Second Edition to Alaska Vacation

Well if the first rendition of chapter 1 didn’t put you to sleep Part 2 just might! Friday night we left Skagway late as there was some type of medical emergency. Skagway has only a Physician’s assistant in their medical clinic. If he/she can’t deal with the issues then they rely on the cruise ship doctors to render all aid. We were 3 hours late in departing. The person in need was airevac’d out and we left Port at high speed to make up the time.

It is easy to tell when your are at high speed (about 22 knots/25 mph) the ship shudders and rolls this way and that, up and down left and right etc., etc., etc. If you are not accustomed to it you will probably be sea sick, unless of course you prepared yourself with the appropriate patches. After day one, most of us had sea legs and really did not notice very often the pitching and yawing of the ship. Sometimes it was easier to go to bed, to read or sleep. On this night Grumpaw found himself tossed nearly out of bed by the ships action.
Some Tylenol and back to sleep.

Saturday morning, August 25th, we found ourselves getting ready to enter Tracey Arm to visit the Glacier there.
Some background first. 500 years ago the glacier reached clear out to sea about 25 miles further out than today. When it began retreating it left a gravel bar where it stopped. This pile of moraine blocked the entrance to the fjord for years as the sea washed an opening through it. At present the passage is about ½ mile wide and 50 ft deep. The ship needs 30 feet of water under the keel to pass safely. The opening is marked with buoys. Once through the opening, the water goes to 1000-1200 feet deep. The mountains rise about 2000 ft above the water. Thus as you go in it gets colder and colder as the sun is blocked at times, and the water and mountains work to keep the cold in. For each mile into the fjord the temperature drops off quite a bit.

Now back to our efforts.
We got up early about 6AM to view this whole process. It was quite interesting to observe our little group of Eskimos trying to stay warm and have a good time. Jeanne looked like Nannuk of the North in her many layers of clothing including her fur rimmed parka hood. Eric was in hooded sweat shirt and other warm(?) gear, sitting on deck. He would later be found hiding in his bed trying to get warm. (We have picture proof!) We were well into the fjord before we saw our first ice. The more ice the colder it got. Soon there were ice bergs the size of small cars and getting larger. The walls of the fjord are marked heavily with signs of the glacier’s grinding action. Everywhere there were water falls signs of ice beached on the shore. As we drew closer to the glacier the water filled with more and more ice. It began to appear that someone had dumped a giant bag of ice cubes into the fjord. However these ice cubes were often as big as cars and trucks with trailers. This was something interesting as 65-90% of each iceberg is under water.
Finally, the Captain announced that he was turning the ship around as the potential for damage to the ship’s propellers was to high to proceed. So our trip to see the glacier was cut short about a mile and a bend in the fjord short of the glacier. It was very disappointing for the four of us who had not seen this particular glacier and the possibility of it “calving”. On the return trip out we got to see the other side of the fjord which was just as spectacular with steep cliffs and cascading waterfalls.

After crossing the bar into the open sea we began our trip to Victoria, BC.
This part of our voyage proved very exciting and led to us being able to see many whales. For some of us this meant we saw lots of water blows (spouts) and tails dipping into the ocean waters. For others it meant seeing whales swim by the side of the ship, cross in front of the ship causing the ship to come to a sudden stop to prevent injury to these behemoths of the sea. At one point there was an Inland Ferry stopped with many whales spouting and diving all around and even one which breeched. (This means it threw itself out of the water indicating it had enough of our peeking into its life. It was angry and wanted us humans to move on.) Most of the whales were Humpbacks, some Grey whales, and up in the Sitka area Grumpaw and others saw some Orcas. The animal which seemed to dominate the Alaska scene is the Bald Eagle, they are everywhere. But whales are plentiful as well.

I will digress here for a moment. There were plenty of animals on the ship of all sizes, shapes, ages and dispositions. The six of us were the perfect cruisers. If you have trouble with that, tough!! But we have the pictures of us at the formal dinners and here and there on the ship. We did use the game room for games from time to time, when not in staterooms reading. Also Jeanne was a leader in the game area gathering up the trivia games each morning before breakfast and the Trivia responses were interesting even when we might be wrong, which was less than 50% of the time.

Now back to page whatever.
Sunday after breakfast, we had our own church meeting on the joint balcony between us and the Willyerds. Mary Ellen and Eric had their 40th anniversary on Friday night or was it Saturday? Who cares they were weird any way and even got up in the early AM to see the eclipse of the moon. They also met some LDS folks on board and invited them for church but they were no shows.
Sunday was quiet after that and between meals. Sleeping, reading, sorting trinkets and ???

Monday AM found us arriving in Victoria, BC.
We arrived in Victoria, BC in the early morning with shore tours starting at 8 am.
All 6 of us were off to the Butterfly and Butchard Gardens. The Butterfly garden is a tropical spot with all air temperature and humidity controlled in the building to provide the best climate for all the butterflies to hatch and live as long as they possibly can. The garden receives about 1000 chrysalis each week from all over the world. These are hatched and the butterflies released inside to fly around among the visitors. Also in the garden are tropical birds and plants some of which the butterflies draw nectar to eat.
This place is very low profile and people miss on their way to Butchard Gardens just up the street.
Initially Nana Carlys thought we were wasting our time being in such a small place for an hour. In the end she and we could have spent several hours here.
Inside we found butterflies that were bigger than grumpaw’s hands and some that were smaller than a quarter. The biggest had the figure and colors of a cobra on its wings to help protect it from predators. The smallest had wings that are transparent like window glass. Some were iridescent blue and black. Others were black and yellow, orange and black and many other color combinations.
In addition the birds were of many beautiful colors and combinations thereof.
Time passed all too quickly and we had to leave, Nana wants to go back soon.

When we arrived at Butchard Gardens, little did we know that 2 hours would provide little more than a quick glimpse of a place that could, with a little imagination, pass as the Garden of Eden. The Garden area was where Mr. Butchard had developed a lime quarry for his cement plant. As the lime ran out large pits and water ponds were left behind. Mrs. Butchard desiring to restore the land, began planting trees, shrubs and flowers to cover the bare land. Fountains and statuary, and ponds have also been added to enhance the areas. The gardens have grown in size and beauty in the years since. The beauty is maintained on the 30+ acres by some 50 landscapers. There are small gardens representing various gardening types such as Japanese, and Rose, and Hanging. In the rose garden there are about 100 species of roses. Each has a label giving its name, year of development and the original grower. The area is covered with 1000 blooms or more during the growing season. To see and enjoy all there is here you have to move right along with little time just to stand and enjoy the view.
Uncle Eric W. was in his glory and soaked it all in, wishing he had as many gardeners working for him in his parks.
The time passed all too quickly and we only got bus window views of Victoria as we returned to the ship.

Knowing that our cruise was coming to an end we stood on the foredeck to watch our departure from Victoria and to begin the day and ½ sail back to San Francisco.

To night was a formal dinner night so we dressed in our best and went to dinner. Most of us had Lobster tails for our main course. Some had seconds before jumping back on the dessert wagon.

Tuesday was another rest day, just reading, final shopping efforts, games and just trying to digest all we had seen and done over the past week. There were shows on the ship at night, games to be played, books to read, shore sights to review and pictures to review and travel plans and activities to consider for those who still have a ways to travel home.

Wednesday dawned foggy and mournful with the foghorn heralding our entrance to the Golden Gate. I think Nana had been awake since 3am. The fog was quite dense and little could be seen from the balcony. I forgot that Nana got up thinking the sun was up as it was so bright outside but it turned out to be the ship’s lights reflected off the fog. As we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge the fog lifted right at the bridge. The yellow street lights shinning with a halo of fog. Tugboats arrived to push in to the pier and we were home.
Three hours later we debarked and went to Eric and Jeanne’s. After a trip to Taco Bell, Mary Ellen and Eric headed for the California State Fair and Northern California before heading home to Utah and a Service Mission.

Grumpaw and Uncle Eric played in the shop finishing a bowl M.E. started, and later just played lazy.
Thursday, grumpaw and Nana left and headed to Chico a town grumpaw had lived in, in the way back years. Nana began reading 1776 again. After a 2 hour drive we got to Chico. It has really grown from 12,500 to 80,000 in only 52 years. As time was limited we went to find a friends restaurant and our old house. The restaurant is still there but the the Ybanez family is gone, like the house and our old elementary school. We left Chico and headed for Whit and Connie’s in El Dorado Hills near Sacramento. Thursday evening was spent recounting our visit to Alaska.

Friday, Connie took Nana to Sutter’s Fort and Historical area. Grumpaw went to get a haircut at Barber John’s a really strange barber shop. Later Whitney came home early and we all went to Coloma to Sutter’s Mill where gold was discovered by members of the Mormon Battalion on their way back to Utah. This started the Gold Rush of 1849. The last time I was at this place it was a dusty tourist area in a neglected area of California. Now 25 years later it is a well developed tourist site. After Coloma we went on to dinner and to see the play 1776, not the same as the book Nana continues to read to grumpaw.

Saturday we left Whit and Connie’s for home by way of South Lake Tahoe, Carson City, Nevada, Silver Springs where Alan and Nancy once lived, their house is still there, the town is bigger and has it’s own rather large airport. On down US 95 we passed Walker Lake and Hawthorne the site of the Army and Navy Ammunition weapons Storage and Naval Underwater Warfare Command (in the middle of Death Valley. Someone explain that please.) Finally arriving in Las Vegas, we spent the night as Nana did not want to drive home yet.

We ultimately got home Sunday late afternoon, rescued Raelynn, who was packed and standing at the door when we got to Richelle’s. At long last back to our own beds!!!!!

Monday Labor Day we went Wendy and Michael’s for a barbeque and swimming. Michael had rented a two story water air slide and everyone slid for all they were worth. After much eating, swimming and fun off to home and back to “normal”?

Photographs and scrip editing courtesy of Nana.
Grumpaw