North to Alaska - Wednesday

Our day in Skagway has been a hard one to blog about because of ALL the pictures (!!) that are showing the same gorgeous mtns and forests and waterfalls that I've already shown you - but yet they are different in their own way too. So finally I made myself sit down today and pull it all together!

We got into Skagway about 7 am again today but at least we're staying till five pm so that should give us plenty of time to go on our tours and do some shopping. We signed up for a combination gold panning tour and a trip on the White Pass Express - going up the mountain out of Skagway, following the trail that the gold diggers followed in 1898. It is a fascinating bit of history and gorgeous too. Skagway consisted of tents and shacks and was full of adventurers in that day. That is where they bought their supplies and the town catered to hundreds of gold miners. Now adays it caters to hundreds of cruise line passengers. Our tour guide told us there are three types of mosquitoes in Skagway - the no-see-ums, the normal sized bugs that we see in the lower 48 and then the huge buggers that are only found in Alaska. She says they love having a wind because that keeps the skeeters down.

This is Skagway - a small town at the edge of nowhere - the nearest Wal-Mart is 116 miles through those mountains - and yes they keep it open year round!! There are four churches in town, a white one, a brown one, a green one and a yellow one. One of them IS an LDS church!! As I was getting my gold assayed after we had panned it out there was a young man walking through the store in 1800's dress playing a harmonica. And he was playing "Come Come YE Saints!!" Startled, I looked up as he wandered into the other part of the store and said to the assayer "I know that song". He chuckled and said "so do I, but I can't remember the words." So I sang it to him and asked him if HE was LDS. And he said no, but the harmonica player is and several of the clerks in the store were and the owner was!!! I said I was surprised to find so many Mormon's way up in this little corner of the world. That's when he told me about the four different colored churches and how people identified each other by the color of their building. (As in: I belong to the Green church!)

They explained to us how the goldminers would pan for gold. That the nuggets of the California
Gold Rush were unknown in the Alaskan Gold Rush because of the glaciers that had ground everything into small bits. They gave us each a tin pan with small little rocks and sand and sent us over to the gold panning area - we were really spoiled because #1 we didn't have to stand out in the middle of the icey cold stream and #2 the water was HEATED!! Nice. We softly shook the pan back and forth letting the water wash away the top level of sand . The gold is heavier than the sand and rocks so if you keep the pan tilted so the gold can settle at the edge of the bottom of the pan, the water washes away the sand a little at a time until all you have left is the gold.

It was such a thrill when we had 'washed' our sand for several minutes and finally got a glimpse of GOLD!!! We actually panned for an got gold! Between Ed and I our gold assayed out at about $31 - which is more than usual. The assayer told us that most everyone ends up with about $11 or $12 worth each. I think Ed's pan had more than usual - his gold pieces were larger than mine. But we combined our poke and had them put into a gold bezel necklace that Ed bought for me.

This video clip shows Grandpa at the Salmon Bake at Juneau where they had some pans and sand for us to try. We had heard how to do it on our bus trip that day and so dad gave it a try. He has about twice as much sand and used twice as much water as they gave us the next day and he didn't find anything but it gives you the idea of how to pan for gold. Now that we are 'experts' we would dump out half the dirt and use just enough water in the pan to let it carry away the top layer of sand and dirt. But at least you get the idea!





We got to tour the old gold dredging equipment and tent town they had showing the life of a miner. This gold dredger was still in operation in the 1960's. Each of those buckets weighed over 800 pounds!! The dredger floated on the river and these buckets pulled up the sand from the river and the dirt and rock were all sifted off leaving the gold behind. These old dredger ruined alot of gorgeous rivers in their day and also the hearing of all the men that worked in them. They were loud and dirty and noisy and a real menace to the beauty of Alaska. I am glad they are outlawed now!

After we toured the Klondike Gold Dredge gold mining then we got back on the bus and headed for the railway. We got there just in time to climb aboard. Our bus full of people traveled together in the same railcar with big windows so we had a good view of the wonderful mountainyside.


The White Pass Railroad only runs from about April through September, when the ships are cruising. The one picture from downtown skagway that DID NOT turn out (and I wish it had) was a beautiful little white gazebo in the middle of the town park with a white porceline toilet sitting right in the middle!! I laughed and questioned our guide and she seriously explained
that was a public toilet - used nowaday!!

Truly amazing!






I put this picture in so that you could see the road to Wal Mart (I don't know what its real name is!). It is in the center of the picture. On the left side half way down the mtn you can see the lower part of the rail tracks that we had traveled on our way up the mtn. And last but not least, you can see the waterfall that reaches from the snowfields on the top of the mtn down to the road, and then gets bigger in several spots where it becomes the beautiful Bridal Veil Falls.



This picture shows the deepness of the fiord looking from halfway up the mountain down through the valley back almost to the bay. You can also see the train snaking out behind. Ed spent most of the trip up to White Pass outside of the train car on the apron. I went out several times too and it made for a breathtaking view!






Here our train is headed around a curve and across the trestle bridge and into a tunnel. I took a picture when we were in the tunnel. When I got home and was looking at my pictures I couldn't figure out why I had a black picture in with all my good ones. Until I remembered "that is what I saw in the middle of the tunnel!"







You need to click on this picture because the brown spot in the middle of the picture is a BEAR!! It was the only bear I saw on our whole trip (Ed saw others but he spent alot more time out on deck of the ship as we cruised past miles and miles of open forest. I was the first one to see it but was so excited I forgot to take a picture. Your dad took this picture.











This is a picture of the train heading up (or down) the pass - this is a fiord carved by glaciers in ancient times -









Here you can see all the way down the fiord to the bay where the ships are at anchor (there are two little dots at the edge of the water - the Norwegian Dawn and the Norwegian Star!)










Can you see the mountain goat? We saw several across the canyon going up and coming back down from White Pass (It is the white dot just right of the center of the picture - he isstanding on the rock - the white spot in the middle of the green is another rock not a goat)








This is the actual trail taken by thousands upon thousands of men in 1898 heading out of Skagway to the Yukon. The sign says 'trail of 98" and before the railroad was built several years later the gold seekers hiked the 20 miles up the mtn on foot and with donkeys loaded to the hilt with supplies. The Canadian Government would not allow the goldseekers entrance into Canada without the required 2000 pounds of food, supplies, tents, etc., because they knew what a frozen wasteland they were headed to. Alot of the men had to hike the 20 miles up and back maybe ten times to get all of the stuff they needed
before they were allowed into the Yukon. They said that the trail was so heavily traveled that if a man stepped off the trail (to rest or readjust the materials on his pack mule or horse) it could take upwards of a half a day to find a spot open enough to step back onto the trail!! Talk about Gridlock!!




This is an old trestle bridge built to take the
White Pass train from Alaska into the Yukon. We didn't take the tgrain all the way to the Yukon, although looking at old maps White Pass was once the edge of British Columbia and the Yukon. Now it is another 60 miles before you are out of British Columbia. As I saw this bridge in the distance I thought - oh no! Are we going over that. It was a relief to see that it wasn't usable today







This is the summit - White Pass Railroad, You can see the flags of the USA, Alaska, British Columbia, Canada and I believe the White Pass Railway.













This picture is a little bit sideways - your dad took it looking back at the train on the top of the Pass. The river leads into a small lake at the top of the pass. After chugging uphill for miles it was interesting to see how the land leveled off for miles on the top.









This little shack on the top of White Pass is on Canadian land - it is where the Mounties lived as they checked each and every gold miner to make sure that he had ALL the supplies required of him before being allowed to travel back into the Yukon to face the ice and rain and snow and cold.














Here are a couple of my videos as we traveled up the mountain to the White Pass.

We rode the train to the top of the white pass and then when we got there the engines were unhooked and they were moved to the back of the train in preparation of going back down the canyon. They had everyone on board stand up and move the back of our bench up and over the seat so that the seats now faced the other direction! (Kind of like our table seat does in our trailer) and then we all switched sides of the car so that everyone had a good view going up and going down. For example, we were seated on the mtn side going up and on the canyon side coming back down.

We got back to Skagway after a long day and they got us back on the bus, and headed to the ship about 4:30. We knew the ship was supposed to leave by five but since our tour was booked through NCL they wouldn't leave without us. But there was no time to go shopping!! There was an accident just ahead of our bus - we could see a banged up bicycle and some people laying in the street - so we were delayed even more but we made it back to the ship on time. We passed the ambulences heading to help the poeple.

This is a picture Edward took just as we were heading out to sea from Skagway. You can see the Norwegian Pearl, a sister ship that we shared a dock with several times. Just a beautiful farewell view of the Skagway bay.

We skipped the entertainment that night - we went to the Versailles for dinner and just relaxed the evening away. I think that was the evening Ed and I went out after Grandpa had settled in for the night, and listened to a wonderful group of singers in one of the lounges in the center of the ship. They were good!

North to Alaska - Tuesday

Warning - Lots of pictures ahead!! Tuesday was a big day . Ed was with us that day - YEAH!! Here is our ship at Juneau - bright and colorful- we started early on Tuesday - we docked in Juneau at 7 am (That would be Pacific time but not daylight time) and we caught a bus about 10 am. We played in Juneau until about 1 pm and then we headed up the Endicott arm to Sawyer Glacier which we reached about 4 pm and then on the Daws Glacier - we got there about 8 pm. Ed said he took about 200 pictures just of the cruise up Endicott - about five hours worth of picture taking. I have picked out ONLY the very best. The bus took us about 15 miles north of the city of Juneau to the Mendenhal glacier. When we got to the glacier site we first walked through some beautiful temperate rainforest past a stream where we got to see salmon swimming upstream. It was fascinating to see - some of the salmon were still swimming very strongly - others were struggling to get over or around some submerged branches and still others were half rotted already as they were swimming or trying to swim upstream towards their birthplace. I hadn't realized they would be at different stages of health as they headed upstream - but I guess that is why there aren't heaps of dead fish at the headwaters of each stream...they said they can SMELL which bay and inlet and stream they need to swim up - from thousands and thousand of miles of water!


I had to take a picture of this sign...I have NEVER been anywhere that had trails closed to bear activity in my whole life. But with the salmon spawning the bears are real active all along the rivers - and so the forest service simply closes the trails off to protect the people from coming upon a bear.
Here's a picture of Ed in his Cabela's hat that I won for him the day before. It was really handy because whenever we got lost I would just look for that bright yellow hat!
The day was cloudy and rainy and cool - you can see I had my lightweight coat on over a long sleeved sweater and I pulled out the gloves for a while too. But it wasn't COLD...just cool.
This is a picture of the Mendenhal glacier - Most of the glaciers we saw were dirty on top, but at the edge you could see the beautiful turquoise blue color - they explained that glaciers absorb all the colors of the spectrum except for the blue - that is why they are such a gorgeous color.
This is a picture you will want to double click on to get the full benefit of the beauty of the picture - this is what Alaska is all about - mountains and bays and greenery with a glacier and waterfalls too. It is so beautiful. I would recommend this cruise to anyone. We are a bit older and didn't take full advantage of all the fun tours available but we talked to people that biked and hiked the glaciers and mountains and cruised and rowed the rivers and bays. There were ziplines that took you down a whole mountain in 15 seconds flat (that sounded as fun to me as snorkeling in 40 degree waters!! - they said they hooked them up and a trapdoor dropped open beneath their feet and ZOOM!! - No thank you - I will be happy with my bus tour to Mendenhal Glacier with a salmon bake afterward!! We spent about two and a half hours at the Glacier National Park taking lots of pictures, wandering the path, and watching the movie telling us all about the park
After we left the Mendenhal Glacier we headed back toward Juneau (and back past the Walmart!!) to a fun and delicious outdoor bar-b-que. We didn't take any pictures of the eating area but it was interesting - outdoor - countrystyle seating all under canopies. So if it was raining we could stay dry. We immediately headed for the hot chocolate and then got in line for the delicious bar b qued Alaskan Salmon. OOOOOOoooooohhhhhh it was sooo good. And this is from me - someone that doesn't usually care for fish. They had lots and lots of delicious food - all you can eat and the busses kept pulling up and dropping off another group - so their weren't big lines and there was plenty of space to sit but LOT's of people got fed. Our only complaint (?) was that we didn't realize until we were through eating that the middle areas had big heat lamps under the canopy - so they were warmer. Again - it was probably 58 degrees - cool but not cold.
After we finished eating we walked up to the old gold mine about a quarter of a mile up the path. As you can see, we are still in a temperate rainforest and it was a beautiful walk. This is part of the old waterworks that dredged up sand out of the stream that they then would wash for gold. They explained that in Alaska gold was never found in nugget form but rather due to the Glacier grinding all of the gold down to simple gold dust. Then we caught another bus back to the ship - it pulled out of Juneau about 1:30.

The tv station that kept us updated as to where we were going and when we headed out to Sawyer Glacier that we were supposed to arrive at ab out 4 pm. Dad and Ed and I headed to the Versaille restaurant for a delicious lunch and then headed back to our staterooms. We napped and read for a while and Ed headed up to the 12th level of the ship to take pictures and enjoy the lovely weather (NOT!) I stayed in the stateroom where it was much warmer and finally I knocked on dad's door and told him I was heading up at 3:45 and dad said he was ready to go up too. We got up on deck while it was still cloudy and rainy and miserable but within 15 minutes it started clearing up. When we first got on deck we heard an announcement from the captain saying that usually they went up Tracy Arm instead of Endicott arm but due to the weather he thought the Endicott arm would prove a better trip for us. Then he said "because the weather is so beautiful" and everyone looked at each other and said "rain, clouds, beautiful??" He must have been watching the doppler because the day simply got prettier and prettier - and the cruise up Endicott arm was so smooth and one of the highlights of our trip. .
Take a look at the pictures above - that is the Sawyer Glacier and we did arrive there right at 4 pm! It is what is called a hanging glacier because it doesn't reach all the way down to the water
This was just one of the gorgeous views as we cruised up the arm. It is another fiord - cut through the centuries by glaciers. WE saw beautiful waterfals everywhere we looked - plus the forests - they said that it is empty of everything except forests and animals. No people!
One of the icebergs floating in the water - again take note of the pristine blue.
The closer we got to the Daws glacier the more icebergs there were ahead of us. And yes the way got narrower and narrower.
It was so fun to find the seals sunning themselves on the ice flows!


Ed got this picture after we left the Daws glacier and headed back down the Endicott arm. The shadows from the mountains and the bay created a picture that would win prizes!! The final picture (video) below is one taken by grandpa of the Daws glacier. None of our pictures can give you a true feeling of the awe and amazement of this piece of nature. But I thought I needed to put at least one of our video clips in. Sadly enough the whole time I was taking pictures of our cruise up the Endicott arm past all the waterfalls and all the forests and all the mountains and all of the icebergs and all of the glaciers...I had my camera on video - so as I clicked to take the picture I would then drop the camera and it would still be going and I would get pictures of everyones legs and blurred comments!! DUH!! So all of these pictures that you have seen were taken by Edward.


I think this was a video taken by Grandpa Merritt.

North to Alaska - Monday

Ketchikan - Little homes stuck up in the middle of some very beautiful islands.




First of all I need to go back to Sunday morning - we went to a meeting where they talked about all the different tours that were offered through the
ship - we listened to all the different activities and
then the three of us talked it out and decided what sounded like the most interesting. We headed down to the tour office and ordered tours for Ketchican, Juneau and Scagway.

This is a view of Ketchikan from the ship as we were 'pulling into' the harbor. It is amazing the control they have with that huge ship. They could (and did) turn on a dime.

We could have gone snorkeling (!) in Ketchican but we "settled" for a trip to the Saxman Indian Village and a Lumberjack show. For Tuesday, in Juneau I wanted to go on a boat out to go whalewatching and then see the Mendenhahl Glacier but Ed wanted to go see the Glacier and then go to an outdoor Salmon Bake. For Wednesday, Skagway, I really pushed for the train ride up over White Pass into the Yukon. We chose a tour that combined that with panning for gold. Within an hour of dropping off our requests (and our credit card numbers) we had our tickets in hand for all three days.

Also on Sunday, after we took Ed to the doctor I took the prescription he wrote out down to
the tour desk and got Ed's first day (in Ketchikan) reimbursed with no problem at all. So Ed stayed on the ship that day and didn't go to the Indian village and lumberjack show with us.

Here you can see we have docked - there is a second cruise liner just behind us. Plus all the local fishing and tour boats at the pier. Ketchican is an Island and has lots of mtns and hills. Not a lot of shore space.







Ketchican gets 166 inches of rain every year, and outside the city center itself that is what the people
use for water - they catch and use the rain. They
said if it goes seven days without rain they think
they are in a drought! Though the day was over
cast, the rain did not fall and everywhere we went
the islanders all commented on how rare it was not to have it raining!! It was cool but not
uncomfortable. We wore sweaters and light coats
- layers - easy to remove if it got too warm (it didn't get too warm). There are lots and lots of forests and waterfalls and mtns.



















The areas we went on our cruise were all temperate rainforest areas (as compared to tropical rainforest from our previous cruises). But they were soooo green and beautiful. Lots of lacy ivy growing . This is a picture I took of grandpa as we walked down a pathway to the Skagway Klatch house.

For a very accurate video of Ketchican go to
http://www.visit-ketchikan.com/and click on Highlight watch a video of Ketchikan highlights. It is very accurate and you can get a good feel of the area.





This is the authentic building where the Indian held their welcome potlatch. The Indians of the village put on a welcome dance for us. They explained that totem poles don't tell a story but rather describe their genealogy to visitors. For instance if their mother was of the bear clan and their father of the fish clan they would be carved largest at the bottom of the totem pole. Then if their grandparents clans were different they would be added also. I suppose as people married into their family additional animals would be carved on the totem pole. That way, as canoes of

strangers came down the river they would immediately know if they were in friendly or dangerous territory. The totem poles would tell them that.

Here is a picture that I took inside the potlatch building showing the dancing that was taking place. Most everyone were in black and red capes but the white colorful cape with fringe on the bottom was really gorgeous. I wish they had explained the difference. I got the feeling that the white was more true to original.




Ketchickan is 500 miles north of Seattle and is the first city you reach as you cruise up the coastline past Canada. Ketchikan has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles and is the major cannery for salmon in Alaska.


Totem poles are also used to honor people. In the late 1800's the Klinglit Indians were fighting with the Chewbash Indians from the North and it was a hard and vicious battle. They literally were fighting for their lives and it wasn't looking really promising for them.



The Chewbash were winning, when the USS Abraham Lincoln came steaming up the river. The sailors saw the battle and went to help the Klinglit people, in fact, winning their battle for them and saving the Klinglit Nation from extinction. Since they couldn't put a ship on the top of a totem pole (only items with souls can be placed on a totem pole) they were at a loss as how to honor the ship when one of the sailors gave them a picture of Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately the picture was only from the chest up so here we have the shortest (tallest :-)) Abraham Lincoln the world has ever seen!!











Another fascinating totem pole was the one they raised to honor William H Seward when he came to Alaska to see what he had actually purchased from the Russians. When he reached Ketchikan the Klinglit Nation threw the biggest potlatch ever to honor Mr. Seward. They gave him beautiful furs and all sorts of wonderful gifts. They built this totem pole to honor him. The problems came when he left - and didn't realize that he was supposed to honor them with a potlatch in return. They waited for years for him to return and honor them with a potlatch and lots of gifts but he never did. After his death they climbed the totem pole and painted his ears and nose red showing SHAME! And that is how Wm Seward is remembered in the Saxman Village.

We got to go to modern building where totem pole making is still going on today. They talked about the types of trees that made the best totem poles.

Then we headed to the gift shop where I bought a can of salmon for Ed since he was missing this fun day back at the ship. I also bought me some really pretty earrings - Alaskan pearls they are called. Dad and I got back on the bus and headed back to Ketchikan where we were dropped off for a fantastic Lumberjack show. The show was put on by Stihl and Cabellas and was really well done. The bleachers were heated which we really appreciated even though the sun was shining nicely by then. There was a cute little gal decked out in 1800's style clothing that would be appropriate for a lumberjack cook and she was the MC. They split the audience into Canadians and Americans and we got to cheer for the side we were assigned to. Luckily we sat on the US side! Then they introduced the lumberjacks and amazingly enough three out of the four of them were college kids going to school on a lumberjack (!!!) scholarship!! They were also top knotch in their field plus pretty good actors too. They all knew how to bring audience participation to a roar and we were all totally cheering for our teams. Booing the other side and stomping our feet and cheering for our teams. It was fun to see them chopping logs and climbing poles and walking on logs in the water. Towards the end they came out with a yellow Cabela's hat and said that Cabela's said it was supposed to go to the most excited member of the audience. He walked back and forth and finally stopped right in front of dad and I although we were about ten rows back and I started yelling and cheering and jumping up and down....I wanted that hat for ED!!! Just before he tossed the hat our eyes met and I knew he was throwing it right to me~!!! AND I CAUGHT IT!! I think dad felt a little disappointed that I didn't give it to him but I had missed Ed all day and I knew it had to go to my sweet sick husband!

We had been picked up as the dock and driven the three miles out to the Saxman village and then back into Ketchikan and dropped off at the Lumberjack show. Sad to say though, we had to walk BACK to the ship about a good half mile and by that time dad was running out of steam. We made it though. If it had been Ed and I we would have wandered through some of the cute touristy stores but this was our first day in port and I figured I would have plenty of chances to find fun stuff. So we went back to the ship. That was about 2 pm so we found Ed and went and had some fish and chips at the Blue Lagoon and then we went and had a nap! The ship pulled out about three. About 4:30 Ed and I went back to the doctor's office when the doctor checked him out and announced that he wanted to remove the catheter and then if he got bad again he would reinsert it. Poor ED - a look of pure fright went over his face and then he agreed. Not a really fun day for Ed but he was feeling alot better by the time we headed back to our staterooms to get dad and go to dinner. Wonderful food at the Versailles as always but they seemed awfully slow as everyone came to eat at the same time so we could make it to the 7 pm magic show. We made it and it was good. Not as good as the magician on Holland America but he had a cute sense of humor and it was a fun fascinating show. I always expect to hear horrifying screams and blood spurting out when they shove those huge swords through the box with the gorgeous attendant in it.

North To Alaska - Saturday and Sunday

I was going to put all the pictures in one blog and as I went through them all I decided I needed to do it a day at a time... so get ready for a travelogue!!


We got to Seattle about noon on Saturday the 23rd of August. The skies were blue and the air was warm. We grabbed a taxi to go the 20 miles or so from the airport to the Seattle Port -

Our taxi driver knew right where to go and it was such a thrill to see that big ship sitting there waiting for us to board.

We had our papers out and ready and there was hardly any line at all and we were on board before


you even knew it. As we boarded they were handing out glasses of champagne to everyone - we asked if they had anything nonalchoholic and they no, so we passed. First thing we did was head for our staterooms to get rid of our carryon's. But when we got there they were cleaning the rooms, so we carried our small bags with us and headed up to the 12th level to eat some lunch. The buffet was tasty and there was plenty of it. We didn't even go all the way through the line. We found what we wanted and sat down and ate.

After we ate we wandered around the ship a bit to hopefully figure out what was where and then headed to our rooms. Dad was in a stateroom right next to us so that was really handy. We took a little nap as it was going to be a while before the ship sailed. When we were ready to head back upstairs for the farewell party Dad told us to go ahead without him and he would find us. So Ed and I headed up to level 12 and 13 for the embarkation party.


Amazingly enough Dad did find us - somewhere in the middle of 2400 people!! And that was just the paying guests. The crew numbered another 1100!!

We started the picture taking. The first picture of the Seattle skyline and space needle and the picture of Mt Rainier Ed took. Actually most of his pictures turned out better than mine. But I took this one. We were sitting out in the sunshine on deck 13 - it is open to deck 12, that is where the swimming pool and hot tubs were. You can see the water slides (the big yellow things) Those are our feet in the foreground!!

About five pm we headed out...but not to sea!! It seemed like we sailed for hours before we actually hit open sea - or at least the shores were not visible anymore - probably by 8 or 9 pm. Seattle isn't as close to the ocean as I always thought - In fact we sailed North towards Vancouver and then headed west somewhat and then North again as we traveled through what is known as the inside passage. We went to the show that night which was an introduction to alot of what was going to be presented in the next week. Our rooms were right next to the Stardust theatre - it was a huge and beautiful theatre - all done in plush red velvet. The rooms had good acoustics though and we couldn't hear the late shows at all from our staterooms which made us happy. The main dining room was the Versailles Room and it was gorgeous. Very gold and ornate. Full of old art (like Blue Boy, pictures of Kings, etc.) The rest of the ship was very modern. In fact too much modern art!

This is what the inside passage looked like to me on Sunday. Ignore the dates on these pictures as it was a couple of days into the trip before I realized I had the wrong date in my camera. It was rainy and cloudy and dreary and gray and I thought - OH NO!! IS THIS WHAT OUR WHOLE TRIP IS GOING TO BE LIKE?

Sunday afternoon I was out for a walk while Ed rested and Dad was reading and I had found an icecream bar with delicious hard ice cream - it was open daily from noon to five pm and each day they changed the flavors they offered. Yummy treat. As I was walking on the 12th level of the ship someone said - oh, look - dolphins. I rushed over to see - there were only about 20 of us that got to see a school of ORCA's jumping through the waves. They weren't dolphins at all but there had to be about 40 of them jumping and diving and even though I was way high in the air I could see their beautiful black and white coloring - we could only see about four or five at a time but they were well spread out over the ocean . I didn't take this picture - I googled it, but this is what they looked like.


It cleared up later on in the day on Sunday though. This is a picture out of our stateroom window. I thought I was going to miss the balcony but it was too chilly to have enjoyed it like we did on our other two cruises. 85 degrees is nice on a balcony. 59 degrees is NOT!! Ed hadn't been feeling very good since we got on board and I finally talked him into going to see the doctor Sunday about 5:45 - his UTI had turned into a prostate infection and he got to have a catheter inserted (FUN!!) for 24 hours and was put on Cipro for three days (BIG DOSES!)

The formal night was on Sunday night and Ed and Dad had not wanted to dress up for it (mainly they didn't want to pack a suit for one night) so we found another fun little restaurant to eat in. Fish and Chips - and it was good. Actually, the way Ed felt that night he wouldn't have enjoyed a big meal anyway. We didn't go to the show that night - I kind of wish I had gone alone. Ed wasn't feeling well and Dad was too tired but it was "The Music of the Night" - the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The ocean was very calm for most of the trip - I don't think the waves ever got over five or six feet - most of the time it was about 1.5 meters ... much better than Hurricane Noel was last year in the Bahamas.

Well - that's enough for the first two days. On Monday morning we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska - more on that in my next blog.

Visiting the Grandkids

In the last couple of days I have gotten to see almost all of my grandkids and I have loved the hugs!! I missed Jerod when I stopped at Mauri and Ira's and poor Mickie was too sick when I stopped at Kristanne and Shawn's house. In fact, they say she is really contagious so I am extra glad I didn't go give her a hug.

Today I drove down to Provo and had lunch with Kecia and Emma at their house. Kec had leftover bacon carbonera and it was delicious. Of course Emma was full of smiles and laughs. She entertained grandma for a good hour and a half. This is a picture of the newest Mary Kay representative demonstrating how nice the skin creams are!! (Also great for chewing on!!)

Then I headed for Lehi where I got to play with Simon and Benji - Simon is so responsive and has the cutest grin and ...GREAT BIG BLUE EYES TOO!!!

What is it about this latest batch of babies and blue eyes??

I took my bag of yarn balls with me because Ben just loves to play with the BALLS - he spent a good hour taking the balls out of the bag one at a time and tossing them and then bringing then back and putting them back into the bag and then repeating it all over again. Also, every time he brought a ball back I would pick it up and rewind the hanging string ...after a while Ben starting 'rewinding' the balls of yarn himself - only he failed to realize that he was supposed to be winding the yarn AROUND the ball!! It was so cute watching him wind and wind and wind!!

Then he decided that the balls needed to bounce down the steps. But HE wouldn't toss them down the steps - that was grandma's job. So, he would bring the ball to me and then say 'stairs' and run over to the steps where I tossed the ball so it would bounce down the stairs.

Note all the balls of yarn all over the floor. While I was babysitting the boys a neighbor child brought over some zuchini and cucumbers for Da, and he asked me WHY there were balls of yarn all over the floor. :-)

I must apologize for the poor quality of the picture taking...I need to practice this art a lot more !!

I've been tagged

Thanks alot Jamie!!

Rules: list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current goals, 3 current obsessions, 3 random facts about yourself. Then tag at least 5 people at the end!

*3 Joys*
Family
Gospel
Laughter

*3 Fears*
Falling
Driving on the freeway with everyone doing 80
Alzheimers

*3 Current Goals*
Reach out and help at least one person each day
Be a better grandma
Keep my sugar levels optimal

*3 Current Obsessions*
Reading
Spending money!
Traveling!

*3 Random Facts About Myself*
I am very unsure about myself!
I feel like I need to spend money to be loved and (my budget gets tighter and tighter)
My most joyous moments are spent with my family