Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #29 – The Cruise! Part 2…

 

 This is part 2 of our cruise!  Be sure to read part 1 first!

Thursday, July 6^th., 2023…… We got into Sitka a few minutes early. But we had already been up and out and had breakfast up in the Lido Market. I found the omelet station again and today was the same. When we got back from breakfast, the guys had done the room and left this elephant for us!

We gathered up our stuff and made our way offshore. Our tour today was with B&T. We took the Historic Sitka Bus Tour. Our driver took us the 5 miles to the city, where our first stop was the Russian Orthodox Church – the oldest on the west coast. It was very beautiful.

Next up was a drive around the city to see Mt. Edgecumbe (a volcano). On the way, we saw the location where the US signed the possession of Alaska from Russia. William Seward paid 22 cents per acre and everyone thought that was ‘Seward’s Folly’! Try that these days! 

Such a deal! Next stop was the National Park. We walked the nature trail and saw and learned about totem poles. Fun fact – the most respected position on the totem was at the bottom, so if someone says you are low person on the totem pole, take it as a compliment!  

From there, we were dropped off at the dance center where we saw interpretive dancing from Sitka’s history. They only had 5 (female) dancers, but they did a great job!  We walked around the 2 blocks of the city and did some shopping, then caught a shuttle back to the ship. It was around 2:00pm so we went up and had a light snack and some cranberry juice cocktails. Dinner was again at 5:00pm in the dining room. Casual tonight. But for us, we don’t wear shorts! 

After the meal, Cathye headed back to the room to lay down. She was a little seasick. Bill and Treasa and I went up and got seats for the show tonight. Cathye showed up just before the show and said she was much better. Good thing for her – the comedian – Jose Sarduy – was terrific!  I now have a new favorite show! He kept us all in stiches with some of the funniest stories. After that, we made our way to the Rolling Stone Lounge to see the Country Crossroads Show. Or so we thought!  Here's the marquee in the lounge...

Yeah, it says Country Crossrads!  

We were surprised to see and hear a black rap group on stage! They were contracted for the cruise and probably were told to ‘mix it up for everyone’ so they tried country music. They failed miserably. They weren’t our favorites, but It was entertaining to say the least!    

Friday, July 7^th., 2023…… Today’s port is Ketchikan. We had an early arrival time today – 7:00am. So, we were up and out early and headed the one flight up to the buffet. I noticed an older gentleman wearing his veteran cap. It said Veteran World War II  !  So, after we finished, I went up and thanked him for his service. We started talking. Turns out he is 97 and enlisted when he was 17. Very eloquent and sharp. Bob also worked 55 years as a major league umpire. He said he was east coast and was mostly working Red Sox and Yankee games. What a life! 

                                   Cat tried seaweed something or other. Didn't like it!

Then it was time to head off ship. We all four had tickets for the package tour today. First up was the Lumberjack Show @ 8:15am. This was very close to the docks. This is a staged event, with bleacher seating under cover for the audience. Kind of reminds me of Knott’s Berry Farm! But it was very entertaining! They divided the 4 contestants into two camps. Each side of the audience supported their team and booed the other! They competed in several events, winners scoring flags for their teams. They kept the audience entertained with a high skill level. I especially enjoyed the pole climb. Boy, are they fast! Our guys won!  After the show, and as folks filed out, they went over to the wall for photos, and as we left, Cathye inadvertently cut in front of at least a dozen people in line and got a pic! I just snapped the picture and when she rejoined me, I told her what she had done. We both had a laugh. Oops! 

    

We went from there and boarded a bus for a short drive to the Saxon Village and Totem Pole area, where we got to go into a replica of an Alaskan clan bldg. They performed various tribal dances with dancers of all ages.  Very nice!  After that, we saw how totems are carved and more about their meanings.

Once we got back, we did some shopping until we had to rush back to board ship before our departure time!

Tonight was dressy again. We had them take more pics, this time of the four of us at dinner.

Tonight I chose lobster. Remember I said I would not comment on the quality of the meal unless … Well, my lobster was a 15 oz monster! Problem was it wasn’t the size – it was the taste!  Not the best one I have eaten. That big boy was a little overcooked and a little tough! After that we headed to the stage to see the second appearance of the dance team. This show was better than their first! We hit the Rolling Stone Lounge again but didn’t stay long. B&T went back to their room but we stopped at a quiet little bar along the way and had a drink before calling it a night. But while we were there, we spotted (and heard the cheers) as about 20 staff servers were making their way to the stage with carts and carts and trays and trays of chocolates!  They were nice enough to have several of the staff stop in our lounge and serve us 4-5 different treats! Delicious!  We go back to PST so we lose an hour tonight. 

Saturday, July 8^th., 2023…… We are at sea until late this evening. Next port is Victoria Island in Canada. We don’t arrive there until 8:00pm and have to be back on the ship at 11:30pm. Not a lot of time, so we booked a horse drawn trolley city tour.  But that was later. We stopped for a few minutes and I had all of us change into the shirts Cat had bought for the cruise. We went outside to the elevator lobby and grabbed a nice gentleman who took a quick shot.

Bill doesn't wear t-shirts and the girl's shirts weren't ones they wanted to wear, so it was a change back to normal wear for the day. But at least we got one shot! We went to the dining room this morning with B&T and enjoyed a brunch. After that, we checked in on our latest photos in the gallery. We found the ones from dinner and bought those. Then we went down to guest services and registered for the ‘On Deck for the Cause’ 5k walk around the deck. They gave us (for a $25.00 ea. donation, which goes to The Alaskan State Park System) a t-shirt and a wrist band and we went back to our room and rested before meeting them in the Ocean Bar for a talk and photo op of the 25 or so of us who were walking. 

We set out and did 9 laps (3 miles) and were just finished in time to go clean up and dress for afternoon High Tea, in the dining room with Bill and Treasa. They served us tea and one small 3-tier tray of tiny bites. Not enough to spoil our dinner!  Because there are no calories on a cruise ship, we went back to the dining room for dinner. Our last one on this cruise!  We dressed (casual) for dinner. Tonight was Cat’s chance for lobster. They were serving two 5 oz lobsters tonight and they turned out to be way better than mine!  

After we ate, we changed into comfortable clothes (yeah, shorts and sandals for me!) and made our way to the main stage to hear our crew talk about the workings of the ship. Between Kristin and her teammates, and the video, it was a great presentation! I learned so much about what it takes to power the ship, get freshwater, manage food service and laundry and waste. Fascinating!  Later, we made our way to get in line to get off the ship. It was pretty hectic as all of us had places to go in a short timeframe! But we were in time at our pickup point, which was close to the pier. The others lined up by the hundreds in the shuttle bus area. They were just being transported into the city. Our trolley driver, had Jake and Donner pulling us through the neighborhoods and into the city.

We passed the legislative hall and made a turn just before the Empress Hotel. That thing is massive! 

We were not allowed there with the horses. I think they must make too much of a mess and that area is jam packed with people so they got banned from going there!  Just a guess!  The entire loop trip was about an hour and we still saw a lot but found we had plenty of time to get back on the ship. There was no customs search or questions which we were glad about!  Once onboard and back in our room, we got busy packing our luggage. We saved clothes for tomorrow and loaded everything we could in the two large bags we brought. We set them outside the room and settled in and went to bed. They would be in the terminal in Seattle when we disembark tomorrow morning. We would only need to take our carry-ons with us in the morning. All as a courtesy. Nice!  We tried to sleep but our other-side-neighbors were pretty noisy outside in the hall. It quieted down and we quickly drifted off to sleep.       

Sunday, July 9^th., 2023…… Our dock time was scheduled for 7:00am this morning. But since Victoria is not 6 hours away from Seattle, I suspected we were docked a lot earlier than that! When I was up using the bathroom a little before 6:00am, I checked out the window and saw that we were tied up to the docks and there were no deckhands in sight and the engines were off!  We chose a later disembark time since we didn’t have a flight to catch like most of the others. We went up and had a last omelet (and hashbrowns, sausage, juice, etc.) and then hung around on our veranda and watched the action below. From deck 8, we had a great view. The bags were the first things we noticed. They had 4 forklifts working in concert and they used two rotating cranes to swing large container carriers back and forth from the ship. Each had rolling carts with bags, which were shuttled into the terminal. Then they began moving in the supplies for the next cruise. That cruise will be boarding around 3:00pm. It was only 8:00am and they had all of the pallets loaded in short order. We got our disembark announcement earlier than scheduled and made our way off the ship. Getting into the terminal, we were directed to the pickup point and quickly found our luggage and headed for the last checkpoint. All we had to do was display our passports and they passed us through!  Easy!  We went out together to the loading area and dropped the bags. Treasa has handicap parking so I was able to get the truck and get back to that area without all of the other traffic. We were loaded and out of there by 8:30am! It was truly a fun adventure. For Cathye and I, we both agreed that the highlight for us was the helicopter ride. It was our big spend excursion but it was definitely worth it! Of course we loved the scenery. We loved life on the ship. It was just ok dealing with other passengers, especially those who feel they are the only ones on the ship and we are their subjects. But those folks are everywhere anyway so we dealt with that with little issues. The drive home was long though. We stopped for snacks and to pee and then once more for lunch. We found a place in Tualatin called G-Man Brewery & Sports Bar. The food was pretty good. We may look for it again when coming and going to Portland. We stopped for gas and made it back home a little after 2:00pm. Penny had fed the dogs and stripped and remade the bed and left but came back later to let the dogs out one more time. We unloaded our bags and started laundry. Of course we all rested and some took short naps. I went through the mail and then went out and stripped all of the crating from around the new tractor. It will need some more reading to learn about steps to take before I can start it. But that’s for another day. We left and went out to Pizza Schmizza for a light dinner and then came back to work on more tasks at home. Treasa worked on her blog, Cat picked blackberries, I downloaded my pictures to my computer and Bill got caught up in a History Channel program. We all called it an early night!             

Monday, July 10^th., 2023…… Today was a recoup day. We still have a few things for B&T to go see and experience. First up was The Point. We decided to go there for breakfast. We got a table by the window looking out on the lake. It was a nice outing. We got back home and rested before it was time to leave for our linner. We made reservations for wine tasting and lunch at the Willamette Valley Vineyards. It was a 1:15pm seating and we made it with time to spare. We enjoyed a very nice relaxing meal, complete with wine. I am so lucky that Cat and I like the same wines (white, light, and on the sweeter side). Cat has a favorite from there and we ordered a bottle. Treasa chose the elite flight with her meal. Bill sipped some of hers. He’s not much of a drinker! Cat and I only had one glass so we brought the bottle home. They have to bag it and staple the bag to stay out of trouble!  We got back home and went out to the deck for a while. I hung back for the most part and worked on my blog. I still had several more pictures to upload and that’s a process in itself. Luckily, I made notes on my phone during the cruise so it was pretty easy to go to those when it was time to write everything up.  I decided that since I had many, many, photos to post, and I would try not to break the internet, so I would post in two parts. Now I think I will post mid-week so I can get the cruise part out there. Anyway, I was stuck in my room for a few hours to work. But we wanted to play a board game or something so Cat set up a charcuterie board with snacks and we played Mexican Train for a few hours. I kept score and of course the scorekeeper always wins! Yaay! We had a lot of fun. Later, we all felt tired and went to bed early. They needed to spend some time to get their luggage together. They shared their flight info. Two flights to do. They won’t get in to Cincinnati until super late at night. Plus the drive back home. She says she expects to be home at 1:00am or so! That will be a long day so they turned in early!    

Tuesday, July 11^th., 2023……  Happy Birthday in Heaven, Jeff!  He would have been 53 today. Miss him so much! I wear his watch on his birthday and his day of passing.

The plan today was pretty much made a while back. We wanted to take Bill and Treasa to The Prairie Schooner in Eugene for breakfast before their flight out. We gave Penny a time (9:00am) and she said she and Butch would meet us there. They would be driving down South today for a day trip to the Wildlife Safari (a drive-thru animal park) in Winston and the timing was perfect to meet us beforehand. Bill & Treasa’s flight out was at 1:15pm and they wanted to be at the airport a few hours early.  They were packed the night before and we hung around the house until 8:15 or so. We met Butch and Penny and had a nice meal. They left us to go on their adventure and since we were in no big hurry, we hung around and had more coffee and talked a bit more before driving over to the airport terminal where we said our goodbyes. It was sure nice to see them and we enjoyed our time together on the trip. Since we each had our own preferences, we were able to spend time on our own exploring and shopping and enjoying different things sometimes. So neither of us was dragging the other around!  Not sure when we will be seeing them again, but we do have an rv trip in work that will take us through where they are in Ohio. Hopefully, they will be able to join us for stops after that! Just got to go to work and get it on our calendar!

We drove back home and immediately shifted gears. Our landscaper was coming today to get caught up after missing a week. Plus, we are now in vintage camper mode!  We already have the Shasta trailer out and ready to load. We leave tomorrow and will make the short drive down to Brownsville for The Rally on the River. They allow parking starting on Wednesday so we will go down and register and get a site and get set up. We don’t plan on staying until Thursday but this way, we can go get everything set up and see what else we might want to bring back on Thursday. I also got a chance to work a little on the sprinklers and got the one problem valve working again, so now I am able to catch some of the dead spots to help green them up. I stopped my blog prep and we left to go have dinner and a beer to celebrate Jeff. He loved his beer.

Cherrelyn is traveling back up here from SoCal, but she said she was having one for him at dinner too! 

When we posted a group text, Penny surprised us when she said she would be there in a few! We thought she would still be out with Butch but it turns out she was just getting back into town. So she came by and we had a nice meal together. Gonna stop here and get this blog posted. Will do the rest of the week after we get back from the rally.