Here and There Blog

Time to try some Victoria brews! A specialty tour to showcase local beer!  First up - The Moon Under Water. A sampler of the pale ale and the light beer. Both tasty!  No, we didn't get to try them all. :(  First time I've ever set on the malt!  I'm not the only one taking pictures of beer.  A nice Nut Brown Ale.

The ship skipped Sitka due to a storm and went straight to Ketchikan instead. Finally a port that was only slightly raining instead of a windy downpour. Below are the shops that greet the cruise ship arrival. Ketchikan is famous for totem poles. They are all over town and most have a sign stating what the story is. I wandered along "Married Men's Trail" and found myself in a forest in the middle of town.  Shops along the salmon creek area.

Mendenhall Glacier is an easy drive outside of downtown Juneau. The glacier seemingly flows into the water and with the rain, it was melting fast!  View from the visitor center  The large chunks of ice moving along with the canoes.    To the right of the glacier, a large waterfall with the runoff from the upper part of the glacier.

Juneau took me on the tour bus circuit. First up - the Salmon Hatchery. Face it - unless you are really passionate about salmon breeding and preservation, this can be a boring stop. In fact, I was bored. At least there was a mounted 93 lb. King Salmon on the wall. Hmm, as I type this, I now realize I'm in the dreaded cruise ship state of "less full". I could go for 93 lbs. of salmon about right now!  Yup, a tree. Cute little pine tree. Did I mention I was bored?  Hurray for the seal! Excitement at last.  Seagulls. Same here as at home.

The cruise ship did a 5K walk this morning for Susan B. Komen race for the cure. 45 minutes around deck 3 as we sailed along to Ketchikan, it was great vieiwing and fun. Important to raise money for a cause but also to raise my calorie output so I could increase my calorie input later today!

Bundled up for glacier viewing! It was raining so we had to find a viewing window to enjoy the show! Here we saw the glacier calving, had the crack of ice hit our ears and watched the ice chunks splash down to become playgrounds for the seals.   This late in the season, the seals are done calving and the pups are old enough to be around ships without getting squashed so cruise ships are allowed deeper inside the park than other months. The John Hopkins Glacier is the only one in the park currently gaining in size rather than receding into the mountain.  They really are this blue.    

Leaving the rough Alaskan seas, the entrance to Bartlett Cover in Glacier Bay National Park was a welcome sight! No majestic snow or sea animals but calm water and the wait for glacier sighting. Had I been listening to the park ranger I might have learned that Glacier Bay is also a United Nations biosphere reserve and a world heritage site. Well thanks to the handy brochure I have post knowledge!       As the ship passed by the first glacier, everyone jumped to the port side of the ship to start the competition for good camera space. Luckily we had secured a spot that was sheltered and out of the rain and passed for only somewhat freezing. A perfect spot for what lay ahead!

Was lucky enough to cruise in John Hopkins Inlet today and see one of the deepest glaciers up close!  Rain and freezing wind still couldn't keep everyone from standing outside for a couple of hours to watch the show.  More later but wanted to share a few with you all before I start to edit the many photos!

The running exhibits right now are Battlestar Galactica and Avatar. I'm not an Avatar fan so I breezed through that to get to Galactica. The Boxy looks much better in a display case than it ever did on screen.  By Your Command  The famous Cylon dress.  And ships. Actually I was disappointed. Turns out most of the collection is out on a traveling show so there really wasn't much to see.

First stop - the Space Needle for the windy experience. We got there early and had no waiting to go up. Great day to walk the 360!  Seattle is a great looking city from the sky view.  Sculpture Park. The & was the most popular art. The bright neon red doesn't come through in this picture but you can spot the & from far away.  Lisa setting up the GPS to get to our next destination.

Late afternoon, good time for a post work exercise session!  Surf wasn't really up but that's okay. The beachcombing was still good.  Have to watch out, I wasn't ready to get hit by a wave even if I was at the beach!  

After a solid couple of weeks working in my office, I am caught up from road travel and ready for fun! I'm going on an Alaska cruise this year and since it's round-trip from Seattle it can't get much easier. The only hard part is packing for rain and cold outside while being warm inside the ship. The cruise is on Holland America's Oosterdam and the ports include Sitka (hiking), Juneau (glacier, eating), Ketchikan (spa day!) and Victoria Island, BC (pub crawl). I'm thinking about packing heavy or at least Karen-heavy which is still most people's pack-light!. After all, I do have that bright white, bug free, suitcase on 4 wheels. Now I'm obsessing on the NOAA website watching for ocean swell warnings. The only downside to a cruise it that it's on water!

This is the stay that makes me wonder what it's like to be so rich, all your vacations are on the beach and endless. I'm sure it could get boring but given the time and money, I could at least stay happy for a week! Could have used someplace to eat besides the hotel but that's the price of being to lazy to drive into town.  Sand Key photos wouldn't be complete without one last warning sign.  The bridge to Clearwater Beach. I never did cross over. No need when the beach is right out the hotel door.