The journey continues! This past week, I took an Alaskan Cruise from Seattle with my friend - Michele, her sister - Sheryl, and their mother - Donna. All I can say is "Wow". I expected the scenery to be beautiful, but was not prepared for how truly breathtaking some of it was.
We started in Seattle, arriving the night before we cruised. Since 2007 is the year of the pig, Seattle is displaying decorated Pigs (like the cows in Chicago or the Dogs in Racine) in various areas of the city. As we were walking to the Public Market, we noticed a bunch of the decorated pigs in a vacant store. The organizers happened to be inside, saw our noses pressed against the glass, and unlocked the doors to let us "Wisconsin girls" in to look at the pigs. There were some really creative pigs in there! After that preview, we walked to the waterfront and enjoyed a great dinner at Anthony's - the best Coconut Shrimp that Donna and Sheryl had ever had - I will take their word for it.
Before setting sail on Friday, we had coffee at the first Starbucks and strolled through Pike Place Market area. Pike Place Market is really great, lots of fresh flowers, arts and crafts, fruits and vegetables, and of course fresh fish - a great selection with things we don't see in the midwest like dungeness crab, crab legs the size of my arm, and halibut cheeks. Our favorite place was the Pike Place Fish Market - home of the flying fish. As people order fish, the workers toss them back and forth - sometimes over people's heads - which I learned the hard way! The guys that worked there were a lot of fun and let us come behind the counter to take some pictures with them.
http://www.pikeplacefish.com/
We boarded the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas on Friday afternoon headed for the Alaskan Inside Passage. The ship was really great - a beautiful atrium, outdoor and indoor swimming pools, a spa, rock climbing wall, a casino, a theater (the Drifters played one night) and several lounges. We spent a lot of time in the Solarium around the indoor swimming pool, it was surrounded by windows and provided a great place to sit in a deck chair and watch for whales. We did a lot of watching for whales, but not a lot of seeing of whales. I did see one on the second day - saw the spout of water, then the fin, then a great tail swoosh, and then it was gone. Unfortunately Michele, Sheryl, and Donna missed it - they were going to get food - which there was plenty of. There were buffets for breakfast and lunch, snacks always available, gourmet dinners in the dining room, and of course midnight buffets. One of the midnight buffets was all chocolate and sweets - I'd like to thank whoever came up with that idea - they should seriously get an award! We had a lot of laughs on the boat, many of them as a result of the towel animals left in our rooms each night. We had an elephant, a turtle, a lobster, a bird, and the best - a monkey hanging from the ceiling!
As I said, the scenery was breathtaking. One night we went to bed after a day of seeing plush forests rising up the mountainsides and woke up the next morning surrounded by snow covered mountains. We were there at a good time of the year, the snow is melting off the mountains producing hundreds of waterfalls. One of our days was spent sailing into Tracy Arm Fjord among the icebergs. The Fjord was surrounded by tall black mountains with waterfalls running down the sides. While we were there, the crew went out and got pieces of icebergs to bring back on board - so we got to touch the icebergs - pretty cool!
During one of our at-sea days, there was a medical emergency on the ship and a passenger had to be airlifted by a Canadian Coast Guard Rescue helicopter. It was so interesting to see the operation and the way that the crew of both our ship and the Canadian Coast Guard handled it - very impressive. It was announced on the ship, later in the week, that the passenger was recovering nicely - so while I am sure it was scary to be airlifted like that, it is good that he received the medical attention he needed.
We did take a couple of shore excursions in Juneau and Skagway. In Juneau, we took a helicopter ride up to a dog sled camp on the Mendenhall Glacier. What a blast - not only was it my first helicopter ride, but we were all able to be dog sled mushers, and we heard and saw an avalanche! The dog sled camp was great. Since helicopter is the only way in or out, the camp takes about 100 helicopter trips to get set up and supplies are brought up with the tourists. There are 11 Mushers, each with about 27 dogs on their teams. They live on the glacier for four months. All of the mushers compete at some level and several have competed in the Iditarod. Michele and I worked with Dave and his great team of dogs. It was so much fun and the dogs were happiest when they were running. At one point, we were stopped and we heard this crackling noise. I asked Dave what it was and he calmly replied 'Avalanche' - life on that glacier is so different! Those that know me well will not be surprised to learn that I fell off the back of the sled - but I was busy listening and watching the avalanche and did not hear Dave tell the dogs to go. Oh well, the snow was soft and it was a short run to catch up! After our ride, we were able to meet some of the puppies and see the cook tent at the camp - interesting. I wish the pictures would do more justice to the colors on the glacier. Due to the light absorption, they appear blue in many areas. Even a footprint on the glacier has blue edges.
In Skagway, we took the White Pass Line into British Columbia. It was about a 27 mile trip up the mountains along some of the original gold mining routes. The scenery was great and we saw a grizzly bear along the way - pretty cool! We also saw a black bear and eagles. In fact, we saw a lot of eagles during the week - they are such majestic birds.
We returned to Seattle and were greeted by an old high school friend of mine that lives in Portland, Mike. He was gracious enough to drive up to Seattle, pick us up, and give us a great narrated tour. We saw the different areas of the city, the stadiums that the Mariners and the Seahawks play in, the Space Needle, Paul Allen's Music Experience (Wacky), and the Green Lake area. We had lunch at a great little Thai restaurant in Fremont and saw the Lenin statue there. Mike took us back to Pike Place Market to pick up some things we saw last week and order some fish to take home. He was incredibly patient with four shopping women! Mike, if you are reading this (and I am guessing you will) - Thank you again - it was great to see you and catch up - you are the best!
There are so many great things on this trip that it is difficult to pick my favorites...but here goes...
Favorite moments; Helicopter and Dog Sled excursion on Mendenhall Glacier, Viewing the waterfalls along the way, Our guided tour of Seattle.
