Jan's Journey: May 2016

Wednesday--May 18th--LAX to Vancouver to the Volendam
A couple of months ago Mel called and said he wanted to bring Corey and spend a week with mom. You don't have to ask twice...I quickly got on the computed and figured out where I wanted to go...and the winner...an Alaska cruise!!! I got really excited about this trip. I looked into all of the land excursions available and kept checking into the weather forecast. A couple of things I wanted to do depended on good weather. I found out that the weather is really changeable in that part of the world. One day I looked and Ketchikan was supposed to be cold and rainy on the day I was to be there. I looked two days later, and it was forecast to be much warmer with little chance of rain. The next day, it was back to cold with a 60% chance of rain. I gave up looking!
Finally, I was all packed, at the airport, and ready to begin my adventure...yea!

I wanted a picture of Ann's necklace.
She always goes with me when I travel.

On the flight up, I saw this really cool land-form out the window. When I got back home, I discovered that it was Crater Lake! Wow!!

Customs and immigration was funny because I checked into Canada and got a stamp in my passport (thank you very much!), then took the cruise bus through Vancouver to the ship. There, I checked out of Canada and back into the US. I was in Canada for all of maybe 15 steps and 30 minutes!

I don't know what I was expecting of Vancouver, but it was lots and lots of skyscrapers.

After the ever-so-fun "passenger safety emergency drill", I had time to explore the ship. Some interesting facts about the MS Volendam. It is 112 feet wide and 778 feet long, flying the flag from the Netherlands. It gets a whopping 85 gallons per mile! It was built in 1999 and carried 1463 guests and 612 crew members on this voyage.

There were several of these benches all around the outside walkaround.

The Atrium

Statue in the covered pool

There were fresh flowers everywhere. Evidently they had a florist on board.

Dinner that night was amazing. I had very tender short ribs with roasted potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. And of course I had to have dessert, a warm apple strudel with ice cream.

Thursday--May 19th--day at sea
I started out the day with a walk around the deck. It was pretty funny because the seas were pretty choppy and I couldn't walk a straight line. But after last nights dinner, I figured I better try to walk some of it off.

During my walk I saw a pod of dolphins and later, about 10 small spouts, but no animals. I'm thinking small whales. Later in the day, I finally saw a whale come up for air. Trust me, that little spot was a whale, just very far away!

I had breakfast in my room, something I would end up doing all week long!

The rest of the day was spent going to fun classes, exploring the ship, and meeting some fun people.

There was always a puzzle going and this couple was there a lot.
We ended up completing 4 puzzles

The kitchen tour was interesting. It's amazing how many people it takes to feed all of the guests. There are 5 pastry chefs responsible for for making all of the cookies, pies, petit fours and my favorite, scones. Then there are 4 bakers that are kept busy. They bake about 120 loaves of bread,100 loaves of French bread, 4000 dinner rolls, 800 croissants, and 800 Danish and sweet rolls!

After this tour, I felt really sorry for the dishwashers. There were 11 of them on board and one foreman. In one evening they wash 3000 dinner plates, 7000 dessert plates, 2000 side plates, and 5000 glasses. Their average work day is 10 to 11 hours!!! I won't complain the next time I'm cleaning up for Christmas dinner.

That afternoon, it was time for the "Cupcake Tea". The "On Location" that we got every day with all of the activities for that day said to "come and enjoy a cup of afternoon tea or a glass of milk accompanied by a variety of cupcakes."

This is where I was introduced to my new addiction, scones with strawberry jam and sweet cream. It's just like mini strawberry shortcakes...heaven!

I also went to a ladies pampering party where they taught us to clean and moisturize our faces properly, but they were really interested in selling us some of their expensive products.

I also went to a demonstration on making fry bread tacos. The fry bread part was good, but the tacos were stuffed with fish...need I say anything more?!

After the cupcake party, where I indulged in several scones. I skipped dinner, but stayed awake long enough to go to the show that night. It was wonderful. They had a corps of 4 singers and 6 dancers and they were very talented. Tonight's show was all about the songs that came from British singers, entitles Atlantic Crossing.

Friday--May 20th--Juneau

This morning, during my walk around the deck, I noticed this beautiful "sunrise". Well, it was as close as I was going to get to one, since the sun was rising at 4:15am!

We weren't scheduled to arrive in Juneau until 1:00, so there was time on board for more fun.

I had a pedicure...the pedicure wasn't anything to write home about, but he view out the window was spectacular. Well worth both the time and money.

I also attended a craft class that taught us how to make a trellis necklace. It was very fun and turned out very cute.

Once on land, I took a shuttle to the Mendenhall Glacier, a 13 mile long river of ice.

Then it was a hike off to the Nugget Falls, a 377 foot falls that dropped into this glacial lake.

All of these wonders are huge, but's it's hard to put them into perspective until you notice the tiny lady in blue. Yea...she's not so tiny!

And when you turned around from the waterfall, you saw big chunks of glacier that had fallen off, floating in the lake.

The hike took me through rain forest filled with mosses, fern, and small streams and creeks.

Everything I read said to be prepared to come into contact with wildlife...however, this is the only wildlife I spotted!

I did see some bald eagles on the shuttle bus on the way back to the docks. I actually had to get home and enlarge the picture to make sure it actually was an eagle!

Yep!

The other thing I wanted to do in Juneau was a ride up the Roberts Tram.

The view was beautiful. I took a nice loop trail up to Father Brown's cross and back around.

An Alaskan snowball!!!

From the top of my hike, the cruise ship reminded me of a similar shot of our Disney cruise ship...floating in the trees.

the ms Volendam

the Disney Dream

Back on board that evening, the show was Fred Becker, a magician/comedian. He was pretty cool and everything was nice and clean. After the show, the cruise director suggested we go out to see the beautiful sunset. Well, it was pretty, but, as the moon came out, it was beautiful.

Today was lots of hiking...over 22,000 steps. I'll sleep well tonight.

Saturday--May 21st--Sagway

During my walk this morning, I watched them get the gangway ready for us to disembark. It was very interesting. They used a forklift to get it into place and set a stairway beside it. Evidently, the dock doesn't rise with the tide and the stairs will be needed later, as the tide goes up!

I had a little time on shore before I had to meet my tour, so I wandered around a little. The water was so clear and glassy, it was just like a mirror.

And these were growing along side of the dock...beautiful.

Today's adventure was a raft float in the Hanes Eagle Preserve. And a ferry ride was needed to get to Hanes. I'm so glad, because this waterway should be renamed The River with a Thousand Waterfalls!

I know this isn't a thousand, but you get the idea...lots and lots of beautiful waterfalls.

And lots and lots of beautiful snow covered mountains.

The float trip down the river was very fun and extremely relaxing. The guide did all of the work and we just sat, took pictures, and soaked in the sun and the beauty.

1 1/2 hours later, after floating through an eagle preserve, this is the only bird sighting!!!

Nope, that's not an eagle!

But at the end, our shoes and a delicious lunch were waiting for us.

And of course, we still had the ferry ride back to Sagway.

No eagles at the preserve, but several on the ferry ride back.

As I boarded the ship late in the afternoon, I noticed the stairs were now being used to get on board.

And I watched as the crew released the mooring lines...they were huge.

Tonights show was a comedian named Jim McDonald. Again, pretty funny and very clean. He joked about having trouble remembering what day it was and realized that all you had to do was go into the elevator. The audience cracked up, but I didn't get it. I had made a vow that I wouldn't take the elevator at all on the cruise, and so far I hadn't. After the show, I went to the elevator to see what the joke was...

Evidently, they change out the center of the rug inside the elevator every day...pretty clever!

Today I was the farthest away from my kids...not nearly as far as New Zealand...but still a substantial distance.

And today was the longest daylight hours we will have on this trip. Sunrise was at 4:13 am and sunset was at 9:44 pm!

Sunday--May 22nd--Glacier Bay

Today was the coldest day, by far...a high of 45*, and cloudy skies, but also some of the most spectacular landscapes. It was really cool because the park rangers came aboard, brought their stamps for the National Park Passports, and narrated the entire time, telling us what we were seeing and how it came to be. It was very interesting. For instance, the mountains that are rounded on top were under the glacier at one point. The glacier rubbed against the top, smoothing it off.

The sharp, pointy tops were above the top of the glacier, keeping their natural shape.

And then there were the glaciers...

The Lamplugh Glacier

The John Hopkins Glacier

The Margerie Glacier

While we were at the Margerie Glacier, we were lucky enough to see several calving episodes. That is where pieces of glacier fall off. The sounds are amazing. You could hear this loud cracking, and then a sound something like thunder.

This fell off...

...leaving this hole.

A few minutes later, more came off the same place...

...and now the hole looked like this.

All together we saw at least 5 calvings within an hour.

While the glaciers were the top draw today, there were some other pretty beautiful things to look at while we went in and out of the bay.

The entrance to glacier Bay

Look how clear and glassy the water was.

Two feathery friends hitching a ride. I can't imagine how cold their feet must be!

Proof that I was there!

The bow of the boat was open to us while we were in the bay. It was fun...and yes, I did resist the urge to recreate the famous Titanic scene!!!

That afternoon, we had the "Polar Bear Plunge". Amy told me to so something "unexpected" on my trip. I figured that this would be perfect for her. We went to the front of the ship to the outdoor pool. There, they dumped several containers of ice into the bathtub temperature pool. We then had to get out and have a glass of ice water poured on our backs and sit there for two minutes. Remember, the ship was moving all this time, so there was a cold wind. After the two minutes, we were allowed to get back into the pool and it's warm water.

And for all of that, I received this certificate...and a very fun memory!!!

That evening was the "Gala Dinner". They decked out the dining room

and we had lobster and steak. I opted for the steak only.

Tonight's show was a piano guy, Paul Pappas.

He tried to be funny, and wasn't...not a very good show.

Monday--May 23rd--Ketchikan

On my morning walk, I saw this boat following us...and I instantly thought of the movie "Princess Bride". What was really funny was that I mentioned it to several people, all foreigners, and no one had ever heard of the movie! When I got home and said something to Carson, he didn't even bat an eye. His comeback..."was everyone speaking in rhyme?" Where was he when I needed him?!

This morning I watched as the dock workers moore us to the dock. The ships crew threw out a line with the mooring lines attached. The lines must be very heavy because the workers used a fork lift to drag them to where they needed to be. Then the workers put them around the pilings of the dock. This entire process was repeated at lease three more times to make sure we weren't going to go anywhere!

I wanted to see where my stateroom was from land, so I got very creative and made a pillow person, hat and all!

Ketchikan is a quaint little town with houses stretching up the hillsides...

and a really cool statue depicting the diverse people who settled this area.

But, what I was really excited about was my float plane ride to the Misty Fjord.

The views were breathtaking...

We actually landed on the water and got out to take a few pictures.

I got to be the co-pilot on the way back!!!

a great arial view of our ship

After my flight, there was just enough time to catch the lumberjack show.

It was everything I thought it would be.

Some interesting facts about Katchikan...

It's the fourth largest city in Alaska, and from what I saw, it's pretty small!
It's the wettest spot in North America. In fact, last night, the cruise director mentioned the weather for today by saying, "Tomorrow is sunny and warm (long pause as we all cheered) in Arizona! Ketchikan has a forecast of cold and rain! (lots of boos!)"
The average rainfall is 12 1/2 feet...that's 150 inches
The record rainfall was in 1949 with 202.55 inches
The average January temperature is 32.6*
The average July temperature is 57.5*

Today was 56*, a little breezy, and partly cloudy...NO RAIN!!!

Tonight's show was the ship entertainers again with a whole new production entitled Classique. It was modern music all based on the classics and very entertaining.

Tuesday--May 24th--at sea

Today was our last day of this amazing cruise and we spent it at sea. I love looking out and seeing nothing but water, no land anywhere. It calms my soul and helps me remember how much my Heavenly Father loves me.

I took two classes today. The first was a meet and greet of the chips entertainers. All the singers and dancers were on stage to answer questions and then took us backstage to show us the dressing rooms and costumes, I shouldn't have been surprised, but all of the dancers were from Russia and well trained.

Then, I went to a towel folding demonstration. They make it look so easy to make all of those cute animals I found on my bed each night,

Speaking of towel animals, I took pictures of each for Emma. She loved the animals on the Disney cruise.

stingay

fish

peacock

I'm not sure what this was!

dog

monkey

The was also a 5K walk. The cause was cancer research and before it started, they asked us to remember someone who's lives had been touched by cancer. Well, Ann and I walked today! I thought about her and all of the time we had together.

This was the first 5K I have been in where there was someone counting our laps and halfway through, offering us a plate of cookies! The little old lady stood by and cheer everyone on for the entire thing. She was co cute.

Tonight"s show was a reprise of the Jim and Fred. Again, they were great. It was a nice way to end this adventure. Then it was off to my stateroom to pack! Boo-hoo.

Wednesday--May 25th--Vancouver to LAX

No walking today; we had to be up early to get off the boat. Again, we went from the US to Canada and back to the US all at once at the dock. The good news was that meant that I could fly back into terminal 2 at LAX instead of the Bradley terminal.

As if there aren't enough pictures (I took over 650), here are a couple more that really didn't fit anywhere else, but I wanted to remember them.