7-8-10  (NOTE: This post is for July 8th, 2010 but the website published it on the 9th) Today we cruised around Glacier Bay. The sights were majestic and the weather was absolutely perfect. The ranger from the National Park Service said that most of the mountain peaks we saw today were normally hidden by clouds and fog so we considered ourselves very fortunate. We saw a brown bear, a sea otter and some other people in the Geocaching Journeys group saw a whale (and got pictures, sniff). While we were sailing into the bay the frequency of icebergs in the water increased as we got closer to the major glaciers. I didn’t realize that icebergs make noise as water flows over their cracks and crevices but the sound of pieces of the glaciers breaking off was like a deep rumbling thunderstorm. Afterwards we ate some of the barbeque that the crew was cooking on the pool deck and we went to a private art screening that we were selected for. Less than 2% of the passengers got to see original pieces by Renoir, Rembrandt, Picasso, and Dali. We then grabbed dinner with some of our group and then it was off to two evening shows. I felt sorry for the comedian tonight as he lost control of his audience of children. He was branching out to appeal to his younger audience but I think he should stick to his original act. All in all it was a very nice day at sea and tomorrow morning at 6am we arrive in Ketchikan. Have you ever seen ice formations over 350 feet tall?

7-7-10  The past 24 hours have been amazing. We were able to sit at a 10 foot tall window at the very back (aft) of the ship and have dinner (lobster and grouper, all gourmet of course). We then retired to the cabin for some needed rest. We fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows and The Pearl even docked in Skagway in the wee hours of the morning and we couldn’t even tell. The ship is that stable while under way. We enjoyed a good breakfast at The Garden Café then headed ashore to see what the little town had. There were many shops to peruse and there might have been a jewelry store or two, or 20, or 50. We found a Geocache and looked for another near the White Pass Railway. We spent some time looking all over the abandoned train but no luck. We returned to the boat for lunch and then it was time for one of our excursions. We were taken 6 miles away from town up in the mountains to go on a zipline adventure. We donned all the necessary harnesses and safety equipment and started on a few rope bridges high above the rainforest floor. We zipped down a series of progressively steeper and longer cables and the friendly guides made it safe for us the whole time. After hanging out in the trees for a couple hours we returned to Skagway for another try at finding the Klondike KD cache. We were just about to give up looking when another couple from our Geocaching Journeys group showed up with some news that the coordinates published for the cache were a little off. We narrowed our search using the new information and within 30 seconds I was signing the log. We walked to another Geocache near The Pearl and Stacie made the find after a small search. After the security check upon arrival back on the ship, we changed and went to dinner in one of the main dining rooms. The evening show was two jugglers that were clowns for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus. We watched to sunset (10:56 PM) and we have plans to get up at 3 for the next sunrise. Today Stacie told be that one of the Geocachers from our group said that the last thing Karen wants to see before she dies is a whale. Karen immediately fired back, NO, IT”S NOT THE LAST THING I WANT TO SEE!!! Stacie added that she needed to be careful because Erik might push her off the boat when they see a whale. It’s much funnier than it reads. What is the last thing you want to do or see?