Alaska Cruise Day Four

 Another "Sea Day" meant Dramamine. Although the water was much calmer, I wasn't taking any chances. But with a full day of activities, I didn't have much trouble fighting off the drowsiness... :) 

We slept in and opted for a late breakfast in the dining room. When we arrived the host asked if we wanted to "share a table." Assuming they meant with one another, we said yes. Turned out it meant sharing with other people. So we were sat at a table with three other couples. We got so busy chatting that we nearly missed our reservation for the North Star! 

Thankfully it was running a bit behind and we made it! Whew!

The North Star is a 12'x15' sphere on a 135' arm that takes you over 300 feet above the water for a great birds' eye view. The rain stopped, the sun peeked out... Perfect! The view is pretty incredible...

The pool area looks so nice from high above!

Then we swung out over the water...

Now the pool area just looks tiny!

The Solarium from way up!

I love that we could see our shadow in the water!

Chris was right... It would be better with a glass floor.

It was too cold for the FlowRider (surf simulator) to be open so we spent the morning in the pool instead. 

The bear guarding the rock climbing wall. It wasn't ever open... 

The SeaPlex was all decked out with an inflatable course for lazer tag. It sounded fun but we didn't get reservations in time...

While my watermelon mint lemonade was yummy most of the foods we tried having for lunch were awful... :( 

The outside of the hot dog truck. It was way cuter than it was yummy... 

Eventually we gave up, changed clothes and had a bite with a view at the 270 Cafe. While we were there a passenger had to be airlifted off ship for a medical emergency... :( 

We went back to change for skydiving after lunch and the chairs on the patio just beckoned us to relax for a bit... 

After having watched people at iFly earlier in the day, I was beginning to have doubts as to whether or not I could actually do it. It mostly looked like a wrestling match between you, the instructor and a giant rush or air. Only you were losing... 

But I decided to go for it.  We had fun. And it turns out I was pretty good at it. :) We were really disappointed that the ship photographer wasn't there to take our pictures. But thankfully the little girl who was in our group had her dad out watching and he took pics of us all and emailed them to us after we got home. :) 

We went straight from flying to crashing and did bumper cars. So much fun! I guess when you're in international waters all those dumb safety rules don't really apply! 

Had a late dinner at Indian food night at the buffet. Yum! 

This little guy was on the bed when we came back after dinner...

Went back to change and went back to the 270 for the early show... So cool!

They put screens over the windows in the 270 Lounge for the evening show... It opened with a woman drawing a tropical scene.

Then it filled with color...

The next was an animated under the sea concert...

Introducing the main act...

The violinist from Ukraine was amazing!

Then we went to the opposite end of the ship for the late show of Goddess, a tribute band to female pop artists through the years. She did a great job! After all she was a finalist on The Philippines Got Talent! 

Since the night was clear, we bundled up and went for a stroll on the upper deck to do a bit of stargazing. Turns out that when your ship is lit up like a Christmas tree you can't see many stars. But we did get to see parts of the ship we'd never seen and just enjoyed being all alone! 

Alaska Cruise - Day Three

 We got up bright and early in order to get off the ship before the rush. And we did! We got on the very first shuttle into Ketchikan. But as we got closer to town I realized I didn't have my phone or my camera. Or our rain jackets... After all, the sun was starting to peek out and we had made the decision to leave them behind. 

Then it started to rain. By the time we got off the shuttle it was pouring! And as we stood next to a building on the main street waiting for the bus, I realized I couldn't spend the whole day hiking in the rain in a sweatshirt. So we went back to the ship. It was kind of like swimming back upstream. And the sun was still shining back at Ward Cove... 

Luckily for us, the city bus stopped right at the top of the hill on the Tongass Highway at the State Patrol office. We snuck by the line of shuttles, by the abandoned pulp mill, up the hill, walked along the shoulder of the highway, and made it to the stop. But there was no sign anywhere. The very nice officer told us that all we had to do was stand out by the road, wave them down and the bus would stop. After waiting about 20 minutes, we saw the bus coming. We waved and watched the bus drive right on by... 

By this time we had wasted much of our early start and were feeling frustrated. The woman at the bus office told us the bus only stops if it's safe. What's safer than the State Patrol office? Plan C??? To walk back to Ward Cove, hop on the free WalMart shuttle and catch the bus where we knew there was an official bus stop. 

Thankfully, the shuttle was getting ready to turn onto the highway and let us get on. And up until 2020 this WalMart was the smallest in the world. I can't believe we didn't take a picture. In fact, when I look back at our pictures of this trip there's a lot of things I wish we had taken a picture of. :(  

After wandering around, getting a sandwich at the Subway, we finally got on a bus and headed back past Ward Cove (again) to Totem Bight State Park. Before exploring, we sat on a bench in the sun to eat our sandwich. This state park has a short easy trail past about 20 totem poles, a longhouse, and some very nice views of the water... 

Then we caught the next bus back into town and the stop at the high school. We had to hike up the hill to the college campus and the Rainbird Trail. It wasn't nearly as bad as the internet made it seem and the view of Ketchikan from the top was pretty nice! 

Apparently there aren't many bears on the island which I'm sure this deer appreciates... 

The trail ended at another major road but we followed another couple down the hill right to where our shuttle stop was. But since we had a little bit more time, we walked back up the hill to Bawden Street Brewing for a flight and a pint. 

Walking the road from the trail back into town

One of the stained glass art pieces on the boardwalk in town

Back at the dock everyone was talking about how nice the weather was for Ketchikan where it rains an average of 140-160 inches of rain per year (compared to 40 inches per year in Seattle)! 

Turns out we still had time to catch the shuttle back, change clothes, let the photographer take our picture and make our dinner reservation. And I'm glad we did because our table "neighbors" told our server it was my birthday. Two desserts is totally ok when it's your birthday.

After dinner we did a bit of exploring at the 270 Lounge. A huge area at the back of the ship with 270 degrees of windows. This area is used for shows in the evening, movies, sipping on a drink from the bar, relaxing, having a bite to eat from the cafe, rehearsing for a future production show (as seen in picture), reading a book from the adjacent library, or just enjoying the view... It might be one of the best places on board! 

Watching the boat coming to pick up the bar pilot

Then it was drinks and 50s and 60s trivia and Name That Tune before the Andy Elton show. Turns out I'm pretty good at them both. The late-night show was basically an Elton John cover band (well, guy). 

We had a night cap, went back to our room, turned on a movie and stayed up late... :)