AMAZING ALASKA

We spent almost 4 weeks in Alaska visiting small and large cities and many fjords within the Inside Passage. Each one more fun or beautiful that the one before. We also spent time out in the open Pacific waters, seemingly going around in circles, because we were. Sometimes it was because we needed to offload "grey water" into International waters (beyond 13 miles offshore) and other times it was because of Alaskan/US management of the number of cruise ships allowed in the smaller fjords at one time. We visited Ketchikan, Wrangell, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway, Homer (Ninilchik), Anchorage, Homer. and Kodiak. We cruised through many fjords through the Inside Passage - Tracy Arm (Sawyer Glacier), Hubbard Glacier, the College Fjords (Harvard, Yale, Amherst, and Dartmouth glaciers - all on the southeast side) and (Bryn Mawr, Smith, Vassar, Wellesley, Barnard, and Holyoke glaciers - on the northwest side). I have no idea why they are named for universities!

We spent only 1 day in most of the small towns but that was enough, in most cases. In Ketchikan I walked down Creek Street where I learned all about the Red Light district and the ladies who lived there for years. The 3rd picture is a dress corsage made out of the condoms of the day. I had to eat pizza for lunch because there were 3 cruise ships in town and every restaurant had lines out the door.

I saw a Lumberjack show. Those guys had muscles!

They even had a July 4th Parade - people lined the streets (with their lawn chairs) several hours ahead of time to get a good seat. I did manage to find a lovely new pair of earrings, so I was happy. Isn't little Miss Ketchikan Elementary cute? At 6:00pm the other big cruise ships left and we were allowed to move off the dock and lower our anchor in the Bay. Ketchikan has a fireworks show over the water and town. We saw the amazing fireworks while sitting on my balcony or on the bow of the Odyssey - all while drinking Prosecco. Followed immediately by a celebration on the Odyssey since most of our residents are Americans. What a special night. The Odyssey gets to enjoy these types of special events because we are smaller than most and we don't necessarily have a schedule that we have to keep. We just "put the pedal to the medal" and pushed on to Wrangell overnight.

In Wrangell we saw lots of new Totems being made but they are copies of the old ones that after many many years of being exposed to the harsh weather., are losing their luster.

One sea day and we arrived in Icy Strait Point, or Hoonah or Xunaa Kaawu. It was a long walk into "town", but it was a paved walkway with beautiful scenery and even benches to rest on and enjoy the view. We walked past an old cemetery that contained crosses that had a crossbar that I had never seen before.

The thrill of this day was our Crab Feast. About half way into town was the Hoonah Beach House. The owner was American and his wife was from Thailand. $25 a crab and you watched him pull your crab out of the water, bring it up to the cooker, and serve right at the outdoor table. That was your lunch served with a beer or Thai Tea made fresh by his wife. AWESOME!

Stormy's was thankfully closed or I would have liked to try a Halibut Taco or a Reindeer Hot Dog but I was already full from crab. There were interesting wood carvings everywhere. Guess that is what they do during those long cold winter months. You have to look twice to see the Bear.

We saw lots of old and new Totems. I met some locals who were working on carving new ones. The local indigenous people are ensuring that their heritage is not lost. Some even make their own tools. I liked the totem honoring the US Military.

I loved this monument to the whales that traverse the Alaskan waters. I have to admit that the most I have seen of a whale is the water blow and a tail, but others here have seen more.

And now for a moment to appreciate the beautiful sunsets and an amazing double rainbow here in the beautiful state of Alaska. Isn't the double rainbow wishing us well on our departure beautiful? I didn't take the last 2 but a fellow resident did. Really gorgeous.

On to Juneau and a morning tour of the Mendenhall Glacier National Park. Cold and beautiful.

Back into town for lunch at the famous Red Dog Saloon. I had a great Red Dog Saloon Motherlode Cheeseburger, fries, beer, for about $25. And for dessert a DUCK FART! For only $8.50, it is served in a shot glass, so it is one slug and you are done. Bottom layer is Kahlua Coffee Liquor, then Baileys Irish Cream then topped off with Crown Royal. I laughed at their menu - under Liquor heading was listed: Cheap Shit (pretty good stuff!) at $7.50, then Regular Shit, then Expensive Shit, followed by Really Expensive Shit. Each about a dollar more than the previous one. A little bit of shopping and another pair of locally made earrings and it was time to head back home.

On to Skagway for another one day stop. A good lunch supporting the locals and a "Quickie Tour" of the Gold Rush Brothel which is upstairs and was in existence for many years and I got a garter as a souvenir. I don't think anyone would have ever said the girls were pretty, but they had to work too. Went to a really stupid show but at least it didn't cost much. The highlight at lunch was our "dessert" of a REINDEER FART! Do you see a theme here? It was better, in my opinion. Still Kahlua coffee liquor, then Baileys, but topped off with Peppermint Schnapps. "It's like Christmas in your Mouth". Yum.

After the Inside Passage, we landed in Homer. (indigenous name is Ninilchik). I thought it was cool to visit there because Don would have enjoyed this whole adventure and his middle name was Homer. Homer is famous as the Halibut Capital of the World (OK?) and they gave me a Certificate of Arrival at the End of the Road (Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins). I think its claim to fame is that it is the City of Peonies. They grow more Peonies here than anywhere else. It was a long way out of town so we didn't go to any gardens but they were growing all over town. Just beautiful. Interesting Pictures: The cruise ship dock was an absolute Seagull breeding ground - nests, eggs, babies. and lots of poop! I was already getting hungry for my Tex-Mex but sadly Don Jose's was closed. And finally a warm day in Alaska - I was losing my tan and it was a great excuse to use my balcony for about an hour.

Then off to Anchorage and Kodiak. The focus of these 2 stops was re-provisioning for our LONG Pacific crossing - 11 days. You would have thought the entire ship was afraid of dying of starvation or thirst. The theme was "they won't have it in Japan, Korea, or ..?, so we better get it now." The picture of my stateroom is where all the Costco/Walmart/Target purchases were kept until the Pick-up truck 4 of us rented was returned. It was really funny and reminded me so much of my provisioning days on Cloud 9. Maybe that next island, in the Caribbean, might not have my favorite salsa! OMG, what shall I do? No Fritos Scoops, no Popcorn?.?? But I managed to store all my new purchases in the closets and under the bed, so all was good aboard the Odyssey.

In between these stops we saw lots of1glaciers (some caving), fjords, wildlife, whales and birds. It was all amazing and beautiful.

And, a friend found me my very own Tiara, so I am officially a member of the Tiara Bubbly Girls group. We meet on crossings, at the end of a shopping day, or just because it feels like a Bubbles Day, all wearing our Tiara's.

And just in case you think I might be getting bored with nothing to do all day long....we had a Bloody Mary/Maria morning with 20 of our closest friends. We met in the (Currently Closed) top deck restaurant for our morning soriee. We all brought vodka or tequila, a mix, some of the personal additions (pickled asparagus, olives, Worcester Sauce, Tabasco) and we all picked up a plate of crispy bacon from the Breakfast Buffet.

And one of our Bartenders did a demo of how he mixes his favorite drinks. I am also re-learning how to play bridge and I've taught even more people how to play Farkle and Canasta. See, it isn't all drinking and partying aboard the Odyssey. We are all to old for that.

In case you were wondering how long it took us to get to Hakodate, Japan it was 11 days and this many time changes. My body clock was going crazy. And the weather was weird - 11 days of solid fog. I saw the sun for maybe 30 minutes the entire trip.

July 27 3am ship time goes 1 hr back

July 28 3am ship time goes 1 hr back

July 29 17:30 Cross Intl date line (July 30) So we lost a day

July 31 3am ship time goes 1 hr back

Aug 1 3am ship time goes 1 hr back

Aug 2 no changes

Aug 3 3am ship time goes 1 hr back

Aug 4 3am ship time goes 1 hr back

Aug 5 3am ship time goes 1 hr back

Aug 6 no changes

Aug 8 arrive Hakodate

I have now arrived in Japan and will be leaving to go on a 12 day tour of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and the World's Fair. Hope y'all are having as much fun as I am. I'm just glad to finally be in warm weather again.