Skagway By The Sea

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Just past the halfway point of this cruise, we felt entitled to sleeping in. With the blackout drape closed no daylight filters in from the morning sun. As I write this, it is already the next day, and I just had one of those Ground Hog Day moments as the elevator carpeting reminded me that it is still “Thursday”, the same day that we arrived in Skagway. It’s déjà vu all over again. I urged Sharon to go to the dining room for breakfast because I wanted the spinach/mushroom eggs benedict. Sharon was fine having French Toast. I picked up the “Times Digest” upon entering the dining room, a paper that provides a synopsis of what’s going on in the world, and there are often flavors for different nationalities (such as a Canadian edition), mainly to find out what’s happening at the French Open. One of the reasons Sharon and I looked forward so much to this trip was to get away from the so-called news that has been so vitriolic from our capitol. So, it was somewhat irksome when an editorial on the inside back cover by Gail Collins spoiled that tranquility for me. And it wasn’t as if she was covering anything new, or even anything factual. Just give us a break and let us enjoy our vacation. But, if you actually have some news to report, that’s an entirely different matter. News, I want to hear.



There were no Sudoku sheets available in the Exploration Lounge, so Sharon suggested that we use our phones for our daily challenge. What I didn’t know was that she’d already done her phone Sudoku and gotten a 94%. I said I was going to stay and do my phone Sudoku; while, Sharon went back to the room. As I first did the Difficult and then the Intricate there were two ladies from the Midwest chatting away and looking out to the sea. It became clear from what they were saying that they were travelling with a group of about six people, and were part of a larger tour group whom you can spot by their tour group name badges. They were obviously sharing a cabin, and they were talking about some of the others in their group, and not in particularly charitable terms. Something obviously happened the day before because the one lady said, “Boy, If I could have gotten on a plane back home to Indianapolis, I would have been out of here before you could bat an eye.” So, I guess cruising isn’t for everyone. Unable not to avoid following their sighting one slight after another, I only managed a 91% on both the Sudoku; so, Sharon thinks that won for the day.



We were already docked at Skagway and got off to see a railroad train ready for boarding to talk folks to the White Pass Summit. We took some pictures of the rocky cliff facing the shore side docking berth, painted with the name of ships who’d come to Skagway (along with the year and the captain’s name). Sharon spotted the name of the Princendam which subsequently sank up here in Alaska some years back. She also saw several others for ships she has sailed previously. It wasn’t quite one half a mile walk into town, where six city blocks comprise the entire town. It is one of the only towns in the United States with a wooden boardwalk serving as the sidewalk besides the several of buildings. We went to the Red Onion Saloon and former whorehouse. A theme-clad waitress escorted us to a table and we ordered a ginger-ale, an iced tea and some tri-colored chips and salsa. A couple was coming down the back stairs were they’d just completed the $10 tour of the brothel, and our waitress cheered, “And here they come, two more satisfied customers.” One wall of the restaurant was lined with his and her antique bedpans. The ginger-ale may have been fine; but, the iced tea was obviously not freshly brewed (or even locally brewed). I asked Sharon, “What color of chip do you prefer?” As I suspected, she only ate the plain ones, not the red or bluish-purple ones. I told Sharon that she’s been trying to get me into a brothel since Ketchikan, and I asked her, “What’s with that?”



It was after 11AM so we headed back, stopping in the dockside restaurant that enticed people with the rather long restaurant name “Alaska Crab Legs and Halibut Fish & Chips”. It was that last part that sold Sharon that this was the place to come for fish and chips. I ordered the crab bisque and the crab cake appetizer. Sharon’s fish and chips came and she had four nice sized pieces of halibut, leaving two for her and two for me. My bisque was tasty; but, with no crab lumps to be found, and my crab cakes were good but the coating was over-crisped. The fish and chips; however, were great.



When we got back to the ship, I checked in with the Explorer’s lounge and this time there were Sudoku Sheets. I took a couple back to the cabin so Sharon and I could do the “Official Cruise Sudoku” and as good fortune would have it, I barely beat Sharon on the Easy. The Hard was another matter. It required much too much marking for Sharon not to wind up with an unintelligible mess (It seems that Holland America has reverted to printing two undersized puzzles on a single half-sheet of paper.) So, after the morning “practice sudoku” puzzles, it seems that I will keep the crown on this cruise.



Sharon headed off to do some sight-seeing before mass; and, I was to meet her by the Wajang Theatre around 5:30PM when mass would be over. I woke from my nap in time to get up to the 4^th deck, and we went off to dinner from there. We were seated by the window at a table for six; and figured that we had plenty of time to make the 7:00PM Evening Trivia in the Crow’s Nest, that is until it took them fifteen minutes to seat the next couple (and they never did seat the third couple with us). I enjoyed the fried spring roll. There was a lot of debate about the French Onion soup with short rib and Gruyere. Obviously, this was different from the daily French onion soup that is available in the Dining room. Our tablemate ordered the soup, but without the short rib; but, he did want lots of Gruyere. I’m pretty sure he wound up getting the daily soup. My soup was delicious with a ton of delicious short rib beef, extremely rich and extremely tasty. I will definitely keep my I eye out for this offering on our return trip. I had the spinach lasagna with ricotta, and it was also very yummy. Sharon enjoyed her roast turkey and she got it with a baked potato. We both had the chocolate torte cake. I was able to get another shot glass by ordering the cordial, and I was happy to get it with Irish Cream rather that the Chambord and White Chocolate Liqueur. As I had feared it was already 7PM. Sharon stayed to finish her torte, and I rushed up to the Crow’s Nest to fine our team.



The two looked very happy to see me, and they were already on Question 4. The wanted to know what the state bird of Indiana was; but, I hadn’t a clue. Yes, it is in my infamous spread sheet; but, that wasn’t doing me much good right now. Sharon said Cardinal when she arrived but didn’t feel strong enough about that answer so didn’t change what we’d already written. “What fashion trend was outlawed in several Louisiana counties in 2007? Our teammate correctly came up with wearing pants too low in the back. And I did know what you add to vodka to yield a greyhound. Surprisingly, I don’t think anyone else in the room got this one. It is grapefruit juice. We did know “Who implored shoppers to, please don’t squeeze the Charmin.” It is of course, Mr. Whipple. Sharon did finally show up; but, there were no religious questions to deal with. “Give the last names of the two presidents that come alphabetically first and last.” Adams is pretty easy. Washington seems like a likely candidate; but, we managed to come up with “Wilson”. The bonus question was, “What was Mr. Clean’s first name? Dean, Squeaky, Super or, Veritably” only she couldn’t pronounce the final name no matter how hard she tried. In the end, that convinced us that it must be the correct answer, so excuse me, if the name was something else: from what we heard we figured it sounded like “Veritably”. In any event, we were awarded the four bonus points. One other team scored 17 on this Team Trivia, beating out our second place 15. And we missed those first four questions!



We rushed off to get seats at the Magic Show, with an act from Las Vegas. He came out after being announced as a magician, and started by saying, “I’m so glad to be here to mageesh for you tonight.” That got a stifled chuckle, whence he followed by saying, “Be glad that I’m not a wizard.” He clarified that he considers himself an illusionist, and held all of our interest with a series of impressive illusions involving audience members, even having them perform illusions.





Sharon went to check out the piano bar and to participate in a Name That Tune game. She played with another couple and they got 9 along with several other teams that lost to the one team that got 10 points. There were a couple with 8 and two teams with 2 (one only got the bonus What a Wonderful world answer). I went back to the cabin.

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