Monday June 5, 2022--Kechikan

 Lumberjack show. So fun!

Ketchican, Alaska, Catch Me If You Can.  Or, Saskatchewan, like some gentleman asked the cruise director the other day, about when the ship would arrive at Saskatchewan. haha. Or perhaps it was just a joke. We're not going there!

BUT

We did go to Ketchican Alaska.  8,200 population. Cute shore town who used to be the Salmon capitol of the WORLD.  Till it was over-fished.  Still is the top Salmon producer, but with only one cannery and only has 10% of what they had at the peak in the 1920's.  People are so stupid--overfishing, over-cutting trees. Now they are over-touristing. ha.  But, in it's prime and pristine condition, the fish were plentiful, the water and trees plentiful, so the natives stayed put here rather than continue to be nomadic as thy had previously been in other areas of the state.

I decided to purchase a shore excursion via my Norwegian APP this morning. Our original one was cancelled to the Totem Bight Cultural exhibit and Lumberjack show.  I decided to just buy the lumberjack show tickets that were available through Norwegian. I knew they would be more $ than just getting them on shore, but they would also guarantee that the ship wouldn't leave us behind!  And it didn't.

I did wake up feeling much better this mornig, but I didn't go  stretch or watch the ship pull into port from up in the Spinnaker Lounge. I woke early before 6 am, lounged, I blogged (successfully!)  and then Mike and I had a nice,  leisurely breakfast together.  

We got off the boat after a brief rest in our room (because, you know, eating makes us SO tired. ) But I really WAS tired and didn't want to overdue it, so we rested and re-grouped, then left around 9:30 am or so.  Oh, and Butch and Donna found us at Breakfast, so that was nice.  We already had our food by they time they sat at the table next to us, but we got to visit for a bit. We ran into them in town later, too! It's nearly dinner time as I type this on Monday, and we haven't seen Robert and Janet all day.

Our large ship is docked way out of town. There were already three ships docked in the downtown port area, so the Norwegian Spirit docked in the old Pulp Mill area out of town. It's now a privately developed area since the pulp mill closed down in the 90's.  When we got off the ship, we rode a (school) bus shuttle service 20 minutes into town area, but it was still a ways off from the actual downtown.  So we hopped onto a free city bus/shuttle that made a loop through the main part of town. So we got a good look at the lay of the land, figured out where we needed to be and did it from that with a minimum of walking for Mike.  We paid a little bit to see the Tongass Museum. It was wonderful. Made me smile. Now, if SALMON had been running up the Ketchikan creek, it would have been oh-so-spectacular because large glass walls over-looked the beautiful Kechikan creek. Lovely. They had a great colleciton of old lumber-milling equipment and photos, old fishing equipment and photos, and films, etc. Even their special exhibit was a lot of fun. Fossils AND art. The Great Terrain Wreck. So punny.  A nice museum. And nice bathrooms. It was welll worth the $5 each to stop in there.  

Our next stop was the Discovery Center, down the street and around the corner. It was a Department of Forest Service center, so Mike's National Parks Card got us into that for free. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but it was informative and very well-put-together also.  Rainforest  information, plus films and other things. And it looks like it is a big part of the Ketchikan community , judging from the amount of school-children art work that was hanging from their walls. Nice totem poles, too. Kechikan is known for its many totem poles. I was impressed.

Then we walked across the street to the Great American Lumberjack Show. It was really cute, about an hour long.  Wonderful skills of chopping, sawing, log-rolling, lumber hoisting and climbing, etc.  Fun times, great Emcee.  We were fortunate to find a shuttle that would take us out to the dock where our ship was! That was a pleasant surprise, as we'd missed lunch and were getting hungry and didn't really want to do a lot of wating on buses. We knew where we could get a city bus back to our original shuttle drop off, but liked the shorter option much better.

Once back on board, we grabbed a snack at "The Local" cafe and headed to our room for a nap. Honestly, this vacationing is really hard on us old guys!  I can hardly keep my eyes open and Mike actuallly DID nod off during the lumberjack show.  For real!  I don't know how he did it . . . it was noisy in there! They were using chain saws!!! Haha.

And, in spite of being in a temperate rainforest where rain falls most days of the year, guess what?! We had sunshine. 😊

Tonight we have dinner on our own since Donna & Butch, Robert and Janet both have reservations at a High-end restaurant that our tickets didn't qualify us for. But we have plenty of options! We plan to have a professional photo taken, Plus watch a game "show"  in the Spinnaker Lounge  at 7 AND a broadway show - tunes concert after that at 8. 

 And then to bed.  Zzzzz

 

I was so hoping for time in a hot tub on board, but they close the pool area very early. And blogging and resting ( reading for Mike) is a bigger priority. 

Sunday June 4 Juneau

 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.

The tram in Juneau

June 3 Saturday Skagway (updated)

 Friday evening after our dinner together at the Asian Restaurant Silk (we were NOT well-pleased with that one, for a change, but I'd go back for a few of the items), we all -- except Mike, went to the multi-purpose room on deck 13 to play games. We played, drank sodas, watched the sun set, saw mountains and clouds glide by, Janet took an amazing photo of the sunset WITH the Moon.  The ship was still passing through rolling waters, but the trip is mild for being out in the ocean on a large vessel. I really like this. ha.  We probably stayed up too late.  We do tend to get a bit silly after 10 pm...

We played 5 Crowns and Bears and Bees. I actually won at 5 Crowns!  (By one point)

Mike and I BOTH slept in Late today!  We woke up earlier, like around 5 or so to use the bathroom, but I went back to sleep and slept until about 8:10!  That means I missed my 7 am morning stretch in the workout room. Oh well!  It IS vacation, after all.

We got up and ready and out the door to go do some trivia in the Atrium area, but had breakfast in the buffet first. Omelet for me, eggs for Mike.  We had reservations for an excursion on a tour bus (smaller, shuttle size) to see the White Pass and town.  But Donna and Butch and Robert and Janet were going to walk into the town of Skagway, so I went with them.  Mike was feeling OK this morning, but didn't want to push it since we had to go out later. Our reservation was at 1 pm.

 

I enjoyed exploring Skagway. They have a GREAT Park Service Visitor's Center which I enjoyed very much. Only I'm sad becasue I missed the film by one minute. The historical photos and displays of the Klondike and Yukon Gold Rush were just amazing and I was thoroughly entertained.  We wandered through a few shops.  Then Donna and Robert (and their spouses) decided to get tickets for the train ride up to White Pass. I think.  I guess our shuttle just went to the Summit, not to the Pass like the train. In either case, tickets purchased in town at the depot were half what they were as offered by Norwegian (which is why I did not buy them for me and Mike in advance--they were over $200 each, I think!)  But we ALL rode up the canyon, into the mountains and into the snow and fog and rain.  The train was from about 12 to 3; the shuttle ride was from 1:15 to 2:45 or so.

When I walked back to the ship to pick up Mike at 12:45 or so, it was cloudy and windy. By the time we went out 15 minutes later to board our shuttle bus, it was windy AND rainy!  So different from when the rest of us walked into town earlier, around 10am. It was lovely, then--no wind!

The train people got to see a bear on the side of the train tracks and Robert even got a good video of it and lots of other lovely views.  I only took a few photos. But WE got to go into Canada! ha.  (Far enough in that passports were required.)  And Mike and I were really impressed by our driver and narrator. He explained a lot about the area during the Gold Rush year, the topography, the climate, the people.  It was a very fun and interesting ride and I'm glad we decided to do it at the last minute--just the day before. Now, after having walked into the town and seeing all the other tour operators there, we could have probably gotten a far better deal, but I'm okay with what we did.  

We also enjoyed watching the tide roll in.  When we got into the port, it was just starting. The gangway was at a good slant; by the time we returned, the tide had risen many feet and the gangway was VERY steep to walk up!!  Mike and I met Donna by the elevator while we were on our way to our room and she and Robert and Janet and I and Mike all went to the Buffet for hot cocoa and a snack to tide us over till dinner tonight at Cagney's, the steak house and our "specialty dining" experience we paid for. 

I'm guessing it will most likely be games again tonight.  The ship is scheduled to leave port while we are eating dinner (kind of like two nights ago) so I hope we get window seats.  The Asian Restaurant did not have good views last night.  But they did have good egg rolls and pot stickers!

Reindeer food! The gray on the left is lichens. This is just low stuff growing in parking lot gravel.

Frozen lake, stunted trees, lichens. Cold!

We actually went INto Canada. Has to go further in to turn around because of clouds and poor visibility.

I did NOT win the Lotto onboard. Zero numbers out of about 25. 

I'm getting better at selfies. Took this after the evening show.

June 2

 

Valdez water cascade

 Butch birthday dinner

Sunrise June 2

This morning, we will be pulling into Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. There will be no shore excursions, so EVERYONE will be on board.  So far, we've had no difficulty at mealtime with lines or anything, but we've had a shore nearby for people to leave and go explore.

Yesterday, we were in Valdez (June 1). It was Butch's birthday!  

Since the internet is sporadic, I'm unable to blog daily at the end of the day, upload photos of that day, and remember exactly what we did and where we were.  So these days are all a big blur of water, snow, mountains, clouds, sky, etc. And food.  LOTS of good food.  We've had nothing that's just been Meh.  It's all good, actually.  Well, I did have a piece of corn on the cob the first night that was cold in the middle.

AND, dessert with lunch and dinner. Yum yum.  Yeah, yeah.  We are gonna get busy and buckle down once we get home.  We'll have to since our clothes won't fit. ha.

So, Day one we got on late, Mike and I explored, etc.

Day 2, we explored more and the others went ashore.  We all had dinner together to celebrate Butch's dinner and we were eating in one of the nicer open restaurant at the back of the ship as we pulled out of Valdez/Keystone.  Earlier in the afternoon, some of us (Me, Mike, Donna) went to the hot tubs and soaked for a while. They are on our level, but clear at the rear of the ship. It is MANY steps to get there and Mike is just not comfortable walking.  His right knee is sore. Up until this morning, his shoulders were doing okay with no major out-of-the-ordinary pain, but today they are acting up and huring more. This is a firmer bed than we're used to.  So he rests a lot, either in our room or out in the Spinnaker Lounge which has lots of observation windows.

Mike and I also spent some time yesterday in the Atrium area doing trivia, watching informational video presentations on a HUGE screen there, I made an origami box. I got information on how the wifi and inter internet works, so that was helpful. And we checked out more of the excursions. He's leaning toward going fishing possibly. Oh, and Mike got served an alcoholic drink, after asking for a virgin drink of the day. I'd had one earlier, and it was basically fruit juice. He got something totally different.  I've mostly been drinking water. And luckily, they gave us LOTS of bottled water in our room. Yay for good water. I doon need to drink lots.

Our first night of floating was quite smooth. Today we are in Open Water and we can tell a difference. As I type this, it's Friday June 2.  I woke up at 4:50 a.m. and the ship was moving so much more than other times, I got dressed (kind of--yesterday's pants and a used shirt) and went out to see what the sea looked like to cause so much motion.  I walked around, inside and out. It's hard to walke straight down the hallways, it's that much. The rollers don't look like much from up here in the huge ship, but they must be big to cause this much motion. The water in the swimming pool wasn't sloshing over the sides of the pool, but I think it had and it was close to doing so as it sloshed back and forth in the pool. Fun times!  I'm glad I'm not prone to sea-sickness. Overall, it's a smooth ride.

Day Three, Friday June 2, I went to the exercise studio for a "morming stretch" class. It was like yoga, only 30 minutes with a friendly, limber, buff young man who wanted to help you really STRETCH.  No, thank you. My hamstring goes no further.  I picked up Mike, we got ready for the day and had breakfast overlooking the windows at "The Local" cafe.  We kind of wanted to go to one of the other places like the wonderful buffet, but I just don't have that much self-control. So we had an omelet and fruit. Good for us. 

Mike and I spent time this morning between 9 and 10 in the Atrium doing trivia with one of the ship hosts and another man joined us and helped us with a lot of answeres.  the three of us, putting our heads together, won both of the trivia games!  Woo Hoo!  Yay us.

The Glacier was lovely.  The ship slowed to a stop outside the ice belt, rotated slowly around, we went outside and spent time in the cold wind, time in the warm sunshine OUT of the wind,  Lunched in the "Local" cafe with sandwiches (and carrot cake), then I went to the Art Auction by ParkWest Galleries. Eric worked for Park West and I just wanted to see what a gallery auction was like.  Now I know~  very expensive and quite long.  I'm not an art collector, but I did win a raffle drawing and got $100 off a bid and a lovely bottle of wine which I gave to Butch and Donna.  On my way through the casino to the Art Auction (which lasted about two full hours and I was SOOOOoooo sleepy!), a purchased a lotto ticket.  Why not?  I'll let you know if I win anything.

We have plans for our evening meal in the Asian restaurant and a Magic show at either 7 pm or 9 pm depending on when we get out of dinner and if we can get a seat at the early one or not.

It's been fun.  Even the 25 minute nap we had after the art auction.  Mike was just resting and reading in the room.

Driving to Seward

 Wildlife Sanctuary.