NOT OUR FIRST RODEO

In 2014 we were out fishing and came upon this…an obvious migrant vessel. 

We reported it to the Coast Guard and spent the next couple of hours twiddling our thumbs until the Coast Guard showed up, thanked us, and told us we could go. 

So 8 years later (yesterday) we were out fishing and came across this…another obvious migrant vessel.

Do we report it?  Do we risk being tied up for a few hours twiddling our thumbs until they show up or do we just troll around it a few times and see if it is holding fish and pretend we NEVER saw it?  I was leaning toward, “Let’s just troll around it and pretend we NEVER saw it.”  Naturally CTM took the moral high ground and thought we should report it to the Coast Guard.  It started out the same way.  “Captain, can you please take photos and text to us?  Captain, can you please stand by? Captain, what is the name of your vessel?”   Captain this and Captain that…thumb twiddling beginning to start.  “Captain, thank you for the information.  We will be in touch if we need anything else.”  WHAT?????  We were off the hook this quick?  We both got what we wanted.  CTM had taken the moral high ground, we trolled around it, caught nothing (Karma?) and got the heck out of there!  

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

DAY 12, DAY 13, AND DAY 14

Saturday…Day 12…we spent cruising the inside passage from Ketchikan to Vancouver, BC.  It was a beautiful sunny day “at sea!”  I especially loved the “at sea” days meaning it was NOT boot camp.  We slept in, had breakfast in our room while watching the beautiful scenery float by, drank, relaxed, ate some more, drank some more, and watched the beautiful scenery float by literally all day long!  IT WAS WONDERFUL!!  

A few pics of the passage…

During our stay on our “home away from home”, the Nieuw Amsterdam, we returned to our room to find this…

Somehow our room steward became aware of our political affiliation as we returned to find this…no jackasses in OUR room…well, maybe one 😬😉

And last but not least…a subtle hint that they noticed my transformation from blue jeans to stretch pants as I ate and drank my way across Alaska…

Day 13…Boot Camp AGAIN!  We arrived in Vancouver around 7:00 a.m. and disembarked around 9:00 a.m.  We cleared Canadian customs, grabbed our luggage, and boarded our coach to Seattle.  We arrived at the Canadian/US border and had to then clear customs again 🤪  

A border agent came on board and collected all of our passports to take inside for processing while we waited patiently.  GASP!  He dropped half of them on the pavement and they went flying!  Wouldn’t you think he would have a bag or at least a cardboard box or something to carry them in?  

After a short amount of time (not long enough to do anything with 50 passports but long enough for a cup of coffee) he came carrying them all back (not in a bag or cardboard box) and handed them to the driver.  The driver then handed them to one of the passengers and told her to return them to their rightful owners while he peeled out and headed south 😳 I am pretty sure they could use a couple of alpha females at the border (both north AND south) to be in charge 😬

DAY 14… We flew home without incident…no lost luggage, no delayed or cancelled flights 👍🏼  We were home long enough to catch up on a few things and just in time to spend Labor Day weekend working at the tap room.

  We are now in Islamorada for some R & R from our Alaskan adventure…

 Wait…what?  BOOT CAMP AGAIN?  I think CTM noticed my transformation from blue jeans to stretch pants so he aired up the tires on our bicycles and “boots” me out the door every morning!  I now find myself once again longing for that day “at sea” 😉!!!!!  

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM

DAY 11 - KETCHIKAN

Ketchikan, Alaska is the sixth most populous city in Alaska with a population of 8,192 😳

“Welcome To Alaska’s 1st City”…Ketchikan…

Since we didn’t book any tours what will we do?  Well, of course…search out a brewery.  After a hike up a fairly steep hill…EUREKA!  CTM in his “happy place!” 

What next?  Eat, of course!  Lucky me…SEAFOOD CHOWDER!  

Since we had not booked a tour in Ketchikan we were suffering from the DTs (De-Tours 😬).  We got on a waiting list for a short tour of the Totem Heritage Center.  Bingo!  Two seats left…we were in!  Totem poles are monuments created to represent and commemorate ancestry, histories, people, or events.  So…I KNOW I took several photos of the totem poles on our tour but there isn’t a single one in my photo library.  I think this is one of those  “do do do do do do do do” (creepy sound) moments.  There was something awe inspiring about the totem poles and I think the totem pole Gods wiped out every photo on my phone that I took so here is a stock photo I found…

We got back to the ship just in time for happy hour and toasted our last day on Alaskan soil.  Day 12 would be “at sea” and we would be cruising the inside passage on to Vancouver.  

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM. 

DAY 10 - JUNEAU

Boot camp reared it’s ugly head again.  We arrived in Juneau fairly early and had chosen a whale watching tour.  We decided to do this particular one because they guaranteed that we would see whales or they would give everyone on the boat $100 in cash.  Well, all I can say is they saved themselves $10K!  

And now for the grand finale… It is kind of long but worth the watch all the way to the end…

Next up were sea lions…

From what I have read they huddle to keep warm, find a mate, and just generally chill out with their friends on the rocks.  Wait…THEY ARE JUST HAVING A PARTY!! 💃🕺🏼🎼🎻

And…speaking of parties isn’t it time to now search out a brewery?  Bingo! 

We had a beer at Devil’s Club Brewing, had halibut tacos for lunch, and then CTM visited Alaska Brewing and Barnaby Brewing while I shopped…imagine that! 😬

Time to go…

And there you have it…Juneau…the capital of Alaska and the third largest city in Alaska with a population of 32,255!  The only way to get there is by boat, plane, or birth canal!  

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM. 

DAY 9 - SKAGWAY, ALASKA

We had been “at sea” now for two days but next stop would be Skagway.  Skagway, Alaska is home to the gold-rush-era buildings and is now part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.  First order of business was a ride on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad aka the White Pass & Yukon Route WHITE KNUCKLE & SWEATY PALMS Railroad 🚞 😬 It runs vintage locomotives past the famously steep (and I do mean famously steep) Chilkoot trail.  Wait…”vintage”…isn’t that a nice word for old and rickety?  Are the brakes good on this puppy because I am sure what goes up must come down 😳

I did manage to snap a few pics when I didn’t have my eyes squeezed shut and a death grip on CTM’s arm…

Is that our ship WAY down there?  Is it leaving? 

Is that where we are headed?  That train track hanging on the side of the mountain with the shear drop off?

Are we crossing that rickety trestle? 



The answer is “yes” because this is the front half of our train that rounded that 90 degree turn just before the rickety trestle.  And there’s a tunnel? 

Wait…does the guy driving this train know THIS trestle is MORE THAN RICKETY?  Are we plunging to our death in one minute? 

Thankfully they figured out they needed a new bridge over this steep gorge…

Does this mean we are crossing into Canada?  WAIT…we forgot our passports!  Are they going to drag us off the train, throw us in jail, and make us eat pure maple syrup on our pancakes for the rest of our lives? 🤔🥞

We made a loopety loop, exiting Canada, and headed back down the mountain so we could test out those vintage brakes.  

Geez…I was worried that if we ended up at the bottom of a gorge or got thrown in the slammer in Canada we might NEVER get to visit another craft brewery the rest of our lives…

This being the first time we had “disembarked” the ship…we were told you don’t simply “get off” the ship… we were able to get a nice view of our home away from home…

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

DAY 8 - CRUISING GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK

Glacier Bay National Park is west of Juneau in Southeast Alaska.  The park and preserve are reached by boat or plane only.  We were in luck!  We were on a boat!   Hey Pop, if we had Feeding Frenzy III back we could do this…

Glaciers here, glaciers there, glaciers glaciers everywhere! So many glaciers…so little time.  First up was the Reid Glacier…

Then came the Lamplugh Glacier…

Then the John’s Hopkins Glacier…. Larry missed the whole thing as he was busy checking his Facebook 😬😉

And last and certainly not least the Margerie Glacier…

Cheers to Margerie! 

EEK!  Margerie “calved” aka an iceberg broke off while we were there!  Time to go!  

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM 

DAY 7 - CRUISING THE HUBBARD GLACIER

We boarded the ship and unpacked our bags as our little cubby on the ship would be our home away from home for the next 7 days!  In other words BOOT CAMP WAS OVER for now.  It was going to be WONDERFUL!  We now could sleep, eat, and drink anytime we wanted anywhere on our ship…literally a floating city. 

We hurriedly unpacked and headed out for happy hour and a few snapshots.  A view from the stern on the Lido Deck on level 9…

And…the view from our balcony…

Day 7 would be “at sea” meaning we would not be docking anywhere.  We were going to cruise the Hubbard Glacier.  The Hubbard Glacier is famous for being North America’s largest tidewater glacier.  It is over 75 miles long and 7 miles wide.  It flows directly into Disenchantment Bay, which ultimately feeds into the North Pacific Ocean.  The glacier “calves” frequently meaning chunks of ice break off and fall into the ocean making it difficult for cruise ships to maneuver.  CALVES = ICEBERGS!! WAIT…WHAT????  Haven’t these people seen the movie Titanic?  All of that rushing water????  Maybe we should have gone to the lifeboat drill instead of drinking bloody mary’s!  

Let’s go to the Crow’s Nest and help the crew watch for icebergs while approaching the Hubbard…

“Oh, the weather outside was frightful…but the Hubbard was so delightful!”  The crew opened the bow of the ship for viewing the Hubbard.  It was BRUTAL out there…rain, wind, ice…

What do you say we grab an Alaskan Amber and head back to the room to warm up and continue viewing this puppy…

Once we were away from the rumble of the ship’s engines we could hear the rumble of the glacier moving.  It sounded like thunder off in the distance.  Very cool…in more ways than one!  

CTM informed me that John Wayne had a 136 foot yacht named the “Wild Goose” that he cruised to Alaska on to hunt. While on the “Wild Goose” he used to chip off pieces of glacial ice to chill his whiskey.  Hmmm….maybe we should figure out how to drive the Feeding Frenzy IV 5026 miles up here from Islamorada cause I sure could use some of that glacial ice about now 🥃😉

Catch you on the flip flop…

CJM