On our Juneau day, I woke early. Strange, since we have no light but our nightlight to indicate the time of day. Not that one would know up here in the north since it stays light so late and gets light so early! The ship seemed to be bumping a bit so I dressed in exercise clothes and headed to the Spinnaker Lounge. It has lovely views and it was empty of people, so I was able to sit in a prime observation level and went back and forth between the two--one on each side. I watched the ship position itself for docking for a long time. Then I realized we were NOT docking, but tendering in to the dock today in Juneau. The capitol of Alaska. It's really small, too! Seems like all the cities are small, at least the ones we have docked in. Anchorage is large, I imagine Fairbanks is. But Skagway, Valdez and Juneau have seemed pretty small. But that is only three of many, so what do I know?
I almost had a personal training session with Daniel from Johannasburg, South Africa, for the early morning stretch activity in the Pulse Fitness Center. He's nice, but Oh-so-limber for a large bulky man. ha. Then one more young lady joined us for the Early Morning Stretch. It's only 1/2 hour and I didn't stay for Ab work. Ugh. I hate ab work! Cuz I have no abs except the few teeny ones hidden under many pounds (and growing) of flab.
Mike and I breakfasted practically alone in the Windows Restaurant at the very AFT of the ship. I had a lovely Belgian waffle with banana and caramel sauce. Mike had an omelet. Donna and Butch had their breakfast there, too, but we didn't see them until we were on the way out. We decided to ride the Tender Boat in to Juneau together. Robert and Janet had a whale-watching shore excursion (which was very successful for them!)
So we left ship, boarded a tender boat, motored over to the docks of Juneau, rode the tram up to the top of the mountain, took some photos, wandered the gift shop, watched a documentary-type film that was locally made and quite nice about the history and native people of the area, wandered and took more photos (did not hike the nearby trails), then stood in line watching another part of a film of the local celebration. Like a pow wow. It's nice to see so many similarities in native peoples of North America. The Paiute tribe in our area have similar celebrations (pow wow), too. Similar music, dance and attire. It was enjoyable for a while. The Alaskans have the celebrations every three years when many villages and tribes / clans gather. Some paddle in! Hawaiian people paddled in for this year's.
We de-boarded the tram, wandered the dock and shops area, bought some fudge, sat and ate for a bit, watched bald eagles soaring overhead, then headed back to the tender boat. And Butch and Donna got on the same one!
It was about lunch time, so Mike and I had a bite to eat at the Local cafe on board and we both had Rueben Sandwiches, fries, a virgin pina colada, and of course Dessert. Butch and Donna came in as we were leavng.
Mike and I hunkered down in our room for a nap after that. I was kind of chilly, so I actually climbed under the covers and slept HARD. I am glad I set an alarm for about an half an hour (40 minutes, actually, but I didn't quite jump right up then. ha) When we DID get up, we went up to the Multipurpose\game room up on Deck 13 to do our sudoku and crossword puzzles and met Jon Marriot! He stopped to talk for a little while. Misty Melling's brother (from Cedar City) is also on the cruise. I thought it was nice that Jon Marriot (who was in the show we watched in the theater last night, Blazing Boots) actually recognized me as he was leaving the game room area and stopped. It was a fun little chat. His parents, Mark and Linda Marriott, divorced about 10 years ago and I didn't remember that . . . if I ever knew. Jon Marriot when to Cedar High school with Damian and Tandy and was in Oklahoma with Gail, so knows our older kids and lots of neighbors from our 17th ward back home. He lived near us, but in a different ward.
Then Donna and I attended a 4 pm "Best of Ketchican" presenation in the Spinnaker lounge at 4 pm. It was really a shopping schpeil, but whatever. Our excursions into Ketchikan for the Saxman Bight Cultural tour and Lumberjack show had been cancelled and refunded by the Cruise Line (due to low attendance -- I mean, our ship is just about HALF FULL, afterall) so Donna and I were hoping to find out about other options. According to Michaela, our personal shopping guide and expert for all things Alaskan for us Cruisers, it's shopping for jewelry and souvenirs! Woo Hoo! Nope, we're not in the market for "stuff," thank you very much. Or jewelry. However, she did mention that there were only two Lumberjack shows we could take in during our shore time, so we'll try for one of those.
Donna and I got some front row seats in the Spinnaker Lounge, right by the windows up front after listening to the sales talks. It was fun to sit and watch and observe from this lovely observation deck. We didn't see wildlife, but its just nice to watch the world float by, relax, chat, and I even got some emails downloaded and updated. Until then, I'd not seen any come through since May 31. That was nice because later on that evening, between events, I could delete the unnecessary ones. and I even sent a short email off to Mom. I've been trying to update my blog daily, but its hard with spotty internet and pictures that take so long to upload.
Dinner in the evening for all six of us was down at "Taste," where we met for our first night. I was fading fast, feeling a bit like I was getting sick.Just achey and sore, and I had tired burney eyes. Weird. I had a rather light dinner for me , plus a big dessert. I just ate three small appetizers for my meal. Tiny stuffed mushrooms, bruchetta, and (3) ravioli. Plus a banana split for dessert which really was good and big. We split a black forest cake, which was not impressive. I've made better. (decades ago)
No games for us tonight, but I did grab one more amulet from the EFFY jewely store for my necklace, then Mike and I rested (from all that eating, you know!) until the 9 pm show in the Stardust Theater. Aerialists and acrobats. They were really good. Kind of a spacey/futuristic theme with film, music and costumes, but it was enjoyable as they were quite talented. Kind of like cirque de Soleil
Then I went straight to be at 10 and slept. Hard. Mike said I snored most of the night. Never even woke up until 5:50 a.m. this morning and I think I'm feeling better. But I'm not going to go stretch with lumber Daniel! Ha.
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