Notable Times: July 2016

We have wonderful friends in our neighborhood, and we had talked about doing an Alaskan cruise together for a few years, which was something Linette had always wanted to do, too. We suspected this would be a busy summer, but then we didn't think Italy was going to happen so when the neighborhood group decided to go this year, we went ahead and booked the cruise, since it was now or never. Then Italy happened after all (which, again, was either this summer with the Kartchners or not at all), so we followed our family motto: "Do it all!" (Fortunately, we had been saving up for these things for some time).

So it was that on Friday, July 29, after getting back from my young men's high adventure camp two days before, we headed out on our next adventure--this time, to Alaska, "The Last Frontier!"

We traveled to the airport with our friends Steven and Melissa Elmes. It turns out that Steven is taller than Linette.

We arrived in Seattle, where the Elmes went to spend the night with some family.

Linette and I spent the night at the home of my old college roommate Layne Virgin and his wife Denise. We were long overdue for a good visit, and it was really fun catching up with them.

They showed us around Enumclaw, and I took a picture at the post office in honor of my dad.

Then they treated us to an amazing barbeque, featuring Layne's super-secret family recipe barbeque sauce. We also had fun talking with their daughter Lyndee and saying hey to their son Nathan.

The next morning, Layne and Denise drove us to the Amtrak station, and told us to be sure to get seats on the left-hand side, so we would have a nice view. Melissa asked the ticket guy for that, and he said he'd take care of us. Sure enough, while everyone else had forward-facing seats, we were at a table where we could get the board games going before we even got on the ship!

After we arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, we knew we were in Canada because of the geese.

Canadian Goose

With that, we dropped off our luggage and boarded the ship.

Meanwhile, our friends Rob and Melissa Lym had been biking around Vancouver.

And our friends, Steve and Andra Duke, were already on board, admiring their big deck.

On the way onto the ship, we could see stacks of food being loaded on board. We did our best to make a serious dent in the supply.

Finally, our other friends Mike and Melissa flew into Vancouver that morning and we bumped into each other in line. Soon we were all aboard and hitting the buffet.

Rob & Melissa Lym; Mike & Melissa Childs; Randy & Linette Wilson; Andra & Steve Duke; Melissa & Steven Elmes

We all had to endure muster training, just in case.

Then it was time to explore the ship. Apparently this area is called "The Sanctuary."

Pious travelers at The Sanctuary

As the ship pulled away, we could see the skyline of Vancouver, and the beginnings of the forested mountains. I thought it was awesome that there was a Chevron station on an island for the boats.

Vancouver, B.C., Canada

It was pretty windy at the front of the ship, but it was fun to be up there and see where we were going. I didn't realize until after I saw Steve Duke's pictures that we went under that bridge.

And with that, we headed up the coast towards Alaska.

And here is the whole group, with the sun on our faces.

Rob & Melissa Lym, Randy & Linette Wilson, Steven & Melissa Elmes, Melissa & Mike Childs, Andra & Steve Duke

We had 2 Steves and 3 Melissas in our group.

And out of several backlit shots, here's the one with the least hair in everyone's face.

I was a bit scruffy still from my hike. Since we were headed for rugged country, I decided to just go with it.

One of the cool things about the Alaskan cruise is that we were almost always between two bodies of land, so you had an almost continuous stream of beautiful views of mountains and forest, in addition to the water itself. And since we weren't on the open seas, the water was very smooth, which made it so sea sickness wasn't a problem.

I never thought the $7/day drink add-on was worth it, when it was just sodas. But on this cruise it also included the non-alcoholic specialty drinks as well as milk shakes and ice cream. So I decided to go for it, and then made it my goal to get my money's worth every single day. I also kept inventing new concoctions, like virgin piña colada with pomegranate.

At dinner that first night, Rob started a line of conversation that turned very embarrassing for poor Steve Duke.

Rob even turned a bit red.

That evening as I explored the ship and basked in the sunset, I caught this scene.

Deck 7 was pretty close to the water, so it was fun to walk along there and watch the water and the shore slide by.

Sunday morning, Linette and I sat in on the interdenominational church service, led by our captain, who was from La Spezia, Italy, where we had gone to church a month before. We had fun talking to a couple from Texas that was sitting in front of us.

About that time, we crossed over from Canadian waters into Alaskan waters. Some people from Canada had been onboard to guide us through their waters, so they hopped onto a little boat that came to pick them up and sailed away.

We also gathered on the Duke's balcony to have a gospel discussion, led by Rob Lym.

Then we spent a relaxing afternoon playing games and enjoying each others' company.

That night was Formal Night. Everyone looked snazzy.

Steve & Andra Duke

Melissa & Rob Lym

Melissa & Mike Childs

Melissa & Steven Elmes

Randy & Linette Wilson

Formal Night

That evening there was a performance called "Strings on Fire" by three gals from Ukraine.

When it was over, we took a stroll to the front of the ship.

And there we watched a show called "British Invasion" with music that had come from the UK to the USA.

And then some of us stayed up late and played "Hand and Foot". When Linette drew the whole stack, she looked like she had just looted a pirate ship.

Mwah-ha-haaaaaa!!!

Ketchikan, Alaska

On Monday, August 1, 2016, we awoke in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was adorable.

Much of the town between the hill and the shore was actually built on stilts, because there wasn't enough room for everything otherwise.

Mike and Melissa Childs went on a fishing excursion, where they caught their limit of trout, and had that and another couple's haul prepared, frozen and shipped home, where they could eat it over the coming months.

They apparently saw some sea lions and bald eagles while they were out there.

Sea lions peeking above the surface

Bald eagle caught in flight

Meanwhile, the rest of the group headed out to go kayaking at Eagle Island (speaking of eagles).

I thought this was hilarious.

Later I learned that they were exaggerating. Alaska is really only 2 times as big as Texas (and 8 times as big as Utah). It's still huge, though.

We had a few minutes to wander Ketchikan before kayaking.

Apparently the river at Creek Street is at times teeming with so many fish you can almost "walk across the creek without getting wet."

We weren't sure how this held together, but whatever.

Then it was time to go on our kayaking excursion. This gal grew up in Ketchikan, and she told us, "Ketchikan is a drinking town with a fishing problem."

When we got to the kayaking place, some people were doing zip lining in the tops of the trees.

Andra and Melissa opted for the drip guards, which we all thought were very attractive.

And here Steve Duke sports his awesome life preserver.

It was a nice day for a kayak ride, which was great, since it is typically one of the rainiest cities in the world.

Getting ready to board...

One of our guides is a native of Ketchikan and lives there year-round. (The other was from Montana and just comes up for the summers).

Here's a picture of Melissa Elmes without a paddle yet. Turns out she didn't really need one, as Steven took care of the paddling.

The kayaks had a little rudder controlled with foot pedals. I wasn't used to those, so sometimes I forgot to work them.

Once we were all in the water, we headed out of the harbor and along the shore.

Here's a starfish just under the water. The tide varies by something like 20 feet here.

Around the first bend we got a nice, close-up view of a bald eagle in a tree.

Melissa was pretty blatant about not paddling. Fortunately, Steven is a stud and had no problem powering their kayak.

Eagle Island is officially called "Signal Island," but got its nick-name because of the eagle nest. The guides told us that you could tell where the eagles hung out because of the flat tops of the trees. You can also just see an eagle's nest on the third of four main trees in this picture.

Here is our guide from Montana, navigating a gap between the rocks.

Linette said to Melissa Elmes, "My hands are starting to hurt, are yours?"

Melissa looked down and said, "Actually, mine are fine!" (She hadn't paddled the whole time). We all laughed when Linette realized that she had asked the wrong person.

We kayaked for about two hours, which was enough to have our fun and just start to get tired. It was a beautiful day and a fun outing.

No, Linette, don't eat random berries from bushes! (I wonder if my mom knows what those berries are?)

The forests in Alaska were thick and lush.

We got one last group shot with our Montana guide before heading back to the ship.

It was a little chillier than we expected, so Linette picked up an Alaska coat.

Pretty much every day I had pizza, a milk shake, ice cream and french fries for lunch when we were on the ship. Just to tide me over until dinner. They had different flavors of ice cream each day. Their worst was "cheese". Yep, grated cheddar cheese in vanilla ice cream. Yuck. But most flavors were great.

It was fun to see all the homes, boats and industries along the shore as we pulled away from Ketchikan.

Ketchikan, Alaska

I'd still like to fly in a float plane someday. It was fun to watch them fly over and land in the water.

Float plane over Ketchikan

Industry in Ketchikan

Once out of Ketchikan, we still had lots to see on both sides of the ship.

I loved the cabin on the cute little island.

Steve Duke took about as many pictures as I did, which is really saying something. (The combined group had 3200 pictures, which took me weeks to go through. I thinned it down to 1900 without sacrificing anything notable. This write-up contains a couple of hundred.)

Part of the fun was watching the nice scenes glide by.

Our ship had a unique observation deck that was fairly low to the water, which was an especially good place to go for looking for whales and watching glaciers later.

We had a free "specialty dining" dinner that night that was included as part of the deal with our cruise. It was very tasty, but took forever. It took an hour and a half before the appetizers came. I got antsy and went on a walkabout to take a few pictures while we waited for food to come.