Charlotte Olympics Party, Friday, 8/17

Shortly after my nephew Ricky scored Gold and Silver Olympic medals (for the 4 X 200 and 4 X 100 relays, respectively), the family announced a celebration for him in Charlotte on August 18.  I figured that, with 60,000 USAirways miles I'd carefully saved from expiring over the years, Ron and I would get there free.  Well, not exactly.  After forking over 42,500 miles plus $80 for me, plus regular airfare for Ron, plus a couple of fees for "Premium" seats so Ron could stretch his legs a little in Aisle seats, we had nonstops booked to and from Charlotte.  Fortunately, the charge for the seat upgrade also gave Ron early boarding, ensuring overhead bin space for our small rollaboard.

By a happy coincidence, my employer declared that the office would close at 1 PM as a reward for meeting our goals in a recent charitable drive.  Still, it felt like a full work day.  A call I'd been waiting for came in with a verbal offer from a company where I'd first interviewed 2 months ago, getting more excited at the prospects of working there as our discussion continued.  I happily accepted the offer, then e-mailed my boss in Zurich, and spent some time discussing transition plans before a much-needed workout in the pool and departure for the airport. 

Our flight pushed back almost 15 minutes before the scheduled time, we were shortly first for takeoff, and were in the air before the scheduled departure time. Murphy's Law, of course.  If we'd been frantic to make a transatlantic connection, it would have been 4 hours late.  Instead, we landed 45 minutes early after a fligt made even more pleasant by the glass of wine I ordered en route.

We got our rental car, a Crown Victoria that got less than 20 mpg, but gave us a comfortable ride for the weekend.  After checking into the Residence Inn Piper Glen (free on Marriott points), we headed over to the house of John and Les, my brother- and sister-in law.  The official party wasn't till the next night, but their house was already open and welcoming a succession of family:  my parents, a brother and sister-in-law, and of course Ricky and his brother and sister.  Ricky was a little jet-lagged, having gotten home only a couple of days before after checking out Paris with his friend Rebecca Soni. 



The medals were very heavy- 400 grams of pure silver, plus gold electroplate on the gold one.

The obverse sides.

As we talked, hugged and caught up on each others' news, I realized I still marveled at how blessed we are that we can join family for occasions such as this without worrying about it making a dent in the budget, and how I can get a half-days work done in Kansas and be visiting with family in Charlotte by dinner time.  When the airlines do it right, it still feels a little miraculous.

Charlotte Olympics Party, Saturday, 8/18

Saturday was beautiful and sunny.  Ron and I enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, then I went swimming while Ron relaxed in the room.  The hotel had a very large group of family and friends staying for a wedding, and many were sitting around the pool.  I didn't get it.  How can people be that close to a pool on such a beautiful day and just look at it?  A few immersed themselves, but it was mainly to cool off while keeping up a conversation with others in the chairs.  I had a large expanse of pool to thrash back and forth and get in a good workout.





 

With my brothers John and Paul.



With Ron.


We headed back to John and Les' later in the afternoon, where another brother and his wife arrived, along with some nieces and nephews and their Accompanying Persons. 

Ricky was busy signing a stack of photos to put out at the party, which would be held at the neighborhood Clubhouse.  That morning my brother, Ricky and other family members had gone out for a round of golf, where Ricky later described his dad's score as "a sloppy 76".  I'd take that score any day.  For 9 holes.  A very young female admirer, hearing Ricky was on the course, met him and tweeted adoring thoughts to her followers immediately.  The family reported that Ricky handled it graciously.  I'm not surprised.

With Ron and me.

With my parents.  My mother still has a photo of 2-year old Ricky in swim wings on her refrigerator.

A great-looking family, including Benji the dog.

 

And my personal favorite- Tim (with his brother Rick in the background) in London.

 

The party started around 6:30 PM; the lawn of the Clubhouse had been sprayed with the Olympic Rings for the occasion.  A generous spread of food and drink was available; Ricky's orthodontist had partially sponsored the event.  Nice publicity for the guy who engineered the million-dollar smile! 

 

With perfect weather, Ron and I spent a lot of the time out on the back porch, having a wonderful conversation with Gran and Pearl, a couple in their 90s who had been friends of the family for years.  A few other friends and family joined us.  Later we enjoyed a video slideshow of Ricky and the family at the Olympics, followed by the "Call me Maybe" video by the USA Swim Team.  The Olympic Rings had been lovingly made by a friend, and included pictures from all stages of Ricky's life to date.

Les' brother did a wonderful job as emcee, welcoming family and friends from all over, and introducing the family's pastor as "the first guy to dip Ricky in the water".  After the video Ricky answered questions from the guests.  The only off-limits question:  "What's it like to swim with Michael Phelps?"  Later, Ricky and my brother John addressed the group.

 

The cake.

As the crowd thinned out, we took down the decorations and put the furniture back into place, and walked back over to John and Les'. 

And a good time was had by all.

Ron and I said loving goodbyes to the family and headed back to our hotel for the night.

Charlotte Olympics Party, Sunday, 8/19

The whole gang.

Sunday morning dawned with rumbles of thunder.  Not a good start.  Fortunately, the weather cleared and by the time Ron and I had finished breakfast and were ready to go, the skies were clearing up.  Thanks to the GPS we'd brought with us, we found the airport without incident, returned the rental car and got to the airport with 70 minutes before flight time.  I'd printed out or boarding passes the day before (Ron had joked, "if I'd been in charge, we'd be buying tickets at the airport").  The TSA staff helpfully pointed out to those of us bunched at the B concourse checkpoint that C and D were practically empty.  We ended up in D, although I told Ron the real question was which line had the Iraqi family whose kids had sippy cups in their backpacks.  Fortunately, we got through quickly although I was not happy to see that now they scan you rdriver's license (what are they storing?  who gets to see it?) and that unless I wanted to be groped by the TSA, the Nude-O-Scope was in operation.  Assume the position.  I'd forgotten that it would catch the wad of Kleenex and my driver's license still in my pocket.  Yes, I AM a threat to the flying public.

But, we landed on time and were home by 2 PM.  It was a short but happy trip.

July 1-2: Seattle

We started our trip wth a short stay in Seattle. By a lucky coincidence, the King Tut exhibition was still at the Paicfic Science Center, so we spent Monday there. While it was impressive, especially all the old film footage from the original expedition and the careful explanations, we found it interesting that some of the most famous pieces (including the iconic gold mask used in all their advertising) were in Tokyo at another King Tut exhibition. We enjoyed it, anyway.

Monday evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at O'Asian with Matt and his friend Megan.

July 2-5: Wrangell Friday, July 13

We spent Monday night at an airport hotel (thanks for the ride, Matt and Megan!) and departed for Wrangell on an early-AM Alaska Airlines flight. This was our first flight on Alaska Airlines; we got a good view of Ketchikan during a stop there en route.

We chose Wrangell for the slightly serendipitous reason that a relative of a friend of ours in KS had a B&B there- which happens to be Wrangell's #1 rated B&B on TripAdvisor. The Grandview turned out to be a wonderful choice. 

We never got tired of that view, nor the view from our room, The Moose Room, which got its name from all of the moose figurines and stuffed animals the previous owner collected. The room is full of them!

We spent July 4 in Wrangell- they make a big deal out of it. The logging contests are shown below. In this one, the contestants are racing to see who can get a slice off the end of the log in the shortest time (aided by a chain saw). The target marked on the other log will be used for axe-throwing contests. Finally, in a wonderful coincidence, the ship in the background was the Wilderness Adventurer, which we'd be taking from Ketchikan in a few days. Wrangell was a port stop on its Juneau-to-Ketchikan route. We had a friendly chat with Katie, the Chief Mate, and looked forward to the cruise with even more anticipation.



A couple more views from the back porch of the Grandview. The small house was a playhouse built for Leslie, the owner, when she was a child. The Grandview dates from 2007 but the playhouse was lovingly and cautiously moved to the property from its original setting.

Here's my TripAdvisor Review of the Grandview.

We also took a trip up the Stikine River to see the glaciers. It really is a small world- our fellow passengers included former Alaska Governor Murchowski, his daughter Lisa (currently a US Senator) and other family members. Ron and I spent most of our time out on the back deck, even though it got pretty cold.

 

July 6: Ferry to Ketchikan

While it was not practical to get to Alaska by car, we prefer alternatives to flying whenever possible because, between the TSA and the airlines' cost-cutting, flying has become an ordeal. Fortunately, there was a ferry from Wrangell to Ketchikan, leaving at 9 AM and arriving in Ketchikan around 3 PM. We booked a room so we'd have some space to spread out.

It was a beautiful, peaceful ride- according to a posted manifest there were 185 passengers and 60 cars aboard in addition to the crew. We noticed a German family as well as a group of Amish, which we didn't expect in this area.

There were several places to hang out: the deck, which quickly got way too cold and windy as we got underway, the cafeteria lounge, the bar, another lounge with a kids' play area, and a room with airline-type reclining chairs where an uninteresting movie was in progress and a lot of people were asleep, some in sleeping bags on the floor. We gratefully went back to our stateroom where I claimed the top bunk and pulled out my knitting and Ron brought out his book. 

We spent the night in Ketchikan, at a Best Western across from the ferry terminal, and took their shuttle to the Cape Fox Lodge the next morning where we dropped off our luggage and awaited boarding our ship. What we saw of Ketchikan wasn't good- cold and rainy (well, it's a rainforest and they get 13 feet of rain per year) with lots of tourist-trap shops awaiting the mega-cruise ships in port.  We ended up at the local museum, which was in the same building as the Public Library.  Perfect.  We enjoyed their magazine collection for awhile, and bought reading material for our trip at their Book sale on the way out.

Finally, it was time to board the Wilderness Discoverer.

The Wilderness Discoverer

In port at Klawock.

I've never been on one of the major cruise ships but I've read enough to make comparisons.  This is very different.  They take your photos on boarding only so that the crew can connect names with faces, not so that they can sell you pictures.  The captain is accessible, mingling with passengers and answering questions.  Same for the crew, most of whom have degrees in relevant fields such as marine biology.  They get as excited about the wildlife and the scenery as the passengers.  One night they set up a microscope so you could see phytoplankton up close; another night there was an optional talk on salmon fishing.  The bridge is open- anyone can go up and watch them pilot the ship. 

Our stateroom-not luxurious,but all the necessities incuding a comfortable bed and a spectacular view.

Side of stateroom, near the door.

We really enjoyed our fellow passengers- they were smart, curious and down-to-earth. There were a few family groups (including grandparents) and many Australians. The adventurous surroundings brought out a decades-old memory and I told them I remembered reading as a child about their Prime Minister, Harold Holt, who disappeared while scuba diving off the coast of Australia in 1967. I'd just thought it was a colorful way for a politician to go. They replied that he was an accomplished scuba diver, but had gone into a dangerous area and it was probably foolhardy behavior. Ron asked if they could arrange for Obama to visit the area.

The ship in port in Wrangell, July 4

Ron took this picture the week before, as the Wilderness Discoverer passed in front of our B&B in Wrangell.

Link to my review of the ship on CruiseCritic.com (under a pseudonym) here.

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Sunday, July 8

Sunday started with an hour of yoga on deck at 7 AM. After breakfast, we headed out on a walk on a former logging road and saw a lot of interesting geological formations and a huge variety of wildflowers, moss and lichens. On our way back we found the remains of a doe that had apparently been killed by a bear just out of hibernation and hungry: not much was left except the vertebrae, part of the skull and ribs, a couple of hooves and most of the fur. The bear didn't waste much. After lunch I went out kayaking, which was quite a production: regular clothes, plus rainproof pants, plus a jacket, a kayak "skirt" with overall-type straps and which fits over the hole in the kayak to keep water out, and finally a lifejacket. Then I remembered that my camera was zipped into a pocket several layers down. Oops.

What the well-dressed kayaker is wearing this season.

Once I got out into the water it was beautiful and peaceful. All they asked was that you stay within sight of the boat and not go too close to shore. Moose and bear, they informed us, can swim faster than you can paddle.



Out on the kayak.

We both took advantage of the hikes offered. Ron and I both took one on an old logging road that was level and easy to navigate.



Taking a hike; Ron is 4th from left.

I later took the hike to El Capitan Caves, which included a long climb up the mountain and a tour led by a National Parks Service employee named Blaise, a self-described "cave geek". We needed hats with lights on the front to see anything once we got into the cave.

The 367-step stairway really made the climb easier- and protected the forest floor.



Stalactites.

Human bones dating back thousands of years have been found in the caves. More on El Capitan caves here.



 


Monday, July 9

I woke early Monday but decided to skip the yoga class.  Instead, I enjoyed coffee in the lounge and saw a humpback whale breaching the surface and spouting.  They told me there had been more earlier, but I was happy to see even one.  We spent the morning in the village of Klawock, populated mostly by Tlingits, and visited a park where 16 totem poles had already been erected, with 6 more planned.  After that we walked to a community building where more were being carved.  Many of the ones in the park had been created after the Great Depression in the late 1920s/early 1930s.  In an effort to create jobs, the US government started a project to recreate fallen or deteriorating totem poles; some appeared to have made their way back to Klawock only recently.  Ron and I hiked back to the boat by ourselves after stopping at a grocery store and picking up a few provisions. 

Totem Pole Park

A Work in Progress

The walk back to the boat

We spent the afternoon "critter hunting", which fortunately did not involve the use of harpoons.  The captain cruised around in search of whales and we ended up in a place rich with them.  It didn't matter what side of the ship you were on; everywhere they'd breach and then the fluke would follow, gracefully disappearing into the water again.  We also saw the occasional river otter.

Tuesday, July 10

Tuesday I was signed up for the snorkeling expedition. I'd used wet suits before but not like this. The neoprene was heavy and the suit was in two parts, so you had double layers from your neck to your knees. Boots, gloves and neoprene helmets were included and as we set out in the skiffs we looked like clones of Jacques Cousteau. We were not in Kansas anymore. 

In my Jacques Cousteau outfit- note the helmet in my left hand. We were well-prepared!

See- I wasn't the only crazy person on the cruise. This expedition was so popular there were 2 more boats going out after us.

We're off!

We took the skiff out to some small islands and began our exploration. It took me awhile to get used to the breathing patterns you need for using a snorkel, and the total inability to breathe through your nose. I got it, though, and soon learned to stay near the shoreline and the other snorkelers where there was more to see. Golden kelp fronds waved gracefully around me and if I stayed in one place long enough I'd find a tiny starfish or a crab, a few small fish, and jellyfish. The jellyfish were the most interesting to watch as they compressed and expanded. Being 90% covered with neoprene, I had no concerns about being stung. There were several types of seaweed, one a vibrant green. One thing I could never do, though, was ignore my awareness that I was cold and wet. It happens when you have 42-degree water flowing into your wet suit, which your body then tries to heat up. That worked to some extent, but by the time I got back on board almost an hour later, one leg muscle was trying to cramp up and I was ready for the hot chocolate the skiff crew provided. It took me about an hour (and several cups of hot herbal tea back on board ship) to really warm up. As I told Ron, I wouldn’t go back and do it again the next day, but it was definitely worth it that morning.

After lunch, we took a tour of the engine room and I went out for an hour of solo kayaking, where 4 or 5 times friendly river otters poked their heads up, looked at me, and then disappeared into the water again. At one point I came across what looked like a baby otter, which stayed in place and made pitiful noises. I thought it might be sick or injured but paddled gently away from it knowing there was nothing I could do. I was happy to find out later that the mothers sometimes tie a baby up in the kelp weeds while they go out hunting for food. That would have explained it, and the baby was probably back with its mother before I returned to the ship.

Wednesday, July 11

Wednesday we had full sun- totally unexpected. Another group went out snorkeling and reported that the sun shining in the depths of the water really made a difference in how much they could see. The day was scheduled for "critter cruising" but it was so beautiful that the captain anchored the boat and a beach party was set up in the afternoon, with people (including Heather the bartender and a generous supply of beer, wine and munchies) being ferried out to a nearby beach in skiffs. 

I tried my hand at paddleboarding; I enjoyed the view and the peace but I was ever aware of the need to keep balanced since capsizing would mean landing in 40-degree water. This skill is best learned in warm water! After that I came back in and Ron and I went out in the kayak together. The evening included a lecture on the top deck by the scientist leading the whale study from the Five Fingers Lighthouse nearby. It's informally called The Rapunzel Project because it's a mostly-female group living in a tower on an island. She was a fantastic speaker, and kept pointing out whales in the area as we listened to her talk. The island and the lighthouse where they conduct their research is shown below.





Thursday, July 12

Thursday was another beautiful day so we stayed in the same area. In addition to an all-day kayak tour and a 3-hour paddle, there were two hikes (Level 2 and Level 4), skiff expeditions and a Polar Bear Plunge. I took the 3 hour kayak paddle in the morning and the Level 4 hike after lunch. The hike involved slogging through muskeg (spongy vegetation), clambering over and under logs, and climbing up a steep mountain stream, clinging to boulders and fallen logs. I made the mistake of grasping onto a spiny Devil's Club stem once, and was still doing minor surgery on my hand the next day to remove minuscule splinters from the spines. It was the most challenging hike I'd ever taken but it was correctly described and a wonderful experience.



Devils Club (Oplopanax horridus) from the ship's terrarium. Look but don't touch.

 

We were surprised at the variety of wildflowers. There was even a variety of orchid- the Alaska bog orchid, with tiny blossoms on a stalk. One variety, called Indian celery, looked like Queen Anne's Lace, but the blossoms were about twice the size of Queen Anne's lace.

A Polar Plunge was scheduled at 5 PM. About 15 or 20 people donned swimsuits and jumped into the water from the ship. The youngest passenger to try it was 8, and a 10-year old boy jumped in 3 times.

Ron noted that this young lady kept a firm hold on her bikini top as she descended.

The featured hors d'oeuvre Thursday night was oysters, purchased from a local couple who harvested them. They joined us on the ship Tuesday night to tell us about them. The captain was at the grill, cooking them for people who don't like them raw. (They were very good raw.) No need to worry about who was piloting the ship:  in addition to the captain, 4 other members of the 25-person crew were licensed ship pilots. 

This is the top deck of the ship; the apparatus in the background is a crane used to get skiffs and kayaks between the 2 decks.

Oysters coming up- any way you like them.