A Walk with Bald Eagles, Salmon, Totems, and Stairs! - Part 2, Mon., July 30, 2018

Continued from Part 1...

Oops, I didn't quite finish the first 5k loop in the last blog. We had to go up and down again in the old part of town and learned a little more about Ketchikan.

Interesting what they did with the old press!

Doesn't count as wildlife. LOL.

Is this like the Elks or Moose Lodge?

Two-cruise-ship view from these stairs!

Another walker heading down the stairs.

NOW we're done with the first loop. At the bottom of the stairs above, our directions wanted us to go across the street to a sidewalk in the sun. Being from Texas, where it's frequently in the high 90s to low 100s, we walk in shade as much as possible. Therefore, we modified the directions and turned right into the tunnel for the shade it provided.

The tunnel isn't long.  In fact, a historical marker makes mention of it:

"The one-year tunnel project..., beginning in August, 1953, ... was a major engineering feat. Following completion, a Juneau visitor remarked, 'After all I'd heard about the tunnel, I thought it must be at least a mile long. Heck, I see it's nothing but a gopher hole!'"

The tunnel is about two blocks long. 

We walked for quite a distance on Water St., past a couple of restaurants and some water-related transportation businesses. 

Bob had a run-in with a bear.

Great sense of humor!

Helicopter tours.

Tugboats

Our directions said to follow Water Street which would turn into Second Ave. Well, we missed that and ended up walking a little way on Tongass Ave., before turning around and going back to Water St. It was a climb up Water St. There were signs saying the street was closed to vehicles and pedestrians. I mentioned this to Bob who seemed to think pedestrians should be able to get through, no matter what. He just kept on going and I grudgingly and trudgingly followed him. Grr.

We finally got to a spot where we could see the construction. There was no way we were getting through that. They were rebuilding a viaduct. A concrete pumper truck was blocking the way. So, it was either find some stairs down to Tongass Ave. from up where we were, or turn around and go back the four blocks we had walked up the hill. 

We looked and looked at stairs going down, but they all seemed to go to people's houses and we didn't want to intrude to find out if they continued on down to the other street. Sooo, we retraced our route back down the hill to Tongass Ave. Grr again. It was too hot to be doing that kind of stuff.

Tongass Ave. wasn't exactly scenic and it was very busy traffic. From Tongass Ave. we could see up to the viaduct they were replacing on Second Ave. That is where we spotted a deer, just moseying around under the viaduct construction area.

The viaduct is where the fence is
in the middle of the photo.

Thankfully, there was a map on our instructions. We could see that First Ave. angled up to meet Second Ave. which is where we were supposed to be. Off we went, up the hill to Second Ave. Once back on track, we continued up and down around the neighborhood on the hill.

Keeping the yard mowed (and fertilized).

Worth the beautiful views!

A seaplane taking off.

I can tell you, we took a few blocks off the end of the hilly part in the neighborhoods to make up for the earlier boo boo. It was lunch time and we had been hungry for a while. The second 5k loop didn't have many restaurants. 

Finally, I asked a couple of cable TV workers sitting in their truck what was available nearby for lunch. They started out with Taco Time and McDonald's in the mall, followed by Godfather's Pizza. They had me at Taco Time. I love Taco Time. We had them in Oregon. So, it was lunch at Taco Time in the AIR-CONDITIONED mall! That was a good stop, in my opinion. We finished the walk on Tongass Ave. to Front St.

Some houses are built on stilts because it's so steep!

When we got close to the ship, we walked on Casey Moran Harbor City Float Ramp. There were some beautiful stained-glass pieces of art along the walkway there.

Our ship from the end of the Float Ramp

Me in front of the Wyland art on the bow.

Jellyfish in the harbor.

Stained glass art along the float ramp.

We had to be back on board at 2:30 p.m. I was done and returned to the ship. Bob, however, wanted to go buy a jigsaw puzzle for me. It was so nice of him to run back downtown. He found a really fun 500-piece puzzle of Ketchikan. I think he also bought some postcards. Thank you, Bob!

Meanwhile, I went back to our room, took off my shoes, and changed clothes. Then, ahh, I sat down on our balcony to read. Wonderful! 

Reading material is Mark Adams' "The Tip of the Iceberg: My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Wild Alaska, the Last Great American Frontier." Bob read it before we left on our cruise. I am almost done with it. We enjoyed reading about the history of Alaska contained in it, along with the trip the author took to retrace the Harriman expedition.

View from our balcony.

Leaving Ketchikan behind. Two more cruise ships
are holding down the fort pier.

Tonight, we have reservations in The Manhattan Room (complimentary) restaurant. The decor and service are reminiscent of cruise ships of yore. We dressed up because after dinner our agenda includes The Cavern Club to hear Britain's Finest: the early years, and then at 10:00 p.m., we have reservations to see the musical, "Havana!" in the Bliss Theater.

Handsome Bob!

I clean up nice, too.

The Manhattan Room restaurant

We spent a little romantic time on the deck
watching the gorgeous sky and scenery.

The Cavern Club and Britain's Finest.

 After Havana, we found a bunny towel waiting for us in our stateroom.

At about 11:30 p.m. it's still light. We're glad because the scenery is awesome.

So ends another cruise/shore day. We sure sleep well because we're exhausted at the end of the day!

Tomorrow, we will be in Juneau, Alaska's capital.

Embarkation on the Norwegian Bliss at Pier 66 - Sat., July 28, 2018

We had planned ahead and made a reservation for a shuttle from our hotel to the pier. The shuttle left the hotel at 9:30 a.m., after our complimentary breakfast. It took about ten minutes to get to the waterfront, but Pier 66 was about halfway down. 

When we got to Pier 66, it was a total zoo. The Bliss was debarking the previous group of cruisers. We had our shuttle driver drop us and our luggage a block away because it was quicker to walk than wait in traffic.

Bob and I were very impressed with Norwegian Cruise Line's (NCL's) efficiency. We asked cruise personnel where we needed to go. First they directed us to the porters, where we dropped our bags (hallelujah!). Next stop was the TSA to go through their detectors. From there, we were directed upstairs where we signed in for the cruise, picked up our room keys and a map of the ship, and put a credit card on file for any charges on board. We had to sign an affidavit that we weren't sick. We then went into a room to wait to board. We were so early, we ended up in Boarding Group 1. I estimate we waited an hour before our group was called.

It was smooth sailing from the porters to boarding the ship. However, it takes a few hours for your luggage to catch up to you. Our rooms would not be ready until 1:00 p.m. We did go up and peek at our room before we went to make restaurant, laser tag, and racetrack reservations. They were still cleaning the rooms. 

One of the packages we bought was dinner in three specialty restaurants. I had been able to make our reservations for Teppanyaki (Japanese) and La Cucina (Italian) online weeks before the cruise; however, I could not get us into a third specialty dining room. That meant we had to stand in line at The Social to make our final reservation. We were dying to try Ocean Blue, a fancy seafood restaurant, but it was sold out. Second choice for our last restaurant was Cagney's Steakhouse, and that was available. Bob wasn't thrilled about the steakhouse because he doesn't eat red meat, but the ship concierge explained the steakhouse also had seafood. That sealed the deal.

From The Social, we headed to "Q," the Texas BBQ restaurant where signups for the go-karts and laser tag were taking place. We made those reservations as well. 

We wandered around the ship. The Volkssporters planned to meet at The Cavern Club after the Life Boat Drill, so we found where that was. 

Where The Beatles got their start.

Here are more photos of where we went before the tour...

View of downtown Seattle from
the Observation Lounge.

Observation Lounge

Another view of downtown Seattle

If we ever wanted to know where we were,
we could come to the observation lounge.

Beautiful public areas to read and relax.

Another public area. Groups liked these.

Two-story atrium.

Sugarcane Mojito Bar

We also had lunch in the Garden Cafe Buffet because breakfast had been at 8:30 a.m. We were hungry...but not to worry, the buffet had so many choices! Our lunch was yummy!

At 1:30 p.m., we opted to go on the Guided Ship Tour of the public areas. The start point was outside Cagney's Steakhouse. Just a few stats:

• Largest cruise ship ever home-ported on the West Coast.
• 21 restaurants
• A two-level go-kart race track on the top two decks
• Outdoor laser tag
• 20 decks
• Largest ship to go through the Panama Canal

Cagney's Steakhouse (Specialty)

The A-List Bar

Los Lobos Mexican Restaurant (Specialty)

Below are a couple of walkers we met from Alberta, Canada. They stayed at the same hotel we did last night. 

Dallas and Sharon

Our guide was gregarious and called us his "all stars." We followed along and he'd clear the way by saying, "OK all stars, follow me." And "Make way for the all stars."

Polar bear at the pool deck.

This water slide goes right over the side of the ship.

A different water slide.

Movie screen over the pool.

The jogging track. (If we wanted to walk
10k on this, it would be 48 laps!)

Inside The Cavern Club.

View of Seattle from the ship.

By 3:00 p.m., everyone had to be on board or be left behind. After the tour, we read for a while until our Life Boat Drill at 3:30 p.m. 

I was disappointed by the Life Boat Drill. Usually, you find out where the life jackets are, take them to your part of the deck, and instructions are given loud and clear. On a ship with 4,000 guests and 1,700 crew, I would think a huge cruise ship would make it perfectly clear what to do. Our group was crammed into small restaurant with another group. I wear hearing aids and could not hear what was being said. I don't think they said where the life jackets were. They basically told us if there was a problem, to come to that muster station and they would tell us what to do. If there's a problem, I want my life jacket when I leave my cabin!! Life Boat Drill was a fail in my mind.

After the Life Boat Drill, the Volksmarchers were supposed to meet in The Cavern Club for packet pick up. But there was some confusion. It had also been said that the Life Boat Drill would be over at 6:00 p.m. About ten people went to The Cavern Club after the drill at 4:00 p.m., but the rest of the group didn't show up. We took a break in our stateroom and went back at 5:30 p.m. We had time to go out on the deck and take photos of our departure from Seattle. 

We slip away from Seattle.

An interesting tidbit about the Port of Tacoma: George Lucas's inspiration for the AT-ATs in Return of the Jedi were the cranes at the port.

Cranes at the Port of Seattle.

Looking up the decks toward the water
slide that goes off the edge and back.

Zooming in on downtown Seattle as we leave.

At the meeting, we received our packets, walk instructions, and AVA cruise shirts. Many people received door prizes as well. I won a carabiner clip.

We had a little time before our next activity so we watched the Olympic Peninsula scenery go by from the balcony of our stateroom on Deck 11.

A layer of fog along the strait with the
Olympic Mountains in back

New Dungeness Lighthouse in the strait!

Fading light, fog, and the Olympics.

Still snow on the Olympics!

At 7:30 p.m., we headed to Bliss Theater for the "Welcome Aboard Show: First Night." This show highlights all the entertainment on the ship with a smorgasbord of clips from the live shows on the ship: "The Jersey Boys," to comedians, "Havana," and "Happy Hour Prohibition: The Musical." We already had reservations with our walking group for "The Jersey Boys." Bob and I also got reservations to "Havana."

After the Bliss Theater presentation, we went directly to dinner at La Cucina. We were about 1/2 hour early for our reservation time, but no problem; they had plenty of room for us. We both sat facing the window so we could see the Olympic Peninsula as we cruised through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Strait is 108 miles long and 10-18 miles wide. It is the access route to the Pacific Ocean from Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia. Our dinner was very good!

The view from our table at La Cucina.

The Olympics in the fading light of day.

When we returned to our stateroom, our luggage was in the hall. The room had been turned down for the night already. It was time to unpack, settle in, and then read before bed.

Tomorrow is a day at sea. The ship is AWESOME. North to Alaska!