09-30-24

Happy Monday, the sun is dawning on another week!  Love that I get to see this as I walk the rooftop for hourly steps.

09-29-24

 

Craft night with the ladies a few short blocks away tonight.

09-27-24

 

Ducked into Understory this afternoon to check out the latest artist in residence.  This was an interesting organic collage with a webcam of a nearby intersection in the middle.  TGIF!

09-26-24

 Hi ho, hi ho, it's off the dentist I go...

09-24-24

 

Bruce and I headed to Town Hall tonight to see Connie Chung talking about her new memoir.

09-23-24

 

Elevator life.  But at least the Arrive elevators aren't packed with people.

09-22-24

 

Back in Seattle.  Lunch with Xander and Alison makes a nice reentry.

09-21-24

 

The ocean is smooth as glass today, yay!

Everything is farewell leaning on the ship.  Last formal photos, farewell meals, farewell variety show, time to pack up.  We also attended a very hard general trivia section.  What is a group of hippos called? At least we knew the color of the giraffe’s tongue.

We got a short walk around Victoria.  Oh, and we saw several whales as we entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

09-20-24

 

Woke up right before 4am with the motion detection lights on and the bed roiling.

Got up late to find breakfast and drink coffee on the deck until we were too cold.

Quiet day at sea as we cruise toward Victoria in a wind storm.

Photo is of use watching the water go by from the indoor pool area.

09-19-24

 

Today it only rained a little bit.  Yay!

Today they gave us rain boots to wear.  Double Yay! 

Today our canoes had motors and the paddles were mostly walking sticks.  Woo-hoo!

We had an early morning.  Even earlier since not all of our devices are acknowledging the time change.

We rode a medium sized boat for over an hour to get to the middle of nowhere. Then we got on a very vintage bus to get to our rain and boating gear via a bumpy logging road.  Then we had a short hike through the woods to the water.  Boarded our 10-person canoe and travelled a short section of a river.  Walked across a little island to the lake.  Boarded a different 10-person canoe to get close to a glacier. 

Explored the area at the base of the glacier, collecting rocks and photos.

Explored the town and got back on the ship well in time to see the Iditarod puppies presentation.

Favorite excursion so far.  Also the most expensive, LOL!

09-18-24

 

Started our day at about 6am seeing icebergs and a glacier.  “This is Alaska and this is why you’re here.”  The water (frozen and liquid) is so blue!

Next to Juneau and off the ship right after lunch to meet our bike tour.  About 9 miles, mostly downhill, pretty scenic, very wet, a fellow tour member took a good spill.

Our on board enrichment activities included a glacier talk, a talk by an Iditarod winner, and cuddling with the moose mascot.

09-17-24

 

Day 3 we got to get off the ship for four hours!  We walked around Ketchikan, had lunch, saw a lumberjack show as our excursion tour.  Brought back fond memories of Hoquiam Loggers Playday.  I resisted the urge to stop in at Starbucks for a better variety of burned coffee than what we are getting onboard.  It was nice to move and not be rained on. 

Back on the ship we discovered that our reservations were dropped, so pivot for dinner.  We also enjoyed capital city trivia, watching an 80’s dance party, and a more modern production show.

09-16-24

 

Day 2 was at sea all day.  ALL DAY!  Way more turbulent too.  I feel much better when I am facing the direction we are moving, but that doesn’t get to happen very often.  The sideways facing treadmills turned out to be a “heck no”.

Bruce did not enjoy Pilates, I did.  Bruce liked the opera style production way more than I did.

The shore excursion presentation and game show weren’t great, and we aren’t very good at music trivia.  The comedian was middle of the road.

But the whale presentation by the naturalist was fabulous and the talk about a 51 day kayak  trip of our route was interesting.

The afternoon tea was meh, we found decent but not great espresso at the international café, and we had all 3 meals at the buffet.  Enjoyed a normally $17 ice cream sundae for dessert.

This photo is our whale watching portion of the day, scanning the desolate and wet landscape for bubble rings and blows from the indoor pool area.  There are three spots along the cruise where we are mostly likely to see whales, struck out on the first one.

09-15-24

 

We’ve been watching cruise ships come and go from the roofs of both Viktoria and Arrive, and today we embarked on the Majestic Princess for seven days to Alaska.

It’s a been a lot of people, a lot of getting our bearings, and a lot of waiting, but enjoying it so far and not feeling seasick.  Can feel the boat swaying for sure, but not seasick.

We found our muster station, listened to a presentation of tips from the assistant director, explored the ship, had lunch and dinner in informal settings, watched the Sail Away dance party (Bruce did line dancing), watched some of the Bears game in the freezing cold, saw a juggler comedian, a game show, and some beautiful ocean views.  We successfully got afternoon hot drinks delivered to our theater seats but were less successful getting a fruit plate and key lime pie delivered to our chaise lounges.

We’re signed up for Pilates first thing in the morning.

09-14-24

 

I missed some opportunitites to get some photos during Shanna and Jamie's visit.  We went to Vindicktive Wings and to see Beetlejuice at "Cinerama". Zany movie, fun afternoon.

09-13-24

Friday night, officially on vacation!

Decompressing by starting to understand what Xander is looking for in his next home since Bruce and I will be pre-screening/touring for him.

09-12-24

 

Normally I clean the apartment on Sundays.  This Sunday we'll be boarding a cruise ship, so I've been trying to keep it up with it in the evenings.  I always intend to, but this week I'm actually duing it.

09-11-24

 

Celebrating Anastasia's birthday.  Got to meet Alison too.

09-10-24

 

Stuck in the hallway for an extended time this morning, I may never remember to have my fob with me always.

09-09-24

 

A photo from the apartment at sunset.  Enough said, so blessed.

09-08-24

 

Coastline Church is celebrating five years of existence, and tonight we celebrated in style with a nice dinner, lots of photos, and plenty of memories.  We've come a long way!

09-07-24

 

Went to a Husky game today.  The weather could not have been more perfect, overcast but warm.

It was band day, about 2400 high school band members there to perform at halftime.

09-06-24

 

First use of our new french press, we wore the last one out.  I was surprised how tiny it was when it arrived.  I knew 12 ounces was a little small, but I didn't want a hulking 30.  It makes the perfect cup sized amount of coffee with room for cream!

09-05-24

 

Waiting for it to get light to walk to work.  Been up since 3am wondering about things at work and waiting for a file from offshore.

Little did I know that I'd be taking a lyft home since I would also be leaving in the dark.  LONG DAY as we close the books for the first time on SAP S4HANA!

09-04-24

 

"Are you going to take the paper upstairs to recycle?'

Um no, probably not.

09-03-24

 

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go.  Pack a lunch, a sweater, pumps and my PC into my bag and walk to work...

09-02-24

 

Mom and I changed up our walking routine today.

Still for dinner, but it was from Harborview and on a holiday.  We explored Seattle University campus.

09-01-24

 

Church at the park at Alki beach.  LOVED the worship time.  Fellowship was great too.