Ketchikan, Alaska... last stop on Alaskan Cruise

View coming into Ketchikan

There's an eagle flying up there. Can you see it?

View of Ketchikan from the ship

This next picture is what we had for lunch in Ketchikan.  We ate some fabulous seafood in Alaska, but until we arrived at Ketchikan, we hadn't yet had any Dungeness crab. Now let me tell you that when I was growing up in New Orleans, Dad would take us out every Friday night to have boiled crabs at Fitzgerald's on the lakefront (this was back in the day when Catholics weren't allowed to eat meat on Fridays). Anyway, since DH and I married and moved away I haven't eaten much crab.  Mama taught us that seafood should always be eaten fresh... and that meant 'out of the water' and 'into the pot' - now flown in or frozen, etc.

But I digress...  what I wanted to mention was that I soon realized 2 things; one - I still loved crab, and two - I hadn't lost the ability to remove the entire section of meat from the crab claw in one piece! Ta da!!

Beautiful!!

Skagway, Alaska - 2nd stop

First view as ship was coming into Skagway, Alaska

The streets of Skagway...

Mountain advertisement

Quilt shop we visited...







Skagway was my favorite little town that we visited in Alaska.  Notice the wood planked sidewalks.  It was quaint, quiet and cute.  We would have explored it further but we had an excursion scheduled on the White Pass Route Railway.  This is the one that they had cancelled in the morning due to high winds and excessive snow up the mountain. Any way, this next picture is our ship, The Miracle, by the pier and the train is also there (on the left - but you may not see it unless you make the picture larger - it would be on the far left).

Train crossing trestle...

and into mountain...

Can you see the people hanging out *between the car* taking pictures?

It was really a neat way to see the views of the mountain, the town, etc. - even though it was a little *scary* when they told us that we had to stay up on the mountain for a bit while the work train cleared the tracks behind us due to the problem of "snow fallen on the tracks behind us" after we passed.

We believe it happened just as train went through this last tunnel.

Anyway, this pretty much tells the story of Skagway.  We were very late getting back down the mountain, but we high-tailed it to the Quilt Shop where they were holding our purchases.  They had 'closed', but we knocked on the door and they let us inside.


Next:  Glacial Bay

If it's Thursday, it's Juneau...

Woke up to cold, wind, rain, and rough water...

Felt queasy, bundled up and sat on balcony with the wind in my face... felt better. Love that balcony! Walked around the ship some on my own while friend slept. Noticed that they had placed 'bags' here and there around the ship. Guess others were a bit queasy too.

Good news is that the sea calmed down in a few short hours and all was well again. However, when we did dock in Juneau, we were bundled to the max. Figured "OK, we ARE in ALASKA." First stop was a coffee stand where we downed something hot... to help compensate for the cold and wet.  Checked out a few shops and took pictures.  The snow capped mountains surround the little towns.  And as I've mentioned before, even though Juneau is the capital of Alaska, there are no roads in or out.  Must use plane or boat. The Red Dog Saloon apparently has some notoriety, although I was unfamiliar with it. People were taking pictures of it so we did too. From googling it, we probably should have gone inside... pictures of the inside on google are definitely interesting.

Juneau, Alaska street

If you click on picture and zoom in, the Red Dog Saloon is the red building in the bottom left. We didn't have  a lot of time as we had scheduled an excursion to a Salmon Bake for lunch at 12:30. So we checked out a few shops and then had to be back on the pier to catch the bus to the Salmon Bake.

Grilled fresh Salmon with a brown sugar glaze, clam chowder, salad, cheesy potatoes, seasoned beans and rice, home-made cornbread, and blueberry cake. Guitar player sang while we ate.  Food was good! But it was outside and while covered, it was still cold and wet. We were both glad we went, but agreed it would be much better in the summer. Again, we were the first ship of the season and thus, it was the first Salmon Bake for this year.

Returned to ship tired, wet, cold, and exhausted.  Ordered some coffee and hot chocolate from room service.  Rested until supper at 7 where we sat with two other groups and shared cruising and Juneau experiences. Later we ended up at the coffee bar, then Piano Bar where we listened to 'requests'.

Ended up in room sharing the day's activities with friend's son and his wife.  They had gone 'Salmon Fishing' on their excursion.  It was also cold and wet, but they loved it (didn't catch Salmon, but did catch a Flounder).  They also did a helicopter ride to land on a Glacier... but there was too much snow still around so they couldn't land on the glacier, but did land near it.

Enough of trip for now.  It's Friday and DH had some invasive tests run this morning... (he was anemic last time he had blood work checked). So they are doing some tests to determine what might be causing this.  We had to be up and out by 6:30 this morning and are both tired. So I'm going to close for today.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Mother's Day to all...

Me and grand kids awaiting a table in restaurant 

It's about 7:30 am Sunday morning and I'm busy 'catching up' on all the posts over the last 2 weeks that I missed reading while on the cruise. And I'm still trying to get back to normal routine...

But I do want to wish everyone out there a Happy Mother's Day!  We all went out to eat last night at Chuy's (Tex-Mex).  Son took this picture of me and 3 of my 4 grand kids.  My daughter, her husband, and grand daughter live in San Antonio, so we just spoke by phone. But we all had a good time, returning home to carrot cake and ice-cream.  Baby girl has decided that she LIKES ice-cream.

My body is back home, but my mind keeps returning to Alaska... so much natural beauty... such clean air... no traffic. I'd never survive the long cold winters, but it's a great place to spend some time. Do you know that Juneau, the capital of Alaska, has no roads in or out (well, it may have a road that goes about 15 - 20 miles out from the town, but then it just ends).  The only way in or out is by plane or boat. So the crime rate is low... they have 'no place to run'.

Huge handsome Seagull

But I digress...  I will start with Seattle.  I took this photo of huge Seagull in Seattle and could swear that he was posing for me.  He definitely knew he was handsome.

Seafood at the Fish House in Stanley Park, Vancouver

Nesting in tree

For the next two pictures, you really need to click on them and make them large to see how beautiful they are...

Trees are also in Stanley Park, Vancouver

And lastly for today's post of Seattle, here is a picture of  Dungeness Crabs at Pike's Market - huge, sweet, and delicious!

Again... Happy Mother's Day!  And my trip photos will continue another day.  Please bear with me, but I need to share.

Here's a hint...

Anyone get the hint?

Today I went shopping for a few things.  Actually I went shopping for long johns. Figured that since it was almost the end of January, possibly they would be on sale... and they were... 50% off!  But the coat was on sale too, so I hemmed and hawed for a bit, then decided that even though I never buy anything red, that perhaps it would be good (I mean, if by some chance I was floating in the water next to an iceberg, surely they would see the red coat??)

So yes, the decision has been made. I am going on the Alaskan Cruise. My friend, my family, and even DH advised me that it was the chance of a life-time and that I really should go (the "if not now, when?" philosophy). I was told that the only things I would really need to have are a warm coat, long johns, boots, hat, and gloves. I have most of those things already... well, not the long johns or hat.  And I do have a coat, but it's about 15 years old... and not red.

Anyway, decision has been made. My friend was so excited. I guess I might be too when the realization hits me.  It's just that I don't like being cold (my kids are already teasing me, saying "You're going to Alaska??? You, who walks around the house freezing when it's below 70 degrees??") And then there's the seasick thing (I really don't want to ruin anyone's trip), but I've been assured that this cruise really isn't out in the ocean that much, it stays close to land and therefore shouldn't hit rough seas (and there's always Dramamine). But the real cincher for me was that the ship leaves from Vancouver, British Columbia - a place that would be on my bucket list if I had a bucket list... (and it's also featured in the blog, Island Rambles with beautiful photos!). 

And there's another reason Vancouver has a special attraction for me, when my paternal grandfather moved his family from London to the US around 1918, his brother also moved his family...  from London to Vancouver. I never met my great uncle, but through the Internet and Ancestry.com, I have learned that he had six children and probably most still live there.  Now, I'm not interested in visiting them.  They have their own lives and don't know of my existence, but it's kind of nice knowing that there's family in the area.  

Let's see... any other news.  Well, DH and I babysat our new little grand daughter Saturday so our son and DIL could get out of the house for a little bit.  She is a little doll.  Here's a pic of her waking up from her nap... yawning.

Oh, and today is DH and I's 45th Anniversary! 

a brisket and a chocolate pie...

Old photo of house in snow

You know, I planned to take a picture of both the brisket and the pie... and then forgot.  Must be age. Both are totally gone now... and were very good. The brisket was 'fall apart' tender and DH and the boys loved it.  I thought it was a bit salty, but I'm not fond of salt... and I had used a BBQ rub (as well as BBQ sauce, Lea & Perrins, and Soy Sauce recipe - all salty). I will use less of these if I ever cook this again.

The dark chocolate cream pie is one of my favorites. And I don't make it  often. The recipe calls for only dark unsweetened chocolate, but I usually use half unsweetened and half semi-sweet.  Then I use real whipping cream on top. My neighbor when we first moved to Texas made the *best* chocolate pie.  She past away a long time ago and I never knew her recipe (back then I was 27 and had 3 babies and no time to bake). But I've tried several over the years and this one is the closest I've come. Some chocolate pies are more like chocolate pudding in a pie shell, others are like brownies in a pie shell.  This one is the consistency and flavor I like.  I found it in my King Arthur's Flour cookbook a few years back.

Well, we woke up to snow this morning here in Texas. It always surprises me. Luckily we haven't had any long lasting cold so far this year, just a few snowfalls and drops to below freezing days. It will stay cold today, so I suspect the roads will be icy tonight and tomorrow.  Hate that.  But... one of the good things about being retired... I don't have to go out in it!  When the weather is especially cold and nasty, I can stay cozy and warm by the fireplace with the cats and a good book.  THAT is one of the joys of retirement!

And yes, I'm still 'considering' the Alaska trip.  Haven't made any decision. I'm letting it 'ruminate' around in my head for a while.

My mom and a friend in my kitchen taken a few years ago - both deceased now and dearly missed

Just wanted to try this.  I did the 'resize thing' here where I resized the picture in Microsoft office manager and then downloaded it into blogger.   I think you can click on it and it will enlarge... thus keeping my google photo capacity lower... ??

One more 'blogger type' question.  If I should decide to 'change' my template to another form now... will all my old blogs be changed to the new form or will it save the old posts in the old template?  Just curious...

the cutest thing...

the cutest thing...

Isn't she the cutest thing?  I'm sorry, but she really is (IMO of course).  I know all grandparents feel this way.  It happens the minute you set eyes on that tiny new life... or hold her or him in your arms.  It's an amazing feeling.  She has lost most of the red hair she was born with and looks like a little Q-ball these days.  And don't you just love that tiny foot...

It's Sunday morning and we have been up since about 7:30, had coffee and biscuits, read the paper, played games on grandson's Meep, watched some soccer and football (at least the boys did), made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and prepared a brisket for marinading.  I've not had much experience with cooking brisket.... so this is an experiment. I found a recipe in a magazine that looked fairly easy and delicious, so I thought I'd try.  I will marinade it today (in BBQ rub, onions, onion soup mix,   Lea and Perrins, and Soy Sauce) and cook it tomorrow in the low oven (250) of my Aga for about 10 hours.  We'll see...

I'm going to bring up something here that has come up only recently and I've got to make a decision about it in the next week or so.  A good friend is going on a cruise to Alaska and wants me to go with her. Neither her husband or mine is interested in going. I originally told her that I really couldn't afford it at this time. But her argument is that we can't afford to wait - which I agree to some extent (She's 70 and I'm 67). It is a special fare cruise where IF you book now for the end of April, you get the 2 for 1 fare.  The whole trip from what she says on the discounted rate (her son & daughter have checked it out) shouldn't cost me more than $1000.00.  That's hard to believe, I know.  Anyway, she's already booked and really really wants me to go with her.  I would like to go and probably won't get another chance, but I keep thinking that I would need clothes for the trip which would cost $, and I tend to get seasick (don't want to ruin her trip), etc. But she is a very dear friend, so I said that I would 'think about it'.  I probably should mention that she and I have taken great trips in the past to England, Paris, Ireland... and still take local road trips now.  We get along great and the trips have given us wonderful memories.  I think its just that with retirement, we have to be so careful that I feel guilty even thinking about it.

On another note, I noticed on someone's blog that they had a "live feed" which told them that 'someone from where-ever' was visiting their blog.  I thought that was a neat fixture.  How do you get that on a blog?

And one other question, is my font big enough?  I use the normal default font, but it looks a little small to me.