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Day 9, in the Pacific ocean
I am up early today, as for whatever reason, I just couldn't sleep any more. We're in that liminal space on the last day of the trip where we've completed all our port stops. We just have one more day until it's time to hop off and go back to real life. Boo.
Nah, I have enjoyed this trip so much, but I'm about ready for it to be done. It's been amazing, and life changing and all the words, but I'm ready to be home and back in my bed. We're about to cross between the islands, so we might have some rough sailing today. We're going to do all the little things that we've enjoyed, hitting all the food places one last time. I think we're talking about Club Orange for breakfast, then the Grand Dutch Cafe for lunch (Best fries on the ship, maybe best fries anywhere) then there's Cake Me Away in the Lido, and then poutine bar in the Lido for snack, then pizza for late snack. Little bites all the way.
Tomorrow, we shall sadly disembark, leaving with so many amazing memories and stories and pictures. But for today, one last day of fun.
Yesterday seemed like it might be stressful, but ended up being a lot of fun. We got up early, and headed to breakfast at Club Orange. It was very lovely and everyone was happy to see us, and welcomed us by name, asking where we'd been. Then we went back to the room and relaxed until we got into port. As usual, the Alaska Scenery was beautiful, and we sat on the deck for awhile and enjoyed the view.
Unfortunately, we got into dock a bit late, and couldn't make our scheduled crab feast. Honestly, it was probably the best thing to happen to us. As we were getting off the boat, there was a bus, with a hand written sign advertising tours. It was definitely a fly by night thing, but, and this is a big butt, they offered to drop us off at the restaurant we'd chosen at the end of the tour. Sold. It was $59/person, cash. Fortunately, we had enough cash, and hopped on. Good choice, me.
The tour ended up being a lot of fun. We drove out to a bear watching point and saw no bears, but a cute little deer. Then, we went to this beautiful waterfall that you could climb up some easy rocks and get a good view and some pictures.
We stayed there for a little while, and then moved on to the Saxman Village Totem park, where we marveled at the amazing work of the tribe's master carver, which is a lifetime elected position.
The totems were gorgeous and the colors amazing. The pigments are made by mixing natural colors with salmon egg oil and staining, and will stay vibrant for decades. Here, have a frog that's over 30 years old
After that, we drove to the Salmon Laddder that they've built to help the salmon get upstream to spawn. We were too early in the year for the salmon run, but it was still cool as shit to see.
We actually learned a lot about salmon, who have one of the saddest life cycles ever, yet are so important to the Alaskan ecosystem and to the various native tribes like the Tlingit as well as the rest of the peoples.
Then, we headed down to the restaurant, and we had some really good fish and some okay crabs.
This is Jess' meal, which is cod, salmon and halibut. I had a halibut rice bowl that I forgot to take a picture of. It was so fucking good. The halibut was seasoned perfectly, and fried up nice, then they put this sweet and slightly spicy sauce on it. I loved it, and I would have attempted to eat a second one if I could have.
Then, it was up to Creek Street, formerly the Ketchikan red light district for shopping
We dropped a lot of money on more souvenirs and a suitcase to get them home in. I got myself an opal studded whale tail and a matching whale ring. Two out of the four places we got our items from had the progress pride flag in the window, which we thanked the owners for. I was happy to drop an inordinate amount of money there. Then, exhausted, we took a cab back to the ship, and headed up to the suite to relax for an hour until our appointments.
First up, we headed down to view our vow renewal pictures.
We sat down and they played us a slideshow of our pictures, set to music. It made me choke up a little.
We were an easy sell, but the photos were flat out amazing. I don't know how they did it, but they made me look beautiful. There's one picture of me from the studio session that I really liked. And a couple really good ones of Jess. Once we get the digital versions tomorrow, I'll post some of them in a locked post for you all to see.
We ended up buying a package that will give us some prints, as well as a photo book, all the digial pictures, and the slideshow. It was truly expensive as hell, but still less than your standard wedding photographer. The photos will be laser printed on a metallic paper, and it makes the colors really pop.
Then, we went up to book our next cruise. After this amazing week, we decided to skip Hawaii next year, and book another cruise. This one goes along the Pacific coastline, from San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico, then up to San Francisco, California, where we'll stay for two full days. Then, it'll be down to Santa Barbara, and then back to San Diego. It's not til November, so I'll have plenty of time to accumulate PTO for it. Best of all, it's on the same ship we're on now.
We decided to step our cabin down one class, as this would be way too much for just the two of us. Instead, we're in a Neptune Suite, which still has access to the lounge and concierge, but it a bit less expensive.
After that, we had a lovely Dutch dinner in the Club Orange Dining room, and debated on what to do next. Ultimately, we skipped the orange party and just went to bed early. (Thus why I was up at 4:20am PST.) On our way up, our concierge caught us with our portrait from our ceremony. It's in a folder that includes the vows, which I will post when we get home and unpack. They were so beautiful, and I'm glad we got a copy of them.
Today, we shall mostly relax and (sob) pack to go home.
This has been the most amazing, magical trip. We had a bit of rain in Juneau (20 minutes of a light mist) and some rain during the tour yesterday, but otherwise, it has been perfect weather.
In the Tlingit culture, beavers symbolize prosperity, so here is a beaver totem. May it bring us all the good things this year.
Everyone have the very best Friday!
Nah, I have enjoyed this trip so much, but I'm about ready for it to be done. It's been amazing, and life changing and all the words, but I'm ready to be home and back in my bed. We're about to cross between the islands, so we might have some rough sailing today. We're going to do all the little things that we've enjoyed, hitting all the food places one last time. I think we're talking about Club Orange for breakfast, then the Grand Dutch Cafe for lunch (Best fries on the ship, maybe best fries anywhere) then there's Cake Me Away in the Lido, and then poutine bar in the Lido for snack, then pizza for late snack. Little bites all the way.
Tomorrow, we shall sadly disembark, leaving with so many amazing memories and stories and pictures. But for today, one last day of fun.
Yesterday seemed like it might be stressful, but ended up being a lot of fun. We got up early, and headed to breakfast at Club Orange. It was very lovely and everyone was happy to see us, and welcomed us by name, asking where we'd been. Then we went back to the room and relaxed until we got into port. As usual, the Alaska Scenery was beautiful, and we sat on the deck for awhile and enjoyed the view.
Unfortunately, we got into dock a bit late, and couldn't make our scheduled crab feast. Honestly, it was probably the best thing to happen to us. As we were getting off the boat, there was a bus, with a hand written sign advertising tours. It was definitely a fly by night thing, but, and this is a big butt, they offered to drop us off at the restaurant we'd chosen at the end of the tour. Sold. It was $59/person, cash. Fortunately, we had enough cash, and hopped on. Good choice, me.
The tour ended up being a lot of fun. We drove out to a bear watching point and saw no bears, but a cute little deer. Then, we went to this beautiful waterfall that you could climb up some easy rocks and get a good view and some pictures.
We stayed there for a little while, and then moved on to the Saxman Village Totem park, where we marveled at the amazing work of the tribe's master carver, which is a lifetime elected position.
The totems were gorgeous and the colors amazing. The pigments are made by mixing natural colors with salmon egg oil and staining, and will stay vibrant for decades. Here, have a frog that's over 30 years old
After that, we drove to the Salmon Laddder that they've built to help the salmon get upstream to spawn. We were too early in the year for the salmon run, but it was still cool as shit to see.
We actually learned a lot about salmon, who have one of the saddest life cycles ever, yet are so important to the Alaskan ecosystem and to the various native tribes like the Tlingit as well as the rest of the peoples.
Then, we headed down to the restaurant, and we had some really good fish and some okay crabs.
This is Jess' meal, which is cod, salmon and halibut. I had a halibut rice bowl that I forgot to take a picture of. It was so fucking good. The halibut was seasoned perfectly, and fried up nice, then they put this sweet and slightly spicy sauce on it. I loved it, and I would have attempted to eat a second one if I could have.
Then, it was up to Creek Street, formerly the Ketchikan red light district for shopping
We dropped a lot of money on more souvenirs and a suitcase to get them home in. I got myself an opal studded whale tail and a matching whale ring. Two out of the four places we got our items from had the progress pride flag in the window, which we thanked the owners for. I was happy to drop an inordinate amount of money there. Then, exhausted, we took a cab back to the ship, and headed up to the suite to relax for an hour until our appointments.
First up, we headed down to view our vow renewal pictures.
We sat down and they played us a slideshow of our pictures, set to music. It made me choke up a little.
We were an easy sell, but the photos were flat out amazing. I don't know how they did it, but they made me look beautiful. There's one picture of me from the studio session that I really liked. And a couple really good ones of Jess. Once we get the digital versions tomorrow, I'll post some of them in a locked post for you all to see.
We ended up buying a package that will give us some prints, as well as a photo book, all the digial pictures, and the slideshow. It was truly expensive as hell, but still less than your standard wedding photographer. The photos will be laser printed on a metallic paper, and it makes the colors really pop.
Then, we went up to book our next cruise. After this amazing week, we decided to skip Hawaii next year, and book another cruise. This one goes along the Pacific coastline, from San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico, then up to San Francisco, California, where we'll stay for two full days. Then, it'll be down to Santa Barbara, and then back to San Diego. It's not til November, so I'll have plenty of time to accumulate PTO for it. Best of all, it's on the same ship we're on now.
We decided to step our cabin down one class, as this would be way too much for just the two of us. Instead, we're in a Neptune Suite, which still has access to the lounge and concierge, but it a bit less expensive.
After that, we had a lovely Dutch dinner in the Club Orange Dining room, and debated on what to do next. Ultimately, we skipped the orange party and just went to bed early. (Thus why I was up at 4:20am PST.) On our way up, our concierge caught us with our portrait from our ceremony. It's in a folder that includes the vows, which I will post when we get home and unpack. They were so beautiful, and I'm glad we got a copy of them.
Today, we shall mostly relax and (sob) pack to go home.
This has been the most amazing, magical trip. We had a bit of rain in Juneau (20 minutes of a light mist) and some rain during the tour yesterday, but otherwise, it has been perfect weather.
In the Tlingit culture, beavers symbolize prosperity, so here is a beaver totem. May it bring us all the good things this year.
Everyone have the very best Friday!