Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be driving up to my Grandparents’ house and Friday morning we’re getting on a bus full of old people to take a 10-day Inside Passage cruise to Alaska.
I’m really finding it hard to sit still at work at this point - I want to be gone. They’re taking me as sort of an escort, since they’re getting up there in age, and because they thought I’d have fun with it. I will! They don’t like to get off the ship at stops, so I will be doing all of the major touristy things by myself, which is a little scary but fun once I get into it.
I’m almost completely packed. I wish I could bring more luggage; I really like to be prepared and I gather the weather could be warm or cold. I hope some long-sleeved shirts and some short-sleeves will cover the bases. And boots and sandals and dresses and jeans and…
You’ll want to buy some things to remember the trip by, T-shirts and sweaters and stuff, so leave some room. I first saw the Northern Lights in the Inside Passage and hope you’re as fortunate. Have a great trip.
Hmm…would YOU like an escort? Just to keep you out of trouble? I hear Alaska is full of rugged, brutal, beard-wielding men with eyes of granite who know nothing of the ways of gentler society. All flannel and walrus leather they are. Dangerous place.
I’ve had a strange number of escort offers lately. I wish I could bring someone, but then again, I might like the pickings in Alaska and wish I didn’t have to leave. I do like me a good lumberjack, y’know.
I have a real hairy chest … and a thick red & black flannel shirt …
But cereal, if it’s not too early give yourself a salmon-fishing expedition if one makes itself available to you. I SO want to go to Alaska, I’m the only one in my family who has never been. But from the pictures and stories that come back I’m pretty sure it’d be a one way trip for me. Such beautiful wildernes, humongous mountains, ginormous bears. Yeah, I’d never come back.
I went on an Alaska cruise last year, and the highlight was the sidetrip: I joined a kayak group at Glacier Bay in Juneau. It was amazing. We paddled toward Mendenhall Glacier and saw eagles, dophins, orcas and more. It was awesome.
I found the stops dull, except for Skagway and Ketchikan, but they can be much more fun if you can get away from all the tourist stores right at the pier. Just awful stores, selling all the same tourist crap. Often, if you just walk one mile from the dock, you’ll be in heaven.
It’s plenty late enough in the season for salmon fishing, Inigo. In fact, the derbys for King Salmon in the Inner Passage ended this week.
According to my mother, there was chicanery and it’s a scandal.
I’m just not sure if the cruise will allow time for a fishing expedition.
Marge is right though - you gotta get away from the docks. Fleecing tourists is a growth industry. It put me through college though, so I can’t really complain
If your cruise has time, and you’re stopping in a town called Wrangell, shoot me an email. I know a guy who runs fishing charters out of there - I used to babysit his kids and my dad crewed for him one season. He’s one of the better charter fisher people available.
I’ll keep that in mind, Marge. I’m on my own for the stops anyway, so I can go as far as I want. I think they’re standard stops - Ketchikan, Sitka, and Juneau. Oh, and Victoria, B.C.
Grampa encouraged me to do the cruise tours, so I’m signed up for some of those. I may or may not have time to go fishing - I’d really like to but I hear shipping the fish back is a real hassle. And I like close enough to the coast here that I can go fishing here if I get so inclined. My other Grampa was a deep-sea fisherman.
Aangelica, I don’t think we’re stopping there, but I’ll email you just in case. Thanks!
And no, I’m not man-shopping (although everyone assumes I am.)
Shipping the fish back isn’t all that big a hassle - mostly because all the charter fisher guys realize it can be a pain in the posterior and therefore are prepared to deal with it. The tricky part is generally the Seattle bit - but most of the hotels and airlines that have a Seattle branch are also generally aware of the issue and are fairly accomodating about freezer space
At least, I’ve never had a problem getting fish back from my parents’ to my place.
You’d be amazed at the Fish Wish List I get from people I know every time I head to visit the folks, though.
Sounds like the cruise we took last year. I loved Alaska, thought the cruise ship was ok. (I’m not really a dress-up/drink/gamble/etc kind of gal.)
We went rafting on the Mendenhall River, took a couple of whale-watching cruises, did some sea kayaking off Ketchikan, some mountain biking somewhere else (damn this middle-age memory). It was wonderful.
And there was an earthquake one night when we were on the ship! It just made a lot of noise and woke us up. Found out the next morning the cause was an earthquake.
