Day 35 Summer Vacation 2009

This morning we are awake early because we have to disembark The Westerdam at 8:15 am. The ship arrived in Seattle at 6:00 am as we were waking up.

We had a quick breakfast in the Lido Restaurant then awaited our turn to walk off the ship. We were processed quickly through customs and were in the car and leaving the parking lot by 8:45 am.

We left Seattle WA behind us as we drove across The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. This is the second longest floating bridge in the State of Washington. I don’t think I have ever driven on a floating bridge, but it felt solid, not like some floating docks I have been on.

Washington is nick named “The Evergreen State” and it is quite obvious how it got its name. Everywhere we look as we drive along Interstate 90 we are seeing evergreens.

The skies are clearing and the temperatures are rising the further and further we head Eastward away from the Pacific Coast. We have experienced cool temperatures and cloudy or foggy or smokey skies since we arrived in San Francisco over 2 weeks ago and all up the Pacific Coast to Alaska and back to Seattle. Finally some warmth and sunshine. We weren't expecting warmth in Alaska, but clearer skies would have been nice. The temperatures as we drove Eastward got up to 29 Celsius today as we headed across the State of Washington.

Once we got up into the high desert the landscape suddenly changed from tall evergreens, to short scrub and wide open landscapes.

We stopped briefly at Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. Not much here except for a great view and a few pieces of petrified wood. After visiting the Petrified Forest in Arizona last summer, this was not nearly as interesting, but still worth the quick stop for a stretch and some photos.

A bit further along Eastbound I-90 we came to the Wild Horses Monument. It is a piece of roadside art, a really neat steel sculpture placed high on a hill top that overlooks I-90. We pulled off at the viewing area for some photos.

We caught this large dust devil out the side window of the car as we drove the last few miles into Spokane Washington.

Tonight we are checked into our hotel in Spokane WA where we will stay for 2 nights before heading further Eastward.

If you wish to see all of the photos that I took today, you can visit my FLICKR site.

Day 34 Summer Vacation 2009

Today we will be at sea for most of the day. We left Ketchikan AK yesterday just after noon, and we didn’t arrive in Victoria BC till 6:30 pm this afternoon.

It was a lazy day for both of us, we are tired after all of our shore excursions and just want to relax, but there are many activities onboard that we could partake in if we had a bit more energy. There is an Eagles tribute concert going on in the Vista Lounge, there is bingo, the casino, many computer seminars, a wildlife lecture, the list goes on and on each day for things to do onboard.

At 6:30pm we docked in Victoria BC. Here are a couple of photos of our Captain Henk Keiger docking The Westerdam in Victoria British Columbia.

I can now add BC as a Province that we have visited (although briefly) We will have to come back to BC and do a more thorough visit.

We left the ship and boarded a bus for our shore excursion. This evening we are going Orca Whale Watching. It wasn’t too long before we started seeing the Orca’s. We were told that Orca’s are actually huge dolphins, not whales. Orca’s are also referred to as Killer Whales, but as the guide explained, they should actually be called Killer Dolphins, but no one wants to think of dolphins as being killers. Orca’s actually do kill whales, particularly the large humpback whales, but it takes about a dozen of them in a pack to bring down a baby humpback whale, so Orca’s are quite content eating smaller prey such as seals and sea lions and fish. Here are some of the photos that I took of the Orca’s.

Just as we were turning the tour boat around to head back and after I had put my camera away, one of the Orca’s jumped out of the water about 100 feet away from our boat. We have all seen the commercials on TV how the Orca’s jump out of the aquarium at Sea World or Marine Land and do a spectacular splash in the water, well that is what happened here, I guess he was saying good night to us. Unfortunately no photo. I doubt I would have captured it anyways, it is very difficult to photograph whales or any wildlife, but especially whales because you never know when or where they might surface and when they do, it is only for a few brief seconds.

We headed back to port to re-board The Westerdam for our final night onboard as we sail back to Seattle Washington.

In our room we found another towel animal.

We will be docking in Seattle around 6:30 am, so we have chosen an early disembarkation at 8:30 am and once off the ship we will be driving to Spokane Washington.

To see all of the photos that I took today, please visit my FLICKR site.

Day 33 Summer Vacation 2009

Last night after I wrote the blog there was a Dessert Extravaganza at 10:00 pm on the Lido Deck. It was a very elaborate and elegant affair. Lots of ice sculptures, hundreds of decorated cakes and desserts and lots of watermelon carvings.

Back in our room when we returned we found another Towel Animal. Each night when we come back to our room we find a different animal. Tonight was an elephant.

This morning we were up bright and early because we have to be on the Pier at 7:30 am for our Best of Ketchikan Tour.

The first part of the tour is by boat around the Island that Ketchikan is situated on. We saw a bald eagle.

It was low tide and we got an opportunity to see star fish as they clung to the rocks waiting for the high tide to arrive.

We got to visit a fish cannery where we got a demonstration of how they used to can salmon. The George Island Fisherman’s Co-op cannery was closed in the 60’s but all the machinery remains in working condition for demonstration purposes.

After our tour of the fish cannery, we boarded a bus for the next part of our tour. Next stop on the tour was the Saxman Totem Park.

One thing that I did learn is that you do not call them Totem Poles. The word Totem means pole and of course the word Pole means pole, so if you call them Totem Poles, you are in effect calling them Pole Poles. So it is best to refer to them as Totems or Poles, but not both.

I liked the Totem of Lincoln, it sort of tied in our Lincoln Highway part of our summer vacation with our Alaska Cruise visit to Ketchikan Alaska.

Actually yesterday in Sitka we found another Lincoln reference, the main street was called Lincoln Street.

We had to be back onboard The Westerdam by 12:30pm so it was a rather quick visit of Ketchikan.

To see all of our photos from today you can view them on my FLICKR site.

We will be at sea for the rest of today and this evening, and most of tomorrow until we arrive in Victoria BC.

Day 32 Summer Vacation 2009

This morning we were awakened by loud banging and clanging as the lifeboat outside our window was being lowered to the water. Earlier this morning the ship anchored in the harbour of Sitka Alaska.

We had breakfast and then took the tender to shore and killed some time before our tour by walking along the main street.

Our tour today is Sea Life Discovery by Semi Sub. The vessel is rather unique, the bottom of the hull is made up of glass viewing windows, we sit along a bench and view the aquatic world through the windows. The water is full of green phyto plankton and algae, so it is rather hard to photograph anything through the glass and the green water, but we did see lots of fish, jellies, hermit crabs and sea cucumbers.

Other things we saw were large sunflower starfish and leather starfish, eel grass and sea lettuce.

Coming back to the dock I went up on deck so that I could get some photos of our ship at anchor.

Back onboard the ship, we had a late lunch and then went up to the observation deck to relax and enjoy the scenery. We saw a seal swimming in the harbour.

Tonight was formal night but we did not partake, instead we headed to the Lido Deck for a more casual dining experience.

To see all of the photos that I took today, you should visit my FLICKR site.

Tomorrow morning when we awake, we will be in Ketchikan Alaska.