Alaskan cruise: return

The cruise ship was docked in Seattle when Tammy and I got out of bed Saturday, September 24.  After eating breakfast we left the ship around 9:30 am.  There weren't many passengers on the ship when we left.  The final departure time for people to be staged off the ship was 10 am.  The ship felt odd and lifeless with so few people on it.

My uncle Curt paid for the limo service to have a town car drive us from the ship to his place.  Tammy accidentally packed the limo company's phone number in her luggage that was picked up overnight so it would be ready for her to get once we left the ship.  So she had to call Curt in the morning to get the limo company's phone number.  When she called the limo company she discovered the driver was already at the dock and was driving circling around looking for us.  We told him we wouldn't be off the ship for another 90 minutes or so.

Finding our luggage wasn't hard.  Waiting for our town car to arrive took a while as there were so many vehicles and people waiting to be picked up.


Tammy left for home Sunday morning.  I left Monday afternoon after having breakfast with my uncle Larry and aunt Diane.  Larry took me to the Tacoma train station.  Larry had overestimated the amount of time it would take us to get to the train station so we arrived plenty early.   That turned out to be good as the train between Portland, Oregon and Seattle was delayed.  So that I would be on time for the train leaving from Seattle, the Amtrak official put me on a Trailways bus going to Seattle.

There were four of us, including the driver, on the large bus.  Talking with one young woman I learned she was taking the bus all the way to Spokane.  She wasn't taking the train from Seattle as the Department of Corrections would only pay for a bus trip.  I never asked where she came from and why.

It was overcast and raining and I read during the journey.  Just outside of Seattle the driver slammed on the brakes and shouted "No! No!  No!  No!  No!" as the bus slid on the wet pavement.  The traffic in our lane of the freeway had stopped suddenly and the bus slid and slid as we were going downhill when the driver slammed on the brakes.

A red car was stopped in front of us and I watched as the car got closer and closer and then disappeared below the bus's front window.  I thought we had stopped just in time only to feel a bump as we slid into the car.

The bus stopped.  As the driver was asking if we were ok the woman in the red car drove off.  What? Where's she going? She was lost in traffic before she signaled and pulled over to the right shoulder.  The car that had been in front of her car pulled off the road behind her and the bus then moved to the shoulder behind them.  We were delayed as everyone looked their vehicles over, exchanged insurance information and took photos of the vehicles.  No one appeared to be hurt.

I felt sorry for the bus driver as he seemed to be a real nice guy.  He had been allowing for plenty of room in front of the bus to the vehicles ahead of the bus.  But I think it was a combination of the traffic stopping, and suddenly, plus the wet pavement and being on a downhill section.  Take any of the elements away and the bus would not have hit the car.

After the accident another young woman came from the back of the bus up to the front where the other woman and I were sitting.   She was traveling with her baby daughter who was sleeping.  She was also going to Spokane by bus.  Both women seemed nice, but neither were the sharpest stick in the woodpile.

Because I was way early at the Tacoma train station, this delay didn't hurt.  I was still at the Seattle train station well before the train left.

Our train car was a little over half full but I was able to get two seats for myself.  This was good as I had came down with a cold the day I left the cruise ship.  The cold was serious by the time I took the train home.  I slept good on the train only waking up a little before the train arrived in Whitefish.

And then I was home as my neighbor Jan came and got me.  Once home I slept most of the day as I was still suffering from my cold.

Alaskan cruise: Day 7 - sunset

The sun was setting by the time we returned to the ship.

Near the ship was a long walkway.   Even though we had walked all around Victoria, we walked out in the walkway to watch the setting sun and see the ship from another angle.

The bright light in the middle at the top of the ship is a large outdoor movie screen.  Tammy and I never watched any movies there as the weather was so poor much of the time.

Alaskan cruise: Day 7 - Downtown Victoria

The Empress Hotel.

Curt told me the name of the leaning tree, but I forgot it.

Pedestrian street.

On the pedestrian street we saw a handful of vendors.  While we sat and rested, this fellow who sold leather belts, packed up his supplies and tent (just like the white tent on the right side of the photo).  He put everything into these boxes and bags.  He then loaded them into his cart, attached the cart to his bicycle, then headed for home.

Manscape spa?  No thanks.

This is a men's bathroom on a city street corner.  There is only a urinal inside.

The entrance to Chinatown.  There is not a whole lot of interesting stores on this street.  The entrance and some nearby statues were more interesting.  The Red Dragon photo I took when I visited Victoria in 2008.  I tried to take a similar photo this year but either a wino was loitering near the statue and sneakily filling a can with liquor from a bottle in his backpack, or later a woman was videotaping her kids climbing on the statue.

Street art for money.  On another street I saw three young men sitting and laying on the sidewalk with a homemade cardboard sign saying "Need money for weed".  I didn't get their photo as I didn't want to be obliged them to give them money.

This character was sleeping.  I love his beard.

In 2008 I was fooled by this "statue".  At the time I muttered about Victoria appropriating a symbol of the American West - a cowgirl - for a statue when they should instead have had a sailor statue or something similar.  Then the statue moved.  This was street art and this is how she made money.

I had told Tammy the story of the cowgirl and how I was fooled.  This year as we walked by the "statue" in the following photos Tammy asked me if this was a statue or a person like the 'cowgirl'.  I looked as I walked by, and seeing no strings on the guitar, came to the conclusion this was a statue.  Tammy kept an eye on the statue and saw that it moved from a standing position to this sitting position.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  I should have known better.  And what does having or not having strings on a guitar have to do with it being a statue?  Duh.

People wanted to contribute but didn't know where to put the money. They would walk up to him and ask him.  He would slightly motion to the open guitar hole with a couple fingers.

On our harbor walk back to the ship Tammy and I passed this cute little car.

Alaskan cruise: Day 7 - Totem Poles

Inside Beacon Hill Park is the world's tallest totem pole at 127 ft 7 inches. It was carved from a single tree in 1956.  The black base at the bottom is 6 feet tall.  I know, I stood next to it for a photo.

Just outside Beacon Hill Park, on the way to downtown, is the Victoria Thunderbird Park.  Tammy and I looked at some of the totem poles there. 

Someone else's photo that shows the context of my previous photos.

Alaskan cruise: Day 7 - Beacon Hill Park

According to my Uncle Curt, the green tree is called a monkey tree.

We came across several peacocks sitting high up a large tree with smooth bark.

Lots of ponds with ducks are in the park.

The Park looked to have a small mini-golf course.

Alaskan cruise: Day 7 - ocean walk

Friday, September 23, we stopped at Victoria, British Columbia.  Originally we were suppose to arrive at 7 pm.  However, due to not stopping at Ketchikan, Alaska the previous day, we arrived at Victoria around noon.  We had to be back on board the ship at 11 pm so that gave us a nice long day to enjoy Victoria.

Finally we had sun.  And warm temperatures!  The temperature was in the low 70s F.

Tammy and I didn't go on any excursions.  Instead we walked around town all day.  In the map below, we walked along the ocean shore from the "You are here" marker on the left side over to Beacon Hill Park on the right.  Then we walked up through the park to downtown Victoria up to Chinatown.  Then back downtown and along the harbor back to the ship.

Washington State (The U.S.) and Olympic National Park mountains in the background.

Our cruise ship.

Along the ocean shore I picked and ate some late season blackberries from plants that were growing wild.

Near Beacon Hill Park is mile zero of the Trans-Canada highway.  This marker is in a corner of the park.
 

Alaskan cruise: Day 6

Thursday September 22 we spent all day at sea.  We were suppose to visit Ketchikan, Alaska but the weather and waves convinced the ship's captain to change course and skip our stop at Ketchikan.

Apparently the weather forecast had numerous low pressure systems in the Gulf of Alaska and we were forecast to have winds up to 80 mph and big waves.  Lots of people were lined up to buy Dramamine.  Later I heard that the ship ran out of Dramamine to sell people.  I also saw quite a number of people with patches behind their ear to ward against seasickness.

As soon as we left Glacier Bay the previous day the waves increased.  Instead of dropping the Glacier Bay National Park rangers and naturalist off near the entrance to the Park, they stayed on the ship.

While the seas were a little rougher, they didn't affect the ship nowhere near as bad as when we sailed up to Juneau.  Perhaps it was because it looked like the ship was hitting the waves head on and not at an angle.

In the end, whether it was because the fears were overblown or because the ship's course minimized the waves' effect, the sailing was relatively smooth.

The ship was able to drop off the Park employees onto a boat near Ketchikan even if the cruise ship did not stop at Ketchikan.

Because of the ship's schedule change, Tammy's Tastefully Simple/Homemade Gourmet group held their three meetings (two educational and one farewell get-together) this day instead of spreading the meetings over three days as planned.   A number of the Tastefully Simple/Homemade Gourmet people were into karaoke singing.  They had entered the ship's "Pop Princess" karaoke contest. For the farewell get-together, the Tastefully Simply officials arranged for a karaoke machine for the party and it was used the entire time.

Since this was another day at sea, the evening dinner was another formal dress night.

In the evening Tammy and I were busy attending several shows.

The show in the following photo was actually from the previous night. The ship's employees starred in a talent show.

The following photos are from one of the shows we watched Thursday night.  This one was a salute to songs from the British Invasion.  The songs went from the 1960s to the present.  The show was very good.

This was to songs from the Beatles "Sgt Pepper" album.

Then we watched the finals of the "Pop Princess" karaoke contest.  Here are the six people who performed in the finals. They all were very good.

The winner was the one person from the Tastefully Simple/Homemade Gourmet group who made it into the finals.   The audience voted for the winner.

Our room was near the art gallery.  These are some of the pictures we saw on the wall leading to our stateroom.