Photos from our most recent trip:
We had a blast eating and drinking our way through the city. We never ate the same kind of food twice since there is so much to choose from! Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, English, American, Italian, etc! We even went to see how they make fortune cookies. On our last day we took a hike down to Marshall Beach for some spectacular views of the Golden Gate right before it got completely socked in by fog. Lots of cable car rides completed this fun filled weekend.
We are so incredibly excited not only to be having our first year anniversary in Las Vegas, Nevada (An-Nevada-Versary, or An-Nevada-Vegasry style as Monica calls it), but also, we planned enough ahead to get an awesome room (hopefully with free upgrade for Gold member status) at the new Autograph Collection Marriott Cosmopolitain in the new city center on the strip. This place looks awesome – plush seating on a big balcony – views of the strip – and probably kick ass food to go along with it all. Have I said how much we LOVE Marriott!? And thank you to everyone who made this all possible by adding to our Marriott registry last year. We couldn’t do as much traveling as we have if it were not for your generosity.
Images from https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lasco-the-cosmopolitan-of-las-vegas-autograph-collection/
Finally! I’ve created our guest book. Sadly, I think one or two people did not get a silhouette – for shame! Anyway, here is the link:
http://www.jmporders.com/Albums/Jenn-and-Jeff/Silhouettes/
Room service for breakfast today, followed by the hot tub and a trip to the spa for our free couples treatment. I found it very relaxing and it left my skin feeling smooth and exfoliated – Jeff’s too, although he was a bit too out of his element to be relaxed. We were both able to take a relaxing nap afterward though, so not too shabby. Last day on the ship is sad – but lots to do to get ready for tomorrow’s early departure. Nothing terribly exciting – had to pack of course and I can’t believe how much clothing fits in my suitcase. It’s sort of ridiculous that I have 50 pounds of clothing. Half of which, btw, I haven’t even used. Next time I’ll plan better – but I say that every time. We finally made it to some shows today (well we did see the love and marriage and battle of the sexes shows before) – tonight was the farewell show. It was so so – a little random. Dinner was yummy and it was good to see (almost) everyone one more time. We Californians are looking forward to a get together to share photos and I am very much looking forward to keeping in touch with our new Oklahoma friends: Patsy, Ronny, Carolyn and Fred. I’m glad we made some probably lasting connections this cruise. Well done. =)
Pix of us and some other stuff:
No real plans today – we were lucky to sleep in till about 9am. After breakfast we took a camera free walk along Front Street to all the touristy shops looking for a trinket that Jeff could buy. After going back on the ship for lunch, we headed back out to catch a glimpse of the nature side of Ketchikan. A nice 2 mile or so walk along the creek and down to the marina made my day. We saw how filled with Salmon the creek was – incredible! And came across a giant ugly mosquito as well. Stopped in some of the more local shops and got a couple last items to take home.
Got back to the ship early and finally got to spend some time with Spanky and Denise! Kept busy till dinner where we were fed lobster. Why there is no picture of it is beyond me – too busy I guess. Between the 10 of us at the table, 20 lobster tails were devoured! Suffice it to say, we were full after that. Tomorrow is a bit more sleeping in – day at sea.
Photos of our walk around town and the ship:
EARLY rise this morning. Got in line for the tender to shore at 6:30 and we were on shore in the rain by 7:10. After a thorough soak, we got in the Misty Bay Lodge van and took a 10 minute ride to the house to check in for our whale watching expedition with Captain Dan! It’s a cute little place, the Misty Bay Lodge, I would definitely stay there if we were to trek back up to Alaska via other means of transportation . Hope, Dan’s wife, checked us in and was a total sweetie. We boarded our little boat built for no more than 7 (only 5 of us sailed) and held on for dear life through the rough seas before stopping near the coast and happening upon a sleeping humpback. They just float! Kinda odd. I was enamored by that when Dan decided to take us for a ride. “Why are we leaving the whale” I thought – but I guess he had more excitement than sleeping ones in mind. After an hour we arrived at Adolphus Point, a well-known spot for whales to kick back. There were other boats out there too – most were polite but some sped around and scared the whales away, which was too bad. One speedy boat sort of helped us out though. Dan shut off the engine when we got where he wanted, and we could see blow spouts in the distance. The whales then made a turn away from some other boats and right toward us! Bobbing along with the current we got right in their path, but the engines being off kept them from getting spooked so they literally came within 5 feet of the boat! Jeff was like a kid in a candy shop – and I hope we can hear his voice on film “Oh my gosh oh my gosh, look at that! OH – MY – GOSH” Definitely better than a singular sleeping humpback was this pod of 7 or 8. One looked up at us, communicated to his peeps, and they dove under us and appeared again minutes later in the distance. Definitely well worth the money and time spent.
Back at the lodge, Elise and Jeff stayed for fish and chips while Bruce and I went back to the ship. I went back out in hopes of finding my party but just missed them and hung out by myself in the rain. It was still nice out though. I like Alaska weather.
Played some trivia tonight and went back to our room to find a surprise of Champagne and strawberries. Long long day, very worn out.
Here are the photos:
Today was jam-packed for sure! We woke up early to be off the ship before 8am and to our first adventure, the White Pass Railway on a 3 hour long ride up to Canada and back. Seeing the mountain up close and the raging water from high above was something special. Tim and Beth were our tour guides and gave us lots of information about the many things we were curious about. We took the train from sea level to nearly 3,000 feet! To step out on the windy platform and look down was quite a rush.
And RUSH was the theme of the day for sure. The gold rush affected Skagway in 1898 when people from all over came in by boat and ship to then take a nearly 600 mile journey to the Yukon. No gold was actually ever found in Skagway, but it was famous. We passed a spot where they actually dredge for gold and now tourists can pan for tiny flakes, but we didn’t do that, we went straight on to a canopy covered rain forest to ride a series of zip lines. What fun!
That started with some warm up on a 20ft high teeter-tottery bridge, followed by a one zip after another that got progressively higher and longer. I did some upside down, backwards, sideways and rotating. More pix and video of all of that will come soon!
Here are some shots:
Water and Salmon and Bears, oh my! That’s right – we saw BEARS today! Soooo excited about that one. First one we saw was behind some brush but looked right at us. Second one was being boring and sleeping in as tree, but the third one ran right past me about 10 feet away. Woah!
Glad we just went where the wind took us today. We had absolutely nothing planned when we stepped off the ship, but caught an express bus to Mendenhall and took a gorgeous hike to Nugget Fall. Spend a good 2 hours looking around then went back toward the stream where we got dropped off and bears just seemed to be all over. They are totally unpredictable but I could see myself coming up here again and just camping out waiting for that perfect shot.
Came back and ate yummy hot dogs for lunch and then back out for some good old touristy shopping. Will post pictures a bit later.
—update: here are the photos. Spent the rest of the day chilling out on the boat and went to our welcome back cocktail hour where Gulsom once again made sure we never had to wait to drink more champagne. She’s great!
Pix of the morning / afternoon:
Woke up early this morning and I went to a massage and facial. That was supremely relaxing. Jeff wrote for the blog while I did that – though we have yet to get online (obviously if this is posted we will have been online). Following that was bingo. Jeff got to be the commissioner and won a Ringo the Bingo Seal stuffed animal which is akin to a rally monkey I guess. They want us to bring it back to every game we play, and if we do, we get an extra jackpot bingo play. Well that was all we won for those four games, but we will go back again for sure. After meeting up with people, relaxing a bit, and having lunch, we went to a napkin folding class (so cool!) and then it was time for the Hubbard Glacier. This thing is massive, and we stood outside for a good hour plus just looking at it. As we got closer, we saw seals lying on icebergs and swimming, but we wanted to see some major calving action – that’s when the ice falls off the side of the glacier. Well lucky for us, a couple big chunks did fall. Missed the first one but caught the massive wave it created, and got great documentation of the next huge chunk slamming into the water. Hung out with the group after that – sipped some wine and chatted – then formal dinner was a riot of laughter and stories shared between us 6 and the other family of 4 at our table. Patsy, Ronnie, Carolyn and Fred are fun people and our wait staff is hilarious. I showed off my new learned napkin skill and Deb and Nengah showed us some more. Another waited, from Jamaica, sung a wonderfully funny song to us, and we all left the dining room full and in hysterics. Next up is Juneau and the Mendenhall Glacier. Ice, waterfalls, salmon, and bears are all to be seen! Pictures from today here:
After our long and relaxing morning Jenn and I left the Courtyard Marriott and went to the Anchorage Airport to meet our shuttle bus that would take us to Seward, where the cruise ship was docked. The scheduled time of the pickup was 1pm. Jenn and I were there at 12:30 to be sure we didn’t miss it. 1pm came and went, 2 pm the same. I called at exactly 2pm to see where the bus was, the guy on the other side of the phone said to be patient he was sure the bus was around the corner. I waited another 20 minutes before calling again and getting a different person who said the same thing. She said he had some drop offs that were very far out of the normal area and that took longer. Well the bus arrived at 2:30pm and when the group of us asked where he was and why it took so long he said, “I know, I have been getting a lot of calls.” He didn’t apologize or say sorry or give a reason why he was late, just that he got a ton of calls. According to my confirmation email, gratuities are not included in the price of the ticket, yeah and they will stay not included.
The trip took us just shy of 3 hours to get from Anchorage to Seward. Once at the docks we went right through the ticketing line and were on the ship in less than 5 minutes. We went to go look for Denise and Spanky and found them in their rooms on the deck above ours. Folloing a short hi and hello, Jenn and I went to explore the ship. We climbed the rock wall and had the drink of the day, Summer Breeze. It was a good drink that I wish I could have tons more of, but on cruise ships, all alcohol costs $.
That night the 6 of us, Denise, Spanky, Elise, Bruce, Jenn and I had a lovely dinner in the main dining hall here and then retired to our cabins for some much needed rest. It has been a wild trip to get us to the cruise but we are happy to be on it. I am sending this post to you from the internet café here on board, and then plan to go check out the shops while I wait for Jenn to get done with her massage and facial.
Til next time – Photos: