Living the Dream” – Day 23 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 166, Monday, October 10, 2022. Last night was not a good night. The room air-conditioning did not work. It was hot. 7am this morning I reported a few issues with our stateroom to msintenance. We are in stateroom 13540. We left had breakfast and by the time we came back at 9am. Everything was fixed except for the shower. There is a space on the bottom of the door and when you shower the floor of the bathroom gets soaked. Pretty disgusting. I am not sure if I can take nineteen days of a wet shower floor. As of yesterday in Honolulu we have traveled 7,397 miles in 22 days. We will be at sea for five days now. Our next port of call is Moorea, French Polynesia. Many of the passengers are Australian on this leg of the trip. I love the accents. We are learning so much from our Australian mates over a cuppa. Lots of people were getting pumped up at lunch time. ” Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi”.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 22 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 165, Sunday, October 9 2022. We were off the ship before 8am. After 10 minutes of being off the ship I decided I like Honolulu much better than Maui. We took the trolley transportation to the Waikiki shopping plaza. This is a really nice city. The buildings here are architectural masterpieces. I love the uniqueness of the buildings. They are so tall and thin. The city is very clean with lots of good shopping. We got on the Blue line trolley. Scenery was very pretty. The flowers and vegetation through the city is gorgeous. The smell is just heavenly in the open air trolley. The beaches are wonderful. The trolley was a beautiful ride, but very crowded and we had to stand for 1 1/2 hours. It was difficult to take pictures and enjoy yourself with the curvy roads and going about fifty miles an hour. I could not reach the overhead straps to hold on.
We ended up taking an uber back to the ship. We were able to get in the ship with the crew and made the back to back special lunch. So it was a win win for us. We were entertained by a waiter.
I would love to come back and spend some time exploring this area. We made reservations for dinner at Chops for two nights. Interesting there is no extra gratuity charged like on the last cruise for the dinners. They changed it for this cruise. Tonight’s dinner was great. We had so much fun with some great dinner mates.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream – Day 21 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 164, Saturday, October 8, 2022. Getting off the ship onto the tender was challenging this morning They were going to stop the tenders and wait for the seas to calm down. Then the supervisor came by and said that we could board with no ramp. They couldn’t use a ramp. The tender was going down four feet then back up. We had to quickly step in when the sea had the tender up. The ride over to Lahaina was super wavy and a very rough ride. As we pulled into the dock there were surfers surfing right there. We decided today was a day just to walk around town. We walked through the park and of course Steve gets hit up for money. He is a magnet for people who need money. So after he gave the man money. We sat a little bit away and watched the man. He didn’t ask anyone else for money. We walked to the outlet stores. Just like all shopping malls now, there are a lot of vacant stores. We came back to the ship around 1:30pm and spent the afternoon socializing with the crew. Later in the evening we packed up our stuff. We are changing rooms for the next portion of out trip. Our current stateroom attendant will move our luggage to our new room in the morning. So it is Aloha to Maui tonight at 10 pm and on to Honolulu for tomorrow where most passengers will disembark. First thing in the morning we will be spending the day exploring Honolulu using the hop on hop off trolleys. Once we leave the ship at 8 am we cannot get back on until after 11:30 am when the ship will be open for new passengers.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 20 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 163, Friday, October 7, 2022. We are in Maui today. It is nice here in Hawaii weather wise. The ship is using the lifeboats for tendering. The tender was really rocking on the 15-minute tender into the town. I have met so many people from the UK on this trip. They all want to talk about Trump and Biden and are really interested in the US political climate. Once we got to the pier, I felt like we were in the Caribbean. There are a lot of tattoo shops and art galleries on the streets. We walked to the Post office to get post card stamps and found pay telephones there. Also, the post office boxes were outside. It is very hot and humid now. A complete change of weather. I Walked into a shop and a woman was making jewelry. She had to put a bracelet on me. So it went. $30.00, no thank you, $20.00, no thank you, $10.00. Oh my goodness just like anywhere in the Caribbean. I did not expect that in Hawaii. We took an uber to the car rental. We picked up our rental car at 11:30 am at Enterprise. It was really inexpensive. We rented a Nissan Sentra for $96.00 and we returning it tomorrow at 5pm. That price included the physical damage insurance cost. Our first stop was McDonalds for lunch. We paid $16.00 for lunch. After lunch we started the Road to Hana trip. First stop was Ho’okipa Beach Park. We traveled on route 30 with the Ocean on our right. There are lots of beaches with picnic tables and public bathrooms. There are people living on the beaches and on the water front in old vehicles and tents. There are lots of paddle boards and surf boards in the water. To the left is the rocky clifts and brown grass. The only green vegetation we see is where there is irrigation. Up on the hills there are large windmills. There is no wind and they are not turning. People here seem to wear a lot of masks and gloves due to covid. At Ho’okipa Brach park. The waves and rip tides were bad. There was no swimming or snorkeling. There was surfing going on. The life guards were very busy. We got to see a jet ski rescue. We did pass lots of cows in pastures. We then headed to Twin Falls. The road turns really curvy and the speed limit dropped to 15mph. It’s not like KY, there are guard rails here. We just kept climbing higher. Road is super narrow with lots of one lane bridges. Just realize if you do this road there is no telephone service. I lost Google maps service. There are very few places to pull over and lots of crazy drivers. There was an unusual amount of Mustangs and Camaros on the road. After a few hours we turned around and headed back to the ship. The traffic was horrendous coming back to Lahaina. Steve had enough of driving so we dropped off the car early and were back on the ship by 7pm.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 19 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 162, Thursday, October 6, 2022. Drink, eat, gamble, and karaoke. No more overeating for me. It is really warm now. Not hot just great gorgeous weather. This is the first shorts we have worn since we left home nineteen days ago. We had our covid test at noon. This was a required test in order to stay on the ship for the next cruise. There are 542 back to back cruisers that they are testing today. Everyone had a time set for their Antigen covid test. It was quick and efficient. We were then told to go back to our room and wait twenty minutes. If no call within that twenty minutes then you were good to go. Woohoo, we are good to go. Australia here we come. We ate lunch outside on the back of the ship on deck 14. You can see about 12.5 miles of ocean from here. No more casino after today. We will be in Hawaii the next three days. Here’s some videos of the ship.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 18 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 161, Wednesday, October 5, 2022. Day four at sea on Ovation of the Seas. Jamie’s Italian food restaurant has definitely changed. It was not as good as we remembered it prior to covid. We will not be going back there. I can’t think about going on a cruise without this song playing in my head. “WASH YOUR HANDS”
As we are cruising, I just realized that we are in the Pacific Ocean. This ocean is the largest and deepest of the world ocean basins. It covers approximately 63 million square miles and contains more than half of the free water on Earth. All of the world’s continents could fit into the Pacific basin. The five ocean basins from largest to smallest are: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic. Today, we have officially found the warm weather and calm seas. Time for shorts. What a glorious day. The best part was at 7am while eating breakfast, we watched a huge rainbow form. Just a gorgeous sight. Today we will find the pot of gold at the end. What time is it now?????. We had lunch outside at the back of the Windjammer. What a great place.
My Fitbit says home time, my watch is set to ship time or Hawaii time, and my phone says Washington time. Very confusing and going to get worse on the next leg of our journey where we will cross the Internatinal date line. We attended the Captain’s Corner today. Here is a snippet of it!
Some interesting facts from the Captain’s Corner senior officers: 1) We will consume 150,000 gallons of fuel this trip to get to Hawaii. 2) The IT team on board consists of seven people. 3) The leftover food is discharged to the sea at twelve miles from the sea. Therefore, the ship feeds the fish. 4) Crew has their own Windjammer. 5) They catch the onboard birds and release from the ship. 6) Napier, New Zealand is a very difficult port to get into. It is very tight. 7) All trash is taken ashore. 8) Wastewater is discharged to the sea ten miles out. The water is tested before being discharged. 9) New ships being built named the Icon class will be run by LNG – Liquid Natural Gas. 10) This is the first cruise that the crew does not have to wear masks. 11) There are fourteen galleys on the ship. In the evening we spent a little time in the music hall. Here’s a little snippet of the entertainment on board. This is one of my favorite songs “Tennessee Whiskey”.
Tomorrow is our covid test day and our last sea day.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 17 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 160, Tuesday, October 4, 2022. Another freaking sea day. This is day three. There is 2,645 miles of water between Seattle and Maui. We left warmer weather to this cool breezy weather. I wore a sweater dress to dinner last night. This is sea day number three. Two more to go. OMG – where is the land. I feel like I am in Waterworld. Did you know that 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, while only 29% is land. There are birds in the Solarium. We are their land. Are they living on the ship or are they just lazy and catching a ride to Australia to visit family? Have you guys noticed that Steve is smiling in every picture now. He learned how to smile. So, you know you find out everything on social media. Someone just posted this on our current cruise group Facebook site “Good morning hope you all are having a great time my friend and I are both in isolation in separate rooms which I like, with Covid, have to isolate for 6 days and have to show negative on day 5and 6. If still positive have to isolate for another 4 days. We are now in a special part of the ship on deck 3 and we were in a balcony on deck 12. We think we got it last cruise to Alaska on shore at a port. I tested myself yesterday morning and was negative, but my friend was positive couple days before me and being in their same cabin I had to have a test every day and last night came positive. I am on this new anti-viral medication “Paxlivid” because of all my health issues. I am not showing any symptoms only getting a sore throat. Everyone be careful on shore and wear a mask and use the hand sanitizer. I don’t want to scare anyone just to warn you it’s still out there. Stay safe and washy washy”. We are on deck 12 in a balcony. He sent me a picture of his current quarantine room. It has a window. I wonder how many others are in quarantine. Best thing I have eaten on this cruise is the Goat Cheese Salad. I want to eat it every night. It is getting sunny as the day is progressing. We had reservations for NorthStar today, but the winds and seas are too rough. They are not operating it today. I have been on the Quantum class ships a lot and always was a chicken to do the NorthStar. Finally, I decide this is it I am doing it and yup it is cancelled. Well, I had to do it and going up in it in the Pacific Ocean the farthest we have ever been from land seemed like the perfect time. We are probably halfway to Maui today and there is plastic floating in the water. We will save the NorthStar experience for the Honolulu to Sydney cruise. I found out today this ship the Ovation of the Seas and our cruise that departed Vancouver, BC on September 30, 2022, is at 61.3% capacity with 3,007 passengers currently on board. Tonight, we are headed to Jamie’s for dinner. DELIZIOSA!!!
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 16 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 159, Monday, October 3, 2022. Another cloudy rainy cold rolling sea day this morning on Ovation of the Seas. I guess I expected a cruise to Hawaii would be filled with sun. I walked around and did a video of deck five.
Tonight is the last night the clocks go back one hour. Tomorrow we will be on HST – Hawaii time zone which is six hours earlier than EST which is what our family is in. Hopefully, we can now adjust to this new time. In the afternoon it cleared up and the water turned a nice blue. We have traveled 935 NM so far on this cruise and it is now 64 degrees. Woohoo, getting warmer. We were invited again Cheers with the Officers. Great meal and a lot of fun meeting new people.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 15 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 158, Sunday, October 2, 2022. We are hopeful that we will see some whales crossing the Pacific on the Ovation of the Seas. Searching the sea from our balcony for whales we see a container ship in the distance.
The whales start returning to Hawaii from Alaska around the fall months. It is a cloudy cool day. The ship is sparkly clean. I went to the spa at 8am
and had a hair treatment and met lots of people sick from the rolling seas. So far, we have had no issues. The woman styled my hair with rings of curls and Steve hated it. It was an interesting style, but it is well conditioned. The baked good are so good on this ship.
The water we are cruising through is 7,874 feet deep in the afternoon. I have to tell you the Pacific Ocean looks exactly like the Atlantic Ocean as far as I can tell. Our main dining waiter and assistant waiter are husband and wife. Such a cute couple from Indonesia.
Tonight, was formal night and my hair looked fantastic by the evening. We are looking and feeling good tonight.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 14 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 157, Saturday, October 1, 2022. First things first. Here’s a link to a video of our current stateroom on Ovation of the Seas. It is balcony stateroom 12542.
It has been two weeks since we left home and we have traveled, by car, plane, bus, train, and ship. It feels like forever since we left home, but also like we just left. Time is flying by. So far this ship is so much nicer than the the Quantum. The food, the service, the crew, the passengers. Just everything is better. Went to the spa and had a manicure. The nail technician was so nice and did a fantastic job. They look better than when I get them done locally in KY. Our room has an electric teapot with tea makings. I had heard that when there is a large number of English passengers they bring out the teapots. We have never been on a ship that has a teapot in a regular balcony room. The other noticeable difference between the Quantum and the Ovation is the Captain’s announcements. Every cruise we have ever been on the Captain makes daily announcements. On the Quantum there were no announcements. On Ovation we already have had the Captain making announcements. Early this morning we docked at Pier 91 in Elliott Bay, Seattle, Washington. We left the ship after having a great breakfast in the main dining room. I can’t express enough how great the wait staff is on this ship. The Holland American Eurodam sat next to us. After breakfast we went ashore and took a taxi to Pier 57 to Miners Landing. We wanted to ride Wings over Washington. There is also a ferris wheel that is 175 feet tall called Seattle’s Great Wheel. The wheel has 42 heated and air conditioned gondolas that hold eight people each. That means 336 people can be on that ride at one time. It is the highest ferris wheel I have ever seen. The tallest ferris wheels are: High Roller in Las Vegas at 550 feet, Singapore Flyer at 541 feet, Star of Nanchang at 525 feet, London Eye at 443 feet, and Lihpao Sky Dream at 413 feet. Here’s a funny story for you embarrassing as anything. When we got to the pier, we couldn’t locate the ticket booth. There was an employee bending over behind a counter. All I could see was the ponytail. Okay, so I walk up and say “mam could you tell me where to buy tickets? “. Well to my surprise the person stands up and oh boy a full beard. I was so embarrassed. I kept apologizing. Of course everywhere we turned for the rest of the day I kept seeing him. The Wings over Washington was great. You felt the water from the falls, smelled the forests, and were totally immersed in the experience of flying high. It was basically the same as Soarin in Epcot, Disney World, but you were an eagle soaring over Washington. It was $40.00 for a 20 minute experience for two.
Seattle, Washington has 10,000 homeless and everywhere you turn there were people looking for money. Sad situations. Lots of young people are homeless. We got to Pier 57 at 10am and it was very quiet. By noon it was really hopping. I have to give a big Happy Birthday wish to Dwight the Windjammer host. He is 32 today. After today, there is no turning back. We will be five days at sea crossing the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. Tonight and for the next two nights after, we will be setting our clocks back one hour. So then we have three days to adjust to having a six hour time difference from the US east coast when to Hawaii. Today people got off the ship and some got on. It was unusual because this was not a stop for that. All the people we met who were doing this were from Florida. They either had to go home because of home damage or their original flight to Vancover, BC had been canceled due to hurricane Ian. Ended the day at Chops Grille for dinner.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 13 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 156, Friday, September 30, 2022. Boarding the Ovation of the Seas in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I love Vancouver, it is the nicest city I have ever been to. Last night, we had dinner at a restaurant connected to the Hampton Inn and Suites downtown. The food was fantastic, and the server was great. One of the best dinners we have had. We then walked around the city. Everyone is so nice. What a beautiful city. I love it here. Our room overlooked the BC Place which is the home of the Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club. They are a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer as a member club of the league’s Western Conference. It is so funny though. In order to use the elevator, you have to scan your room key. Do you know how many times we forgot to scan the key and just stood in the elevator not going anywhere. That is definitely something we will laugh about for a long time. In the morning after breakfast our uber driver informs us that it is quiet in the city today because it is a holiday. It is the annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. The day is meant to bring awareness and reflection on the legacy of Canada’s residential school system, which aimed to erase the languages and cultures of the Indigenous peoples of this land. The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is a statutory holiday for federal government workers and federally regulated industries, but it is not a statutory holiday in Ontario. Quickly we arrive at the Port of Vancouver Canadian Place Cruise Terminal and are waiting to check in. Everyone must wear a mask in the port buildings, but everyone in here is covid negative tested within the last two days. There are lots of little kids waiting in line and they are not happy. The boarding process is kind of messed up today. The ship’s manifest has been lost. Wow interesting. We board Ovation of the Seas around 11:45. This ship is almost exactly like the Quantum of the Seas which we took to Alaska. We ate dinner overlooking the water as we travel back to Seattle.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
Living the Dream” – Day 12 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 155, Thursday, September 29, 2022. Checked out of the Hilton Garden Inn in Renton, WA at 5am. I would not recommend this hotel. The people there were fantastic, but the hotel rooms were very dark. Carpeting is very worn out and stained. This hotel needs refurbishment. Headed to McDonald’s. It cost $10.00 for two egg McMuffins. Seems expensive to us. We headed to drop the car off by the Seattle airport. The car Enterprise car rental return area was very busy and efficient. We dropped off the car and headed to the Uber pick up area. They always have separate areas at ports and airports where users go. Used the app and within one minute we had a 2022 Teslsa pick us up. What a great car. It was a self-driving car. Very cool. We were dropped off at 6am at the Seattle Union Square Amtrak station. What a gorgeous station. The employees were so pleasant. We checked our baggage. You can have 2 checked bags weighing fifty pounds each. I saw people taking stuff out of their bags. They are strict with the fifty pounds. We then headed over to check in where we had to show our passports, the arrivecan app, and our train tickets. We met a nice family from South Africa in the terminal. They are big travelers and do lots of cruising on Norwegian Cruise Line. The price for our coach seats was $85.50 for both of us. The trip is four hours long and we traveled about 140 miles. This is the Amtrack Cascades route. The ride is very smooth, but we are traveling backwards.
Leaving the station, we travel under the city for a short while. We pass over the Chittendon locks that we visited yesterday. The train has a dining car and once your tickets are scanned you are free to get up and move around. After we pulled out, we realized that there were seats that were facing forward, but they were full. We also realized the water was on the other side of the train. Yikes, we are so inexperienced with this. The train is not full. I think it is because this service from Seattle to Vancouver, BC just started back up this week. It has been closed since covid started. We moved over to the water side. Our FIRST stop is Edmonds where we pick up another twenty passengers. The views are beautiful. The tracks are so close to the water it feels like you are riding on the water. Amazing journey this is. By 8:30am we are headed into some cloudy weather. We passed many ferry stations. These ferries carry vehicles and passengers over the Puget Sound. SECOND stop is Everett, Washington. Before that stop we passed through a fairly long tunnel. After the tunnel there is a small area of homeless people living under the underpass. It makes me so sad. The train is a little cool. Better than hot. I love the sound of the blowing horn. There are two electrical plugs at every seat. We start passing through farm country and at 9:10am we make our THIRD stop at Stanwood, WA where two passengers departed the train. Onto a real change in scenery of rolling farmland. Our FOURTH stop is at Mt Vernon, Washington. Our stops are really quick like a minute or two. This trip is four hours by train to go 140 miles. Our last four-hour trip was 1,721 miles on a jet. The plane was smoother, but not as roomy as the train. Hey, we did not ride backwards on the jet. Also, jets don’t come as close to you when you are flying. Other trains flew past us today as we traveled. Before our next stop we are back to the waterfront views again. Large pine trees line the waterfront, and we are higher above the coastline. Our final US stop, and FIFTH stop is at Bellingham. After this stop everyone on the train has to show their passport and we are given Canada declaration papers. Everything is closed after Bellingham, and no one is allowed to move around while the conductors check passports. A welcome tp Canada announcement was made at 10:30 am. Thet told us at that point it would be another 65 minutes before we pull into Vancouver. Once we entered Canada the train proceeded at a much slower speed along the waterfront. We slowly continued on over small bridges where there was water on both sides of us. There are two bathrooms at the end of our car. They are larger than an airplane bathroom. The one I could see had no toilet paper by 9:30 am. They leave you alone on the train. At least in coach they do. They only came through the car if they needed to check tickets or passports. We didn’t visit the restaurant car, since we had eaten at McDonald’s at 5:30am and brought bottles of water on board with us. The sun came out around 10:30am and it became a gorgeous day in Canada. We stop at the Fraser River Bridge for ten to 15 minutes for a freight train to go over. This is normally a bottleneck on the route. The Fraser River is the longest river in British Columbia, Canada and the 11th longest in Canada. In Vancouver, we could not depart the train until they came to our seats to get us. Canada requires that. We also had to put on masks in our seats and wear until out of the train station. It took about 45 minutes to go through customs. Then we ubered to the Hampton Inn and suites in downtown Vancouver. What a beautiful hotel. So much nicer than the Hilton Garden Inn in Renton that we have been staying at and much more expensive. Time for some food and a walk around the city.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 11 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 154, Wednesday, September 28, 2022. First thing this morning we went to Walgreens for our covid test. We are covid negative and can board the ship in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Friday. We will need one more covid test in Hawaii in order to continue our cruise to Australia. This is so nerve racking. There are super aggressive drivers here in the Seattle area. Today was a dreary cool and rainy day. We are told this weather is normal for the Seattle area. I am so thankful for yesterday. We just had the perfect weather for exploring Mt Ranier. We headed to our Underground tour which was near Pioneer Square. There were lots of homeless people sleeping under umbrellas in the corners or in tents. We found a really nice coffee shop and had coffee while waiting for our tour. Our tour group was small but the people were from many places including Austria, Germany, Singapore, and the great state of New Jersey. In 1899 fire destroyed the city of Seattle. Some of the rooms we went into had windows which before the fire would have faced the street. Skidrow was actually a logging term in Seattle in the beginning. It was where the logs were slid down off the.mountain top into the water to load on ships. Mostly men were in the area so there was lots of drinking, drugs, prostitution, etc. When you walk down the sidewalks here there is purple glass squares in the sidewalk. These are the skylights over the underground passage ways. The underground was used extensively during prohibition for speakeasies. During that time the Seattle police assisted the speakeasies. Our uber drivers had told us not to go to Pioneer square because it was dangerous. Our underground tour today was in Pioneer Square. In the area we saw a lot of homeless people, the area smelled like urine, and we saw human poop on the sidewalk. I would not recommend this tour. We then headed to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. These locks are a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay in Seattle, Washington’s Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south. They are the busiest locking system in the nation. Chittenden Locks were completed in 1917 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They connect the waters of Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Salmon Bay to the tidal waters of Puget Sound, the canal and locks allow recreational and commercial vessels to travel to the docks and warehouses of Seattle’s busy fresh water harbor. We had a personalized tour. The guide was very informative. All the plants in the gardens were grown from seed. The ships traveling through these locks are eighty percent pleasure and twenty percent commercial. It is currently free to travel through the locks except for commercial carrying cargo. Once in the lock, the water level drops as much as 26 feet to bring the boats even with Puget Sound. The fresh water is exchanged with salt water. Ten to fifteen minutes after the process began, the boats are on their way. Located here is also a salmon ladder. It is a series of 21 stepped pools called weirs. They help salmon migrate upstream from Puget Sound so that they can spawn (lay eggs) in early fall, and for the young fish to return to the Sound. It is the very end of the salmon season, but there were salmon still heading up the stairs. The salmon with one top fin are hatched in a hatchery and the ones with two fins are wild. We saw Harbour seals playing in the locks. They looked very happy. The fisherman kill any California Sea Lions that get in the locks. The trolley system is pretty elaborate here in Seattle. They run electric trolley zero emission buses. One other observation about the area is that people are thinner here. I think it is from walking the hills and steps.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 10 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 153, Tuesday, September 27, 2022. I would say the Seattle area is not our favorite place. The traffic is so heavy and restaurant prices are very high. The only saving grace is the people. They are so friendly and nice. Also, the food in the restaurants is very good. The weather is also very nice. It is cool in the mornings and gets warm and sunny in the afternoons. No humidity. The air is crisp and fresh. Today is Mt. Ranier day. We passed a lot of landfills and dump trucks pulling dump truck beds on the drive to the National Park. Never saw them before. I wonder if they are illegal in other states. Finally after about twenty miles of traffic and city suburbia stuff, I could breath. 161 south turned into a gorgeous pine tree lined road. I am not a city girl. Even though I lived most of my life in New Jersey. It was in beautiful Sussex County. Mt Ranier is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about 59 miles south-southeast of Seattle. Mount Ranier has the largest alpine glacial system outside of Alaska and the world’s largest volcanic glacier cave system Mt Ranier stands 14,410 feet above sea level. Stratovolcanoes, also known as composite cones, are the most picturesque and the most deadly of the volcano types. Their lower slopes are gentle, but they rise steeply near the summit to produce an overall morphology that is concave in an upward direction. They typically form at convergent plate margins. The fire danger is listed as very high today. Mt Ranier was established as the 5th National Patk in the US on March 2, 1899 and is 235,625 acres in size. It is roughly 20×20 miles. The closer we got to the National Park the taller the pine trees got. They lined the road so majestically, tall and straight like guards to a palace retreat. What a beautiful area. It is breathtaking. We entered the park in Ashford at the Nisqually entrance. The park ranger was from Pulasky County, KY and had lived for a short time in Science Hill. What a small country it is. We have heard that in the summer and weekends you can wait hours on line to get in the park. It is very quiet here today. We drove about a mile and made a left onto Westside road. This road is only opened seasonslly. The trees were humongous and amazing. We stopped on this road just to check out a tree and view the Glen below. So far this is the best part of our trip. There are lots of ferns growing among the trees here. You can view water racing down the Tacoma Creek at some points on on the right. The water rushing sounds beautiful. I freaking love it here. On the left side of the road there are some huge straight up clifts. The vegetation along the road is covered with dust. Reminds us of Neilson Road in Wantage, NJ where we used to live. We only saw one car the whole way and it was speeding down the road. We meandered slowly down the road enjoying the sights and sounds for about three miles and then the road dead ended at a gate. To go any further you had to bike or hike. We turned around and headed back to the main park road. The whole drive, Steve kept saying there are some big trees here. He was truly impressed by their size. We drove about another three miles and stopped at Kautz Creek. All along the road there are spots to pull over, park, enjoy the ravine views, and take those gorgeous pictures. At Kautz Creek we parked and crossed the street to the viewpoint. There is a walkway to an area where you get your first great view of the glaciers on top of the mountain. Wow it is breathtaking. I can’t use that word enough here. The walkway is built of plastic boards and is very slippery. There are dumpsters with reminders you are in bear country. We got back on the road and headed to Longmire. I look at the trees and I see beauty. Steve looks at the trees and sees lumber. He wonders how many 2×4’s you can get out of one. At Logmire there is a little museum. The piece of Douglas-fir tree cut and displayed at the entrance to the museum is about six feet wide. It began to grow in 1293 and was cut in 1963. Oh, the things that this tree has seen in 670 years. Western hemlock, western red cedar, and Douglas fir are the most common trees found in Mount Rainier’s old-growth lowland forests. Some of these large trees are as old as 1,000 years, interspersed with others of different ages. We didn’t see any really large trees today. In eastern California, a Great Basin bristlecone pine known as Methuselah has long been considered Earth’s oldest living thing. According to tree-ring data, it is 4,853 years old. So of course that led Steve and I to the discussion about how do you count the rings of a live tree. That is something to think about. Well, you can extract an increment core from the tree using an increment borer. I would like to see that tree one day. We then drove up to Christine Falls. Walked down the viewpoint trail. It was very steep. Took pictures of the falls with the bridge over it. Then onward and crossed the Nisqually river. Wow higher and higher we went. Yikes it was actually scary in the car. We turned off on Ricksecker Point Loop Drive on the right labeled as the viewpoint. There are 26 glaciers here in Mt Ranier. You can get tremendous pictures and views off of this road. There are many places to stop. At some view points it feels as though you can reach out and touch the mountains. If I heard once I heard fifty times or more from Steve. “STAY AWAY FROM THE EDGE”. After this one way drive we proceeded further to Narada Fall. The trail to view the falls from the bottom was heart pounding. At Narada Falls you are about 15 miles into the park. This waterfall is 168 feet high. After this stop we proceeded up hill to Glacier Vista Viewpoint. The roads are like KY roads by us. No guardrails with steep sides. We certainly burned off those cruising calories today. Then onto Paradise, which is the closest we got to the Nisqually glacier at 5,400 feet. On the way down we saw a beaver sitting at the side of the road. We only saw two animals the whole day. Two alive and one dead. The other live one was a big fat chipmunk. I am really surprised we didn’t see anything else. We didn’t see any insects either. I could have spent days in this park. Steve not so much. I am so sorry about the picture overload.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 9 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 152, Monday, September 26, 2022. We pulled back into the Seattle cruise port this morning. We are racking up the miles traveled in 9 days. So far we have traveled 4,347 miles. That is broken down to 76 miles from our home to Blue Grass Airport, 323 miles from Lexington, KY to Chicago, IL, 1,721 miles from Chicago, IL to Seattle, WA, 22 miles from Seattle Airport to hotel in Renton, WA and on to cruise port, and 2,205 miles on the Alaska cruise. There is no facial recognition in the cruise port. We had to show our passports. It was a quick departure to the ride share app pick up location. Used the uber app and a car was there for us in one minute. Uber to Seattle Airport to pick up car rental is $61.00. This is the third Seattle uber driver from Etiopia we have had. This driver was quieter. There was a language barrier between us. The air in Seattle is so nice and crisp. There is a lot of road and building construction all along the water front. Seattle is not as clean as Victoria was. More roadside litter here in the US. We got to the airport and of course had to take a shuttle to pick up the rental car ugg. A Malibu from Oregon. Then back to the airport for our global interview. We went to a Walmart in Renton and wow I have never seen jeans locked up before. Really weird. Tonight we are in Renton getting ready for our road trip to Mount Ranier tomorrow.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 8 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 151, Sunday, September 25, 2022. We had a great time discussing different words used in the UK compared to the US with two lovely ladies from Southampton, England today. I had no idea of these differences. Everyday I learn something new in my travels. Here are a few differences I had no idea about. 1 ) Pants in the U.S. mean outerwear worn from the waist to the ankles. In the UK they say trousers. 2) Pants in the UK are what people in the US call underwear. 3) Soda in the eastern part of the US is pop in parts of the southern, midwestern and western part of the US. and is called fizzy in the UK. 4) A fanny pack in the US is a bumbag in the UK. 5) Fanny in the US refers to the buttocks. In the UK fanny it is the female genitalia. Today is our last day on our seven night Alaska cruise. The casino closed at 11:30am. So after breakfast we stopped and I played my favorite slot machine. At 9:15am, Steve is already napping. We are stopping at Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from 5pm to 10pm. There we are scheduled for a City Tour. Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada’s Pacific coast. We will be approximately 60 miles south-southwest of the province’s largest city, Vancouver where our next cruise will be leaving from. Victoria is the 7th most densely populated city in Canada. I was reading this afternoon about all the earthquake activity in Hawaii recently. Yikes, we will be in Hawaii October 7th through the 9th. https://weatherboy.com/earthquake-swarm-underway-at-worlds-largest-active-volcano-usgs-issues-update/ There are an outrageous amount of security cameras in the Diamond Lounge. I wonder why. We packed up in the afternoon before our excursion. The view from our room was gorgeous. All I kept thinking of was the O’Canada 360 film at Epcot. Just beautiful, mountains, sunny outside, but hazy in the mountains. Our two hour bus tour went past Beacon Hill Park which is a two hundred acre English style park. Victoria is very clean, has bike lanes on all the streets, and the houses start at one million dollars. A lot of senior housing is around the water. It is fall now, but there are no colorful leaves. The winters here are overcast, foggy, and damp. Typically there is no snow April is spring and when July and August hit things turn yellow. The water never freezes snd stays a constant 43 degrees. No one goes in the water. We passed Pamela Anderson’s house. Here’s some interesting items the tour guide told us today. 1) There are 2,800 farms surrounding Victoria that grow fruits and vegetables for the area. 2) Victoria is considered the safest city for women and the most romantic in Canada. 3) The minimum wage is $15.00. 4) There are no mosquitoes. 5) Cruise ships stop at this port from April to October. The tour was on a double decker bus. It was okay, but not something I would highly recommend. I was basically bored. If I came here again, I would get off the ship and go for a walk or just stay on the ship. There are three ships in Port as we get back from our tour at 7:30pm. The Island Princess, the Celebrity Millennium and our ship Quantum of the seas.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 7 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 150, Saturday, September 24, 2022. We are at sea today on our way to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is very foggy and the Seas are really rocking. The barf bags are hanging on the stair railings. The waves are hitting us in the side of the boat. It is fun taking a shower in a rocking boat. Apparently there are covid issues on board. Our app now says to stay out of the corridors between 3:30am and 5am as they are sanitizing and fogging the corridors between those times. We have to have a covid test on Wednesday in order to board the Ovation of the Seas in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canada. We have to be negative to continue with our next leg of our trip on to Hawaii. If positive, we can’t board the ship. Last time we tried multiple back to back cruises, Steve tested positive. Royal Caribbean would not allow us on board and home we went. The crew on board this ship are covid tested every two weeks. Today was their testing day. Our next ship Ovation of the Seas, which we are cruising to Hawaii on passed us at Sea today. How cool is that. Today we were invited to lunch with the officers. Actually, they just introduced themselves and made a toast. They are not back to sitting with the guests to share lunch. All employees are still required to wear masks at all times. The meal served was the best meal we have had on the ship. It was delicious. We sat with others who are Pinnacle which is the highest level in the Crown and Anchor club. We were the low level cruisers at the table. After lunch we noticed that the elevator said Tuesday. I have never been on a ship where the days were not changed in all the elevators a little after midnight with the correct day. Oops, someone changed it to the incorrect day. Tonight is formal night and we have the same very quiet six dinner mates tonight again. They listen quietly to our stories, complaints, and jokes. I have to give a shout out to Natalia the best Diamond Lounge concierge person we have ever had. She has the sweetest, kindest personality and also takes actions to solve anyone’s issues. I can see how guests all love to interact with her. When you meet her you can feel her love for life and her position. Natalia is from Ukraine and has been with Royal Caribbean since 2015. She was promoted last month from Guest Services to Concierge where she is in her probationary period until the end of October. As far as I can tell she is doing a great job fulfilling all the job requirements of a concierge position. She also makes every person who walks into the Diamond lounge feel special from the guests to her co workers. She has mastered these common duties and responsibilities for a Concierge : • Maintain updated knowledge of assets specific to the company’s needs. • Greet guests and confirm reservations. • Maintain positive ongoing relationships. • Maintain high ethical standards and professionalism. • Multitask and prioritize as necessary to meet customer needs. • Uphold company culture at all times while making guests feel welcomed and valued. • Possess exceptional customer service and people skills. • Be a detail oriented individual who listens well. • Be able to anticipate someone’s needs in order to provide a wonderful customer experience. We also have wonderful servers throughout the ship. It is really foggy this evening and we are listening to the ships horn blow every few minutes. Warning other ships that we coming.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 6 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 149, Friday, September 23, 2022. Welcome to Juneau, the capital of Alaska. We pulled in around 6am. The mountains are right there on both sides. Wow!!!. We are in the Gastineau Channel. Juneau is the second largest city in the United States by area. It is larger in area than Rhode Island and Delaware. It is located at the base of Mount Juneau and Douglas Island is across the channel. Juneau is unique among the 49 U.S. capitals on mainland North America in that there are no roads connecting the city to the rest of the state or North America. In order to get to Juneau you have to come by boat or plane. The water coming down the mountain is incredible to view. We found Alaska today lol. It is in the 40’s and very very windy and sleeting. What a miserable day. All seaplane and helicopter excursions have been canceled by 8;30am. We are wishing they would cancel ours. I don’t like the weather, but love the scenery. Around 9:40am our excursion to Mendenhall Glacier and Gardens is cancelled. So we headed out into the pouring rain to walk around town. We came to Alaska for one reason, we wanted to see a glacier. When we booked it in 2021, this ship was supposed to go up farther to the Endicott and Dawes Glacier. The ship had engine issues and fires since then. Two engines are out and therefore our route changed. We booked the glacier tour here in Juneau instead. I guess we really have to come back to Alaska to see a glacier. Instead, we visited some shops and took some pictures. Lots of bear here. The garbage cans are bear proof. Then headed back to the ship. We saw a lot of the crew lined up and eating at a food truck on the pier. That food truck must have good food with good prices. The crew always knows where to go. We have taken the crew shuttle places before from a cruise ship. Really inexpensive way to get around off the ship in some ports. We were soaking wet when we got back on the ship. This is the first port on this cruise where we had to show our picture ID to get back on the ship. Spent the afternoon socializing with some people from Southampton, England, the food and beverage head officer from Ireland, another couple from Maryland, and a young man from Texas. People are really talkative this afternoon. Tomorrow is a sea day.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 5 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 148, Thursday, September 22, 2022. It is amazing how close we are to Russia and that the United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for 7.2 million dollars. What a great buy. Heading up towards the Gulf of Alaska from Ketchikan to Icy Straight Point we see many float planes. They are like cars up here. I do want to ride in a float plane one day. The views are fantastic. We pass a Norwegian cruise ship tucked away docked in an inlet. The water is so smooth and the views so serene. Then so cool there is a house on it’s own little island. Alaska has the largest population of Bald Eagles in the United States with about 30,000 birds. Last night we went to the Diamond Lounge at 4:30pm. There was no one in there. It used to be at 4:30pm the diamond lounge was packed. This is so weird. I guess it is because Diamonds can now get five drinks around the ship any time of the day. I guess meeting people in the Diamond Lounge for cocktails is a thing of the past. We had dinner in the Solarium bistro last night. Excellent food and service. There are a few perks to be diamond and one is you can get into any restaurant even when they are fully booked for the whole week. The waiter servers on this ship are outstanding. Slowly cruising north you can see a light coating of ice on parts of the water. Today we are at Icy Straight point located on Chichagof Island. This island is located about 35 miles west of Juneau in the Alexander Archipelago of the Alaska Panhandle It is 75 miles long and 50 miles wide. We are a little farther away from home than yesterday at 3,464 Miles. After we docked we went and viewed the water from deck 5. There we saw a few sea lions surface in the water from the deck of the ship. We had bought the excursion for the Mountaintop Forest Excusion & Skyglider. I was not doing the zip lines down, but riding the Gondola both ways. We rode 2 gondolas to get to the top of the mountain. The green one goes level and takes you to the other gondola the red one. The green one is free. The red gondolas go up 1,300 feet. The Empire state building is 1,250 feet.
At the top we took a tram ride around. It was really good.
We saw many bald eagles soaring in the sky. We learned a little more about bald eagles today. The female is larger than the male and they mate for life. The area was an early warning military facility for 25 years. They closed down and this company called and purchased it. The zip lines have been here since 2007. The Gondolas are new as of May 2022. On the top of the mountain there were security guards with guns on the trails due to lots of bear sightings today. Coastal brown bears are the bears found here. This area like yesterday in Ketchikan is part of a temperate rain forest. It is fall on the mountain as you can tell by the vegetation. The gray currents are abundant right now and they are the last berries of the season. There are two types of poisonous berries here. They grow close to the ground and are white or red. They have two black dots on them like doll’s eyes. Eating five or six of these baneberries will take an adult down. 12 feet of snow last year. It is currently deer hunting season. The last day of hunting season for the black tailed Sitka deer is December 31st. Each person with a license is allowed 6 of these deer. This cruise stop is one of the most natural cruise stops I have ever been to. It was created in 2001 specifically for the cruise industry. It is less than a mile from the village of Hoonah, Alaska’s largest native Tlingit village. The village of Hoonah has 930 residents. It is owned and operated by the Huna Totem Corporation and therefore owned by the Huna Tlingit people. Then it was back to the Gondola ride down.
Cruising to our next port we passed a float plane taking off.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 4 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 147, Wednesday, September 21, 2022. Today we are in Ketchikan, Alaska, the salmon capital of the world. It is breathtaking pulling into Port.
The view just gets better and better as it gets lighter.
At 5:30 am the Windjammer buffet is hopping. Everyone is up early and ready for our first Alaska stop.
We are talking to Justin and Bobi as we eat Breakfast.
We are located in the Inside passage on the southeastern border of Alaska. This is the farthest we have ever been from home. We are 3,055 miles from home. Prior to this the farthest we had ever been away from home was when we were in Columbia. There we were 2,536 miles from home. We are up against some huge forest filled mountains now. Our balcony overlooks the town and there is a fishy smell outside. The ship was ready for departing at 7:30am, but we headed to the diamond lounge first where they have Cappuccino. Yes, it’s coffee time – coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee CAPPUCCINO!!!.
We left the ship after we got our caffeine fix and walked around the dock and town.
It is in the low 50’s this morning and sunny. It doesn’t feel as warm as in Kentucky when it is in the 50’s and sunny. The sun is much stronger and warmer in Kentucky. Today we are doing the Ketchikan Duck tour excursion. The duck tour vehicle seats 49 people. There are 26 compartments under the vehicle filled with foam. The water is 56 degrees. Our tour guide Jonathan is from Idaho. He has a degree in performing arts. We learned a lot of great things on this tour. Here in Ketchikan, we are near the world’s largest temperate rain forest, the Tongass National Forest. This forest encompasses 17 million acres. It is the largest US national forest and is one of the world’s last remaining intact temperate rain forests. 70,000 people inhabit the region. Ketchikan was founded in 1900. The types of Salmon species can be remembered by your fingers. Chum is your thumb, Sockeye is your index finger (imagine poking someone’s eye out), King is your middle finger, Silver is your ring finger, and Pink is your pinkie. This area gets 15 feet of rain and three feet of snow each year. Ketchikan is one of the rainiest cities in America. Ketchikan Creek flows through Downtown Ketchikan and fills with spawning salmon each July and August. During this time, you can watch salmon swim upstream. As they swim upstream from the salt water they actually start to rot. They die after they spawn. The tour took us down Bear Street and John told us there were three requirements to live there. I am not sure if it is true or not. Requirements are you must have a bear whistle, bear spray, and bear proof garbage can. Alaska became a state in 1959. Today the gas price is $5.06 a gallon. We saw two bald eagles when we were out in the water. Bald eagles get to be between 10 and 15 pounds. They die here either of old age or while mating. Graduating class of local school this year was 126 kids. Kids have to work a job for 80 hours to graduate high school. Most young adults leave the area after graduating high school. Some of the men return to live here, but few women do. Main economy today depends on tourists from the cruise industry. There is at least one cruise ship a day in Port from May through September. Today our ship and Radiance of the Seas are in Port. Most of the employees work through September and then leave the area to go back to their homes in other areas. Before we changed and went into the water the driver introduced himself. I got some of it on video.
Then we hit the water. It was a beautiful ride!
We got back on the ship and walked around. It was empty in the afternoon. Most people are staying off the ship for as long as possible at this port.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 3 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 146. Tuesday, September 20, 2022. We are cruising a few miles up the coast in the Pacific Ocean today. The ocean floor must drop off really quickly. Today we spent most of the day walking. No elevators for us. Down 10 floors is not bad, but up ten floors is a killer. Played some in the casino in the morning before it got crowded and we are up a few dollars so far. We have to keep our prime status for casino free drinks and our annual free cruises. I took random pictures around the ship. I feel like I have been on this ship before. It is almost the same as Anthem of the Seas, except there is no Johnny Rockets anymore. Also Anthem of the Seas has a big horn in front of Vintages and Jamie’s Restaurant. Quantum of the Seas has a funky colored Tornado funnel art work. I tried to walk the track, but it was too cold and windy. Steve is calling me whimpy. We went to a Destination talk in the morning to learn more about our stops. I think I could have done the talk. I have done hours and hours of research on our destinations in the last few months. Steve says I am always on my phone and I am, but it is cruise research. A lot of the day we hung out in our room looking at the ocean and the shoreline. The ship is mobbed. On a Caribbean cruise the pools on the upper decks attract alot of people and the rest of the cruise ship is tolerable most days. By 11am this ship is packed everywhere inside. The time is changing again for us our clocks are going back 1 hour tonight. We can’t get our bodies adjusted to any time schedule.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 2 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 145, Monday, September 19, 2022 (9/19/2022). Breakfast at the hotel was $45.00. It was good, except for the price. We are coming back to this hotel here after the Alaska cruise for three nights. I guess we will eat breakfast here in the mornings. The weather in Seattle right now is gorgeous. It is beautiful with lots of sun no humidity. We have met such nice Uber drivers. Two of them had won the Ethiopian diversity lottery to come to the United States. They could not speak highly enough of how wonderful it is to live in the United States. It is so nice to hear such love for our country instead of all the negative things people that are born here say. The drive to the Seattle cruise port was about an hour drive. We passed a few trucks carrying logs. The trees the logs were cut from must have been huge. The city appears very clean. I never realized that Seattle is on a hill over the water. We boarded Quantum of the Seas very quick and were on board by 11am. I love to wear dresses and I wore a dress to board the ship like I normally do. There was maybe one other person in a dress. Everybody wore jeans or fitness pants. I guess I have to stop being old fashioned and just dress casual ALL THE TIME. The view of the city and the Space Needle from the ship is fantastic. A complete feeling of peace filled me as I sat on the ship’s deck and viewed the evergreen filled hill dotted with homes. There also appears to be a bike trail that runs along the water’s edge. I am hopeing we have time to check it out after the cruise while vacationing in Seattle. We were able to go to our stateroom at 1pm. We are in balcony stateroom 8520. Here’s a video of our room. https://youtu.be/7hymwb4Vjro
Numerous people told me the tree picture from yesterday outside of Olive Garden was a Magnolia tree. I am very surprised that Magnolia trees grow in Seattle. Our evening dinners will be in the Silk dining room. After dinner we strolled around the ship and watched the shopping frenzy from deck 5.
Around 7pm, I went out on our balcony and took some quick pictures. It is cold and windy. I think this portion of our vacation is going to consist of wearing jeans and a jacket every day. This is not the Caribbean. Tomorrow is an at sea day. We ended our day in Canadian water having a nice cup of hot decaf tea.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Day 1 of our 1/2 world trip aka Year 2, Day 144, Sunday, September 18, 2022. Up at 1:45am. Off to the Lexington Blue Grass airport where I had a friendly pat down frisk and my hands were tested for explosive residue. Very interesting indeed. The airport is so nice and relaxing though. We left at 6:30am. We flew American airlines on a CRJ700, which is a very small plane just like the airport was. There are four seats across with two seats on each side of the aisle. We flew at 28,000 feet to chicago for about 55 minutes. It was 323 miles and there were no gremlins on the wing. I sat over the wing, carefully watching for them. The view of Lake Michigan was really nice. We flew out over the water and then turned to land. It was a really smooth landing. Waiting to land as smooth with Jamie one day. In Chicago, we had McDonalds for Breakfast at 7:06am. We could tell we were in the Chicago O’hare airport. It cost us $18.00 for McDonalds. Our next flight was at 8:40am This was a 737 which is a much larger plane. This plane had six seats across with three on each side of the aisle. We flew this flight at 36,000 feet for four hours for 1,721 miles. After an hour on the plane the woman sitting next to me goes to the ladies room and comes back and tells me she has a bad migraine. A few minutes later she is throwing up all over. It was pretty disgusting. We asked if there were any available seats for us to move to. The flight attendant said there were two seats, but not together in the exit rows. We moved and I sat between two men and Steve sat between two women. Hey it was an upgraded seat. It had the extra leg room. You could watch free movies by connecting to aainflight.com. Both flights were a very smooth ride. Viewing the snow covered mountains coming into Seattle was so awesome. We landed and took an uber for $25.00 to the Hilton Garden Inn in Renton. We had checked in online and our room was ready early. By 2pm pacific time, we were starting to wonder how much longer we could stay up and we had to get something to eat. Since there were no restaurants near us and the hotel restaurant was closed because it was Sunday night. We decided to hit our stack of chain restaurant gift cards. We use our discover card cash back and buy them at 90 percent off. It is like getting free food when we travel. Ordered another uber and by the time we walked to the front door it was sitting waiting for us. It cost $11.00 each way to the closest Olive Garden. I really wanted a glass of wine but figured if I had any alcohol at this point I would never make it back to the hotel. I guess this is what you call jetlag. By 6pm pacific time we are fast asleep. We are definitely not “Sleepless in Seattle”.
One last thing. Anyone know what kind of tree that is in the pictures below? It was outside the Olive Garden.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Year 2, Day 122, Sunday, August 28, 2022. I love to refresh my flowers. Nothing makes you feel good like fresh cut flowers. Try it!!
So, Steve can be outside all day and the sweat bees don’t bother him. As soon as I go outside, they start swarming. They love to bite me. Last night we thought we discovered that eating peppermint Breath Savers is why the Sweat Bees stay away from Steve. So today I went outside eating Breath Savers. OMG, they attached me. So, I came inside and crushed mint leaves on my legs. Went back outside and they attacked me again. I must smell good to those little bees. I cannot go outside without being eaten alive. No Guinness book of World records was set last night in Somerset. The world record for the longest parade of Ford Vehicles was set in Bulgaria in 2016 with 1,527 vehicles. Last night in Somerset there were 1,130 vehicles. They were a little short. At Cracker Barrel this morning there were groups of people with Mustangs and Fords. I love the Mustangs. We pulled up with our Chevy though.
Steve worked on the stair well and middle level windows today. They still need to be painted. It was way too hot to work outside.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Year 2, Day 121, Saturday, August 27, 2022. So, Steve is trying to lose the weight he gained back by laying more block in the hot sun.
He is also back to the big breakfast. He found the bacon.
I have been trying to keep him company a little while he works, but the sweat bees are back. They just swarm all over me and they BITE. I decided to start my morning walking again. Ha, I didn’t get too far. I kept stopping to talk to the neighbors. When you don’t talk to a lot of people every day and you see neighbors you latch onto them. Yikes, next time I go walking tomorrow they are going to run and hide from the crazy lady. Here she comes, quick go inside or she will want to talk to us.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Year 2, Day 120, Friday, August 26, 2022 – The cement arrived a little after 8am and the footings were completed in about 1.5 hours. Justin came by to assist with the heavy work. When you are pouring concrete, you have to work quickly to level it out. It is almost impossible to do it alone. We used a different Concrete place this time. The one we used a year ago was Pyles Concrete and they closed all their plants. This time we called SRM Concrete. This is a really large company in many states with their headquarters in Tennessee. They came out very quickly from their somerset facility. We were very pleased with their excellent service, and product.
One thing to note when you get concrete you need to wet your wheel barrel and the truck chute down before the driver starts the cement flow. There is a water hose on the front of the cement truck you can use for that.
The concrete will be poured level with the rebar sticking up out of the ground in the footer holes. This is what Steve used the laser level for yesterday. Everything needs to be level, or you get a crooked garage.
If the concrete doesn’t have enough water, it doesn’t flow well and is hard to pull down the trenches. The driver can add water as needed. It was way too thick in the beginning for our pour.
While Steve and Justin finish the leveling the driver cleaned up his chute of all lingering concrete. Steve and Jutin will also do that with all the tools and wheel barrel. If equipment is not thoroughly cleaned before the concrete sets your tools/equipment will be ruined.
We then headed to Lowes for some Type S mortar. We were able to get our own bags loaded so there were no issues like the first time with the house. If you didn’t read about that fiasco, here are links to those days:
Tomorrow Steve will start laying the 8-inch block. The cement has to harden and dry before the block can be put down. We have 100 block left over from the house and another 280 more are being delivered on Monday. The excavated dirt still has pieces of the old house mixed in. At some point we will probably have to handpick them out.
We don’t want to go anywhere near Somerset tomorrow. The Somernites Cruise is going for a Guiness book of world records for the Longest Ford Parade and the longest Mustang Parade. The town will be mobbed and route 27 will be closed for a few hours. https://www.somerset-kentucky.com/…/article_94cefb06…
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Year 2, Day 109, Monday, August 15, 2022. Yeah, the first lateral passed inspection. The inspector said go ahead and finish it up. You can’t have the trenches open when it rains so we have a few days to finish it up. Looking at future weather, the forecast shows rain starting Friday and then for a week. Yikes.
Got my dryer balls today. I am hoping they are a good alternative to dryer sheets or fabric softener.
We are starting to get a little more settled into the house. Bought some placemats and chargers to protect the new counter height table.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Year 2, Day 108, Sunday, August 14, 2022. First lateral was completed today and connected to the first distribution box which was connected to the existing septic tank.
The process took all day and involved multiple steps: First the hole was dug and measured for levelness. Then 1 1/2 to 2-inch clean stone about four inches deep was placed in the trench. Steve used the excavator to load the tractor trailer and made numerous trips back and forth to the trench. It was a grueling day.
Again, the levelness was checked using a transit.
After that the perforated PVC pipe was laid and more stone placed over the pipe. Then levelness measured again.
and the then the landscaper’s fabric was placed over the stone in the lateral.
It was a windy day and we had to place shovels full of dirt on the three rows of Landscaper’s fabric to keep it from blowing around. You don’t want the dirt to sift down into the stone and clog up the perforated pipe.
Then the dirt dug out originally was placed back in over the Landscaper’s fabric. Notice the standing pipe. That pipe will be cut level with the ground and capped off enabling the homeowner to look down and see if there is any water in the pipe. This same process will be done in all three laterals. This pipe also can serve as a clean out if the holes in the pipes ever were to get clogged.
Will call for an inspection tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we will be covering it up by tomorrow night. It is hooked up and working though. The way this system works is the liquid fills up the first lateral before it spills over and goes to the second. Then after the first and second lateral are saturated then it will flow into the third lateral. We probably will never even ever have anything flow into the second one.
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
“Living the Dream” – Year 2. Day 107, Saturday, August 13. 2022. Things have slowed down on the interior of the house. Work has now shifted to the septic system. After Steve worked on the excavating yesterday, we found that yes, the septic tank pipes did in fact go on the neighbor’s property. It is really great that we decided to put new lines in our yard. What is a house without a septic system? Can’t really live in it without one. I bought this huge Rosemary plant in the garden center of Walmart and now am wondering if all Rosemary plants are edible or not. I guess the question comes up because we are watching the Alone series on Netflix and some of the people get sick from poisonous plants. I see in the produce section of the supermarket they sell tiny Rosemary plants for $3.00 and the huge one I bought was only $3.00. Steve needed a hat to work in the sun and I had the perfect one. Hey, it works. I don’t think I am getting my hat back though.
After all the measuring and drawing was done the ground was marked before digging and will need to be consistently remarked as we move to the next lateral. Driving over the marking paint grinds it into the dirt. It then starts to get fainter and fainter.
Steve started out using the truck to move the stone from the front yard to the trench.
He then changed to using the tractor and the new trailer. Well, he found that the tractor does not hold as much as the truck, but he can dump the stone it and not shovel into the trench. So, in the end it is faster and easier to move the stone with the tractor and trailer than to move it with the truck.
Then he only needs to shovel and rake by hand to level it out. Anything that can be done easier is a win-win.
Today’s product recommendations are:
Rosemary plants that are definitely for eating. I use a lot of Rosemary. You have to try baking small red potatoes with some olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. So good my mouth is watering and all natural and healthy.
2) An extra-large sun hat is a must for working outside in the yard.
3) Marking paint – This paint is a must for marking out things in your yard. Like garden area, fencing area, play area, etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Just turn the can upside down and spray as you walk.
“Living the Dream” -Year 2, Day 106, Friday, August 12, 2022. Two loads of 1 1/2 inch to two-inch of clean large stone was delivered today.
The two distribution boxes and connected pipes were installed after the trench was dug. We wanted to keep the Mimosa tree. The trench with the distribution boxes runs down alongside that tree.
All through the process the pipes must be kept level, so the process involves constant measuring with the transit. The wastewater should flow level through the pipes so there is even distribution through the total system.
The first lateral was also dug.
It is a breezy gorgeous day in the 70’s. Overnight it is going to be in the 50’s. The sweat bees are back. They really bite. I probably should not be wearing a skirt and flip flops helping in the trench. The bees are just swarming around the newly dug up dirt. After the first trench was dug and it was the proper depth. Steve loaded the truck with stone to bring over to the trench.
He worked a long and hard day. I worked on unpacking some boxes and repotted our new plants. I definitely had an easier day. The most I did outside was assist by holding the six-foot measuring stick. The modern way to measure is with a laser level. When a laser level is used one person can do the measuring by themself.
We can breathe easier already.
Today’s product recommendations are:
Rosemary plants that are definitely for eating. I use a lot of Rosemary. You have to try baking small red potatoes with some olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. So good my mouth is watering and all natural and healthy.
2) An extra-large sun hat is a must for working outside in the yard.
3) Marking paint – This paint is a must for marking out things in your yard. Like garden area, fencing area, play area, etc. etc. etc. The list is endless. Just turn the can upside down and spray as you walk.
