Victoria, British Columbia and Astoria, Oregon

We're right now headed down the Oregon/California Coasts toward San Francisco. It's our last day aboard the Celebrity Century. The trip has passed by so quickly, which I suppose means it was a good vacation. But you need a recap of the past couple of days before I sign off.

On Saturday, we docked in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada which is a lovely city. We started the day with an excursion to the Butchart Gardens. These gardens were created by the Butchart family out of their quarry and are absolutely gorgeous. The picture that starts this post is of the sunken garden, one of the first gardens we came upon. There was also the rose garden, the Japanese garden, the Italian garden, and large areas of flowers and plants to just stroll among. It really is one of the prettiest places I've ever been. If you find yourself at the farthest western edge of Canada, I recommend a visit.

We wandered around Victoria's downtown which is a lovely city. It's quite English in many ways and a very friendly city. We only ate a light lunch (at a diner/bakery that harkened back to an era about 50 years earlier) because in the afternoon we had reservations for high tea at the Empress Hotel, a place that is as grand as it sounds. It sits right across from the harbor (or harbour as they would spell it) and the tea is very high. We each had a pot of tea, of course, along with a tray of goodies that were very tasty, starting with little sandwiches, sequeing to scones, and finally ending up with sweets. It was a splendid way to spend an afternoon.

On Sunday, we docked in Astoria, Oregon. Astoria sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, the border between Oregon and Washington. It's not a really big town but is the oldest European settlement on the US west coast, founded in 1811. Lewis and Clark spent the winter here and departed for their return journey the following spring. Early on, Astoria was a fur trading post. But it grew when it became a salmon processing center at the end of the 19th century. A couple who owns a home that was built in 1890 but someone who made their fortune in the salmon industry opens their home for free. All you have to do to see the house is climb the hill, which is exactly what we did. It was a very nice home that one of the owners toured us through. Following lunch at a local restaurant, Allen & I took a bus up the hill to the Astoria Column, a tall column (just as it's named) commemorating the history of Astoria. The views from the top. You can climb the 164 steps to the top of the column, though we chose not to do so. It was a very warm and sunny day which led to nice views but didn't induce us to make the trek to the top.

In the evening, we attended the entertainment performance of Reva Rice, a Broadway/Las Vegas performer who gave a very spirited show that included her roller skating on the stage of a ship.  Very brave indeed! But a great evening. After the show, if you remember, we were being treated to a meal in the "specialty restaurant" onboard, the Murano. The food and service there is extraordinary and we truly enjoyed our meal. I had lobster tale, which was prepared at the table. It was delicious. It was a special evening at a venue that usually costs quite a bit extra.  (If you recall, we were being treated to this experience because of the leak in our ceiling.)

Today is indeed our last day on the ship. So we'll have to fit everything in that we haven't done yet, which really isn't much. There has been a wonderful series of science lectures by a presenter whose name is Milos. He really brings science to life in a humorous way. He's presented on aquatic mammals, Alaskan wildlife, the night sky, as well as other topics. Today his lecture in on the weather. I'm sure he'll make it quite interesting. And tonight is a final performance by the ship's own singers and dancers. It should be fun.

As a sort of farewell, at least to Oregon, since we're just about to cross the border into California, we've been watching a pod of whales frolicking off our starboard. These are the first whales I've seen on this trip. Some of them have been quite close to the ship. Others, we only see the spouts off in the distance. But they've been surfacing and diving and splashing their tails. It's really been quite a show.

Well, we are packed and ready for disembarkation, at least in that way, which happens early tomorrow morning. Then it's back to real life.  But what a wonderful experience this has been. We've seen and done a lot over the 12 days of this trip and are really looking forward to our next adventure.

Skagway

I've just come from a sushi making demonstration. Informative but probably not very useful in my life. But then, what else are vacations all about? Not doing useful things, right? They have a sushi station every evening in the buffet cafe. I've availed myself of it once so far. Maybe, after my new knowledge, I'll have to try it again. But we're a divided family. I love sushi...Allen, not so much, or really not at all. Oh well.

Yesterday was probably our most adventurous day. We arrived in Skagway, AK early in the morning. Allen and I had an excursion booked so we were up early and off the ship fairly quickly. Skagway sits at the top of the Inside Passage. It's on the mainland and not on an island. Thus you can actually drive to it, if you so desired. 

Our excursion for the day was a train ride up through the White Pass. The train line was built over a century ago to transport gold seekers to the mine fields in the Yukon during the gold rush up here. Prior to the train line, there was a very treacherous path up the mountains. Each miner was required to have 2,000 pounds of equipment and supplies. Most of them had one horse to carry all this. Naturally one horse and one miner couldn't carry that much weight all at once. So they would make the trip in 1 mile increments, loading up the horse, carrying the supplies the one mile and then unloading and turning around to get the next load. It sounds arduous and long. Especially since it's 110 miles to the town of Whitehorse in the Yukon. And of course, you had to worry about other miners stealing your supplies as you left them to go get the next load.

The train ride was lovely. We had spectacular views of valleys and cliffs and waterfalls and mountaintops. There was a guide on the train who told us of the history of the region (which is where I got the information in the above paragraph). 

The adventurous part of the excursion started when we reached the end of the train line. Most riders turned around and took the train back down from the summit, which is in Fraser, British Columbia, Canada. But not us...we got off the train and joined a small band which was set to bicycle back down to Skagway. Yes, we got on two wheels and rode down from the summit from an altitude of 3,300 feet to sea level over about 15 miles. Needless to say, we used our brakes a lot! We got up to speeds of 20-30 miles per hour or so, which seems very fast on those two wheels. We made several stops along the way which were welcome and a chance to get to see the scenery up close. (The picture at the top of this post is of Allen & me at Bridalveil Falls in our bike gear.) Fortunately, we were well dressed in several layers given the temperature at that altitude and the speeds at which we were going. Now, mind you, I haven't been on a bike in several years and the last time I was on one it was very flat where we rode. This was a very different experience, needless to say. But I persevered and made it the whole way. It helped that we had great guides--one of whom led us and the other followed at the end. At stops they pointed out what was around us. And I've now had the experience of going through customs on a bicycle. Overall, it was an invigorating experience certainly.

Following that we wandered around Skagway for a while, taking lunch at a local establishment. There's not much to Skagway. During the tourist season (May to September) the population is about 3-4 thousand. During the winter it drops to below 800. There are no grocery stores, movie theatres, or other useful shops. Of course, all the tourist-oriented shops close down but in the middle of the Alaskan winter, who really needs to buy diamonds or tee shirts at that time of year? The closest shops are off in Whitehorse, which, as I wrote, is 110 miles away. Fortunately, they keep the road between Skagway and Whitehorse open during the winter.

Last night our entertainment was a juggler/comedian. He was really fun to watch. He juggled a variety of things and kept us on our toes with his repartee.  I think the most impressive act was when he juggled a bowling ball, a hatchet, and an egg. How he kept those three really different items in the air baffled me.

And it's happened again...at about 4:30 this morning we awoke to water leaking from the ceiling into our cabin.  Argh! We called for assistance right away and they sent someone to our room immediately. For the morning they moved us to another room to finish sleeping. (No, not an upgrade...in fact it was a downgrade to an inside cabin.) But they fixed the problem and have assured us that it shouldn't happpen again so we are back in our cabin. But once again they are making good for the inconvenience we've experienced by treating us to a meal at the special restaurant onboard. The Murano costs extra to have dinner there. But the food is supposed to be superior to the rest of the fare on the ship. Allen & I had sort of decided that we wouldn't bother paying the extra for the experience since it is fairly expensive. But now we have reservations for Sunday evening. I'll let you know how it goes.

Today is a sea day so we're onboard the whole day. Tomorrow we dock in Victoria, British Columbia for a day. It's also another formal evening, so we'll be dressing up for dinner. Back to the bow ties.

Icy Strait Point - Juneau - Tracy Arm Fjord

It's been a busy couple of days.  Yesterday we docked at Icy Strait Point. Icy Strait is an area that used to be a fishery that has been set up now specifically for cruise ships to stop by. The top photo in this post is a picture from there on the beach. We did a short nature trail and wandered through the woods. Then we walked about a mile and a half to Hoonah, the nearest village to Icy Strait. There's not much to Hoonah but it was a very nice stroll along the water to the village. And, as we were told, it would probably be the most real place that we would see on our cruise.

This morning we docked early in Juneau, the state capital of Alaska.We took the Mt. Robert Tram up to a point looking out over Juneau and the islands beyond. On the tram we saw two eagles, so far the only wildlife I've seen except for the salmon in Ketchikan and a few banana slugs, which hardly count. We had a marvelous view from the top of Mt. Robert and the tram ride was fun. We had a few more hours after the tram ride until our ship departed, so we wandered around Juneau, at least in the tourist area near where the ships dock.  Juneau has a population of only about 33,000. And it is isolated... accessible only by air and water.  

We left Juneau early in the afternoon to sail up to Tracy Arm Fjord. In fact, as I write, we are cruising out of the fjord. We sailed up into the fjord over about 2 hours....2 rather cold hours out on the top deck of the ship. But well worth every chilly moment. This is a beautiful spot and the weather cooperated tremendously. Usually, we're told, it's rainy and unpleasant. But today was sunny and beautiful. The 2nd picture in this post is from Tracy Arm Fjord. It was carved by glaciers hundreds of thousands years ago. And it is gorgeous. The rock walls climb up a thousand feet on either side and the water is a beautiful blue-green.  Waterfalls flow down from the top and occasionally, through a deep valley, you can spot a glacier. As I wrote, we shivered our way up into the fjord spotting small icebergs along the way. Truly an amazing afternoon.

Tomorrow we stop in Skagway, our last port in Alaska. 

Ketchikan

I have a trivia question for you. What is Alaska's biggest export? We learned this just recently and I thought I'd share it with you. The answer is at the end of this blog.

Yesterday was our first port day--in Ketchikan. But first I need to catch you up on our time on the ship. On Saturday afternoon we attended a presentation on wine and food pairing. We had 5 different wines in front of us (a Riesling, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir, and a Cabernet Sauvignon). Also in front of us was a plate with 9 little indentations in it with a different food in each of them: plain chicken, chicken with pesto, mackeral, salt, tomato, chocolate, etc. Our chief sommelier then had us try different foods in combination with the various wines. It really made a difference...of course. But the difference was more striking than I expected. And, of course, it didn't hurt to be drinking wine in the middle of the afternoon!

That evening we got a nice surprise. But to explain it, I have to back up a bit to the evening before when we had a not-so-nice surprise. We came into our stateroom on Friday evening to change for dinner and discovered water leaking from our ceiling. We called housekeeping right away and they came fairly quickly. They took care of the leak while we were out for dinner and all was well. But when we came back to our stateroom on Saturday evening, there waiting for us were a bottle of champagne and two plates of chocolate dipped strawberries. There was no card but we found out that the head of housekeeping had had them sent to apologize for the incovenience of the leak.  Very nice. And consuming a bottle of champagne between 2 people before dinner certainly adds a new dimension to dinner!

As I wrote at the beginning of this post, yesterday (Sunday) was our day in Ketchikan. Ketchikan is the southeastmost city in Alaska...at the very tip of the inside passage. It's population is about 14,000; it's not big at all but it is a regional center. Allen and I had signed up for a shore excursion here: we did a hike in the Tongass National Forest. We met our other 10 cruise guests and the guide in the parking lot just beyond the disembarkation point from the ship. It was only a 7 mile drive to the trail head. (During which we learned about Alaska's biggest export, but that will come later....hang on.) Once we got there we started our 2 mile hike (one way) along Ward Creek in the rainforest. Our guide pointed out the various types of trees that grow and explained about the geography of the area. Our turn around point was a waterfall at which we could see salmon swimming upstream. (That's where the picture that started this post was taken. You really can't see any salmon in the picture though. That's Allen and me, not salmon.)

During the 2 mile hike back to the trailhead we did a little detour to a pool which is the spawning grounds for the salmon. There we saw the fry which are the young salmon. They live in this pool for 2 years or so until they are ready to swim downstream to the ocean. They were hard to see but we caught a view of several of them.

After the hike, Allen and I wandered around the downtown of Ketchikan which, to put it mildly, is very touristy. We found a place to eat and then poked around in a few shops, all of which had pretty much the same things. Jewelry shopping is big too, though we didn't really browse in any of those shops.

We were pretty beat after our hike and wandering so we came back to the ship for a relaxing evening. We've gone to the evening entertainment the past two nights. The first night was the singer Mark Preston, who was in the vocal group the Letterman way back when. He sang--some Lettermen songs as well as some standards. He was quite entertaining. The show last night was called "A Touch of Broadway." It was done by the cast onboard the ship and was very well done.  There were 9 dancers and 4 singers who did an excellent job of recreating a few Broadway shows. It was an excellent show.

We ate in the Grand Restaurant, which is the main restaurant onboard. We didn't sign up for a set seating but can go anytime that we want to dinner, which adds some flexibility.  The food has been very good. In the Grand Restaurant, there is a set menu which doesn't vary from day to day as well as a menu for the day. There are also a few other eating venues around the ship: a large buffet which serves through much of the day. There's also a cafe where you can stop for a cup of tea and a small nibble. Plus there are several bars around the ship.

Today, we're going into port at Icy Strait Point. We don't have any excursion for today so we'll just wander around for a while.

Okay, I'm sure you're on the edge of your seats wondering what the biggest export from Alaska is. Could it be gold? Moose? Glaciers? No, the answer is gravel. I guess it has to come from somewhere.

Asea

Well, we made it.  Our good friend Susan drove us as promised to Pier 35 and dropped us off amidst a flurry of hugs and goodbyes happening all around us.  It was about 11:00 am.  After waiting in a long line for over an hour, we finally got to check in, which was a smooth process though the woman checking us in couldn't find our room keys for a long time.  (I was hoping it meant an upgrade, but alas, no.) Then a stroll through the security gate and onto the ship.

Our staterooms weren't ready yet so they had us go up to the upper deck for a while and lunch. They gave us complimentary champagne to welcome us aboard and then at about 1:00 or so we were in our stateroom. We were pretty tired so we just hung out in our stateroom for a while.  (We couldn't unpack yet because our luggage hadn't arrived yet.)  Some exploration, then unpacking and it was time for evening fun.

Evening fun consisted of a welcome-to-the-ship performance in the theater with a taste of what to do around the ship. We then had a nice dinner at the Grand Restaurant, which is the main dining room. After that we ended the evening with drinks at the Martini Ice Bar, which was very quiet. But the martini I had was lovely.

Friday was our first full day on the ship. We had a leisurely breakfast followed by an art history lecture.  (Okay, it was actually followed by a nap, but we're on vacation, gosh darn it!) the lecture covered 30,000 years of art in about 40 minutes. Things went by quickly to say the least. 

Following lunch, we attended another presentation by a naturalist onboard. Milos is an engaging and very humorous speaker whose lecture was on land mammals and birds of Alaska. We learned about bears and moose and eagles and a wide variety of other creatures. None of it was presented in a dry or dull way though. It was an thoughtful and fun presentation.

Yesterday was our first formal night. We have three formal nights during this cruise at which we're supposed to dress up for dinner. So Allen and I donned our fancy duds for dinner. Fortunately, "formal: doesn't necessarily mean a tuxedo or even a suit.  I wore a black sports coat and black trousers with a white shirt and a bow tie.  (Yes, I do wear ties on occasion but always bow ties.) We also got brave and sat with a group of people we don't know! Celebrity Cruises gives the options of fixed seatings for dinner or come-when-you-want seatings. We chose the freer, more flexible seating plan. So you don't sit with the same people every time. But we ended up with a very nice group of folks: a couple from Wales, another from Sydney, Australia, and a third couple from over the bridge in Marin County. We had a lovely time, which is saying a lot for two introverts who like to stick together. 

Last night we changed our clocks back an hour to adjust for the time zone change we'll be going through. We're on Alaska time now! Except my ipad and iphone forgot to make the switch (well, in all honesty, I forgot to tell them to do it) so in spite of the fact I changed my alarm clock, we're up an hour earlier than we have to be.  Ooops.

Time for breakfast then to see if I can find some wifi to send this post to the blog site.

Ahoy!

The Celebrity Century

Well, today's the day. After much anticipation, we finally leave for our Alaskan cruise. We set sail today from San Francisco, which is very nice--we don't have to fly anywhere! Our friend and pastor, Susan, is coming to pick us up in about 4 hours. We're all packed and probably overpacked. Oh well.

We decided on this trip a while ago when we realized that a European voyage wasn't going to work out this year. We've long wanted to do the cruise to Alaska so this seemed to be the right moment. We're sailing the Inside Passage. I'll list the ports of call later. But we have shore excursions lined up for most of the ports.

And I'm hoping that I'll be able to continue this blog. I understand that there's wifi on board the ship but only in public areas. I don't know how good it will be or even if it's free. We'll see about that shortly I suppose.

We're sailing on the Celebrity Century. It first sailed in 1995 and was refurbished a few years ago. They're taking the Century out of service next year so this will be one of her last cruises. Most of the reviews I've read about her have been good.

So feel free to follow along to see what adventures we find up north.