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?

 

The Challenge

Another day of adventure. Starting in this building

with another trip on the

Pictures of barns and fields. 

Of water and bridges.

Birds and the snacks they open on the railroad tracks.

With all of the pictures being taken from the comfort of my train seat none were really a challenge. 

Enjoying a beautiful day on the Vancouver, BC waterfront? Awesome, but no challenge.

Someday becoming someone who is brave enough and strong enough to paddle board like this gal? A challenge, but a future challenge.

A more immediate challenge is one faced in our hotel room. A lovely, old historical hotel in Vancouver in an amazing location. I've asked about switching rooms to a better set-up but had no luck. For a person on the verge of knee replacement and the inability to bend her knees, here's my predicament. If you notice, there is only one six inch tile between the toilet and the counter and cabinet. Not sure how this one is going to turn out. A huge challenge.

No Wallowing Here

I was supposed to have my knee replacement today. I've been holding out to get the wedding behind me before I launched into the surgery and a multi-week, multi-month recovery. But they lined the surgery up at the wrong hospital. Unfortunately the rescheduled date - at the right hospital - is another two weeks out. I thought the pain was excruciating last month, but now it's excruciating-er.

To get by until the surgery date I should probably stay close to home, not move around much, and pretty much live on pain pills. If you know me you know that's not something I would do. Despite the amount of pain I'm in I don't want to live these two weeks moping and feeling sorry for myself.

Instead, with two weeks to go until surgery I'm back to sucking the marrow - and not wallowing in sorrow.

Remember the solo
Handicapped
Suck the marrow
Trains, planes, automobiles, and ship adventure I went on last month?

Sucking the marrow, not wallowing in the sorrow, started yesterday with our early morning flight to Portland and continued today with our train trip to Seattle.

Pictures were snapped along the way.
Inside the Portland Amtrak Station

Under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Lunch at my favorite place, Lowell's in Pike Place Market in Seattle. Ed had the tiger shrimp tacos. Spicy!

And a picture of the beautiful sunshine we had in Seattle? We were too busy sitting in the sun, watching interesting people.