YVRteacher

I love the cataloging system in this book store!

@ceilidh1 I found us summer jobs!

Skagway 3 With friends at our side, we continued to walk through town and pop in and out of shops. We showed our friends the Glacier Smoothie glacier silt soap and said hello to the 15 year old shop dog before the best stop of the day, Klondike Kone. Our timing was excellent because there was a brief lull in the line up. Dad: pralines and cream Friend S: raspberry cheesecake Friend N: espresso chip Me: raspberry sorbet We sat in a row on the bench in the sun, basking in warmth, friendship and the joy of a stunning port day. We watched crew and passengers enjoy ice cream and talked about how we would remember this wonderful day in Skagway.

We met our friends from the Ruby Princess and went to the Skagway Brewing Company (the Klondike Brewing Company didn’t open until 2:00pm). At the Skagway Brewing Company you can have a whole meal comprised of spruce tip items: spruce tip beer, spruce tip buffalo wings and a spruce tip shortbread cookie. Friend S had a beer flight, friend N had the spruce tip beer, dad had the Red Star Amber and I had an excellent Old Fashioned. Nothing like whiskey in the morning! Here’s the beer cheese soup and the hummus. We all loved our food and the service was excellent. We had some giggles at the signs

I regrouped from the sad pancake situation and got ready for a day in Skagway. I put on a flowy sleeveless tank top and a copious amount of sunscreen. I made sure dad had a short sleeve shirt (collared of course) and his beloved Tilley hat. We put laundry in today before heading to deck 4 for our tender into Skagway. That’s right. Tender. We are docked at Railroad dock and so is the Ruby Princess. Princess is using shuttles to get people past the rock slide and we are using tenders. So the tenders take us right into town? No. It takes longer to board the tender, wait until full, unload and walk through the marina than it would have to walk. We were told that there is a boulder the size of 4 cars that they have not yet been able to dislodge from the rockslide so passengers are prohibited from walking on railway dock. The train still leaves from this dock but it boards closer to the campground. My dad and I walked through town and took some photos while breathing in sun-warmed air. I found my soap! The place I love in Juneau is defunct.

Day 5 Imagine this. You have been at sea for days. You have been woken up far before your preferred wake up time by someone named dad who stood outside your bedroom rapidly flapping the Freestyle Daily up and down in the hopes you would wake. You grudgingly drag yourself out of bed, do the requisite balcony oohing and aahing and head to O’Sheehan’s for breakfast. You enjoyed O’Sheehan’s so much on the Breakaway you assume it will be up to par on the Jewel. You are very, very wrong and you experience one of the worst breakfasts ever on NCL. Waiters bring 7 coffee pots (one of them decaf) to your table. Instead of a fruit plate that looks like this (photo from the Breakaway March 2024) You get this: You loved the buttermilk pancakes so much in March that you are nearly drooling as you wait for the delicate round stacks of steaming hot buttery goodness. What you get are three rock hard flavourless, mats of cold dough and a frozen glob of butter. To your horror they are doused in icing sugar. The waiters all disappear and the Maître D is not present. You catch the hostess’ eye and she has no idea what to do. None. She finds the maître d who stares at you with zero compassion for your pancake woes. You eventually get new pancakes. They are soggy as though microwaved and flop like a dead frog. You decide not to eat breakfast at O’Sheehan’s on the Jewel again. You have some M&Ms back in the cabin as a consolation breakfast. (Your dad has a ham and cheese omelette and has no complaints.)

Juneau evening A now-mandatory bathing suit check occurred before tonight’s thermal spa time. As we were walking up the stairs my dad said he hoped the spa was quiet. I said I hoped there were available ceramic loungers. I then added that if not, my dad would have to do the naked trick again. He said it was my turn next because he had already done his part and it was up to me to do my bit!!! Fortunately two people were leaving right as we arrived and no one needed to get naked. We left Juneau at 9:00pm and my friends took these photos of the Jewel from their vantage point on the Ruby Princess and they enjoyed their huckleberry truffles with Shiraz (they report this is an excellent pairing!) Bye, Juneau. See you next week. This is the last photo I took before going to bed

Juneau dinner Within moments of arriving back to the cabin from our shore excursion my dad was asleep on his bed with his shoes still on. Treat delivery! We had a 5:30 reservation for La Cucina and at 5:19pm I had daughter’s angst, wondering if I should wake him up or let him rest. As you can see in the dinner vs. nap dilemma dinner won. Bellini and Merlot (I feel like that would be a good album title. Someone let Taylor Swift know. She’s going to need a new title in about 4 months.) Caprese salad for dad Ensalada Misto for me Shared antipasti plate Shared Vegetali pizza Strawberry ice cream I have decided that NCL needs a system for dinner photos similar to the meat/no meat in Moderno. Green for “yes, we would love you to interrupt our fine dining experience with a photo and a flash that disturbs 92% of the other diners” or red for “no, do not take my photo and do not interrupt this riveting conversation about the salt spray on the windows.” We both (mostly) enjoyed dinner but my dad swore at his pizza when some of the toppings fell off. He also said the cheese was too cheesy then he swore at that too. The crust of the pizza was kind of off and it had no flavour. The wine steward in La Cucina is wonderful. Her name is Karina and she was one of the presenters in Wines Around the World.

Back to Juneau! After lunch we all walked to the Alaskan Fudge Company for truffles (so many truffles!) then popped into the drugstore (I bought enough seasick tables for the next year of cruising) before heading back to our ships. We are meeting up again in Skagway tomorrow. As we separated from our friends my dad said, “those were such nice people.”🩷

The internet is a challenge on this ship and itinerary! This wouldn’t post when I was writing about our day in Ketchikan, so here it is two days late Evening Show Travelelers Duo: Cliché If wine can have the 4 Ss and the 4 Vs, the aerial show can have the 4 Fs Act 1 Funereal Act 2 Feral Act 3 Flamboyant Act 4 Flighty These aerialists weren’t the best. I mean, they were way better than I would have been, but they weren’t the greatest entertainment. There was a lot of bending, walking dramatically, hanging from a stick and spinning but 45 minutes of stretchiness is a lot to watch. Don’t you love how you can exit the theatre on deck 7 and quickly end up at Maltings on deck 6? Thats what happened to us. There’s always a fabulous team at Maltings and these three bartenders are no exception. For my last drink, I wasn’t sure what to order. The bartender knows I prefer sweet drinks so he creates something special made with Chambord, elderflower liqueur, bourbon and yuzu. It was like a choir of angels dancing on my tongue!! I’m going to sleep well tonight! Any votes on what this is?

I saw the Ruby Princess docking so we walked back along the wharf to meet our friends! They are on the second leg of a B2B that included a round trip out of Vancouver to Hawaii then a round trip out of Vancouver to Alaska. They had crummy weather for their Hawaiian islands cruise but had to buy sunscreen today in Alaska! The husband was our next door neighbour and the wife is my friend from grade 1! We went to the Alaskan Brewing Public House on the wharf for an open air lunch. Of course we peeked in Tracy’s King Crab Shack’s vats Drinks came first! Here’s an Alaskan Amber Ale (dad); Solstice Vodka Lemonade (me); Northwind Cider (friend N) and Icy Bay IPA (friend S). We loved this place so much we stayed for hours, ordering a second round of drinks and lunch. Seafood chowder for dad and waffle fries with beer cheese sauce for me Friends enjoyed the Alaskan BBQ Sampler Tray with wild boar and Alaskan Smoked Salmon An enormous bald eagle perched on the piling nearby so we had a meal with a wildlife view. The ravens provided background noise. They provided background noise All. Day. Long. This was a wonderful way to spend a sunny afternoon in Juneau! We will definitely be back for many more meals at Alaskan Brewing in Juneau!

We used the Haven priority escort to disembark today. The line up for the free shuttle into downtown Juneau was long but moved swiftly. It was an overflowing zig zig through the stanchions but we were on a jam-packed bus within 8 minutes. Two years ago in Juneau we walked up to a kiosk and purchased city tour and Mendenhall Glacier tickets for $39 per person. Last year the tickets were $45. This year? $117 or $90 without the city tour. Nope. We walked along the wharf to see the ravens, browsed the book store and harbour shops then headed into the busier part of downtown. We walked up and down the side streets and I smiled at this cleverly disguised electricity meter Look at these murals! One on each side of the stairs. So I saw this shop dog, asked the owner if I could pet her, and plunked down on the floor for an epic floofy cuddle session. She fell asleep when the belly rubs started. Her name is Dottie and I am in love.

Today as we were getting ready my dad said “NCL is really declining. They don’t even put soap in the room anymore.” I walked into his bathroom and showed him the dispenser with the very fancy, very citrusy L’Occitane liquid soap. This is day 4, people! 4 days without using soap. I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Approaching Juneau (not pictured=all the dolphins we saw from the balcony this morning!) docking setting up the gangways and comfort tents

Day 4 Juneau breakfast This is what I ordered (let the record show that I did not order those potatoes nor did I eat them) and this is what I made

So my dad found a duck. Most people would be thrilled. Dad was utterly perplexed. What’s this? Why is it there? Who put a duck on the staircase? What’s it for? What’s this card? I told him about the new-ish tradition of cruise ship ducks and he still wondered why. I said the purpose is to experience a moment of joy in the placing and a moment of joy in the finding. I told my dad he could keep the duck. He looked at me and said, “but I don’t NEED a duck.” Now I have a duck.

Dinner at La Cucina (I was hungry after only eating corn and potatoes) My dad had a half portion of calamari and a half portion of fettuccini Alfredo con funghi with shrimp my dinner was the caprese salad and a half portion of spaghetti marinara (not on the menu) We had cake in the Garden Cafe for dessert

Happy hour at O’Sheehan’s leaving Ketchikan Latitudes party

What to buy at Ward Cove? Treats for people Treats for pups items you don’t need Yes, they are bringing the jewels to the Jewel. Here’s a view of the Jewel from Ward Cove and a view of Ward Cove from the Jewel

I had pre-arranged for vegetarian food but they forget to make it. When everyone was done eating they brought me some corn and some potatoes. For dessert there was a whole tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate chunks still all melty inside. My dad wanted another hot chocolate and I thought he could prepare one himself. I was wrong. After the staff and I cleaned up the counter, the floor, the tea bins, the hot chocolate maker, the paper towel dispenser and everything else within a one metre radius I made dad another hot chocolate and apologized to the staff. When everyone had their fill of seafood (the cooks brought out another round of crab legs) I went down to the beach Our boat ride back to the dock at Clover Pass was swift and bouncy. I told the woman next to me I should have worn a sports spa! We were lifting off our seats and laughing! The streets were wet so it obviously rained in Ketchikan today but we stayed dry and sunny at Silver King Lodge. I highly recommend this excursion and I hope you get Matt from Las Vegas as your delightful bus driver.

Up next? Deer on the beach followed by the seafood boil. We all cozied up to newspaper covered tables and large pots were brought to each table. Our newspaper was from January 3, 2023. Out of the pot tumbled Dungeness crab claws and legs, prawns, clams, mussels, corn, red potatoes and lots and lots of garlic. Everyone received their own tub of butter and there were condiments and seasonings on each table.

Yup!!

At one point we came to an ancient Western Red Cedar and those of us nearest the tree all reached out at the same time to place our palms on her trunk. I went to take a photo and asked everyone to keep their hands on the bark. I love, love, love this photo!

I could have stayed in the rainforest for hours, forest bathing, taking photos and just being in the presence of vast trees, lush moss, newly sprung trilliums and drooping lichens.

The Silver King welcoming committee was very enDEERing