25 years agoNot sure how it happened but a bit over 25 years ago we knew that we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives. So far, so good.

We’ve had our rough times like any two people trying to live together but we have found that it can be an incredible journey if the friendship is strong enough.

I once asked Ed, “Why do you keep me around?” and he answered matter-of-factly, “I want to see what will happen next.” And that has become the story of our lives. What will happen next? Here’s the latest chapter of our lives.

To celebrate twenty-five years of marriage, we decided to take a trip

to Vancouver and to cruise the Inside Passage of Alaska.

May 29: Travel from Madison to Detroit to Vancouver

May 30: Enjoy Vancouver with friends

May 31: Depart Vancouver on board the Norwegian Sun cruise ship

June 1: Sail from Vancouver to the Inside Passage.

June 2: Ketchikan, Alaska

June 3: Juneau, Alaska

June 4: Skagway, Alaska

June 5: At sea

June 6: Still at sea

June 7: Disembark the Norwegian Sun

and enjoy one more day in Vancou-ver

June 8: Return to Madison from Vancouver via Minneapolis

Vancouver & AlaskaMay 29-June 8, 2009

To Celebrate 25 years together

What follows is an account of our adventures. The title for each day is also a link for pictures from each day. If you just want to see the full collection of pictures go to my collection of pictures

on my flickr.com site entitled Vancouver/Alaska’s Inside Passage 2009. Only about 750 of them this time. I have added a few with each day. We hope you enjoy our travels.

Sue & Ed Gilbert

Day 1, Madison to Detroit to Vancouver, May 29, 2009

What usually would be a entire day of travel and very little time to see anything else turned out to be a day where we had a chance to get to Vancouver and get a real feel for the city. At this point, as I write, it’s about 2000 local time (2200 per the time we woke up) and it’s been a very full day.

Rising at 0400 really does suck (and I know Ed usually needs a bit more time than I do in the morning so he was up even earlier) but I did it, grabbed some breakfast, roused Mary, our critter/house sitter who had promised to get us to the airport on time, and we were off. Other than the fact that we were routed through Detroit on Northwest rather than Minneapolis, which would have made more sense, all went smoothly. (At least they didn’t route us through Atlanta.) Somehow check-in and security at o’dark early is a breeze despite TSA’s best efforts. Arriving in Detroit almost right on schedule we did a very fast march from one end of one

terminal to the far end of the farthest one away from where we landed—ain’t that always the way of it? That flight was about 15 minutes behind schedule so there was breathing room.

Flight from Detroit to Vancouver was relatively uneventful except when a lady a row away from us fainted and they were looking for a medical professional to help out. Ed was the closest who could give a bit of aide and although there was little he could do except rule out a bunch of things and reassure the woman and those traveling with her that there didn’t seem to be anything to be greatly concerned about. The flight was 4 ½ hours long with nothing to do but read and doze which we both did both.

We booked this trip through Grand Circle Tours again, just as we had for our Rhine Christmas Market Cruise last November, and so they were waiting for us to transport us to the hotel as soon as we cleared immigration. That

Vancouver is located on the Pacific west coast of Canada in the Province of British Columbia, known for its environmental appeal. The city is surrounded by water

on three sides and mountains part of the Coast Mountain Range.

was where we almost had a problem. Ed’s passport had been looking like he’d put it through the wringer recently but then today he folded it back to keep the info page forward and the spine broke. Guess they don’t like that much. They let us into Canada but they did say we might have trouble getting back through to the States. Guess we’ll worry about that in 10 days. (Later note: We got some glue and were able to glue it well enough to get through on the way home but we really do need to apply for a damaged passport for him before it becomes a really big deal.) Anyway, we found the GCT representative who collected us and two other couples and got us to a bus. Amazingly, they put us on a full size tour bus so we all sat up close to the front and had a great narrative by the bus driver as he deftly wheeled us through the streets to our hotel, the Plaza 500. The narrative was mostly about everything Vancouver has done to prepare for the upcoming Winter Olympics and just peppered with enough pro-Canadian political views (that Ed and I totally agree with since it was about nationalized health and such) to make it wonderfully authentic. I really do love Canada (and considering how many Canadian friends I have it’s a good thing).

We got to our hotel by

about 1300 and our rooms were all ready for us. Nice large room with a small bathroom (makes more sense than some places I’ve stayed) and a balcony without much of a view. We didn’t plan on spending a lot of time here so that didn’t matter much. One of the nice things working with GCT is that so much is taken care of. Rooms are ready, bags taken up to the room, tips covered by the company, that kind of thing. They had a map and welcome packet ready and we wandered up to regroup so we could go exploring.

First stop, though, had to be some food. After securing a bit of differently-coloured cash at a bank ATM, we saw a place called The White Spot across the street from the hotel. They bill themselves as “legendary” and have been around since 1928 though I understand not always in its current kind of upscale, but not outrageously so, version. Tasty food (for me shrimp & scallops with fresh veggies over whole wheat fusilli and for Ed a flatbread pizza with shrimp and tomatoes) that filled the bill nicely and had us ready to go check out as much of the city as we could fit in before it got dark or we crashed.

We stopped off at a grocery store in the mall

Day 1, Madison to Detroit to Vancouver, May 29, 2009 (cont.)

across the way and picked up day passes for the transit system. For $9 each we could ride any of the buses, trains, ferries, or whatever that are part of the system for the rest of the day. Each fare is $2.50 and includes unlimited transfers for an hour and a half but for what we had in mind this worked out much better. There was a bus just across the street from the hotel that took us all the way downtown, within two blocks of where we thought we wanted to be.

I say “thought” because we were aiming to start a walking tour that I found on the internet at Canada Place (a large conference center where the cruise ships dock) but we kind of got side-tracked and ended up deciding to take the sky train, mostly an overhead light rail, for a majority of the routes (one out and one back). I’m guessing we covered about 40 miles that way. We definitely got a taste for the area and loved the amount of green space and vibrant city living going on around us. People watching was great since the ridership covered a wide range of social classes and ethnicities. (Vancouver is one of the largest pan-Asian populations around, has the

largest Iranian population in North America, and one of the largest populations of Sikh in N.A. as well.) One of the neatest things about the sky train was the trust that existed between the transit company and the passengers. We entered the “fare required zone” but were never asked to see our tickets. We saw signs that said proof could be asked for at any time) and we understand that if you don’t have it there is a hefty fine) but we were never asked for them.

When we wound our way back to the downtown area we got off the train near Chinatown and kind of got back to following the walking tour. The T&T Market was one of the kewlest grocery stories we’ve ever encountered. We love going to grocery stores in foreign countries to see what is similar and what is different but this one is on the edge of Chinatown and probably resembles a large store in Beijing or Hong Kong more than one anywhere in Canada or the States. The selection of live fish and shellfish was amazing and that was just in the beginning. I could easily live near a store like that one. We picked up a rice ball steamed in a

Canada’s third largest city, Vancouver has the most temperate climate in the country

and is consistently rated one of the top three of the world’s most livable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit survey.

banana leaf filled with pork & egg along with a bottle of juice. The juice was good but the rice ball not to our taste. We should have gone for the one with sweet bean paste. Mmmmmmmmm.

Chinatown was kind of winding down as we wandered through since it was almost 1730 but we did make it into the Sun Yat Sen Garden, a beautiful, formal Chinese garden. Tranquil and lovely despite the bustling city around it, it was a pleasure walking through taking in the lush greens and sweet scented flowering trees. By the time it was closing and we were leaving I was pretty sore and starting to get tired but we wandered another block to discover that they were just getting the night street market that they set up in the summertime. Interesting to see all the hustle/bustle of trying to set up as quickly as possible between the end of the regular workday and the start of the night market but not interesting enough to hang around to see what would be offered for sale.

We were getting really hot (the weather was ideal today and had been in the low-20s [Celsius, that is] and very sunny and I needed to find a washroom. Wandering into a coffeeshop called Waves, we discovered iced chocolate (a very rich drink made with Belgium chocolate—I highly recommend this for you chocolate-lovers)

and enjoyed splitting one greatly. After that and 3 glasses of ice water we were ready to wend our way back to the hotel. We wandered through Gastown just a bit (the oldest part of the city which we’ll tour a bit more tomorrow) and then off to find our bus back. We just missed one and there was no way I could run (my right foot was killing me) but it wasn’t a long wait and made it back just fine.

We showered, I called some friends that we’ll see tomorrow (I’ll tell you more about them tomorrow) to set up plans, and started to write this while Ed napped. When he woke up around 2030 he figured I needed some real food and we ended up back at the White Spot since we didn’t want to do the hotel restaurant and we hadn’t found any others in the neighborhood yet. This time Ed did a salmon burger and I did a salmon Caesar salad and we both were quite pleased again.

It’s now 2200 local time (midnight our time) and my eyes are definitely closing. It’s time to shut off this contraption (I traveled with an MSI Wind netbook which made picture storage and travelogue writing much more convenient) and find my pillow. Tomorrow is another day and probably at least one more adventure

Day 2, Vancouver, May 30, 2009

If you have only a day or two to spend in a city there are a couple of ways to approach it. Many of our fellow travelers did the easy things like the city tour provided by GCT or close explorations and maybe a bit of what was suggested by the tour director but that wasn’t for us. New city. Big city (3-4 million depending on what you spoke to). Gorgeous weather (23 Celsius and sunny or mostly sunny) all day long. We wanted to see and do as much as possible. And thanks to some friends, we did just that.

The day started out probably a bit too early—after all, were still very much on Madison time—and were awake 0500 local time. That gave us 2 hours before even the coffee would be ready for Ed. Breakfast was served in a meeting room with others from the tour group. Feels weird to say group since once we got past the city tour we were about to take, have a group dinner that evening (which we were going to

skip), have transport to and from the ship, and back to the airport at the end of the 10 days, we were going to become just 33 people amongst about 1800 on the ship. But the food was decent and the conversation pleasant. We had a short orientation from our tour director, Denise, and we had an hour on our own before the city tour.

For the tour, we were loaded up into a large tour bus and we were off following much the same route we took the day before on the city bus but with cushier seats and commentary from Denise along the way. We drove through a very deserted Chinatown (the second largest in North America—only San Francisco’s is larger) and a just as deserted Gastown (the old part of the city that is now trendy shops and restaurants). No stops and not much to see except to get a feel for it a little different than the day before. We probably learned more on our own, actually.

From there the bus

The metro areaof Vancouver is divided into multiple self-governing munici-

palities which are together referred to as the Lower Mainland or the Greater

Vancouver Regional District.

took us to Stanley Park, a huge park (over 400 hectares) on a peninsula. A couple of nice stops for pictures and souvenir (yea, sure, you bethcah) shopping—one near some wonderful modern totem poles and with a nice view of the city and harbor, and one at Prospect Point for nice views of West & North Vancouver. The park mostly made up of a lot of rain forest, old growth trees with biking/walking paths around and through. We were there early enough so it was not too crowded. The bus then drove us along English Bay and its large beach to Spanish Banks which is an even larger beach. Another photo opportunity there and Ed determined the water was cold enough to chill wine but not beer.

The next stop was the Robert Held gallery which is an art glass studio for a demonstration of glass blowing and some shopping time. I have always been drawn to glassblowers and am never quite sure why I’d never had the nerve to take a class and learn. Might be something I have to pursue in my old age. The commentary was good and the artist was amazing as we watch him turn a

lump of molten sand into a beautiful fluted bowl (the pictures don’t begin to do the work justice). I drooled over many pieces but I just don’t live in an art gallery so drool is enough (plus a few pictures).

After that, the bus dropped off those that wished to at Granville Island which is a series of shops, restaurants, and a large market. We got off there and went off to find some friends.

Sheri & LJ are folks I met through an internet chat room about 15 years ago. Lots of online chat, quite a few phone calls for a while, sharing of lives and pictures and such happened mostly back then. Probably lost touch about 8-10 years ago with them which was/is a shame but once I knew this trip was going to happen I decided to track them down through Facebook and it worked! Back in touch we were all excited about finally meeting face-to-face and it turns out they love showing visitors their world. We found them by about 1245 and it was awesome to finally make contact. Ed had never spoken to them or chatted

Day 2, Vancouver, May 30, 2009 (cont.)

with them online but he trusted me and it turned out both couples did well together. We spent the next 10 hours with them and I can’t imagine a better way to spend a day.

We found some food (a nice busy food court with lots of options for everyone), ate and chatted for a while and then took off. The drive started out covering much of the same territory in their truck but lots of chatter and some different stories. They drove us up through UBC (University of British Columbia) where they both went to school which is a beautiful, expansive campus. Eventually we wound our way to the Lions’ Gate Bridge which separates the main part of the city and West & North Van. Incredible drive to Lighthouse Park which turned out not to be the park they thought of taking us to but a wonderful rainforest walk out to a point with a lighthouse. Cool forest and hilly walk which felt good after all the sitting. We stopped at another

park called Whytecliffs which afforded a fantastic view on our way to our next two stops.

Capilano Suspension Bridge was something I never thought I could do. I’ve been afraid of heights all my life (as Ed says the second step of the kitchen stepstool has never seen my feet) and crossing this gorge on a suspension bridge is not something I ever thought I’d do but I did. Granted, I was holding tight to the cable with one hand and to Ed’s belt with the other and mostly staring at that hand as we went across but I did it! After we got over to the other side there were a series of seven suspension bridges up over the trees (they call it the Treetop Adventure) and I did all of them (this time going first but still hanging on tight). But at least I looked around this time. And I did it!! Of course I still had to get back and it was pretty much the same as going over, white-knuckled and looking at Ed’s belt but I did admire the view a couple of times.

Coastal Indians settled in the region by 500 B.C. In 1792, British naval captain George Vancouver explored the area. The city was

incorporated in 1886, the same year the Canada-wide railroad was completed, and

named after Captain Vancouver.

The next stop was Grouse Mountain where we met Jordan & Shannon, Sheri & LJ’s daughters (two young ladies in their early 20s who were as bright and personable as their parents) and we took a gondola ride up to the top of the 4100 ft peak (well, almost the peak since the ski hill is even above that). Again, not something I ever thought I could do but it was amazing and I hardly closed my eyes on the way up (never on the way down, though). Once at the top, we wandered a bit past magnificent wood carvings and the remainder of the snow from this past season and found a pair of orphaned grizzlies and watched them playing in their 10 acre habitat. They’re 8yo and had been orphaned as cubs and were studied and cared for by the Refuge for Endangered Wildlife. We wandered back to the main building and got some burgers and stuff and went out to sit on the patio right on the edge where the gondolas come up the side of the mountain. We sat and ate and talked, visited the gift shop a bit, and sat and talked some more. Waiting until it was dark to take the gondola back down when

the city was on fire with twinkling lights.

We bid farewell to Jordan & Shannon and it was time to head back. We did one more turn around Stanley Park to see the dark forest and then the magic of the lights of the city around us. I have to admit my own conversation slowed down as my brain started to shut down from sheer exhaustion (it was after 2200 when we got on the gondola to descend the mountain) but I barely wanted the day to end. Sheri & LJ dropped us off at 2300 and we hugged each other tightly and decided we had to find a way to do something like this again. In the room by 2305, our last coherent thought was “shower, morning” and I believe were both asleep by 2307.

It was a full day and it was an awesome day. A day of lots of the city and yet lots of nature, too. It was a day to cement a friendship that seems to work on many levels for us. And it was the second day on this incredible journey that seems to be getting better with each passing day. Let’s see what the third day will brings.

Day 3, Vancouver/Embarkation, May 31, 2009

Day started out with a pleasant forecast for weather and anticipation of the activities ahead and other than feeling like a mouse going through a maze at times it was just that. Up early again, we had to wait until breakfast was ready to be served and even then kept it light since we knew not what was in store for us that morning. So, we grabbed enough fuel to get us started and then grabbed the computer and went across the road to Starbucks for their free WiFi connection (the hotel charges $15/24 hour period). We grabbed something to drink and took turns on the ‘puter while the other of us stretched their legs around the mall (City Square which has been built adjacent to and a part that had been built in 1905 and 1908 to house the Model School and Normal School, respectively). Two of our companions through GCT joined us (two nurses from Washington state) and I eventually left Ed to them while I wandered

back to the hotel to call Rachel (who is as close to being my stepsister as she could be without her mother actually marrying my father—yea, it’s complicated).

Rachel was just waking up but we figured we could meet and have a bit of time exploring the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens before she had to get us back to catch the motor coach that would take us to the ship. I took the next hour or so to catch up on this log and then we went down to meet her and her 14 month son, Ethan.

It was a picture perfect day to explore the gardens and to catch up (we hadn’t seen each other in about eight years). The gardens have an English hedge maze and a wonderful Rhododendron walk. We chatted and walked and just enjoyed the next hour or so and then reluctantly had to move on to the next part of the adventure. We did make plans to have lunch at the Aquarium the Sunday when we return from sea so that will be good.

We were the last to

Vancouver Facts:

Avg temperature in January: 3° C (40° F)Avg temperature in July: 18° C (65° F)

Avg annual rain and snowfall: 1,219 mm

get there to check out of the hotel and onto the bus (we were even 10 minutes early) so I guess no one wanted to be late. The trip down to the cruise ship terminal at Canada Place only took about 10 minutes and we finally got the first view of what would be our floating home for the next week. More on that later. Denise did take us all the way to the correct line and made sure our baggage would make it unto the ship. There were a lot of negatives about using GCT for this trip in particular (I do NOT recommend them for this trip but still think the company has a lot going for them) but transfers to and from airport & ship & hotel were definitely smooth.

The English hedge maze at the gardens was kind of a training ground for the line to go through security and then through the check-in process. Ed jumped out of line for a bit since they had a booth selling binoculars and he’d forgotten to pack his (someone will get them for Christmas—speak up now if you want to be on the list) and I was almost afraid .I’d have to leave the line or something to wait for him. I have never seen him make a purchase

so quickly. But he made it and we continued. One of the last bits of the rigmarole was receiving our card that would serve as a room key/boarding pass/ship credit card and then we could board the ship.

Okay, so the ship is big (weighs 93000 tons and holds around 2000 passengers and over 1000 on the crew) but it’s laid out very strangely. There were a couple of the buffets open for lunch but it took a bit to find them. One had a very long line and the other was much shorter though fewer options. But it was food and it was now 1400 and there hadn’t been much yet that day. We found a nice place outside aft (back of ship) and found it perfectly edible. The day was still warm, the sun bright, and no cares in the world really.

After eating, Ed decided to disembark and go explore around Canada Place and the Conference Center next to it (a very “green” building with grass on the roof) and I decided to stay on board and explore a bit. I couldn’t go swimming since I didn’t have my suitcase yet but

Day 3, Vancouver/Embarkation, May 31, 2009 (cont.)

I wandered fore to aft a couple of times, exploring as I went. I discovered that despite the size of the ship and the number of people on board the pools are incredible small (in fact, so much seems to be the world in miniature from the pools to the sports deck—the golfing tees are big enough one person and I certainly don’t begin to understand the joy in driving a ball four feet) but the bars and casino are bigger but that’s where the money is, isn’t it?

Ed returned with an interesting story of doing the maze to get out and then the maze to get back in and his encounter with a guard and his dog. The dog was sure Ed had been in contact with either firearms or drugs so it took a bit. My bags eventually showed up but his didn’t and we’re still wondering if the same dog

discovered the same scent on the bags. Whatever it was this was the strange part of it all. Best guess Ed has is that the helmets that he imports from India and resells in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) are oiled with something similar to gun oil and his suitcase had been near the helmets. But he was back in time for the mandatory evacuation drill which was sufficiently boring. We had to pay a bit more attention to it than we do on a plane, though, since this was all a pretty new experience.

We stood on the side on deck 6, as far from the noise of the party on deck 11 as we could be, to watch Vancouver disappear behind us. An incredible day, weatherwise, it was finally getting a bit chillier since we were out of the sun. Eventually driven in by the chill of the wind,

Norwegian SunShip Registry: Bahamas

Maiden Voyage: 2001Capacity: 2,002

Gross Tonnage: 78,309Length: 848 feet

Speed : 23 kn

we explored some more and by 2015 or so found ourselves ready for dinner.

Our first choice was the Tapas Bar, Las Ramblas, but they were pretty much out of food by the time we got there and we got some olives and marinated mushrooms and not much else. However, a singer by the name of Kim Doolittle was performing and she was quite good with vocals and acoustic guitar (though it was much too loud for us). We then went to Pacific Heights which is the restaurant that touts themselves on fresh and healthy but it turns out it’s the only non-premium restaurant (the ones that charge you another $15-25 over the cruise price per person per meal) that you need a reservation at in the evening. Waiting until 2100 was a bit much for me at this point. We wandered down to the Seven Seas which is a large full service restaurant that had only about a 10-minute wait. This one was worth it. We had decent service, beautiful setting even if it was a cavernous dining room, and a nice selection of items to make a complete 3-course dinner. Every dinner had a selection from Cooking

Light magazine recipes for each course and we started with a potato and fennel soup that fit that bill from that collection. It was excellent. I chose the mahi-mahi that was served with dried-tomato polenta and fennel and Ed had a vegetarian curry. Both suited us quite well for what we were looking for. Dessert for him was a chocolate Bavarian with espresso sauce and mine was a no-sugar-added coconut-pineapple cheesecake. Again, both suited us but neither was as outstanding as the entrée we had chosen.

After dinner was a show, as there will be every night in the Stardust Theatre (400 seat proscenium thrust stage on decks 6/7) that gave us a couple of opening acts of performers that we’d see other nights or elsewhere on the ship plus a comedian named Sam Griesbaum —a large, quite funny, Texan—who really was quite good when my eyes were actually open. By the time the show was over about 2300 I was ready to fall into bed. And thus ended our third day.

Day 4, At Sea, June 1, 2009

Well, this was the day that kind of proved to me why a large ship cruise just isn’t much for us. There is too much down time. If you don’t shop and don’t gamble and don’t drink, there is only so much to do. Granted the scenery is phenomenal and can so make it worth it but it made for a very long day.

Morning broke and we tried to eat light and go try to get a work out in. Eating light wasn’t too hard—a bit of cheese, smoked salmon, sausage, and fruit (I tried some of their muesli but it was way too sweet for me—lots of honey—and Ed finished what I took, mostly to sweeten his coffee. We got to the fitness room and every cardio machine was occupied and about half the weight machines. I was hoping to get close to my usual workout but that wasn’t to be. The recumbent bike proved to be too hard on my knees and ankles and I’m getting enough walking in so a treadmill seemed redundant. I stuck to a few weight machines and probably did about

20-30 decent minutes of a workout. The pools weren’t open (in fact they weren’t open all day and it was up to 28C or so) and so I returned to the cabin and took a shower and dressed.

The rest of the day was mostly drifting. I tried what was supposed to be a lecture on Alaskan history and it seemed to be a description of some of the shore excursions (which was too bad). We read on and off a lot of the day. Wandered in between, exploring what we hadn’t found yet, even played a bit of ping pong which was a challenge with the wind (neither of us had played in almost forever as well but the wind made the ball have a mind of its own).

This is where I think that GCT could have helped make the trip much more successful. Somewhere along the way the company decided that there was no reason to send one of their tour directors on the ship with the group since the ship provides so many services and activities.

I really think that they could provide lectures about the geography, geology, local culture, and history as well as either lend some guidance about which shore excursions to book or even plan on group excursions for those that don’t want to pay so MUCH extra to book them themselves. (Our inexperience with large ship cruising and the fact that we paid an extra $1000 total for the two of us to go on the four excursions that we scheduled could have been helped out if GCT had thought it all through a bit more.) I spoke to one of my fellow group members who was so angry about it all he was going to just never travel with GCT again. I pointed out that the company will never fix the problem if he doesn’t speak up. (Later note: I tried to explain to GCT about what I perceived as problems and possible solutions for them when I filled out my trip evaluation after returning home.)

We went to lunch was in the Pacific Heights with a nice couple, Hiroko & Floyd, we’d met on the GCT tour—they’re from the Washington DC area. This restaurant offered a variety of pastas and

pizzas at lunch time. It was pretty tasty but not a huge amount of variety. It would have been nice if they had offered salad as well. The conversation made it much nicer, though.

During the course of the day we got to see porpoises and whales. Some of them close enough to see in the pictures. With so little to do this became a big deal.

Ed and I split up for part of the evening while he went back to Las Ramblas to catch a set or two by Kim Doolittle and I went to the Stardust Lounge to see a Broadway review of shows produced by Cameron MacIntosh that included Les Mis, Phantom, Oklahoma, Carousel, and quite a few more (some from shows I didn’t even know like Moby Dick and Witches of Eastwyck). The performers had a lot of energy and talent but there were some technical glitches that kind of stood out for me. Overall, it was enjoyable but not enough to want to see it again. It was a strange sort of Review, though, since usually reviews are more by composer than they are by producer which made

Day 4, At Sea, June 1, 2009 (cont.)

Day 5, Ketchikan/At Sea June 2, 2009

it more like listening to XM’s Broadway channel.I caught up with Ed and we went back to the

Seven Seas for dinner. Tonight, he got a pumpkin soup with crab and I had grilled asparagus & scallops to start. We both had the lobster tail and grouper for the entrée. Dessert was a chocolate crème brule for Ed and a chocolate mousse cake for me (from a Cooking Light recipe). Again, it was a very pleasant experience.

We went up to the foredeck for the sunset until we got too cold (it was 2200 and just starting—it’s 2300 now and I’d still call it dusk out there). From there, I got the ‘puter to catch up here and came up to Las Ramblas for Kim’s last set which is just about over.

Tomorrow we dock in Ketchikan around 0600 and we are supposed to muster for our shore excursion to the Misty Fjords National Monument area at 0620 so I would say bed is in my future soon rather than staying up to see if there are any aurora borealis. Maybe another night.

This day was much more eventful than the day before and it started very early. With a meeting time for our tour scheduled for 0620 we set the wake-up call for 0540. We both awoke around 0340 and it took a bit to get back to sleep. I rarely remember my dreams and don’t think that I have nightmares often but I awoke to say “Make sure we have our tickets for the tour since I just dreamed we lost them”. Definitely was not the case and we were in for quite a tour.

We grabbed a light breakfast and headed down to the meeting point in the Dazzles Lounge (the disco bar). There were 48 going on our tour and we were led down to deck 3 on the seaside of the ship and right onto the tour boat that would take us to the Misty Fjords National Monument and Tongass National Forest. We were in for quite a ride.

The boat probably can hold about 200, so there was plenty of space to move about. Protected enclosures on two decks

afforded everyone a great view and would be a good wind break for us though usually it would be good protection from the rain (Ketchikan averages 160-200 inches of rain per annum) but today was another exceptional one weatherwise. There was nary a cloud in the sky and a bright ball of hot, white light shining down upon us which seemed to astound the tour guide and her assistants. I guess last week at this time it was pouring rain with 25-30mph gusts of wind. You certainly weren’t going to hear us complain about that.

We had maps to follow of the area while the guide explained about the geography of the land, flora, and wildlife of the area. As we traveled along we spotted a few eagles, a couple of eagle’s aeries, some porpoises, and harbor seals along with an active rookery once we got to Rudyard Bay that was the home of many gulls and another bird that they said were Black

Inside Passage natural, protected water-way, c.950 mi (1,530 km) long, thread-

ing through the Alexander Archipelago off the coast of British Columbia and SE

Alaska. From Seattle, Wash., to Skagway, Alaska, or via Cross Sound to the Gulf of Alaska, the route uses channels and straits between islands and the main-land that afford protection from the

storms and open waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Day 5, Ketchikan/At Sea, June 2, 2009 (cont.)

Guillemots, a relative of the puffin with red stripes on the wings. We slowed from time to time for the captain or guide to point out something special like an eagle perched high in a tree or the New Eddystone Rock as the ship made its way to Rudyard Bay. Much of the time we were traveling around 35mph and the wind was chill and fierce. The crew treated us well with good commentary, helpful answers to our many questions, and tasty tidbits from time to time (a bit of strudel, a choice of clam chowder or veggie chili, and a bit of smoked salmon on a cracker). There was even a Tlingit native artisan who had a few crafts with her and was explaining her choice of materials and reasoning behind what she made.

The bay is an incredible site with the cliffs rising

over 3000 feet almost straight up from the water. It’s so straight that the ship can run very close to the shore and we felt we could almost reach out and touch the stone. This area is all carved from the glaciers and we passed by a terminal moraine (where a glacier had stopped) and cirque (where a glacier was born). There were a myriad variety of lichen and fir trees covering the almost straight sides of the cliffs. There were waterfalls created by the melting of the snow high above us and in one area many birds nesting or roosting on the sheer cliff face.

Eventually we had to turn around to come back but the ship slowed to allow us to see a native pictograph of a sun and some round spots about 100 years old. In all we traveled about 100 miles roundtrip into a

beautiful section of pristine wilderness. I can see why it was giving the designation to keep it so. It was four hours well worth our time and money.

As easy as it was to get from cruise ship to tour boat without having to go through the rigmorale of joining the throngs of other cruise passengers disembarking, it was also easy to disembark the tour boat since they let us off nearer to the town. We had about 2- 2 ½ hours to explore before having to be aboard again. The cruise boat was kind enough provide brochures with a map of the town and a couple of walking tours included and give a couple of recommendations. We decided to try to find the Totem Heritage Center and ended up with a nice Japanese couple from the tour/ship deciding that where we were going sounded interesting and decided to follow along.

The walk along Ketchikan Creek was very nice though my foot was hurting quite a bit once we made it up to where we were going. It was a fascinating part of the history of this area and the native Tlingit people. We got lucky along the way as we passed a

couple returning from that area who offered us two free tickets for the Heritage Center. There is a salmon hatchery nearby and tickets for both are offered as a package deal if you choose to go that route and they had but then decided to turn around and go back after the hatchery. We offered to split with the couple following us but they turned us down so we saved $10 admission. Check out my pictures of the wonderful carved poles and some of the other native art to get an idea of what we got to see. I sat and spoke with one of the center’s guides for a bit and enjoyed hearing a bit about her life here.

The ride back to the docks was on the free city bus and the way my foot and hip were feeling it was nice. The driver was pleasant and was another native of the area and helped me to see how open the people who live up here are. Okay, so I was only dealing with people who have to deal with tourists and rely on them for their living but it is nice to get a little glimpse into their lives. Having only a total of 8 hours in port does not

The Tongass National Forest, the nation’s largest national forest, covers most of

Southeast Alaska, surrounding the famous Inside Passage. It offers unique chances to view eagles, bears, spawning salmon, and the breath-taking vistas of “wild” Alaska.

Day 5, Ketchikan/At Sea, June 2, 2009 (cont.)

give anyone a real chance to get to know the city but the taste we had was quite nice.

We were let off right in front of the ship at about 1300 but didn’t have to be on until 1330 and we weren’t set to sail until 1400. I suggested we try to walk a bit but my foot wouldn’t allow us much. Enough time to see a little bit of the town the other direction from downtown and even to stop into the hardware store to see if they had a watch (frustrating not to have one with us—neither of have worn one wince we got mobile phones and with virtually no reception up here we had to resort using the cameras and Ed’s PDA to act as clocks for is) but no such luck—just a small travel alarm which wouldn’t have helped much.

We got back to the ship and joined the line

going through security (good thing we didn’t buy any food or soda in town since it was all being confiscated by security—and I had considered buying some soda if I’d seen any. At $2/each or $50.33 for unlimited sodas for the week, there is no way I’m drinking soda this week: water and iced tea are plentiful and no extra charge). Got back to the room and I totally collapsed. I was sore but turned out more tired than I thought I was since Ed said I fell asleep almost immediately.

By the time I awoke, we were underway (it was about 1415) and we pulled ourselves together and set off to find lunch (never a hard thing to do on the ship). Mostly stuck to light soup and salad (though Ed was kidding me that the Beef Wellington didn’t look much like salad),

it was just right as we sat outside to watch Ketchikan disappear behind us. There was time to relax and catch up on this log as we sat outside in the cool breeze and watch the incredible scenery slip past us.

The afternoon was laid back as the day before had been. We found that the main buffet area which was not very crowded since we were so late. Obviously they still had enough to feed us (which is another of the not so good things about the large ship—there is always food available, almost anywhere you go). We then settled back to read for most of the rest of the afternoon (or I worked on this log for a bit). The scenery still helps make the experience unique despite the lack of things to do. It was too windy to try to play ping-pong. It continued to stay just as beautiful as it had been and we just enjoyed the rest of the day.

Around 1900 I decided to go back to the room to get a shower and Ed napped for a bit while I vegged out, channel hopping on the TV in the room. Definitely not the best way to spend our time but if we were going to try to enjoy the rest of the evening it was worth it.

We went down to Las

Ramblas to listen to Kim Doolittle again (she was doing songs of great female vocalists) and enjoyed her first set until our dinner reservation at Pacific Heights at 2100. I worked on organizing pictures while we listened. She had a much bigger audience than she had had the previous two nights. Dinner was nice. Pacific Heights’ specialty is recipes from Cooking Light magazine and works at being full of flavour without a lot of fat or salt, etc. They were out of mussels so I started with a very tasty clam chowder and Ed had the pear, turkey, walnut and bleu cheese salad. I chose pike steamed in paper that came with a few veggies and brown rice and Ed went for the vegetarian lasagna. My dessert was a coconut/fruit flavoured meringue filled with fruit and topped with ice cream while he had poached pears. We wandered off to see if the sunset was worth viewing before heading back to the cabin to crash.

Another full day and a fun one. Halfway through the trip at this point.

Ketchikan was named “One of the Top 100 Arts Communities in the U.S.” Ket-chikan’s abundance of Alaskan Native culture, local artists and arts inspired

special events and activities contributed to the title.

Day 6, Juneau/Dawson Glacier/Endicott Arm, June 3, 2009

Despite not really having a clue how to set Ed’s PDA as an alarm clock we got up with plenty of time to grab a bit of food and coffee for Ed and wend our way through the maze of the ship to find our way to the pier to try to find our tour. Of course it wasn’t the same way out as it had been the day before so it’s always an adventure. Out on the aft deck for breakfast was beautifully cool with rising green mountains on both sides of the channel. We definitely had a beautiful day ahead of us (forecast was around 80F and sunny). Giving ourselves plenty of time set us up to be very early when we got to the pier. Better than being late and causing others to be late or miss the tour.

Juneau is the only U.S. state capital that is not accessible by land—sea or air only and we only

had about 6 hours there. The tour we chose was called “Capture Juneau Photography Tour” and was led by a professional photographer that tried to help give us tips about what to look for and how to get unique, good photographs. He was geared towards making art rather than just snapping pictures and tried to get that thought across to us. There were only eight of us on the tour so it was a comfortable sized group that could dawdle along the way trying to get just the right shot. It is unfortunate that the description of the tour wasn’t totally accurate. We were treated to pictures by our guide, who is a very fine photographer, but none of the historical pictures promised in the tour’s website.

Our guide, Cam, ended up having to be the driver as well as the guide since

his driver called in sick. Maybe this was the reason that it wasn’t exactly as described. Cam drove us across the channel and through the town of Douglas to what had been the town of Treadwell. Treadwell was once the largest town in Alaska but the mines collapsed around 1917 and killed the town. We went on a trail of about a mile or so that wound through the ruins of this town, now more ghost town than anything, while Cam spoke of the history of the area and pointed out some of the flora and rusted pieces of the old factory town.

After we returned to the van, Cam drove us out to the Mendenhall Glacier area. We parked in the bus park and hiked a trail of about a mile that twisted and turned through the beautiful temperate rain forest. The trail came out with a beautiful view of the lake and glacial valley and a wonderful view of the Glacier. Hearing that the Glacier has accelerated its speed of retreat to about 200 feet a year puts it all in perspective. We had walked through forest that wasn’t there 100 years ago and forest just beginning to grow in that hadn’t been

there 50 years ago. Driving us back to

town, Cam showed us a slide show of some of his work and helped us to understand that there were many things to do with your pictures rather than just put them on the computer. It was a nice tour overall and I suspect that if I knew better questions to ask I might have gotten a little more of it in learning about the camera. Instead I think I can view it as a nice tour of a couple of beautiful trails on a gorgeous day with an entertaining guide. Each walk was about a mile and a half through very pretty areas.

Cam offered to either drop people off in the downtown area or back at the ship so Ed and I split up with him walking back to the ship and me opting to be dropped off at the pier. We eventually caught back up with each other to enjoy lunch while the ship sailed out of Juneau. The lines for most of the food were pretty long especially the grilling out stuff on the aft deck. Although it smelled enticing, I wasn’t in for that kind of standing in line so just did the short buffet line to get some salad and halibut. Ed

The economy of Juneau is based on state, local and federal government, tourism, min-ing, and fishing. During an average summer,

over 800,000 visitors experience Juneau’s spectacular natural beauty. Juneau is only

45 miles from end to end, but has 130 miles of hiking trails

Day 6, Juneau/Dawson Glacier/Endicott Arm, June 3, 2009 (cont.)

wandered through the big buffet line and obviously found enough to satisfy him.

We were due to travel to the Tracey Arm (Fjord) to get to the Sawyer Glacier, set to be the highpoint of the trip, but it was announced by the captain during lunch that there was too much ice and we would be taking a different Arm. He tried to make it sound like we might see more wildlife that way as a way to apologize for the change in itinerary. Didn’t seem to matter since the terrain was incredible and it definitely is something we’ll never forget.

We started out the afternoon just sitting on the foredeck on deck 12 where it was relatively quiet (no music/muzak or thousands of people or engine noises). Ed had his book and I just had the scenery and my

camera. Eventually it seemed we had prime real estate for the next few hours as we turned into the fjord heading towards the glacier. At first the water was as calm as pond—almost glasslike. The wind started up after a bit but it didn’t matter although Ed finally had to go back to get his jacket and a warmer shirt and after a while I went back to the cabin to drop off his book and get him his gloves and windbreaker. The wind was probably 40mph and mostly very chill though at times it was like a warm breeze. Trying to hold the camera steady in the wind was a challenge but, oh, so worth it.

The ship took us up a relatively narrow fjord (narrower than we thought a ship this size could navigate) with cliffs that rose majestically to snow-capped peaks. We

never saw a lot of wildlife beyond a couple of eagles, some gulls, and a few harbor seals. We heard that a humpback whale was sited to one side but too many other gawkers went that way and it wasn’t worth pushing through the crowd at that point. We did see quite a few icebergs of varying sizes and a lot of waterfalls.

When we came to the Dawson Glacier almost 3 hours later (the fjord is about 30 miles long) we knew it was a moment that would never be forgotten. We couldn’t get too close with a ship this size which is a shame. There was a small tour boat that had come from the ship which we understand was filled with members of the crew. No one we spoke to remembers it being offered as an optional tour which really is too bad. We had a great opportunity to watch it as the ship turned around (something that kind of boggles the mind, really). By this time there was no wind and the sun was hot. The sky clear & blue and we really lucked out that most of the people either decided the show was over or they went to the aft deck to watch it disappear behind us. We just sat in the

sun and soaked it up. Yea, Ed’s so right. We’re on a tropical cruise in Alaska.

It was about 1900 when I decided a shower was in order and then we could make at least the first set of Kim Doolittle (it was Canadian night—all music by Canadian musicians) and then head down to the Seven Seas for dinner. It was pleasant eating so late—service was excellent, few other diners and a window seat this time. Ed had a cold soup and I went for the tomato bisque to start and then we both had tilapia in a coconut sauce served with jasmine rice and fresh asparagus for the entrée. The cooking light dessert choice was flan which wasn’t bad (the caramel sauce was a bit rubbery). We ended the night walking to the foredeck observation lounge, checking out the map of where we’d been, and then walking back to Las Ramblas where I let Ed off to listen to Kim’s last set while I went back to crash (he was wired after 3 cups of coffee with dinner). I turned on the TV to something but was probably asleep before I figured out what it was.

Today there are still over 100,000 glaciers in Alaska, although ice covers only 5 percent

of the state. The icefields and glaciers of the Tongass National Forest are some of the few

remnants of the once-vast ice sheets.

Day 7, Skagway, June 4, 2009

Despite being relatively tired when we crashed the night before, waking up before the alarm wasn’t too hard. Pulled together our packs to be ready for the day ahead of us (jackets, cameras, sun hats, etc), we wandered up to breakfast and ran into Jenny & Lee, the two nurses that we keep crossing paths with from the GCT group. (It still is weird to supposedly be on a tour with 31 other people and only seeing a few of them from time to time aboard the ship. I still wonder why GCT has bothered to do this tour when they have so little to do with us. You’d think that they could have arranged for certain tours in each port city or perhaps some social opportunities aboard the ship. Oh, well, this has been a learning experience and they still offered it all in a decent package deal for a reasonable price.)

Skagway is an old gold rush town and wouldn’t exist if not for the stampede of dreamers in 1897. Its 4 blocks wide and 23 blocks long at the

end of a long, deep harbor at the end of the Lynn Arm. When we stepped out on deck we were greeted with mountains rising about 6000-8000 feet above us. It was breathtaking and my mind kept wandering to them as we ate breakfast and it was easy to get lost in them without ever stepping foot off the ship. There is something about them that puts my fear of heights at ease and I don’t understand it.

Our first tour of the day was a train trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad up to White Pass which was one of two routes through from Alaska on the trek to Dawson City, BC where the gold had been discovered. The WP&YR is a narrow-gauge railroad that rises from the sea to the pass almost 3000 feet up. It winds along a cliff on one side and a deep ravine on the other—you can see the Yukon Highway winding up the hill on the other side of the divide. We decided to take the longest walk to get to our railcar and

went all the way to the first one behind the engines (15 cars and 3 engines). What a smart idea that was since we were two of seven to ride in that car (two were a Swiss-Canadian couple, Kat & Earhart, who we’d had the pleasure of speaking with a number of times aboard the ship; they were traveling with Kat’s Swiss mother; Margaret. The other couple was from the GCT group. Having the whole car to ourselves, we could move about to see the great view all of the time and when standing out on the platform between trains we didn’t have to worry too much about taking turns taking pictures. The only problem on the way out was being too close to the diesel fumes which seemed to make Ed a bit motion sick.

They provided maps and a lot of historical information as we chugged along (too bad it was with diesel engines, though) and the guide pointed out a number of things along the way. We went over some incredible bridges and through a couple of tunnels. One of the bridges was a wooden trestle that let into a wooden framed tunnel. Another was the replacement for the steel

cantilever bridge which was the tallest of its kind in the world when it was constructed in 1901 (though they stopped using it in 1969). Probably a good thing as we rattled past it on the tracks. They stopped using it after they built the second tunnel and a less intense bridge over the gorge.

The summit, as I said, is a bit less than 3000 feet and not too remarkable once you get up there. It’s just over the border of British Columbia and sports US & Canadian flags as well as the flags of Alaska, BC & the Yukon. It’s about 20 miles from Skagway and if we’d booked a different trip that was most of the day would have taken us all the way to the Yukon. Kind of a miscalculation on our parts but the day turned out just fine. The Yukon border would have been another 20 miles north at Fraser, BC. Anyway, we weren’t allowed to leave the train at the summit but watched as they disconnected the engines and moved them around to the other end of the train. We then maneuvered out of the way so another train could do the same and then maneuvered out of

Tens of thousands of would be prospec-tors rushed to the gold fields, but they were

mostly too late. Most of the payin’ claims were staked out and filed in the six months

after August 16, 1896.

Day 7, Skagway, June 4, 2009 (cont.)

the way so a third could also do it. We were first in and eventually first out. In the other cars they had everyone change sides so everyone had the “good” view but we continued to move about as we wished. The best thing about the choice of our railcar was that we were now the end of the train with no caboose so could hang out on the back platform. With four of the seven of us wanting to be out on the platforms this worked out just fine.

We were back in Skagway by 1130 which gave us time to wander a bit and sit down to get a bite to eat and a sweet coffee drink for Ed. That, too, was probably a bit of a miscalculation but it all worked out fine in the end. We found a smoothie & espresso restaurant and split a sandwich and small salad. Too bad we didn’t consider the timing of the

next tour that was going to include a meal, though. We timed everything pretty well and made it back to the pier with about 15 minutes to spare for our last tour of the trip.

We had booked the Historic City Tour & Salmon Bake and ended up with a fun, young tour guide named Tyler who called himself Daddy Bird & dubbed us his Baby Birds. It was cute and this tour turned out to be fun. He drove us out to Liarsville a bit past the north end of town. This was where a tent city had stood during the stampede to the gold fields in 1897. They had made it up as a small living history museum with characters in costume playing music, being madams or prostitutes, and just being entertaining. This was where they had the Salmon Bake that was a tasty buffet with salmon

and chicken on the grill plus a bunch of sides like baked beans, rice, salad, cole slaw, and corn bread. There was this brown sugar sauce for the salmon but Tyler recommended that we get some on the corn bread and he was very right. We were with another small tour group (although it was obvious that this show could handle much larger crowds we were lucky enough to be with only about 18 in our group and about the same in the other) and they let us eat at a leisurely pace before funneling us over for the “town” and show.

The entertainment was good. A musician while we ate played concertina, spoons, a saw, and sang while he also explained about the different instruments that would have been brought with or created during the period. There were three other musicians that he eventually joined who played banjo, a washtub, trumpet, and guitar. They played and sang while people wandered through “town” and gift shop. The show itself once we were ushered through and seated was fun. There was a bit more music and a fun rendition of a hilarious

melodrama and a poem by the Bard of the North, Robert Service. After the show, they taught us how to pan for gold and let us even keep the flakes we found.

From Liarsville, Tyler shuttled us to a lookout point so we could see all of Skagway at one time. He ended up doing the commentary for both buses there and at our next stop giving us more of the history of the area. It wasn’t hard to see the entire city from our vantage point on the hill overlooking it. Skagway has a population of about 900 in the winter and swells to about 2500 during tourist season to have enough workers to accommodate the 8000-10000 tourists a day that come there. We drove by trailer camps and tent cities that are set up for the workers to live in. Tyler said that the trailer campsites can cost as much as $500/month and the tent sites up to $300/month.

We then were taken to the Gold Rush Cemetery that doesn’t actually have any bodies in but a few original tombstones and a few made up ones. The bodies were washed away

Skagway was originally spelled Skagua but when we made our application to have

a post office established a bureaucrat in Washington D.C. thought we mis-spelled

our town’s name and changed it to Skagway. Leave it to the D.C. bureaucracy.

Day 7, Skagway, June 4, 2009 (cont.)

in a flood about 30 years ago. We got more stories for the town’s history and then ascended a steep path up to Reid’s Falls, a magnificent waterfall named after the town hero. Ed’s estimation is that he’s walked many a mile to find waterfalls as nice and this was better than the average.

The tour ended around 1600 and we chose to be let off in town with the hopes of finding Ed a glass of sprucetip ale at the local brew pub but they were out. This is a traditional ale of the area actually made from sprucetips that was developed to help ward off scurvy in the stampeders. He got something else and we sat people-watching for a while.

We wandered through town, stopping in one store that we might have bought things at if we were there to spend money that also

had a museum dedicated mostly to whaling and ivory carving. From there we wandered to the park service buildings that were a museum and gift shop. We were just in time for a short history film of the gold rush and we sat to watch that before returning to the ship.

There was just enough time for a quick shower before the first show that we wanted to see in the Stardust Lounge so did that and got there in the middle of the first number. The show was the history of Alaska in song & story with a gentleman by the name of Steve Hinds. It was very enjoyable and definitely ranks up there with some of the better folk shows I’ve seen of this kind. I picked up a copy of his CD at the end of the set (too bad there was only one before he jumped ship). I now have equivalent shows on the

histories of Wisconsin, Indiana and Alaska in song and story. Hmmm. Maybe it’s time to go look to see if there are other local musicians in other states that have done similar programs.

Next show that we were interested in was a magician that started at 2100 so it was Ed’s turn for a shower and I tried to nap a bit. Never really got to sleep but I definitely rested a bit before we returned to the Stardust. The auditorium was mostly packed this time around but we found okay seats and sat down for an enjoyable hour of mostly sleight of hand stuff. JP, a Montreal-born magician, has a quick hand and quicker wit.

The show was done in time for us to go find the chocolate buffet. More food we didn’t really need much less that much sugar but it was definitely good. They did a lot of neat chocolate sculptures and lighted ice sculptures to decorate the buffet and drew a big crowd. Too bad I didn’t get very good pictures of it all. You’d probably gain five pounds just looking at the

pictures. Probably good that they start it at 2230 instead of 1330 since some people actually do get some sleep onboard ship. I can only imagine how crowded the zoo would be if everyone were awake for it.

The late night entertainment was a Liar’s Club with four of the entertainers (well, the activities director and his assistant, the magician and the comedian) playing what I grew up to know as Dictionary (a word is given and each of the four give a definition—only one of which is the correct one). It was amusing but I finally succumbed to sleep and left Ed up there. Since the next day would be entirely at sea there really would be no reason to get up in the morning.

All in all, a full day where we learned a bit and were entertained a lot more. At this point, I have determined that Alaska is a great time but big cruises aren’t for us. And this is as I am looking at two full days at sea coming up.

Day 8, At Sea, June 5, 2009

As I said at the end of yesterday’s log, looking forward to a full two days of sea was not something in my/our make-up. With the change of time back to BC (Pacific) time, we slept until 0900 but there really was nothing to jump start us out of bed. Ed wasn’t hungry at all and I needed a little something. The aft deck was full at first and by the time there was room it was too cold since the fog was rolling in. I ate in the Sports Bar and hung out there as we ran into Jenny & Lee (by this time Ed decided it was time for coffee and a bit of food). Eventually Kat, Kat’s mother and Earhart joined us for bit as well.

And that was about it until about 1300 when I found a bit of soup and salad and then wandered off to find a talk by JP the magician, about how he does a few of the simpler tricks and then a panel Q&A meeting the entertainers (including the comedian, the magician and a jazz singer that we haven’t heard sing yet).

That was an enjoyable two hours but had very little substance. I guess that’s what a cruise is all about—enjoyment but very little substance.

The evening definitely was an improvement on the day. After spending the afternoon walking around and organizing pictures a little bit (the netbook is a nice way to store and organize pictures but it’s a little slow to run Photoshop without a lot of frustration for me so editing just won’t happen much before I get home). Around 1800 I decided to take a short nap since being mostly idle is more tiring than being busy and then a shower before going out for the evening.

The big show of the evening was the performing company on the ship doing a show called Cirque Pan. It was a retelling of the Peter Pan story through dance, music and acrobatics. The company is versatile since they did the Broadway show earlier in the week as well as another show I skipped and did it all

very competently. It was a high energy show that was worth the time.

We chose to go to the Four Seasons, the other large dining room that duplicates the Seven Seas, for dinner after the show. Ed chose the ceviche to start and I chose a curried squash soup that came from the Cooking Light menu. We both chose the Surf and More Surf which was linguine with a half lobster tail, a mussel, a shrimp, a scallop and a bit of red snapper (not nearly enough seafood but still tasty). Dessert was some trifle for Ed and a pistachio pot de crème (also from the Cooking Light menu) for me.

We wandered to Las Ramblas for a bit of Kim Doolittle’s Celtic Music show before crashing. It still was dusk when we wandered back to the cabin around midnight. Not sure if it ever gets to be a dark night at this time of the year. I’ve given up on the idea of trying to get the Aurora Borealis.

Day 9, At Sea (again), June 6, 2009

One of the things I didn’t expect about traveling on a cruise ship was the international nature of the passengers. I expected it from the crew and the crew is made up of about 65 nationalities. But the number of languages one can hear in a day just wandering around the ship is intriguing. Especially interesting on this particular morning was watching a tribute memorial to D-Day while hearing German being spoken nearby. Not sure what my dad would have thought of that (well, actually, I’m pretty sure he would not have dealt with it very well). I hadn’t been thinking about D-Day happening this week when I chose a book from the ship’s library to read—Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation sequel An Album of Memories. Interesting coincidence.

I’m not sure what would make a big ship cruise

to be more enjoyable for me but I know I’d like to see more talks about the native people, the geology/geography, the wildlife, etc. I know there are cruises that are more geared towards particular interests like Celtic Music or Star Trek and that might help as well. I just know the way this one is, I wish I could jump ship and find something interesting to do.

No real reason to wake up today, we eased awake about 0730 local (BC) time and I wandered down with the netbook to get a bit of food and write and work on pictures. It was foggy with nothing to see out the windows for about two hours. Finally, the fog lifted and the BC shore was within view so I decided to grab the camera and go for a walk for a while. There is no place in particular that I want to be until one or more of the shows later tonight. We

have to be packed before we go to bed and have the bags outside the rooms by 0100. We dock tomorrow before 0800 but no reason to get off the ship too early since we are being met by the GCT tour director around 1030. I suspect that staying up late to see the ship pass through the narrows around midnight would be interesting as will trying to be up early (0600) to pass under the Lion’s Gate Bridge on the way into Vancouver.

The afternoon was spent lazing away. I spent a bit of time on deck but finally the wind drove me in to settle back in the forward observation lounge. Not much to see since the fog had moved back in around us. I certainly didn’t need to eat again (probably for months) and there really wasn’t much else to do. Oh, yea, I’ve said that a few times haven’t I? From the observation lounge I worked my way aft to the sports bar and plugged the computer in to catch up on the log and watch the sea from the large windows that line the room.

People watching and eavesdropping has become the hobby of the moment and might be better than the organized entertainment. Hearing the Canadians

complain that they can’t watch the Stanley Cup playoffs since baseball & soccer dominate ESPN in June. Hearing two teenagers jeer at the old folks remembering D-Day. “Not like it matters, dude, it was like a hundred years ago.” More than a little disgusting since they’ll never understand what it means if they don’t pay more attention. All I could do not to turn and lecture them on their own history but it was obvious they didn’t need a strange adult trying to educate them when their brains were turned off.

Again, the day was saved by the evening in many ways. We had wandered to the atrium where the reception desk and other services were located to see about making a reservation to go back to Pacific Heights (the healthy eating restaurant) but the only time available was 2200 which would have been in the middle of the farewell show we wanted to see so we stopped in the Four Seasons to see about eating early instead. The host asked if we minded sharing a table with others since the smaller tables were all full and we said yes. We ended at an 8-top

One of the Top Ten of the Silliest Questions Asked by Cruise Ship Passengers (by Paul

Grayson, Cruise Director for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line):

Which elevator do I take to get to the front

of the ship?

Day 9, At Sea (again) June 6, 2009 (cont.)

Day 10, Back to Vancouver June 7, 2009

with a couple from Sedona, AZ, traveling with the husband’s mother and the mother’s “boy”friend and a couple from Melbourne, Australia. Conversation flowed fast and furiously ranging from business to travel to religion to politics to phobias and back to business and was always interesting. As an accompaniment for our last supper it was right on.

Dinner was tasty as well. We both started with escargot cooked with lots of garlic butter and topped with breadcrumbs and then put under the broiler. Ed’s entrée was red snapper encrusted with pecans on top of jambalaya and mine was tempura veggies with wasabi rice. He completed the meal with a mocha cheesecake with a caramel banana sauce and I had a heavenly coconut soufflé with an apricot sauce. Mmmmmmmm.

The final show was a jazz singer named Jane L. Powell (though the addition of the “L” was never enough to keep older cruise ship patrons

from looking for the old movie star and walking out in disgust so she added the tag to her name of “The Chocolate Goddess of Love”. The back-up band was good but too loud and her voice got lost to our ears. Maybe she was better 20 years ago when she first started doing cruise ships. Luckily, we were saved by the second half of the show which was with JP—the magician we’d seen earlier in the week. That capped off the night with lots of fun and laughter.

Since our bags had to be outside of our cabin by 0100, we went back to pack and then decided to just shower and crash. I kind of wanted to stay up to see the ship chug through the narrows but decided it wasn’t worth dressing again. I was sorry that the trip was almost over but definitely looking forward to one more day in Vancouver before heading back home.

As usual, on a travel day, I was up long before I really had to be. We were up and out of the room to grab a bite of breakfast by 0700. We had already docked in Vancouver and it was quite gray and overcast. It was very relaxing and we hung around outside for a while. We ran into Earhart, Kat and Kat’s mother and exchanged business cards to be able to stay in touch in later and eventually heard the call to disembark. Earhart gave me a small gift, a very rusty railroad spike that he’d found by the tracks, to commemorate our train trip together.

We probably should have hung out onboard for another hour but we disembarked around 0900. The whole process was very smooth from leaving the ship and going through immigration and customs all the way to finding our luggage. Denise, the tour director, wasn’t around yet so Ed left all the gear with me and went out for a walk. I called him after Denise was there and about 8-10 of our group was off telling him it would be about 15 minutes. Of course, the 15 turned into 30 but at least there was

some nice conversation while we finished the wait. By about 1015 we were all loaded into the motor coach and off to the hotel.

Our room was ready and as soon as we checked in I called Rachel and arranged for her, Jeffery, Hannah (6 ¾ yo) & Ethan (14 months) to pick us up so we could go the Aquarium in Stanley Park for an hour and a half or so to have lunch and see the beluga whale show. Then I called Sheri & Laurie to check-in and let them know how the trip went. We also had a message from Jeremy (Ed’s best friend’s son) and his wife, Elizabeth, who were coming up from NW Washington to hang out and take us out to dinner. All was going as planned.

Rachel, Jeffery and the kids weren’t too late and we got to the park in good time. Very crowded but we found tables and hoped for the show. It turned out that one of the whales was very pregnant so it wasn’t much of a show until after it was over when suddenly the signs were changed to say that the whale was

Day 10, Back to Vancouver, June 7, 2009 (cont.)

going into labour. We didn’t get to stay for the birth (it can be between 1 and 4 hours once the water breaks, which it had, and we didn’t have that kind of time). (Later note: We missed the birth by about 2 ½ hours.) We wandered through the Amazon exhibit which was great and determined that if we ever get back here the Aquarium needs to be seen more completely.

Hannah needed to get to a birthday party and we ended up dropping her and Rachel off on the way back to the hotel so they wouldn’t be late. It was another short visit but it was great to see them all and a lot of fun even if cut a little short.

There was a message from Elizabeth & Jeremy that they were pretty much on time for being to the hotel by about 1400-1430 so we lay down

for about 30 minutes to rest. When they got here we got to finally meet Elizabeth and their 5yo son Aleksandr and get to see Jeremy in the first time in about 8 years or so. (We’ve known Jeremy since he was about Aleksandr’s age.) We decided on Granville Island and despite it now being a beautiful sunny day again and very crowded found a convenient parking space and went wandering all around the shops. It had to be one of the best collections of unique shops and artist’s studios I’ve seen in a long time. It was great fun.

They had chosen a restaurant for dinner based on internet reviews and some word-of-mouth recommendations and, boy, did they choose correctly. The place is called The

Afghan Horseman and is a third generation, family-owned business just across the street from Granville Island. Wow! We had a table in the Afghan Room which had the low tables and cushions on the floor around the perimeter of the room. We had a corner so we could easily converse. Each couple chose one of the large platters for two and we all shared with Aleksandr and it was fabulous. Some of the freshest whole wheat pita I’ve ever had served with a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, onions and feta along with some hummus and another dip that I think was spinach & feta. The main platter was filled with lamb shank, beef & chicken kabobs, a cabbage roll, some kind of eggplant dish (Ed got all of ours), rice and some potatoes fried in a batter. It was all very tasty and almost overwhelming.

After dinner, we just drove around more. Elizabeth was born and brought up in the area but doesn’t know Vancouver very well and Jeremy’s from Madison but can read a map. We just wandered, finding ourselves across the harbor in North Van and kept winding our way around until we came back across another bridge and back through what was obviously skid

row eventually finding more familiar territory. We were back in the hotel by about 2000 and knew it was time for Elizabeth, Jeremy, and Aleksandr to head back home.

This gave me time to finish up the last couple of days of this log, download the rest of the pictures, and now repack for the plane and crash. A bit early but we are adjusted to west coast time now and it will be a shock having to wake up on Tuesday back in central time.

Day 11, Back to Madison June 8, 2009 Final Observations

Any day that is all travel is barely worth writing about so I should just call this a post script and get it over with.

Another flaw in the GCT scheduling happened for this day and we certainly weren’t thrilled with the timing. We had to have our bags outside our room by 0700 and ready for a bus to the airport at 0800. This was for a NOON FLIGHT!!! Yup, I was not too happy about that. We made it to the airport by 0830 and couldn’t even check in with the airline or check our bags through until 0900.

Now, one advantage of traveling from Vancouver is that they do U.S. Cus toms/ Immigra t ion before you even get on the plane and I suspect that they try to give you enough time to get through it all. But check-in, security, customs/immigration and everything too only 45 minutes. (Like I said, this is a good thing since we only had about an hour between flights in Minneapolis on our way back to Madison.) This gave us over two hours at the gate to wait. Another advantage about

flying from Vancouver is that they provide free WiFi (as I had said earlier the cost of internet at the hotel was $15/24 hours and on the ship it was exorbitant --$0.75 per minute with the possibility of getting a Time Package Plan ($3.95 setup fee): 250 minutes for $100.or 100 minutes for $55). So, I was able to at least catch up a bit at the airport.

Flight from Vancouver to Minneapolis was less than 3 hours, right on time. Flight from Minneapolis to Madison was an hour later and only 35 minutes, again right on time. Mary, critter/house sitter, was there to pick us up and we were home by 2000 (1800 PDT) only 10 hours after leaving our hotel that morning.

I guess there would probably have been slightly better options for us to get to see Alaska but they would have been much more expensive (smaller ship cruises) but there is very little else in the way of options to see the Inside Passage. What we saw of Alaska we really enjoyed and hopefully we will get back some day to see Denali National Park and Preserve.

We also really enjoyed our time in Vancouver and will always be grateful to Sheri, LJ, Jordan, Shannon, Rachel, Jeffrey, Hannah, Ethan, Elizabeth, Jeremy and Aleksandr for helping make that experience something special. There are definitely things left to see in that area and it would be nice to get back to check them out. Perhaps to get there with enough time to get over to Victoria. Sheri & LJ also think we should plan on doing a camping trip with them along the Oregon coast which also would be great fun (not tent camping for me but I understand that there are yurts available to rent or cabins).

And I’ll say it one more time for good measure. Big cruise ships really do not cater to someone who doesn’t like huge crowds, doesn’t gamble, doesn’t need to drink enough to spend $4-10/drink, doesn’t like to shop, doesn’t need to be tempted by food 24/7, doesn’t enjoy hidden charges every time you turn around (expensive soda, internet, classes, etc), and prefers intellectual stimulation and learning about the land, people and culture of an area. I will not say it was a waste of time and money because I do feel like seeing Alaska as we did was good. And the value was basically reasonable. Just not my cuppa tea to do it via a behemoth of a ship. The cruise ships are a matter of personal taste and for the most part I think that NCL does it about as well as it could be done. Other than the crowds, things ran smoothly. Wait staff and cabin staff were all well trained, polite and geared towards making it the best experience possible for a wide variety of people. (One of the things I hadn’t realized that the cultural make up of the passengers was almost as diverse as that of the crew.)

Ultimately, if there were not so many other interesting places in the world that I’d like to travel do before I cannot travel any longer I would have gladly paid the cost of a smaller ship cruise (basic cost at least twice what we paid) and probably would be raving about it. Especially if we had been able to go during this time period when we saw no rain, had temperatures between 20 and 30C (68-86F), and had wonderfully long days to boot (sunrise about 0500 and sunset about 2200 or so every day). Also, I’ll stick to GCT for what they do best (river cruises in Europe and such) in the future.

We live and learn, don’t we? And we really do try to enjoy every moment of it as we go.