Skag the Wag
So we did the Skagway train ride today, ‘cause that’s the excursion I always do with my dad when we’re in Skagway. It was awesome as always. Pictures!
Also, it really makes me happy to see people being nice to each other. The stairs to exit the train are relatively steep. After we had exited out of our own car, we passed this one older dude trying to get down the steep stairs from another car. There were like five people—probably all complete strangers—helping him out, making sure he made it to the ground safely.
That kind of stuff really makes me happy.
Also, CATERPILLAR!
Juneau
We’s in Juneau today! Rather than do any sort of excursions, we decided to just get out and walk for a bit, which was nice.
My leg is still being twingy, but walking outside is much easier than trying to walk on the treadmill while the ship is moving.
(And is also a lot more enjoyable than 4 hours on a treadmill).
Pics!
I’m not good at pictures, sorry.
Edit: holy hell, the hot dogs on this ship are FANTASTIC.
Seasickness? Noooooooooo
Today was an “at sea” day on the ship, and GUESS WHO GOT SEASICK?
(hint: it wasn’t Nate)
I’ve done this cruise four freaking times before and have never gotten seasick, but the ship was rolling on the waves just right this afternoon to cause my brain to freak out and made me dry heave over the toilet multiple times.
Party time.
But things got better in the early evening. Nate and I ordered cheese and crackers for dinner and they were the best cheese and crackers ever.
Then we played war with two decks of cards. Nate happened to get six aces by the deal, so I was pretty much screwed, but I had the magic of the ace of spades (who I named JesAce…like “Jesus” but with “ace” instead of “us” because I’m made of blasphemy) and was able to stay alive until we got bored of playing.
I hope this sickness doesn’t return though, ‘cause gross.
Off to Alaska!
It’s time for our Alaska cruise! This is the fourth (I think?) time I’ve done this cruise, but it’s different every time and is really enjoyable.
Some pics from our departure from Seattle:
WOO!
CRUISE PLANNED!
We all know that planning for the future is sometimes the only thing that can make me happy. Luckily, tonight Nate and I got to engage in some future planning. Specifically, we bought our tickets for our honeymoon cruise!
I mentioned a few days ago that we were likely going to try to do this this year, and the timing seems like it’s going to work out the best this year, so why not? We’re doing the 7-day inside passage with Glacier Bay cruise to Alaska in late August.
It’s been a while since I’ve been on a cruise (the last time was in July 2011), so I’m super excited! I really hope Nate likes it.
Check out our ship. We’ve got a balcony room.
WOO EXCITEMENT!
RIGHTY-O
Remember a while back when I was talking about how Nate and I were planning on doing our honeymoon cruise next year?
Well, we’re changing things up a bit and hope to do it…this August instead!
We have to move fairly quickly to arrange everything to make it all work (and to, you know, make sure we can actually get tickets), but we think it will happen. Super exciting!
Also, I might be coming back down for another Moscow visit in early August. My April/May trip wasn’t as long as it was supposed to be and I feel like this might be the last summer I’ll really be able to hang out with my mom in the ‘Scow, so get ready for (possibly) more Claudia, you lucky Idaho fools.
honemyonn
YO, FOOL-MONGERS!
So because I had scheduled my thesis defense a week after my wedding*, Nate and I never really got to go on a honeymoon. We got to stay at the super fancy Kensington Riverside Inn, courtesy of my mom, but that was just for the wedding night.
So we’re going Delayed Honeymoon Style™ and are planning to do a cruise to Alaska next summer!
I’ve done the Alaska cruise three times**, but each time has been different due to differing weather/stops/shore excursions, so I’m super excited to do it again! I’m also excited to be with Nate on his first cruise. I think he’ll enjoy it.
This is the one I think would be nice. My mom, dad, and I went on this specific one back in 2006.
Hopefully we can make it all work!
*Pro Tip: don’t do that
**God, doesn’t that sound snobby? *sticks nose in air* “I’ve gone on this cruise three times already, but I’ve only ever had Jeeves and the other butlers to keep me company and only eight credit cards with $50,000 limits, so I never had much fun.”
Hob-Nobbing with the Elites of the Ship
Wow.
So apparently on every cruise, Princess picks out the 40 people who have logged the greatest amount of cruising days, gathers them in a room for a super deluxe fancy luncheon, and thus creates a super concentrated cluster of snobbery at sea.
This time around, my dad was invited (he’s gone on 13 Princess cruises, somewhere around 130 days or so) and took me as his guest.
These are people who have traveled the world via cruises, and they were exchanging all these stories about the African Cape, South Asian adventures, language mix-ups and faux pas in Europe, and airport disasters.
At one point, one of the ladies at our table turns to me, looks at my obviously inferior gold card*, and goes “and where have you cruised, young lady?”
I was like, “uh…Alaska.”
Lady: “where else?”
Me: “…Alaska.”
Lady: “Oh. Well, that’s nice.”
She’d been cruising for like 200 days total or something.
Anyway, it was this super swanky thing at which I totally didn’t belong, but it’s interesting to see how people with the means to spend
that much time cruising actually interact with one another. Some were total snobs about it, others seemed like perfectly reasonable and nice people.
Ooh, and I also went to see a cooking demonstration put on by the head chef and head Maitre d’. Picture!
They were funny.
Tomorrow: Victoria, BC!
*You get a blue card if this is your first Princess cruise, You get a silver card if you’ve cruised twice, a gold card if you’ve cruised more than twice but less than 15 (I think) times, and a black card for 15+ cruises. There were like three gold card people there.
Monday 25
So because I suck at life, I totally forgot to take a video today before it got dark. But I did bike (stationary, of course) 10 miles and ran 5 miles early this morning. I would have run for a longer stretch of time, but the little recreation center on the ship was getting super crowded and I figured I should give up my treadmill to someone else.
And today they had CANTALOUPE out, which made me super happy ‘cause I had trouble finding fresh cantaloupe in Vancouver and I freaking love it.
Tonight was formal night. Here is a pic of my pretty dress that I bought for $7 at Goodwill. Goodwill rules.
THAT IS ALL! Ketchikan tomorrow.
HEY
California to Seattle today. I’m sitting in the Red Lion hotel near the Seattle airport, screwing around and waiting for tomorrow when we take a limo to the ship. Because I have internet for what is possibly the last time in a week or so, I shall use it to give you some facts about the cruise ship we’ll be taking as well as some facts about Princess itself:
– The Princess line was made famous in the show The Love Boat.
– Princess has 16 operating ships. Their next ship to be put to work, the Royal Princess, is scheduled to sail in May 2013.
– Princess offers cruises that involve crossing the Atlantic as well as cruises lasting over 150 days that go all around the world.
– The Sapphire Princess was built in 2004 and holds up to 2,670 passengers (plus 1,100 crew).
– It has 18 decks, is 951 feet long, and cost $400 million.
– Its sister ship is the Diamond Princess.
Check out the Princess website to search their cruises. It’s fun!
OKAY PLAN CHANGES
OKAY PEOPLE, it looks like my plans for the second half of July have drastically changed. As you may know if you keep up with my blogging, my dad’s father (my grandpa down in California) died in January. Due to the suddenness and unexpected nature of his death, we were unable to procure me a ticket to go down and be present for the funeral. Because of this, my dad and I promised my grandma that we would find a time this summer to go down and be with her for a few days. Therefore, my dad informed me today that from the 19th to the 22nd, we will be heading down to Brea to spend some time with Grandma Mahler.
THEN he informs me that he was able to snatch up two last-minute tickets on the Sapphire Princess for a week-long cruise to Alaska. He wants to get his Princess black card (you get super perks if you’ve cruised for a certain number of days) and I freaking love cruising, so that was a nice and unexpected surprise. We’ll be flying to Seattle straight from Brea on the 22nd, spend the night in the Emerald City, and then board the Sapphire Princess and be cruisin’ from the 23rd to the 31st.
Awesome? Hell yes. Though I am a bit upset that such a large chunk of my time in Moscow is being cut, who the hell can complain about getting to travel? I also want to see my grandma; it’s been a long time.
I’m conflicted
I don’t know if I’ve blogged about this yet (I don’t think I have), but my dad told me a few months back that next winter (December 2011 or January 2012, assuming the solar flares don’t kill us all) he’d like to take a cruise down south to Cape Horn (southern tip of South America) and…you guessed it…Antarctica.
I was jazzed about this for about 24 hours until I realized something: how appropriate is it to allow cruise ships to sail through the already delicate ecosystem down there?
The Princess Cruise website claims: “The most isolated continent on Earth, Antarctica is home to massive icebergs, majestic mountain ranges and diverse wildlife in a wilderness setting that has a purity as inspiring as it is remote.”
Remote until you catch sight of the five other giant cruise ships muscling their way for “scenic cruising” during the two or three months it’s warm enough for them to venture so far south. It strikes me as wrong on a certain level, you know? I mean, you all know that I’d practically saw off my arm to get the opportunity to frolic around Terra Australis, but not at the expense of unnecessarily disrupting the wildlife.
So as much as it kills me, I think I might have to say no to this solely out of principle. We’ll see how things go in the coming year, but who knows. I mean, trucking a crap ton of scientists down there is one thing…letting regular people disrupt the goings on of the animals/environment for the sake of taking a pleasure cruise is another.
I’m sure if I’m destined to go there, the universe will find a way.
Today’s song: Phazing (Tiësto Remix) by Dirty South and Rudy (the opening minute of this song is EPIC)
Random number generation is too important to be left to chance
I appear to be unable to form coherent thoughts that last for more than three minutes at a time today.
You know what that means…
RANDOMBLOG!
Had I the money and time, I would love to do a cruise around the world. How fantastically awesome would that be? I could totally make it happen in a year’s time if I didn’t have to pay rent, haha.
I want my new shiny to get here! I need a new electronic to fondle, never mind that it was a poor purchase choice. I’ll just have to learn to fondle live with the consequences.
Lady Gaga’s song Teeth has a freakish resemblance to Prisencolinensinainciusol in terms of the beat. I’m also in love with it. Go figure.
THAT IS ALL!
Today’s song: Teeth by Lady Gaga
Eigenblogger 