Although I wasn’t able to modify the order for our Grand Pacific Cruise nor did I find out how to change the Home Title, I did change the heading photo and the title in it. This trip is a cruise to search for Northern Lights with a pre-cruise stay in London. So today we are starting to fly to London.

It feels like going back home! We lived near London for 4 years.

After 2 days we will get on another Viking ship and cruise to Norway including traveling to the most northern city in Norway above the Arctic Cricle.

Once we left our hotel for the airport in Vancouver we had no internet until today. We had ours at home shut off while gone and the service wasn’t hooked up for almost 3 days.

You won’t believe what we craved after 98 days. Potato chips! So at the airport our lunch consisted of a glass of wine (each) and a shared bag of potato chips. So good.

The cruise had ended. The two extra days in Vancouver were over. However we got to our 2 favorite restaurants in Vancouver and one new one that is now a great favorite and it is right in the dock area with a view.

Our flights home were yet another adventure. Our flight from Vancouver took off late because of the bad weather in Chicago. Once we got to Chicago our continuing flight to Des Moines was sitting at the gate. Great! Well almost. There was no crew. The crew was coming in on another plane. But it was delayed. And then they had used their flight hours and had to rest before flying. We got home a little after 2 AM. We were really tired. But still only slept until 7. But the nap in the afternoon was long.

We had great fun when school ended. Most of the neighborhood kids came over.

Hope to see all of you soon and share more stories.

Disembarkation in Vancouver was very unusual. Because there were 3 very large ships docked in the port, we had to disembark by way of the tender. And everyone had carry on bags. So the tender couldn’t hold as many guests.

We still were off the ship by 10. So Viking had to do something with us for the few hours we had before we could check into our hotel as part of the post cruise program. So they had a bus tour arranged. Our first stop was in Stanley Park. Of course we drove through most of the Park with some explanations before stopping at the totem poles.

The second stop was in Granville Island. This si a very interesting mix of artisan shops and a Public Farmers Market. The food looked amazing especially the fresh fruit.

After settling in our room and having a nap we walked to our favorite restaurant in Vancouver. Joe Fortes. It was packed and we had no reservation. But after a wait outside we did get in. It is rated as the best seafood restaurant in Vancouver. No wonder we love it. And we had dinner alone. We have loved the company on board the ship. But today we sat at a small table by ourselves.

Then the next morning we walked down to the port. All three of yesterday’s large ships and our smaller ship were gone and now there was a Disney ship. This ship has 3,000 guests compared to Viking’s 900. It has 10 restaurants compared with Viking’s 4. The kids on board were probably going nuts. This ship we learned was headed to Alaska as were the other 4 ships. It must get crowded in each port all summer.

Now is the time to print boarding passes for our flight home and to pack. Will see many of you soon.

The group of six 93ers that typically eat together had reservations at the fancier Italian restaurant called Manfredi’s. Yesterday the Chef walked by the naughty table and asked what we wanted. No, he doesn’t do that for most people. But we did get to know him pretty well. So Jan, one of the 6, asked for her favorite which is lobster ravioli in a lemon butter sauce. He said fine and how many of us want it. Most of us but I only wanted it as a first course (primo in Italian). Some had it as their Entre (secondo).

This was my pasta. Very rich and very good. But the star of the night was even more special. Here goes…………

I had lamb chops for the 50th time on this trip. Any time I asked for lamb from the Chef or Gilbert, the server behind the carving station in the World Café. They typically had lamb for anyone wanting it perhaps two times a week. But never as often as I had it. I started counting fairly early in the trip. next thing some of the lower managers in the Café started keeping track. Casper, one of the managers, decided I had to reach 50 times. It was a stretch. But I made it. And The Head Chef decided he would make it very special and deliver it to the table. Here it is.

And here is the Head Chef! Baaaa!

We have had aa great time with our new friends that we call the 93ers. Those few of us who took the entire 93 day Grand Pacific Cruise. Of the 938 passengers on the Viking Orion, only 25 were on for 93 days. So many of the crew got to know us very well. Especially those who served in the area of the World Café where the naughty table was. That was our table of 8 people that we shared almost every evening. And we usually stayed from 6 until almost 9 when they were trying to close.

Then near the end of the cruise we quit seeing the Restaurant Manager, Jerome. He got sick and stayed in his cabin. So when he did finally come by I asked him if he knew what crazy things went on at the naughty table. He said of course. He had a camera and a microphone installed in the tree behind our table so he could monitor us. We have been very noisy at times. So a few minutes later he walked by again and I turned to find the camera.

And there it was!!!! It looks almost like Kathy’s camera. But there was huge laughter.

Sorry for the long delay between blogs. We got busy the last few days and we had terrible internet in our room because we weren’t near any city I guess.

I remember docking in a relatively quiet town of Ketchikan a number of years ago when we did our Holland America Alaska trip. Our ship was alone at the dock. There were many tourist shops near the dock but it was still kind of interesting to amble around. This time there were 3 hips at the same time at the dock and ours was by far the smallest. There were at least 10,000 people on the ships all walking the streets looking for something unique. We didn’t find it. As soon as our ship left at 2 PM we saw the next large ship take our spot. It was crazy.

The city still has the look of the old town in places. But everything has been turned into souvenir shops. This river supposedly is rich in salmon in the spawning season.

But of course, we had to go back to our favorite restaurant Annabelles. I had king crab again. So the visit to this town was worth it.

This little town was somewhat disappointing after our fabulous day in Icy Strait Point. The weather was part of the problem. Icy Strait Point had beautiful warm sunshine. Here it was foggy and threatened rain which finally arrived just before we departed. But we did get off the ship and walked a lot.

As with most of the Alaskan towns we have been at, this towns most prominent church is the old Russian Orthodox Church.

The main shopping street (and there were only two main streets) was souvenir shop after souvenir shop. Most were normal but there were several very high end places with souvenirs ranging from a few thousand dollars to ten thousand. Wow!

So we walked to the Grocery Store. Very colorful front. We compared prices but bought nothing. Produce in particular is expensive. Asparagus which is in season in most of the US, was $8 a pound.

The non-tourist part of town is basically a fishing village. Lots of these commercial fishing boats.

But there must be some big money in town. These houses were on an island probably a mile from the city. Notice the nice transportation.

We couldn’t dock so we anchored out in the bay and used the tender to get to and from the ship. The bay is very calm so riding the tender was kind of fun. But notice how dreary the weather.

A most interesting dock. It is the only dock we were at that is privately owned. It was opened in 2004 by a company formed by the local indigenous peoples of the Tlingit tribe. They know how to treat tourists and make money.

Just as we walked into the World Café for breakfast a whale breached right near the ship and then dove into the water. I had no chance to get my camera ready. But both Kathy and I saw it. Minutes later we were watching eagles.

Our highlight of the day, however, was going on an excursion to search for bears. This big guy was probably looking for fish. But I took plenty of pictures. He just wouldn’t turn and look at me.

When the bears first wake up from their long winter nap, they are very hungry. One of their favorite things to eat is the root of this flower. The flower is named the skunk cabbage. Don’t eat it!! But apparently the roots taste good. The berries and things weren’t really available yet. It was too early in spring. But these were everywhere.

This is a small tribe of people. They have decided that to avoid intermarriage they are all eagles or ravens. An eagle cannot marry an eagle. Only a raven. Likewise a raven can only marry an eagle. And if they have kids, they are whatever the father is. These totem poles are the eagle and then the raven. We bought a raven print because the sales lady told us the story and she is a raven. Very nice lady.

We actually went to one of their 3 restaurants and bought lunch. We shared these Alaskan King Crab legs. Yes, there were potatoes and corn and we ate them but the crab was the star.

Kathy dipped her fingers into the very cold water in the ocean. No thought of swimming.

Valdez is more famous for oil than for being a pretty city. The mountains and water along with the huge National Parks make the area famous for hunting and fishing.

But the weather was terrific and the spring flowers were in their glory. We walked around for a few hours without coats. That was a first in Alaska on this trip. We went into every souvenir store but found nothing special. We also looked for a restaurant serving Alaskan King Crab but found none. So we went back to the ship for lunch.

All of the doors were opened in the World Café. I took this photo from our table inside the restaurant. Beautiful mountains with a mostly blue sky. And the air was clean and clear. Much different from most of Southeast Asia. Of course there was snow. Nothing like that exists in Southeast Asia. Many of the younger crew members had a big smile looking at the snow. They had never seen it before being in Alaska.

A long story from Our table in the World Café. One night we were talking with the Head Chef when this gentleman came up to him and asked for German Chocolate Cake. The Chef called the Pastry Chef and asked him if he knew what it is. No. So Kathy found the recipe and gave it to them. So on this evening in Valdez the Pastry chef came by and said it would be delivered to our table. So we had to search for the guy. We didn’t know his name or his stateroom number. Just in time we found him.

So Larry and his wife, Mary, joined us at our table along with other long term friends. This was delivered to the table. It was delicious. And the first time the Pastry Chef had ever made it.