He Rolls His Eyes

Hubby has been rolling his eyes at me lately. A lot.

Much of it has to do with me reading about excursions I want - and will be able - to take in Alaska someday. Float plane sightseeing. Helicopter glacier trek. Dogsledding on a glacier. A trip above the Arctic Circle to see the Arctic Ocean. See the Northern Lights.

It also has to do with this adventure thing I have burning inside me. Every time we watch TV or see something or hear about something usually my first response is, "I want to do that!" Or, "I want to go there!" Hubby is getting tired just hearing about all the places I want to go and things I want to do. His idea of vacation is being plopped in front of the TV watching sports. And my idea(s)? My list gets longer everyday.

How about visiting, in no particular order of priority...
Greenland. Iceland. Norway. Macchu Picchu. Panama Canal. Newfoundland. Nova Scotia. Easter Island. Antarctica. Fiji. Bora Bora. Australia. Scotland. Ireland. Dubai. New Zealand. Switzerland. Greece.

And those are only my top few. No wonder he rolls his eyes!

Part of the allure of traveling is the excitement of learning new things. Like what I found out today at the Anchorage airport. I noticed a very long line of men, 50 or so, with only one woman in the group, waiting to board a plane. The line was straight as could be, something unusual at an airport.Then I noticed this sign. (I waited until everyone was gone to take the picture. Scooter and I would have been a bit out of place in that group!)

So I looked into it more. ConocoPhillips and BP run their own airline, with their own pilots and flight attendants, for their workers who travel between Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the North Slope. How many ConocoPhillips and BP and their contract workers travel on their airplanes in Alaska each month? How about over 20,000?! I never knew, and never would have, if it weren't for my need for travel.

Santa School

Do you know there are a lot of older men, with real round bellies, real white hair, and real white beards? I sure wasn't aware of the number of authentic-looking Santas out there. This trip changed that. Whether on the ship or in port every time I turned around there was Santa. It's been a bit fun. (Although I did challenge a Scooter-Santa to a scooter race and he wouldn't take me up on it.)

Today all the Santas from the Santa school led a sing-a-long for the passengers. Christmas songs, of course. Who knew? Christmas in June in Alaska does exist!

Glacier Bay Day

Glacier Bay Day is always a special one. Although we didn't see any large calvings we did see a few small ones. And although it was rainy and cold I did get some nice pictures while we were there.

Mini Adventure

Today Scooter and I roamed the rainy, cold, pretty-much-empty streets of Skagway, Alaska. About as mini an adventure as I can take right now. 

I did stop at the quilt shop and bought the pattern for this colorful quilt. 

And admired a possible new snowman quilt for next Christmas. I didn't get the pattern but figured I can make do without it. 

Tomorrow, Glacier Bay. 

Un-Adventure

As much as I promote the suck-the-marrow life I'm feeling quite like the hypocrite.

Yes, I'm in Alaska. Yes, I'm trying my best to choose joy. Yes, I'm keeping myself busy as I wait for my knee replacement. However, the swimming is making the knee worse and I am finding myself more exhausted and in pain as each day goes by. I'm finding it hard to keep up with this adventure. 

The closest thing to an adventure today? Taking a picture in Juneau. That's all I've got. 

Best $109 I Ever Spent

It's cold and rainy this trip. 51 degrees cold. Throw in the wind and rain in Ketchikan and brrr.

The pool isn't much better. While I've been swimming anyway, the water is a bit too chilly to spend much time here. 

What makes up for all the cold is how I spent $109. Access to a sauna, three steam rooms, and these. The tiled loungers might not look like much, but they are heated. Really heated. And a great place to fall asleep. Not that I intend to sleep, but every time I lie down it seems to be a side effect of relaxing in a warm place.

8 days and 7 Nights

We've been on the move for several nights in a row now. Get up early and fly to Portland, spend the night in Portland. Get up early the next morning and take Amtrak to Seattle, spend the night in Seattle. Get up early the next morning and take Amtrak to Vancouver, BC. Our plan was to take the same trip back. 

But a streak of travel good luck always comes our way. So while we're still on the move for the next week we're only unpacking once. Why? Because I found something for $299 per person leaving the day after we arrived in Vancouver.  Who can pass up a cruise to Alaska? Certainly not me, and with the timing being perfect the Universe surely had our backs. 

So off we go to Alaska again. Healthy hubby, torn up knee me, and dependable Scooter. 

And a bunch of these guys. Can you tell what kind of school is in session on this trip?