Setting Sail

It was a  major pain the backside getting ready for the trip to Alaska!
I was beginning to wonder what on Earth was going on!
Why so resistant on my part?

Swede drove down from Everett and offered to drive me to the cruise ship terminal, I had planned a cab, so saved me $60 ...  I took him to lunch and listened to him regal me with more tales of food and more food on cruise ships!  eepah!  That boy and food!

By the time he dropped me off, he had decided that with or without even a toothbrush, he was going!  LOL!  We laughed mightily over that one - one of my favorite ways to travel.  Although, one day, armed only with a credit card and no destination - I want to just show up and go somewhere ...

Finding the cruise terminal was designed in such a way as to raise blood pressure, signage almost non-existent!  But, I managed to overcome, be nice to everyone and not revert to German.  Like an airport you have lots of inspection areas and with an artificial leg, I had lots of inspections!  As if it was not bad enough that my leg got caught on the X-ray machine and popped off!  OMG!  One moment you are walking into their machine, the next you are spread eagle on the ground, with you lower leg at a right angle!  The guy behind me lost his breakfast right there on the spot!  And I am trying to shove my leg back into its socket without taking my pants off!  Once security figured out I was okay, they thought it was pretty funny!  Though it is still quite painful .....

Rooms are quite small for the average traveler.  I had taken an inside room as I had been told there were no opening windows - so why pay twice as much?  Turns out that there are rooms with balconies which do open.  Heap big expensive but yeah when (if) I do this again - I will have one of those rooms!  It is quite claustrophobic in a pitching ship with no air!

 I met people from Australia, England, Scotland, Germany, Italy and hundreds from Indonesia!  On a ship with 5,500 passengers - I could not believe there was NOT anyone of African descent other than a few Jamaican entertainers.  Even amongst the service staff - none were to be found!  HUH?  What does this mean?  The ship's crew and passengers were so cosmopolitan that Swede and I reach the point of thinking that maybe the lack of vitamin D production in those of African descent - so avoidance or northern latitudes were the results.  Yeah, our conversations are rarely normal.

Then we found out from youngest daughter, whom heard it from her older sister, Dutchman was on-board!  LOL!  Took a while to run him  down, he was hiding in the rich section with celebrities and those with staterooms!  No doubt one of his tax write off opportunities - he plays those games, everything has to have a financial advantage - whatever.  He seems to have lost sight of why God put him here ... sigh ...

With the exception of only one day, all of the days were beautiful.  The open waters managed well with a six hour storm which bounced us around well.

I did an incredible amount of sleeping!  I still can not believe how much I am sleeping! 
Swede, true to his desires, hit the buffet tables long and hard!
Dutchman and his wife - no idea what they were up to.  Hiding in their rooms on the internet?

And so, I dreamily leave you, basking in a sunbeam, the gentle roll of the ship and hum of its jet propulsion .....