Alaska Cruise - September 12-19, 2008

Well, this is a little out of date order, but DeeDee and I went on a cruise to Alaska from September 12th to 19th.     The cruise left from Seattle, which meant we didn't have to fly across country to get to the ship like we have done the past four years when we cruised in the Caribbean.    The four prior cruises and this last one to Alaska have been Stamp n' Cruise trips, where DeeDee attends rubber stamp and craft classes while we are at sea and I just enjoy relaxing and being aboard the ship.     This was our last Stamp n' Cruise, as Dee Gruenig, the instructor from whom DeeDee wants to take classes, and who has become a good friend, is retiring and will no longer be teaching on cruises.      But, this will not be OUR last cruise, as we would like to go on a cruise to Hawaii for our 20th wedding anniversary, which is coming up in 2009.     We may have to wait until 2010 for that cruise, but it will still be our anniversary present to ourselves.

We really enjoyed the Alaska cruise, although after four cruises in the Caribbean over the last four years, on this cruise it was very different to see people around the pool, completely dressed, wearing jackets and wrapped in blankets - because, IT WAS COLD.    On the Caribbean cruises, it was my duty to spend as much time as possible at the pool, hidden of course behind sun glasses, checking out all those fine people who had worked so hard to look so good in their, sometimes skimpy, bathing suits.     What good was all their hard work, if there wasn't someone like me there to appreciate the results of their efforts?     But, due to jackets and blankets being the dress code of the day at the pool on the Alaska cruise, I found no compelling reason to haunt the pool area, other than to get from one end of the ship to the other; because, on the deck with the pool, the gym was at the bow and the buffet was at the stern, so I could go back and forth from one end of the ship to the other to gain, then lose, calories.    I only put on 1 lb on the cruise, so using the stairs instead of the elevators and the occasional workout in the ship's gym paid off, cause I sure didn't miss any meals or snacks.

Our ports of call were Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Victoria BC, with a lingering two hour slow cruise past the Hubbard Glacier.    The cities, except for Victoria, all looked about the same, with a lot of small wooden homes and some modern buildings.    The scenery was beautiful, with strange wisps of mist and fog wafting through the mountains and valleys.   Except for the time off Hubbard Glacier, the weather was mostly overcast and drizzly to rainy, but as we pulled up toward the glacier, the clouds disappeared and for that two hours at Hubbard Glacier we had a bright blue sky with full sun.   Then as the ship turned and started out of the bay, the sky closed up again.

The photo above is Sitka.    DeeDee really liked the little ladders and bridges people have between their houses and small islands, and depending on the tide, how much walkable land is available or not.

The photos below are of Juneau and Hubbard Glacier on the top row and on the bottom row, someone being very involved in her rubber stamping and cruising along the Inland Passage south of Ketchikan.  If you enlarge the photo of the Hubband Glacier by clicking on it, just to the right center of the photo you can see the splash made by a large chunk of the glacier that just "calved" or broke off from the glacier.

And, you may ask, where was our foreign exchange student Hanna while we were frolicking in Alaska?    Well, in August when we first met with the exchange program coordinator, Bruno Zanotta, to talk with him about our being host parents, we told him we had a week-long cruise planned in September.   He said that would be no problem, as the student could stay at his house for the week we would be away.  So, after being with us for only two weeks, Hanna packed up again, but this time only for a week and not 10 months, and stayed with Bruno and his wife Lori for a week.   Hanna survived and came home talking about the brownies that Lori made.    So, now we have added brownies to Hanna's favorites of Burgerville hamburgers, pizza, peanut butter, ice cream, anything chocolate, and KETCHUP.