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The 19-Day Holland America Line Alaska CruiseTour, Holland America ms Statendam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Four

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July 29 (Monday, Day 10, Motor Coach to Fairbanks, Alaska) -

Our luggage had to be out at 6 AM and the bus left at 7 AM making it another early morning. For breakfast Filbert ate some of his high protein bars while Snookums went across the street to pick up her pre-ordered breakfast box from Belinda’s. The bus got on the ferry to cross the Yukon River and a little before 9 AM we were at the border. The border crossing opened at 9 and our driver wanted to be there when it opened.

The Border

The 19-Day Holland America Line Alaska CruiseTour, Holland America ms Statendam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Three

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July 27 (Saturday, Day 8, Motor Coach to Dawson City, Canada) -

The Bus

Our luggage had to be outside our hotel room door by 6:30 and the bus departed at 7:45. We saw a fox within the first hour of the trip and a moose, too. For the next 7 hours, though, we only saw around 10 houses and 20 RVs and cars. The bus stopped every two hours and our first stop was at Braeburn’s. This little store, with Cinnamon Roll Airstrip across the road, sold $10 cinnamon rolls the size of a paper plate and 4 inches tall. Snookums was in line to buy one but when she saw it was $10, decided not to. Our lunch stop was at Minto which consisted of a dining hall, a few cabins and a bathroom with showers and laundry facilities. Our bus driver and tour guide served us chili and soup and there was also tossed salad and coleslaw and Nanaimo bars for dessert. Two First Nations people were seen in the kitchen, but they stayed mostly behind the scenes.

The 19-Day Holland America Line Alaska CruiseTour, Holland America ms Statendam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Two

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July 24 (Wednesday, Day 5, Vancouver, Canada) -

Stanley Park Geese

After last night’s late night, we woke up and made it to the Regency Club before breakfast stopped being served. We were just hanging out on the balcony when John and Laura showed up around 10:35. We watched a film being filmed on the top of a building down the street and then decided to walk to Stanley Park together. After they ate a quick breakfast at Tim Horton’s, we met in the lobby at 11:15 and walked to Stanley Park in order to walk along the seawall. We took a path through the park to get to the seawall and saw a raccoon. We also saw ducks, geese, swans, birds and squirrels. We saw low tide at 1:34 PM and found out that the water temperature was 67º. There were lots of people enjoying the nice beaches, the park, the walking/biking paths and the swimming pool. It looked more like a weekend than a Wednesday afternoon, but it must be the laid back West Coast culture. It was a beautiful day.

The 2013 Alaska CruiseTour, Holland America ms Statendam, July 20-August 11, 2013

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

The Itinerary

This is the table of contents for the online version of our trip journal. Here are the chapters and their publishing dates:

December 27, 2015: Part One - To Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

December 28, 2015: Part Two - Vancouver to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada.

December 30, 2015: Part Three - To Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada.

December 31, 2015: Part Four - To Denali National Park, Alaska.

January 1, 2016: Part Five - At Denali National Park, Alaska.

January 2, 2016: Part Six - Denali National Park, Alaska and the train to Anchorage, Alaska.

January 3, 2016: Part Seven - The train to Seward, Alaska, and on the cruise.

January 4, 2016: Part Eight - Cruising to Seattle.

The 19-Day Holland America Line Alaska CruiseTour, Holland America ms Statendam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part One

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July 20 (Saturday, Day 1, Fly to Vancouver, Canada) -

Our first travel day was very uneventful. We left our house at 2:25 PM and everything was smooth sailing. We had an almost two hour (scheduled) layover in Seattle which gave us plenty of time for a sit-down dinner.

Mount Rainier

Y'all may have noticed that I've not been posting our travel journals for a while--since 2012, in fact. Part of it was simple burnout, part was a lack of time to do it because of all the travel we'd been doing (see below, not an exhaustive list!), part because I had three major and two minor surgical operations (and Snookums one more) that we somehow fitted in between scheduled trips, and part sheer lazyness.

Well, I'm going to try to get up on the horse--or the camel, depending on the trip--again.

I'm putting this post up as a kind of table-of-contents to the upcoming travel journals and, in some instances, photo-essays, for various trips we've taken since the last quarter of 2012.

As I actually complete the posting of those journals/photo-essays, I'll turn the following journey names into actual links that you can follow to check them out.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

The 2012 Grand Asia & Australia Voyage, Holland America ms Amsterdam, September 20-December 5, 2012 (Journal)

The 2013 19-Day HAL Alaska Tourcruise, Holland America ms Statendam, July 20-August 11, 2013 (Journal) - Published in full January 4, 2016

The Belize Escapade, September 22-29, 2013 (Photo-essay) - Published in full January 6, 2016

The 2013 Incan Empires Voyage, Holland America ms Statendam, November 1-December 4, 2013 (Journal)

The Key West Escape, January 27-February 1, 2014 (Photo-essay)

The 2014 Caribbean Voyage, Celebrity Eclipse, February 7-22, 2014 (Photo-essay)

The 2014 Basketball & Cruising Extravaganza, NCAA Women's Final Four + Sydney, Australia & South Pacific Crossing, Holland America ms Oosterdam, April 3-May 11, 2014 (Photo-essay?)

The 2014 Quebec Excursion, July 15-23, 2014 (Photo-essay)

The 2014 Alaska Cruise, Holland America ms Amsterdam, August 23-September 7, 2014 (Photo-essay)

The 2014 Atlantic Crossing, Regent Seven Seas Mariner, October 12-November 5, 2014 (Photo-essay)

The 2015 Caribbean Voyage, Celebrity Eclipse, January 31-February 15, 2015 (Photo-essay)

The 2015 Basketball & Cruising Extravaganza, NCAA Women's Final Four + Viking Star European Cruise, April 2-May 31, 2015 (Photo-essay)

The 2012 Grand Asia & Australia Voyage, Holland America ms Amsterdam, September 20-December 5, 2012

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

The Itinerary

This is the table of contents for the online version of our trip journal. Here are the chapters:

Part One - Seattle to Hakodate, Japan.

Part Two - Hakodate, Japan to Yokohama, Japan.

Part Three - Yokohama, Japan to Kobe, Japan.

Part Four - Kobe, Japan to Nagasaki, Japan.

Part Five - Nagasaki, Japan to Hong Kong, China.

Part Six - Hong Kong, China to Singapore and back to sea.

Part Seven - Semarang, Java, Indonesia and back to sea.

Part Eight - Lembar, Indonesia to Komodo Island, Indonesia.

Part Nine - Darwin, Australia to Hamilton Island, Australia, and back to sea.

Part Ten - Brisbane, Australia to Eden, Australia.

Part Eleven - At sea, viewing a solar eclipse, to Auckland, New Zealand.

Part Twelve - At sea, to Fiji, Samoa, and across the Equator.

Part Thirteen - At sea, to Hawaii, to San Diego, and home.

The 2012 Grand Asia & Australia Voyage, Holland America ms Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Thirteen

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November 24 (Saturday, Day 66, At Sea) -

Snookums went to Total Body Conditioning and then had a 75-minute massage that was concentrated on her left shoulder. After the massage she signed up for two more. Filbert spent part of the morning in the library doing his research on Honolulu until it was time for Team Trivia. Since Snookums filled in on Filbert’s team yesterday, she had to fill in on Sharie’s team today. Each team member earned one Dam Dollar and neither team placed.

Immediately after trivia Snookums had her third $29 floral arranging class and made a flat, round arrangement using dried leaves that the florist has only ever seen in Fiji. We each got five orchids, three roses, five stems of baby carnations and a few stems of mums to go with the greens and the dried leaf that was woven into an abstract design. After the flower class, Snookums and Sharie hurried to crafts and made a Hawaiian door hanger. It was the lamest craft to-date, but considering Nancy’s other crafts have been really nice, that’s okay.

Floral Arrangement, Another One

The 2012 Grand Asia & Australia Voyage, Holland America ms Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Twelve

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November 18 (Sunday, Day 59, At Sea) -

Snookums went to Total Body Conditioning this morning and also went to “Things to See & Do in Lautoka”. Filbert played Team Trivia and he and Laura got the bonus question for the team so every team member won a Dam Dollar. (What is the largest mammal to make a nest? Gorilla.) Three teams tied for first and they got second but didn’t get any Dam Dollars for second since there were so many teams in first. Sharie’s team got first again for the second time in a row, though, and she has only played the last two times!

After lunch we looked at the art displays created by the passengers attending the watercolor classes. They are being auctioned off and HAL is going to triple the amount of money raised by the passengers and all of the money will go to the Educational Outreach Youth Program of Apia (Samoa). Snookums was really hoping to find a painting of Borobudur, but settled on being the $3 winning (and only) bidder for a “picture within a picture” of Macchu Pichu since that is on a future cruise itinerary. The talent of the artists on this cruise is outstanding.

Snookums went to crafts class and made a tapa cloth greeting card and later on went to “Fab Abs” and Laura and Sue (crafts classmate) were there, too. When she got back, she laid out on the verandah and read from 5:30 until 7:15 PM and enjoyed the bright sunshine. Filbert spent most of the afternoon writing inside although it was in the low 70s, sunny and calm. Tomorrow’s forecast at sea is for the mid-70s.

At dinner, Mr. K (our assistant dining room manager) gave us a jar of sambal. We still have the Korean chili sauce and the Vietnamese chili sauce in our room refrigerator (and have been bringing one or both of them on most nights) but now our waiter can be responsible for putting the jar of sambal on our table every night. Yum!

Dancing band, Lautoka, Fiji

The 2012 Grand Asia & Australia Voyage, Holland America ms Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Eleven

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November 14 (Wednesday, Day 55, At Sea) -

Look! Up in the Sky!

Filbert set the alarm for 7 AM and we got dressed and went outside to the aft pool on Deck 8 for the eclipse. It started out cloudy, but it seemed like the captain was trying to take us to the sun. Around 7:30 we were able to easily see the eclipse using Filbert’s pinhole telescopes. (The paper glasses also worked, but the pinhole telescopes were easier to use.) Around 8:05 AM the maximum coverage occurred of around 60%. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, casting a shadow over the earth. After that scintillating show, we ate breakfast in Neptune.