The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 8 Cruise to Alaska

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 8 Cruise to Alaska

Zoom into the picture and look for seals on the ice

Today we were returning to Seattle and our tour of Alaska was complete. However we were going to have one more day of visiting another place before returning to Seattle. We had the day free and we relaxed. In the afternoon our captain took us to see a brilliant glacier called the Endicott Glacier. Since everyone was crowding up in the front, the captain decided he would take this huge cruise ship in the narrow pass in a 360 so everyone could see. So I camped out at the back and when he positioned it correctly, I was ready with my camera, snapping pictures frantically. I even saw some seals on a piece of ice.

In the evening I had some time and I explored the ship more and got some pictures of the different places. That night we watched the comedy magic (aka momedy) of Jean Pierre. He was really funny and his magic tricks were pretty cool. After the show you could stay and he would teach you some magic tricks that were very simple. I really like that guy. I got a chance to take a picture of our awesome bedroom it had two beds and then those two opened up to be four. There was a train compartment type of bed on which I slept. We then had to sleep early because we had another day of sightseeing tomorrow.

The Stardust Theatre aboard the ship

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 7 Skagway, Alaska

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 7 Skagway, Alaska

Our final port of call in Alaska was Skagway and today was a long day from 7 to 5. We were driven by our driver to the train station where we were dropped off, train tickets in hand. We took our seats on the train and after some time you heard the toot-toot and we chugged down the winding road up the mountain. We started at elevation 0ft and we in the course of three hours climbed up to 2,865 ft. The train followed this rail which was called the White Pass and Yukon Route and was called Railway of the world.

This railroad was built because of the Klondike gold rush. This was the gold rush that started when gold was first found in Alaska. Captain William Moore was one of the first to find gold over here and was hired by a Canadian survey party headed by William Ogilvie who was commissioned to map the 141 st prime meridian because the known route, Chilkoot Pass, was rough and rugged so they decided to take a different path. Their path was called the White Pass after the Canadian Minister of Interior, Sir Thomas White.  And when the gold rush started people used this white pass more than the Chilkoot Pass because it was simpler to carry all their belongings on this pass. And we were now on a train on this pass which has been in use since the early 1900's.

On our journey to Fraser, Canada we saw a lot of trees and waterfalls and passed different points. Once the train stopped  to let some passengers of who wished to hike up the mountain. After two and a half hours we crossed the US and Canada border. When we entered Canada and  the landscape changed. The same mountains had now snow peaks. We then finally stopped and disembarked the train. Our bus driver had driven from Skagway here to pick us up. He then took us to the suspension bridge in Yukon.

The suspension bridge was built over a river and you might have guessed- it was suspended and attached only on the two sides. On the other side there were some informative places where we spent some time. We had some time so we visited the gift shop where we saw a toy train on a track on the wall going around. Since we had to get back to our ship, we climbed onto the     bus which would take us back to Skagway.

We were one of the first buses out so on the way we stopped at different places for a photo stop. We stopped at the border of the US and Canada and I literally jumped between the two countries. It was fun.

We got back to our ship by three and we had 2 hours before the ship left. After it left we started back towards Seattle.

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 6 Juneau, Alaska

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 6

Today we docked at Juneau, the capital city of Alaska. It was very chilly from the time we arrived and we went directly on the bus. We were going whale watching with a company called Allen Marine. The Allen Marine Company was operated by the Allen family for a very long time and they even made their own boats. The boats were very cool with three decks. It was freezing cold and very hard to take a picture in that crowded place. We were the first boat out on the water and so we would have a good chance of seeing some whales and score we saw an orca or killer whale. The killer whale was renamed ‘orca’ because people didn’t like using the word killer as a name for an animal. The killer name is on top of the food chain but just under man.

After some time we reached a place where there were many harbour seals and they were making such a horrible noise. But then we saw it. The whale we were looking for. The Humpback Whale. It even wheezed and there was some mist. So awesome. We even saw another pair of whales. A mother and son. The guys called her Flare because of some kind of sign on her tail. After some more watching of glaciers we re-docked at the port where we were picked and taken to the Mendenhall

Glacier.

The glacier looked amazing and there was even a waterfall. We first went to a visitor centre and then we hiked down to the lake and touched the refreshing water. There wasn’t much to see and we were picked up by 12:45 and we went directly to our boat.

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 5 Ketchikan, Alaska

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 5

Today we docked at Ketchikan, the third largest city in Alaska and the salmon capital of the world. We arrived there by 7 am and we were ready, standing at gangplank just as it was going to touch the ground. We were greeted by a plaque which said we had officially entered Ketchikan. We met our driver guide who sowed us the way to the local lumberjack show. It was just across the street and since we were early we got some time in the souvenir shop. Over there I so many plaques with funny stuff written on it like:

·         If idiots could fly, this place would be an airport

·         Forget the dog. Beware of the owner!

·         I say we fish five days and work two

·         Hand over the chocolate and nobody gets hurt!

·         No trespassing! Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

·         My windows are not dirty. That’s just my dog’s nose art.

And many more!

And then finally we were allowed to go inside the arena. There were large stands for the fans to sit and to kill time they got some spectators to throw axes on a dartboard. The lumberjack show was made to teach people what a lumberjack had to do and what weapons he would have to use. So they were having a competition between some Canadian lumberjacks and American ones with a series of events that determine who were better lumberjacks. The Spruce Mill camp housed the Americans while the Dawson Creek camp housed the Canadians. Every test needed a different skill. Some of the tests were climbing up trees while others were climbing branches and chopping down trees. Some were where they had to jump on logs on water and the final one was where one from each team would be balancing on the same log and couldn’t touch each other. In the end it was Canada who won.

  

After the show we were taken on a coach to the Tlinkit tribe house. They were one of the fist tribes in Alaska. There were many groups like the bears and frogs but ultimately they fell into two groups: The Ravens and The Eagles. We were introduced to this whole tribe with a presentation on it. We learnt to say some words in their language. The tribe still exists. They totem poles and each totem pole had some significance to the tribe or an ancient tribal story. We were then taken to a Tlinkit house where there was a performance by members of the tribe. They wore capes and on the back of the capes there was a picture of the tribe they were a part of. They sang songs and danced for us and in the end we were asked to join them on stage and I went. We had Tlinkit Dancing 101 and the then we actually danced with the others. This all took place in one of their houses.

After that we were shown how a totem pole was made and what materials and tools were used. To put up a totem pole they had to dig a hole in which they would then put the pole while the maker had to dance. Okay.

After this we were taken back to our ship but we chose to stay in the city and look at it. After lunch at Subway we saw the famous Creek Street and some other buildings but then it was time to board the ship. On the ship I think you know what we heard first.

Washy Washy.

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 4 Cruise to Alaska

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 4

Today we were at sea as we were travelling to Alaska which was far away from Seattle by boat and we pretty much had the day to ourselves. We played lots of BINGO and even went swimming. However the pools were filled with salt water so that didn’t go well. We did a lot of stuff on board like trivia about airplanes and a goofy golf challenge in one of the lounges! So the day went well and we spent a lot of time doing everything. It was a lot of fun. The next day we docked at Ketchikan and began our tour of Alaska.  

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 3 Cruise to Alaska

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 3
Today we were going on our cruise to Alaska. After a quick breakfast we left for my aunt's house to drop off some suitcases. We had an hour so we stayed there and spent some time. She showed us this cool robot called Roomba which could clean up her house while she was at work. It would clean areas by vacuuming and brushing up the unwanted dust. She also had something called Alexa. It was developed by Amazon. You could ask her any question and she would answer. She would play music when asked and could do many things. But soon we had to go and leave for the next part of our trip.

We were going on a cruise to Alaska and some parts of Canada with the Norwegian Cruise Line aboard the Norwegian Jewel. Since Seattle is where many of their cruises start, they had a full building for themselves and the operation of getting the keys went very smoothly. We had to go through some complicated procedures before we were allowed to board the ship. But finally by 2:30 we were sitting in our staterooms. The staterooms were so cool. When you entered it would look like a two bedroom room but there was another bed that would open up like a train bed. As I was about to jump on the bed, the fire alarm went off. Okay. Amazing welcome. We weren't even at sea and there was a fire. <Slow sarcastic clapping>

We got out of our room and there was a man who was asking us to look at our key cards. On our key cards there was a letter and we had to assemble at our stations. And after sometime you could hear the guy saying we were going to be safe. The power rangers had come. Yeah! We were safe!
Okay. False alarm. Fire drill. Bummer.

After the whole hullabaloo we searched for a place to eat and were told the Garden Cafe. Straight after food we began exploring the ship and at 6 it set sail. This ship was so awesome. Here are something's that were on the ship-

Card room stocked with cards and family board games
Library with book take out and return.
Two swimming pools and a slide + six hot tubs
Different cuisines in different restaurants
A theatre with different plays and movies that houses about 800 people.
Three ping pong tables
Three shuffleboard decks
A sports deck
A jogging track
BINGO (played four times and once won $150)
Spa
Gym                                                                                                           

Casinos
Sadly no WIFI( however somebody had their personal hotspot as 'Tell my WIFI I love her')<snigger, snigger>
And many more things

The ship was huge. It had 15 decks and 20 lifeboats which could hold more than 50 people. It had rations to last long and many more things. The ship could house about 4500 people and had 1081 staff. I still wonder how the ship stayed upright. So every port we stopped on we tripled the population. There was also a carpet that ran through the entire ship. The fish were all facing towards the forward of the ship so if you couldn't find you room you could follow it towards it. The theatre, The Stardust Theatre, had new shows every night. Today they had the show, The Cirque Bijou, which was a type of circus. It had the most death defying acts and acrobats and you wouldn't feel like you're on a ship. It would boggle your mind and amaze you on how they managed to have all of this on a ship.

While exploring I found a plaque that said that Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, was the godmother of the ship. And I'm like OH MY GOD!!!! The ships gonna sink! We have to get out of here!!!!!!! (Say that in your best Terminator voice)

After exploring the ship it was time for dinner and no surprise we went to the Garden Cafe, the place that was going to be our home for the next 7 days. These guys were so big on health and sanitation before you enter any food place they would spray your hand with sanitiser. They even had this ridiculous song which they would sing every time you came in. It went something like this-

Washy washy good for you
Good me
Good for us
Washy washy everyday
Makes us happy
(To the tune of London Bridge is falling down')

And they are like ninjas. The next day I went there at 6 am and they jump out of nowhere and are like Washy Washy.

(Imagine you are confronted by a ninja in black who is holding hand sanitiser where his sword should be. I mean, how scary can that get? The thought of them makes me shiver)<silence>(okay maybe I exaggerated a bit. They were very nice people who took their job very seriously and were just helping us out.)(but the thought of the hand sanitiser still makes………. You know what? Forget it)

The day had been long and before you know it we were in bed snoring away.

 

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA: Day 2 Seattle

The daily blog of a tourist visiting the USA
Day 2
The next day I woke up refreshed and rejuvenated. I got ready by having a bath and some breakfast. We were going to the Space Needle and were joined by my uncle. The word 'space' really psyched me up because I am crazy about space. It turns out it was visited by John F. Kennedy (my favourite). Since we were in two cars it was much easier. The Space Needle was completed in 1962 and when it opened the line to get in stretched for 3 miles. It was about 52 storeys high and had never had an accident until then and even when construction was undergo. It has a restaurant which took one full circle in about 47 minutes. It was turned by a tiny motor underneath it. In the visitor section there were a lot facts about the Space Needle.

Did you know
The first diagram for the space needle was drawn on a napkin at a restaurant.

There are 72 huge bolts that support the legs of the monument.

We had to ride a lift up the space needle which went at 10 mph. Somebody had painted a beautiful 3D painting of some spiders on top of a building especially for visitors. On top it was very cold and windy. You could a clear view of Seattle, with the tall buildings and the enormous port. There were many cruise ships docked along with some carriers. You could see Century Links stadium and next to it the Safeco stadium. There was a selfie camera where you have to scan your ticket and it takes a picture of you with the surrounding. Inside there were many screens which gave you different pictures of the place at different times of the day. A camera was mounted below the Needle and you could control with some levers above. It was cool and it was like controlling a missile launcher where you aim, zoom in and lock targets. I even took pictures of Seattle in clockwise direction. Soon it was time to leave and we went next doors to Chilhuly Gardens.

Chihuly  Gardens was right next to the Needle. It was an exhibit of the fine of arts made by a man named Dale Chihuly. They were glass exhibits. He used make glass sculptures. By heating it and using different techniques to get different styles and colours into the glass. He then established a factory and students came and learnt from him and they made different sculptures. However during this process he lost his left eye and dislocated his shoulder but still continued to create such beautiful pieces of art. We saw chandeliers and glass bowls and many different pieces that on their own tells the reader their story. However I didn't understand much of it a and couldn't crack what he was trying to communicate.

I have written a  separate blog for the Museum of Flight and Boeing because I loved the Museum of Flight so much I wanted to write more on it. here is a hyperlink to it: http://gravityfalls03.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-daily-blog-of-tourist-visiting-usa_43.html

After an amazing visit to the the Museum of flight we finished up with going to another amazing place: Chipotle.

After that we split up into two groups. The ladies went shopping while the men went home along with my sister.

When we got home we went straight down to the basement to play Wipeout. We didn't come up until we heard people talking upstairs. We had visitors. Everybody grabbed their Nerf guns and quietly crept up. It turned out to be my aunt. Since she also lived in Seattle she had come to visit us. We had a good pizza party. And when she left we all were put to bed.