Diary Day 9

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

woke up around 5:30 but went back to sleep as we are sharing a room and I didn’t want to wake up the kids… I slept really well, and barely moved all night…

got out of bed around 7:30 and dressed in shorts for our day and checked email, Facebook and Pinterest… yay for reasonable wifi…

searched for a shoehorn and eventually found one…

had crepes in Pike’s market with goat cheese, spinach and herbs… then we walked around… my goodness it is big… blocks and blocks long and we were only on one level… gorgeous flowers everywhere and it smelled divine… we lost Ron, and Cyndi went searching for him a number of times…

had a piece of chocolate from a chocolate store and then had a lovely time wandering through the Seattle Art Museum…

ate and bought Fran’s Chocolate and had a nap back at the hotel… then on to Seattle Glass Blowing Studio to blow some glass… I wore new jammie pants with crabs on them because you were supposed to wear cotton and I didn’t have anything so bought them yesterday… made a purple float for the pond and Cyndi made a gorgeous bowl with flecks of orange in it… saw some beautiful glass in the shop…

after changing (or I wasn’t allowed to go!) we headed to Lola for dinner… then we picked up Brie and crackers and had a snack with wine in our room…

sorted out all our purchases and headed to bed… tomorrow is our last day in the USA…

Diary Day 8

01 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

arrived in Seattle and waited in a long line for a cab to our hotel… miserable driver who told us not to ask questions…

dropped our luggage and walked to Chihuly Garden and Glass where we spent hours walking around and taking pictures… AND we got to meet Dale Chihuly, talk with him and get a photo with him… I am ecstatic because I have loved his work for years… seeing it in person was beyond amazing… we had lunch in the Collections Cafe which housed a number of his personal collections… we saw accordions, dog bookends, Christmas ball ornaments, tin soldiers and vintage cameras and radios to name just a few… the food was excellent and the time flew by…

then we came back to the Warwick for a nap and walked to The Great Wheel… it is a 200 foot tall Ferris wheel and we all went up in it… I was rather scared but wore those darn big girl pants… followed by a ride on a purple horse on the carousel… shopping, a ride in a wagon behind a bike driver and then dinner out…

heading to bed where I may dream about beautiful glass…

20130531-231817.jpg

20130531-231839.jpg

Diary Day 7

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

got up around 8:30 and went to the solarium to watch the water and have a bite to eat… Cyndi found me and proceeded to spot a group of dolphins off the side of he ship and a whale… she has very good eyes…

we went and put a deposit on another cruise, which you can do without choosing a time or destination… we are thinking of the Caribbean down the road… I have to find a buddy to go with me…

headed back to the room to sleep as I woke up feeling like I had run into a wall… think it was the exertion of preparing and participating in the snorkelling… to explain how bad it was, I took drugs in an attempt to feel better…

slept for quite a while and then we went for lunch where Ron spotted one or two whales out the window… they were breaching but my camera was having trouble focusing so I didn’t get a picture…

went to look at all the pictures taken of us and spent ages choosing the ten we liked best…

had a lovely time in the hot tub and relaxing in the solarium…

packed up the suitcases and after supper in the Windjammer went to sit by the windows and have a last glass of wine…

I nearly know how to get everywhere and we get off the ship tomorrow morning, sigh…

Diary Day 6

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

woke up at 3 and went on deck to see stars… weren’t any as the sky was filled with clouds… back to bed till 6:30…

today we are in Ketchikan for our last stop on the cruise… the picture shows the overcast as we embarked from the ship in the morning… by the time we were back on board the sum was shining again…

had an early breakfast and put on swim suits for our excursion – snorkelling with Snorkel Alaska…

had a great time, hardest part was getting into the wetsuit, boots and gloves… swam through a kelp forest, saw star fish (lots of them were purple and most of the others were orange), sea urchins and schools of fish – maybe 4 or 5 kinds… the guides were great and gave excellent instruction… I wasn’t cold for even a minute which was fabulous…

back to the ship to drop off our stuff, lunch and into town for some final shopping… had a snack of Alaska King Crab and checked out a few stores, then back to the ship…

followed a well-deserved nap with a bit of time in the hot tub… my arms are especially sore from the snorkelling as I was holding onto a float the whole time, lol…

got dressed and went to dinner… tonight we had steak and lobster…

another presentation of the arial act we saw a few nights ago and now in my room ready for bed… been a long day…

looking forward to the day on the ship tomorrow as we head toward Seattle, our final destination…

Diary Day 5

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

set my alarm for 4:45 am and headed out on deck to watch as we entered Tracy Fiord and watched for icebergs…

quite a few people out and about but it was too early for the runners… the water filled with many little pieces of snow and ice as we got closer…

saw an amazing glacier where we did a 360 so everyone had a chance to see it… most people I have seen on the decks at once… the weather has been spectacular and the crew mention it often… sunny and warm when it is usually overcast and cool… most had never seen the glacier in sunlight and everyone keeps reminding us how special this trip has been…

had breakfast and the went on a tour of the galley with the procurement chef… his job is to ensure they have the right amount of food for every meal on the cruise (which is planned three months before) and to oversee its preparation… there are two very large galleys plus one for each of the dining rooms as well as for the crew… quite a system they go through to get the food out onto the table… great fun… I also received an autographed cookbook…

the kids had gone to a Make a Miracle walk to benefit kids with serious medical conditions…

when I was done I went and joined them for a half mile of the walk around the top deck… we got some great pictures and headed to lunch… For dessert we had a gorgeous chocolate cake with raspberries in it… yum…

napped and headed to bingo, where sadly we didn’t win a cruise, but one woman did:-)…

got dressed up for the formal dinner and took some pictures on deck before the meal…

there are photographers all over the ship taking pictures, but so far we haven’t found any that we really need to purchase..

the service is quite amazing… if you mention something that wasn’t quite right to a staff member the next person up the food chain is beside you within five minutes seeing what they can do to make it right… nearly everyone has a smile on their face and pleasant greetings… we missed one night at dinner and the next night both our wait person and their helper were telling us how they had missed us, lol…

after dinner we saw a production of Piano Man and then I went for a foot massage and pedicure…

currently listening to Finish That Lyric and then off to bed…

20130528-214552.jpg

Diary Day 4

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

got up fairly early and went on deck to get a few pictures of the port at Skagway… then headed back to the room to find that the kids had been looking for me so we could go for breakfast… apparently I was wearing my invisibility cloak as I sat reading, lol…

after breakfast we took a shuttle to town and did some shopping… tried on a beauuuutiful amethyst bracelet, but didn’t buy it…

back to the ship to catch a bus,to take us to the train, which took us to a little place where we heard about and watched a video about the Klondike days… then back on the bus for a two minute drive to the train station…

nice train ride up through the mountains where we caught a bus back to town and did some shopping…

back for a nap and then a lovely dinner and treated to a bottle of wine by our travel agent… followed by an arial show in the centre of the ship…

busy day…