The Greatest Generation

It’s 6:15 am, and this behemoth cruise ship is quietly steaming into the port of Ketchikan – our last stop in Alaska before making the run south to Victoria, BC and ultimately Seattle early Saturday morning. I’m the only one in the library – things are quiet as a church mouse.


Yesterday was a remarkable day – I will get to the heart of the day in a post shortly, but let me cover what we did after getting back to the ship around 4:20pm. Carol and I took the complimentary bottle of champagne to our new favorite hideaway on the ship – the Explorer’s Lounge. We’ve spent a good chunk of time there two afternoons in a row – it’s quiet, clubby – perfect place to read and enjoy a bottle of vino. The big leather chairs allow relaxation as the scenery slips by.

Meanwhile, Maddy went and worked out, while Torie hung at the sports bar! (She only had a ginger ale.) There she watched the Yankees battle the Red Sox (and lose after making a brief comeback to take the lead). But, she had fun hanging out with two ladies who were Red Sox fans – apparently they became fast friends during their talking.

After a group CPAC photo, we killed some time and headed for dinner. It was the second (and last) formal night on the ship – so I had to wear a suit. Carol and the girls also had to dress up. We were seated with an incredible couple. We hit it off immediately.

The fellow is 87 years old and his wife is 85. He was a paratrooper at Normandy and Arnhem (sp?) – and served for a time after the war getting the American servicemen killed in Europe proper burials in war dead cemeteries over there. It was impressive getting to have dinner with a true American hero. He regaled me with stories of meeting Patton, and talked of the Battle of the Bulge, Ike, and Montgomery.

His wife survived kidney cancer this year, and both had minds that were VERY sharp. He remembered my name throughout the evening despite being introduced just once (um, I didn’t remember his – I gotta work harder at that). Every so often one of them would have a challenge remembering a detail, but not at any unusually high level. He spent 60 years as a lawyer in the Buffalo area, and only retired two years ago. They were a very impressive couple.

We skipped the Tribute to Elton John in the Vista Lounge.

After that, at 10:30pm, there was a special event on the Lido deck – a huge collection of chocolates, pastries, cakes, and other desserts (including Banana Foster). They had seven ice sculptures scattered around, there was a big opening ceremony (to, appropriately, “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies), and then we dove in. The girls were tired, (as was I) so we didn’t stay long – maybe 20 minutes, but it was enough to gorge ourselves on sweets. Carol skipped, opting to rest in the room.

On the way back down to our lowly steerage deck/cabins, Maddy noted it is amazing how much goes on that we don’t stay up for – packed lounges with music, shows, games, etc. Well, we’re more about the Iron Tourism, and we had done a lot that day.