Margo wanted a soda. She’s addicted, you know. But, it’s better than cigarettes or drugs. It
was about 9:15 when we went up to the Horizon Grill for the morning meal. This had become old hat to fill up on runny scrambled eggs, bacon, and some sort of potato. Princess does need to learn that when they serve hash browns, home fries, or country potatoes, ketchup is mandatory. Are these people Philistines? I had to ask for it more often than not. But, we did not walk away hungry.
We finished, got our jackets, and made our way down to deck four to get off the ship. I think I have failed to mention this, but each
time we got off the ship at these three ports, we had to take a picture with some costumed individual. I think today we had a moose, and something else. I was never in the mood for these, as were definitely an inconvenienced, and felt like a naked money grab. I think if we insisted we could have skipped them, but why be spoiled sports. So we took picture, and dutifully checked out the results in the photo gallery. My forces smile was enough to dissuade me from forking over $20.
We were off the ship at 10:30 and resumed our quest for Margo’s charms. There were only three stops on the list. We made it though the other cities unscathed. But, several things were conspiring against me. First, and most importantly, was my own conscience. Margo likes jewelry. Not once on this trip has she asked me to buy her as much as a cheap charm. Second, More than once I saw her admiring the Rainbow Sapphire collections that were at virtually every store we stopped at. Third, we had been at countless jewelry stores. should be awarded a medal just for enduring them. Each offering it’s own version of sales pitch. They ranged from the soft, nonchalant to the aggressive, answer-or-everything hard sell. Fourth, I had not bought her anything ‘special”. For some reason, that has become important to me. Finally, this was our last port and last shopping chance.
So, at the first store I finally melted. I went off to one end of the store, while she procured her charm. While she was away, I looked
at several rings, and saw one that I thought she would like. I was in the process of buying it for her when she came over. I was not surprised to see that she liked it. I should have been satisfied with this purchase, but for some reason, that I can not explain, I was not. At store number two, I bought her a matching pendant. But, I did talk her down to $99 plus tax, on my credit card. I will pay the credit card off in full when it is due, but I get my 2% cashback bonus, doing it this way. Margo was very happy with this purchase as well. As
luck would have it, at the third and final store, after my weakness had been steadied and my jewelry budget smashed, we met the nicest salesman of the whole cruise; John at the main Spectrum store. He was casual, not pushy, and very knowledgeable. We showed him what we had bought at their satellite stores, and rather thanbemoan his own lost commission, he thanked us for the business. He even went out of his way to get Margo the charm she was supposed to get, but also the own from Juneau we didn’t get, and a charm bracelet to put them on; all for free. I wish I would have bought something from him.
But, when you cover the ground that we are, and you can travel at night, while you sleep, I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh.
I was up before Margo, about 7:45, and took care of my normal morning routine. I heard Sandy the Naturalist, actually her muffled voice is what woke me up, announcing wildlife sightings, and I could have sworn she said something about bears. As I still had not seen a bear, I decided to take my camera and binoculars and have a look-see. I supposed I was up top for about an hour or so. I saw plenty of bald eagles. They aren’t as common as sparrows, as one colleague back home told me, but it’s not unusual to see them. Sandydid announce that there was a bear on the shore. But, as we were close to a mile from that point, it was only a bit better than Denali. Could have been a cow, for a close as I got. But, it was pretty to watch the Alaskan shore pass by. The weather was cool, in the 40s, but my jacket made that nothing more than background noise. The air was crisp and clear. Visibly was pretty good, with no fog, but gray skies dominated. It was easy to just lean on the rail and watch mountains go by, the shore disappear around a bend as an island came to end, only to be replaced by another, and then another.
But, I was getting hungry and I’m sure Margo wanted a soda. She’s addicted, you know. But, it’s better than cigarettes or drugs. It
was about 9:15 when we went up to the Horizon Grill for the morning meal. This had become old hat to fill up on runny scrambled eggs, bacon, and some sort of potato. Princess does need to learn that when they serve hash browns, home fries, or country potatoes, ketchup is mandatory. Are these people Philistines? I had to ask for it more often than not. But, we did not walk away hungry.
We finished, got our jackets, and made our way down to deck four to get off the ship. I think I have failed to mention this, but each
time we got off the ship at these three ports, we had to take a picture with some costumed individual. I think today we had a moose, and something else. I was never in the mood for these, as were definitely an inconvenienced, and felt like a naked money grab. I think if we insisted we could have skipped them, but why be spoiled sports. So we took picture, and dutifully checked out the results in the photo gallery. My forces smile was enough to dissuade me from forking over $20.
We were off the ship at 10:30 and resumed our quest for Margo’s charms. There were only three stops on the list. We made it though the other cities unscathed. But, several things were conspiring against me. First, and most importantly, was my own conscience. Margo likes jewelry. Not once on this trip has she asked me to buy her as much as a cheap charm. Second, More than once I saw her admiring the Rainbow Sapphire collections that were at virtually every store we stopped at. Third, we had been at countless jewelry stores. should be awarded a medal just for enduring them. Each offering it’s own version of sales pitch. They ranged from the soft, nonchalant to the aggressive, answer-or-everything hard sell. Fourth, I had not bought her anything ‘special”. For some reason, that has become important to me. Finally, this was our last port and last shopping chance.
So, at the first store I finally melted. I went off to one end of the store, while she procured her charm. While she was away, I looked
at several rings, and saw one that I thought she would like. I was in the process of buying it for her when she came over. I was not surprised to see that she liked it. I should have been satisfied with this purchase, but for some reason, that I can not explain, I was not. At store number two, I bought her a matching pendant. But, I did talk her down to $99 plus tax, on my credit card. I will pay the credit card off in full when it is due, but I get my 2% cashback bonus, doing it this way. Margo was very happy with this purchase as well. As
luck would have it, at the third and final store, after my weakness had been steadied and my jewelry budget smashed, we met the nicest salesman of the whole cruise; John at the main Spectrum store. He was casual, not pushy, and very knowledgeable. We showed him what we had bought at their satellite stores, and rather thanbemoan his own lost commission, he thanked us for the business. He even went out of his way to get Margo the charm she was supposed to get, but also the own from Juneau we didn’t get, and a charm bracelet to put them on; all for free. I wish I would have bought something from him.
c
Creek Street and it's boardwalk
We were not in a big hurry to get up early this morning, as we were not scheduled to get into our final port, Ketchikan, until 10 AM. I may have mentioned this, but I hate days at sea. I find them a waste of time.
But, when you cover the ground that we are, and you can travel at night, while you sleep, I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh.
I was up before Margo, about 7:45, and took care of my normal morning routine. I heard Sandy the Naturalist, actually her muffled voice is what woke me up, announcing wildlife sightings, and I could have sworn she said something about bears. As I still had not seen a bear, I decided to take my camera and binoculars and have a look-see. I supposed I was up top for about an hour or so. I saw plenty of bald eagles. They aren’t as common as sparrows, as one colleague back home told me, but it’s not unusual to see them. Sandydid announce that there was a bear on the shore. But, as we were close to a mile from that point, it was only a bit better than Denali. Could have been a cow, for a close as I got. But, it was pretty to watch the Alaskan shore pass by. The weather was cool, in the 40s, but my jacket made that nothing more than background noise. The air was crisp and clear. Visibly was pretty good, with no fog, but gray skies dominated. It was easy to just lean on the rail and watch mountains go by, the shore disappear around a bend as an island came to end, only to be replaced by another, and then another.
But, I was getting hungry and I’m sure Margo wanted a soda. She’s addicted, you know. But, it’s better than cigarettes or drugs. It
was about 9:15 when we went up to the Horizon Grill for the morning meal. This had become old hat to fill up on runny scrambled eggs, bacon, and some sort of potato. Princess does need to learn that when they serve hash browns, home fries, or country potatoes, ketchup is mandatory. Are these people Philistines? I had to ask for it more often than not. But, we did not walk away hungry.
We finished, got our jackets, and made our way down to deck four to get off the ship. I think I have failed to mention this, but each
time we got off the ship at these three ports, we had to take a picture with some costumed individual. I think today we had a moose, and something else. I was never in the mood for these, as were definitely an inconvenienced, and felt like a naked money grab. I think if we insisted we could have skipped them, but why be spoiled sports. So we took picture, and dutifully checked out the results in the photo gallery. My forces smile was enough to dissuade me from forking over $20.
We were off the ship at 10:30 and resumed our quest for Margo’s charms. There were only three stops on the list. We made it though the other cities unscathed. But, several things were conspiring against me. First, and most importantly, was my own conscience. Margo likes jewelry. Not once on this trip has she asked me to buy her as much as a cheap charm. Second, More than once I saw her admiring the Rainbow Sapphire collections that were at virtually every store we stopped at. Third, we had been at countless jewelry stores. should be awarded a medal just for enduring them. Each offering it’s own version of sales pitch. They ranged from the soft, nonchalant to the aggressive, answer-or-everything hard sell. Fourth, I had not bought her anything ‘special”. For some reason, that has become important to me. Finally, this was our last port and last shopping chance.
So, at the first store I finally melted. I went off to one end of the store, while she procured her charm. While she was away, I looked
at several rings, and saw one that I thought she would like. I was in the process of buying it for her when she came over. I was not surprised to see that she liked it. I should have been satisfied with this purchase, but for some reason, that I can not explain, I was not. At store number two, I bought her a matching pendant. But, I did talk her down to $99 plus tax, on my credit card. I will pay the credit card off in full when it is due, but I get my 2% cashback bonus, doing it this way. Margo was very happy with this purchase as well. As
luck would have it, at the third and final store, after my weakness had been steadied and my jewelry budget smashed, we met the nicest salesman of the whole cruise; John at the main Spectrum store. He was casual, not pushy, and very knowledgeable. We showed him what we had bought at their satellite stores, and rather thanbemoan his own lost commission, he thanked us for the business. He even went out of his way to get Margo the charm she was supposed to get, but also the own from Juneau we didn’t get, and a charm bracelet to put them on; all for free. I wish I would have bought something from him.
But, when you cover the ground that we are, and you can travel at night, while you sleep, I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh.
I was up before Margo, about 7:45, and took care of my normal morning routine. I heard Sandy the Naturalist, actually her muffled voice is what woke me up, announcing wildlife sightings, and I could have sworn she said something about bears. As I still had not seen a bear, I decided to take my camera and binoculars and have a look-see. I supposed I was up top for about an hour or so. I saw plenty of bald eagles. They aren’t as common as sparrows, as one colleague back home told me, but it’s not unusual to see them. Sandydid announce that there was a bear on the shore. But, as we were close to a mile from that point, it was only a bit better than Denali. Could have been a cow, for a close as I got. But, it was pretty to watch the Alaskan shore pass by. The weather was cool, in the 40s, but my jacket made that nothing more than background noise. The air was crisp and clear. Visibly was pretty good, with no fog, but gray skies dominated. It was easy to just lean on the rail and watch mountains go by, the shore disappear around a bend as an island came to end, only to be replaced by another, and then another.
But, I was getting hungry and I’m sure Margo wanted a soda. She’s addicted, you know. But, it’s better than cigarettes or drugs. It
was about 9:15 when we went up to the Horizon Grill for the morning meal. This had become old hat to fill up on runny scrambled eggs, bacon, and some sort of potato. Princess does need to learn that when they serve hash browns, home fries, or country potatoes, ketchup is mandatory. Are these people Philistines? I had to ask for it more often than not. But, we did not walk away hungry.
We finished, got our jackets, and made our way down to deck four to get off the ship. I think I have failed to mention this, but each
time we got off the ship at these three ports, we had to take a picture with some costumed individual. I think today we had a moose, and something else. I was never in the mood for these, as were definitely an inconvenienced, and felt like a naked money grab. I think if we insisted we could have skipped them, but why be spoiled sports. So we took picture, and dutifully checked out the results in the photo gallery. My forces smile was enough to dissuade me from forking over $20.
We were off the ship at 10:30 and resumed our quest for Margo’s charms. There were only three stops on the list. We made it though the other cities unscathed. But, several things were conspiring against me. First, and most importantly, was my own conscience. Margo likes jewelry. Not once on this trip has she asked me to buy her as much as a cheap charm. Second, More than once I saw her admiring the Rainbow Sapphire collections that were at virtually every store we stopped at. Third, we had been at countless jewelry stores. should be awarded a medal just for enduring them. Each offering it’s own version of sales pitch. They ranged from the soft, nonchalant to the aggressive, answer-or-everything hard sell. Fourth, I had not bought her anything ‘special”. For some reason, that has become important to me. Finally, this was our last port and last shopping chance.
So, at the first store I finally melted. I went off to one end of the store, while she procured her charm. While she was away, I looked
at several rings, and saw one that I thought she would like. I was in the process of buying it for her when she came over. I was not surprised to see that she liked it. I should have been satisfied with this purchase, but for some reason, that I can not explain, I was not. At store number two, I bought her a matching pendant. But, I did talk her down to $99 plus tax, on my credit card. I will pay the credit card off in full when it is due, but I get my 2% cashback bonus, doing it this way. Margo was very happy with this purchase as well. As
luck would have it, at the third and final store, after my weakness had been steadied and my jewelry budget smashed, we met the nicest salesman of the whole cruise; John at the main Spectrum store. He was casual, not pushy, and very knowledgeable. We showed him what we had bought at their satellite stores, and rather thanbemoan his own lost commission, he thanked us for the business. He even went out of his way to get Margo the charm she was supposed to get, but also the own from Juneau we didn’t get, and a charm bracelet to put them on; all for free. I wish I would have bought something from him.
c
Creek Steet "working girl" at Dolly's House
We were not in a big hurry to get up early this morning, as we were not scheduled to get into our final port, Ketchikan, until 10 AM. I may have mentioned this, but I hate days at sea. I find them a waste of time.
But, when you cover the ground that we are, and you can travel at night, while you sleep, I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh.
I was up before Margo, about 7:45, and took care of my normal morning routine. I heard Sandy the Naturalist, actually her muffled voice is what woke me up, announcing wildlife sightings, and I could have sworn she said something about bears. As I still had not seen a bear, I decided to take my camera and binoculars and have a look-see. I supposed I was up top for about an hour or so. I saw plenty of bald eagles. They aren’t as common as sparrows, as one colleague back home told me, but it’s not unusual to see them. Sandydid announce that there was a bear on the shore. But, as we were close to a mile from that point, it was only a bit better than Denali. Could have been a cow, for a close as I got. But, it was pretty to watch the Alaskan shore pass by. The weather was cool, in the 40s, but my jacket made that nothing more than background noise. The air was crisp and clear. Visibly was pretty good, with no fog, but gray skies dominated. It was easy to just lean on the rail and watch mountains go by, the shore disappear around a bend as an island came to end, only to be replaced by another, and then another.
But, I was getting hungry and I’m sure Margo wanted a soda. She’s addicted, you know. But, it’s better than cigarettes or drugs. It
was about 9:15 when we went up to the Horizon Grill for the morning meal. This had become old hat to fill up on runny scrambled eggs, bacon, and some sort of potato. Princess does need to learn that when they serve hash browns, home fries, or country potatoes, ketchup is mandatory. Are these people Philistines? I had to ask for it more often than not. But, we did not walk away hungry.
We finished, got our jackets, and made our way down to deck four to get off the ship. I think I have failed to mention this, but each
time we got off the ship at these three ports, we had to take a picture with some costumed individual. I think today we had a moose, and something else. I was never in the mood for these, as were definitely an inconvenienced, and felt like a naked money grab. I think if we insisted we could have skipped them, but why be spoiled sports. So we took picture, and dutifully checked out the results in the photo gallery. My forces smile was enough to dissuade me from forking over $20.
We were off the ship at 10:30 and resumed our quest for Margo’s charms. There were only three stops on the list. We made it though the other cities unscathed. But, several things were conspiring against me. First, and most importantly, was my own conscience. Margo likes jewelry. Not once on this trip has she asked me to buy her as much as a cheap charm. Second, More than once I saw her admiring the Rainbow Sapphire collections that were at virtually every store we stopped at. Third, we had been at countless jewelry stores. should be awarded a medal just for enduring them. Each offering it’s own version of sales pitch. They ranged from the soft, nonchalant to the aggressive, answer-or-everything hard sell. Fourth, I had not bought her anything ‘special”. For some reason, that has become important to me. Finally, this was our last port and last shopping chance.
So, at the first store I finally melted. I went off to one end of the store, while she procured her charm. While she was away, I looked
at several rings, and saw one that I thought she would like. I was in the process of buying it for her when she came over. I was not surprised to see that she liked it. I should have been satisfied with this purchase, but for some reason, that I can not explain, I was not. At store number two, I bought her a matching pendant. But, I did talk her down to $99 plus tax, on my credit card. I will pay the credit card off in full when it is due, but I get my 2% cashback bonus, doing it this way. Margo was very happy with this purchase as well. As
luck would have it, at the third and final store, after my weakness had been steadied and my jewelry budget smashed, we met the nicest salesman of the whole cruise; John at the main Spectrum store. He was casual, not pushy, and very knowledgeable. We showed him what we had bought at their satellite stores, and rather thanbemoan his own lost commission, he thanked us for the business. He even went out of his way to get Margo the charm she was supposed to get, but also the own from Juneau we didn’t get, and a charm bracelet to put them on; all for free. I wish I would have bought something from him.
But, when you cover the ground that we are, and you can travel at night, while you sleep, I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh.
I was up before Margo, about 7:45, and took care of my normal morning routine. I heard Sandy the Naturalist, actually her muffled voice is what woke me up, announcing wildlife sightings, and I could have sworn she said something about bears. As I still had not seen a bear, I decided to take my camera and binoculars and have a look-see. I supposed I was up top for about an hour or so. I saw plenty of bald eagles. They aren’t as common as sparrows, as one colleague back home told me, but it’s not unusual to see them. Sandydid announce that there was a bear on the shore. But, as we were close to a mile from that point, it was only a bit better than Denali. Could have been a cow, for a close as I got. But, it was pretty to watch the Alaskan shore pass by. The weather was cool, in the 40s, but my jacket made that nothing more than background noise. The air was crisp and clear. Visibly was pretty good, with no fog, but gray skies dominated. It was easy to just lean on the rail and watch mountains go by, the shore disappear around a bend as an island came to end, only to be replaced by another, and then another.
But, I was getting hungry and I’m sure Margo wanted a soda. She’s addicted, you know. But, it’s better than cigarettes or drugs. It
was about 9:15 when we went up to the Horizon Grill for the morning meal. This had become old hat to fill up on runny scrambled eggs, bacon, and some sort of potato. Princess does need to learn that when they serve hash browns, home fries, or country potatoes, ketchup is mandatory. Are these people Philistines? I had to ask for it more often than not. But, we did not walk away hungry.
We finished, got our jackets, and made our way down to deck four to get off the ship. I think I have failed to mention this, but each
time we got off the ship at these three ports, we had to take a picture with some costumed individual. I think today we had a moose, and something else. I was never in the mood for these, as were definitely an inconvenienced, and felt like a naked money grab. I think if we insisted we could have skipped them, but why be spoiled sports. So we took picture, and dutifully checked out the results in the photo gallery. My forces smile was enough to dissuade me from forking over $20.
We were off the ship at 10:30 and resumed our quest for Margo’s charms. There were only three stops on the list. We made it though the other cities unscathed. But, several things were conspiring against me. First, and most importantly, was my own conscience. Margo likes jewelry. Not once on this trip has she asked me to buy her as much as a cheap charm. Second, More than once I saw her admiring the Rainbow Sapphire collections that were at virtually every store we stopped at. Third, we had been at countless jewelry stores. should be awarded a medal just for enduring them. Each offering it’s own version of sales pitch. They ranged from the soft, nonchalant to the aggressive, answer-or-everything hard sell. Fourth, I had not bought her anything ‘special”. For some reason, that has become important to me. Finally, this was our last port and last shopping chance.
So, at the first store I finally melted. I went off to one end of the store, while she procured her charm. While she was away, I looked
at several rings, and saw one that I thought she would like. I was in the process of buying it for her when she came over. I was not surprised to see that she liked it. I should have been satisfied with this purchase, but for some reason, that I can not explain, I was not. At store number two, I bought her a matching pendant. But, I did talk her down to $99 plus tax, on my credit card. I will pay the credit card off in full when it is due, but I get my 2% cashback bonus, doing it this way. Margo was very happy with this purchase as well. As
luck would have it, at the third and final store, after my weakness had been steadied and my jewelry budget smashed, we met the nicest salesman of the whole cruise; John at the main Spectrum store. He was casual, not pushy, and very knowledgeable. We showed him what we had bought at their satellite stores, and rather thanbemoan his own lost commission, he thanked us for the business. He even went out of his way to get Margo the charm she was supposed to get, but also the own from Juneau we didn’t get, and a charm bracelet to put them on; all for free. I wish I would have bought something from him.
Day Ten---Friday, June 1, 2012 (Day at Sea)
Margo, not used to seeing the sun
We slept in until 10 AM and then lazed around the cabin and took our showers until about 11:30 AM. The little Princess fairies had delivered a customs form while we slept. Margo and I looked at and were confused. We had bought nothing in Canada. Everything we had bought was purchased in the United States. So why did the United States care what we bought in the United States. If this form was for
Canadawhat did it matter if we bought $500 or $5000 worth of jewelry into their country? We filled it out as we had nothing to declare. I’m sure that was right, but I still felt weird about.
We went down to the Photo Gallery to check out our Casual Pictures taken yesterday. They did not look any better than the one we had already purchases, so we left. I had more than half expected Princess to begin discounting the pictures or offer some sort of package to try to sell these. But, they never did. This is one area where they can really improve. You can spend $100 on pictures and get only four pictures. They are printing everyone, so they should be trying to sell as many as possible. Cut the price and people will buy more. This is the same principle as raising taxes on the “rich”. The rich will just shelter their money and not pay the tax. The buying public, even the captive public on the cruise ship, will skip the $25 picture, but might buy two $10 pictures. They are out the printing cost either way. With the lower price they make $20.
Anyway, we also went down to the library so Margo could get the daily Sudoku puzzle. She enjoys those and had worked a few these past few weeks. Today was going to boring as hell. My opinion anyway. While we were down in the area I got a print out of our on-ship expenses. It turned out that I had accounted for everything. It looks like we have done fairly well managing our expenses. At least until I bought Margo’s jewelry. But, even with that we were OK. We would not being incurring any credit card debt. We never do on these trips.
We went back to the cabin and Margo had me drag out and set up all of the suitcases so she could begin packing. We needed to have our five bags out in the hall by 10 PM. The seas had not calmed down much and we still rocked and swayed. It was not bad, but Margo and I were both feeling it. Neither of us was feeling sick, but we were a bit leery of food. We ended up putting off eating until 12:15, missing breakfast for the only time on the ship.
Canadawhat did it matter if we bought $500 or $5000 worth of jewelry into their country? We filled it out as we had nothing to declare. I’m sure that was right, but I still felt weird about.
We went down to the Photo Gallery to check out our Casual Pictures taken yesterday. They did not look any better than the one we had already purchases, so we left. I had more than half expected Princess to begin discounting the pictures or offer some sort of package to try to sell these. But, they never did. This is one area where they can really improve. You can spend $100 on pictures and get only four pictures. They are printing everyone, so they should be trying to sell as many as possible. Cut the price and people will buy more. This is the same principle as raising taxes on the “rich”. The rich will just shelter their money and not pay the tax. The buying public, even the captive public on the cruise ship, will skip the $25 picture, but might buy two $10 pictures. They are out the printing cost either way. With the lower price they make $20.
Anyway, we also went down to the library so Margo could get the daily Sudoku puzzle. She enjoys those and had worked a few these past few weeks. Today was going to boring as hell. My opinion anyway. While we were down in the area I got a print out of our on-ship expenses. It turned out that I had accounted for everything. It looks like we have done fairly well managing our expenses. At least until I bought Margo’s jewelry. But, even with that we were OK. We would not being incurring any credit card debt. We never do on these trips.
We went back to the cabin and Margo had me drag out and set up all of the suitcases so she could begin packing. We needed to have our five bags out in the hall by 10 PM. The seas had not calmed down much and we still rocked and swayed. It was not bad, but Margo and I were both feeling it. Neither of us was feeling sick, but we were a bit leery of food. We ended up putting off eating until 12:15, missing breakfast for the only time on the ship.
c
Sea Horse and Eagle ice sculptures. Very Cool!
We finished eating and went back to our state room. Margo began to attack the suitcases with gusto. I went over the Princess statement, the Customs Form, and worked on this travel blog until about 2 PM. At 2:30 PM the only daily event we had any interest in was going to take place; the ice sculpting demonstration.
We went up top early, grabbed a couple of chairs, and got front row seats. It was a tad cool, but it was sunny. That in itself was a rare event on this trip. We had entered Vancouver Bay and that accomplished two things. First the seas calmed, because we were not sheltered. Second, the opportunity for wildlife and sea life sighting opportunities increased. The former was great news all around. The latter was mostly good news. It wasn’t until the ice sculpting was beginning that the downside of the animals was made clear.
The ice carving lasted for about half an hour. Two Filipino men went to work, each on their own two hundred pound block of ice.
They worked fast and ice chips flew. Princess had provided a person to narrate and explain what was going on, so the guys working on the melting ice were not interrupted. The crowd, including us, gave them and our narrator their complete attention, because it was really interesting watch a piece of ice become an animal. But, Sandy the Naturalist kept interrupting the narration, by taking over the intercom system to tell us to watch out for orcas or seals or whatever. That would be interesting if there was an actual sighting, but there wasn’t. It was annoying to everyone, even our unflappable Princess narrator. The ice artists ignored everything except their melting ice and continued to make a mound of snow cone material and transform their ice into a sculpture. When it was all done; one man had made a Sea Horse the other an Eagle. Both were very well done.
Margo and I grabbed a soda and went back to our state room. She continued to pack. I was bored and sick of writing. So I decided to
heed Sandy’s advice and look for animals or at least a light house. I had absolutely no luck. The scenery was beautiful. But, as odd as it sounds, we were becoming immune to the beauty. I was back to being bored again. Did I mention I hate days at sea?
I spent an hour leaning on a rail looking at the mountains and water, and went back down to see if Margo needed anything at about 4:20. It was too early to eat, and Margo didn’t need me in her way. So I wrote some and watched TV until about 5:50. At that time, Margo was sick of looking at suitcases and I was getting cabin fever, so we went to dinner.
We went up top early, grabbed a couple of chairs, and got front row seats. It was a tad cool, but it was sunny. That in itself was a rare event on this trip. We had entered Vancouver Bay and that accomplished two things. First the seas calmed, because we were not sheltered. Second, the opportunity for wildlife and sea life sighting opportunities increased. The former was great news all around. The latter was mostly good news. It wasn’t until the ice sculpting was beginning that the downside of the animals was made clear.
The ice carving lasted for about half an hour. Two Filipino men went to work, each on their own two hundred pound block of ice.
They worked fast and ice chips flew. Princess had provided a person to narrate and explain what was going on, so the guys working on the melting ice were not interrupted. The crowd, including us, gave them and our narrator their complete attention, because it was really interesting watch a piece of ice become an animal. But, Sandy the Naturalist kept interrupting the narration, by taking over the intercom system to tell us to watch out for orcas or seals or whatever. That would be interesting if there was an actual sighting, but there wasn’t. It was annoying to everyone, even our unflappable Princess narrator. The ice artists ignored everything except their melting ice and continued to make a mound of snow cone material and transform their ice into a sculpture. When it was all done; one man had made a Sea Horse the other an Eagle. Both were very well done.
Margo and I grabbed a soda and went back to our state room. She continued to pack. I was bored and sick of writing. So I decided to
heed Sandy’s advice and look for animals or at least a light house. I had absolutely no luck. The scenery was beautiful. But, as odd as it sounds, we were becoming immune to the beauty. I was back to being bored again. Did I mention I hate days at sea?
I spent an hour leaning on a rail looking at the mountains and water, and went back down to see if Margo needed anything at about 4:20. It was too early to eat, and Margo didn’t need me in her way. So I wrote some and watched TV until about 5:50. At that time, Margo was sick of looking at suitcases and I was getting cabin fever, so we went to dinner.
c
We took our time at dinner and basically did nothing until 8 PM. Margo worked more on packing, essentially finishing it. I did the write-watch TV thing until about 8 PM. I had noticed that the Texas Hold’em
tournament would be going on then. The idea of seeing our tub-mate play sounded at least interesting. She evidently decided not to play, as we didn’t see her. Margo and I ended up watching a little bit of the people gambling. I got Margo some quarters and she played this game where you drop the coin into a slot, the machine shoots it onto a platform, and a series of metal brooms pushes the coins back. Some drop down. But, as it turns out not all of the coins that drop belong to the player. But, at least it killed a little more
time.
Margo and I went back to our room. She finished packing and worked on her puzzle. I decided to go up top and look for wildlife. I did
see several dolphins or porpoises. I can’t tell the apart. I wasn’t able to get any pictures, but it was still cool to see them. What I had not expected to see was the sunset. I never gave any thought. But, I had a good view, so I got a lot of pictures of that. I was going to get Margo, but I figured it would be over by the time I got her to the rail. It turned out she watched it from our room.
I was back to our room at 9:30. I keyed in a wake up call for 6 AM, put our bags out for Princess to take care of and wrote until 10:15.
I gave up after that and finished watching Crazy Stupid Love. It was better than I had expected and made for a nice diversion. When it was over, I went to bed. As much as I didn’t like today’s Day at Sea; tomorrow was going to positively suck. The last day, the travel day home, is always the least fun. To put a cherry on that, we would be dealing with a foreign country, without getting to enjoy what it had to
offer. Oh, well. At least it would be something to write about.
tournament would be going on then. The idea of seeing our tub-mate play sounded at least interesting. She evidently decided not to play, as we didn’t see her. Margo and I ended up watching a little bit of the people gambling. I got Margo some quarters and she played this game where you drop the coin into a slot, the machine shoots it onto a platform, and a series of metal brooms pushes the coins back. Some drop down. But, as it turns out not all of the coins that drop belong to the player. But, at least it killed a little more
time.
Margo and I went back to our room. She finished packing and worked on her puzzle. I decided to go up top and look for wildlife. I did
see several dolphins or porpoises. I can’t tell the apart. I wasn’t able to get any pictures, but it was still cool to see them. What I had not expected to see was the sunset. I never gave any thought. But, I had a good view, so I got a lot of pictures of that. I was going to get Margo, but I figured it would be over by the time I got her to the rail. It turned out she watched it from our room.
I was back to our room at 9:30. I keyed in a wake up call for 6 AM, put our bags out for Princess to take care of and wrote until 10:15.
I gave up after that and finished watching Crazy Stupid Love. It was better than I had expected and made for a nice diversion. When it was over, I went to bed. As much as I didn’t like today’s Day at Sea; tomorrow was going to positively suck. The last day, the travel day home, is always the least fun. To put a cherry on that, we would be dealing with a foreign country, without getting to enjoy what it had to
offer. Oh, well. At least it would be something to write about.
Day Eleven---Saturday, June 2, 2012 (Fly Home from Vancouver)
Vancouver from our ship
We were up at 6 AM so as to be at our disembark point by 8:30 AM. I quickly got my shower and got ready. I wanted to get a few shots of Vancouver, if for no other reason than to have something to put with my blog. I wished we could spend some time in the city, both because I heard it was interesting and
clean. But, also because it’s a foreign city, and Margo and I have never visited one, outside of Mexico.
It was going to be a long day of travel so we wanted to make sure we got a good breakfast. We were not sure when we would get to eat again. So by 7 AM, I was back down to our cabin and we were off to the Horizon Grill for our last meal onboard. We were down at the Club Fusion by 8:15 and did the hurry up and wait thing. We did not get off the ship until after 9 AM. We were not concerned as our flight was not scheduled to leave until 2 PM.
As I mentioned, Vancouveris in a foreign country. But, there will be no sight seeing or shopping or much of anything. Well we did do a
smidgeon of sightseeing on the way; going throughVancouver’s Chinatown (who knew) and seeing some sort of shine/memorial to Jimi Hendrix. The drive to the airport was about half an hour. Princess did a good job of telling us what to do, what to expect, and were to go. We were directed to the far east part of the terminal where Princess has it’s luggage area. We found our bags right away.
By now it is only about 10 or maybe 10:15. We were not supposed to check in with United Airlines until 11 AM, three hours before our flight. They said that was because the info would not be available in the computer until then. We checked in at an automatic kiosk at 11 AM. This machine had to scan our passports. That’s once. We also discovered that our four checked bags were going to cost us $130. I had looked it up and I thought they were free.
At the United counter we got our new luggage tags, after showing our passports. That’s twice. But they did not take our luggage. We had to cart that down the hall to another group of people, who checked our passports (three), and scanned our bags as I threw them up on the conveyor. Next we proceed to security, where after showing our passport (four), I set off the magnetometer with the foil surrounding two Tums. My hip didn’t even set of their little wand.
Next up was customs, and you know they wanted to see a passport (four). Now mind you we have been in a secure area this whole time we have been in Canada. Everything we bought has been in Alaska. I had always heard that Alaska was part of theUS, but apparently not. I was very tempted to say something smart-alecky when asked about making any large purchases, but I didn’t. We had bought nothing in Canada. All purchases, major or minor, were bought in the US, the same as every article of clothing or jewelry that we brought with us from Colorado. But, it was just two questions, the second being about when our flight left and we were on our way. It wasn’t too bad. The whole process from the point at which we scanned our own passports at the United kiosk, until we cleared customs, took about 35 minutes.
clean. But, also because it’s a foreign city, and Margo and I have never visited one, outside of Mexico.
It was going to be a long day of travel so we wanted to make sure we got a good breakfast. We were not sure when we would get to eat again. So by 7 AM, I was back down to our cabin and we were off to the Horizon Grill for our last meal onboard. We were down at the Club Fusion by 8:15 and did the hurry up and wait thing. We did not get off the ship until after 9 AM. We were not concerned as our flight was not scheduled to leave until 2 PM.
As I mentioned, Vancouveris in a foreign country. But, there will be no sight seeing or shopping or much of anything. Well we did do a
smidgeon of sightseeing on the way; going throughVancouver’s Chinatown (who knew) and seeing some sort of shine/memorial to Jimi Hendrix. The drive to the airport was about half an hour. Princess did a good job of telling us what to do, what to expect, and were to go. We were directed to the far east part of the terminal where Princess has it’s luggage area. We found our bags right away.
By now it is only about 10 or maybe 10:15. We were not supposed to check in with United Airlines until 11 AM, three hours before our flight. They said that was because the info would not be available in the computer until then. We checked in at an automatic kiosk at 11 AM. This machine had to scan our passports. That’s once. We also discovered that our four checked bags were going to cost us $130. I had looked it up and I thought they were free.
At the United counter we got our new luggage tags, after showing our passports. That’s twice. But they did not take our luggage. We had to cart that down the hall to another group of people, who checked our passports (three), and scanned our bags as I threw them up on the conveyor. Next we proceed to security, where after showing our passport (four), I set off the magnetometer with the foil surrounding two Tums. My hip didn’t even set of their little wand.
Next up was customs, and you know they wanted to see a passport (four). Now mind you we have been in a secure area this whole time we have been in Canada. Everything we bought has been in Alaska. I had always heard that Alaska was part of theUS, but apparently not. I was very tempted to say something smart-alecky when asked about making any large purchases, but I didn’t. We had bought nothing in Canada. All purchases, major or minor, were bought in the US, the same as every article of clothing or jewelry that we brought with us from Colorado. But, it was just two questions, the second being about when our flight left and we were on our way. It wasn’t too bad. The whole process from the point at which we scanned our own passports at the United kiosk, until we cleared customs, took about 35 minutes.
C
Margo's Canadian money. We gave most of it back with my meal
We made it to our gate and discovered our flight was delayed until 2:40. We had already figured on eating, but this gave us even more time. Margo went and got her something to eat, while I watched our carry-ons.
She returned complaining that she was given change in Canadian money. That was to be expected, but we did not give any thought until this very minute. I gave them almost all of it back when I bought my meal.
When we finished eating we found our flight was now delayed until 3:05. We went to our gate and killed time reading or working on this blog. We boarded (passport check #5) about 2:35 and soon discovered our
flight was delayed again. No reason given and we sat on the tarmac until 3:30. I told Margo that we either had to wait here or wait in San Francisco, so it didn’t matter that much. I read, so the time passed quickly.
The flight was supposed to be two hours, but because of runway construction and high winds in San Francisco we had to circle for an extra half hour, so we did not touch down until 6 PM. Our connecting flight was at 7 PM, so we had time. We might even have enough to eat. But, we soon found that we had plenty of time. I checked the departure board right away and found that our connecting flight was showing delayed until 7:40, while they found a plane. Those planes must be hard to come by, because we did not get boarded until about 8 PM, and off the ground until about 8:25.
With a 2 hour 20 minute flight and an hour time change we were looking at getting into Denver around midnight. The flight itself was
mostly uneventful. Margo and I both read, with me finishing my second book of the trip, and Margo finishing her first one. The last twenty minutes or so were pretty bumpy, as we came over the mountains and through the clouds.
We touched down about 11:45 PM, and we quickly got our bags. Jessi and Pete came to get us about 12:15 and we were home thirty minutes later. We got all of our small talk out of the way, and we all went for bed not long after we closed the garage door.
It had been a very fun trip. We saw things we will likely never see again, and ticked another state off our state lists. We had few regrets. We would have liked to have taken our girls with us. They would have enjoyed this trip as well. We wished we could have spent more time in Anchorage, Vancouver, and Denali. That would have made this trip into two full weeks. Eleven days was plenty, though.
Next year, we are planning to go to Pennsylvaniaand New Jersey. I need to continue my planning. We will need to make our Gettysburg hotel reservations next month.
She returned complaining that she was given change in Canadian money. That was to be expected, but we did not give any thought until this very minute. I gave them almost all of it back when I bought my meal.
When we finished eating we found our flight was now delayed until 3:05. We went to our gate and killed time reading or working on this blog. We boarded (passport check #5) about 2:35 and soon discovered our
flight was delayed again. No reason given and we sat on the tarmac until 3:30. I told Margo that we either had to wait here or wait in San Francisco, so it didn’t matter that much. I read, so the time passed quickly.
The flight was supposed to be two hours, but because of runway construction and high winds in San Francisco we had to circle for an extra half hour, so we did not touch down until 6 PM. Our connecting flight was at 7 PM, so we had time. We might even have enough to eat. But, we soon found that we had plenty of time. I checked the departure board right away and found that our connecting flight was showing delayed until 7:40, while they found a plane. Those planes must be hard to come by, because we did not get boarded until about 8 PM, and off the ground until about 8:25.
With a 2 hour 20 minute flight and an hour time change we were looking at getting into Denver around midnight. The flight itself was
mostly uneventful. Margo and I both read, with me finishing my second book of the trip, and Margo finishing her first one. The last twenty minutes or so were pretty bumpy, as we came over the mountains and through the clouds.
We touched down about 11:45 PM, and we quickly got our bags. Jessi and Pete came to get us about 12:15 and we were home thirty minutes later. We got all of our small talk out of the way, and we all went for bed not long after we closed the garage door.
It had been a very fun trip. We saw things we will likely never see again, and ticked another state off our state lists. We had few regrets. We would have liked to have taken our girls with us. They would have enjoyed this trip as well. We wished we could have spent more time in Anchorage, Vancouver, and Denali. That would have made this trip into two full weeks. Eleven days was plenty, though.
Next year, we are planning to go to Pennsylvaniaand New Jersey. I need to continue my planning. We will need to make our Gettysburg hotel reservations next month.