August 31st, 29th day OTR

We have arrived in Needles, California for the night.  It was another day of lots of driving but this state is so big you don't get anywhere fast.  Currently the temperature is 99F and is not due to cool down too much

We drove Highway 99 to Bakersfield and then got on the 58 to Barstow.  Much of our drive today was through the Mojave Desert, a whole lot of nothing. 

At Tehachaphi, there were hundreds of windmills on the hills.  We also discovered that this town exists for the prisons it contains.  We passed the town of Twenty Mule Team and yes, they mine borax there.  We saw lots of Joshua trees.

In Barstow, after a stop at Walmart to replace our cheap styrofoam cooler we got off the Interstate and onto old Route 66.  We drove about 100 miles of it, in fair shape, and counted maybe a dozen cars.  At times you can see the interstate on one side or the other of the old Mother Road.  In Ludlow we stopped at a Dairy Queen for ice cream and after we left here we were stopped at a railway crossing by a 121 car train.  that is about the average length for trains here.  You see them passing each other on the tracks and you sure hear them at night!!  We also drove past an old volcanic crater at Amboy.  There are lots of lava fields around us in this part of the desert.

We are on one side of the Needles campground and there is no one else over here.  The RVs are on the other side.  If you don't remember the Route 66 song and reference to Needles, it is also the place where Snoopy's brother lived!!  Haven't seen him, though.

August 30 28th day OTR

Today's planned outing was to drive up to the Seqouia National Forest.  We stayed at the Fresno KOA which is still a work in progress but it was at the right place last night after a long drive and an even better place this morning for the trip up to Sequoia.

The climb on Highway 180 is not bad, windy but not anything worse than we have already driven.  We went to King's Canyon to see the General Grant tree.

We took several short hikes, always taking Otto;s knee into consideration.  We had our picnic lunch at Museum of the Giants and then proceeded down the other side of the mountain.  Well, we were in for a treat.  And not in a good way.  198 down the other side of Sequoia is a winding, hairpin curve kind of mountain that eats brakes.  We got part way down and were stopped by construction.  Our brakes were overheating so badly that the flagman came over to tell us that our 45 minute wait would cool them down and then to use only low gear.  What a ride that was.

We got to the KOA on the downside at Vasila and Otto immediately cracked open a beer, then two.  And we went for a swim.  If you have never smelled over heated brakes, it is not a pretty thing.  After this trip is over we will have the brakes checked before our next big drive.

Sequoia was interesting, especially once we were driving through the Big Trees but I am still more impressed with the redwoods.  The only thing is, Sequoias can only grow in a very specific climate and soil and a narrow strip of the Sierra Nevadas is the only place they grow.  I am glad we went even with the brake issue.  There are claw marks in the dashboard that I will have to try to remove before we can trade the van in.

Tomorrow we head for Needles and a little bit of old Route 66 and Vegas on the weekend.

August 29th 27 day OTR

We had planned on going to Lassen Volcano National Park but were forwarned that the campsites up there were closed because of forest fires and possibly the park itself.  So we decided to head down to Fresno and Sequoia National Park.  Once we reached Redding CA, the smoke was quite thick and we were happy with our decision.  The smoke didn't actually clear until Sacramento. We started the day at 8C and would end the day at 36C.

Highway 299 is a good round but windy so it took is quite a while to get to Redding.  The highway runs along the TRinity River for many miles.  This is considered Big Foot Territory but we didn't see him or her? 

The only exciting thing that happened today was on one of our rest stops.  The California Sherriff's dept was taking a LOT of prisoners somewhere and they were here taking a potty break.  Well, there was a line up at the mens.  Otto got a personal escort from a sheriff to the head of the line.

Since it was a total driving day I will take this opportunity to post another picture of the Redwoods.  They are just magnificent.

New growth over old

August 28 26th day OTR

Wow, is all I can say.  This was a WOW type of day.  We drove through the Redwoods, specifically through Jedediah Smith Redwood Forest.  I could post 100 pictures and the enormity of the trees would not come across. 

We took one trail through the forest, actually an old stagecoach trail.  At times there was barely room for the car to get through the trees and at other times there wasn't much space for two cars to pass.  Our necks were sore from looking up.  We walked the trail at Stout Grove and stood beside some fallen trees.  Words actually fail me so let me post a picture of one of these giants, a fallen one at that.

Our tent was wet this morning, not from rain but from the heavy fog that rolled in overnight.  The trees just dripped with moisture.  We are currently in Eureka California and there are no trees at this KOA so the tent has dried out.  We stopped early afternoon and had a chance to do laundry as well.

Part of our driving on Highway 101 today was above the clouds and then sometimes we were in the clouds.  This made for no photo opportunities on the coast - it was usually shrouded in fog.

Tomorrow we head inland to Highway 99 for the trip down the spine of California.  We will take Hwy 299 across - this is also marked as a scenic route.

I have been able to add most of the pictures I wanted to add to the link at the top of this page.  All of the Alaska pictures are posted, some Oregon and a few California.  I am out of allowed space until Sept 1 so no new pics will be added before then.

August 27 25th day OTR

Well, we slept in the car.  It didn't stop raining until late and then the ground was too wet.  I proved to Otto that we didn't have too much stuff along since I was able to arrange everything so we could stretch out comfortably.  See the proof here:

 

We are moving in and out of fog this morning.  We have stopped along the roadside a few times and wanted to stop at the Ocean Dunes State Park for the sand dunes, but it was too foggy to bother to pay the day use fee.  We have a few more miles of dunes before we leave them behind.

 

More later.  Also, I have posted some pictures to the link above and will add more.  Thanks to advice from a friend who also uses Flickr about how to upload differently.  I will add more as I have time per stop.

 

We picked up food in Reedsport and ate at Bastendorf Beach County Park.  We drove on Cape Arago Highway and drove 14 scenic miles - much closer to the water than US 101 and quite scenic.  However, the fog rolled in along the way and often we couldn't see the coast.  That is freaky when there is nothing but fog on your right hand side!!  One bridge we crossed said it was the highest bridge in Oregon but Otto wondered how you could appreciate that if the whole thing was shrouded in fog!!

 

At Simpson Reef we saw and heard the sea lions.  Lots and lots of them.

 

 

We have stopped in Crescent City, California for the night.  The campground has a notice posted that this is the safest place to be in Crescent City in case of an earthquake or a tsunami. Most of the tent sites are deep in the woods beside large trees and larger still, stumps of trees that have fallen.  We chose a site on the fringe, beside the play area.  Not a deep woods camper.

 

Tomorrow we will head for the Redwood National Forest and then head east at Eureka.  Now I am going back to post some more pictures to the link at the top.  Hopefully I can be caught up in a day or two. 

August 26 24th day OTR

We left our hosts around 9:30 this morning to head out to the coast.

Yesterday proved to be a long and eventful day.  We started in Mount Angel at the Abby,  and after we picked up our picnic lunch we drove to Silver Falls state park where we hiked to one of the 10 falls in the park.

We had a beautiful, sunny day with a temp of 22C.  Great walking weather.  Today is cloudy and cool.

last night we took our hosts out to dinner at their favourite restaurant, a converted hotel.  We ate on the rooftop bar and finished with drinks in the cellar bar.  Great evening.  With last night's driving and yesterday afternoon's driving we covered a lot of county roads in this part of Oregon.

Not only do they grow hops in this area but also garlic, onions, broccoli and christmas trees.  The agriculture variation alone was worth all the driving.

Today we need to stop early to get some food for cooking tonight and to do some laundry, our bedding which has been sitting in the car for two weeks.  We reached the Oregon coast around noon and found a Safeway, a McDonald's and a few miles down the road, a WalMart for propane. 

We are at the KOA in Waldport, Oregon and I can see the ocean from the car.  Yes, I said car.  It is raining and it looks like it won't stop for awhile.  We have not set up the tent and won't until it stops raining.  If it continues to rain, we will move stuff around and just sleep in the van.  Nothing worse than getting wet and damp in a tent.  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny along the Oregon coast and Tuesday along the northern California coast so that sounds better already.

Dinner tonight will be salad and pork chops on the camp stove, along with some excellent crusty buns from Safeway.  Keep you fingers crossed that it stopped raining!!

August 25 23rd day OTR

We spent a few hours at the Woodburn Factory Stores late yesterday afternoon. The traffic into and out of Portland was quite heavy and we did not get to Woodburn until 3:30pm.  Oregon has no sales tax but I didn't find anything that was a bargain.  The shopping complex is nicely laid out with some covered areas and some open areas.

Around 6 pm we drove to Gervais Oregon to meet with someone connected with my geneology research group.  She had invited us to spend two nights with them.  What a joy Leah and Ed are.  And so gracious to open their home to us.  One of the first things we did was take a tour of a hop growing operation.  The hop picking season has started.  It is quite an operation to get the hops (a perennial plant) cut, stripped, dried and packed for the breweries.  It is somewhat labour intensive even though the cutting, drying and packing is done by machine.  The plants must be hung on a conveyor belt to feed through the machines.  It makes me appreciate beer flavour more having seen this operation.

Feeding the hop plants for stripping

This morning we drove to Mount Angel.  There is an Oktoberfest here around the 16th of September and the Donau Schwabian researchers usually attach a meeting to it.  We wanted to attend but the date was too far away from our disembarkation and we will be home before the Fest starts.  Mount Angel is a little German town, really not very big.  There is also a Benedictine Abby and seminary on the hill.  There is a wonderful view of the Willamette Valley from the top of the Mount.

                                                                  Mount Angel Hotel

After our break this morning here at McDonald's we will head over to Silver Falls State Park to hike and view the waterfalls.  When we return to Gervais, we will take our hosts to dinner.

Tomorrow we head to the Oregon coast and get started on the trip home.

August 24 22nd day OTR

Well, we are back on solid ground.  we left the ship at 9 am and drove south out of Seattle towards Portland.  We managed a self guided tour of downtown Seattle by missing the turn we needed but traffic was OK.

We sailed a total of 3675 Nautical miles which converts to 4230 statute miles or 6979 kilometers.  As of this morning our odometer read 4213 km so we have now travelled a total of 11,192 km.

I have posted a few more pictures into the blog but it will be early next week before I get some pictures onto the flickr page.  They will appear!!

So we will spend a couple of days in the Portland area and I won't post again until Sunday evening or Monday.  Thanks for following along.  We are well and the sun is shining.

August 23 21st day OTR 14th day OTS

Well, today is our last day on board. We will be stopping in Victoria from noon to about 11 pm. The trip to Seattle overnight will be short since we are just across the Straits of Juan de Fuca from Seattle.

We had our disembarkation talk this morning along with the crew farewell. They had many of them up on the stage and then sang “Love in any language” . It sounds hokey when you write it but it is always a moving experience. We spoke with one young lady in the bar who was also on the world cruise and she said when those passengers left after 112 days many of the crew cried because they had gotten to know them so well.

I have an invitation to meet with the Hotel Manager this morning for feedback about the cruise in general and our meet and greet in particular. Holland America Line works very hard to understand its passengers and improve from cruise to cruise.
 

Inner harbour and legislative building in Victoria

Victoria weather was sunny and around 68F, so warmer than we have seen for a couple of weeks but it was very windy. Lots of flowers all around. We walked into the old city, near the legislature and down to Chinatown.

August 22, 20th day OTR 13th day OTS

Well, we changed the clocks forward last night, back to Pacific Time and managed to sleep in until 8:45 this morning.

Dinner at the Pinnacle last night was quite good. Otto and I had steak, correctly done. Lots of serving dishes, lots of waiters, excellent crème brulee. This dinner was a birthday present for Otto from his sister and brother-in-law. Otto also got a chocolate mousse cake but we had them wrap it and will have it in the cabin this afternoon with some decaf coffee from room service. He also got a birthday card from the Captain this morning.

This is the last full sea day and there are deck sales everywhere. 89.99 watches for 19.99, $10 watches, scarves, ties (that price hasn't changed all week, Bijou Ternier) but it is amazing how people flock to them when they put them out on a deck sale.

Inge and Rufus went to their Mariners' Brunch for 11 am and we have our Mariners' Lunch at 1 pm. This will be our first Mariners' Lunch so I'll see how this is handled. Because it is a sea day, there are lots of things going on. We could watch the cast rehearse for the show tonight, we could listen to the environmental officer, we could take part in a bingo to win a cruise, we could take a virtual bridge tour, we could learn how to fold towels into creatures or learn how to buy a PC. And of course, there is always the Spa with body massages, facials, etc. We, however, choose to do nothing. We are up in the Crow's Nest watching the world go by. At 11:30 am we are still sailing west of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Soon we will have Vancouver Island on our port side. Unless you sail the length of Vancouver Island you really don't realize how big it actually is. We have driven across it but never the length of it.

As usual, they are having a fun run “On deck for the cure” for the Susan G. Komen for the cure effort. This always brings out lots of walkers on the Promenade Deck.

Tonight from 10:30 to 11:30 there is a dessert extravaganza. We won't eat but I do like to take pictures and we will have that opportunity at 10pm. As it turned out, I didn't take pictures and didn't eat supper, either, except for soup. Something didn't agree with me so I just stayed in the room. Inge did the same thing.

August 21 19th day OTR 12 day OTS

We are in Sitka today.  Otto did not come off the ship.  His knee was acting up so Inge, Rufus and I made our way ashore on the tender.  We walked the length of the town and then I sat down to use the wifi.  It is provided free of charge all over town by Radio Shack.  Howeve, I had to move to the library to get good reception.  Even there I am having problems downloading pictures.

Sitka was the capital of Alaska for awhile after the purchase from Russia and it was the Russian capital in Alaska.  A lot of Russian influence here - there is a Russian orthodox cathedral here.  It was free the last time we were here and now they are charging $5 and using the proceeds for upkeep.

Tonight we will go to the Pinnacle Grill to celebrate Otto's birthday, a day early.  The Pinnacle is a "pay extra" restaurant famous for their steaks.  Should be good.

We have a sea day ahead of us tomorrow but we will need to pack our bags.  Our last stop will be on Thursday at noon in Victoria - we are there until almost midnight since we are just across the bay from Seattle, where we will dock on Friday morning at about 7 am.

This will be my last post from the road.  My next post will be either on Friday afternoon or on Saturday when we are back on Terra Firma.  It has been a chore finding internet connections that work well and the ship connections are just too slow.  So know that we are well and will be in touch again on the weekend.

August 20 18th day OTR 11 day OTS

Well today is the big day. We sail into Glacier bay and see the Hubbard Glacier. Again, a fairly smooth sail across the Gulf of Alaska and now smooth sailing into the bay.

Disenchantment Bay – a name given to the bay by explorers who were looking for a north west passage and found a wall of ice instead. The Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in North America. It is 76 miles from Mount Logan in Canada to Disenchantment Bay. It is about 6 to 7 miles wide.

We had a great viewing day in Hubbard Glacier. We got cheese and crackers to the room – Inge's balcony room and enjoyed that with a glass of wine. I could post all the pictures I have and it would not give you the full impact of the sight and sound of this glacier. It is majestic. 

The Indonesian Crew put on a nice show for us but again at 11 pm. They just seem to enjoy being able to show off their talents.

We are running in the open ocean again but it is so calm. Cloudy, cool and calm, the three c's of cruising !!!

August 19 17th day OTR 10th day OTS

We had a quiet run down to Kodiak, even though the seas were rough. Since we were running with them and they had the stabilizers out you didn't feel any movement. Also, we are on deck one, midship, low and center, so it has the least movement anyway.

Sunday in Kodiak was a quiet day. A few places were open but not much was going on. The McDonalds where I had hoped to connect was without power. When they came back on, they didn't get online so no wifi running. Also, they only took cash since the credit and debit needs the same connection as the wifi. This was disappointing but nothing to be done. I feel more sorry for the crew who have time ashore here and can't connect. They get a little bit of a deal from the ship but the internet is expensive for them even at the reduced rate.

 

Octopus made from sea garbage

 

We walked into town along the harbour road where all the fish processing plants are. It wasn't far but it was noisy with all the refrigeration units running. The town is not very big and since it was Sunday, it was also very quiet. We did go into the Russian Orthodox Church after the service was over.

August 18 16th day OTR 9th day OTS

We docked in Homer this morning at 10 am. We are in the deep water dock at the Homer Spit. The town itself is about 6 miles away and you can buy a shuttle to town but the Spit itself will keep us busy for a couple of hours. We won't go out until after lunch when most of the guests on tours will be off the ship already. This is another opportunity for a good walk, about a mile, just like in Icy Strait.

The travel guide on board, Jeanette – an Anchorage native – says you can't say you have been to Homer unless you go to the Salty Dog Saloon, so that is one of our stops for today. Pictures will follow at some point, I promise.

Tonight's movie is The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep. If we can stay awake until 10pm we will go see it. I'll let you know if we succeeded. Otto, Inge and Rufus made the movie, I slept.

We walked over to the Homer Spit and walked along it. The end of the spit is the end of the Sterling Highway. There are campgrounds on the spit and lots of RVs. We even saw tents pitched on the sand. We visited some of the stores that sell Alaskan made handcrafts and stopped at the Salty Dog Saloon. The inside of the saloon is plastered with one dollar bills and people write messages and greetings on them.

It started to rain so we went to the shuttle bus stop and waited for a bus back to the ship. The captain said it would be rough on the way down to Kodiak so they would put out the stabilizers.

Beach camping on the Homer spit - too rough for me!!!

August 17th 15th day OTR 8th day OTS

We are in Anchorage today.  We docked at a cargo port and had to take a bus to town.  Anchorage is about 300,000 people and the sun is shining today.  However, it is cloudy on the horizon and we cannot see Mount Mckinley (Denali).

We saw a very well done film about the  Aurora Borealis.  We are not likely to see it in real life right now - we seem to be in the wrong season.  Will post some Anchorage pictures at my next opportunity.

Tomorrow we are in Homer and on SUnday we are in Kodiak, as far down as we go on the Aleutian Islands.

More later.

Anchorage: We took the HAL shuttle into town since we are docked at a container port and no one can walk out. We had a retired school teacher as our guide for the ride in. She pointed out various things and did a good job on the short jaunt. Once we got into town, someone ran in front of the bus and the driver had to brake quite hard. Our guide, who was neither sitting down nor holding on, was thrown into the driver's well. Thankfully she was not hurt and also, thankfully, she fell on her good hip, not the one that had the hip replacement

There were flowers everywhere and they were so beautiful. Obviously, Anchorage had had enough rain for them to grow and it got just warm enough to keep them beautiful. What we didn't see were birds. Not sure where they were but we didn't even see them in the port.

Tides in Anchorage run about 40 feet. They are second only to the tides in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick. When the tide was out, we had 12 feet of water under our keel. You can believe we were sitting on mud. The tidal flats here are like quicksand, not like the Spanish Banks in Vancouver where you can walk on them at low tide. In the early evening, we watched the tide come back in very quickly, several feet every few minutes.

The Filipino Crew put on a song and dance show at 11pm. They did a good job. This was a smaller cast than we have seen on other crew shows, but then not everyone wants to perform, nor should everyone perform!

Late show = sleep in tomorrow. We are not due into Homer until 10 am anyway so that should be OK. We left Anchorage late, about 10:45pm. Six people came back by taxi at 10 pm but I think there was also a HAL tour that was late. I watch these late people and just marvel at how they think the world owes them the duty of waiting for them. One couple stopped on the gangway and carried on a conversation before entering the ship. The other group got off the taxi, yelling “we are so bad” - yes, you are. All aboard time was 9:30pm. Last bus from downtown was at 9pm. How is that not clear??

August 16th 14th day OTR 7th day OTS

Well, we are halfway through this cruise. A week from tomorrow we will disembark. Today is a sea day, all day on the water sailing form Ice Strait Point to Anchorage. For the first time in a week, we have not had fog when we woke up, but it is cloudy and the Captain says we may have rain this afternoon.

We were lazy this morning and did not get up until after 8 am. This is the first time we have been able to sleep in. No idea why we feel the need to get up early since we don't leave the ship before 10am after all the tours have departed. Anyway, today may bode well for extra sleep. We need to store it up since campground days are early days and in a week we will be camping again.

Because this is a sea day, there are many activities going on for the passengers and of course there is always Bingo!! Here it is 11 am and all I have done is have breakfast and a shower. Lazy day!!!

I expect not much will be accomplished today, maybe a walk around deck at some point, and that will require a coat and long pants. Temps have stayed around 60F or less, even when the sun is shining. An Alaskan we have spoken to has told us they have not yet had a summer.

We received an invitation to a cocktail party with Captain Mercer for this evening, or in our case, an after dinner drink party. Will be interesting to see what they do. The invitation requests that we refrain from shaking hands to avoid transmission of germs. This was a VIP party and I can only surmise that we were invited because of the Meet and Greet I arranged on board. The party was quite nice with hot and cold appetizers, champagne, wine, mimosas. About 100 people showed up in the Explorer's Lounge. The staff mingled and talked to everybody.

The sea remains very calm and at times almost like glass.  I am going to post a couple of additional pictures on this post since there isn't much to tell.

Friday we will be in Anchorage.

Alaska wildflowers

Our eagle, with nest and a young eagle - Icy Strait Point

August 15 13th day OTR, 6th day OTS

The sun shone all day in Juneau. We cast our lines at 10 pm and slid silently out of the harbour. The Celebrity Millennium left before us as did the Princess ship. Not sure when the NCL Pearl left.

This morning we are anchored off shore of Icy Strait Point, Hoonah, Alaska. This is a Tlingit (pronounced Klinkit) settlement. The shops are all owned by natives so we will see what “Made in Alaska” items we can find.

Icy Straight Point is a tender port. We cross to the point on the small tender ships which are also the life boats in an emergency. It was quite foggy in the morning but by 10 am the fog had lifted enough to see in front of your face, so we made the trip over.

There is a very well laid out salmon cannery display in the old canning factory. Along with that are some shops which sell handcrafted Alaska items and some of the artists are working on their crafts in the shops. We walked the boardwalk as well to where the zip-rider ended. It was very quiet and relaxed since we were the only ship in port.

Hoonah is a small town about 1.5 miles from Icy Strait Point itself. We walked into town and were grateful for the exercise on land that wasn't moving. It is a very small town, built just beyond the tidal flats. Some people coming back from town told us where to find some native carvers and we did find them. They have an ongoing carving project – a screen for a tribal house that will be placed in Glacier Bay, the original home of the Tlingit people. The screen is finished and they are working on the house posts, basically small totem poles. They will also carve some totem poles before the project is finished.

We happened to be there when one of the town tours came through and stayed for the presentation. One of the carvers explained the significance of the symbols and when he was finished we were also presented with a dance that is used when the screen will be erected. Very nicely done.

The sun was out by this time and we walked a little farther along and found an eagle, a nest and a young eagle. On our walk back to the tender point, we saw a humpback whale. Later, sitting in the Crow's Nest, I saw a pod or Orcas swim by, three at least, and as they swam away it looked like two more joined them. Apparently there were sea lions on the starboard side of the ship and that brings out the Orcas.

The movie today was “One for the money” based on the Stephanie Plum series. It was very true to the book and quite enjoyable. I wonder if the rest of the books will be made into movies. Will be quite the series.

After we left Icy Strait Point, we were in the Gulf of Alaska. We will be sailing it all day Thursday as well. It was quite calm, surprisingly so and I hope that continues. This was a formal night at dinner, the 2^nd of 4. Normally, formal nights are sea days so not sure why they changed it since Thursday is a sea day but it all works out, either way.

additional pictures

I am still running into connection issues for additional pictures so there are not many extra pictures posted.  Most connections are too slow, or have too many people using them at the same time to upload pictures to Flickr.  I will keep trying, however, and may yet succeed!!

August 14, 12 day OTR 5th day OTS

We arrived in Juneau early this morning since we were only a few miles out. It was a very quiet sleeping night. There are to be five cruise ships here today so we opted to take an express bus out to Mendenhall Glacier first thing this morning before the crowds got there.

It continues to be sunny today. The Mendenhall has shrunk some 750 feet since my sister-in-law was here 10 years ago. It is still impressive.

We also watched some salmon trying to swim upstream to spawn. Part of the trail was closed since of course the bears are out in full force to feed.

We will stroll the town this afternoon and call this a good visit – so different when the sun is shining.

I mentioned in one of my earlier pages that there is no retail sales tax in Alaska. That is true but each city can add a tax to sales and that is done and called a borough and city tax. Just can't get away from the taxes, I guess.

My next post will be in a few days from Anchorage.  In the meantime we will visit Icy Strait Point and cross the Gulf of Alaska.  We hope for calm seas.

August 13 11th day OTR 4th day OTS

The next two posts are from the Juneau Public Library - free wifi!!

We have already been asked what time we would like to disembark, only 4 days in. Of course they need to plan how to move 1400 people off the ship fairly quickly, but it does seem fairly early. We chose between 9 am and 9:30 am with the thinking that by the time we got through customs and immigration and back to the car, the traffic on the interstate will have cleared somewhat. I'll let you know how it works!!

This morning we are on our way to Tracy Arm, a fiord. Unfortunately, the weather is cloudy, foggy and rainy. The crew has set up extra chairs in the Crow's Nest for viewing since I doubt the forward decks will be open.

Food has been plentiful, as it always is on a cruise ship. WE have been eating breakfast in the Lido and dinner in the dining room. I think I mentioned we have a great table for dinner, number 37, right in the middle of the dining room. The view, if there is one, is wonderful. Lunch we have alternated between the dining room, which is open on sea days, and the Lido, which always serves lunch. Today we will eat in the Lido and have a big salad.

We walked a couple of miles around the Promenade Deck this morning just to get some exercise. We were joined by a few other couples and some intrepid souls were even sitting on the deck chairs with blankets.

Once we got into the fiord, the front decks were open but it was damp and wet. We alternated between inside and outside. Tracy Arm is a very long fiord with the Sawyer Glacier at the end of it. We got very close before the captain turned the ship around.

Because Tracy Arm is so close to Juneau, we will spend the night anchored about 7 miles from Juneau. It will make for a very calm dinner and a quiet night sleeping, not that is has been at all rough. The sun finally came out as we were leaving Tracy Arm and we had a great sunset.

August 12 10th day OTR 3 day OTS

We arrived in Ketchikan this morning, coming up the Tongass Narrows from about 6 am on. We were docked at 8 am and the gangways were opened at 8:30 once the ship was cleared. All aboard time will be 4:30 pm. It is rainy with high fog today, again, and will reach about 60F. There is some hope that the sun will appear later today.

We got off and walked Creek Street, the old red light district. The sun never did come out but it was not raining so that was a plus.  We went back to the ship for lunch and then back to shore to a wireless cafe where the download speed was excellent.

My next posts will be from Juneau in a couple of days since tomorrow we see a glacier.

August 11, 9th day OTR, 2nd day OTS

Well, I caught up on my sleep. Went to bed at 8 pm last night and didn't get up until 7:30am. Our camping spot the last two nights before the cruise was very noisy with the traffic running almost at our heads. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. It was very quiet overnight. We have an inside cabin on the first deck and didn't even hear the fog horn. It was quite foggy this morning but is starting to clear.

We are traveling in the Pacific Ocean on the west side of Vancouver Island, about 20 miles out to sea. We will head inside soon and travel some of the Inside Passage to reach Ketchikan tomorrow morning.

At 11 am we had our Meet and Greet. Forty people were registered and all but 15 showed up. The Cruise Director Michael was there for most of the meeting and the Hotel Manager and one other office also showed up. A lot of the group stayed until 12:30 – they were enjoying the conversation so much.

We ate lunch in the dining room. I had tilapia and Otto had macaroni and cheese. We walked a couple of miles around the ship in the afternoon and then went for a tea. Kathy and David from Orlando joined us.

For dinner Otto had Beef Wellington and I had stuffed quail. The quail was quite good but far too much work to eat. They are so tiny. We went to the Captain's champagne welcome and stayed for the production show – Dance the night away. It was well done and the costumes were very nice and suited to the various dance numbers.

Our ride so far has been very smooth even though we are in the north Pacific Ocean. Let's hope it continues when we cross the Gulf of Alaska, again open ocean. We will stay behind some islands for a day or so and should be calm until we leave Juneau at least.

August 10, 8th day OTR, 1st day OTS

Just a couple of naming conventions to make my titles easier – OTR on the road OTS on the ship

We left the campground around 10 am and drove into or rather through Seattle to get to Pier 91. However, we missed our exit, Western Avenue. There was a lot of traffic exiting and we avoided it, that is the travel, and missed our exit. Well, this sent us off into The Queen Ann district with no easy way down to the water. We stopped and talked to a tree trimming crew who happened to have a detailed city map book. They gave us directions to the water out of the residential maze and we found our parking lot.

                                                           leaving Seattle

We grabbed the next shuttle over to the port, checked in with minimal delay but had to wait until 11:30 before we could board the ship. Once on board we were able to access our rooms right away. We dropped out handbags and set out to find lunch and explore the ship.

For the first 48 hours of any cruise, all food is served by the staff even in the Lido buffet. This helps the cruise line establish whether they have a sick ship or not. So we walked the buffet line and grabbed a bite to eat.

Mandatory safety drill was at 4:15 pm. We are no longer required to wear our life jackets to the drill but they do require everyone to be quiet and pay attention. They take attendance and people who don't come up for the drill are escorted off the ship. Since the Costa Concordia incident, the cruise lines have become quite serious about making sure everyone attends the drills.

After the drill we retired to Inge and Rufus' balcony cabin for cocktails and sail away. Our dinner seating was 5:45pm and we have a window table midway along the stern of the ship. We have a very nice view of where we have been.

As always, there are many choices for dinner. I had salmon with a ginger reduction and Otto had the rainbow trout. Holland America now has a new vegetarian menu – you get to look at it the day before and order from it. However, there are always vegetarian choices on the regular menu as well. The salads are always nice. The desserts were underwhelming for the first day; we'll see if they improve.

August 9 7th day on the road

What a busy day we had today.  We started out with breakfast here at the KOA.  They have a reasonably priced meal, actually quite a number of choices.  That got us ready for our big adventure into downtown Seattle.

We took a city bus, #150 to be exact.  We walked about 1/2 mile to the Starbucks to catch it going downtown.  Cost is $2.25 a person one way and well worth it at double the price.  Parking is a pain and expensive in Seattle.

We got off at Pioneer Square.  This is old Seattle.  There is an underground tour here, which we took, that is quite interesting.  Seems after the city burned to the ground, the business district at any rate, it was rebuilt 15 feet higher.  That really is a very short version of what happened and if you google underground Seattle you will find some interesting information.  We were able to walk under the streets of current day Seattle and look into old stores, banks, hotels, etc.

From underground, or rather old ground level, we went to the top of the Smith building.  There is an observation tower on the 35th floor with  a great view to the Olympia Peninsula and Puget Sound and the city. The building has some of the last manually operated Otis elevators and the lobby has been beautifully restored with marble and brass.

From Pioneer Square we walked down to the waterfront and along the docks to Pike Place Market.  This market is huge and actually spreads over several buildings.  I have never seen so many flowers for sale and so reasonably priced.  We saw the fish stall where they throw the fish but they didn't throw any while we were standing there.  We had our lunch at Pike Brewing Co., a craft brewery.

From Pike Place Market we walked to the Space Needle and had a Starbucks (what else) coffee there.  We then walked back through Belltown to the Westlake center which is a bus and light rail hub.  Here we caught the 150 back out to Kent.

By this time Inge and Rufus had arrived and we took a picnic supper to their hotel and spent a couple of hours with them.  They were only 10 minutes away by car.  On our return to the KOA, we were treated to a spectacular view of snow topped Mount Rainier.

So tomorrow, we check in on the ship.  I will continue to write my blog but may not be able to post every day since internet connection on the ship is usually worse than dial up.  Check back frequently since I will post if I can get wifi when we dock.  Also, I am having problems downloading my extra pictures to Flickr so there aren't many at the top of this post.  I will add more if I can find a stronger internet connection.  Stay tuned.

August 8 6th day on the road

We started out with breakfast at McDonald's.  This one was special since it is in Leavenworth and therefore had to look German.  Judge for yourself.

We drove Highway 97 south back to Interstate 90 for a two hour drive to Kent, Wa.  The KOA for Seattle is here, just south of the city.

On Highway 97 we crossed through the Blewitt Pass with an elevation of 4102 feet.  On Interstate 90 we crossed the Snoqualmie Pass at an elevation of 3022 feet.  Temperature here was only 13C and we had fog in the pass.

This was a very short driving day and gave us a chance to do some laundry and to pick up the wine for the cruise - and my brother-in-law's natural peanut butter, now immortalized in this blog!! 

The weather on this side of the mountains is decidedly cooler and we have on long pants and sweatshirts.  It would be great sleeping weather if we weren't camped almost on the street.  This is a small KOA and right on a main road, although thankfully not a highway.  We have been promised that traffic slows down at night.  I will keep you posted.

Plan for tomorrow - take the bus into Seattle proper and visit the sights. 

August 7 fifth day on the road

It was a restless night in the Spokane Valley KOA.  A freight train came roaring past the campground every couple of hours.  We got up early!!!  So did everyone else.

This was a short driving day since we only had to do 310 km to Leavenworth, Washington.  We checked in at the KOA there and walked into town, about 1.5 miles.  Leavenworth was an old logging town that was broke when the logging industry when flat.  The town remade itself as a Bavarian Village and markets that summer and winter.  We ate Jaegerschnitzel, spaetzle and red cabbage at King Ludwig's and walked the main street.

The drive from the Spokane Valley to Leavenworth was quite nice.  We got off the Interstate and drove Highway 2 through a high plain.  The wheat was just being harvested and looks good.  I knew Washington was famous for apples but did not know that so much wheat was grown here.

Temps are still hot - 30C and it looks like another clear night.  Tomorrow we drive to the wet part of the state - Seattle.

August 6 fourth day on the road

We started out at 6 am this morning and the temperature was 16C.  By the time we stopped for the night we had gone as high as 33C, at fairly high elevations.  We drove 930 Kilometers today.  Yesterday's distance was about 790 Kilometers.

Just a housekeeping note.  You will see miles and kilometers, and celsius and fahrenheit.  I am posting the information in whatever system I obtain it.  For example, the car runs in kilometers but my road maps and the road signs are all in miles.  Most of my temps are from the car readout which is currently set to celsius. 

We had oatmeal at McDonalds for breakfast. It was quite good and loaded with fruit and nuts and certainly much better for you than an egg mcmuffin.  I can't remember if I mentioned this or not but we are not cooking on our way out to Seattle.  We eat breakfast at McDonald's, lunch is a veggie sub from Subway and supper is salad and whatever strikes our fancy, usually purchased somewhere along the way at a WalMart superstore.  We will cook our own meals on our trip back home.

There was certainly much evidence of random brush fires on our drive today.  And, there were salt deposits in many of the small ponds that were dried up.  A sign of the times, dry times, are the signs warning drivers not to throw cigarette butts out the window and also asking drivers not to pull on the grass when they pull on the road shoulder.  It is so dry that the heat from the exhaust could set the grass on firel

We saw our first "chain up" area today - a pull off so that you can stop and add chains to your tires for winter driving.  Don't think this will be a problem for us since the temperature was 28C at the first chain up area!!

At 10:59 this morning we crossed the continental divide at an elevation of 6393 feet.

Today was a long driving day but we are back on track to reach Seattle on time.  We gained an hour because we are on Pacific Time.  Here is a shot of our camp site in Spokane. The weather so far has held out for us and we have not had to set up the car for sleeping, always a bonus.

August 5 third day on the road

We didn't start out until 8 am this morning.  The morning temperature was 18C.  The day warmed up quickly, however and at 6 pm it was still 36C.

Our plan for today was to revisit Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota.  We first saw it in 1992 and it was a drug store and other vendors pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  Of course, that has changed and hotels and gas stations have sprung up around the drug store and around Wall.  Nostalgia - so much better when not revisited!!

There were lots of motorcycles in Wall and most were headed to Sturgis.  We passed by Sturgis on Interstate 90 and there were bikes and RVs everywhere. 

Our second stop for today was Devil's Tower in Wyoming.  Again, the motorcycles dominated.  There is a KOA just at the entrance to the National Monument and you couldn't park any more motorcycles there if you tried.

All of South Dakota was very dry, as is Wyoming.  We are stopped in Hardin, Montana for the night and will drive about 550 miles through the state.  So far, the only green we are seeing is the sugar beet fields because they are irrigated.

We have done this drive west (or east) a couple of time nows.  Especially when we drive west I can't help but think about the early settlers in their covered wagons and how they must have felt when they saw the mountains beginning to loom in the distance.  We saw the Bighorn Mountains today, always to the west of us (Interstate 90 curves north at that point).  The highest peak is about 11,000 feet.  Imagine trying to find a pass through those mountains.  Even with the extreme heat we have had there are still snow patches at some of the peaks!!

It will be another warm night.  Tomorrow we should be around Missoula Montana in the mountains and hopefully it will cool off a little there.

As of yet there are no extra pictures posted on my link above.  I am having problems downloading my pictures to Flickr.  I may take a couple of tries before something shows up there.  Sorry about that.

August 4 second day on the road

We got a 7 am start today.  It was cloudy and cool, only 24C and we did run into rain today but no storms.  They were south and west of us.  Some people here at the campground that have come in from Missouri did run into some heavy storms. 

We were on Interstate 80 for the first part of the day today.  When we took the cutoff of 680 to reach Interstate 29 north, we stopped at a scenic outlook.  We climbed the fire tower but the winds were so strong we didn't go all the way up.  Not only were the winds strong, but they were cold.  Temperature dropped to about 16C for a time. 

Once we got to South Dakota and Interstate 90 the temperature started to climb again and we made it to 34C.  The winds did not die down and it was hard to put up the tent tonight.  Forecast for tonight is mid 50s F!!  Warm pajama time for sure.

Interstate 29 is part of the Lewis and Clark trail.  We have already driven I29 farther north on previous journies to Winnipeg!!

The state motto of South Dakota is "Great Faces Great Places" and has a picture of the Mount Rushmore faces.  Neat.  We actually thought about going to Mount Rushmore again just to see what has changed but we won't - I found out where all the motorcycles are going.  Sturgis , SD.  They expect about 500,000 bikes there next week.  And guess where Sturgis is - Black Hills, near Mount Rushmore.

We did revisit Mitchell, South Dakota and the Corn Palace.  I will post some picutres tomorrow.  This is a basketball arena that is decorated on the outside with only parts of the corn plant.  The pictures they make change every year except in years of drought. They haven't decided yet if they will change for next year.

There is a drought here.  We have seen some terrible looking corn, very dry meadows.  Some corn has been harvested already because it was in such poor shape.  We also saw fields of sunflowers along Interstate 90 but they, too, look small.  They are both shorter and the heads are much smaller than normal.

So, we will prepare for a cool night. The sky is clear and the sun is shining.  It is 6:30 pm Mountain time.  We decided that going west we were getting younger by the day.  Unfortunately, coming home we will age again.

August 3 First day on the road

I am a day behind in my posting since last night's KOA did not have a strong wifi signal and we also drove much longer than expected.  I will try to catch up today and then stay caught up!!

We got an early start this morning but ran into traffic at the bridge so we didn't cross into Michigan until 6 am.  Traffic was light.  We stopped in Marshall Michigan at the Denny's.  When we first visited here in 2006, it was decked out as a Route 66 diner.  This morning it just looked like a diner.  Sometimes you don't get repeats.

While the traffic was light, the weather was hot.  At 10:30 am it was 31C and by 1 pm it was 34C.  It would climb all the way to 38C.  It did cool off overnight.  We set up the tent but didn't clear the car for sleeping since it really didn't feel like rain.  There was a line of strong storms but they were moving more south and east from our location.  We ended up in Adel, IA.  The campground was full of RVs but there was a little room left for tents.  Twelve hours on the road was a little long today but we were very good and made several stops for naps and water.

The rivers we crossed, including the Mississippi, are very low.  Some of the smaller ones are almost dry.

Today's kilometer total was 1030km from home to Adel with no sidetrips.

We have been seeing, actually being passed by, many, many motorcycles.  will have to try and find out where they are going. For some reason, when we do a road trip, we always run into a lot of motorcycles.  I'll let you know where they are going once I find out.

with apologies to John Denver and Peter, Paul and Mary

All our bags are packed
We're ready to go
Car is waiting.......

Time to get this show on the road.  All the luggage and camping gear have been stowed and we are good to go.  We ended up taking out the back seats on the van so that we have that area to stow some of the camping boxes and the suitcases.  The suitcases won't have to be moved until we get to the dock in Seattle.

I've done a final check of the weather and while it can always change and will, it looks to be fairly good for our chosen route.  The weather in Alaska, however, has not been too great.  There is a couple on the cruise right now who are also posting to the Roll Call for the Amsterdam and it has been cool and cloudy.  Temps have been running only in the mid 50s F.  We have rain jackets and sweaters packed.  It will be quite a change from our weather here in the midwest.

Just a housekeeping note: several people reading my blog have mentioned that they tried to leave a comment but had to create a login to do that.  If you have my email address, just send any comments to me there rather than creating a login for yourself.   I will be picking up my emails when I write my posts, hopefully on a daily basis.

So, a good night's sleep, cereal with the last of the milk tomorrow morning, empty the garbage, lock the doors and off we go.

See you on the road!!