Day Eight: Independence Day

I actually wrote most of this post as a Word document during our flight yesterday. However, we didn’t get home to our Internet access until midnight last night, so I’m publishing this post today. Read on…

Mary and Ed on the flight back to Phoenix
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So here I am on Day 11 of our honeymoon trip. I’m currently flying at about 35,000 feet somewhere between Seattle, Washington, and Phoenix, Arizona, typing my blog post on a teeny-tiny little table sandwiched between teeny-tiny little airline seats. I’ve had a wonderful time, a honeymoon I’ll never forget, but I’m ready to be back in my own home, for a few days at least.

Mount St. Helens as viewed from the plane window

We’ll only be home for a day or two before we’ll be packing up the kids and heading out on our long-planned family vacation to Colorado. Ed and I hope this next vacation will be a bit more restful than the last!
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And, of course, I’ll be blogging our Colorado trip, too. That means that now I have to quickly catch up on what we’ve done these past 3 days in Seattle and Portland! Let's get started:
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Day 8 - Sunday, July 4th: Independence Day

Our luggage waits outside while Ed waits in line inside.
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After disembarking from the cruise ship, a shuttle carried us back to the airport in Seattle, where we picked up our rental car, a nice little Nissan Altima. Ed was quite impressed with the compact car’s performance and gas mileage.

Ed likes our new little rental car.

Rather than going straight to Portland, a 3-hour drive away, we headed back to downtown Seattle to tour the Space Needle. Since this was my first trip to Washington, I wanted to see at least one of the area’s popular sights before we moved on.

The Space Needle in Seattle, WA

Ed thought it was ironic that we got off the ship and traveled 20 minutes to the airport, only to turn around and travel back to the Space Needle so we could look down upon the ship we’d just left behind!

The Sapphire Princess is still docked below us, taking on new passengers.

The cost was a bit exorbitant ($18 each), but the view was spectacular. I had a young man ask me to take his picture while he perched on the railing and played his violin with the Seattle skyline behind him!

Amazing view from the top of the Space Needle

There was some sort of jazz festival/carnival going on below the Space Needle. After we came down, we enjoyed watching a band from Ecuador playing some music on their flutes and strings. Very cool!

Mary clowns around on the steps in front of the Space Needle

After leaving the Space Needle, we drove directly to Beaverton, a suburb of Portland where Ed used to live (1999 to 2007). Wow, more amazing greenery! The Portland area is gorgeous. I might consider moving there if I weren’t so happy and established in my beloved White Mountains!

Homes built into the hill above a tunnel

Around 4:30 we checked into our room at the Shilo Inn and unpacked only the bare essentials before heading off to visit one of Ed’s best buddies, Jerry. I really liked Jerry. What a great guy!

Ed and our rented Altima in front of the Shilo Inn

The beautiful grounds of the Shilo Inn ($50 per night on Priceline!)

After visiting for a bit, I mentioned that I’d like to see some fireworks, being that it was the fourth of July and all. Jerry got on the phone and called some of his and Ed’s long-time friends, Dave and Paige, and soon we were on our way to their house. It seems their homeowners association puts on an annual “small neighborhood display” just a few blocks from their house.

Waiting for the fireworks to begin: Dave, Paige, Ed, Jerry’s dog Cody Bear, and Jerry

Small neighborhood display? Ha! They estimated that about 15,000 people showed up to watch a fireworks show that lasted 45 minutes and was as well done as any others I’ve ever seen. It was fun watching the show and visiting with Ed’s friends.  Dave and Paige were so sweet to invite us to intrude on their evening!

A beautiful burst of color!

It took us a very long time to drive out of Dave and Paige’s packed neighborhood and return to the hotel, but it was worth it to have a one-of-a-kind Independence Day experience so far from home.

Days Six and Seven: Northern Pacific and Victoria, BC

Mary relaxes on deck during the last afternoon of the cruise.

Tomorrow we fly back to Arizona, bringing our 11-day honeymoon to an end, and I still haven't finished blogging our cruise!  We've spent these past 3 days in Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR.  Ed and I have been on the run constantly, so there's been no computer time.  But more about that later.  For now, allow me to finish up the tale of our cruise. 

We begin to see land in the distance as we approach Victoria.

A view inside the Sapphire Princess

Friday (Day Six), we spent the entire time sailing on the northern Pacific, surrounded by nothing but steel-blue seas. Ed and I explored areas of the ship where we hadn’t gone before. We walked the decks and watched for whales. We ate and we napped. Friday evening was another “formal night’ and we had reservations at the Santa Fe. We enjoyed a dinner of lobster and shrimp, followed by the “Marriage Game Show” at the Explorer’s Lounge.  It was light-hearted fun!
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Mary outside the Canadian customs office

Day seven (Saturday) was mostly spent at sea, as well. We didn't reach our final port of call until 7:00 that evening: Victoria, British Columbia. It was my first time to ever set foot in Canada!  We were in port for only 5 hours, but we made the most of it.

Again, we played it all by ear, heading into Victoria without a plan.  Within minutes we were hooked up to tour the town via a bicycle rickshaw, piloted by a winsome young college student.  He was a native Canadian and I had to force myself not to chuckle each time he said "aboot" instead of "about."  He did a great job.  He even parked us in front of a candy shop so he could run in to get us some free samples!

Victoria's parliament house, comparable to the capital building of a county seat in the U.S.

This young man was quite knowledgeable about Victoria.  Even though it's located on Vancouver Island, separated by sea from mainland British Columbia, Victoria is the capital city of the province.  Our guide took us through Chinatown and the Old Town, as well as the governmental buildings.  He shared fascinating information about every area.  For instance, Victoria's Chinatown is the oldest in Canada and the second-oldest in North America. 

This bulding was originally a school for Chinese children who could not speak English yet.

Ed and I were back on the ship by 10:30 p.m.  When I took the below picture, I realized it was the first and only time we were ever off the ship after dark!  The Sapphire Princess set sail at midnight and arrived in Seattle at 7:00 Sunday morning.

We were off the ship by a little after 9:00 a.m.  We headed into Seattle for more adventures, but that tale has yet to be told.  Sadly, our honeymoon cruise had reached its end, but we'll enjoy those wonderful memories forever!

Day Five: Skagway

First of all: Thursday, July 1st, was my baby boy’s 13th birthday. Okay, so Dylan’s not a baby anymore, he’s a teenager! I was sad that I couldn’t spend the day with him, but we called and spoke to him during the afternoon. He told us that Sarah had taken him to the theater to see Eclipse, and they’d bought an ice cream pie to share and celebrate with. I’m glad his big sister made his special day pleasant for him.

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Tiny Skagway, as seen from the ship's deck

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As for our cruise, on Thursday we made our final stop at an Alaskan coastal town. Skagway is a tiny little town with a population of about 800 people. The entire town is just 20 blocks long and 5 blocks wide! This was also the first town we visited that wasn’t pelted by rain while we were there.
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As the “Gateway to the Gold Fields” of the Yukon, Skagway was a booming town of 20,000 people in the 1890s, the largest town in Alaska. The routes to the gold fields from Skagway were the shortest, but also the most deadly. Scores of men and thousands of pack animals died along the treacherous White Pass and Chilkoot Trail.

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Ed liked the Tlingit canoe and the beaver at the museum.

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Skagway was a pretty tough place itself. Crime was rampant and laws were mostly useless. The killing of villain “Soapy” Smith by hero Frank Reid, who died of gunshot wounds to the groin 10 Days later, is the most popular tale in Skagway.

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Mary was amazed by this quilt made from ducks' necks!

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Ed and I visited Skagway’s official museum and a museum featuring the history of ivory in the area. Then we found a quaint little shop called The Chowder House and ate some lunch there. After wandering through some tourist shops, at noon we jumped on a bus and headed back toward the ship.

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Ed enjoys chili in a bread bowl at the Chowder House, while I ate a chicken salad sandwich.

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Just across the pier from the ship is the White Pass Train station. Built in 1898, this train was the first method to carry gold miners to the Yukon with some degree of safety. Although the gold rush ended for Skagway in 1900, the train remained in use until 1982. It was resurrected for tourist use in 1988.
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Beautiful scenery from the train (above and below)

The train passes through a tunnel blasted through the granite mountain.

Our 3-hour tour became a 4-hour tour when one of the engines lost power. We waited on the track for another engine to be brought in, and then we chugged on. I’d hesitated to spend so much money on this tour, but Ed insisted it would be worth it. He was correct!
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Summit Lake at the summit of White Pass, 7 miles from Canada's border.

This narrow lake is separated by a sandbar, with each half fed by a different source.

One half is clear water fed by non-glacial sources, while the other half is

turquoise-blue because it's fed by glacial run-off.

As we headed back toward Skagway, the conductor advised us to greet

the passengers of the incoming tour train with this "traditional" moose-horn salute!

(Obviously, their conductor gave them the same advise!)

Our train passes over a trestle.

We passed this cemetary for gold prospectors as we neared Skagway.

The scenery was remarkable. The train climbed 3,000 feet in just 20 miles, crossing trestle bridges and passing through old tunnels blasted out of the granite mountain. Although the train’s track passes through Canada and the Yukon Territory, our tour ended 7 miles shy of the Canadian border before heading back to Skagway.

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Looking back at Skagway and Lynn Canal from the train
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I spent the first half of the ride standing out on the platform of our car. I felt like a kid again, holding onto the rail, feeling the wind whipping my hair, and staring down the sheer side of the mountain just feet from the track below. It was great! It was also very cold, but it was really great!

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Mary stands on the platform at the front of her rail car.

Ed preferred to ride inside the rail car, but he joined me on the platform

while we waited for the new engine to arrive.

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Due to the delay, we returned to the ship barely seconds before we were required to return. We sailed away from Skagway at 5:00 p.m.
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Later last night, we sat next to a window at dinner and I saw my first whales! Luckily Ed has a sharp eye for wildlife. The whales weren’t exactly leaping joyfully out of the water the way they always seem to do for documentaries, but I got to see the top of a whale’s head when he spouted and the slap of another whale’s tail before he submerged. Pretty exciting stuff!

View from our dining room table where we spotted the whales.

I wasn't fast enough to capture them on film, though!

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This will be my last post until we’re back on dry land, since I’ve about exhausted my allotted cruise line Internet minutes. Our honeymoon trip will continue for a few more days. I hope our hotel in Portland will have free wi fi so I can blog our visit to Victoria as well as our adventures in Seattle and Portland.
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Note to anonymous: Do I know you? I’ve enjoyed your comments, but I’d love to know who you are!

Day Four: Sawyer Glacier and Juneau

Pure aquamarine waters in Tracy Endicott Fjord

Bright and early yesterday morning (Wednesday), the Sapphire Princess sailed into Tracy Arm, which is actually the Tracy Endicott Fjord. We tried to get out there quickly enough to watch the ship navigate the shallow waters at the opening of the fjord, but our ship arrived before 6 a.m. and I wasn’t ready fast enough. However, Ed got out there ahead of me and got to see the captain maneuver through the narrow deep channel.

Mary watches icebergs that have broken off Sawyer Glacier.

They appear small from up here, but are large enough to park a car on!

Many of the icebergs were a beautiful blue color, but I can't remember why!

We spent most of the next 3 hours on deck, enjoying the beautiful scenery as we sailed through the fjord, carved out of the mountain hundreds of years ago by the Sawyer glacier. We sailed to the end of the fjord, stopping just a mile from where Sawyer Glacier now juts into the sea water.

Sawyer Glacier, still carving out the fjord just a mile from our ship

Just moments after we arrived, while we all stood at the rail watching, the glacier calved. Not once, but twice! That’s where a huge chunk of the glacier breaks off and falls into the water. It took a while for the sound to reach our ears, but then it was like a sonic boom! The ship’s naturalist was astounded. She said it’s rare to see one calving, but two in a row is unheard of!

We can watch the scenery from the breakfast table!

We didn’t get to see the wildlife we hoped for. I saw one seal resting on an iceberg, but he was so far away he was hard to make out. Without binoculars I wouldn’t have seen him at all.  There were no whales, no eagles, no mountain goats.

Waterfalls abound, due to the heavy rainfall.

The beauty all around us was absolutely indescribable. What an experience! By the time we sailed back out of Tracy Arm, it was raining and the wind was horrendous, but Ed and I stayed near the prow so I could see the shallow bar as we departed. I had to admire the crew’s navigational skills!

The shallows are clear to see as they disrupt the surface of the water.

Heading back out of Tracy Arm

Once we were back in Stephens Passage and on our way to Gastineau Channel, we had about 4 hours of free time until our arrival in the capital of Alaska, Juneau, at 2:00 p.m. We napped, ate lunch, and washed up our laundry in the onboard laundry room. Actually, Ed did the laundry so I’d have time to blog. That’s my man!

Mary finishes lunch with Juneau's panorama outside the window.

(It's also a nice shot of the beautiful whale's tail pendant Ed gave me.)

A view of Juneau from the ship's deck

Juneau didn’t seem to be much larger than Ketchikan, but it is the 3rd largest city in Alaska, with about 30,000 residents. It is located in an actual rain forest, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much emerald-green fauna before! It was amazing.

The next tram climbs Mount Roberts behind us.

A view of Juneau from the top of Mount Roberts

I guess that would explain why it rained the entire time we were in Juneau! Alaska’s capital gets about 100 inches of snow and 100 inches of rain each year. I’ll stay in the White Mountains, thank you!

A view of Gastineau Channel (actually, it's another fjord), where Juneau is located.

We’ve seen a great many float planes since coming to Alaska. There were lots of them coming and going in Juneau, since the town is only accessible by ship or plane. Our bus driver told us that crime is almost nonexistent in Juneau because there’s nowhere for a criminal to escape with his stolen goods!

Ed and I explored Juneau’s downtown for awhile. We bought Alaska tee-shirt souvenirs for Sarah, Jacob, and Dylan. We also stopped in a fudge shop where I bought and ate 4 oz. of delicious handmade semi-sweet walnut fudge. Mmmm!

Downtown Juneau, Alaska's state capital

After much debate, we decided to ride the tram to the top of Mount Roberts, high above the town. The tram climbs almost 3,500 feet in just 5 minutes!  We’re glad we did it. We visited the nature center; saw a beautiful bald eagle named Annie (unable to be released to the wild due to blindness in one eye after being shot in her beak); watched a short film about the history of the Tlingit tribe; checked out some beautiful native American artwork; and ate a plate of hot wings.

Annie the bald eagle

The ship didn’t leave Juneau until 10:00 p.m., but we were beat by 8:00. So we went back to the ship for dinner and an earlier-than-usual bedtime.

Mary and Ed at the visitors' center on top of Mount Roberts

Unlike many cruise passengers, who had their tour reservations bought and paid for long before the cruise began, Ed and I have just been playing it all by ear. I think it’s been working out very well!

The Sapphire Princess as viewed from Mount Roberts:

you can see 4 of the ship's 5 swimming pools!