People who talk to themselves while walking down sidewalks.

I'm an insurance agent so my office is basically in my car and my car is primarily in metropolitan Nashville. Even though I was born and raised in Nashville, I lived 30 years in a small town in East Tennessee so I still get a bit of culture shock when I see people walking down the sidewalk talking to, well, no one. Not anyone I can see anyway. It is not a random, occasional occurance either. It happens almost every day when I venture into the urban core. Perhaps some of these folk are mentally ill and homeless but certainly not all of them. Sometimes I wonder if the person just had a bad breakup or an argument with a friend and they are still working through some of their frustrations by speaking or shouting them into the universe.

The other day I was sitting in my car eating a sandwich at an Arby's in the Metro Center area of Nashville. (Oh, my car is also my lunchroom.) If you are unfamiliar with the area, there are quite a few businesses there but not many places to eat. A man came walking down the sidewalk in front of my car and, sure enough, his lips were moving and I didn't see any earphones. He passed by and then I saw a well-dressed lady carrying a purse and a drink approaching. I thought to myself. "Now, this is a professional lady out on her lunch hour getting a little exercise." Then she suddenly pointed at the street and shouted "RAGGEDITY" or something like that. Every few feet she would point into the street and shout "RAGGEDITY." When she passed in front of my car, I noticed she was wearing a back-pack. She continued on up the sidewalk screaming at the street.

As I finished my Beef 'n Cheddar, the first guy walked back passed me carrying a Subway bag. When he had passed the first time, he was probably saying to himself, "Don't forget to call Joe when you get back." It was either that or, "I'm sooo hunnngry." (Sorry -- It's a quote from another street talker.)

Last night at sea

Well, they have pulled up the gangway and we are ready to pull out of Victoria, Canada. It was interesting to visit a city at night. We did a quick driving tour in a bus and then visited a castle home. When we came out of the castle it was dark so the rest of the city was seen by their lights. Luckily, a lot of the buildings in downtown Victoria are lit up with white or colored lights. It was quiet chillly with a brisk wind blowing. I felt like I was out viewing Christmas lights. It is a lovely town and I would like to come back in the daytime to see more. Since it is an island sea port the temperature is moderate year-round. We passed a park that was completely brown grass. Maybe that is why they have so many beautiful flowers everywhere.

Even though it is 11:30 p.m. we will be out on our balcony for a little while. We want to watch the ship pull out of the harbor. Tomorrow will be another early day. We will eat a quick breakfast before we leave the ship in Seattle and quickly board our plane back to Nashville.

Day at sea and last port

Today is Friday and is almost a full day at sea. We will get to Victoria, Canada tonight at 7 p.m. We will then take a short excursion to see the sights and then back on the ship. We slept in to 8:30 this morning! (Except the time changed during the night so it was actually 7:30.) We ate a continential breakfast in the room so we could take our time getting ready today. We watched a cooking show and took a tour of the kitchen. That was great fun. Jerry went to a navigation session and learned about how the ship works. We are now in our stateroom again so we can pack up our bags in order to set them out in the hallway before we go to dinner at 5:45 p.m. The sea is very calm but very foggy. Jerry is out on the balcony filming a barge we are coming beside.

We are sad that it is our last day. It has been so much fun.

Totem poles and lumberjacks

Today is Thursday and we have left the beautiful seaport of Ketchikan and are now sailing for Victoria, Canada which is our last port. We had another early morning since we were only in Ketchikan for half a day – way too short for such a lovely town. We saw a bald eagle searching for fish while we were getting ready. Have I told you how wonderful our weather has been? It has been sunny with highs in the low 70’s. It is not normal for Alaska and Ketchikan has not had rain for 14 days when normally it rains every day. While in Ketchikan we visited the totem pole park and learned how each pole tells a story. Our friend, Mr Hopper, was very impressed since frogs are highly celebrated on totems because natives believe frogs to be special since they can survive on land or water. After a brief driving tour of Ketchikan, we went to the lumberjack show. Now, I must admit, I was not looking forward to it because I thought it would be corny. I was wrong and it was lots of fun. We boarded the ship and went straight into lunch. If you have never cruised, you may not know that they feed you a four or five course meal at every meal. My greatest fear of gaining weight on this trip is coming true but it sure is delicious!

Tonight is our second formal night. The first one was Monday and it was so nice to dress up and have our picture taken. It is sort of like prom. Of course, the women enjoy it much more than the men. Don’t know why. Outside the balcony now is nothing but water as we sail south leaving Alaska behind.

Blue ice, eagles and whales, oh, my!

Today is Wednesday and we have just left Tracy Arm fjord. We are watching for whales but none have been sighted yet. We had a fabulous, clear day today to go up into the Tracy Arm fjord and saw some magnificent scenery. We were a little disappointed that we were not able to get close to the Sawyer glacier. It is the large one that you see on ads for Alaskan cruises and the only opportunity to see a glacier “calf” or break off. The glacier has “retreated” a mile over the last five years. Depending on your viewpoint, it can be from global warming or from the natural freezing and thawing that occurs all over the earth. Cruise ships used to be able to approach in the glacier without going up into the inlet. Today there were a lot of icebergs in the inlet so we did not go up close. We did see tremendous scenery and a bald eagle sitting in its nest. I hope the pictures will do it justice.

If you like to sleep in, an Alaskan cruise is not the vacation for you. We have been up early every morning. Today we set our alarm for 6:15 a.m. but it was worth it even though it was about 50 degrees. We ordered a continental breakfast from room service for after 8 a.m. It was delightful to eat breakfast while watching the icebergs float by off our balcony.

I am now sitting on the balcony typing. We just saw several whales, probably humpbacks. You see their spray first and then, if you are lucky, their tail. I got some great pictures. I can’t wait to show them to you.

We are so blessed in Alaska

It is so indescribable that I will post of few more pictures. Kaye and I are sitting on the balcony looking out at the Skagway port. We are so blessed to be able to take this trip. We were just discussing how few people in the world would ever be able to see the sights that we are sitting here so casually observing.

Juneau and Skagway

Today is Tuesday so it must be Skagway. It is interested to finally be here since I have been tracking Skagway weather for weeks. Today the weather is warm, sunny and dry. Not like Alaska at all but we are not complaining. Kaye and I took a fabulous ride on a narrow-gage railroad up the White Pass into Canada and back again. I took well over 200 pictures. Unbelievable and indescribable! I have probably used more superlatives over the three days than I have in years. Everyone says Alaska is fantastic and they were right.

Yesterday while in Juneau there was quite a bit of smoke which hampered our long distance view. It was due to a forest fire in Canada. It reminded us of when the mountain would be on fire when we lived in the valley at Cedar Creek in East Tennessee. We decided not to take the tram up the mountain because of the smoke. Visibility was probably only about a mile. While in Juneau we took a bus up to the Tongass Rain Forest, the second largest in the world. (The Amazon is the largest.) It was beautiful and lush. They get about 100 inches of rain a year. We were happy to be there on a day without rain. From there we went to the Mendenhall Glacier. It is huge and amazing. (More superlatives) A mother bear and cubs were observed by some on the trail but, luckily, not us. After shopping in downtown Juneau, we got back to the ship too late for our reserved dining time so we went to another dining room. It turned out to be quite an experience involving soup with eyeballs, a man in a hazmat suit and yellow caution tape. More about this meal later since it will take an entire blog. After watching a very funny comedian, we fell into bed exhausted. When we woke up this morning, there was Skagway. A tiny, little town of about 800 people nestled at the foot of the mountains and surrounded by this cold, light green sea.

A day at Sea

Today is Sunday and it is our day at sea as we sail to Juneau. We started the day with an interdenominational service then we went our separate ways to explore different opportunities. Kaye and I went to a photography class and to a history talk about Juneau and Skagway which will be our first two stops along the inside passage. Dick and Jerry went to the longest drive competition and then sat and had a cup of coffee with an ocean view. Jerry’s drive was 240 yards. The winner was 268 yards. Not too bad, Jerry.

After lunch, we heard a naturalist talk about Alaska and the wildlife. It was very interesting and helped us prepare for our first port in Alaska. I took a short nap while Jerry played in the first heat of the Ryder’s Cup (an unusual putt-putt with par 3s, 4s and 5s). The wind was quite strong so he got robbed a couple of times. After my nap, Kaye and I went to afternoon high tea. Just what we needed more food! Jerry and I have just got back from a walk around the ship. We have now been at sea 24 hours. Tonight is our first formal night.

We are on the ship

We are officially on the ship and pulling out of the Seattle port. We have had our life jacket training and taken a tour of part of the ship. The common areas are much smaller than I expected since there are staterooms for 2500 people. Our stateroom is about the size of a Microtel room but we do have a balcony which is fantastic. The weather is absolutely perfect!

I am a little worn out due to climbing all the stairs! Just imagine 2500 people trying to all get to muster stations at once and then back up the elevators or stairs. Whew! I was worried about all the food but it looks like what calories I eat will be burned off by climbing stairs. Dinner will be at 5:45 p.m. each evening with formal nights Monday and Thursday. Fun times.

The internet is sparce and expensive so we may not be blogging as much as we had hoped. We will still jump on Facebook once a day to let you know where we are. More later.