Home Again

Did you miss me? After a week of bumming around Southeast Alaska, we got home yesterday morning. We'd taken the red-eye from Anchorage so I didn't have enough brain power left to write this yesterday. For those of you who didn't know, I just got back from a week long cruise of Alaska's Inside Passage. I was traveling with Jeff, my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my sister and her fiance. So for the next week or so I'll be talking Alaska and salmon and bears and boats.

We sailed out of Vancouver which has to be one of the prettiest cities in the world (it made Forbes top ten actually). We met some old family friends in Vancouver and spent the first day with them wandering through the city and eating way too well (a trend that would continue). Vancouver is a young and very vibrant city. I have to admit that I thought about moving there and still do. A city filled with flowers and promise. Wonderful.

Port of Vancouver

The next day we had breakfast with our friends and then Jeff and I headed for the ship. Our luggage was already handled so we walked down to the harbor. We sailed on the Island Princess, which is one of the oldest boats in Princess's fleet but a beautiful ship. By the end of the first day we had walked every deck and had seen the entire length of the ship. We'd also spent some time checking out the city from the balcony in our stateroom and taken tons of pictures.

Island Princess

I have to start by saying this about Alaska, and even Vancouver; everywhere you looked it was like a postcard. The landscapes were amazing. Everything was picture worthy. And I ended up taking well over 300 pictures.

View from Vancouver Harbor

At 3:45 that afternoon we had our Muster Drill, a safety briefing that all boats are required to do. And at 4:30 we pushed away from dock and set sail. Our group stood on the balconies and talked as the boat sped out of Vancouver Harbor and headed out into the great unknown.

Jeff clowning around after the Muster Drill

My mother had said before that she never wanted to take a cruise. She doesn't swim and isn't a huge fan of boats. But she said that she'd go to Alaska on one, and that is how the trip began. She was okay with an Alaskan cruise because you are almost always in sight of land. And that proved to be the case for the first two days at least. After leaving Vancouver, our next day was a day at sea. I woke up insanely early (stupid time change) and spent most of the morning watching the sunrise and the land go by. I ate too much, read a lot, saw a naturalist talk on whales, and learned one very important fact about speeding boats and Alaska. They are cold. Very cold. Here is your humble narrator dressed up in her typical Alaska costume. Once the boat got going, it was too cold to stand on the balcony without gloves.

It's funny. I hardly took any pictures of the boat this trip, as opposed to our last cruise. The boat was just as beautiful as our previous one but it was well overshadowed by the natural beauty surrounding it. I'll try not to post too many photos but I want you to have an idea of just how incredible Alaska can be.

Lighthouse at Vancouver Harbor

Tomorrow...Ketchikan and the Notorious Creek Street

Olympics

The one good thing about this winter (and there has been very little) is that it is an Olympics year. I may not enjoy the season of winter but I am a die-hard winter Olympics fan. Then again I'm a huge summer Olympics fan too. For the entire two weeks of the Olympic games I sit in front of the TV and watch as much coverage as I possibly can. I am completely obsessed. Poor Jeff won't see the remote for the next two weeks as I jump between the stations carrying the games. I'm not sure where this passion for the Olympics came from. But I know that I've been fascinated for years now.

And I don't just watch the typical sports. If anything, figure skating interests me the least. I'm passionate about luge, skeleton, biathlon, curling, ski-jumping, and speed skating. A couple years ago I became obsessed with ice dancing although I'm not sure why. Like the summer games, where I watch at odd hours for the fencing, I will go out of my way to catch the more unusual sports. But I'm not picky. If it's Olympic coverage, I'll watch. That said, I feel I should clarify. I watch the events, not the other coverage. I don't even keep track of the medals standings mostly because I don't really root for any one country. I just love to watch the best athletes in the world compete.

In 2002, Jeff and I made the trip to Salt Lake to watch the games in person. We took Amtrak out to Utah and fell in love with the atmosphere. In fact the whole trip was incredible. We had purchased tickets to biathlon, downhill skiing, ski-jumping, and luge. We managed to get some last minute tickets to see a curling match. And at every event we were completely blown away by the atmosphere. At the biathlon we were completely surrounded by Norwegians and Swedes and the place was a constant party. There were flags everywhere and cowbells and horns. It was fantastic. The ski-jump was early morning and somewhat more somber. Than again there was far more risk involved. Luge was at night and was filled with picture attempts and amazing speed. When you watch luge on TV they slow it down quite a bit. Actual luge is too fast to even comprehend. It's like standing on the side of the interstate trying to catch details on the cars speeding past you at 80 mph. Tickets for curling were hard to come by and the arena was electric. It's like a chess match on ice and even the most subtle move can change the entire match.

So tonight my plan is to camp out in front of the TV, eat dinner, and watch the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics. I haven't missed an opening ceremonies in the last eight sessions of the games. I love the pageantry of it. I love watching all the competing nations walk into the arena. I love seeing the uniforms. I love seeing how they light the torch. And I love the pride that seems to shine from the athletes' faces. It is a spectacle of the highest order and I don't intend to miss it. As always I'm sure I'll get choked up and cry. I'm sure I'll be swept up in the drama of the whole thing. And I'm sure I'll love every moment. If you've never seen an opening ceremonies I would highly recommend it. NBC tonight at 6:30. And if nothing else, make sure to check out some of the games.