Day Two of the journal I kept on an Alaskan cruise I took in 2003.
Other Days: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
10:57 AM PDT
Breakfast this morning was pretty all right. First I showered, then got some work clothes on, so that I would be able to fit in at breakfast. I ended up sitting with a couple from Long Island, New York who were on their first cruise. Although I've forgotten their names, they seem to be a really nice couple. There was also a couple from Scotland at my table, but I didn't talk with them, as they were a bit too far away. I had a (rather runny) cheese omelet for breakfast along with a bit of bacon and some coffee and rye toast. After that I wandered around for a bit, eventually ending up on the upper rear of the ship talking to a couple from northern England. According to them they live right on the grounds next to the castle in which the Harry Potter films are being shot. They said that because of all the money that the Duke is receiving from the movies he is putting more and more money into the community, building dancing water fountains, a new golf course, things like that. I mentioned to them that my brother in law, Craig, is from Glenrothes (Fife) Scotland and they said that every year they vacation for a week or two up there. I really have to get there sometime, maybe in the fall...
One thing I can't believe is just how many clear cuts there are in the Canadian part of the inside passage. I mean, I know that quite a bit of lumber comes from British Columbia, but almost everywhere I look out the window is an island with huge swaths of dead area. Sure, I know it'll be almost fully grown back within my lifetime, but it's still sort of odd to see man's footprint even on these islands. Then again, what should I expect? It's not like this is exactly a pristine area, there are a bunch of cruise ships that come through here every single day. It's un-wilderness. Well, at least along the route we are taking...
I'm not sure what I'll be doing today, but two things are for sure, a wine tasting at 3:00 PM PDT and then early bed. I'll get a so-called extra hour of sleep tonight because the clocks will be rolled back as we move in to Alaska time. I think I'll also be going to bed somewhat early to ensure that I can be ready to depart the ship before we hit port in Ketchikan. I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do there, but I think that part of it will involve a taxi to Bugge beach then walking back. Bugge beach is right across the street from the place I stayed, 3603 S. Tongass Highway. I'm not exactly sure why I want to head back to that area, as I no longer know anyone who lives in Ketchikan. Well, I may, but I don't know if they still live here, nor do I plan on visiting anyone. After that I think there will be some downtown walking and a little shopping on the agenda. I need to get some Anbesol for a cut spot in my mouth and I really could use to buy a watch to ensure that I'm not late getting back to the ship.
For now I think I'll stick the liner in my jacket and go for a bit more of a wander. There's going to be lunch served starting at 11:30 AM PDT in the buffet area, so I think I need to grab some of that. Oh, one thing I've noticed, it seems that the food in the buffet area is the same as that in the normal dining areas, you just get it yourself. Because of this I don't think I'm doing myself a disservice by eating in the buffet part. I don't think. Tonight is the formal night and with me being Mr. Noformalwear I think I'll be skipping it. This isn't a huge concern either, as I don't really care for meeting new people and having to eat politely in front of them, although I can deal with it from time to time.
Oh, something interesting that I forgot to mention before... The bathrooms here are situated in a manner which allows one to fully use the sink, be it for hand washing, teeth brushing, or whatever, all while seated comfortably on the toilet. Now this is convenience. The shower has a great head on it along with wonderfully warm, high pressure water. It could use to be a little bigger, but it's not bad. One more thing to complain about then I'll go: the water is softened, which is hell with Deb's wonderful soap, as I feel like I'm never rinsing clean, but it's all right.
2:43 PM PDT
I'm back in my room for a few minutes... That wine tasting thing starts in a few minutes, and I think I'm going to change into my nicer looking work clothes. After eating breakfast I changed into jeans and my Centipede t-shirt. While I don't think it looks bad, it isn't exactly the sort of thing you would expect one to wear to a wine tasting. Then again, I'm going to get there and thing everything is tasty for it's own reason, anyway. That's just how I am. I'm no Pfrank when it comes to wine skills. That boy has mad wine skillz. Anyway... I'm not sure what's planned for this evening beyond bed early. I'm supposed to be meeting up with those two girls at the wine tasting, so maybe something will come of that, but I don't think that's going to happen. Still, there's nothing wrong with people to hang out and talk with. So... Yeah. It's time to change and drink some wine.
4:39 PM PDT
Well, that was worth it. It ended up costing $5 and I got to try four different wines and a sparkling wine. After that I came back to my room and changed back into casual clothes, then went for a walk. While wandering around I decided to grab a vodka and soda with lime. That, combined with the fact that we're now sailing in open water, makes walking interesting and fun. As I sit here right now with a glass of water to measure the sway I realize that all I need is a ruler and a grease pencil and I could figure out exactly how much we're rotating. Oh, a stop watch would be nice, too, as that would allow me to figure out the period and how many times per second, minute, hour, whatever, we are rocking from side to side. It's not bad at all, I think I might even lay in my bed for a while to see quite how it feels while prostrate. You know, I could see sex on a cruise ship during a storm being quite a bit of fun. Not just the hanging on to keep from falling over, but the entire general feeling of disorientation, especially if you add a bit of alcohol into the mix.
I'm actually debating taking my notebook into the buffet area at the front of the ship so that I can write while I stare out at the horizon. Perhaps I'll do that tomorrow when writing about my random experiences in Ketchikan. I hope that goes well, actually. I'm thinking that I'll have about 7 hours to do whatever I want, so I think, as I mentioned before, that I'm going to take a cab to Bugge beach then walk back, then trod around downtown for a while, hopefully grabbing lunch somewhere familiar. I think we're supposed to be back at the ship at 2:00 PM ADT for departure at 2:30 PM ADT. With docking supposedly happening at 6:30 AM ADT I'll have to be up nice and early to make use of my time. So, yeah. I think I'll also give Crystal a call so that she can be aware of my pending arrival in Juneau so that we can go up to the glacier or just plod around town or whatever. If I recall correctly there is a pay phone booth right down on the beach there, I can use that... I must remember to get $1.00 or so worth of change.
You know, I've never seen one continuous horizon around me until today. On September 11th, 2001 I got to see my first completely clear blue sky (there have been cloudless ones before, but there is usually at least one contrail there). I'm not sure what's left... Well, hopefully there will be a cloudless night soon so that I can see the complete Milky Way and possibly some Aurora Borealis activity. Wow, I wish I could live up here... Maybe I should look into jobs in Anchorage. If I could find something that paid enough to allow me to own my own place, I'll be good. Perhaps I'll poke around the newspapers once I get there. Not seriously, of course, but there is never any harm in looking.
5:50 PM PDT
You know, nickel slot machines are a pretty good value. I dropped a dollar into one and played for about 15 minutes, well after I was bored. Compare this with the $3 that I put into a 25｢ video poker machine which allowed me about two minutes of play and you'll see what I'm talking about. Having a casino on board the ship is a rather interesting thing. I personally like roulette, so I might play that a bit. They have a $1 minimum table, so I'm thinking that I may drop $5, wager on things like Red vs. Black and Even vs. Odd and attempt to very slowly make some money. I'm not sure if I'll have any luck, but it's worked for me in the electronic versions. I wouldn't mind making the cost of the trip back, although I know that's a pretty na?e thing to hope for. Perhaps there's a cheap black jack table... I'm not good at playing it, I don't think, but I might have a chance. You never know...
The dinner buffet will be served starting in about 40 minutes. I'll have to make my way down there and grab something to eat. I wouldn't mind going to the formal dinner, but I feel that it is definitely a couple-centric activity. The buffet is the single guy's place. Too bad there haven't been any single girls there, at least as far as I'm aware. I think I've seen a few around, but it seems that most of them seem to be with their parents or grandparents, brought along on a family outing as opposed to going by themselves. Why is it that there aren't more independent single girls who go out and do things on their own? They always seem to do things in groups or with guys. Or maybe single guys who do things on their own are just rather... Well, I don't want to say loser-like, but it's possible. I'm not sure... And I'm just rambling...
You know, I might look back on this journal a few years later and laugh. Or cry. Or... I'm not sure what. I'm writing this very much in the format of a LiveJournal post, albeit at the same time documenting factual things that happened during my travel. Hopefully there will be photo tie-ins along the way, but that all depends on how lazy I am when I move it from Word to HTML. There also won't be very many photos from some of the days, namely the second, sixth, and eighth, I think, as these days are spent mostly at sea. When you're at sea there isn't much to take pictures of beyond water and horizon. Ah well.
So, I think I'll get my wander on for a little while longer, maybe go play some roulette before dinner time rolls around. Actually, I'll see what the breathalyzer says about me first. Should be interesting... That's interesting; my BAC is currently 0.05%. It's been at least an hour since I had those drinks... I might have been somewhat up there. Anyway, dinnerish time.
8:49 PM PDT
Mmm. Dinner was definitely good, although I don't quite remember what it was that I had to eat. I do know that I had some beef that had a mustard crumb coating on the outside, a very tasty banana torte, some cheese, more coffee, bread and butter, some baked mashed potato thing, something that reminded me of a small hash brown, but beyond that, I'm not quite sure.
After that I wandered about the ship a little more, then I grabbed Body of Secrets from my room and headed over to the library area to do some reading. I don't know how long I actually read for, but I'm thinking it was about an hour and a half. I think it's a good thing, though. I got to sit in an oversized leather chair complete with foot stool and look out a window at the Pacific Ocean while frightening myself with tales of domestic surveillance and the like. Slight side note, it seems that the route we take from Vancouver to Ketchikan leads us across quite a bit of open ocean. This isn't a big deal to me, but it would be nice to see more land up close. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity for that in the next few days, though. I hope my mom is all right with the idea of completely open water when her and my dad take this exact same cruise two weeks from now.
When I returned to my room I found that once again my bed had been turned back, a chocolate placed on my pillow, and the curtains drawn. What a nice surprise... One other nice surprise was here, though; an order form for fresh fruit. It seems that if I indicate what kinds of fruit I want, it will be brought to my room and left for me. Now that's something that I find just swell. I wrote down the desire to have three bananas (my favorite), an apple, an orange, and a pear. I figure I'll snack on those instead of going and grabbing cookies from the buffet whenever I'm craving something to munch on.
That reminds me, I'm definitely going to have to get back on my so-called diet once I'm back in the Detroit area. I'm probably eating upwards of 2500 calories a day right now and not getting any exercise beyond walking around the ship. I'm sure this will change once we start docking in towns, but you never know. Lots of food is still lots of food. At least I'm not drinking any sweetened beverages. Speaking of all of this, I just finished munching on the wonderful piece of mint chocolate that had been left on my pillow. Mmm...
I think that tonight I'm going to take a shower around 10:30 PM PDT, call for a wake-up call to be scheduled at 5:30 AM ADT, shave, and get ready to head out into Ketchikan. I want to say that visiting this town is the most important part of my trip, but if it was I would have ensured that I had more than seven hours to spend there. We'll see... Revisiting one's past never lives up to the expectations which float through the mental ether. And, it's just a place. I can always go again... I should make a list of things I want to see, though. SoHo CoHo, if it still exists, Bugge Beach, the island thing off the beach, Carrs, a department store so that I can get a watch, Physical Graffiti, and a few others that I'm not thinking of. Perhaps I should schedule a vacation to come back just here? We'll see later... I do have three weeks coming next year. Maybe I actually will backpack.
Well, since we're on the far west side of a time zone, it should be starting to get dark. I'm going to take a wander outside and see if the stars are out. While I was reading it appeared that we passed under a front, so I might get to see the Milky Way in all it's glory once again after all these years. Maybe this time I'll actually recognize the aurora for what it is. The last time I was here I saw it and thought it was cirrus clouds being lit by a distant city. It was only after I returned to Michigan that I realized that there are no cities to light them up. I did get to see a beautiful red aurora when I was at Rebecca's Grandparent's house back in November or December of 2001. That was wonderful, but just not the same as seeing it in Alaska.
11:18 PM PDT
I just realized two things. First off, in the previous entry I mentioned someone named Crystal, although I didn't put her in context. See, after I found out that I was coming up to Alaska I decided to consult LiveJournal people to find out things to do in Anchorage. I ended up running across someone named Crystal who happens to live in Juneau. None the less, she gave me her phone number so I could give her a call when I get into town. She mentioned us going up on the glacier, which might be nice to do without being part of a tourist group, but I'll also be plenty content just wandering around town, finding a nice small little restaurant, or something like that.
I just remembered one other thing as well. I really, really do need to wait at least 48 hours between times when I shave, be it electric or manual razor, lest I end up with a patchwork of blood and skin on my face. It's just not pleasant. Ah well. I think I'll wait even longer this next time. Ouch. Oh, and on top of the fact of all this, the cruise ship has white towels, so I have to be careful when wiping my face, lest I end up soiling their towels with my blood. I don't know anyone who would want to grab a towel to dry off with in the morning and find blood spots on it.
Oh, I did attempt to see some starts tonight, but that sort of fell through, although I may give it one more go before bed. I also forgot that Alaska is rather weak in vanquishing the Day Star during the months surrounding June. That meant that the sun didn't really go down until ~10:00 PM PDT. Alas, I didn't see any stars, due to a combination of light pollution from the ship (I believe) and clouds. I'll give it another go, but there aren't really any dark parts of the ship where I can go and just look at the sky. Actually, I think I'll just make it for tomorrow...
Here's one other interesting thing that happened in the wine tasting. I ended up seated with three people from Australia, and inevitably we began talking about Australian wines. A little while after saying that I like many of the Australian wines that I've bought recently, I had one of the people in their group attempting to get recommendations for a California wine for them to buy. Whoops... There's me, as un-Pfrank about wine as one gets, and someone is asking me for wine recommendations. I hope I found my way out of that without embarrassing myself too much.
I also played $5.00 worth of roulette, which amounted to me receiving 5 chips. I lost them all but one, got up to 6 chips, and then lost them all. Ah well, I guess that's why there are so many casinos around; because in the end all the winning is done by the casino. I'm not upset or anything, I'm just being observant.
I think the dining staff is trying to kill me. When I went to grab some coffee, they had cut up grapefruit that you could eat with a fork. How wonderful! Then, when I went back to check on the star situation, they had samosas. Damn them. The samosas weren't great, but they weren't bad, and they were available in a portion of the ocean which has no land in sight. Now that's impressive. If only there was a Japanese or Thai restaurant on board... Mmm...
I've got a wakeup call scheduled for 5:00 AM ADT. I really hope it comes through on the correct time and such, as I'm planning on watching the docking at Ketchikan happen, then getting off the ship as soon as possible. I'm going to attempt to set up a scheduled task to start some music playing at that time, as well. We'll see how that goes...
Okay, well, that worked. It seems you can nicely call Winamp from a command line, so I just set up a task to play Adult's Lost Love at 5:00 AM ADT. My camera's time had also been off, as it was still set to EDT, so I changed that to where I currently am. It also seems that the time had either somehow advanced by exactly 20 minutes, or lagged by exactly 40 minutes since I originally set it. I think it lagged, but I didn't do the math and I don't remember what time it was set to. Ah well. With this I think I'm going to pop into bed and do some reading. I'm not exactly tired right now, but I do want to get myself into a bit more of a sedate mood so that when it's time I can just fall right asleep.