September 8, 2005

Home to Belgrade Montana

We got up around 6:30 and got all the stuff done around the house that we needed to do. Got a start on the day about 7:30. We could tell that the kitties were upset about the goings on. But at least Ty, Charlie and Maggie did say goodbye to us.

The weather was partly cloudy and windy. There had been some showers moving thru but we lucked out and didn't run into any. By the time we got to Montana it was 90 degrees!!

We stopped at the Painted Canyon overlook on our way by. It's been a few years since I've done that. We drove up into the area and there was a buffalo herd grazing peacefully along the road way. As usual with the national park buffalo, they pretty much ignore humans and their machines. 2 cows, 2 calves and a bull. People were taking pictures and just watching them. I loved this. It was so typical ND. We went to the overlook and as always the view took my breath away. Hard to believe that it's the same state that we live in.

We listened to a book on tape The Time Travelers Wife . What an intriguing book. I would highly recommend it to anyone. We didn't get it finished today so will continue tomorrow.

We got into the mountains in Montana only a little before we stopped for the night. It was a good day and we got to our hotel about 6 so that nice. We had supper in the room and since they had high speed internet got to speed around the internet before bed.

September 9, 2005

Belgrade to Seattle

Up at 6:30 but we went down and got breakfast in the lobby. We weren't in any hurry to leave so just has a nice quiet breakfast. Filled up with gas, and Jay got a coffee at a coffee bar and we headed out. It had gotten chilly overnight and the wind was picking up. It actually felt like fall.

Note From Jay: This was the day that Gail discovered Cafe Americano... That would be 2-3 shots of espresso in hot water with cream. Yum! Jay learned about this drink (which indeed does provide quite the caffeine buzz) from his friend Bill Brown at the hospital. The hospital coffee bar refers to the drink as a Billacanno! In any case, Gail drank half of my coffee!

We stopped in a place called Deer Lodge because I needed to find a rest room. What a nice little town. Everyone so friendly and nice. We chatted with a couple of people and were there about a half hour before we headed out.

Then we got into the mountains!! Up, down, curves........makes a flatlander a little overwhelmed. The weather was good so we managed. The mountains are truly beautiful. It was very hazy in the western part of the state and as we got closer to it, realized that it was smoke. It wasn't until the next day in Seattle that we found out that it was a forest fire to the south of us.

Uh oh!!! Then end of our audio book The Time Travelers Wife is not there. We are very distressed. We checked in a book store and still have about 100 pages left. Guess we'll have to wait until we get home.

We made good time and stopped pretty frequently. We seem to be on a Dairy Queen kick and have stopped the last couple of days for ice cream.

We got into Seattle right at rush hour. We found the hotel without any problems although we did sit in traffic for quite a while.

Got a shuttle to a mall after we got settled. I needed Shampoo and panty hose and we had supper in the food court. No high speed internet so it was back to dialup and bed early. This hotel has NO choices of TV channels. Glad we aren't staying here to long.

We are leaving our truck in their parking lot and we're going to take a shuttle to the ship tomorrow so that is a nice feeling that we don't ahve to worry about that.

Early to bed!!

September 10, 2005

Setting Sail

Happy Birthday, Jay

Up early, raining when we get up. We're thinking of doing laundry but decide against it. Just kind of hung out in the hotel until it was time to get the shuttle. The shuttle was very crowded and he almost didn't get all the luggage in.We ended up getting stuck in a traffic jam a couple of miles before we got the the ship. In fact we moved about a quarter mile in 25 minutes. Finally we got to the terminal and got our suitcases unloaded. It was crowded in the terminal as we waiting in a Disneyworld type line to get into Express Check out.

Finally we get on board and find out stateroom. Its very small but efficient. We have enough room to unpack all our stuff and put it on shelves and hangers and even room to store our suitcases. We had to go out on the balcony and check things out. Finally Marie and Dick boarded and we got to spend a little time with them.

Express Line at the Pier	The Diamond Princess

The first thing they did before we left the dock was to have a fire/emergency drill. They sounded an alarm and we all grabbed our lifejackets and headed for our muster station. I can't even imagine how horrible it would be if we really did have an emergency and had to get 3000 people on the verge of panic to a safety station. I hope we don't have to worry about that.

As we cast off, Marie reminded me that I should probably just put scopolomine patch on. So I did. As we made our way thru the Sounds, the water was clear as a mirror. We got out to sea sometime in the late evening and started feeling the motion of the ship. I'm not sure if the patch is helping or not but I'm not having any problems with the motion.

Leaving Seattle	Coast Guard escort

We spent a lot of time wandering around the ship and seeing what they have. Lots of boutiques and lounges. We went up to the top deck and had a nice lunch.

After all the wandering around then we went out on deck at the front of the ship to take pictures of the sunset. We got some fantastic pictures and also met a nice couple from Houston who were out there getting pictures of the sunset. I'll be sending them some of ours as they ran out of film. It was nice to find some people who appreciated the sky like we do.

I think we are getting the hang of the ship and how it operates. We had a late dinner and have learned that we need to make reservations a little earlier in the day for the dining room that we want.

The food that we've eaten has been very good and the crew has been very nice.

We turned in early and slept good. In the middle of the night the ship started rocking a little more. We are out at sea.

Sunset on the pacific	Spectacular sunset
Sunset	Gail and Jay at Sunset

September 11, 2005

At Sea

I slept good last night. We could feell the motion in the ship. The ocean was fairly calm most of the day but toward evening....it was a little rougher, I was off balance nost of the day. No nausea or headache but just a little unsteady.

I slept until 8, Jay got up at 7 and went down and did some laundry. We were happy to see the laundry facilites as we weren't sure if we could go 10 days without doing it.

We went up to Deck 14 for breakfast. A buffet that had so many different kinds of food that I could hardly pick what I wanted. And it was all delicious.

After breakfast we went out on our balcony for a while and actually Jay saw some whale spout but we never got the see the whale.

Then down to the promanade and we wandered around down there. Found our embarkation photos which weren't bad but we will probably wait and see how the formal pictures come out.

We went to a talk on Alaska. The gentleman that gave the talk had spent two years on one of the island off the Alaskan coast He was very interesting and we enjoyed his stories but we weren't crazy about his speaking style. The inflections in his voice got very annoying.

Time for a walk on the deck outside. The wind was howling and of course the ship was rocking a bit so it was not quite a leisurely stroll but we enjoyed it.

After we got back inside, we spent about 10 minutes at the internet cafe. At 35c/minute we didn't stay on long, just enough time to check our email and send off a couple of emails.

Met up with Marie and Dick, firmed up our plans for dinner that night and had some lunch in one of the dining room. We ended up sharing a table with another couple and had a nice time chatting with them.

The Pacific	Looking down from the top of the Promenade

After lunch we all split up and went and did different things. Jay and I went to a ballroom dance class in the Wheelhouse lounge. I was not sure that I would enjoy it but it was a lot of fun. They are doing classes all week so we'll see if we can catch a couple more.

We also went to a Martini demonstration which was a lot of fun. They showed us how to make all thesedifferent martinis. Then they had people come out from the audience and shake up the drinks before they were poured. It was hilarious. We got to try a couple of them. I have toadmit that the Very Berry one was quite good.

Martini demo	Gail and a Margariti	First Formal Night

Before we went upstairs to get ready for our formal dinner, we grabbed our books and sat in one of the lounges and read for a while.

Our formal dinner was tonight and as always, I feel like a fraud in my evening clothes. I think I looked ok and Jay looked very handsome in his suit and tie. I don't get to see him dressed up that often.

We had formal pictures taken before we went into supper. The meal was good and we enjoyed the company. We sat there for almost 3 hours just chatting. Then we all wandered around the promanade again and got formal pictures retaken and also got one of the 4 of us which was great.

Jay wanted to go to some shows but I was very tired again and we just went back to the cabin. No TV last night, there was no satellite signal. So we were in bed about 10:30. We had to set our clocks back another hour before we went to bed. So now we are 3 hours behind home and 4 hours behind eastern time.

September 12, 2004

Juneau

The ship was rocking and rolling last night when we went to bed but this morning it was smooth as glass, sometime during the night we had entered the Inside Passage. Opening the curtains this morning , we

were greeted with our first glimpse of Alaska. Hazy mountains which snow on the top of some of them. We are on the port <left> side of the ship and since we are traveling north, we are looking at islands. We were told yesterday that the best time to see whales is in the early morning. So I think I'm going to get dressed and go and find someplace to wander around and looking for whales.

Found Jay on the upper deck, reading and having coffee. He had seen a couple of dolphins swimming beside us and had to tell me all about it. He couldn't get a picture though so was a little disappointed. We went down to the internet cafe for a couple of minutes and then found our formal pictures. They turned out pretty well. I was pleased. We'll probably buy a couple of them but not until Friday.

Coming into Juneau	Juneau

As we were walking toward our ballroom dance class, I saw a black fin break the water in the distance beside us. Orca's!!! So we headed out on deck and watched as fin after black fin broke the water. They didn't make huge jumps into the air but enough so we could see them. Unfortunately we were not able to get close enough to get any decent pictures...but it was a thrill anyway.

Ballroom dance was fun this morning, we couldn't get the last step but had fun trying anyway. After we finished with that we could see we were pulling into Juneau so went up on deck to watch the docking. Had lunch and then left the ship.

Interesting procedure. You have to check out with your badge and then coming back on board you had to check back in with the badge and go thru a security screening.

But I digress. We walked into Juneau and visited some of the souvenier shops. Most of them are 50% off all merchandise. We are the second to last ships that will arrive here for this season and they want to get rid of as much as they can so they don't have to cart it back to whereever they came from.

State Museum of Alaska	Seal at Salmon Hatchery

At 2 we headed back to the pier to get our tour. We got on the bus and the first stop was at the State of Alaska museum. Interesting history about the state and the culture. Painting and native american artifacts and a little history of the state and it's Russian heritage. Plus the gold rush. Interesting stuff. We were there only about 45 minutes and then we were on to the salmon hatchery. The spawning season is almost over but there were still some fish trying to climb up the ladder to spawn. Where the fish were, there were preditors. We saw 2 seals near the ladder and there was a bald eagle in the trees across the street from the hatchery. We got some good pictures of the seals but the eagle was just to far away. We spent some time in the hatchery, then back on the bus to go to Mendenhall glacier.

All I can say about that is WOW. Our first glimpse of the glacier was breathtaking. I'm not sure what I expected but it was not this HUGE chunk of blue ice sitting between 2 mountains with a large waterfall right beside it and a lake in front of it. Words can't describe it.

The lake water is grey from the rock dust that floats down into it from the glacier that grinds the rock into dust. There were also blue chuncks of ice floating on the lake.

Mendenhall Glacier	Mendenhall Glacier and waterfalls

We went up to the visitors center and saw a movie about the glacier. The glacier is receding at 300 feet a year and in the 1950s where the Visitors center is was under the glacier. The ice of a glacier is blue because it absorbs all colors except for blue. Therefore there is definitely a blue tinge to the ice.

We walked down to the edge of the lake and took some pictures down there. It was quite an experience and one that we won't forget.

Apparently there was a bear wandering around a few minutes before we got there but we never saw him/her so that was just as well I guess. Lots of wildlife in our first day ashore.

Then we went to Green Angel Gardens for a look at the native plant life in the area. This part of Alaska is the rain forest part and it rains a lot. 277 cloudy days a year and 240 of those days have rain and snow. Itdid start raining almost as soon as we got started on our tour. But it wasn't too cold so I was fine with it.

We had tea and muffins after we finished the walk and we were hungry and chilly so it all tasted good.

Gail and Jay at Mendenhall Glacier	Our ship at Dusk <Juneau>

Then back to Juneau for a little shopping before we came back on the ship. We had a late supper and we will be getting up very early tomorrow for a helicopter tour to one of the glaciers where we'll actually get to walk on the glacier. We'll be in Skagway tomorrow for a whole day.

Onward to Skaguay

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