It's all over but the shoutin'

Victoria is our last port. We arrived at about 3:00 pm and departed
just before midnight. Victoria is not very far from Vancouver which is
the end of our trip. Bade agreed to humor me and we did an excursion to
Buchart Gardens. We had about a 45 minute bus ride out to the gardens.
Our bus driver was very informative and took the time to show us many
parts of this picturesque town.

Buchart Gardens was built on a limestone quarry and is about 55 acres.
The gardens were absolutely fantastic, very colorful. One of the things
that really impressed me about the gardens was that most of the
landscaping was done with fairly common plants instead of really exotic
specimens. We did take quite a few pictures, actually way more flower
pictures than we will ever need.

On our ride back into town, the driver took us through downtown and
showed us some of the wonderful old buildings. One of these was the
Empress Hotel which was really beautiful. We arrived back at the ship
at about 7:00 pm for our last meal on the ship.

We arrived in Vancouver about 6:00 am. We had arranged to carry off our
own luggage and as such were in the first group to leave the ship. In
our concern to be sure to be able to get on an elevator, we left our
stateroom an hour before we were scheduled to exit the ship. This ended
up being a good thing as many subsequent passengers had trouble getting
in the elevators. We were off the ship by 8:00 am and this would have
been great except we knew we would not be able to check into our hotel
in Vancouver until about noon.

We did choose to walk the 5 or 6 blocks from the cruise terminal to our
hotel. Sure enough it would be noon before we could check into our room
but they let us put our bags in storage. They also arranged for a cab
at 5:30 am tomorrow so we will have ample time to get to the airport for
our 8:45 flight to DFW. We had breakfast, walked around downtown
Vancouver and sat on some of the park benches until time to go to the hotel.

We have now eaten dinner and are back in our room. Hopefully we will
arrive at the airport without difficulties tomorrow and should be back
in SA by about 6:00 pm tomorrow. This has been a wonderful trip but we
both are looking forward to getting home.

See you guys soon.

Bade here ... yep ... the tale is told and the ship has sailed.
Barring any extraordinary travel complications this is likely the last
entry in this web log. I will post additional pictures in the gallery
in the next few days including some of Buchart Gardens.

Thanks for tuning in ... now we return you to our regular programming.

Victoria without a net ... (or wasting the day in Victoriaville)

It's Wednesday so this must be Victoria ... actually we are still about
5 hours out of Victoria hugging the coast of Vancouver Island. We will
dock in Victoria at 3PM ship's time and depart at midnight on our final
leg back into Vancouver.

I'm writing this web log now because we have been advised that about an
hour out of Victoria and then well after midnight we will no longer have
internet access of any kind from the ship. Apparently there is some
sort of military blocking signal that disables the satellite signal ...
maybe Victoria is living in the "netless age" .. don't know but it means
I have to consume the rest of the internet minutes I have paid for
between now and then.

We were awakened this morning about 3AM to the ship's fog horn blaring
away ... looking outside it was obvious why ... I could barely see the
railing on the balcony the fog was so thick ... the ship's horn
continued to blast at 5 minute or so intervals so sleeping was somewhat
sporadic.

Since this is basically the last day of the voyage (we have to be off
the ship by 7:15AM tomorrow) ... Carolyn and I lazed about until almost
8AM skipping our jog/walk routine and simply savoring the last day of
the "Great Alaska Adventure of 2008". We had a nice breakfast,
realizing these were the last fried eggs and bacon we would be seeing
until probably November when we embark on the Mediterranean cruise. We
are both actually very ready to get back home and resume our "normal"
routine. The voyage has been spectacular but 16 days away from home is
just about the longest time we have spent away in many many years (early
IBM schools were the only exception).

In the port of Victoria we have scheduled a tour of the "Butchart
Gardens" .... about 55 acres of floral gardens ... I'll be posting
pictures of that either after we get to our room Thursday in Vancouver
or after we return home.

We have packed up ... decided what we needed to have available in our
backpacks and will walk our bags off ourselves tomorrow morning.

We hope the readers and subscribers to our journey's web log have
enjoyed our descriptions as we sailed along ... we enjoyed writing the
entries and then reading your comments!!

Back in Texas Friday around 6PM if all goes well.

Puffins and Whales and Capt'n Davey ... (or Otters have it all figured out!!)

5:15pm Monday (ship's time) and well underway from Sitka, Alaska.

We just finished our self imposed 30 minutes of track time up on deck 10 and are settling in for a fairly long passage ... our next port is Victoria, Canada day after tomorrow at 3pm local ... so we have basically 2 days at sea to look forward to.

I had booked our Sitka excursion way back in April or May on the suggestion of another cruiser I met online at cruisecritic.com .  She suggested a very small operation named "Puffins and Whales" run by a young fellow named Davey Lubin.  I exchanged emails with Davey and discovered that his boat accommodates only 6 passengers and himself as captain.  This sounded like the kind of excursion  Carolyn and I prefer ... small and intimate.  Sitka is the only tender port on our cruise and Davey had suggested we get the first available tender to be sure we could make our 8:30am pickup ... well, telling me to "be early" is tantamount to telling a sled dog to run ... it really isn't necessary but we appreciate the encouragement. So ... Carolyn and I were the first passengers down to deck 3 when the tenders started running ... turns out ... we were the ONLY passengers down at the tenders when they started so we got our own private tender (they probably hold 50+ passengers) into the beautiful port of Sitka.  We arrived about 8am.

Capt'n Davey showed up about 8:15am and suggested we walk with him to get coffee ... as we strolled along we had a pleasant chat, exchanged family details and got to know each other a bit.  Davey has worked as among other things a deck hand on commercial fishing boats, a commercial diver, was educated in Idaho and nowadays spends his working like providing water taxi service around Sitka sound (there are many many small islands here) and the wildlife tours like ours.  He has an expansive knowledge of the local wildlife with an emphasis on water fowl and large sea mammals.  We ambled back to the dock and met the four other passengers booked on our 4 hour excursion  ... a grandmother and 3 granddaughters aged 11,13 and 15.  We boarded the "Ester G II" (named for Davey's grandmother) and off we went in search of wildlife of all kinds.

The Sitka sound body of water is very large and surrounds many small islands including the island of Sitka itself.  Today the water was like glass ... barely a ripple as far as one could see.  Davey was amazed at the sea conditions and said typically we would be experiencing 4-6 ft seas rather than the bathtub like water we had today.  The calm water made it fairly easy to both see and hear whenever a humpback whale would "blow" at the surface and gave us ample opportunity to locate and motor towards the creature as it would breach the surface 3 or 4 times before finally "showing tail" and diving deep  for several minutes.  We got several good pictures of these enormous animals as they fed on krill in the 450+ ft deep water.  It is hard to describe what it is like to be literally yards from one of these graceful behemoths in placid seas as they break the surface in a gentle swell of grey and see the geyser of water climb in the air knowing that shortly you will be rewarded with two incredible flukes waving to you as the creature dives deep to sweep thousands of krill into its mouth.  It is breathtaking.

After watching several whales and with a promise to return on our way back in Davey took us to St. Lazarious island.  This island is among many that are part of the federal game preserve in the area (there is a more official sounding name than game preserve but I can't recall that at the moment).  I can say without equivocation this is one of the most beautiful places I ever hope to see ... it has a raw and unscathed beauty one would expect to see in a pre-historic era.  There are spruce trees high above the water line, grasses flowing down the rocky cliffs, thousands of various water birds nesting in the vertical rock faces, star fish and anemones all along the waters edge and brilliant colors due to coral and sponges just at and below the waterline.  We have pictures to be posted because words cannot describe the absolute beauty of this very special place.  We spent a good bit of time slowly circling this 65 acre island just observing the interaction between the sea and the avian inhabitants.  There were hundreds of puffins, murres and auklets ... all water fowl of the area.

As we headed back towards Sitka we stopped at another small island to observe several harbor seals lounging on the rocks and swimming in the icy water... all very unconcerned about the tourists snapping pictures and pointing excitedly.

Of all the creatures we saw today I have to say that my personal favorites are the Sea Otters.  The Whales are magnificant, the Puffins are beautiful and the Seals are comical ... but to my mind the Otter has the perfect attitude.  We regularly saw several of these animals laying out on their backs, heads either resting on their chests or poking up observing their current situation basically thumbing their noses at the rest of the world.  The expression on their face is one of absolute disinterest ... basically they have staked out their patch of ocean for the current while and life is more than welcome to pass them by ... they simply don't seem to care.  A couple of times we would see one eating (still on its back and chomping away on whatever it had snagged for lunch) casting an unconcerned eye to the boat and crazy people snapping pictures of what it does every day .. all day .. as if to say ..."what's the big deal?? Nothing to see here ... nothing to see at all ..."  ... I am fascinated by these critters.

All to soon our four hours were up and Capt'n Davey dropped us off at the pier making a quick turn around to pick up his next 6 very lucky guests.

Finally a short note about Sitka ... the village of Sitka has approx 8,500 citizens all living on a spectacular piece of this planet that is almost unspoiled ... they have purposefully NOT built a large dock that can accommodate cruise ships because collectively the town does not want to turn into another "Skagway" where tourists out number the citizens almost every day during the summer.  The town itself looks very much like you might picture a small, quaint fishing village.  As we walked to get coffee with Davey it was clear the citizens know one another and genuinely care for each other ... they support each other by promoting local business over the "national chains" and seem very protective of the environment they are fortunate enough to call home.


Carolyn here - This has been an absolutely awesome trip.  We have had some thrilling adventure excursions,  seen unbelievable unspoiled scenery, and have been fortunate enough to view some of the really special creatures that call this part of the world home.  Of all the port calls we have made, Sitka was my favorite.  We may have had more excitement on some of our other excursions but the town itself is truly unique.  It reminds me of the fictional town of Cecily, Alaska on the TV show "Northern Exposure".  Everybody seems to know everybody else and the citizens seem to have a mutual goal - show the tourists a little glimpse of the last frontier that is Alaska but don't make it too convenient.  I have a hope of someday returning to Sitka, spend a week or so, and get to explore this wonderful little community.  Something to dream about in the future. 

In the mean time - on to Victoria and then shortly back to Texas.

Juneau - What to do? What to do? Soooo - you're afraid of heights!!!!

We arrived in Juneau this morning to another beautiful day, just like Kodiak.  In other words, cool, cloudy and foggy.  I am really glad we did not have some kind of flying excursion planned. 

We had planned to walk this morning on the upper deck but as Bade's back was still bothering him, we opted out of the morning exercise.  Decided we better save up for the adventure ahead.

We departed the ship at 8:30 to meet up with the rest of our fellow passengers to partake in the Alaska Canopy and Rain forest Excursion.  Now, if you don't know what a canopy excursion is, it is a zipline adventure.  Wooden platforms are placed varying distances apart up in the trees.  Steel cables are strung from one platform to another at heights between 45 and 180 feet above the ground.  The distances between the platforms ranged from about 150 feet to about 700 feet. 

There were only four hardy souls in our little group of adventurers.  Bade, me, Ray (who had been on the whitewater rafting trip with us), and Paul.  Paul was the only member of our group who had not done a zipline trip before.  We took a short 10 minute boat ride over to the little island where the zipline course is.  Arriving at the base of the zipline course, we were fitted with the equipment that would be used to attach us to the steel cable.

After a short hike, we arrive with our guides, Zippy and Dan and were given an excellent orientation.  We were given instructions on how to keep going straight on the zipline, how to brake, and what to do if we braked to quickly and did not make it to the next platform.  We then did a little short practice run to make sure we were comfortable with the equipment.  Zippy always went first, would then get situated at the next platform to prepare for either catching us, if we didn't slow down enough, or helping us get to the platform if we stopped too soon.  As luck would have it, I was the first to try the practice run - oh yeah, did I mention, I'm afraid of heights??  Now I know this doesn't make sense that I would agree to jump off into the air, attached by a harness to a steel cable and speed through the tree tops at as much as 35 miles per hour,  when I am afraid of heights.   But for some reason,  because I am attached to this cable, it doesn't seem to bother me all that much.  Maybe it's because I am so focused on looking ahead to make sure Zippy is going to catch me, that I don't look down at the ground.  We all successfully managed the practice run and we are ready for the "big league". 

In all, there were 9 ziplines covering approximately 6000 feet.  Also included in this adventure were two suspended wooden bridges that we had to walk across.  This, for me, was the most unnerving part of this excursion.  I think that's because I had to look down to see where I was walking and realized that I really was 100 or so feet up in the air.  The bridges are really not that bad in that we are attached to the steel cables and there are ropes on each side of the bridge to aid us in walking over the bridges.  On the second bridge, Zippy decided it would be fun to jump up and down to make the bridge really move around a lot.  I reminded him that his tip was getting smaller and smaller by the minute and he assured me that a big gust of wind had caused the bridge to swing back and forth.  RIGHT.

All to soon, our adventure was coming to an end.  There was one last challenge.  We were to repel 45 feet from the last platform to the ground.  While this had also been a concern for me,  along with the bridges, it ended up being really easy and fun.  This excursion was a lot of fun and I will certainly look forward to more zipline adventures when the occasion arises in the future.

We did get to do a little shopping on the way back to the ship.  We have found many really wonderful Alaskan made totems, carvings and woven goods.  Unfortunately, like everything else in Alaska, they have proven to be very expensive.  I was lucky enough to find a needlework store and bought a couple of counted cross stitch patterns that will have to serve as our souvenirs of our Alaska cruise instead of the pottery I normally try to get.

We returned to the ship and were treated to a presentation by Libby Riddles.  She was the first woman to win the Iditarod dog sled race.  When I was here nine years ago with my Dad, she happened to be the dog musher when I did my dog sled excursion.  She gave a wonderful talk and did a powerpoint presentation on her preparation and running of the Iditarod race.

We had a really wonderful and fun day.  We are on to Sitka, the next to last port on our trip.  I can't believe that our trip is almost over.  While I will be glad to get home, this has been a fabulous trip.  In Sitka, we have a private boat trip planned for whale watching so hopefully, we will have some really awesome whale and wildlife pictures tomorrow.  Bade will be posting a few pictures from our zipline trip.

Later,  Carolyn


Bade here ... Carolyn covered the day very well ... the zipline adventure was really pretty cool ... somehow I never thought about a rain forest being in Alaska ... but during our visit it was raining and it is a forest ... so I guess by definition if nothing else.  Actually we didn't do the 6am jog/walk because I was really sleeping ... my back in fact is much better and was no problem on the zipline.

Obviously we didn't post anything yesterday ... it was basically a dreary foggy day at sea with only a couple of whale sightings right before dinner (formal night) and thankfully calm seas as we crossed the Gulf of Alaska from Kodiak to Juneau.  I think sea days are scattered in these itineraries to give one some down time to recover from the last adventure and gear up for the next.  As Carolyn mentioned the cruise has slipped by very fast so far ... we are looking forward to being home of course but it's been an amazing adventure.

Sitka tomorrow to see Puffins and Whales ... HOPEFULLY lottsa whales ... I am only posting a few pics from today's adventure ... it's hard to manage a camera while zipping along at 35mph at 100+ feet in the air seeing a giant tree coming at you head on and knowing the poor fellow waiting to catch you on the next platform weighs120lbs soaking wet ...

No air ... No bear ..... (it's a foggy mountain breakdown ...)

Always ... ALWAYS ... have a plan "B" ... sadly for this day there was
no plan "B".

I awoke about 4am expecting to see the typical early morning dawn light
filter through the drawn shades of our balcony window ... oddly ...
there was barely any light at all ... remember dawn comes very very
early here and sunset is around 11pm. This did not bode well for our
Kodiak bear watching adventure. Back to sleep ...

At 6am ... I walked out on the balcony after being awakened by several
loud and insistent blasts of a ship's horn .. OUR ship in fact ... I was
greeted with a scene out of the "Hounds of the Baskervilles" ... a
dreary morn on the Scottish moor ... fog so thick I could barely see the
ship's bow. Once we were docked ... I could just barely make out the
green mountains alongside but only a few hundred feet up; their upper
halves (or more) shrouded in thick billowing fog.

Knowing things did not look promising we ate a quick breakfast, again
looking at the foggy scene from the dining room and then disembarked for
our 8am-8:15am pickup by Kingfisher air service. 8:15am rolled around
with no "silver van with a red stripe and the name Kingfisher air" in
sight. So I called them ... said I was at the dock waiting for pickup
... they responded with .."we could pick you up but we likely won't be
flying today ..." --- RATS!!! ... we agreed to wait another 30 minutes
to see if the fog would lift (it wasn't likely) and make contact again
... back on the ship ... after 30 minutes I called again ... nope ...
can't fly in this soup ... they offered to take us "flightseeing" if the
fog lifted by noon ... "no thanks ... just came to see the bears".

And thus ends the sad story of our Kodiak bear watching adventure ...

So ... with no real plan B ... we decided to see what the town of Kodiak
City had to offer. The ship was running a continuous shuttle from the
dock to mid-town for the princely sum of $6 per round trip. As we
waited for the next shuttle the little lady in the dockside information
booth came out and told us the walk was only about fifteen minutes
"right down that road" ... I think she saw two reasonably healthy adults
NOT in wheelchairs and not using walkers or canes and decided we should
save the $12. So ... off we went "down the road" ... it's appropriate
to mention at this point that the main driving force behind the Kodiak
economy is fishing ... big time commercial fishing ... and as a result
... Kodiak is host to several very large and very odious fish processing
plants ... as it turns out ... that 15 minute stroll from the cruise
ship pier to "downtown Kodiak" takes you right beside virtually ALL of
those fish processing plants ... the trek to town was neither scenic nor
"pleasant" olfactory wise ... turns out FISH STINK!!

Once we made it into downtown Kodiak city we discovered it to be similar
to Valdez ... not really a "tourist" kind of place ... it isn't on many
(if any other) cruise ship's itineraries and thus doesn't really cater
to the "pod people" we have become.

We walked around a bit, went into 2 or 3 shops, visited a local "arts
and crafts fair" (which I suspect was organized solely because there was
a cruise ship in town today) and then walked back to the ship ... past
those same lovely fish processing plants ...

It turns out ... if you can't fly to see bears in Kodiak ... the next
best plan is to do your dirty laundry ... an activity I am engaged in as
I write this sorry tale.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we make the long passage back to Juneau so it
is unlikely there will be much if anything of merit to post tomorrow ...
I've been dealing with a severe back spasm problem since after the white
water rafting trip and hopefully it will abate before the zipline tour
day after tomorrow in Juneau ... I went to see the ship's doctor
thinking I could get some muscle relaxants but it was going to turn into
a bigger ordeal than I wanted to mess with so I'm hoping time, rest and
aleve will come to the rescue.

Time to go check the dryer ....

Bade

A tail of a whale ... (or hitting the trifecta in Alaska)

Today's excursion was the "Resurrection Bay wildlife cruise" out of
Seward booked through the cruise line. "Booking thru the cruise line"
means among other things, "you are NOT alone". In fact, you are a small
part of a large herd. In this particular case our herd was two school
buses and a 25 passenger van strong.

We boarded the buses and were taken all of 3 blocks (large blocks I
grant you but only 3 nonetheless), to the marina in Seward where several
hundred boats of all shapes and sizes are docked. As we rolled along I
was taken with the number of RV's parked in several RV facilities along
the way. A bunch of people come here in the summer as a part of an RV
vacation and it is clear why once you look around. The mountains on all
sides of Seward (meaning on all sides of the fjord at which Seward sits
at the head) are lush with green and capped with snow. Waterfalls
tumble down to the sea on all sides and the water of the fjord (which IS
Resurrection Bay) is teaming with life of all sorts... birds, fish and
mammals.

We boarded our tour vessel the Kania Explorer, found a seat on the upper
outside deck (the boat was approx 80ft long, has an enclosed lower deck
with galley and 4 heads and an upper deck with outside and inside
seating) and were already glad we had worn long johns and multiple
layers ... it's becoming apparent that warm clothes are fairly key when
visiting Alaska during the summer ... I cannot imagine what winter
months must be like here.

Shortly after we began our voyage into the bay the boat captain pointed
out a sea otter basking on his back in the early day sunshine grooming
himself and looking quite please with his situation. He was actually
bigger than I would have guessed these animals get. We slowly motored
around him at a respectful distance and he was unperturbed ... casting a
jaundiced eye at the boat clearly thinking "... damn tourists ... "...

Shortly after leaving the otter to his own devices, the captain
announced on the intercom that he had just been notified of a 45 ton
treat coming up on the port bow ... and ... "thar she blows!!" .. a
mammoth humpback whale was blowing and gracefully breaching the surface
of the otherwise calm water. We only got a couple of pictures of this
creature before it dove deep and vanished but I did catch one "tail
shot" I will post in the gallery ... not the best picture I ever took
but the 1st humpback tail I ever shot.

It wasn't long before the captain again excitedly announced whale siting
... this time a pod of Orca whales (about 7 in this pod). These whales
stayed well within our visual grasp for a long while offering plenty of
photo opportunities. Some of these too I promise to post to the web
gallery.

After getting more than our share of Orca sitings we moved further into
the bay where literally thousands of birds roosted in the rock face
walls. I can't begin to tell you all of the types of birds we saw but
the one of most interest was the Puffins ... two types, "tufted" and
"horned" and both entertaining to watch as they dive up to 300ft for
food. Very colorful heads on these birds, We saw birds that looked
like miniature penguins and thousands of sea gulls many with chicks in
the nest (nest of rock ledge).

Just past these thousands of rock dwelling birds were several "islands
of small rocks" on which dozens of sea lions lounged, slept, and barked
at each other. We were told that sea lions are nocturnal feeders and
used the day to rest on these small islands. The majority were tan to
dark brown. Carolyn got many good photos of these animals.

All too soon the captain turned the boat around to head back to Seward
... but that didn't mean the excitement was over ... shortly after
turning we encountered a small pod of Dahl Porpoise cruising out to sea
... these are very fast and basically gone as soon as they were visible
... so no pictures.

And finally to make the trifecta complete ... the captain announced
siting the rarest of all ... a Minke whale off the starboard side ...
this animal is apparently very shy and rare to see ... he breached the
water several times to our delight but was too far off to catch with our
18x camera.

The waters in this part of Alaska host only 3 species of whale ... and
we saw all of them in our short 3.5 hour tour ... the weather was
splendid with sunshine and calm waters... we had a very good day.

Next up ... Kodiak .. and hopefully some really BIG bears ... let's see
... no bacon, sweetrolls, candy in the pockets ... plenty of deet spray
... yep ... we are ready!!!

Bade

White water rafting in Alaska!!!! Whose idea was this anyway???

We arrived in Valdez at 8:00 am. As we were to depart for our white
water rafting excursion at 8:20 am, we did our walk/jog around the track
on the upper deck at 6:00 am. It was really quite enjoyable even if it
was a bit chilly, 54 degrees.

We had been told to dress warmly for this excursion, to bring extra
socks, and a waterproof camera. Our first dilemma - how warm is
warm? We eventually decided to wear pretty much every piece of warm
clothing we had brought. This turned out being way to much clothing but
were able to leave our heavy coats in the van.

Bade and I and eight other fools met up with the van that was to take us
up the Lowe River to where we would "put in" for our rafting adventure.
In our group were a grandmother with her two 12 or 13 year old
granddaughters, a gentleman about 10 years older than us, a thirty
something couple and a father with his twentyish year old son. Sounds a
little like the S. S. Minnow - hopefully without the same result.

The van ride was about 25 minutes past many beautiful waterfalls. Our
driver got a real thrill out of telling us that we would soon be rafting
down the river right under those same waterfalls.

We arrived at the "put in" location and immediately removed our shoes
and were fitted with dry suits and knee high waders. As none of us had
ever worn a dry suit, this was probably quite entertaining for our
guides as we struggled to get these properly fitted. Basically when we
all were dressed, we looked like distant cousins to the Goodyear man.

We were then given a brief orientation which primarily consisted of what
to do if one of us fell out of the raft. We were each given a paddle,
which I suspect was more for show than actual use. Our guide had two
large oars which he used to steer the raft as we quickly floated down
the river.

We were broken into two groups of five each. Fortunately, our group was
made up of the older gentleman, the thirty something couple and Bade and
me. The other group was the dad with his grown son and grandma and her
two granddaughters. Grandma and the two granddaughters proved pretty
much worthless during the journey down the river but I must give Grandma
credit for making the trip at all.

We started our trip with Bade and Mike (the male half of the young
couple) in the front. I was behind Mike with the older gentleman behind
Bade and Jenny behind me. We hit the first rapid and I found myself
sitting on the bottom of the raft. HUM - this could prove to be very
interesting, and cold and oh yeah WET. At the next rapid, Mike almost
fell in. He saved himself by grabbing a hold of me (like I could help
him). He managed to stay in the raft and spent the next five minutes
apologizing for grabbing a complete stranger. I assured him that there
"ain't no pride when you're trapped inside a slowly sinking ship (or in
this case, a rapidly moving raft).

We did in fact go right under where those waterfalls terminated in the
river and yes most of us got fairly wet. Kudos to Bade and Mike for
taking most of the water and shielding the rest of us from the majority
of the really cold water (approximately 36 degrees). The dry suits kept
us surprisingly toasty with only our hands and heads getting really,
really cold.

After about 30 minutes, we were to the place we would be getting off of
the river. Everybody in our raft was really disappointed - we had just
gotten the hang of paddling and were ready to go another 30 minutes or
so. This trip was a ton of fun and hopefully sometime in the future we
can try white water rafting again. The only disappointments - the trip
was not long enough and we did not have time to take any pictures.
Fortunately, our van driver raced down the mountain ahead of us and
stopped in several places to take pictures of us and hopefully when we
get home we will have a CD of those pictures waiting for us.

The town of Valdez is quite small with no promising shopping
opportunities so we arrived back on the ship in time for lunch. Have
rested this afternoon and are looking forward to arrival in Seward
tomorrow. We have scheduled a cruise of Resurrection Bay on a small
sight seeing boat. Nine years ago when I made this trip with my Dad, I
did this same excursion. We saw whales, seals, porpoises and of course
eagles. I hope to be able to get some good whale pictures tomorrow.
While we saw three different pods of whales from our balcony yesterday,
including a pod of orcas, they were too far away and too fast to get any
decent pictures.

That's all from me for now. Bade will add something shortly.

Carolyn

Bade here ... I have very little to add ... the dry suits are basically
bio-hazard suits without the helmet ... a water seal at the neck and
wrists and footsies like pajamas.

Valdez is an interesting choice for Princess as a port ... no other
cruise ships stop here during the summer ... so the Tahitian Princess is
the only ship ... 8 times over the whole summer ... I can't see this as
a money making stop for Princess.

Onward to Seward and to renew our search for whales and other big animals.

Bade

We came we saw we ate ... (and left our regular waiter to the wolves...)

Today was a "sea day" ... so we got up a bit later than usual, had
breakfast and went for a 30 minute jog (or in Carolyn's case brisk walk)
around the outside track ... that got us all the way to about 9am after
showers. What shall we do for the rest of the day (this is about the
time I realized that a trans-Atlantic cruise is not in my future).

Carolyn had decided to take a fitness class and to check out a needle
point class ... from her comments neither offered any real value.

I had signed up for a photoshop class that was supposed to teach a
technique I am interested in ... the cost of that class was $25 ... I
went to the class at 1pm and had completed the exercises by about 1:10pm
having learned only that the 'tool' I need to easily do what I want
doesn't exist on the version of photoshop I have at home.

So basically by 2pm we had exercised, eaten twice and learned nothing
... this however is NOT a bad thing altogether ,,, we took the
opportunity to enjoy the balcony (or window) and on a couple of
different occasions saw whales ... not something that happens every day
at home!!

We chose today to have dinner early in the "Steak House" on deck 10 ...
there is a small cover charge for this but the food was excellent and
the views majestic. Having done this we abandoned our regular dinner
table (and thus the other 6 people we have dinner with) and our normal
waiter. I mention this because our tablemates are an interesting group
and our waiter is perceived differently by them than Carolyn and I.

There are two brothers and their wives at our table ... all about 10
years older than us, very devout Christians that bless their meal every
evening, drink no alcohol and have been 'on the road ' for about 3 weeks
prior to boarding the ship. They all now hail from Florida. Two of
then (Dotty and Tommy) are recently retired school district support
personnel and the other pair (Sarah and Jack) are also retired (Jack was
with the TVA after military). All of these folks are "nice" but it
seems to me just a bit out of their element ... Tommy never ever flies
and thus they drove from Florida to Vancouver in an RV making several
stops along the way. As far as I can tell Sarah lived life fairly "shut
in" until "the Lord delivered Jack to her front door one day" after
years of prayer ... she is very quiet and rarely speaks. Jack is
simply a good 'ole boy from Tennessee that retired to Florida and
doesn't get out much (but loves to fish). For some reason ... Dotty has
taken a particular dislike for our waiter "Corona". Carolyn and I both
think he is fine but she complains throughout dinner about the service,
the food, the junior waiter ... you name it she ain't all that happy.
The other couple (Robin and Ken) joined our table the 2nd night after
asking to be moved from early seating. Ken is a retired teacher ... he
is ... a BIG BIG man ... and I'm not sure if he suffers from a vision
problem or some other health issue but he moves very deliberately and
very very slowly. Robin is besides myself the only gainfully employed
person. She is a school counselor. They are from Southern California
and from the tales of their previous cruises they are either
independently wealthy or hopelessly in debt. So our not being at the
table this evening left poor Corona with no "buffer" from these
interesting people.

The weather today has really been spectacular as we crossed a good bit
of the Gulf of Alaska ,,, fairly calm water, mostly clear skies and huge
and majestic totally white mountains in the far far distance ...

Tomorrow is Valdez and whitewater rafting ... it's gonna be COLD!!

Wusses we will be (and we were)

OK - so here was the plan. The ship was to arrive in Skagway at 6:00 am
( and it did). Our shore excursion was to depart at 7:30 am. With the
gym opening at 7:00 am, we would not have time for our 30 minute workout
on the machines - so - we would get up at 5:00 am (whose plan was this
anyway) and walk/jog around the track for 30 minutes. Well 5:00 am
rolled around, Bade stepped out on our balcony, deemed it too cold to
walk on the upper deck, and we went back to sleep. Yes, we are wusses.

At 7:30 our van arrived to take us to the train station. There were
four other people on this excursion with us. We were soon on the train
and departed for our trip. We were given a wonderful little
informational booklet which included a map of our trip. There were
three places we "could" disembark from the train - White Pass Summit,
Fraser, BC and Carcross, YT (Yukon Territory). Our guide from the van
had neglected to tell us which stop we would be using - HUM this could
be interesting. Fortunately, the guide on the train came on and
announced that except for a few hikers, all of us would be getting off
at Fraser. Crisis averted.

Along our 27.7 mile train trip to Fraser, we traveled over several
bridges and through two tunnels. The scenery was spectacular -
beautiful mountains, awesome water falls, and many rapidly flowing
streams. One of the most beautiful of the water falls, was Bridal Vail
Falls, which falls over 6000 feet and is fed by snow and glacier runoff.

While the scenery was breathtaking, the real stars of this railroad are
the men who built this 67.5 mile rail line in a little more than two
years, frequently blasting through solid granite to build this White
Pass and Yukon Route. The purpose of the railroad was to make it easier
for the stampeders of the Klondike Gold Rush to reach the area where
gold was being found. Many men died along the way and according to our
guide, only 13 of the 100,000 men who participated in the gold rush
actually became rich from the Klondike gold. In addition, of the
100,000 men who started the trip to Klondike, only 30,000 made it - many
perishing along the way and others turning back when the trip became too
difficult.

Before the railroad was built, there were two trails the stampeders
could take to arrive at the Klondike. One was the Chilkoot Trail, the
other was the White Pass Trail. Those selecting the Chilkoot Trail (the
shorter but much steeper), were required to carry a ton (2000 pounds) of
supplies up to the Summit of the Chilkoot Pass. At this point, the
supplies were inventoried and weighed. If the stampeder did not have
the correct inventory (less than 2000 pounds), they would not be allowed
to continue on the remaining 550 miles to the Yukon River and the gold
fields. They would have to go back and get the necessary amount to
total 2000 pounds. The reason for the 2000 pounds - the government had
decided that this was the amount of goods necessary to see the
stampeders though the 550 mile trip and the harsh weather they would
encounter during the trip. During the winter, these trails receive
approximately 50 feet of snow and the temperatures get as low as 50
degrees below zero.

This was a wonderful excursion, very informative and magnificent in its
beauty. Tomorrow is a sea day and then into Valdez where we will be
white water rafting. Yes, it will be really cold and yes we have
probably lost our minds, but at least we are not snorkeling, which was
also a choice.

That's all for me today. Bade may have some additional comments.

Carolyn

Bade here ... first of all I take exception to the notion that "I" was
the one that wussed out on the 5am outside job ... it was a mutually
agreed upon decision - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Carolyn covered the day's excursion very well. For me the "town" of
Skagway was very disappointing ... for those of you that have been to
Cozumel ... think Coz where everyone wears ski clothes ...very touristy
and clearly thriving almost solely on cruise ship traffic. One thing
that did surprise me about Skagway was the number of RV parks and "tent
city" downtown. Apparently people drive thru this city during the
summer months. After Carolyn got her fill of shopping for typical
tourist trap crap we walked back to the ship and had a light (moderately
light) lunch and promptly took a nap.

After nap both of us were feeling guilty about the whole 5am no-exercise
decision and spent our self imposed 30 minutes in the ship's fitness
center. I'd like to mention that while the ship is docked the view out
the window in front of the treadmill isn't nearly as interesting as when
we are under way ... I did see several seals swimming around during my
jog (Carolyn opined that since we were in a harbor these are clearly
"harbor seals" ... can't argue with logic like that!!

We are scheduled to leave Skagway at 8pm tonight ... our 2nd seating
dinner time ... we are now 3 hours behind central time zone so basically
we'll be eating at 11pm central ... the time zone change going back home
is going to be killer.

I'll post a few pics this evening ... and by the way for Brandi & Steven
the Rhapsody of the Seas is docked here with us.

Bade

I posted some Glacier pics

just a few so you can see the incredible beauty of this place .. we have many more I will add when we get home

Ice can see for miles ... (or Livin' on glacial time ...)

... it's about 1:15pm Sunday as we cruise into Glacier Bay national park.  The weather is COLD (damn cold in fact), very overcast with occasionally rain & drizzle.  We are currently passing Queen's Inlet and will continue up as far as as Margerie Glacier.  and then turn around leaving Glacier Bay and bound for Skagway.

As I mentioned it is COLD ... three times so far today we have bundled up in pretty much every cold weather article of clothing, and ventured out on deck only to stay a few minutes, look at each other and silently agree "it's to darn cold, let's get back inside!!".  I am sure we have several more of these wardrobe changes to make today.

A couple of 'technical notes' ... the network on the ship is naturally a satellite hook up and thus very effected by weather ... it has been "down" a good bit the last couple of days and is making it hard if not impossible to upload many photos.  I promise I will continue to post "a few" in the gallery in the evenings, but due to the network speed and reliability given the weather it may be very few and I don't expect to be able to do much captioning until the weather and net improve.  I did make a direct link to the gallery under the "Blog List" on the right side of the blog page to hopefully make it easier for you to find the gallery.  

Carolyn typing now - We are currently leaving Glacier Bay.  The two glaciers we saw were spectacular but in very different ways.  The Grand Pacific Glacier is massive - over two miles wide.  Because the snow that should feed this glacier melts every year, it is receding  and as it has traveled down the mountain, it has picked up dirt and rock along the way.  Therefore, it is almost all black.  The other glacier we saw up close was the Margerie Glacier.  It is what we all think of as a glacier, it is mainly white with the crevasses a bright blue.  We were lucky enough to see several "calving" events while we were about 1/4 mile away from Margerie.  This is were the ice falls off the edge of the glacier and small  icebergs are formed.  Really quite spectacular.

Bade and I suited up in all of our warm clothes, yet one more time and ventured up to the top deck to get an excellent view of these glaciers.  I don't know what the temperature was but it was darn cold.  Not only was it cold, but it was raining and while the people around me didn't seem to think so - I know it was sleeting.  As the captain turned the ship, Margerie was now on the starboard side of the ship - the same side as our stateroom.  So we abandoned the top side and retired to our stateroom to enjoy the views from the warmth and dry of our cabin.  (Yes, we are wusses)  But we are warm and dry wusses. 

We are currently sailing up a small inlet to see another of these wonderful rivers of ice.  When my Dad and I did this trip, nine years ago, this was not possible as we were on a much bigger ship and would not have been able to get as close to the glaciers as we did today.

Last bit of info - as we were sitting in the stateroom, I looked up and there was a sea gull perched on the railing of our balcony.  He was much pleased with himself and was kind enough to stay long enough for us to get a couple of really good pictures.  Bade will post pictures as the internet allows.

That's about it for this day.  Will post again tomorrow after our day in Skagway.

Bear with me ... (or 'holy bear scat Batman!!!')

It also could have been titled ... "Close encounters of the bear kind"
or even "yep bears do indeed sh!t in the woods" ...

Good morning ! At least as I write these few lines it's 6:40AM and we
are docked alongside Ketchikan, Alaska. The weather LOOKS very good and
we have seen float planes taking off and landing so we are optimistic
about our tour ... supposed to meet up with the guide at 7:45am.

Relating to Steven's query ... I was up at 5AM (local that's 8AM
central) and did 30 minutes on the "dwarf track" ... it was pretty darn
cool but at the same time refreshing. I was not alone, there were 3
people jogging when I arrived and the little old guy that was one of the
three may still be jogging, he was still going when I quit at 5:45am ...

Formal night last night was nice but the cornish game hen Carolyn and I
both had was better suited for "in the dirt eat with your hands/fingers
don't worry about dripping on your clothes" eating rather than trying to
manage in a tux & evening gown.

.... 3:30pm under way from Ketchikan and full of bear stories! I will
post a FEW pictures to the gallery ... and probably one at the top of
this post ... but the net is slow onboard and I've already burned 100 of
the 280 minutes I bought... it ain't gonna be enough.

We disembarked at about 7:15am ... wondered around the tourist trap
stores for a few minutes and then boarded the van for Island Wings ...
there were 5 passengers, a guide and Michelle the owner/pilot. This was
the first small plane I had ever been in ... very comfortable and
headsets for all to enable easy conversation during the flight.

We trekked literally through the forest about 1/2 mile along a forest
service maintained trail to the bear viewing facility ...at the time I
thought it was really for show when we got about 30 yards from the
facility and then had to stop until our guide got a wave from the ranger
on post that it was safe to enter the facility ... as you will see in
some of the photos ... this was not for show ... there are bear
EVERYWHERE and we are walking down THEIR ROAD!

We spent about 2 hours at the facility ... groups came and went but
they only allow 60 visitors per day. As soon as we arrived and through
the entire 2 hour stay there were bears, generally several bears to
watch as they fed from the Anan creek below us.

All but one bear we saw were back bears and get no larger than 200-250#
... but as you will be able to see in the gallery one big brown bear
gave us quite a show.

The viewing facility (pic in gallery) is basically a platform with a
small covered area and then a "blind" that 5 people at a time for 30
minute shifts can watch from at "bear level".

It's a fascinating thing to watch these creatures get into the water and
catch salmon by paw and mouth ... they are excellent fishermen! One sow
was there with her two cubs (pics) and she was basically teaching them
(they were watching mom catch dinner). When mom and cub#1 left the
scene cub#2 got left behind and couldn't climb the rockslide to follow
..after a short bit of him trying without success to climb out he
started bawling and it wasn't long before mom and cub#1 returned,
climbed down to cub#2 and then hightailed it out again ... cub#2 wasted
no time this go round following moma out.

As you will see in some of the pics ... the bear came right up to the
railing several times and even once up a tree and started over the
railing ... the ranger on post was a girl of MAYBE 20 years old but she
handled her job, stood up to the bear, hollered at him and encouraged
his retreat with a broom ... the tourists were very glad she was there
and afterwards you could tell she was a bit shaken ... we is in the
wilds now baby!!

After our 2 hour stint we trekked back to the beach and shortly the
plane arrived to wing us back to Ketchikan ... a couple of the pics I
will post are during the return flight.

It was a blast ... it was well worth the money ... these are majestic
animals in their native habitat for the most part unhindered by mankind
... words don't do the experience justice but I'm really glad we did it!

Tomorrow is Glacier Bay touring from the ship .....

Bade

A quiet day at sea ... (or so far so good)

Let's see ... I did manage to get the posting out last night before bedding down. and this morning (it is 10AM on ship and we lose another hour tonight as we enter Alaska time zone so 3 hours behind central at that point).

I am, it turns out able to link to the ship's wireless network out on our balcony ... which is a good thing.  Our balcony neighbor is fond of Cuban cigars which is a bad thing.  Oh well at least HE hasn't cussed me out ... yet...

I suspect the average age of passengers on the ship is 60+ ... I have seen only one small child and a handful of what I assume are teenagers (defined by their actions and attitude) ... if we culled out anybody 30 or younger (less than 50 people I suspect) the average age I suspect jumps to late 60s+ ... there are MANY wheelchair bound seniors and at least one guy that has his scooter chair ... he's something of a menace in the narrow hallways and not someone you want to be in front of when he's headed for the buffet!

Carolyn and I have been wondering what some of these older and clearly less 'able' passengers are going to do on excursions ... Alaska strikes me as a place where 'survival of the fittest' is a way of life and I just wonder HOW some of these folks are going to manage even the most un-challenging activities.   It makes me very aware of how our renewed efforts of staying fit and active are important as we are getting older.

Carolyn and I did make it to the gym this morning ... there were a handful of die-hard exercise enthusiasts waiting at the door with us when they opened  up... and THEN we had breakfast ... sigh ... if the fried eggs weren't so available I would be doing much better .  Since we have to get off the ship and catch a plane for our first bear viewing excursion tomorrow ... it is our "intent" to get up really early for a 30 minute jog ... the track here is REALLY short (it's a small ship) but I'm kinda afraid I'll get dizzy doing 30 minutes in what is essentially a pirouette ... oh well we shall give it a go.

I did post some additional photos in the web gallery ... more to come as we see more amazing sites.  I believe you can link to that gallery here =>  Link to web gallery

Tonight is "formal night" so we will be putting on the Ritz for dinner ... there are 3 formal nights on this cruise.

  ... about 6:30 pm now ... we ate lunch in the dining room as opposed to the buffet ... may not have been the better choice ... nothing really wrong with the food but it consumed about 1.5 hrs for basically a "salad and fruit plate" ... there was other heavier fare available on the menu but trying to eat light at lunch I believe we will "trough it" at the buffet for the remainder of the voyage.

For lunch we were seated with three other couples ... "nice people" but, all trying to out-do each other with stories of their past 20 or so cruises ... did I mention these folks were all about 20 years older than Carolyn and I ... from New Jersey, Chicago and somewhere North of Sacramento ... clearly not encumbered by funding issues in their retirement.  We mostly sat quietly and nodded and smiled ... we'll be using the buffet from now on.

The weather has turned very foggy and misty with decidedly rougher seas than what we experienced thru yesterday.  I hope the weather in Ketchikan is better, or our 1st bear viewing flightseeing tour may not get off the ground.


... back from formal night dinner ... about 11PM although we enter "Alaska time zone" tonight and lose another hour ... I can use the sleep.  The weather is still kinda crappy but hopefully we will be abble to fly tomorrow regardless.

Hopefully I will have bear pics tomorrow night!

Bade

Welcome aboard! (... or "I wonder what the po'folks is doin' this season..")

We decided last night to save the cab fare of transporting our
apparently obscenely huge luggage and selves down to the cruise ship
terminal by simply walking with bags in tow. So after a pleasant
breakfast at a small bistro and waiting around in the room until 10:45am
we did exactly that. One of the pictures I will post over in the web
gallery mentioned earlier shows Carolyn and the luggage ready for the walk.

Arrival at the cruise terminal, getting thru customs and getting our
cruise cards was accomplished quickly and easily and we actually boarded
about 11:30am.

I have (or will) post some pictures of the mini-suite stateroom and the
view from the balcony in the gallery as well.

Ah ... I have to mention that while eating lunch I caught sight of the
"bitchy old couple" we encountered in the airport ... might know they
would be on our ship ... and in fact even though I'm pretty sure it is
after their bedtime they are in fact dining at the same seating (8PM) as
us. Frankly, now I'm surprised they aren't our table but happily they
are not and our table-mates are two retired couples from Florida. Two
brothers and their wives in fact. Very personable and pleasant company.

Before dinner Carolyn and I made a 30 minute workout in the fitness
center. Good equipment and great scenery ... in fact as I was jogging
on the treadmil watching what seemed like a movie of breathtaking
mountain scenery pass before me like a wide (very very wide) screen
movie I kept thinking if they just had a "crawl banner" across the
bottom of the window describing what exactly I was seeing as we cruised
by it would be perfect.

Shortly after departure I was thrilled to find I had good internet
(wireless) signal while sitting on the balcony ... sadly as I type this
offline after dinner (prime rib for me) I don't get any signal at all so
I will finish this entry out offline and then walk up to see if the
internet cafe is shut down (and thus perhaps the wireless) or I will
discover it is working there and I will send the post.

Our 'plan' for tomorrow's sea day is to be at the gym at 7AM when it
opens, get in 30 minutes and then go have breakfast (no doubt completely
negating the previous 30 minutes of effort).

I'll post pics so far to the gallery as soon as I can find wireless
connectivity.

Bade ... living the dolce' vita

Show and tell ... a link to web picture album

The picture/link in this entry will take you to the online picture gallery I plan to maintain for generic pictures taken on this trip. I intend that there will be pictures of general interest and just things I decided to snap and post.

If there are photos of a particular interest I will put them individually in this web log otherwise to see the random pics we shoot just link back thru this post to the Picassa online web gallery.

Alaska Cruise 2008

Oh Canada ... (or let's wait in line...)

We arrived at the San Antonio airport about 6AM, well before our scheduled 8:25AM departure time ... while waiting at the gate Carolyn heard an announcement at a nearby gate that indicated seats on that plane leaving at 7:10AM were available... we jumped at the chance to get to Dallas an hour earlier (and get away from any possible Dolly caused delay) and were in fact "off". (We surrendered our 1st class seats on this leg but the flight was only 45 minutes ... plus what seemed like an hour taxi once we were in Dallas ... I'm pretty sure the plane actually landed in Waco and drove up IH35 to the airport).

We joyfully boarded our flight from DFW to Vancouver as a part of the 'privileged 1st class' group and after a brief mechanical problem were leaving Texas and Dolly in the rearview mirror.

A couple of comments about 1st class plane travel (since we very rarely get to do it it is a novelty to us). #1 the seats are nice and wide #2 the Chardonay served with the "turkey on a bun" was a little pretensive and #3 the warm chocolate chip cookie served on a china plate was a nice touch!!

Arrival in Vancouver was uneventful and ontime ... and then .... there was "Customs at the Vancouver Airport". Seasoned international travelers may be accoustomed to the veritable sea of humanity flowing thru a busy port's customs ... for me, with Cozumel as my only real reference, customs at the Vancouver airport and the 1 hour wait in line to get through to our baggage claim was ... in a word, "torture". People that know me, know that I am not a patient person ... I had an overwhelming, almost uncontainable urge to "moo" ....once we got to the baggage carousel I was roundly cussed out by two extremely senior citizens when I accidentally bumped into the little old lady ... I was in no mood for hassle but managed not to deck the old fart that was her husband. Ahhhhh ... stepping outside the terminal was indeed a breath of mostly fresh and definitely cooler and dryer (than Texas) air ... oh wait ... we have to wait in line for a Taxi ... oh wait ... our bags won't fit in the micro-Taxis ... WE have to have a freekin' van .... geeze ... 4 bags and 2 carry-ons?? Give me a break.

Ok so a $32 +tip cab ride later we arrive at the Victorian Hotel ... now I KNEW it was "old" and there were no elevators ... but when I saw that our room was #107 I'm thinking "cool ... ground floor no problem..." .... not so fast bucko ... #107 is ... up this double flight of stairs, down a long corridor that resembles something out of "The Shining" movie, up another double flight of stairs and down another 1890's corridor ... as I was struggling with bag #1 a very helpful Amazonian with a Swedish accent maid grabbed bag #2 like it was a feather and guided me to room #107 where my key didn't work but thankfully hers did ... I shoved the bags in the room closed the door (the maid had disappeared ... was she really here???) and desperately tried to remember the twists, turns and stairways I had traversed to get back to the front desk to ask for another key, collect Carolyn and bags 3 & 4 ...

We walked down to the "tourist district" which is kinda a mixture of 6th street in Austin, Burbon st in New Orleans and downtown San Antonio. One thing we noticed is that there are many different nationalities of people walking the street (mostly tourists I suppose) and most of them seemed to be in their 20's and 30's. We walked down to "Canada Place" where the ships leave and we will be tomorrow morning around 11AM. We had dinner "al fresco" and by the time it was served (around 5:30PM here) it was plenty "fresco" for a couple of thin blooded Texans!

I took a few photos but nothing of real note .... I include this one because one thing that really caught our eye as we were riding the taxi from the airport and walking downtown were the beautiful flowers hanging in baskets, in front of stores, in store windows ... all over the place ... just lovely ... San Antonio could learn from this for the River Walk.

More tomorrow from the ship!
Bade

We must be off ....

At least we HOPE to be off ... tomorrow morning at 8:25AM we should be winging our way via Dallas to Vancouver ... FINALLY!!

We started seriously planning this adventure in February or so ... the day the tickets for this itinerary became available I booked the cruise. We did a ton of research (the Cruise Critic web site is an absolute wealth of information shared freely about excursions, suggestions, tips and generally helpful people if you are planning a cruise!) and chose excursions (both through the Princess cruise line and independently) that we believe we will remember for a lifetime. Honestly, we cannot wait to get started.

I'm not really sure how the internet connectivity at the Victorian Hotel will be ... if possible I will definitely post our travel status and how we actually like the hotel tomorrow evening ... if the connectivity is unavailable, the post will have to wait until we board the ship on Thursday, probably in the evening of our "sail away" day. As long as the connectivity holds aboard ship I will do my best to make daily updates and as often as reasonable include at least SOME pictures.

If you find the web log interesting, PLEASE let us know via comments on the blog ... it's easy to do - just click on the word "Comments" at the end of any entry we make. We love reading comments from our friends and family and it helps to know what kinds of things people are actually interested in rather than our random thoughts.

Carolyn has agreed to share the web log author duties so hopefully between the two of us you will find something that peaks your interest enough to offer comments.

So ... enough for now ... soon to bed and rising at 5AM ... it LOOKS like Hurricane Dolly is going to be kind and allow us to escape from Texas before causing weather problems locally. As a birthday treat to me, Carolyn agreed to go see the new Batman movie with me this afternoon ... I have to say I think it was a good movie and the new actor in the "Joker" role was by far the best so far ... it is truly sad he couldn't appreciate his own talent enough to make wise decisions and further his career and his life.

North to Alaska ....

I added subscription to this blog

I added email subscription via feedburner to this blog.

Just enter your email addy in the box and click the button (and you have to enter the visual check code it shows you to avoid me getting spammed ...)

North to Alaska !!!!!

Carolyn and I have apparently completely lost or minds in our dotage .. and as a result have apparently decided that if you can't take it with you you have only two choices ...

1) Don't Go ...
2) Spend it all with the aim of running completely out of money at exactly the moment of one's demise ...

Although I prefer option #1 ... we have decide to pursue option #2 ... and with that in mind have booked a few exotic (for us anyway) trips before the end of 2008 ...

This blog will (hopefully) chronicle our 14 day cruise into the wilds of Alaska ... this will be Carolyn's 2nd trip to the area. She went with her dad shortly after Ethel passed away and Carolyn really enjoyed the trip and has been after me for years to "go to Alaska" .... so off we go ...

A link to the cruise information is:

Link to Alaska Cruise info

This cruise is round trip Vancouver/Vancouver ... departing July 24 and returning August 7 ...

I managed to snag first class tickets for the flight round trip using airmiles ... so we will have a really nice flight as well

We will be staying at the Victorian Hotel in Vancouver the day before the ship leaves and the night the ship returns ... which looks like a really cool place (check the link)

The cruise is aboard the Tahitian Princess which is a relatively small ship (~630 passengers). We have booked a mini-suite for the cruise since it will be 14 days on the ship ... I think we will enjoy the extra room and balcony!

The ports of call on this cruise are amazing and we have scheduled several excursions with independant guides that I think will really make this a special trip ... it is after all in celebration of Carolyn's retirement, and both our birthdays ... so it OUGHT to be special.

From Vancouver we will sail to Ketchikan where I have booked a flight to the Anan Creek Bear Viewing Observatory with Island Wings. This is a limited capacity lottery drawing only observatory so we are very fortunate to get this booking.

In Skagway we will travel the on the White Pass Summit railroad with Chilkoot tours (train up bus down).

In Valdeze we will do some exciting white water rafting down the Keystone Canyon ... MIGHT be too exciting!!

In Seward we have booked the Resurrection Bay Wildlife cruise thru Princess.

On Kodiak Island I managed to find a small operation bush pilot to take us to see bears ... I expect this to be a major highlight of the trip!

In Juneau ... we will be taking the Rainforest Canopy Zipline tour booked thru Princess

In Sitka I have arranged for us to take a SMALL boat with a local guide to see Puffins and Whales

And finally back in Victoria we will tour the Butchart Gardens

Whew ... are we crazy or what?

Hopefully I will have net access and be able to post to this blog along the way

Bade