North To Alaska

We are now in Juneau.  My portable network is now working.  I'll try to catch you up.

Yesterday was a travel day.  It was a good day.  We went to a couple of classes..ballroom dancing was one.  Boy that was fun.  Steve is an excellent dancer.  We caught a few "lectures" also.  One was on Juneau and one was by a naturalist that lived in Alaska.  Both were informative and good.  The weather was really cloudy and cold.  They say the weather is always like that.  It did rain all the day we boarded the ship.

The really action started today.  The sun rose at 3:51am, and we hit the deck to watch for whales at 5:00. We saw a couple of whales, Dall dolphins and some Stellar sea lions.  It sure was cold.  I thought I might freeze to death on the deck even though I dressed warm.  The wind was pretty brisk.  We ate breakfast and then went to another port talk and lecture about Alaskan wildlife.  At about 11:00 we went ashore at Juneau.  Our tour today was whale watching.  We got on a tour boat with about 50 other people and away we went.  The water was so nice and the sun was even out.  We saw 12 humpback whales, some more sea lions, and tons of bald eagles.  It was a very good tour.  After that we walked the streets of Juneau some and at an early dinner at the Red Dog Saloon.  That was good and fun.  Now we are back at the cabin resting.  I am watching Doris Day in Pillow Talk.  Love that old movie.

Steve has been doing well.  Yes, he has been tired.  He has been sleeping well and is getting rested.  The issue is the ship is over three football fields long, and we have to walk everywhere.  He is usually good in the morning, but as the day wears, he gets fatigued.  He does not complain at all.  He just sits and rests for a while and then is good to go.  The cold decks are not good for him either.  We have been sitting inside the covered decks mostly.  We did dress warm, but we didn't think about the windy decks.  The food is wonderful.  We haven't skipped a meal yet.  We have even had a couple of drinks, which puts you in the sailing spirit.

I am not going to put any pictures in today because the connection is really slow and it would take me forever to download them.

Tomorrow we are in Skagway.  We are riding the White Pass train and then going to an old gold mining town.