This portion was written on Sunday, September 3, 2017
Saturday-
Departure from Seattle
I woke up at 3:20am, ahead of my alarm, to get
ready to catch our 6:15am flight to Seattle. I didn't sleep very well. I
generally don't sleep well when I have an important early event to wake up for
the next day. As I try to fall asleep I start to worry that I haven't fallen
asleep yet and that I really need some sleep and my mind keeps me up most of
the night telling myself I need more sleep. It would be comical if I weren't so
tired.
After I got ready, I went to wake up Chad to
take me to the airport. He was already awake and was not feeling well. The
chicken fried steak he had a Village Inn on our date the night before was not
agreeing with him. (I could be perfectly happy in life never eating at a
Village Inn again; except their pies are ok.) Chad threw up and then felt well
enough to leave. I felt badly leaving when he was sick.
By 3:50am Chad and I were on our way to Mom's
Granny flat to pick her up to go to the airport. The flight was very nice and
calm. As we neared Seattle I loved looking out at the lay of the land. It was
so green with many small lakes dotting the countryside. Very beautiful.
After Mom and I landed we purchased shuttle bus
tickets to the cruise port. The drive through Seattle was charming. Seattle
reminds me a little bit of San Francisco. I noticed the space needle that was
built several years ago for a world’s fair. (I read a book awhile back that was
set in the time and place of the Chicago world's fair. ...I now have a new
bucket list item to attend a world's fair.) There was also a charming Farris
wheel and an aquarium right on the waterfront. Our bus driver was nice to point
out many interesting sites as we drove.
After some waiting, and walking through several
lines we got on the ship around 11:30am. Since our rooms were not ready and
since we had skipped breakfast, we headed to the buffet.
We spent most of the day exploring and getting
our bearings on the ship. At 3:30pm we had the required muster drill. At 4:30pm
we had a meeting with the LDS Cruise Lady group; Cruise Lady is the travel
agency we used to book our tickets. Our special guests on the trip are Marvin
Goldstein, a famous lds pianist, and Vanessa Joy, an lds singer.--I have a few
of Marvin Goldstein's piano solo books. Spencer is currently learning a
piano solo out of one of his books to play in sacrament meeting in November.
There are a handful of couples from Snowflake in
our cruise lady group. There are even some my own age--Josh and Misty Brimhall
are here with their oldest son who is to leave on his mission in a couple of
weeks. I thought I would by far be the youngest in the group.
We have several tables at dinner time in the
dining room for our cruise lady group. We have been able to visit and make
connections with several in the group.
Last night Mom and I were going to attend a show
in the main theatre but as we were waiting we got too sleepy from waking up so
early and we opted to go to our room, read a little bit and go to bed early. We
were in bed by about 9:30pm.
It has been fun to spend time with Mom, but as
she said to someone in the group, "it is more fun to travel with your
husband." I miss Chad and wish he was seeing and experiencing this
adventure with me.
Sunday-
day at sea
I woke up just before 7:00am this morning. It
was very nice to get enough sleep. I did wake up several times through the
night, but was able to get back to sleep without trouble.
I had a nice little stroll around the cruise
ship this morning while Mom slept in. It was nice to breathe and feel the sea
air. It was foggy so I couldn't see any sights. I don't know if we're close
enough to see the coast anyway. I ate breakfast alone since Mom has decided to
fast today since it is fast Sunday. ...I plan to fast next week when I'm at
home.
Mom and I saw a presentation called "this
is Alaska" at 10:00am. I'm excited for the things we will see and our
excursions. We skipped out of that presentation at 10:30 to go to our cruise
lady "lecture at sea". Marvin Goldstein shared his conversion story.
He converted from the Jewish faith. He shared with us that Elder Marvin J.
Ashton called him and set him apart to be a lifelong missionary for the church.
Marvin and Vanessa performed a lot of beautiful music for us. I really like
Marvin's piano solo arrangement of "Where Can I Turn for Peace" and
"Beautiful Savior". I asked him if his has those two pieces for sale.
He said he didn't but he will bring a big folder with all his music with him to
our devotional this afternoon and see if he has those two pieces in the folder.
This portion was written on Monday, September 4, 2017
Sunday
afternoon- Sea day
Yesterday afternoon I
ate lunch in the Tsar's palace dining room while Mom napped. The dining room
serves better food than the buffet so I like to eat in there.
Mom and I read the books we brought with us in
the ship's library. It was cozy in there and we had a nice view of the ocean as
we sailed.
At 4:00pm we had another nice show from Marvin
Goldstein and Vanessa Joy. Marvin played medleys from Fiddler on the Roof, The
Sound of Music and Phantom of the Opera. Sadly they have Marvin playing on an
electronic piano. He plays it beautifully but it would be so much better on a
real piano. He is working with the cruise ship to see if they'll let him
perform on one of their good pianos. Currently his performances are private
just for our cruise lady group. They reserved the conference room for us and
that is where we meet.
At 5:30pm we had our formal dinner in Tsar's
palace. We have met severe nice people in our group, including a Whipple cousin
of Mom's. His name is Dale Whipple. He
and Mom share the same great grandfather Edson Whipple. He got our information
and wants us to go to Buhrley, Idaho to see the Whipple museum he has there. He
is the oldest son of the oldest son of the oldest son so he has lots of family
things. He is 88 years old and is on his honeymoon. He was remarried last week.
His mind is very sharp, but he has to ride a scooter to get around. He was high
up in the Toyota company before he retired.
After dinner I saw a whale! It was foggy
most of the day so we couldn't see much, but in the evening it cleared up so I
spent time looking for whales. The whale didn't surface very far, but it did a
little and when I kept watching to make sure I really did see a whale I saw it
spray water out of its blow hole two times. It was pretty cool. I'm very
excited for our whale watching tour in Juneau on Tuesday.
Monday -
Ketchikan, AK
I woke up around 7:30am and headed up on deck to
call home. I couldn't talk to the family at all yesterday when we were at sea.
Chad and I had a nice visit. I told him about my adventures and then told him
we shouldn't take trips without each other anymore. I wish he was here to share
these experiences with me.
Mom and I had breakfast in the buffet. I ran a
little in the gym and then after I got dressed and ready for the day we headed
out to see Ketchikan. We signed up for a wildlife tour. I saw a bear, an
eagle's nest, an eagle as we were driving, totem poles, and salmon swimming
upstream. It was fascinating watching the salmon jump and struggle to swim
upstream. Our tour guide told us that salmon will return to the same stream and
the same spot where they were born to lay their eggs. When salmon are born in a
hatchery and then released, the salmon will return back to the hatchery after
living their life in the ocean.
After the tour I walked around town a bit and
bought some t-shirts and souvenirs for the kids while Mom went back to the ship
to relax.
At 4:00pm which is in about 20 minutes, we will
have another concert from Marvin and Vanessa. Our ship will pull out of
Ketchikan shortly and we stop in Juneau tomorrow.
This portion was written on Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Monday
Afternoon - Heading to Juneau
I noticed a camera interview going on in the
library when I walk passed. I decided to photo bomb it. I walked passed it two
more times. The first time I did a very weak Sasquatch then I did a Richard
Nixon. I think my kids would be very proud.
When my Mom goes to our cabin to rest I like to
go stand on the top deck and look at the beautiful countryside. Tonight I saw
the moon was bright and cast a big reflection on the water. There were little
tree covered islands not too far across the water. And a foggy mist was all
along the water and coming down off the islands. I wish I could paint it. It
was so beautiful. I spend a lot of time alone on this trip since my Mom likes
to read and relax more than walk around town when we stop. This time alone has
been ok though.
Mom and I watched Marvin and Vanessa's
performance that the ship invited them to do. Sadly it was still on an
electronic keyboard, but it was still a nice performance.
I stayed up until 1:00pm reading my book. I'm
reading "I Capture the Castle." I didn't quite finish it because I
realized it was getting so late.
Tuesday -
Juneau
This morning I woke up earlier than I wanted and
couldn't get back to sleep. I finally decided to go eat and workout before we
left to our whale watching tour. I called Chad and the kids and I watched the
boat dock in Juneau before eating and exercising. Juneau is so beautiful. It
was a nice clear morning. We've been very lucky to have sunny days yesterday
and today. Sunny days are very rare in this part of the country.
Our whale watching tour started at 8:45am. It
was a fun tour, but pretty cold and foggy. I wished I had put my hoodie
underneath my wind breaker. We saw three whales. It was exciting.
After the tour we came back and ate lunch as the
ship left Juneau. Mom went back to the room after lunch to nap and read. She
just told me as she was heading back to the room she scored a free 10 minute
chair massage at the spa. That's lucky! I stayed up on the top deck. I found a
quiet deck with padded lounge beds. Several people were taking naps. I noticed
an empty bed and joined the nappers.
When I woke up I saw another whale from the
ship. I spent all the rest of the afternoon up on deck as we went up a fjord to
see some glaciers. The main glacier we
saw was the Endecott glacier. The drive
up the fjord was so beautiful. I stayed out there past time to start dinner. I
saw many waterfalls cascading down the mountain, otters in the water and seals
on the small icebergs in the water. I sat next to a family from Georgia.
They were so nice and we became friends.
After we got to the glacier and turned around I
joined mom at dinner. The dining room was pretty empty since most everyone was
still out on deck to see the glacier and scenery. When we started the dessert course people
started to file in. We had a fun visit with Shawn and Dicey Palmer and Josh and
Misty Brimhall. Shawn told us some funny stories about Vern Turley from when
Shawn was in junior high, including a rattlesnake that got loose in the
classroom, a prank Vern played on Mrs. Farr, and a good natured fight between
Vern and Melvin DeWidt that got so intense they started wrestling on the ground
and made holes in the knees of their slacks and bloodied up their arms because
no one would give in. We visited until after 9:00pm.
Now it is 10:00pm and we are listening to another
performance by Marvin and Vanessa. They got invited to play by the ship’s crew
again. This time on a real piano. It makes a big difference.
This portion was written on Thursday, September 7, 2017
Wednesday- Skagway
I slept in until after 8:00. I missed talking to
the older kids before they left to school since I slept so long. I called and
talked to Tilly. She spoke for a couple sentences and then said, "Ok
bye". She doesn't like to talk on the phone for very long.
Mom didn't want to leave the ship yesterday. She
walked quite a bit on Monday and Tuesday and was tired. Since we are at sea all
day today and don't have a chance to get off the ship, and since Celeste said
Skagway was her favorite stop when she went on the family Alaskan cruise, I
went out to see Skagway on my own.
I got off the ship around 9:30am after eating
breakfast and running 3 miles on the treadmill in the gym. I booked a 90
minute "summit express tour" for 1:15pm. I went back onto the ship to
see if I could convince my Mom to go on the tour with me since it was such a
good price. I almost had her convinced and she got up and got some money for me
to go book her a ticket as well, then she changed her mind at the last second.
Since I had some time to kill I walked into town around 10:00am. The walk was
close to a mile. After looking in some shops I stopped at the Klondike
national park office. They had a free 25 minute video there that told about the
Klondike Gold rush. It was fantastic.
Then I walked back to the ship to have a little
lunch before my tour. Then I walked back into town at 1:00 and found out they
overbooked my tour and they asked me to wait until the 3:15pm tour. I was kind
of bugged, but I understood. The tour company offered to give me a free Trolley
tour through town while I waited for the 3:15 summit express tour, but I wanted
to let mom know I was going to be leaving on my tour much later than planned.
So I didn't go on the free tour. Instead I walked back to the ship to let my
mom know about the change.
I rested a little bit in the room with mom but I
couldn't sleep so I went to have a snack and kill time until the tour started.
Then I walked back into town for the 3:15 tour. It was a really interesting
tour. (If you're counting, I walked 5 miles going to and from town. Add that to
my morning run and I put in 8 miles yesterday. I was fine but I sure didn't
plan on walking that much that day.) The tour guide told lots of interesting
stories about individuals who took part in the Klondike gold rush. Sadly we
were in heavy fog until we got to the summit where we were above the fog, so I
didn't get to see as much scenery as I would have liked. The summit lakes
area was beautiful. On the way back down the mountain I got to see some
waterfalls and take a picture by the welcome to Alaska sign since we had
crossed into Canada on our way up to the summit.
Mom and I ate dinner with the cruise lady group
at 5:30. After dinner we went back to our room to read for the rest of the
night. I didn't even go up for my nightly crepe. (The buffet serves fresh
crepes every night. They are delicious.)
Thursday-
at sea
Today we will be at sea all day as we make our
way to Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. This morning I have hung out with
Josh and Misty Brimhall, Shawn Palmer (his wife Dicey was reading or something
else) and Lenny and Margie Owens, a couple from Mesa. Bro. Owens is originally
from Show Low. He's a neat guy. We played games in the ship's game room.
Sis.Owen's taught us a fun card game called trash. I think my kids will love
it.
This afternoon Mom and I hung out in the
"atrium". We listened to music and visited with a couple from
Pittsburgh. They were very nice and the man made mom and me each a rose out of
a napkin. He was very sweet.
This
portion was written on September 9, 2017
Thursday evening Mom and I watched Marvin and
Vanessa perform in the Atrium for the whole ship. A professional violinist from
Brazil who was also a passenger on the ship also performed with them. He was
great. The whole performance was wonderful. We had lots of talented musicians
on the ship and it was so nice of the ship to allow them to perform for us.
After the performance and dinner, Mom and I went
to our room to read. I was still full from dinner so I skipped getting a crepe
again.
Friday-
Victoria, British Columbia Canada.
We didn't arrive in Victoria until about 2pm. I
can't remember what we did that morning. In Victoria Mom and I went with the
cruise lady group to tour Butchart Gardens. We left right as soon as the boat
docked. Butchart Gardens was AMAZING!! The beauty was unbelievable. It
was like the Garden of Eden. Mom liked the gardens, but didn't like all the
walking. I told her I would push her in a wheelchair, but she didn't want to do
that. The tour bus driver showed us some interesting sites and gave us good
history of the area. It was a wonderful tour. We got back to ship around
9:00pm. We had a late dinner and visiting at the buffet with the Owens
and the Brimhalls.
Saturday
– Going home
This morning we
arrived in Seattle. I realized Mom and I could probably leave on the 11:45am
flight instead of the 3:35pm flight we booked. I called Alaska airlines and
they had room to move us to earlier flight so we got everything packed up, ate
breakfast, and headed toward the airport.
I am finishing up this travelogue in midair. I'm
so excited to see Chad and the kids. It has been a very fun vacation with Mom,
but I don't think I want to travel without Chad for this long ever again. Chad
wrote me a very sweet email the other night letting me know he loved me and
missed me. It meant a lot to me.
Mom and I did not get
sea sick at all on the trip, but now that I am on land I have been feeling a
little woozy and like I’m rocking on a boat.
We had fantastic weather for the whole trip. We only had light rain half of the day while
in Skagway. We were very lucky.
Our landing was a bit
rough. We had turbulence and had to pull
up and circle around and try landing again.
The 2nd time there was still turbulence, but we made it
safely on the ground. It sure made me
nervous though. We had to walk a lot
today. Mom did just fine though. I realized that when I travel with Chad we
can zip places quickly. When he walks
fast I almost have to jog to keep up. My
Mom goes at a slower pace, kind of the opposite of traveling with Chad. I enjoyed the slower pace though. I am sure glad we got to go on this trip
together.
