Wow -- there's only four of us.
Favorite Shore Excursion
Torie: Sea Kayak
Maddy: Extreme Glacier Trek
Carol: Floatplane to Misty Fjords
Glen: Extreme Glacier Trek
2nd Fav Thing We Did
Torie: Raptor Center
Maddy: Sea Kayaking & Raptor Center
Carol: Whale Watching
Glen: Float Plane to Misty Fjords
Favorite Part of the Ship
Torie: Lido Deck
Maddy: Deck 11 -- top of the ship
Carol: The fourth deck to watch the Hubbard Glacier
Glen: Hanging out in the Explorer's Lounge
Favorite Town:
Torie: Sitka
Maddy: Sitka
Carol: Sitka
Glen: Sitka
Monday, September 5, 2011
Photos from Ketchikan and Victoria
Creek Street, Ketchikan
Sun in Alaska! But
not for long.
Float planes
On de plane!
Part of Misty Fjords
Notice the mist?
Hence the name!
A good perspective of Misty Fjords
From the catamaran
New Eddystone Rock -- it's
essentially a volcanic plug.
In Victoria
Victoria, by the harbor
Torie makes a friend, at the end.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Last Riffs and Testament
One enduring memory will be of the blue ice chunks floating past us as we cruised (literally!) into Juneau, and then the next day into Disenchantment Bay. The first chunk I saw I thought must be some cool small boat or something, but then realize there were more, and they were glacial chunks. The first set made their way down from Mendenhall Glacier.
Btw, Disenchantment Bay is perhaps the worst name ever. It should be Enchantment Bay for the beauty. Yes, I realize the historical context, but it's not much of a sales point when you say -- "and then we went to Disenchantment Bay." I'm not happy with the name. . .in fact, I'm (wait for it. . .) disenchanted with it.
Alaska is great, but cruising the big ships is not our thing. The stops were great, but not long enough -- we spent too much time at sea. After a while, it felt too much like rest and not a vacation. This does not mean all cruises are bad (we loved the Athens to Istanbul route), just that Alaska is SO big that you spend too much time cruising and not enough time sightseeing/adverturing. It's also a reminder of what a big state it is.
We're not activities people -- I enjoyed the CPAC sessions that I could attend (I missed a lot because of work), and the Tai Chi lessons (although we only made two). I also tried two rounds of acupuncture on my bad ankle (jury is out -- short-term relief yes, long-term not really). We went to various others, but not too many -- not our thing. The food was good, but not spectacular -- which I understand when cooking for 2,000 people.
There's also a lot of waiting around -- to get into port, to get on a tender, to get cleared to go into port.
Again, it's a good way to see Alaska I suppose -- it would take quite some time to travel to each area we went to, and the airfare is quite expensive.
I will give high marks to the shore excursions. With the Windstar, we didn't do any of their shore excursions. With the Westerdam, we did four -- whale watching/nature walk by Carol and Torie, extreme glacier trekking by Maddy and I, sea kayaking by all four, and float plane/catamaran by all four. The excursion operators have their act together really, really well. And, obviously, the ship has done a great job in offering those -- and lots of other excursions -- to folks.
I guess the point is -- more time on land, and less at sea. Carol got sick twice -- once from a very rolly Pacific Ocean (understandable -- the seas were rough), and once from what may have been questionable food. I got the same food thing. I will point out that we both soldiered on -- Carol felt iffy after Ketchikan, while I felt iffy on Victoria Day.
Yes, I know the folks who run the shore excursions make much of their money from cruise ships -- the towns roll up when the ships aren't in port -- but they were all great, talkative people happy to answer questions, and respectful of their clients. One tour person I talked with said the cruise ships are great -- working with tour operators rather than bulldozing them.
Salmon for dinner tonight!
How to remember the five types of salmon? Thumb for Chum. Forefinger means Sockeye, because you'll poke with it. Middle finger is the biggest -- so that's the King, The ring finger represents silver or gold, but there's only Silver salmon, and the pinkie is for the Pink Salmon.
We traveled by cruise ship. And helicopter. And bus. And shuttle bus. And minivan. And float plane. And catamaran. And open raft. And tender. And sea kayak. And taxi. And, of course, foot.
I would have liked a bit more time in Ketchikan. Oh, and more time in Misty Fjords. Oh, and another excursion in Juneau.
Okay, we're disappointed in not seeing bears up close, but we can't do everything. It's not like we would have given up whale watching, extreme glaciering, sea kayaking, or the floatplane trip to Misty Fjords. Seeing the salmon spawning was magical. And, we never got tired of whales. I just wish I could have seen an Orca.
By the way, it was great seeing a LOT of people really, really enjoy the cruise ship. Great way for disabled folks to get around, and have dinner with an 87/85 year old couple was amazing. The girls liked it because I wasn't always force marching them to the next thing (although they'll appreciate it more when they are older. I think.)
Btw, Disenchantment Bay is perhaps the worst name ever. It should be Enchantment Bay for the beauty. Yes, I realize the historical context, but it's not much of a sales point when you say -- "and then we went to Disenchantment Bay." I'm not happy with the name. . .in fact, I'm (wait for it. . .) disenchanted with it.
Alaska is great, but cruising the big ships is not our thing. The stops were great, but not long enough -- we spent too much time at sea. After a while, it felt too much like rest and not a vacation. This does not mean all cruises are bad (we loved the Athens to Istanbul route), just that Alaska is SO big that you spend too much time cruising and not enough time sightseeing/adverturing. It's also a reminder of what a big state it is.
We're not activities people -- I enjoyed the CPAC sessions that I could attend (I missed a lot because of work), and the Tai Chi lessons (although we only made two). I also tried two rounds of acupuncture on my bad ankle (jury is out -- short-term relief yes, long-term not really). We went to various others, but not too many -- not our thing. The food was good, but not spectacular -- which I understand when cooking for 2,000 people.
There's also a lot of waiting around -- to get into port, to get on a tender, to get cleared to go into port.
Again, it's a good way to see Alaska I suppose -- it would take quite some time to travel to each area we went to, and the airfare is quite expensive.
I will give high marks to the shore excursions. With the Windstar, we didn't do any of their shore excursions. With the Westerdam, we did four -- whale watching/nature walk by Carol and Torie, extreme glacier trekking by Maddy and I, sea kayaking by all four, and float plane/catamaran by all four. The excursion operators have their act together really, really well. And, obviously, the ship has done a great job in offering those -- and lots of other excursions -- to folks.
I guess the point is -- more time on land, and less at sea. Carol got sick twice -- once from a very rolly Pacific Ocean (understandable -- the seas were rough), and once from what may have been questionable food. I got the same food thing. I will point out that we both soldiered on -- Carol felt iffy after Ketchikan, while I felt iffy on Victoria Day.
Yes, I know the folks who run the shore excursions make much of their money from cruise ships -- the towns roll up when the ships aren't in port -- but they were all great, talkative people happy to answer questions, and respectful of their clients. One tour person I talked with said the cruise ships are great -- working with tour operators rather than bulldozing them.
Salmon for dinner tonight!
How to remember the five types of salmon? Thumb for Chum. Forefinger means Sockeye, because you'll poke with it. Middle finger is the biggest -- so that's the King, The ring finger represents silver or gold, but there's only Silver salmon, and the pinkie is for the Pink Salmon.
We traveled by cruise ship. And helicopter. And bus. And shuttle bus. And minivan. And float plane. And catamaran. And open raft. And tender. And sea kayak. And taxi. And, of course, foot.
I would have liked a bit more time in Ketchikan. Oh, and more time in Misty Fjords. Oh, and another excursion in Juneau.
Okay, we're disappointed in not seeing bears up close, but we can't do everything. It's not like we would have given up whale watching, extreme glaciering, sea kayaking, or the floatplane trip to Misty Fjords. Seeing the salmon spawning was magical. And, we never got tired of whales. I just wish I could have seen an Orca.
By the way, it was great seeing a LOT of people really, really enjoy the cruise ship. Great way for disabled folks to get around, and have dinner with an 87/85 year old couple was amazing. The girls liked it because I wasn't always force marching them to the next thing (although they'll appreciate it more when they are older. I think.)
Sitka and Sea Kayaking Photos
On the rubber raft to head the four miles out to
go sea kayaking. We traveled by cruise ship,
sea kayak, raft, shuttle bus, van, helicopter,
float plane, taxi, catamaran, and, or course,
on foot whilst in Alaska and BC.
The tale of the whale tail.
Thar she blows!
Carol/Maddy kayaking.
One of the bald eagles we spotted.
Salmon were jumping everywhere. No easy
way to catch them on camera though.
Amazing sight.
Blue mussels during mid-tide.
What's up, dock?
Religious icons in a church?
Where are we, Europe?
St. Michael's
Sitka was probably the best of the three towns
for walking around in Alaska.
Our ship anchored in Sitka Bay.
It's slightly larger than the Windstar.
One of the many totem
poles in Sitka National
Historical Park.
Tell me about the rabbits, George.
The Alaska Raptor Center in
Sitka left us rapt.
Because of time, we chose not to take this hike.
Even though I really, really wanted to take the trail
and have a pleasant conversation with a grizzly.
Fly like an Eagle.
We got lucky, stumbling into a presentation by
a naturalist, along with Sitka, the rescued
bald Eagle. Pretty cool stuff.
Hubbard Glacier Photos
Mt. St. Elias looms above the glacier. And the
clouds. It is the second highest mountain in
North America. Anyone who disagree is in
denali. Or denial. It's in both the US and Canada.
On the forward part of deck four.
At 12,000 feet, these mountains barely
earn mention.
Hubbard Glacier, from three miles out in
Disenchantment Bay. Nobody was unhappy.
The Glacier is 76 miles long, and seven
miles wide at this point. Largest
Piedmont Glacier in North America.
A view up the glacier.
The furthest out the glacier reached.
At this point, we were in a half mile of the glacier.
In the bottom center, you can see
part of the glacier calving and shooting
water up in the air as the ice hits the fan.
Well, this shows the problem of picking photos
from thumbnails on a small screen. Eyes closed!
More calving.
Still the best view of the glacier,
even in the shadows of the afternoon.
Here's the final batch of photos!
From Alaska:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100645676355705866100/RestOfAlaskaPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCP-ml72vrbiAUw
Remember, don't look at these unless you are a family member. While there are some really good photos here (not all taken by me), there are also a lot of other photos too. If you want to view, I'd suggest you hit slideshow.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100645676355705866100/RestOfAlaskaPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCP-ml72vrbiAUw
Remember, don't look at these unless you are a family member. While there are some really good photos here (not all taken by me), there are also a lot of other photos too. If you want to view, I'd suggest you hit slideshow.
Getting Out of Dodge
When the highlight of your day is buying fish, it's not much of a day. Well, the girls would argue the highlight was returning home to our dogs and being greeted by them as though we were gone for nearly a month.
As much as I enjoy traveling on vacation (and sometimes on business), I don't see how my friend Sam Van Voorhis and his family can go for 60 or 90 days like they do. After the trip to Europe and now Alaska, I was ready to get home.
We rose early -- 5:30am -- packed, and then had breakfast as the ship pulled into Seattle. Upon disembarking, we found a cab that we were Sikhing (guess what religion the cabbie is!). I asked him to stop at Pike Place Market, whereupon I dashed out and ordered a whole salmon. At first I entertained dreams of having bringing it back whole and grilling it, but realized travel would be easier with large filets in a smaller box. Nonetheless, a 16 pound salmon is a thing of beauty (King, aka Chinook salmon).
It's also fun when the fish market rousingly chants the order, and the guy throws it a good twenty feet to the preparer, who expertly catches it, to rousing cheers of the fans (I mean, tourists). Any sentence where you can use "rousingly/rousing" twice in context is a good sentence. It cost around $5 for the cabbie to wait, and another, much larger number for the fish -- but it's well worth it. Bringing back salmon from the Pike Place Fish Market is like bringing back bagels from NYC, corn on the cob from Nelson County, VA, or smuggling two bottles of wine from Israel (hypothetically speaking, of course!). You have to do it if you can.
Then we headed toward the airport, with Mt. Rainier even clearer and prettier than a week ago. After that, we had nothing but time to kill. After a month that covered six countries, parasailing, ice climbing, sea kayaking, hiking on the Eiger (not climbing, but hiking), salmon, bald eagles, whales, a bear, sea lions, eagles in Austria, palaces in Vienna, castles in Prague, it was weird to have nothing planned.
But, hey it's good to be back home again, don't you know, sometimes this old house feels like a long lost friend.
As much as I enjoy traveling on vacation (and sometimes on business), I don't see how my friend Sam Van Voorhis and his family can go for 60 or 90 days like they do. After the trip to Europe and now Alaska, I was ready to get home.
We rose early -- 5:30am -- packed, and then had breakfast as the ship pulled into Seattle. Upon disembarking, we found a cab that we were Sikhing (guess what religion the cabbie is!). I asked him to stop at Pike Place Market, whereupon I dashed out and ordered a whole salmon. At first I entertained dreams of having bringing it back whole and grilling it, but realized travel would be easier with large filets in a smaller box. Nonetheless, a 16 pound salmon is a thing of beauty (King, aka Chinook salmon).
It's also fun when the fish market rousingly chants the order, and the guy throws it a good twenty feet to the preparer, who expertly catches it, to rousing cheers of the fans (I mean, tourists). Any sentence where you can use "rousingly/rousing" twice in context is a good sentence. It cost around $5 for the cabbie to wait, and another, much larger number for the fish -- but it's well worth it. Bringing back salmon from the Pike Place Fish Market is like bringing back bagels from NYC, corn on the cob from Nelson County, VA, or smuggling two bottles of wine from Israel (hypothetically speaking, of course!). You have to do it if you can.
Then we headed toward the airport, with Mt. Rainier even clearer and prettier than a week ago. After that, we had nothing but time to kill. After a month that covered six countries, parasailing, ice climbing, sea kayaking, hiking on the Eiger (not climbing, but hiking), salmon, bald eagles, whales, a bear, sea lions, eagles in Austria, palaces in Vienna, castles in Prague, it was weird to have nothing planned.
But, hey it's good to be back home again, don't you know, sometimes this old house feels like a long lost friend.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
The final full day of the cruise was pretty anticlimatic, and the Canadian authorities my brother Rod thinks so highly of did not distinguish themselves. At least it was truly sunny for the first time since we left Seattle (to be fair, there were periods of sunshine in Ketchikan, and maybe some sun in Sitka for two-three minutes, but not real, full on sun!)
The day was pretty quiet -- Carol wasn't feeling so good, so we all slept in. I went to the morning CPAC session featuring Donald Rumsfeld, Grover Norquist, and my friend Ralph Reed. They each talked about their areas of expertise -- Rumsfeld on national security, Norquist on economics, and Ralph on values issues.
Later in the day, Carol threw up (and felt better). Maddy, Torie, and I did a 5k walk to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation -- it was nine times around the 3rd deck (which, by my calculations is a tad less than 5k, but who's counting?). I don't even know if we contributed -- I dropped off the form at the front desk but we didn't get our free t-shirts. We'll live, and hopefully they did take our money!
Partway through the walk, my stomach started feeling queasy -- not from the boat, so I'm not sure why. But it got worse through the day -- even spotting some whales showing off didn't make it better. Given that Carol's stomach was flippy until she barfed, her theory is that it was the lobster bisque. (The happy ending to the story? I lost three pounds on the cruise, probably by eating no dinner Friday night, and by eating light the next day too!)
We got into Victoria, British Columbia around 6:30pm -- kind of late to do anything. The on-shore excursions were fairly lame, and we had dinner plans for 9pm at the Pinnacle, the very nice restaurant on ship. To maximize our time, we got in line by the gangplank and waited. And waited. At 7pm we were finally allowed to go ashore.
According to the ship's brass, the Canadian authorities weren't ready to clear us -- they were still doing paperwork. So, they didn't know the ship was coming? Or, maybe they just forgot? Or maybe they were on a union break? And the way my bro talks about Canada, I was expecting a lot more government efficiency than this. According to Rod, Canada has the best roads, hospitals, gas prices, food, weather, and tax system. That may all be true (not! -- heck, I'll give them the "best hockey" title, and "among the best beer" -- although American microbrews have turned our country's beer fortunes around in the past 10-20 years) but their port clearances procedures leave a LOT to be desired.
(To be fair, their hockey has led to the best sports insult of all time: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Here-s-your-anniversary-doughnut-you-fat-pig?urn=nhl-81086 -- and yes, I know he was coach of the NJ Devils at the time, but Jim Schoenfeld is Canadian.)
We took a cab to downtown Victoria -- right at the heart of the town -- and got dropped off between the impressive Empress Hotel and the provincial Parliament building. The Parliament building is more impressive than any state capital I've seen. By a ton. Now, it doesn't have a beautiful gold dome like some states (such as Vermont), but the building is beautiful.
We walked through the shopping district, back down along the harbor. Very pleasant -- nice outdoor restaurant, British pubs for which the town is famous, and various shops, shoppes, and stores. We stopped for a bit at a chocolate store so the girls could get these huge chocolate covered apples. To show how sick I felt, I turned down not only pieces of their chocolate covered-apples, but free samples the store owner was passing out. (Thank you for your expressions of concern as you realize I was even too sick to eat free chocolate!)
When we got back to the main harbor, we saw there was an area right down along the water with booths set up selling various artwork, crafts, food, and trinkets, so we walked down through it. A busker was playing one of the great seafaring songs -- "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." I turned to Carol and quipped -- "I bet the cruise ship industry loves it when they play this song." She laughed.
It was a beautiful night in a beautiful town. Earlier in the season, it probably stays quite late quite long. Here, it was after seven and you could tell it would be dark by 8pmish. The town is filled with beautiful flowers, they had the Parliament building all lit up, and then we stumbled on an antique boat show -- an awesome display of older wooden boats from years past that were maintained beautifully by their owners. It's the Classic Wooden Boat Festival -- held every Labour Day. It's sponsored by the perfectly named Classic Yacht Assocation (the CYA).
Maddy noted that she wanted a boat like this when she grows up. Me too. (Just kidding about me -- too much work to maintain these beauties.)
After finishing with the boat show, we headed back to the boat, walking past the huge "Welcome to Victoria" sign made out of flowers, the lit up legislature (hopefully I've got a decent picture to post), the Fisherman's Wharf section (which was kind of sleepy).
When we got back to the boat, Carol said those words I'd been longing to hear -- "why don't you skip dinner?" I immediately took her up on the offer, and went to bed. They had a nice dinner -- Carol had surf and turf, Torie had a monster Porterhouse that even she couldn't finish, and Maddy had some flaming stick of meat (I haven't gotten the full description, so that's what I'm going with!).
The day was pretty quiet -- Carol wasn't feeling so good, so we all slept in. I went to the morning CPAC session featuring Donald Rumsfeld, Grover Norquist, and my friend Ralph Reed. They each talked about their areas of expertise -- Rumsfeld on national security, Norquist on economics, and Ralph on values issues.
Later in the day, Carol threw up (and felt better). Maddy, Torie, and I did a 5k walk to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation -- it was nine times around the 3rd deck (which, by my calculations is a tad less than 5k, but who's counting?). I don't even know if we contributed -- I dropped off the form at the front desk but we didn't get our free t-shirts. We'll live, and hopefully they did take our money!
Partway through the walk, my stomach started feeling queasy -- not from the boat, so I'm not sure why. But it got worse through the day -- even spotting some whales showing off didn't make it better. Given that Carol's stomach was flippy until she barfed, her theory is that it was the lobster bisque. (The happy ending to the story? I lost three pounds on the cruise, probably by eating no dinner Friday night, and by eating light the next day too!)
We got into Victoria, British Columbia around 6:30pm -- kind of late to do anything. The on-shore excursions were fairly lame, and we had dinner plans for 9pm at the Pinnacle, the very nice restaurant on ship. To maximize our time, we got in line by the gangplank and waited. And waited. At 7pm we were finally allowed to go ashore.
According to the ship's brass, the Canadian authorities weren't ready to clear us -- they were still doing paperwork. So, they didn't know the ship was coming? Or, maybe they just forgot? Or maybe they were on a union break? And the way my bro talks about Canada, I was expecting a lot more government efficiency than this. According to Rod, Canada has the best roads, hospitals, gas prices, food, weather, and tax system. That may all be true (not! -- heck, I'll give them the "best hockey" title, and "among the best beer" -- although American microbrews have turned our country's beer fortunes around in the past 10-20 years) but their port clearances procedures leave a LOT to be desired.
(To be fair, their hockey has led to the best sports insult of all time: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Here-s-your-anniversary-doughnut-you-fat-pig?urn=nhl-81086 -- and yes, I know he was coach of the NJ Devils at the time, but Jim Schoenfeld is Canadian.)
We took a cab to downtown Victoria -- right at the heart of the town -- and got dropped off between the impressive Empress Hotel and the provincial Parliament building. The Parliament building is more impressive than any state capital I've seen. By a ton. Now, it doesn't have a beautiful gold dome like some states (such as Vermont), but the building is beautiful.
We walked through the shopping district, back down along the harbor. Very pleasant -- nice outdoor restaurant, British pubs for which the town is famous, and various shops, shoppes, and stores. We stopped for a bit at a chocolate store so the girls could get these huge chocolate covered apples. To show how sick I felt, I turned down not only pieces of their chocolate covered-apples, but free samples the store owner was passing out. (Thank you for your expressions of concern as you realize I was even too sick to eat free chocolate!)
When we got back to the main harbor, we saw there was an area right down along the water with booths set up selling various artwork, crafts, food, and trinkets, so we walked down through it. A busker was playing one of the great seafaring songs -- "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." I turned to Carol and quipped -- "I bet the cruise ship industry loves it when they play this song." She laughed.
It was a beautiful night in a beautiful town. Earlier in the season, it probably stays quite late quite long. Here, it was after seven and you could tell it would be dark by 8pmish. The town is filled with beautiful flowers, they had the Parliament building all lit up, and then we stumbled on an antique boat show -- an awesome display of older wooden boats from years past that were maintained beautifully by their owners. It's the Classic Wooden Boat Festival -- held every Labour Day. It's sponsored by the perfectly named Classic Yacht Assocation (the CYA).
Maddy noted that she wanted a boat like this when she grows up. Me too. (Just kidding about me -- too much work to maintain these beauties.)
After finishing with the boat show, we headed back to the boat, walking past the huge "Welcome to Victoria" sign made out of flowers, the lit up legislature (hopefully I've got a decent picture to post), the Fisherman's Wharf section (which was kind of sleepy).
When we got back to the boat, Carol said those words I'd been longing to hear -- "why don't you skip dinner?" I immediately took her up on the offer, and went to bed. They had a nice dinner -- Carol had surf and turf, Torie had a monster Porterhouse that even she couldn't finish, and Maddy had some flaming stick of meat (I haven't gotten the full description, so that's what I'm going with!).
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Glacier Trek Photos
Here's the link for the full set.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100645676355705866100/SeattleAlaska1?authkey=Gv1sRgCL74t8ncoK6ijgE
https://picasaweb.google.com/100645676355705866100/SeattleAlaska1?authkey=Gv1sRgCL74t8ncoK6ijgE
First Batch of Photos
Here's the web link. As a note, some of the photos are of Julia's last night home before heading to UVa. That was back before earthquakes and hurricanes hit the east coast.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100645676355705866100/SeattleAlaska1?authkey=Gv1sRgCL74t8ncoK6ijgE
https://picasaweb.google.com/100645676355705866100/SeattleAlaska1?authkey=Gv1sRgCL74t8ncoK6ijgE
Extreme Trekking on Mendenhall Glacier
Maddy in the chopper
The dirt indicates where three
glaciers have smashed together.
Soon after arrival.
Loading on the crampons.
Maddy's foot is registered as a deadly weapon.
For perspective, look at the tiny people behind us.
And, relatively speaking, they aren't that far away.
This may give you an idea of the vastness of the glacier.
We eventually went to where the tiny people are.
And then we were tiny too. This glacier is
MUCH bigger than you can tell from the photos.
Maddy ice climbing.
I wouldn't have made it this far without growing
these really cool ice picks out of my hands.
Maddy celebrates reaching the top!
And, this is where I froze. Not literally, but
figuratively. I forgot the purpose of reaching the top.
Trekking the glacier.
Standing in the stream,
with the waterfall behind us.
In another blue ice cave.
We celebrate our return to base.
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