Juneau, the Capital of Alaska

My day in Juneau is over. There is another hour but I'm back at the ship for the night. Well if you can call it night when the sun doesn't set until after 10PM, probably closer to 11PM here. A nice day in Juneau. First I took a trip to the Mendenhall Glacier, rather boring actually, but such a beautiful day it was nice to be out and take a little walk. The drive was nice, the bus drivers are delightful, quite an experience. That one told us about the state capital being one of only 5 in the country that don't have a dome. The post office is on the 3rd floor and then they found out it is against the law to have it above the 2nd floor so they renumbered the floors and now when you walk in it is the basement rather than the first floor, hence making the 3rd floor now the 2nd. He said Alaska just does whatever they want...hmmmm sounds like someone I know! Then after that mini adventure I went on a big yellow school bus to a salmon bake. I've been before and enjoyed the beautiful setting and delicious salmon. The most delightful lady drove that bus, she was my favorite person of the day. She was a school bus driver, quit and became a realtor in Georgia, lost her business, kids left and she decdied travel was her dream so she found a website with jobs around the country so she has been and done many things. This year she finally made it to Alaska so she brought her man friend with her from her last job. She said she is the only bus driver and they told her if she was single the odds here are good, 7 to 1, but the goods are quite odd, so she brought her friend. Well said! Cute lady and living her life to the fullest! So after the salmon bake I'm back on the ship and think I will pass on Libby Riddles presentation, I've seen it before. It was excellent but once was enough. So an early night tonight but tomorrow morning early I will be in Skagway and heading to the Yukon, following the gold trail...hope the weather is another beautiful day! Sweet dreams from Alaska!

Thar' She Blows!

Yes, to wake up to the sound of the ships naturalist saying "humpbacks ahead" is quite a thrill! Third time is the charm, two previous cruises and no whale sightings so this was going to be the time. However it wasn't that easy and the whales sighted from the ship over 200 yards ahead. And they didn't surface again. Far in the distance I sighted a fluke sticking out of the water, a thrill! I left my cabin twice and walked to the front of the ship twice, once on deck 7 and once on the top deck, no whales. Oh well,a fluke would do I guessed and went for breakfast. Came back to my cabin and was just gazing out at the gorgeous snow covered mountains on the beautiful day and happened to look down and ther was a whales back right next to the ship. He was so close that the naturalist probably didn't even see him! I grabbed my camera and am not sure I even got a picture before he was under the water and gone. Wow! What a thrill. Not another person was on their balcony anymore, guess he just came to say hello to me. As the ship moved ahead I could see the beautiful spouting behind the ship. What a beautiful way to be welcomed to Alaska!

Now I can only wonder what other wonders await in this rugged, beautiful landscape.

Life's Drama

Yes, life has been one drama after another since I returned from my European trip. First there was the dermatologist appointment where I had 14 precancer places frozen or cut off my face. I was a mass of bandaids. Then there was the info that the tooth I broke off in Bruges would need a $1500 crown and then...the information that I was being laid off due to lack of funding. That was the most traumatic of all! I love my job and the people I work with and the school and the kids. What a loss that was and I tried to hold on to the belief that better was to come. But as I face my hardest birthay yet, I was unsure what would be in store for me. And then I wrecked my car, an accident with a big cement pole in a parking garage that left my car front hanging off, light and all. The body shop bolted things together until I could get it in to be fixed. The verdict I came to was to get out of town. Travel is my solace and my escape from reality and it was just about time for that escape the universe was telling me.

I decided on Tuesday I needed a trip and started looking at cruises. Found out that since I am a travel agent there are some great deals out there so the first plan was to fly to London and cruise to Iceland. Then a friend said, "Really, with the erupting volcano?" Duh Mitzi, I thought! No need for more drama in my life so even though it would have been a fabulous trip and I know people who were also taking it, I decided that the stress, or worry about the potential stress would be too much at this point in life. So what about heading the opposite direction? That would be Alaska and it sounded like just the thing for me...drifting amongst the beauty of the Alaskan mountains. So on Wednesday I quickly booked a cruise that left on Sunday, or so I thought...I booked myself on the wrong ship, on the wrong day. I wondered why everyone on the blog was writing about the Saturday departure and woke up at 2AM on Thursday morning and thought maybe all those people weren't wrong and I was...and yes, I was on the wrong ship! So United airlines was great about changing my flight so I would be leaving early Saturday morning in time to be on the ship as it sailed away. I informed work that I would be finishing up on Friday rather than on Tuesday and frantically prepared for the trip.

Friday was my final day of my wonderful job but when I woke up that morning I had a feeling of peace, was it the upcoming cruise or something else? I realized that I would have my job, I just belong at this school and I couldn't imagine how or when but knew it was right. At lunch the principal saw me and asked me to walk with her and she nonchalantly said they had figured out how to put a salary together to keep me but I would be working part of the time in Northglenn for the new school and part of the time creating our integrated units for the corporation, a perfect job for me! Similar to what I've been doing, but no simple stuff, time to use my brain to create! I was shocked and wanted to cry at the good news! It is a long drive now but I will be with a lot of the nicest people and will still be spending time at the Aurora school so I will get to see my friends there too. Perfect!!

So now my mental health survival cruise had just turned into a celebration cruise, 24 hours after I booked it and less than 24 hours until I embarked on my journey! Yes, life does hold some wonderful surprises and when I get back I will begin work again!

This trip is so nice, sailing away on Princess is such a comfortable experience for me. There seems to be a lot of first time cruisers on this trip and I've chatted with some very nice people. Lots of stories to share but time is expensive and limited on this computer so some will have to wait.

My favorite is the conversation I had with the young man in the Princess Captain's Club office. They had me down as a new passenger, probably because of the last minute booking I made as a travel agent so I was meeting with him to clear things up. He is from Romania and no one was there so I asked him about Count Dracula and Transylvania and that was the start to the most interesting conversation. He is from Translyvania so knows all the legends about werewolfs and blood sucking vampires there. I love hearing these stories firsthand, a thrill of travel for me! So there was this real man who was Count Vladidraca, well something like that, and he didn't live in Transylvania, but in one of the other 3 kingdoms. He was bloodthirsty and said to have drank the blood of his enemies...a legend? Hearing the history and the stories he'd been told and knowing that garlic would repel all the evil from one who lived it was fascinating to me. Draka means devil in Romanian so Bram Stoker took the facts and legends and blended them and set it in Transylvania. He told me that the version done by Frank Ford Coppala was the most authentic story of it he has seen. Yep, guess that is on my list of movies to see now! I then of course had to ask him about the incredible stew I had at the Budapest Christmas market and then was told all kinds of stories about the stews he and his mother make, many with onions and paprika but with different flavors. It was a wonderful conversation and as people started waiting in line I left, but with the intent to go back and visit. He said he loved talking to me and sharing things about life in Transylvania, and what fun for me.

Yes the world is filled with interesting people and I intend to meet as many as possible, and all the while I will treasure this time to float and think and decompress from the last few months of pressure! Bram's fine, Meli is fine and now so is mom!

Sailing, sailing.....