In Seattle

We are at the Seattle Airport. The bus dropped us off and we have a 5 hour "layover" before our flight this afternoon. We'll get to Denver at about 7:30 this evening. Roxie & Aunt Colene will fly in to OKC tomorrow afternoon. David will pick me up and we'll all go back to reality. No more 24 hour all-you-can-eat buffets. No more cabin stewards to make our beds and clean the bathroom. No more seals, whales, or eagles. No more gentle seas rocking us to sleep. And for several months, no more layering up and adding hat and gloves because it's so cold outside.
But, as wonderful as our experience has been, we're all ready to be home. We've had a truly memorable time that has left us feeling so very blessed to have been able to share it with one another.

Thanks for you comments letting us know you were out there thinking about us. If you want to know more about our trip, just ask any one of us, get comfortable and be patient as we try to describe our great trip!

Victoria

We had a relaxing day of resting, packing and another trip to the spa yesterday. We took a double-decker bus trip through Victoria last night. It’s a beautiful city.

Birthday Pics

Trying again to post the pictures from the birthday.

Birthday Celebration

This afternoon there were Happy Birthday balloons by our door for Aunt Colene courtesy of the cruise line. At supper they brought her a pretty little cake and sang Happy Birthday to her. When we got back to the room, our room steward (Jose) brought her a bottle of wine. We went back downstairs and watched a “newly wed” type presentation with some of the guests and then went to one of the music presentations put on by the crew.
Tomorrow is a day at sea, docking in Victoria from 7:00-11:00 tomorrow night. Then sailing on in to Seattle to dock at 7:00 on Saturday morning. The plan right now is to sleep in tomorrow morning. Hope that happens!

I can't get the pic to upload tonight. I'll try again tomorrow.

Massages

We all were very happy with our massage, facial, feet and ankle massage. So happy in fact, that we’re doing it again tomorrow!

Lighthouse, Totems, and Eagles

Another fun trip this morning. Captain Bob Took us around several islands outside of Ketchikan to see the eagles, a lighthouse and the totems at Saxton Bight State Park. We lost count of how many eagles we saw, but at least 25. We saw ten nests and one had a fuzzy baby eagle holding his head out. The lighthouse was built in 1906 on a lonely island. We didn’t see as many totems as we’d expected to see from the description of the tour, but other than that, It was a very fun tour.
Ketchikan is built on a hill and some houses are up the hill with the only way to get to them by along staircase with several landings. These staircases actually have street names and it is the responsibility of the city to clear them when it snows.

Beef Stew

We were impressed with Roxie’s beef stew that she ordered for lunch. She said that it Was one of the tastiest meals that she’s had yet.

Glacier Bay

We spent Wednesday morning traveling through Glacier Bay National Park. We saw the Grand Pacific Glacier, the Margerie, Lamplugh and the Reid as well as some smaller ones. The ship stopped and we watched the Margerie for quite a while. She “calved” three times while we were watching, dropping off big chunks of ice into the sea. We also saw harbor seals, humpback whales, and several groups of Dall’s porpoises. Pretty fun to see and learn about the glaciers. A ranger from the National Park came onboard and gave a running commentary about the things we were seeing.
This morning is Ketchikan and a tour called Lighthouses, Totems, and Eagles. Then back to the ship for lunch and then a massage. Don’t tell Aunt Colene. She’s been hinting about a massage and Roxie and I have been ignoring her. She’s probably a bit put out with us… We’ve made an appointment and taking her to celebrate her birthday. Tonight is the second formal night. They’re supposed to do something special at the dinner for her.

Caught up to today

Well, they seem to have the internet working again. That gets us caught up to today. We were in Glacier Bay National Park today. I haven't downloaded my pics yet, and Roxie says it's time for our "last feeding" so I'll see if I can finish that after supper and get them published. We've had another incredible day!

Panning for Gold

We had a supper at “Liarsville Camp”. It was so named because it is where the reporters lived during the gold rush, and they greatly exaggerated the amount and ease of getting the gold in the Klondike. It was a little cheesy with a Silver Dollar City style show with a lot of corny jokes, but it still made us laugh. We then panned for gold with pans “seeded” with a few gold flakes. My pan had more than Roxie’s and Aunt Colene’s, but I don’t think I got enough to quite cover the cost of this trip…

White Pass Narrow Gauge Train

We took the train to Fraser, Canada, then caught a bus back down the mountain on the opposite side of the gorge. The ride up was really beautiful.

Zipline

The zipline was a hoot. We started out with a challenge course with three challenges—basically monkey bridges, but way up high. Then there were 6 ziplines. They weren’t as long as I’d hoped, but were a lot of fun! I met Roxie and Aunt Colene in Skagway and we saw a movie about the Klondike gold rush at the visitors center.

Roxie & Libby Riddles

Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the Iditarod in 1985. We heard her talk about her dogs and how she came about to get to the point where she was able to compete and win.

Mendenhall Glacier

We visited this Monday afternoon. It’s just 12 miles outside of Juneau.

Eagle

An eagle we saw while on the whale tour. We’ve seen several, but this one was the closest.

Whale Pics

Here’s a couple of pics of some of the humpback whales as they came up with their mouths open to scoop up the fish that they had just gathered in their “bubble net”. The naturalist on the boat said that he had only seem that happen six times in the five years that he had been working on the boat. The crew members were so very excited, we knew we were seeing something special.

Can't upload pictures

Well,I'm having trouble uploading pics tonight. We're all doing fine. Had another great day. I'll try again tomorrow.

Awesome!

Words can’t describe the afternoon we’ve had. On our whale watching tour there was a “gam” of humpback whales bubble net feeding. A gam is more than a pod which consists of 4 or 5 whales. There were at least 12 in the gam that we saw. Look up bubble net feeding-it’s really amazing! We saw them come up at least 5 times. The last time was with 10 feet of our boat! Truly stuff right off the Discovery Channel! Then we watched a mama humpback and her calf play for about 20 minutes. They’d breach and roll over, go down and come up and roll again. Again, it was amazing. I know part of the problem is being tired (it’s 11:30), but it really was too extraordinary of an experience to put into words. Truly wish we could have shared it with you all! The rest of our day was good as well, but I’m too tired to tell you about it and I have to be up in a few hours to go do the zipline.

I'm posting this just before getting off the ship on Tuesday morning cause I couldn't get online last night. I'll have to catch up with pictures later. We're all well and HAPPY.

Smooth Sailing

Beautiful this morning. I’m not sure what time the boat stopped rocking last night, but we can hardly feel the it moving this morning. Aunt Colene and I have been up since 4:30 this morning, watching the sunrise and the sea. Now David, before you go hyperventilating, realize that this is only 6:30 Mountain Time. We’ve seen whales from a distance this morning, spouting, slapping their tails.
Aunt Colene and I are feeling much better and ready for our afternoon adventure. We’ll dock in Juneau at 12:00 and then soon after we’re off to see “The Best of Juneau”. First a whale watching tour, then a salmon bake and ending with the Mendenhall glacier. I think I told you that yesterday, but in case I didn’t, now you know our plan! The ship will sail about 10:00pm and head up to Skagway. Tomorrow morning I’m doing the zipline while Roxie and Aunt Colene explore the town and then we’ll meet back up about noon to do “The Best of Skagway”. We’ll take the White Pass Train Ride to Fraser, British Columbia, then take a bus down the Klondike Highway Drive, to Liarsville Camp for supper, ending at the Red Onion Saloon where “Madams fill our glasses with Alaskan Amber beer, wine or root beer and throw a private party in the prestigious upstairs brothel.” Wish you were here !
Please post some comments—we’d like to know you’re doing okay, too!

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Tonight was the first of two "formal nights" for dinner. It's been a rough (well at least for us landlubbers) day at sea. I got to feeling bad after church service this morning and have gone back and forth between okay and queasy this afternoon. Aunt Colene got to feeling worse this afternoon as well. We went to a program by a naturalist that was very interesting and spent most of the rest of the afternoon resting. We got all dressed to go down to dinner and then decided we weren't feeling up to it. Ordered room service and then we'll see if we can get a movie on the tv. They tell us that this will all be better by 2:00 this morning when we're in the inside passage. Juneau tomorrow with a whale watching tour,salmon bake and the Mendenhall glacier. P.S. Roxie has felt fine through all this.

This Morning

Here we are on our balcony before church this morning.

Dancing in the Aisles

Roxie & Aunt Colene jivin' to some music last night

Sunday Morning

Had a little trouble getting online last night, but I think I’ve got it figured out now. We’ve had some pretty rocky seas since about midnight. This evening is our first formal night, so we get to get all gussied up for it.
We went to a church service this morning. We were surprised and disappointed to see how few people took time to attend.
There was a beautiful sunrise this morning, but it’s mostly cloudy now. We’re far enough out that we can’t see land.

At Sea

We made it to Seattle safely, walked to one end of the terminal to leave our bags, walked to the opposite end of the terminal to wait for the bus. Aunt Colene immediately struck up a conversation with the guy sitting next to her. ( She says that he spoke first). I thought we might be in trouble when the wife showed up, but Aunt Colene said not to worry, if she were looking she could do a lot better than that! Apparently she has something against “snuff juice” dribbling from the corners of mouths…
Our bus driver was interesting giving commentary as we were going from the airport to Pier 91. He talked about many points of interest and talked about the housing prices in the area. As an example, he talked about one of the cheapest condos that you could get costing about $125000. Then he told us that the condo would be 400+ square feet which was actually less space than the bus that we were riding in.
We got checked in to the ship without too much waiting and no problems. Our room is small, but not uncomfortable. Roxie says that it is about twice the size of the cabin that she shared several years ago with two others on her first cruise.
There were two “Captain’s Choice” pins in our cabin. Roxie tossed them to Aunt Colene and me. Aunt Colene put hers on before we went to lunch. One of the waiters struck up a conversation with us and asked Aunt Colene about her other cruises. When she told him that this was her first cruise, he wanted to know where she got the pin—that it only went to people who had been on 10 or more cruises. (actually it goes to someone who is a returning cruiser-Roxie with one Princess cruise, we’re not sure why there were two pins in the cabin). Aunt Colene said that was really something. She was an experienced cruiser and the ship hadn’t even left the dock. Well, I’m pretty sure this turned into a “guess you had to have been there” story, but it was funny at the time.
The ride out Puget Sound was beautiful! Sail boats, barges, speed boats, tugs, sea gulls. Snow capped mountains, trees (green ones that haven’t been killed by the pine beetle!). Blue seas. Clear blue sky and blue green sea. People kept telling us that this was the first clear day that they’ve seen in three weeks.
Some of that may change tonight and tomorrow as gale force winds to 45 miles an hour with 15 ft. waves are predicted. Our saving grace may be that our balcony is on the starboard side so we should be protected somewhat from the worst of the winds.
It’s about 9:15 Pacific time now, and I’m going to try to get some sleep. It’s been a long, but fun day. We’re at sea all day tomorrow. We plan to go to church services and then check out some of the activities on the ship.

32000 ft. high

Well, here we are at our cruising altitude of 32000 ft. This is the first time I've been in an airplane offering wi-fi! Just had to see if it really works!
All three of us have been awake since about 3:30am. Not that we're anxious or anything. Dar served us some breakfast, Joe took us to the airport, we made it through the lines (I learned that you have to take your laptops out of their cases and lay them flat to go through the scanner), and we had about thirty minutes at our gate before they started boarding. It was raining lightly in Denver. I wondered what it felt like to be the pilot flying through the clouds and not being able to see anything. Once we were above the clouds (and bumps), it was neat to look down on the clouds from above. They seem to have so much more "substance" from above. Makes me want to reach out and touch them because they look so much more solid. We could see the mountains for a little while, but now we have more clouds under us..smooth and soft looking. It's supposed to be clear in Seattle and about 76 degrees.

We're sitting all together on the very back row. Because of that, there's no leaning our seats back. Aunt Colene says that we certainly don't have to travel far to get to the bathrooms. I'm blessed that my traveling companions are "glass half full kind" of people instead of the "half empty' kind!

The Night Before...

All together at Joe & Darlene’s. They fixed us a wonderful supper with grilled steak, chicken, salad, baked potato, veggies… We’re all stuffed, but we loved every delicious bite!

We had a slight glitch with the Princess lines today. They needed our passport numbers to complete their paperwork. Somehow we’d missed that. I called them this morning and was able to print my boarding pass, etc. Aunt Colene and Roxie had called them yesterday, but somehow they didn’t get the information transferred to where it was supposed to be. Roxie called back this evening and now we’re all good to go!

It’ll be an early morning, so we need to be thinking about getting settled.

Time to go

Well, it's time to actually get packed. I haven't talked to them today, but I'm assuming the Aunt Colene and Roxie are packed and ready to go, spending this evening in OKC with family. They'll fly into Denver tomorrow and Joe and Dar will pick them up at the airport. About the time they are getting to Denver, David and I will hopefully be leaving Yuma headed that way. We have to stop by a jeep parts place to exchange a spring.. Seems David is rather picky about wanting two front and two rear springs instead of three front and one rear... After that exchange (and hopefully not too much more shopping) we'll head to Joe and Darlene's for supper. They just got in from a longish trip this afternoon, but are insisting on taking care of The Three Young Chicks.

This young chick is feeling her age tonight. I had a "backyard camp-out" with my older Girl Scouts last night. Lots of wind that kept the tent flapping and me awake for most of the night. Just falling asleep then the birds started singing. Then an important Head Start meeting tonight. Now I'm back home and ready to pack for real. I've got lots of things thrown in the general vicinity of my suitcase. Time to get serious and see what is really going to fit. Tomorrow the adventure actually begins. Well, maybe you think it won't begin until we're on the ship on Saturday, but if you think that, you don't know what an adventure it is to be with Joe and Darlene!

Working with the pictures

Roxie found her Senior Picture. She scanned and emailed it to me. Gotta love technology--at least when it's working and I have enough know-how to get it to do what I want it to. I'd been thinking about "antiquing" my picture, so I did that with Roxie's too. I had to play with the colors a little to get them to do what I wanted, but I'm pretty pleased with the results. I can't figure out how to get them all the same size. When I put them back in with the new coloring, they are smaller than Aunt Colene's. But that's fine, because she is, after all, the MAIN chick.

Okay, second post. Experimenting to see how to post pictures. This is a picture of the Golden Princess that I found online. We're on the starboard side, room B419, with a balcony. We're planning to bring some rain gear and warm clothes and spend some time on that balcony, hopefully seeing some wildlife! I've read some reviews where folks were whining about not being able to use the balcony because of the rain. Did they not know that they were traveling along the coast of a rain forest? Some complained because it was cold...duh, it's Alaska, folks. I guess they heard the word "cruise" and assumed it was tropical. Anyway, I stopped reading those reviews. I know that there will be some lines and waiting. You can't put that many people in one place and expect the world to revolve around you. I bet the other two chicks and I can find the silver lining to the situations that we find ourselves in. It's just in our genes that way!

testing, testing

My first dip into the blog world. I'm hoping to be able to post an update each day of our Alaskan adventure to keep family and friends updated as to what we're experiencing. We're all three quite excited about our upcoming trip. We have about 20 days left before we leave port in Seattle. We're all in various stages of packing and double checking our lists to make sure we have all that was suggested we bring. Then to weigh those bags to make sure we don't have to pay overweight luggage fees!
Aunt Colene and Roxie will fly from OKC to Denver on June 11th, I'll drive in and we'll all spend the night with Joe and Darlene. We'll fly from Denver to Seattle on June 12th to get to the ship which is scheduled to leave Pier 91 at 4:00 pm.
All day Sunday, through Monday morning we'll be at sea.
Well, I guess that's all for now.