Saturday in Juneau

We had another wonderful day today. After docking in Juneau, we walked downtown and shopped a little bit. If you loved jewelry and had tons of money, these ports are the place to be - every other store is a jewelry store!

We ate lunch at the Red Dog saloon - left over from gold rush days - and took the Mt. Roberts tramway to the top of the mountain behind the city. Although our ship is huge, you can tell how high we were by how small it looks.

Then we took a bus out to the Mendenhall Glacier which was very cool - it looked blue from the minerals in the ice. There were blue icebergs floating in the lake below the glacier. They said bears were common in the area and we saw some bear poop, but no bears.

At 3:15, we were picked up by the Harv and Marv whale watching tour bus and taken to two boats to go chase whales. It was such fun, and we actually saw quite a few humpback whales during the 2 hours we were out. The last one was the best - our guide Steve thought it was a young one because it hung out close to the boat and seemed to be showing off all the things it could do. It slapped its tail on the water, rolled over so we could see its tummy, and waved its fins in the air. Steve said we had gotten more whales than most groups see. We also saw a Steller sea lion, porpoises, and several eagles and nests. It was a great afternoon.

Just to give you an idea of how big our ship is, the white "apartment
building" at the end of the street is actually our ship! It dwarfed eveything else in Ketchikan.

Every evening, our cabin steward turns down the bed and leaves chocolates and a little folded towel critter like this elephant.

More later - we're at an internet hotspot in Skagway and we're itching to go shopping!

Ketchikan

Spent all day Thursday cruising up the inner passage - couldn't believe all the wilderness! It was really beautiful - the only disappointing thing was that we didn't see any wildlife. Dinner that night was formal and fancy - lobster and crab, cherries jubilee, etc. After dinner we had a surprise for Jane - all along the joke had been that since she was a single, she needed an inflatible companion. K & O ordered one, dressed him up in tuxedo boxer shorts and bow tie, set him up on the couch in one of the lounges, and called Jane to come down. The joke was on us, tho - she came in carrying a "Blow Up Bob" (Bub) of her own. Her reaction at seeing ours was priceless - we all laughed until we cried. Now Jane is famous all over the ship!

Woke up this morning and opened the curtain to find that we were parked nose to nose (or really butt to butt!) with another big cruise ship. We had docked in Ketchikan without even waking up! It was foggy and drizzly so we were keeping our fingers crossed that our sea plane trip to Misty Fjord wouldn't be cancelled.




After breakfast we gathered up our stuff and left the ship to explore Ketchikan a little as our plane trip wasn't until 10:30. It is a very cute little town - the most picturesque part of town is called Creek Street.

This is our float plane - held 10 people. It was quite a trip - gorgeous scenery and in such a small plane it was almost like being a bird. It was pretty misty and cloudy but that just seemed to add to the scenery - did make it hard to get good photos, tho.

Again, didn't see any wildlife, tho. K & O and Gary & I went on the plane trip - the others went on a boat trip to the same area and we had a great time comparing our photos.
Now we're on the move again and will dock in Juneau in the morning.

More Vancouver

Our condo in Vancouver was awesome - on the 24th floor downtown. I took this photo out of our window at night. On Tuesday, it was drizzly in the a.m. so we went to Granville Island to a really fun indoor market - you have never seen so much good, unusual food! In the afternoon we went to another neighborhood called Gastown and wandered around there until dinnertime.

This morning we took the SkyTrain around the city and a SeaBus ferry across to North Vancouver, just to get a taste of the rest of the city. We got on the ship this afternoon and sailed out under the Lionsgate Bridge about 7:00. We paid some big bucks for 100 internet minutes, but the connection is so slow it has taken me about 20 minutes of it just to upload these photos and write this! I may not post tomorrow unless the connection is faster or something really exciting happens. We spend all day at sea and have our best chance at seeing orcas on the way to Ketchikan.

Our stateroom - really very comfortable. The bed in the foreground is next to the door out to our balcony.

Sunset over the islands outside of Vancouver. More in a day or two!

From Vancouver

We got up verrrrry early in the morning to catch the train to Vancouver. The train was a wonderful way to travel - very comfortable - and lots of the scenery was great, but not as picturesque as we expected. After getting thru customs, we took taxis to our condos and met K & O there. Had some lunch and then caught the trolley to Stanley Park, a huge beautiful place. This is the view of some of downtown Vancouver and Canada Place with the white pointy roof - that is where our ship will leave from on Wednesday.



There is a nice little collection of totems poles from various First Nations tribes in Stanley Park.

We had wanted to see Chinatown because of our fond memories of going to San Francisco's Chinatown as kids, but this Chinatown was a disappointment, to say the least. After a rather odd dinner at "Hon's House of Noodles" (none of our meals came with noodles!) we trooped back to the condo to go to bed early. More of Vancouver tomorrow.

Seattle

We started the day in Seattle at the Pike Place Market - a very fun place. They really do throw fish around at the fish market behind Gary and Rachel, the pig.

The seafood was fantastic - but what in the world are "Halibut Cheeks?"

After lunch of chowder in a sourdough bread bowl at Ivar's on the waterfront, we went to Pioneer Square. Gary & I did the underground tour there - early Seattle burned to the ground and when they rebuilt it, they built it higher to escape the tide. The first floors of the buildings are still there underground, including this early bathroom.

We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island on the recommendation of Cody and Kris & Oliver. The view of Seattle was fantastic.

Kathy, Mark & Jane on the ferry to Bainbridge Island

Cool waterfront houses on Bainbridge Island.

We ate dinner overlooking this harbor.

The end of a great day!

North to Alaska

Today is the day! We fly to Seattle this afternoon, and have all day tomorrow there before taking the train up to Vancouver, B.C. on Monday morning. We'll have until Wednesday afternoon in Vancouver - our ship sails at 5:30!

We're pretty well ready to go - just washing the sheets & towels, mowing the yard, double-checking to make sure we have everything, etc.

Kris & Oliver went on ahead of the rest of us and have posted from Seattle on their blog - click on the "North 2 Alaska" link on the right.

Next post from the northwest!!

It's Getting Really Close!

This Alaska adventure group consists of the three Keiser sisters, their husbands, and a good friend from Denver. The first of the sisters heads off for the northwest tomorrow and the rest of us will follow soon. Can't wait! One of the reasons for the itinerary we planned was to have some time in Anchorage, where our parents met and were married during WWII. We think we have an "in" to the base and hope that some of the 1940's buildings are still there, particularly the base chapel that we've seen so often in photos.

Our Itinerary for the Alaska Adventure

Leave for Seattle on May 23 with Mark & Kathy; Kris & Oliver already there.
Train to Vancouver Monday, May 25
Sail on Carnival's "Spirit" on Wednesday, May 27
May 28 - at sea Inside Passage - hope we see orcas!
May 29 - Ketchikan (Misty Fjords seaplane adventure)
May 30 - Juneau (whale watching boat trip)
May 31 - Skagway (White Pass and Yukon train)
June 1 - Sitka
June 2 - at sea College Fjord - glaciers and wildlife
June 3 - Anchorage & Talkeetna
June 4-6 - Denali National Park(flightseeing to Mount McKinley, white water rafting, tour the park)
June 7 - 11 - Anchorage - V's home on 6/7; R's home on 6/10 and B's on 6/11

More Colorado photos

Just practicing some more - our trip to Alaska is next week and I need to know how to do this! Here is a photo of Gary and me on one of our hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Flip-flops in the snow!