The purpose of our stay in Florence was to spend time with JY’s sister Bonnie.   As you may know, John, Bonnie’s husband of many years, died about a year ago. We have spent time with Bonnie and John several times over the years in Florence. In fact we are familiar with the RV park where we stayed as we took many walks here with them. It is located on an estuary that Peter has particular enjoyed as he loves spending time on the beach. It is a lovely area and so convenient to the Mueller residence.

Despite the lovely location, we did not anticipate the challenges of our particular site.  The site was very narrow making it difficult to pull in and out of.  The site was also uneven and muddy.  It was a little difficult for JY to move around the site with her balance issues and cane.  Nevertheless, we were close to Bonnie which made up for it.

Katie, Bonnie’s granddaughter and JY’s great niece, was also there. Katie has MS and Bonnie is a retired nurse and they seem to be helpful for each other. We had dinner with them every night and often day lunches. It was a worthwhile visit and it was  sad to leave.

One day we went to lunch at one of our favorite Florence restaurants and had lobster rolls. Yum.  We took Bonnie to lunch another day.  JY made one of her favorite recipes one night – Orange glazed salmon. It was a hit.

Peter went horseback riding on the beach – what a treat for him. Many years ago he made his living on a horse as a hunting guide in northern British Columbia, running the horse concession in Glacier National park and working on a cattle ranch in Great Falls, Montana. However this was pure recreation and fun for him. 

It was much cooler in Phoenix, Oregon than Phoenix, Arizona. The drive from Phoenix, Oregon to Florence was a white knuckler through most mountain passes. We stopped at one town for gas. While fueling a huge and powerful dust devil came right through the gas pump area.  It was so powerful it moved a full dumpster into the middle of the street and then sucked half of the cardboard boxes and trash out of it.  I tried to shut our truck door in time but the driver side was full of trash before I could get to it.  Everyone started picking up trash and the gas station attendants rolled the dumpster back into place.  Everyone was flabbergasted by the experience.  Then 5 minutes later it happened again.  Everyone was amazed to see full size cardboard boxes swirling around in the air 200 to 300 feet heading towards another part of town.

We arrived at the RV Park in Florence where we had a reservation.  The Park had just finished renovations that brought water, electric and sewer to about half the site.  The sites are very narrow and it was difficult backing in but we made it with the help of a Fellow RV’er from the site next to us. 

We disembarked the ship at 9:00 am and collected our luggage rather quickly. The cab driver drove us to the place we stored the truck and trailer in San Lorenzo. Other than a dead battery that required a jump start we drove fairly quickly back to the RV Park. By the time we arrived we were exhausted so we turned in as soon as we arrived.  We got an early start to our next destination – Phoenix, Oregon ………. Really!

Today was packing day. Lots of bittersweet feelings as we had spent so much time on the ship and say farewell to so many passengers we’d met. And of course it was no fun packing.

Back in the USA!   We plan on spending a couple of days in this  area  in our travel trailer  after visiting  JY’s sister  in  Florence Oregon.  Our excursion first went to Haystack Rock, outside of Astoria.  We made a brief visit there, which was made famous by the movie Goonies.  There are tours highlighting places from the movie in Haystack Rock. A few places had to be left out of the tours as current residents got tired of hundreds of people taking photos of their houses.

We were only at Haystack Rock for 45 minutes and then we moved to the beach town of Cannon Beach which had a carnival atmosphere.  The town and the beaches were really crowded as it was Father’s Day.  Families milled around town along with our busload of 40 people. So we took advantage of the crowded, carnival atmosphere and rode the merry–go-round just for the fun of it. 

We tendered from the ship to the pier.  Everyone was nervous about this after the last tender fiasco in Juneau.  In fact one tender did break down while  transporting  passengers to the pier.  Our excursion was to Cathedral Grove and then to Coombs Market.  When we arrived at the pier there were people dressed in period costumes to welcome passengers.  The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) eventually showed up wearing their signature red tunics.

Our first stop was at MacMillian Provincial Park to visit Cathedral Grove, also referred to as Vancouver Islands “Big Tree Heritage”.  It is a forest of century old Douglas fir trees in an endangered ecosystem.   The provincial park was established to preserve the trees and protect them from any future attempts at logging.  The only evidence of man’s presence  in the grove is where chain saws have been used to clear trails and pathways for tourists and local visitors to view the trees.  There are a couple of loop trails  that wind  their way through the forest past some huge trees.  Some of the oldest trees are 800 years old and measure 250 feet height and are 29 feet in circumference or 10 feet in diameter.  The Cameron River borders   parts of the trail.  The rippling sound of the creek/river adds a sense of tranquility as you stroll past these magnificent trees.

One interesting fact about Cathedral Grove is that some of the scenes from Star Wars were filmed there.  The unusual looking forest with giant trees was a good backdrop  for some of the action scenes.  Unfortunately the use of pyrotechnic effects and trampling  of  under growth by  the production crew  had a long lasting detrimental effect in some of the more remote areas not normally visited by the public.

We boarded the shuttle bus and headed down the road to Coombs Old Country Market.  This market includes a gourmet grocery store that is a landmark in the area.  What makes it so unique is that the roof is covered with sod and the owner keeps two goats on the roof to keep the grass mowed.  The roof has its own sprinkler system and the goats live on the roof all summer long.  There is also a little shelter so they can get out of the rain or find shade when it gets too hot. The grocery was also unique because the diner served what smelled to be authentic Mexican food. Guess who was craving that?

Next door to the market was an eclectic group of shops with the a unique collection of “stuff”   As you can see in the photos  some of the items are bizarre.   I’m not sure that they could be shipped without incurring a huge expense.  One shop has a collection of approximately 150 beautiful, expensive and huge wood carvings from Asia.  The  owner admitted that she sells very few of them and  she didn’t care if she sold them or not as she just likes having them.  Not the best business model; but she does have a location to store her private collection. 

Outside there is a huge open air courtyard with even more unusual pieces  such as a large marble statue of a baby giraffe suckling its mother.  There are also some huge Buddha statues about 15 feet tall.  After an hour and some coffee we boarded the shuttle bus and headed back to the pier.

As we docked in Victoria we watched as dozens of small boats made their way out into the harbor to greet us.  A group of 10 First Nation people come out to the ship dressed in ceremonial costume paddling a dugout canoe .

†††

We took an excursion to the Butterfly Museum and Butchart Gardens.  We’ve been to butterfly museums before but nothing like this one.  When you first enter the building there is a very large glass terrarium with a tree growing in it and hundreds of leaf cutter ants cutting the leaves into manageable pieces and carrying them back to the colony.  There were other hideous looking insects in glass aquariums also. 

We entered through double doors into the butterfly room and hundreds of butterflies along with parrots, 5 tortoises, 4 flamingos and an iguana greeted us.  The enclosure was done amazingly well and included a brook and log covered with a dozen painted turtles.

Our next stop was Butchart Gardens which is considered the fifth best public gardens in the world.  It is a site to behold and the story behind how it came to be is fascinating.  There are gardens within the garden such as the sunken garden, Japanese garden, Italian garden, and Rose garden.  There are 55 acres of the gardens, 900 species of plants and 50 full time gardeners.  It would take at least a couple of days to view the entire garden. Alice, I thought of you and your love of flowers while we were there.  

Folks advised me to have an extra special day on my birthday. This was a challenge since the whole summer has been extra special. The cruise in particular, especially the helicopter ride to the top of the Mendenhall Glacier and the dog sled ride. However, I did endeavor to do activities I usually don’t do, such as:  1 ) Sleeping in until 10:00 am – what a treat,  2) a bubble bath and photo to prove it,

3) Peter and I having a drink in the Ocean View lounge (which made me sleepy by dinner time),  4) dinner with my loving husband and our new friends from Australia, Jeff and Jackie,  

5) Jackie gifting me with a pretty pair of earrings as she noticed I like jewelry (imagine that),  6) the waiters in the dining room sang Happy Birthday to me in Indonesian,  

7) our head table waiter, Dia, as promised, brought his guitar and serenaded me with a song,  8) and of course a (tiny) birthday cake.  What a unique birthday celebration!  Who could ask for anything more.†

Wrangle was a bit of a disappointment.  It is a small (tiny) town and not many cruise ships dock here so they are not prepare for 1,000 people all at once.  It was raining the whole tie we were there.  We did not book an excursion there and decided to go work on our blog at the library.  We walked the main street which did not take long then headed for the library.  The library did not open until 1:00 pm and we had to be back on board by 2:30 pm. 

The outside of the library was packed in the covered areas with passengers and crew catching up on emails and messages.  We decided to go to a coffee bar and use their Wi-Fi.  While there we had coffee and a pastry and they let us use their internet along with 3 or 4 dozen other people.  Their bandwidth could not handle the volume of users and it was virtually impossible to send anything of any size. 

We got off the ship this morning and recovered the truck and trailer. Parked at an RV park for the night and trying to catch up on the blog now that we have reliable internet. More on this later!!

Saturday June 8, 2019 – SEA DAY

A multitude of activities are planned on a sea day so there is something for everyone to keep passengers entertained.  For us it’s usually a relaxation day.  We sleep in, have a late breakfast (or early lunch), do a little laundry, work on the blog a little and maybe watch a movie.  Today’s movie was “On the Basis of Sex” about the beginning of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s rise to becoming a Supreme Court Justice.

It was Gala Night with the option of dressing up and attending a formal dinner in the dining room.  Our table partners, as we’ve mentioned before, are from Perth, Australia.  They are fun people and bring a unique Australian accent and humor to the table.  Our waiter, Dia, from Bali is also a character. All of us enjoy the back and forth humor, joking and kidding.  Dia says he is going to serenade JY on her birthday.

An incident that happened back in the beginning of our cruise:  While on our first excursion in Ketchikan it was a rainy day so we wore our rain gear and took a backpack with warm jackets.  When we got on the bus Peter put his pack in the overhead compartment as the bus driver said it would be safe.  When we finished our tour of the Saxman Village an elderly lady fell and had trouble getting up.  Ever helpful Peter helped her off the bus, onto the tender and up the ramp back on the ship. He was distracted because of helping the lady and forgot the backpack on the shuttle bus.

Later that night while we were watching the evening entertainment Peter suddenly realized he’d left the backpack on the bus.  He was “aerated.”  We learned this word from our Australian friend, Jackie. (We think it means upset or irritated.) The next morning we went to Guest Services to see if anyone had turned the backpack into Lost and Found.  We were told they would look into it, but made no promises.   The pack was found and the ship was notified. It was flown to Anchorage six days later which was great because we needed the warm clothing for our dog sledding excursion in Anchorage.  Perhaps there is some validity to Karma.   We appreciated the m/s Maasdam’s customer service.  

As you know Alaska is the “Land of the Midnight Sun.” Because he couldn’t sleep, Peter was awake around 3:00 in the morning. He was restless so he quietly got dressed and took a walk outside on deck. It was raining but looked practically like daylight.

Sunday June 9, 2019 – HAINES

Our Haines tour started early Sunday am. (Cute comment Rita. Yes it was “brief.”)  Our tour guide drove to a location on a crescent shaped beach where we could see most of Haines in the background along with our ship, Holland America’s m/s Maasdam.  (Holland America sells t-shirts that say, “We have more dam ships than anyone”)

Haines is another of Alaska’s small towns. It’s only been recently that cruise ships have been docking there. It is the historic capital of Tlingit culture and art, the site of a of the frontier Gold Rush and  home to  Alaska’s first permanent Army base.  It’s also known as a world class recreation destination, a community of artists and a “slice of authentic Alaska.”  Due to its quintessential Alaskan look , the town has been a favorite for film makers. Disney’s 1991 movie “White Fang” was filmed there along with Gold Rush, a reality show on the Discovery Channel.

From there we took a 10 mile scenic drive through the heart of the “back country” where there are reportedly hundreds of people who live off the grid.  This means they have no running water, no electricity and no postal delivery service.  They have been providing for themselves for years.  Our tour guide said that she and her husband lived that way for almost 20 years but civilization is catching up.  They now have running water and electricity.  She said that now that she is getting older she has warmly greeted civilization as living off the grid can be very difficult as we get older.

Our scenic tour was right along the bank of the Chilkat Inlet.  There is abundant fishing and crabbing here as all five species of salmon migrate here from the ocean to spawn.  The Crabbing is so good that people who use crabs for a food source throughout the winter have to stop after a while because they catch so many that they get sick of eating them throughout the winter months.  A moose or two is the prized food source for the winter along with some bird, deer and maybe a bear.  Domesticated animals are also a food source and people have root cellars for keeping vegetables and fruit throughout the winter months.  Firewood is also another important material that has to be gathered throughout the late spring, summer and early fall if that is a main source of heating.  We passed some houses with huge piles of firewood neatly stacked in shelters with a roof.

Another destination  on tour was a visit to the “Extreme Dreams” studio of John & Sharon Svenson, next to the inlet,   They are both very talented in their own media.  The morning we arrived at the studio John was making clear glass marbles with little glass flower inside. 

On the last one he made before we walked in he added a gold nugget.  He greeted us and showed us around his studio and there were some impressive pieces of art from other artists who show in his studio.  Peter asked  how he made the marbles and John showed him the process. The artist gifted the flawed but beautiful marble to Peter.  

From the studio we took another scenic drive back to the ship: and drove through the decommissioned army base right on the edge of town.  When it was decommissioned the Army was going to tear it down however a group of Army vets from the east coast (of the Lower 48) bought it sight unseen.  They turned it into a hotel, some B&B’s, summer homes for themselves and a carving shed for the local totem pole carvers. 

Our tour bus took us back to the dock where we boarded a shuttle into town and did some sight seeing on our own including  the “Hammer Museum.” The only other Hammer Museum  is in Lithuania. Maya asked about the significance of this. It appears that there is no particular significance.  A man in town has been collecting hammers all his life and no two are alike.  He was collecting them in his home until his wife said enough is enough you’re going to have to collect them someplace else.  So he started the hammer museum.  There are 2,000 different hammers on display and reportedly another 7,000 in storage waiting for a bigger building.  Actually it is an impressive and interesting collection.  

Monday June 10, 2019 – TRACY ARM & JUNEAU

The ship arrived at Tracy Arm Fjord/Glacier about 6:30 am and there were very few people who got off so the Captain did not stay there very long.  We arrived in Juneau around 2:00p and we had to tender in  as there were 5 other ships already docked.  Our excursion did not start until 5:00 pm so we had lots of time. This was an excursion we highly anticipated.

 We went to the library not far from the tender dock to work on the blog and grab something for lunch.  Our wine steward had told us about a Felipino festival  close by serving this cuisine so we looked forward to having some lumpia, one of JY’s favorites. Unfortunately we ran out of time. A couple of points of interests: Whenever we dock in a port with a library with free WIFI, many of the crew are there also for the same reason  we are.  Also as you probably know, most ships crew are Filipino or Indonesian. On our ship there were about 50 people from Bali.

We were concerned we might not do the Helicopter Flight to the top of the Mendenhall Glacier and dog sledding due to the fog, It cleared up somewhat and we were able to do the highlight of our cruise.

Our helicopter held 5 people and it took 15 minutes from the heliport to the dog sled camp on the glacier.  There were probably 200 sled dogs in groups of 20 to 30 with each group having its own musher and sled.   Our musher Suz  introduced us to all of the dogs pulling our sled.  Peter rode the runners on the back sled and JY sat in the front sled.

The glacier was  a little challenging for JY as she was not allowed to bring her walking stick. But it was so worth it.  As you can see from  the photos, being on a glacier was an other wordly and beautiful experience. (And cold of course.)

 The dogs were anxious to get started and pulling on their harnesses.  Suz  pulled the stake out of the ground and pulled in the anchor break and off we went like  being shot out of a cannon.  We made a wide loop around the camp on the surface of the glacier.  Our sledding experience lasted about 30 to 40 minutes and was a blast.  When we got back to base camp we got to visit and play with the dogs.  Suz our musher introduced us to several dogs that had run the Iditarod.  Peter asked Suz if she knew Lance Mackey who won the Iditerod  4 times in a row.   She indicated he is a nice guy but its not a good idea to get between he and his dogs. While on the ship we watched a documentary about Lance Mackey. 

We were also introduced to a new sled dog puppy only 2 weeks old.  He was precious.  On the helicopter ride back to the heliport we spotted a group of 6 mountain goats on a hillside above the tree line.  †

Tuesday June 11, 2019 – FREDRICK SOUND

Fredrick Sound is our passage to Wrangle.  The glacier geologist gave a talk on fjords and sound which proved to be very interesting.  A fjord is a valley created by a retreating glacier filled with sea water whereas a sound is created when sea level rises or the earth sinks.     As a general rule a fjord runs perpendicular to the coast while a sound generally runs parallel to the coast.  This sound is a highway for ferries and other vessels carrying freight and supplies to various islands and isolated communities in the region. In the middle of the sound there is a lighthouse on Five Finger Island that separates Stephens Passage and Fredrick Sound for navigational purposes.  It is also the last lighthouse in Alaska to be automated.  It is a great place for whale watching and there were two excursions that left from the side of the ship.  One group of passengers went on a fishing trip while an other went whale watching.