Kit and Carol on the Road

We were up very early for breakfast in the dining room. The ship docked at 7 am. We were scheduled for the 8:30 disembarkation. This end of our cruise went very smoothly. It was cold and raining in Vancouver. We took a taxi to Kirsten's house where our car was parked. Had coffee with Kirsten at her neighborhood coffee shop and then headed south. It was over an hour waiting at the border crossing--even after I chose the truck route which was supposed to be twice as fast. Always stick in the left lane. Anyway--after stopping for groceries we were home in time for dinner--which we had to cook ourselves. What a shock.

I could have stayed 2 days in Ketchican but we had only 1. Our ship landed at 10 in the morning and I had to be off quickly and on to another boat for a trip to the Misty Fjords (another National). I went on this trip alone because Kit had scheduled a float plane trip in the afternoon. I had an absolutely wonderful trip. The weather was glorious and I had a front row seat when I wasn't outside. (one advantage to being a single). We saw unbelievable scenery, lots of wildlife, and learned a lot about everything from our tour guide. We had porpoises around our boat and then orcas (killer whales) following along with us. Awesome. I have lots of photos showing the water where they were before they submerged but I won't post those. The photos I am posting are a small island which is a volcanic plug, and a waterfall which shows how close to the shore we came.

Sunday, May 30 was a beautiful day in Glacier Bay. We spent most of an entire day cruising there. Early in the morning we picked up 2 National Rark rangers and a Tlingit "interpreter". (who did programs during the trip) We spent most of the day outdoors marveling at the scenery. We saw Glaciers calving but the icebergs here are not as awesome as Tracy Arm.. On the beach we saw a brown bear (with our binoculars). Most of the wildlife is found in the shallower waters at the opening to the bay. There we saw seals and sea lions on the rocks, otters and porpoises quite near the boat, and humpback whales all around. About 4 our rangers were picked up in a small boat. (photo) Tonight was another formal dinner in the dining room.

Another beautiful day. (Saturday, May 29) Our ship pulled into Skagway between 6 and 7 in the morning. We had to be on shore by 8 am for our train trip which left at 8 am from the dock (a very short walk). This is the famous White Pass train. We all 4 went on this outing. It was an awesome trip with unbelievable scenery. I had fun riding for short times outside on the platform between the cars. This was the best place for photos and of course I took plenty.

Our ship landed in Juneau at around 2 pm. Talk about some tricky parallel parking. This was our first time on land in Alaska. Roland and Ann-Marie had booked a tour of the city and the Mendenhall Glacier but Kit and I took off on our own and found a $14 bus trip out to the Glacier. Kit was anxious to go to the State Museum but it was such a gorgeous day that I wanted some time outdoors. We only had an hour at the Glacier --took some photos and visited the visitor center. Then on our bouncy bus back to town. We stopped at the Museum for about an hour. The most amazing thing there was a huge globe that showed among other things, air traffic patterns around the world, and weather patterns in the last week. Juneau is a town which seems to be mostly diamond shops and other tourist shops. We found a book shop to buy a map--and a fabric shop. Then we went back to the ship for dinner. Though we were in port until 10pm there wasn't much reason to stay away.

Friday, May 28. I had planned to sleep in a bit this morning but Kit came in from his early morning laps and told me I must get up and see the icebergs. We spent much of the morning traveling into a fjord called the Tracy Arm. The scenery was fantastic. We were running all over the ship looking for views and I took a "zillion" pictures. Took a break from the sights to go on a tour of the kitchen at 10:30.

The two transit days were the most boring of the cruise. We went through the interesting part of the inland passage during the night. We did have the ship to explore. Since we were on the floor with the outdoor promenade, walking laps was our exercise and entertainment. There was an exercise room on the 9th deck but we never found time to try it out. This first day we did go up to the hot tub--It wasn't very hot and the pool was quite cold. It was hardly crowded.

When we booked this cruise we chose interior rooms on the Lower Promenade deck but were able later to upgrade to rooms on the same deck with a view for a cheap price. At the last minute we were called to upgrade to a Deluxe Veranda Suite but the catch was that 4 of us would share one room and one bathroom which we didn't like so turned this offer down. We were very happy with our rooms. Deck 3 is very fine because you can exit onto a covered promenade where you can walk entirely around the ship. The only disadvantage to our location is that we were directly under the kitchen where there was often much noise at night. I had asked to have a queen bed but we were given twin beds. This turned out to be a good thing because it made the room seem larger and we could get close to the window to see out. The photo I am attaching of our room was taken on day 2 when Kit is dressed for the formal dinner, and we have a swan made of towels. 3 times in the trip we found animals of towels when we returned. Besides the beds there was a small sofa, chair, and table as well as a desk/dressing table. The closets were in the narrow hallway and the bathroom was off this hallway.

I had planned to update our journey from the ship but found out internet cost $1.75 per minute--so forget that. Now we are home and I will write about our journey and post some photos.