Well, geez, how long has it been? Too long! Much has happened in my personal life, but that's not really important. What's REALLY important is that I've planned my next trip. June 30th through July 8th I will be going to Colonial Williamsburg and the surrounding areas. My friend John and I will be driving up from Atlanta and staying about 1/2 a mile from the Williamsburg "compound". We choose 4th of July because we thought there might be lots of fun celebrations and exhibits to attend in the area. I would just like to very publicly thank John and his [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Seattle early on the 20th. Pam and I said goodbye to Mary - who was heading home to attend class - and then we caught a ride with one of the shuttle buses heading to downtown. Originally we figured we'd get a cab straight to our hotel, but our boat was docked so far away from the terminal and civilization that we quickly amended our plans. We dropped our luggage off in the Cruise West Hospitality Suite at the hotel and then walked over to the Space Needle. We didn't ride up the needle because the day was [View Full Entry]

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We got into Victoria, BC sometime overnight. It’s a pretty short trip from Vancouver. After breakfast Pam and Mary decided to go on a short excursion to try and catch the orcas migrating. I decided to wander. I settled on exploring Beacon Hill Park, very close to where we docked. After I oohed and aahed over the exterior of the Empress Hotel, I walked on over to the park. It’s actually a very big park with lots of nice features but I didn’t know that until I got home. Anyway, I got what I wanted, some nice pictures and a quiet [View Full Entry]

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This day was cloudy and it sprinkled most of the day, but it wasn't very cold. Not too awful, but after all the blue skies and perfect weather it was sort of a let-down. We got into Vancouver pretty early. I think it was around 8:00 a.m. After we got off the boat, Pam, Mary and I headed directly to Stanley Park to Lynn Canyon Park. We rode with Chris and Kristy since they had rented a car and were going there also. Lynn Canyon Park has a free suspension bridge and really nice hiking trails. The bridge is not as [View Full Entry]

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Another uneventful day. A lot of the passengers were out on deck looking for wildlife. I chose to read. Good books, too! Let me recommend two to you. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (some of you may have read Isaac's Storm) and A Hole In Texas by Herman Wouk (of The Caine Mutiny fame). Devil in the White City is non-fiction concerning the Chicago's World Fair of 1893 and a prolific serial killer in Chicago at the same time. A Hole in Texas is a fun fiction book about nuclear physicists and politics. It was a nice and [View Full Entry]

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It's a good thing I don't get seasick. Unlike most of the rest of the boat who were trying their best to cope with rough seas. Seas that instead of the boat heading into, were slapping us from the side. This makes for a much rockier ride. I felt sorry for the passengers. Pam and I seemed fine, as well as several other seasoned fishermen/sailors. Mary took extra Triptone - a great alternative to all other seasickness medicine since it doesn't make you drowsy - in large quantities. I ended up sleeping alot since there wasn't much to see. Sometime that [View Full Entry]

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At a very early hour, 7:30 a.m., the passengers and crew of the Yorktown Clipper were herded like lemmings into customs in Prince Rupert, BC. A sort of bermuda triangle of the inside passage. No cell phone service. No tourist traps. No excursions. Very little food. But it was a REAL town, not a t-shirt shop, so it was cute and quiet. We were told that we would have to go through customs and then could return to the ship, but couldn't go out into the town until everyone had been checked. It was the EXACT opposite. So those of us [View Full Entry]

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Well, bad news. I had a migraine when I woke up that morning and couldn't go into Ketchikan. It's a good thing, too. It was sunny - would have been too much for my eyes - and crowded. Apparently something like 8 large cruise ships docked the same day we did. It was supposed to be the busiest day of the year for Ketchikan...around 10,000 tourists. Yikes! We were only supposed to be there for 4 hours. Too short, if you ask me. Anyway, our departure time was 12 and we left at 2:30 p.m. Which means that we missed most [View Full Entry]

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We got to Petersburg, a small and un-touristy town, shortly after breakfast. The day was incredibly clear and about 65 degrees. Lovely! Pam and Mary were going to be taking floatplane rides so I had most of the day to myself. I found a small museum (Clausen Memorial Museum) in town that had some Norwegian items and several Tlinget items. The Tlinget stuff the museum found itself in and around Petersburg. I thought that was cool. Several local artists also contributed to the museum. Their gift shop was the BEST I've been to! Everything in there was from local artists and [View Full Entry]

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Today was partly sunny with no rain and rather warm. Beautiful! We got to Sitka, AK on Baranof Island. Sitka is a small mostly fishing town. I think the local shop owners were a little dazed at the arrival of tourists. I ran into town to buy very expensive cigarettes from a machine at a smoky bar (the only place in town that sold cigarettes!), batteries for my camera and postcards. Pam, Mary and me also went to a small burger joint and had a great burger. We stopped back by later in the day for an espresso milkshake. MMM MMM! [View Full Entry]

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