All of this brings us to the morning we visited Tracy Arm Fjord. I had read in the guidebooks that you needed to be up early to see this and when I got out to the helipad at 6am there were already lots of folks. It was odd to see so many people on the helipad so early in the day, especially since I normally had it all to myself.  The scenery continued to be breathtaking as we moved towards the Dawes Glacier. It was also really cold. The wind blows across the ice and since we were in a valley, it blew straight on us. Still, it was worth it. One of the crew remarked that there was more ice in the water than they had seen on the previous 7 trips. It made sense then to have hot chocolate on the deck. What I didn’t quite understand, at 6 in the morning, was serving clam chowder. Here I thought Wheaties were the breakfast of champions, I had to come to Alaska to learn that it was in fact clam chowder. The captain turned the ship several times to ensure that everyone had ample opportunity to see everything.  Had he not been turning so slowly, it could have been a bit nauseating.  Eventually, the captain pointed us away from the glacier and we started back down the fjord to head on down the coast. The afternoon passed lazily by with a combination of naps, reading, and enjoying a drink or two. Our favorite place to do all three of these, in a climate controlled setting, was the bar on deck 14. On Caribbean cruises, I probably would have been poolside. In the chilly air of Alaska, Deck 14 was the place to be. Around 4, we noticed that we seemed to be stopping in the middle of the water. Apparently, there was a medical emergency that necessitated a helicopter evacuation. We waited for the helicopter to arrive from Sitka and there were lots of folks hanging on the deck to watch. In all of my trips, this was a first. It was pretty cool to see first-hand.  The helicopter cut quite the image as it barreled towards us, it hovered, a rescue swimmer was dropped, and the person was lifted up in a basket.  Then, they were gone.  Day gave way to evening and another dinner. The food was fine and after dinner we hung about until bed time.

The next day found us at sea. I was the first one up-at 9:45. When I went upstairs to the buffet for a bowl of Cheerios the place was essentially empty. Apparently, the trip was starting to catch up to lots of folks. Back to deck 14 for more reading and scenery-watching we went, and before too long, it was time for lunch. I had ordered the fish enchiladas the night before and when they came to the table, the fish was wrapped in zucchini. I thought this was a neat way to do it, and it was probably the best special meal I had. After lunch, we read some more and then met the kids in the arcade for a family air hockey tournament. Since I had lost to Ethel the day before, I wanted a rematch. This time, I took no prisoners. After demolishing all comers, it was back to 14 to keep reading. Just like that, the afternoon passed and it was dinner time. After dinner, we went to the Star Lounge to play Beatles/Queen trivia. The Beatles were no problem, I may need to add some Queen to my playlist. After a few last walks around, bed.  Today was truly a lazy day at sea.

On Day 4 of our trip I woke up early again and walked outside. This morning was gorgeous. Bright skies, blue skies, and snow capped mountains. It was stunning. I thought the scenery around Juneau was cool, but this, this was indescribable. Last year on our trip out west, I frequently found myself unable to say what I was seeing. It happened again. As we made our way to Skagway I stood there like a yokel. All I could say was wow. We docked a minute or two early and again were off early. Today, we were to meet with our guide at 7:50. We were all on time. I thought it might be fun for all of us to do an activity together so I booked for us to do a hike and float with Skagway Float Tours. Our guide’s name was Brian and he spends summers in Skagway and spends winters wherever the snow is best. Tough life, though he does live with his girlfriend in van. I can only assume that this van is in fact down by a river. He drove us through town and a few miles to the trailhead for the Chilkoot Trail. Turns out that this part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Park. It actually has 3 separate locations Pioneer Square in Seattle and two here in Skagway. The Chilkoot trail is the actual trail the prospectors took in the late 1890s as they sought their fortunes in the Klondike of Canada. At about 2 minutes in, Brian offered a more flat route for anyone having trouble. My mom and one other lady went that way. The five of us plus that lady’s husband continued on. The trail was steep and in parts challenging. I can’t imagine trying to do this with provisions for prospecting on my back. Brian gave us lots of great information, fed the girls fresh berries off the plant, and generally was a pleasure to be around. I think he found us to be fun too. The girls were engaged the whole time and the 2 miles passed quickly. At the end of the hike we met back up with the other two and spent the next few minutes floating down the river back to our van. If you are in Skagway, I’d recommend this company. All of the staff we met were awesome and they are family owned. Money very well spent. Thanks to Brian for a wonderful morning. He dropped us off at the start of town at the Skagway Brewing Co where we had lunch. After our hike, we were all hungry and I felt good about my odds here. I had a few Omissions and the boss had their beer sampler and then decided on a pint of their Spruce Tip Ale (made with real spruce tips to prevent scurvy). The net hour or so was spent looking around town and spending some money. After that, we hiked out to Yakutania Point where we were rewarded with breezy but stunning views. All of us agreed that Skagway was a runaway hit. After dinner, we played music trivia and then watched Skagway grow smaller and smaller behind us.

PS-It might sound like I didn’t have much to say about Skagway.  Truth is, I couldn’t adequately put it into words.  This proved to be our favorite day of the trip.  Summers in Skagway and winters in Hanalei would be just right.  Ive been many places in my life, but nowhere like this one.  If you ever get the chance to go, you absolutely have to go.

All of this brings us to day 3. I woke up early and headed to the front of the ship to watch Alaska slip slowly by as we headed towards Juneau. We again had gray skies, but the sheer quiet beauty of the landscape made up for the clouds. It was so very quiet as mountains passed by. Heck, we even got really good a spotting whales. I tried to take some pictures but they didn’t probably do justice to what I saw on this morning. By 11, we were closing in on Juneau so we went to have a quick lunch in the dining room and when the captain gave permission to go ashore we were one of the first off. When we showed up at the rental car shed, we were the first to pick up our ultra-cool PT Cruiser. With 150,000 miles on it. The lady at the counter was super nice, though I found it really odd that I never had to show a driver’s license. It was almost as if, hey he has a credit card, we don’t care if he can legally drive, give him the car. Of we went towards the Mendenhall Glacier with a full tank of gas, no cigarettes, and also no clue how to get there as the map we got was poor. Trying to get a signal for our phone map was tough. Given the fact that the boss is an excellent navigator (and I’ve been researching maps for a year) we made it to the Glacier. At the Glacier, there are some areas that are fee access and others that are free. It was interesting to me that the fee places were not nearly as cool as the free ones. The four of us hiked the Nugget Falls Trail. An easy 2 mile round trip over a well-maintained and well-marked trail led us to the falls. We were there with about 5 other groups so we spent a good amount of time just taking it all in. We climbed rocks, we out our hands in the water, we skipped stones on a glacial lake-we hung out and it was cool. We took our time heading back and had actually planned on driving a bit more. But about that-the check engine light came on and since I didn’t especially feel like having a car with that many miles and a check engine light, I decided to take it on back. I dropped the girls in town and then I dropped the car and walked the mile back in to town. I had better luck with this car drop off than I did in San Francisco. We hit up the obligatory tourist shops and bought the obligatory tourist stuff. There were, however, two more experiences that were epic and awesome. In town, there is an old bar called the Red Dog Saloon. It’s been there a long while, before the tourists came, and it is an institution. Sawdust on the floors, crammed seating, and a great staff made this a perfect stop. The boss and I wanted a drink, so she had an Alaskan Brewing Co beer (Summer Ale I think) and I had lemonade with Tito’s and a Chambourd float. Did my drink look girly? Yes. Did it taste good? Yes, so let it go. The girls had draft root beer while we listened to the piano player sing songs that in no way whatsoever were child appropriate. Ethel looked completely overwhelmed and Lucy declared that she felt older in there. Whatever the case, it was fun and I recommended it highly. Another strong recommendation is for Tracy’s King Crab Shack. While it looks touristy (and probably is) the food was fabulou$$$. We had dungeness crab, crab bisque with jasmine rice, crab cakes (not for me), and a king crab leg. To say this food was great is an understatement. Steamed simply in water, the meat spoke for itself. We absolutely destroyed that poor crab, but we were not sorry in the least. As one final splurge, we opted last minute to head up the Mt. Robert’s Tram. For the 4 of us to do this it cost 115 bucks. The views were great and we were able to see a bald eagle up close (she had been shot and was unable to fly). Also, at the nature center, we learned about lots of the plants we had been seeing. The takeaway there is that in Alaska if you ain’t sure, don’t eat it. We headed down the mountain and walked back to the ship. Certainly more tired than we arrived but infinitely more alive. We compared our day with my parents (they had fun too) and we called it a night.

One of the many, many wonderful parts of a trip to Alaska is the complete ability to unplug. The downside to the that, is keeping up with a daily travel blog becomes quite difficult. With that said, I’m behind. As I type this, I’m sitting on the 14th deck of our ship in a bar with as we navigate down a channel away from Dawes Glacier. I can’t start with that, though, as to this point we’ve experienced so much. Since you’re dying to know exactly what we’ve experienced, I better get to typing and stop setting the scene.
Friday morning in $eattle was a breeze. We woke up, grabbed some breakfast, cooled at the hotel for a bit, and then got our Ubers to the port. I was fortunate to have yet another great driver. He was chatty and the time to the port was brief. Check-in was hectic as it always is. Two ships disembarking and the same two ships loading up to go again creates a chaotic place to be. But it didn’t take long and by 11am we were on board our home for the next week. All of us had lunch in the buffet and after I spoke with a chef, I was able to eat relatively well. Following our typical routine, we explored the ship and by 1:30, we were in the process of settling in to our cozy, interior cabin on the 6th deck. My bag and Lucy’s bag were a little slow in arriving and she started to get a little put out that she was the last to get her stuff, but in the end it was a non-   issue. In fact, getting the bags in a staggered fashion made the process of unpacking a bit easier. One lifeboat drill and one dinner later and we were all ready for bed. All of the girls had their sea bands on to help prevent motion sickness and by 9:30 we called it a day. Embarkation days are always tiring and throwing in the 3 hour time difference made it all the more exhausting.

On day 2 the skies dawned cloudy. All through the night there was, to me, a gentle pitch and roll of the ship. To the boss, it was as if she were being tempest tossed. I assure you, the seas had a gentle 3 foot swell. Lucy and Ethel spent the day sort of tooling around. All of the girls went to the ice show and a fruit carving demo in the afternoon. I sat on the balcony with my dad as we watched Canada pass by off the starboard side. At least until fog thick enough to require the fog horn rolled in and blocked everything. It was neat sitting there and hearing the horn make it’s low, mournful sound. I did run into one small problem. At lunch today I was summarily dismissed by one of the managers in the buffet about my dietary needs. Well, you don’t summarily dismiss me. Not ever. I went to guest services to voice my concerns. Iulia from Russia was very sympathetic (and pretty) and summoned the main manager for both the dining room and the buffet. As it turns out, the manager who dismissed my was that same person. After a brief, awkward moment as this dawned on the both of us, I decided that I would be taking the rest of my meals in the main dining room. Dilip, the manager there, was sympathetic to my plight, and every meal since has been fine. The food has been uninspired, but I’ve been safe. At the end of it, that’s all that matters. I will say that everyone else seems to be enjoying their regular menu foods. Turns out, I kicked a hornet’s nest that has resulted in changes in how food is served on the ship. I guess I became a voice for the voiceless. The moral here kids, is to speak up for yourself. At some point in the night, we crossed back into the US and entered the Inside Passage.

This roam has been a long time coming.  Last year, when we returned from our West Coast adventure, I tried to think about the next place.  Ethel has set a goal of visiting all 50 states before she turns 30.  So, I says to myself, “Self, let’s go far away.  And what state is the furthest from home?  Hawaii!”  That wouldn’t do though, as we’ve already checked off our 50th state.  What then?  Alaska.  We’ll go to Alaska.  Last July we booked the cruise for us and for my parents to go with us.  All that was left was to book a hotel in Seattle, plan excursions , get flights, and wait.  Waiting an interminable period of time for July to get here.  As the date of departure grew near and I told the girls about some of the things we might could do, they suggested a few items as well.  We’d have to do those, for sure.  Finally, July 7th got here and we were off.

July 7th in Raleigh dawned.  I’m not sure how bright, because for us it dawned at 4:15am so we could get to the airport.  Turns out getting there early was a good idea.  Our friendly neighborhood TSA agents were not exactly all on the same page with security checks.  One line, was all like “Shoes on, leave items in bags” while others were all like, “yea, take it all off and out of the bags”.  I suppose I should’ve known that since our line was clear, we where in the latter.  Except we didn’t realize it.  Until the very large man said I would be patted down.  And not just any pat-down-I was to have my “sensitive areas” patted as well.  So after the pat-down, in full view of my family, a cigarette, and the breakfast I felt owed by the agent, we were headed to the gate.  Our flight left on time and was uneventful.  Even when the pilot deployed a drag chute in Salt Lake City to bring us to a stop.

If you are looking for a time warp, fly through Salt Lake.  They have pay phones even an in terminal smoking lounge.  But no seats.  So don’t expect to sit down while you trey to eat.  That’s about it for Salt Lake.  Have a short layover if possible.

We left Salt Lake a few minutes behind, but the pilots made up for it and we landed only 5 minutes behind our scheduled arrival time in $eattle.  The airport was slammed with people.  I mean wall to wall, can’t move, people of every cultures, slammed.  It took us a good 15 minutes at a decent clip to get to baggage claim.  Once there, we waited.  Our bags came, Lucy learned an important lesson about placing liquids in a plastic bag, and we called our Ubers for the ride to the hotel.  Given our luggage a UberX probably wouldn’t work.  We took two, and I rode with my mom and Ethel.  Our driver was quite good and the ride was pleasant.  We all arrived at the Hampton Inn Downtown at the same time.  We all checked in and both rooms were ready!  After a quick drop off of bags and a quick refresher, we were out to explore $eattle.

We all walked the few short blocks to $eattle Center to ride the monorail to get back to the Market area.  Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, it is about the cheapest way to get from one place to the other.  But only one place as there are just the two stops.  Also, they only accept cash,so know that.  The weather was cloudy and cool with intermittent showers, which honestly, makes for a nice change from the weather at home.  Pike Place Market was one of those “must visit” places for us.  I think though, that the cruise industry in $eattle has completely overwhelmed everything.  Just so. Many. People.  The last time I was here, I remember strolling through the market.  Not the case today.  First off, we had an ear of roasted corn (yum) and some Rainier cherries (also, yum).  As I had not eaten all day, we went to Uli’s Famous Sausage.  I had read that most all of their sausages were gluten free as were their fries.  2 delicious sausages, a delightful sauerkraut, and fries later (and 18 bucks poorer) we kept moving.  We did all the tourist things.  We watched them throw the fish, we looked at the stalls, we saw the original Starbucks.  Folks were starting to get hungry though, and we started to piece together food.  Lucy and the boss had macaroni and cheese at Beecher’s (said by Lucy to be the best she ever had), Ethel had a meatball sub and coke (18 bucks!).  We were going to get them all chowder, but the line was prohibitively long.  After moseying around the market for a bit longer, my parents and the girls stopped for chocolate and the boss and I went to Pike Brewing Co.  I had read online that they carried a wonderful gluten free stout from Ghostfish Brewing Company.  Apparently, this entire brewery is gluten free!  I was thrilled.  The boss had a flight and we met back up with the rest.

After a bit of shopping and a ride back to $eattle Center, we let the girls play on the playground in the rain.  Said by Lucy to have been a highlight.  We had 7:30 tickets for the Space Needle.  But given that at this point we were all starting to falter, we headed up about 7.  This was Ethel’s bucket list item and she loved it.  Lots of good exhibits while you line up, a short elevator ride, and a very crowded observation deck await.  It was still nice though.  The sky was gunmetal gray, with a few breaks in the clouds, and windy.  The girls loved it.  They filmed themselves walking around, took pictures, and seemed to absorb it all.  After the visit to the gift shop, we headed to the hotel and all collapsed.

Day 1 got vacation off to a good start.  It’s hard changing time zones but I’m glad we came a day early.  $eattle is dirtier and more crowded than I remember and way more expensive.  I look forward to getting on the ship tomorrow where at least food is paid for!!!