4.29.2018 NCL Pearl to Alaska live writeup- and I don’t even sail for 75 days!

[Beachiekeen]

Oh he/she looks so much like my Princess! I lost her a year ago in February and I still miss her every day. We will wait patiently and hope he or she gets better. :)

[harveysnc]

I'm so sad about your cat. Any news or updates? Poor baby!

[bren9311]

wow, really enjoyed your travel diary and pictures. We are on the Sep 2nd sailing, getting super excited, I just booked the dining package reservations and excursions.

 

We booked:

Juneau - Bush plane 5 glacier flight because its on the bucket list.

Skagway - Dyea Dave tour to Emerald lake then back on the train because I hate to drive and try to take in all the sites.

Ketchikan - Rainforest nature walk.

Victoria - Butchart Gardens.

 

Thank You for taking the time to blog this!

 

 

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Dyea Dave was awesome and emerald lake beautiful!

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

My little friend pumpkin is feeling better. He got hit with a double whammy of bad crystals in his bladder, and a herpes flare up (which is like the flu.)

 

He still sounds like darth Vader when he breathes, and not a lot of pee is coming out at once, but at least he isn’t struggling to get that little bit out at a time, and tonight he played a little, so I think tomorrow I can try to play catch up.

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

I'm so sad about your cat. Any news or updates? Poor baby!

 

 

 

Thank you. He is feeling better. Poor guy, i always thought nothing could ever take down his happy go lucky mood, but he had a pretty dark week.

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

Oh he/she looks so much like my Princess! I lost her a year ago in February and I still miss her every day. We will wait patiently and hope he or she gets better. :)

 

 

 

Awww. Princess must have been one adorable cat because everyone who meets pumpkin loves him because of his giant saucer eyes.

 

 

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[bgood651]

My little friend pumpkin is feeling better. He got hit with a double whammy of bad crystals in his bladder, and a herpes flare up (which is like the flu.)

 

He still sounds like darth Vader when he breathes, and not a lot of pee is coming out at once, but at least he isn’t struggling to get that little bit out at a time, and tonight he played a little, so I think tomorrow I can try to play catch up.

 

Yay! As a mom of 2 dogs and a cat myself, I know how hard it is when your babies are sick. Glad to hear he's on the mend! (And I won't lie, I'm also looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!)

[Anita Latte]

Glad to hear your kitty is getting better. My Toby had to have emergency surgery because of crystals. NOT good, but he survived and lived a long time. I learned that crystals are something that can really affect a male neutered cat. Paying attention to the amount of ASH in their food and getting food with a lower % of ash is supposed to help prevent a reoccurrence of the crystals. I would verify that info with your own research, because I'm relying on memory here...but pretty all sure that ash was the culprit. Also...seafood/fish was supposed to be a no go too...contributing more to crystal development than other proteins. Toby never had a reoccurrence of the crystals. Hope your Pumpkin feels better quickly.

 

(I've been lurking on your report...we're headed on our own Alaska adventure in less than 30 days!)

[Weetahbugdotcom]

Glad to hear your kitty is getting better. My Toby had to have emergency surgery because of crystals. NOT good, but he survived and lived a long time. I learned that crystals are something that can really affect a male neutered cat. Paying attention to the amount of ASH in their food and getting food with a lower % of ash is supposed to help prevent a reoccurrence of the crystals. I would verify that info with your own research, because I'm relying on memory here...but pretty all sure that ash was the culprit. Also...seafood/fish was supposed to be a no go too...contributing more to crystal development than other proteins. Toby never had a reoccurrence of the crystals. Hope your Pumpkin feels better quickly.

 

(I've been lurking on your report...we're headed on our own Alaska adventure in less than 30 days!)

 

 

 

Yeah he is on a super special diet and if I see him in the litter box I literally put my eyes at junk level to see what’s coming out. He’s a baby, he will be 2 in a few weeks, but I always had a feeling he was going to be the one with health problems. It’s good to hear that his crystals never recurred- we’re hoping the acidic diet he was prescribed dissolves the crystals and, as long as we keep him on a urinary diet, we never see them again.

 

The only positive with him being sick is that he hasn’t done this since he was 8 weeks old:

 

Still I’d rather him be healthy than cuddly.

 

Anyway, bed calls. More Alaska tomorrow!

 

 

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[Beachiekeen]

Here is my Princess! Oh how I miss her. :(

 

 

So glad kitty is better and I can't wait for your recap.

[Weetahbugdotcom]

Awww. Princess is beautiful. She actually looks like pumpkin’s sister, ghosty little beast.

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

So, without further ado, day 6: ketchikan.

 

 

A gloomy day. Too early in the morning. Priority disembarkation is awesome, except if you are waiting to get on a tour. You just wait longer.

 

Turns out my float plane tour was cancelled due to low visibility. I had the option to take a boat there instead, but it would have taken a lot longer, and I did want to see the town, so I got back on the ship and had breakfast, then came back outside and walked around the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

 

 

This totem has interesting nipples.

 

 

 

I was really excited that there was so much blooming- we had a very late spring in NJ and Alaska seemed to be right on par with the blooms.

 

 

Ketchikan seems to not be fans of dogs. Or maybe there are just a lot of terrible dog owners. But I will get to that later.

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

The most touristy area, but also the coolest and probably most historical, is Creek Street. There was a lot of hanky panky that went on up there. Nowadays there are lots of tourist stores, and some plaques on the history of the buildings. Many were brothels.

 

 

 

 

Behind creek street is a trail called Married Man’s trail. It’s where they, the married men, snuck in and out of the brothels.

 

 

 

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[Beachiekeen]

What pretty flowers! Love seeing the town of Ketchikan. We did the boat trip to the fjords and while nice, I did miss getting to see the town itself. Definitely what we will do next time!

[Weetahbugdotcom]

Creek Street was the red light district of Ketchikan. There is a museum on creek street called “Dolly’s House.” It’s the preserved house of a prostitute named Dolly Arthur, who, when the average wage for a regular worker was $1 a day, Dolly charged $3 per “head” and didn’t close her doors until she made $75 a day. She also didn’t retire from the business until she was in her 70s. She had a ton of little dogs in sweaters running around and when she died she donated boatloads of money to the local humane society. Dolly is alright by me.

 

Volunteers give you a little history and money and then leave you to yourself to explore. Some highlights:

 

 

 

I would kill for those cabinets and fridge.

 

 

Fun fact: I explore abandoned buildings for fun. Once I found this old farmhouse, sealed up after its owner went into a nursing home (and eventually died.) it had like 5 stoves just like this. I later found some old news stories and when the owner was a child, and lived in the house, her parents ran it as a “disorderly” house- aka a brothel and bootleggery.

 

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

 

Sorry I cannot get enough of this darn kitchen!

 

 

 

 

(where the magic happened.)

 

I don’t really understand the baby bear cubs, but ok.

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

Any idea what the flowers on her shower curtain were?

 

A closer look.

 

 

Why yes, they were condoms. So is this.

 

I love old medicine bottles, and have a collection in my own bathroom.

 

 

Anyway, Dolly’s House is worth the $10, even if you aren’t interested in the history of sex work, there’s some great wallpaper and artifacts.

 

 

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

 

So, next I followed the Married Man’s Trail up into the backside of the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

 

 

 

Married man’s trail is more of a wide gravel path, flat surfaced, with a very small section in a sort of wooded area. There are some steps to a view, but they are optional. After a short walk it leads you to the salmon ladder, a structure built to help spawning salmon swim upstream.

 

 

From here I was walking to the totem heritage center, which I knew was not open, but I could still view some of the outside totems. I had to walk through a residential area to get there.

 

 

 

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[jimbri]

Loved your photos of Dolly Arthur's house.

[Von & John]

Thanks for your fabulous review & pictures. I love Alaska in any type of weather... Can't wait for our cruise in September... It's great being on the water & visiting locations as a tourist, which I normally only visit for work :rolleyes: . The views are definitely different from the water vs. flying in. Our last Alaska cruise was SB Whittier to Vancouver, 2007. This one will be NB Vancouver to Seward and on for the Transpacific. We'll be traveling on the Jewel. Looking forward to your next installment :D

[Laszlo]

Love your review!

[Weetahbugdotcom]

So again, I knew the totem heritage center would be closed but I didn’t care. Saw a few totems, smelled some nice scents, heard some nice nature sounds.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Weetahbugdotcom]

Remember I said Ketchikan was uptight about dogs, or perhaps dog owners in ketchikan are selfish pigs who don’t clean up after them? Take a look.

 

 

 

 

 

For balance, here is a 3 legged dog that seemed very loved.

 

 

 

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