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Monday, June 5, 2017

VACATION


VACATION

We are back from vacation in Alaska.  It has been two weeks.  We first stopped in LA for a visit with my oldest son, that was great.  Then we spent a day in Seattle, I really liked that town.  From Seattle, we took a 7-day cruise to Alaska’s south east coast…Wrangle, Juno, Sitka and Ketchikan.

The scenery was beautiful, but I must admit to being a bit jaded.  This always happens to me when we go places to see stuff, and not to do stuff. 

“Why Cranky, what do you mean?”

Here is the thing.  As we pulled into the first Alaska port, the inside passage lined with islands and beautiful snow-capped mountains were spectacular, but by the end of that first day and for the rest of the trip they were just the same old snow-capped mountains.  Seen one, seen them all.  As we rounded one island after another it was,

“Oh look, another friggin beautiful snow-capped mountain!”


My first excursion off the cruise ship was fishing for salmon.  We caught nothing, but it was a nice trip.  I never really expect to catch fish anyway.  I did see a seal, a bald eagle, and a hump-backed whale up close and personal.  It was quite spectacular.

The next day we took an excursion for whale watching.  We saw one right away.  It blew a shot of spray, swam for about 100 yards, then flipped its tail and dove under never to be seen again.  That was ok, because we soon saw another, then another, then

“Oh look, another friggin hump-backed whale!”

The third day’s excursion we saw sea otters.  They are so cute, and such fun to watch…for about ten minutes.  Then it was,

“Oh look, another friggin very cute sea otter!”

We also saw more hump-backed whales, and an island full of interesting birds.  I was particularly excited to see tufted-puffins, but after about ten minutes around this bird island it was,

“Oh look, another friggin puffin!”

On our final excursion we learned about catching Dungeness crabs.  We also saw bald eagles.  We had already seen a few bald eagles, but these we saw much closer.  It was really cool.  They threw some fish overboard and the eagles, about five of them, dove and grabbed the fish about ten feet from our boat.  I loved this part of the trip…for about ten minutes, then it was,

“Oh look, another friggin magnificent bald eagle!”

At the end of this day we were served as many Dungeness crab as we wanted.  They were delicious, I ate about a dozen, I was stuffed…I ate until I finally had to say,

“I cannot eat another friggin crab, now and maybe not ever again!”

We ended the trip with a brief stay in Vancouver.

“Oh look, another interesting new city.”

Finally, we are back in New Jersey, where we have our own wild life in the back yard.

“Oh look, another friggin squirrel and wow, another friggin rabbit!”

In all seriousness, we had a wonderful time and loved all the sights in Alaska.  The people were great, the cruise ship, food and service the best. 

The weather you ask? 

Well I was warned by several friends and a few bloggers, that we picked a horrible time to visit Alaska.  We should expect nothing but rain, wind and cold.  I always love it when thoughtful people tell you to expect the worst when you are looking forward to a good time.

To those thoughtful negative Nancy's, if you are looking to say,

“I told you so”

PFFFFFFT!!! The weather was fabulous!  No rain…not one drop, and the temps were from 60 to even 70 degrees each day.  On the last day I commented,

Oh look, another friggin absolutely perfect day in Alaska!”

23 comments:

  1. I feel that way about beaches. The dirt at some point merges with the water. That's it. Whoop. Glad the weather was great for your va ca. Now back to enjoying the many splendors of The Garden State. :)

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  2. Magnum and I loved Seattle. Our trip there was way to short so we left wanting more. We did eat too much friggin food though and drank too friggin much.

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  3. Did you see any bears? We took an expensive bus tour to where 'the bears slept here last night...see how the grass is flattened?'..It also rained at every port of call...but the food was yum...as were the cocktails :)

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  4. Sounded like a really good vacation with lots of interesting things to see and do! If you caught a salmon, was it catch and release or did the ship offer the opportunity for its chefs to cook it up for you for dinner?

    Reminds me of going to the Grand Canyon years ago when the kids were young. An approximate 8 year old girl was there who I overheard say "Grand Canyon this, Grand Canyon that, I'm sure sick of the Grand Canyon." I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

    Welcome back!

    betty

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  5. I'm guessing you had a lovely time in spite of too many of everything. Good to be back home though, isn't it?

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  6. It rained when I was there but I enjoyed seeing the wildlife on the few occasions I removed the raincoat. Glad you had a good time!

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  7. I think I would have enjoyed the animals for more than 10 minutes, but I do relate to the scenery attitude. I'd rather be hiking or something,

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  8. Glad you had fun, and welcome home!

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  9. Okay, you lucked out with the weather. The weather isn't all the good in Alaska most of the time.

    Your post made me laugh out loud.

    I'm glad you had a great vacation.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  10. Another boringly perfect wonderful vacation. Glad you had a good time...welcome back.

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  11. Oh, look! Another friggin' cranky post from a cranky old man!

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  12. We've cruised Alaska twice; great both times!!

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  13. Sounds like you had a wonderful 'friggin' time! I had that same feeling at Yosemite -- everywhere you turned it was beautiful and majestic and awe-inspiring. Exhausting, but wonderful...

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  14. Your cranky title is intact:)) Too funny but you can't make me take the Alaska Cruise off my bucket list. In fact, now I want to go more. I do agree with seeing only instead of doing but you did get in some fun "doing." Welcome back

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  15. Hey, at least you saw a humpback whale. I've been on several excursions and have yet to see one.

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  16. Always good to be back home. A couple more days yet for T. C. and I.

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  17. I realize it's for our amusement, but it must be tough work to pull negatives out of what sounds like a wonderful trip. Art comes in many forms, eh?

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  18. Well, coming from you, it sounds like you had a fantastic time! My mom's brother used to live in Ketchikan, and we stayed at his house when we went many years ago. I imagine things have changed a lot since then. I never saw a whale, but I did see a bear, and some bald eagles, and a lot of salmon.

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  19. My parents went on a cruise to Alaska a few years back and absolutely raved about it.

    It would be interesting to see something other than the 2 miles between here and work for a change, but like you, the novelty of things wears off for me quickly.

    It's like concerts: The first two songs I'm blown away that my favorite singer is right there. After that, the novelty wears off and I start planning my exit from the parking lot at the end of the show.

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  20. So, what cruise line were you on. Our first cruise, to Alaska, was on HAL. We, my wife and I, really like cruising.

    Paul L. Quandt

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  21. Seattle is a fun town. My husband was stationed in Seattle, when he was in the coast guard and at Bangar Naval base when in the navy.

    Good coffee in Seattle!

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  22. I love Seattle too and Alaska is still on my "to do" list. Just to visit. I'm not at all certain I'd want to live there. Seattle, in a heartbeat. From your pics, it looks like you made a lot of fun memories.

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  23. Well, welcome back and I'm glad you had another friggin fantastic vacation. :-p

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