We were in Skagway, AK for our first port day. Back in March, we scheduled a tour with Howard Mallory, a local who does private tours. Unfortunately, he had some health issues and had to cancel all of his tours for the summer. We looked at other private tours, but the costs were pretty high.

As we were looking for another excursion, we ran across Alaska Green Jeep Tours. We were able to rent a green jeep and drive around. The jeep rental place was in a popcorn shop. It smelled really good in there. They had all different types and flavors of popcorn.

All of the bigger jeeps were reserved, so we went with a smaller jeep. The front seats were fine, but poor Sarah had to scrunch into the back seat. Once she was back there it was not too bad, but it was very difficult to get in and out. After being back there for awhile, I think she did get a little claustrophobic.

We still had a great time along the way. The only problem was finding lunch. We got to a little town in the Yukon that had a tourist trap offering sled dog rides and lots of souvenirs. Unfortunately, they did not have a lot of regular food. They did have a couple of slices of veggie pizza, so we got those and shared. Sarah wanted to see the Husky puppies, so we paid for her to go back and play with them. She had a great time. She needed a puppy fix, because we had been away from our puppies for a week at that point.

When we got back to the ship, I dropped off Kate and Sarah along with our junk, and I took the jeep back. We were supposed to have a cooler full of iced down water in the jeep. When we looked, there was only one water and no ice. I said something to the person at the Green Jeep rental. He was apologetic and offered a couple of bags of popcorn. That was very nice of him.

I would highly recommend Alaska Green Jeep Tours. We really enjoyed the trip. However, if you plan to do it, pick up some sandwiches in Skagway for lunch. :-)

Dinner was back in Animator’s Palate. The theme was Frozen. The head waiters were dressed like Sven from the movie. They gave each of us a lighted snowflake necklace. We got the chance to try elk for the first time.

There was a Frozen party on deck, but we did not go. Instead, Kate and I went to see Tomorrowland, the movie with George Clooney. It was a science-fiction movie. I really enjoyed it. Kate even thought it was okay. It had a really good message about staying positive and not giving up.

After the movie, we went back to the cabin. I sat on the veranda for awhile and drank my Cuban rum. It was a little chilly, but that’s okay. The rum kept me warm.

Warning! There are a lot of photos in today's post!

Today was spectacular! We went into Tracy Arm to see the glacier. Tracy Arm is a fjord. The views were amazing! Mountains towered up on either side, the snow-covered tops often lost in the clouds. As the snow melted, it created streams and waterfalls emptying into the fjord.

The water was crystal clear and dotted with icebergs. Some were small. Others were quite large. Some of the icebergs looked blue. We learned later that these had recently separated from the larger glacier. As they are exposed to air, the blue color will leave them, and they will be white.

There were several harbor seals on the ice. Some of them had pups with them. I really enjoyed seeing and photographing the seals. It was a real treat, because I have never seen seals in the wild, only in a zoo.

There were a lot of people on the deck next to our veranda. We did not know most of them, but I did see Mark and Margaret that we met at the martini tasting. I invited them to come over to our veranda. They had their older daughter with them. She was very nice, just like her parents.

We enjoyed having them out there and chatting. Eventually, they had to leave, because they were going to a mixology class. It really did not make sense to me that they were offering a mixology class while the ship was in Tracy Arm. Oh well, what do I know.

Later in the day as we were leaving Tracy Arm, Mark and Margaret came back out to the deck next to us. They had another couple with them who had gone to the same class. It turned out they had been at the martini tasting the day before. Their names were Randy and Cecilia.

For lunch we went up to the Beach Blanket Buffet. They were having an Alaska cookout. They had grilled salmon, chicken, and sausages along with a lot of seafood on the buffet. After lunch, we hung out on the veranda again.

We had dinner in Triton’s, which is more of a French theme. Yusuf and Harry outdid themselves again.

After dinner, I went for a walk. When I finished my walk, I went down to Cadillac lounge to have a martini. My friend Miroslav was bartending. I had a Bombay Sapphire martini. That is my favorite gin for regular martinis. We talked about martinis, bartending, and the hospitality business. He had talked about a martini he makes called a Gin Garden. He muddles some cucumber slices in the bottom of a Boston glass, then adds ice, Henderson’s gin, fresh lemon, and Sprite. It was a very good drink.

After two martinis, I went back to the cabin and slept very well. :-)

Today was a sea day. However, it was not like the sea days on the cruise to Cozumel a couple of years ago. Then, we were truly at sea and could not see land at all. Today, we could almost always see land. At times, we could see land on both sides, because we were taking the inside passage.

We had breakfast in the Parrot Cay dining room. After breakfast, we went to a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) member party. We played some games and sat through a sales pitch for the newest DVC property at the Polynesian at Disney World. It looks pretty cool. We are not going to buy more points right now, but it would be nice to stay there sometime. At the end of the sales pitch, they drew out a name to win $200 of shipboard credit, and I won!! I was really surprised when they called my name. We decided we would put the credit to good use.

Sarah went to the Vibe to hang out with her friends for the day. Kate and I had lunch at Palo. The food was wonderful. It was a buffet, but you could still order from the galley. We started with the buffet. They had the best sea scallops I have ever eaten. Kate ordered a chicken parmesan dish. I had Oysters Rockefeller and a pasta dish. We both ate entirely too much. After lunch, we went back to the room and collapsed into a food coma.

The head bartender at Cadillac led the tasting. His name is Miroslav, and he is from Serbia. He was a lot of fun. He had a couple of people helping him out. Jose is from somewhere in South America. There was another gentleman from India, but I can’t remember his name. We also met a couple there named Mark and Margaret. They live in California, but they lived in Bay City, MI for awhile working for Dow Chemical.

Dinner was in the Parrot Cay dining room. Once again, the food was good. Yusuf and Harry provided great service, and we had fun.

After dinner, I went for a walk. Deck 4 is the only deck where you can walk around the entire ship outside. In the bow, you can see the anchors, chains and huge ropes they use to moor the ship. It is pretty amazing. The aft just has some hallways. 

During my walk, a boat came along side to drop off a pilot. This is someone who is very familiar with the waters you are navigating. Pilots are not needed in the open sea, but when you get close to shore, there are many hazards the ship needs to avoid. The pilot comes on board to steer the ship through the hazards. I first learned about pilots when we lived in Louisiana. There were pilots who would navigate the big ships through different parts of the Mississippi River up to New Orleans. It was pretty cool watching the pilot boat come along side and see them transfer someone on board while the ship was moving. 

Today was the big day, the first day of our cruise. The dock was within walking distance from our hotel, but we took a cab, because of our luggage. It would have been difficult to pull all of it down the sidewalk.

When we arrived, we got through security pretty quickly, and then we waited. Disney is good at that. Hurry up and wait. As we sat in the waiting area with a couple of hundred of our closest friends, we talked to a few people. the couple across from us was from Colorado. He was a retired firefighter, and she was a psychologist. Sarah talked to an older woman sitting next to her. The older woman’s husband died within the last couple of years. He did not like to travel, so she decided she would travel now that she is a widow.

Finally they called our boarding group, and we were able to get on the ship. It was around noon, and our cabin was not going to be ready until after 1:00, so we had lunch at the Beach Blanket Buffet. Even though it is a buffet, the food is still pretty good. When we finished eating, we went to find our cabin. It was cabin 7638 in the aft of the ship.

We were impressed with the cabin. It had plenty of room, and the veranda was also quite large. I took some photos before we unpacked. 

After we got settled in, we went exploring. We stopped at the Vibe, the Teen hangout, so Sarah could check it out, and we went to the spa for a tour. As we left Vancouver, there were a lot of interesting sites. Some were industrial. Some were natural. All were fascinating. We decided to hang out in our room until time for the mandatory evacuation drill. The drill went fine. Everyone did what they were supposed to do.

After the drill, we hung out in the cabin until time for dinner. Dinner for our first night was in Animator’s Palette. When you go in, everything is in black and white. As the evening progresses, you begin to see some color. After dinner, they have a show where Wizard Mickey comes out and makes everything in color. It was pretty cool.

Sarah went to the Vibe to meet people, while Kate and I hung out on the veranda. Kate went inside after awhile. I stayed out with the camera taking a few photos. I saw something that looked like a whale. I snapped a few photos of it. Since I had never seen a whale, I could not be sure, but it looked like it to me. The photos were not very clear.

We were tired from the day, so we went to bed relatively early.

Today we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge outside of Vancouver. They have a free shuttle that picks up right in front of the hotel. The bus driver was an Asian gentleman who talked to us on the ride there. He was really funny.

Kate was not sure she would walk across the bridge. However, when we got there, we realized most of the things to do were on the other side, so she walked across with us. The bridge was not too bad. The worst part was people stopping to take selfies on the bridge. Everyone behind them had to wait while they indulged their narcissism.

Once across the bridge, Sarah and I did the tree line walk. We climbed some stairs and walked along the upper branches of the trees. It was pretty cool. Kate stayed on the ground.

After we came down, all three of us hiked along the trails and enjoyed the temperate rain forest. We crossed the bridge again, waiting for more selfies, but we made it across.

Sarah and I walked the cliff walk. It was a glass floored walkway attached to a sheer rock face suspended over a ravine. The views were nice. When we finished the cliff walk, we bought some poutine from the lunch counter and split it. Poutine is french fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. A very Canadian dish.

After enjoying the poutine, we headed back to the hotel. When the bus dropped us off, we went to the White Spot restaurant for lunch. It was pretty good, but nothing to write home about. I don’t even remember what we ate.

That afternoon, Kate and I went to the liquor store to stock up on wine for the cruise. Sarah hung out at the pool to get a tan. Along with wine, I bought a bottle of Cuban rum. I wanted to try it, because we are not able to get Cuban rum in the U.S. Unfortunately, it was not as good as Myer’s rum, but at least now I can say I have had Cuban rum.

When we got back to the hotel, I decided to practice with my new 150 - 500 zoom lens. I set it up on a tripod and took some pictures in the distance. I downloaded the photos on to the computer to see how they looked. As I looked through them, I realized there was an eagle sitting in the trees. I got back on the camera and tried to get a photo of the eagle. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a clear shot of it before it flew away.

That evening, Sarah and I went for a walk while Kate stayed back at the hotel and worked. Sarah and I ate dinner at a small hole in the wall taqueria. The food was excellent. We each had several tacos. We ordered a mushroom quesadilla to go and brought it back for Kate. She really enjoyed it. I hoped to get back to the taqueria, but we never did. It was called La Casita Tacos. (www.lacasitatacos.com)

When we got in, I wrote an email to Steve and Teresa letting them know how to get in touch with us on the ship and at the hotel when we returned to Vancouver. Teresa wrote back saying she was coming to Vancouver for a church related conference. It turns out she is flying into Vancouver the day we get back from our cruise. We will all be in Vancouver at the same time! We decided we would all get together for dinner on Monday June 22. What a wonderful coincidence that we will all be in the same town thousands of miles from our homes at the same time!