http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/LinDave/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from LinDave en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:50:45 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:50:45 +0000 October 1Miyako Japan is the port for today and we were up at 745 to get the day started. Our tour today was a combination bustrain ride tofrom Kuji City. We headed north along the coast by bus first through the Rikuchu Coastline National Park. Very mountainous and heavily wooded with huge pine trees. There are many tunnels along the road going through the mountains. We made two stops al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-334185.html September 30Today finds us in Aomori Japan where we were greeted pierside by a local drumminginstrument group. I just love those big drums We had an early tour so were up at 645 had room service and headed off on our tour to Hirosaki. The day started out cloudy but ended up sunny another beautiful day in Japan We had about an hour drive to Hirosaki to several temples and castles. On http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Aomori/blog-332828.html September 29Woke up this morning to find Hakodate Japan outside our window. So nice to finally get to land We typically order room service on the days that we are in port so we enjoyed that and then went to Japanese Immigration. That went very smoothly with them looking at our documents and taking a picture and our fingerprints Hey I have nothing to hide but I wonder if there were any peop http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hokkaido/Hakodate/blog-332230.html September 2127The days at sea pretty much go by as a blur. Same thing every day. Up around 830 head to the Lido for breakfast then hang around reading or such for the rest of the day. Yes Marc I can just hear you now although we aren't lolling by the pool with margaritas. It's freezing on this ship We try to find a place to keep warm and with little to no sun it's difficult to say the l http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-328431.html September 20thToday is the first of 8 days at sea Dave is wondering if he'll go nuts before we reach land. He isn't much for sitting around Around 1145 the captain came on and said that we were turning around and heading back east. Apparently a passenger had a medical emergency and we were going back to meet up with the Canadian Coast Guard The helicopter came a couple of hours later cir http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-328427.html September 19The day for the cruise to begin is here Typical cloudy grey day in Seattle but who cares We are going on a 65 day cruise to some fabulous placesGot on board fairly quickly and headed to the Lido for lunch. Our room was ready around 130 so went down to see if any luggage had shown up yet. Only one of Daves bags had made it. Went out wandering around to see how the ship has cha http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-328425.html Sept. 17Ferry to VictoriaWe go up at 545AM to catch the Victoria Clipper to Victoria BC Canada. It was pretty cloudy with some fog around. This trip took about 2 123 hours to get to Victoria. On the way the captain slowed and got very close to a small rocky island with lots of Pacific Harbor Seals on it. Look at those cute facesSome mountains in the distance along the way.We were met at t http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Vancouver-Island/Victoria/blog-328015.html Today we woke up in Washington state. Some lovely scenery with fog made for some great picturesI love scenes like this foggy barn.Everett WA was next and is the home of the U.S. Navy.In Edmonds WA the train skirts Puget sound for about 15 miles.Finally we enter Seattle WA Seattle is nicknamed the Emerald City for it's easy access to pristine mountain wilderness and Puget Sound. Took a cab http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-326597.html We left Chicago yesterday thankfully getting out despite all the flooding. Woke up this morning to sunny skies and flat land I had looked at the Geocaching website to see if there was anything to be found along our route at any of the longer stops that the train makes. When it makes service stops it stops for about 12 hour so a quick grab of a cache is possible if it's close enough. Sure http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Dakota/Minot/blog-325085.html We have finally arrived in Chicago We pick up the train tomorrow Sun. at 215PM. I just hope we get out without problems. The weather here is just awful with flooding rains from the remnants of Lowell from the Pacific believe it or not. The remnants of Ike get here tomorrow.I was happy to see an email from Holland America regarding a replacement port of call. We will be going to Aomori http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Illinois/Chicago/blog-323253.html We finally got out of Florida today just as the first band of Ike hit the Panhandle. We were in Florida for 2 12 days geocaching Hey we have the time and we aren't ones to resist caching. Got an email today that our cruise itinerary has changed in that they have taken away the stop in Petropavlovsk Russia. Dang it I really wanted to go to Russia I'm hoping that they will find another p http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alabama/Montgomery/blog-322196.html Today was the day. We have officially begun our trip Finally we get to just GO.....no more planning packingworrying about hurricanes...'cause we are on our way We picked up the rental car and left in the afternoon with the first of the outer bands of Ike coming in. The weather improved as we got further north. Didn't go too far today just far enough to get away from Ike. We aren't in a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Orlando/blog-321376.html So it has been decided for us. We are renting a car and driving 1500 miles to Chicago. Yeah thanks Ike. We are planning on leaving on Monday and getting as far north as we can. West would be nice too but when you live at the bottom of a state that is as long as Florida is you have to drive quite a ways north before you can head west With three days of preparation taken away this weekend http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-319930.html Gustav is done now but we have Hannah Ike and Josephine marching across the Atlantic. Hannah looks like she will miss us here in South Florida but is aiming towards where we need to be going by train next Thursday. Ike is right behind and as of tonight we are in the middle of the path they are showing. We are still not sure if we will have to reroute our return trip after the cruise due to da http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-319522.html The monkey wrench has a name. Gustav. With it bearing down on the Gulf Coast we are rethinking our return trip from Los Angeles at the end of our cruise. The plan now is to take the Sunset Limited to New Orleans spend the night and then head out the next day on the Crescent to D.C. and then the Silver Meteor down to Miami. The likelihood of Gustav destroying not only New Orleans again and http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-317982.html I am so excited I am an absolute Phantom Of The Opera Phanatic. We have seen this musical in Chicago Milwaukee Toronto Boston FT. Lauderdale and London Englandwhere it all began. Now we will be able to add Seattle to our list of locations. Another activity we will engage in is a bit of fun called Geocaching . Click on the link to go to the website to get the full explanation. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-317034.html Good heavens. Today I spent hours with my clothes. Formal 12 nights Informal 7 nights Resort Casual 46 nights. For all you women out there you know how tough this can be For you men I don't wanna hear about it ' I'm about half way through figuring out what I'm going to bring. I haven't gotten to the shoes or jewelery yet I see that we also have several Balls. Black and W http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-315156.html Less than one month and we head off on our journey We will be taking a 65 day cruise on Holland America's Amsterdam . We start off on September 11th from south Florida on Amtrak's Silver Meteor . We take that overnight up to Washington D.C. where we change over to the Capital Limited overnight to Chicago Il. We plan on overnighting in Chicago to break up the trip with a nice comfy b http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-310688.html