Today was our last full day on the ship. In the morning, we will leave the ship and transfer directly to the airport. We fly home tomorrow. Today we slept-in… until almost 8am… which is almost 10am Missouri time. We ate breakfast and I packed everything. We did our “tour of the ship” a little late this cruise – it’s where we start at the bottom and go through each floor seeing everything. This is a smaller ship built back when the ports were the entertainment so no bumper cars or 4D theaters exist. It is a lovely ship. I took pictures of a few of the interesting items we saw today. This ship was built in 2004. It is well maintained and this cruise to Alaska is the second cruise out since COVID hit in ... read more

This morning started with the ship slowly cruising into Sitka, Alaska and it was overcast and dreary looking… but as we got closer and closer to the pier, the clouds lifted and it was a nice day overall. Clear (no sun) and 54 degrees was the high today according to our TV. We walked off the ship and took the free shuttle to downtown Sitka. From there, we walked about 20 minutes to the Sitka National Historical Park. On the way, we stopped and tried a reindeer dog. It’s a hot dog made from reindeer meat. A local lady started making these and they’ve become popular. She was nice. We got one to share and I had two bites. It didn’t taste like anything bad but it was a bit spicy. I thought it tasted like ... read more

Greetings from somewhere between Juneau and Sitka Alaska. It’s 1:20am boat time but 4:20am Missouri time. This is the time I wake-up some mornings. My schedule is wrecked. So… at some point this morning I woke-up and looked out and saw mountains! The scenery was beautiful all day. Mountains, snow caps, and streams on both sides of the ship. I attended a 9am class on how to use your binoculars. It lasted about 30 minutes and had a couple of helpful tips. Our ship was docked in Juneau before 1pm. We took a small-group excursion today (20 people) first to a small boat to go out and see the whales that frequent Juneau and next to a trail walk through the Tongass National Forest to see Mendenhall Glacier. The whale boat was small and it could ... read more

It was 67 and sunny when we left Seattle today. How’s the weather in Missouri? That’s probably a mean question. It feels like autumn outside here. So… what happened today? I was awake before 4am Seattle time (which is before 6am MO time) so I took a shower and got ready while Kamie slept. I finally woke him at 8:45am while I walked across the street to Starbucks. I had already downed two iced coffees I made with the hotel supplies, so I don’t know what I was thinking. I was like a mouse on cocaine. We left our hotel in our jackets (Kamie has his full-on winter coat which he insisted on bringing and I am now questioning my choice of not doing so). We took a ferry from Bremerton, WA (a peninsula just west ... read more

We flew to LA today. WHY? Because apparently I like things to be difficult and I’m cheap. Flights to LAX from SGF were $85 per person, we are staying at our (former) favorite hotel in LA this evening, and we have free flights to Seattle tomorrow morning. Cruise to Alaska leaves Seattle Sunday So… today…. I woke-up early-early as normal and walked the dog up the hill and back and we both had just decided to slow down when we saw a skunk on Hole 10 and we headed right back down the hill as fast and far away from that part of the golf course as possible. The regular morning of leaving chaos ensued – overpacking, Kamie sleeping in, and me running around like a chicken with my head cutoff. The plan was to leave ... read more