Juneau

Jim aboard The Spirit
Melva in the stateroom
Melva under the Carnival Spirit sign
College Fjord
traveling directly north
We are off the ship for a time. We arrived in Juneau early this morning. When we got up, around a.m. we were docked.

The night was a bit rough. As we went north, out of Sitka and into the entrance to Icy Straight and on north to Juneau, the Gulf of Alaska was rough, but the channels were fine. I got up around 3:00 a.m. to watch as we went through the Straight.

I am presently sitting in Heritage Coffee House in Juneau. They have free internet, so I am able to post. The ship's internet is EXPENSIVE!! The first post I made, just logging in and making the quick post, and checking email cost over $20, so I decided to find a free place. The library is closed, so I found this place. If you are ever in Juneau, the Coffee Mocha is great and the internet free.

We will be in Juneau until 10:30 tonight. Then we will push off for Skagway. We will be having a barbecue at the home of Don and Betty Hather, good friends of ours from our Tok, AK days. Don was the wrestling coach and PE teacher, and one of the best friends we had the whole time we were in Alaska. Hopefully we are eating barbecued Salmon. He has the best recipe for it I have ever eaten.

Food on the ship is endless. They have great food and many restaurants to eat at. You just go in and order what you want. No bill to sign or pay.

The steward visits our room at least twice a day, so Melva loves that! Speaking of Melva, she is off getting more "free" stuff from the shops. Coupons we are given on the boat.

If you read my blog, please respond, I would love to know who is out there who might be reading this.

Wow! What a trip across the Gulf of Alaska! The winds reached nearly 50 MPH in gusts! As a result, the wave troughs were 10-20 feet, and the boat rocked and rolled. The captain slowed the ship down to about 15-18 knots, so it took us longer than scheduled. I must admit that I got a little nauseous.

When we left Whittier we sailed due north in College Fjord to view several glaciers, all named after colleges; Harvard, Yale and others. It was spectacular! I got up at 4:15 a.m. so that I could take them all in. We stopped a short distance from the glaciers for one hour so that everyone who wanted to could view them and take pictures.

The ship then retraced our route through Port Wells and Wells Passage into Prince William Sound. When we hit Prince William Sound, we traveled across the sound and out the Hitchinbrook Entrance into the Gulf of Alaska. Draw a straight line from there to Sitka Sound and you would have our route.

As we traveled across the Gulf of Alaska we were attending a song and dance revue by the entertainment group. I was struggling, as the room was swaying back and forth. I don’t know why the entertainers weren’t bothered by it, but they didn’t appear to be.

We arrived in Sitka Sound Friday, June 27th at about 8:00 a.m. Since this is a shallow water harbor, the captain anchored the ship out about ½ mile from the town and we were shuttled in by the lifeboats, 125 persons at a time. It took a long time.

Sitka is a beautiful town. We shopped. I bought a large map of Alaska so that I could follow our route, and I also bought a hat and Melva and I bought Alaska coats. We also took photos which I will include. But, most important, Melva collected a “free” charm for her charm bracelet. We returned to the boat about 1:00 p.m. and had lunch. Melva is sitting in the lobby doing some woman things, and I am in the stateroom typing this blog.

June 26, 2008

June 26, 2008

It’s really my parents fault I travel so much. Before I was conceived they couldn’t wait to get out of the Great Plains region of America. In the late 1930’s they hitchhiked from Western Nebraska to Seattle, Washington, working in different harvests as they went. When they reached Seattle, it was too wet for them, so they went south. Therefore my sisters and I were born in or around Los Angeles, California. But, we only stayed a short time. In 1942 our family moved to Oregon where we lived in the Willamette Valley most of my life.

My own particular travels began early in my marriage, though we traveled with my parents and sisters, camping, fishing and visiting relatives when I was a child. My wife, children and I have camped in a tent, tent trailer, a small camping trailer, gradually moving up in size, until the present. Now my wife of 50 years and I travel in a 1995 Dodge Dually with a Cummins diesel engine and a 34 foot Alfa 5th wheel trailer tied on behind. We spend winters in southern California or Arizona. As members of Thousand Trails Campgrounds, our options are numerous.

With travels to England, France, Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy in Europe, as well as Canada and Mexico on the North American Continent and Guatemala in Central America, we have seen many wonderful places. Living in Alaska for 14 years privileged us to see much of the north lands.

As we neared our 50th wedding anniversary, our wonderful daughter, Charity and her husband Craig, along with our son Tim and his wife Denise, who live in Madras, Oregon decided they needed to do something special for us. Therefore, they provided a Continental Airlines flight to Anchorage, Alaska where we spent 10 days with our daughter, her husband and two sons, in Wasilla, Alaska. The second part of our journey is a Carnival cruise from Whittier, Alaska to Vancouver, BC where we will be shuttled to Sea-Tac airport, retrieve our pick up, and return to Madras, Oregon where we presently reside.

On the agenda is four days camping at Thousand Trails Bend/Sunriver campground, followed August 4th with a two week working trip to Monjas, Guatemala.

After Christmas of 2008 we will be heading for Baja California to spend a couple of months in the sunshine, warm after all of our years in Alaska.

This morning we have been cruising College Fjord on the 959 foot Spirit, weighing in at approximately 86,000 gross tons with a crew of about 500 and 2000+ clients. Our cruising speed is approximately 22 knots and we are headed to Sitka where we will dock Friday, June 27th.

It is 10:00 a.m. We are in Prince William Sound, and have just completed a boat evacuation drill.