Freestyle Cruisin'

I know, that’s not the best title but that’s what our cruise to Alaska was called. Freestyle Cruising is AWESOME! There were twelve restaurants that we could go to for our meals and all very casual. We loved it. The “we” I’m referring to is Tim (my mans) and Tim’s parents, Sandy and Bob (or Rob, or Robert, depending on how much trouble he was with Sandy).

The trip took us from Pier 66 in Seattle, to Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria, and then back in Seattle all in seven days. It was a great trip and a true vacation. I got to relax to so much and get my mind focused so that I was able to read not just one, but two Economists and understand and retain most of the information! That’s a big deal for me. Tim felt the same and he was actually mellowing out by the end of the trip. His control-freakness level dropped from 95% to 40%. I just made that percentage thing up but what I’m trying to convey is that Tim was really mellowing out by the end of the trip.

Highlight of the trip – Tim and I went ziplining and survived despite Sandy worrying that we would drop like stones to our demise while up on the platforms.

In an effort to try and keep this post short I’m shortcutting my sentences so you can just get a feel for what each day was like. Otherwise we’re looking at a super-duper long post, cutting it short makes it just super long.

Day 1 – We’re on our way
Leave San Francisco on a 6 a.m. flight to Seattle. Don’t worry Sandy – the fog won’t make us miss the cruise. We make it – sorry to my friends that I couldn’t see you while I was in Seattle. Set sail – party on pool deck. Frou frou $8 drink in bright orange plastic cups. Macarena, Electric Boogie from live band. Crazy cruise people – uh-oh. Leave sunny Seattle for foggy Alaska. Weather is bad fog is thick. Crew member sees all the fog on the pool deck and says, “what the hell?!” Getting a little worried like Sandy. Went to art auction for first time – cool. Sandy plays the slots for the first time - $10 gone in under 3 minutes. Drinks after dinner in Spinnaker Lounge listening to big band music I start falling asleep. Go to sleep by 10:30 p.m. with the rocking of the boat. I’m very relaxed and very tired.

Day 2 – Juneau
Sandy is sick. Uh-oh. Ship doctor gives her Cloraseptic. Hand sanitizer is my new best friend. Get to first port – Juneau. Cold, rainy, gray. Yay, first excursion – Deluxe Mendenhall Tour! Sandy and Bob ready in ponchos. First stop boring museum, next Salmon Run – cool losta salmon. Third Mendenhall Glacier. I feel bad – I’m adding to the retreating of glaciers by being on the cruise. Guilt. Last stop Glacier Gardens Rainforest. Uh-h I’m contributing to the destruction of rainforests too! Nice garden – lotsa pictures from our trip photographer Bob, Tim’s dad. Upside-down tree trunks. Tim’s sister Chris woulda loved this. Pretty cool, up the mountain in a golf cart. Going down Sandy is sure one of us will fall out of our gold cart and roll down the mountain. We survive and get back on the boat wet and tired. Dinner at French restaurant – fancy. Un, deux, trois, clang of dome for food. Lotsa singing for birthdays, anniversaries. Tim spills two adolescent delinquent stories –Sandy not happy. No more wine for Tim. In bed by 11 p.m. and fall asleep quickly to the rocking of the boat.

Day 3 – Skagway
Second excursion. Train ride up White Pass. We picked the wrong car. I think we’re in India – see video of ride on separate post. The voices in Hindi seem to rise as the narrator of the train begins to speak. Women playing cards, men sleeping, kids outside on platform with their mothers yelling for them periodically on the 3 ½-hour ride to come back inside. The women start to pass food around. One of the men yell, “men first”, the women ignore him and pass the food around to the other women and children. It’s crazy – havoc. I want to jump off the train to regain some sanity. Indian music playing on an iPhone. Looooong 3 ½ hours.

Back on ship we go for a drink. I need it. After dinner we go to a comedy show – funny! Sandy is back at the slots. Tim and I have been winning. Sandy wants to try the slots again and gives us $5 to play – winner! After a couple of tries we get $55. No more gambling – we’ll leave as winners.

Sandy goes back to the doctor – her cold isn’t going away and the Cloraseptic doesn’t seem to be doing to job. Dr. Sandy says Z-pack is the way to go and the ship doctor prescribes just that.

Day 4 – Glacier Bay
Wow – Glacier Bay. Up front and close in the cruise ship. Beautiful. I’m tired and watching the glacier from our cabin. The view is perfect outside of our balcony. I feel bad – this is too luxurious. We see campers they must hate us, big cruise ship come floating in while they probably took days hiking in. More guilt.

Quote of the day from Sandy – “Why are these pictures in black in white?”
Tim’s dad – “Well, snow is white and the mountains are black.”

Tim’s parents are awesome. Sandy is really starting to freak out about me and Tim going ziplining. The comments about it being scary seem to be rising. Ziplining scare level is Orange at high. The Ziplining scare system is similar to our Homeland Security Advisory Security. Tomorrow is ziplining day!

We see a magic show after dinner – very cool. The shows on the boat are awesome.

Day 5 – Ketchikan

Tim’s parents are on their own for the day touring Ketchikan by land and sea. Tim and I will be taking our lives in our own hands and will go ZIPLINING! Ziplining scare level is RED! Even Tim’s dad is making some comments about our imminent death – I mean how scary it is. I’m getting nervous. We’re up at 5:30 a.m. for our 6:50 a.m. ziplining.


We say our last good-byes to Tim’s parents and board our bus for ziplining! Get to our destination and get the safety and don’t freak out talks by our college-aged guides. We gear up and I don’t remember a thing. Tim videotaped it all as I was in my nervous state. Our group has a family with children in their teens, this helps Tim and I get over the nervousness. If they can do it and their parents, we can too! The first couple of runs are easy and my whole body is tense. By the end I’m trying to cannonball to go faster and it’s raining so we’re going even faster. We love it! And we’re still alive. I want to do this for every vacation.

We get back to town do some shopping call his parent so to let them know we’ve survived. Ketchikan is cute. Best port of all but we have the shortest time.

Tim is starting to crave news. We look all over Ketchikan for a Wall Street Journal. The closest we get is a Seattle PI that is sold out. Tim is craving news so bad he gets a USA Today.

Back on the ship. Tomorrow is our last day before we get back to Seattle.

Day 6 – Victoria
Most of the day we’re at sea and we get in to Victoria at 6 p.m. My body is so sore from ziplining I sleep for most of the day. I feel muscles that I apparently never use in my abs, thighs, and arms. I can’t even sit up without being in pain. I’m such a wimp. Tim and his parents hang out while I’m recuperating. We get to Victoria and go on our last excursion – Butchart Gardens!

It starts to rain as we take off for the gardens. We seem to be cursed with rain. Our driver tells us it never rains in Victoria – just our luck. We have two hours to walk around the gardens. We get there and take off – but have to slow down because there is a butt load of people. It is packed – there are not only tourists but locals tonight for the fireworks and music. It’s so crowded we’re forced to go extremely slow and I get worried we might not have enough time to see all the gardens.

Butchart is beautiful, but oh so crowded. We leave and drive through downtown – I wish we had time for tea (we did have time for ice cream, however :). Too bad. We need to get back on the ship and have some late night barbecue for our last dinner. We get back on the boat and encounter another long line for the barbecue. It’s a beautiful night – the rain stopped and it’s warm. I’ll miss the boat and the hand sanitizers.

Day 7 – Seattle
We are docked early and are planning to leave the ship for the airport at 7:30 p.m. Our flights are at 1 p.m. to San Francisco and 2:30 p.m. to Ohio. We are surprised how quickly we get off the ship, to a taxi and to the airport. We get to the airport by 8 a.m. What are we going to do until our flights? We all try to get on earlier flights but Tim and I are one short to get on a 9:30 a.m. flight but Bob and Sandy get on a 10:30 a.m. flight to Denver where they will still have to wait for their original flight to Ohio.

I’m exhausted and dive into the newest Economist. At least this vacation got me focused enough to read. We finally get on our flight and get home at 5 p.m.

Last thoughts – Sandy and Bob are awesome. If you ever see them ask for the poncho picture. It's priceless. We had a lot of firsts on this trip making it even more memorable. I have enormous guilt for being on that cruise but I so loved it. Alaska is amazing and makes me come to grips with my humanity. Ziplining is my new addiction, I just need to get in shape for it. More pins for Tim to put on the big map for the new places we just visited. I love my obsessive compulsive man.

I can highly recommend the Norwegian cruise to Glacier Bay – freestyle cruising is awesome and now I need to go and plant some trees.