cruising alaska-- sunday

sunday morning, a week later, finds us back in seattle.  our Alaskan fun is done.  living in little a-town, flights to get back home are limited.  there is an urgency to disembarkation in order to make that last flight out at 11 am.  we opted to "walk off'' instead of the usual routine of putting our bags outside the cabin the night before. it worked out fine.  we were at the curb by 8:30, called the car company for early pickup and arrived at the airport by a little after 9:00. no worries.  back to the same old, same old, but taking with us some special memories. 

on sunday morning before we sailed we took the fast train to the seattle center and wandered through the northwest folklife festival. it was there we saw a haiku drum group of teen drummers.  their drumming was perfection.  who says the youth of today is going down the wrong road?

monday was an at sea day.  not one cruisers look forward to but this day had an exciting rescue at sea by the Canadian coast guard. the rescued had appendicitis.

tuesday was Juneau and humpback and orca action with a harem of frolicking sea lions on the side. wednesday was Skagway and Haines and the float trip down the chilkat river valley.  i'll not soon forget seeing bald eagles in flight.

thursday we cruised glacier bay and witnessed the margerie  glacier calving quadruplets.  friday was Ketchikan.  the misty fjords were carved by the glaciers into rudyerd bay an ice age ago.  saturday was Victoria, BC.  i'll not soon forget the haunting sounds of 'amazing grace" from an erhu played by an Asian gentleman-- for tips.

it's sunday again, the bags are packed with dirty clothes from a week at sea, our hearts and minds filled with the sights and sounds, with the peace, of a world so different from the flat, dry plains of the texas panhandle.

so long, Alaska, until next time.

aio