Island to Alaska with Pictures

[cworld]

Hi Texas......What you can do with Salmon is wonderful....Just was out on the Little Su and caught a king. You are limited to one and Fish and Game is checking you on the boat to make sure that that is all you have.....Never have enough salmon......I want to hear about your impression of dogsledding....can't wait for that part. If you come up in the winter, I will give you a personalized ride in the forrest with my dogs......it would be a pleasure after all of your writings.....Have you ever thought of a novel?:)

 

 

Hey laughing husky,

 

Thanks for the invite. Don't know if we'll get up there again, but before we come you can be sure I'll post something on one of these here boards. The sled ride sounds good. We both look foward to trying that again. And yes, I've thought of writing some kind of travel book. But, it will probably have to wait until after I retire, or at least until the kids are out of the nest. At the rate this is going I'll probably be able to make it in to some kind of book when we're through. Still working on that idea.

 

 

You've been with me from the first and for that I thank you. But the Texas thing's a problem. Check this out: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=3850791&postcount=62

 

Please I'm an OKIE and proud of it.

[cworld]

Yesterday I read 7 pages of posts, today I have one post to read, lovely though it is. My only question is ... We're still at the cannery?!? :eek:

 

Sorry, it's usually only One-a-Day. As the regulars can tell you, it sometimes, like tonight, gets a little sporatic on the weekends. I am doing my best to finish, but this thing has taken on a life of it's own.

 

But since you're here...

 

Welcome to the party and

 

PATIENCE (HA, HA, HA)

 

Sorry, I didn't get anything finished today. I'll try to get something posted tomorrow. Goodnight.

[zachnlucy]

Okay, I promise to be good from now on. I do. I really do. I'll ignore this thread for the next couple of weeks and when I get back to it, you may have already done the dogsledding ride. :D

[cworld]

We waited around for 20 minutes or so for the waterjet-powered vessel with a heated main cabin, comfortable seating, snack bar and restroom, to arrive. When it arrived we (all 13 of us) said goodbye to Bob, our driver, and moved like cattle to the waterjet-powered vessel. Bob, our driver, was starting the tour for those coming off of the waterjet-powered vessel. Apparently one group starts their tour on the waterjet-powered vessel, and the other group starts on the motorcoach. They meet at the cannery and switch vehicles. Makes sense.

 

As we boarded the boat we were met by our “onboard naturalist”, who I’ll call, for lack of any better name coming in to my mind, Joan. (Joan might have been her real name, but I doubt it.) We were real lucky we got to have 2 onboard naturalists. The second on who I’ll call Jenny (again, not her real name) was on board because she was checking out Bob, our motorcoach driver. NO, not that way. She was young enough to be Bob’s granddaughter. She was making sure that the spiel that they used on the boat was different than what they said on the boat. I thought that was very thoughtful of them.

 

Rating for not duplicating information – A+ good idea.

 

I better stop and admit something right here. I was a little nervous about the whole naturalist thing. I was a smidge uneasy thinking that they might ask me to participate. While I’m still pretty good lookin’, I’m not the hunky guy I used to be. Old age and gravity (or was that gravy) have taken their toll. I spend a lot of time reading, and I’ve heard rumblings about some of the stuff they do on some of these wild cruises. I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to get involved in that stuff. (Especially after looking at some of my shipmates) But then Joan and Jenny were introduced as naturalists, and I swallowed my discomfort, got on the boat, and had my cameras at the ready.

 

Note to Princess – How come all of the naturalists on your shore excursions are young, shapely, college students, while your on-board naturalist is a dumpy old lady? (sorry, but it’s true) Just wandered??

 

Our waterjet-powered vessel pulled away from the Libby Cannery, and I found myself thinking I was having a good time. HEY, what’s up with that? Just wait, it’ll pass. I snapped a couple pictures of the cannery area as we pulled away. It still looks pretty run down, but it’s probably pretty much like what those poor people saw 50 years ago or so when the came to work there. I’m glad I wasn’t one of those.

 

STOP, HALT, HOLD ON, I almost forgot. This is where we saw our first BALD EAGLE!!!! Just like that he or she appeared flying right over our boat. I snapped a couple of quick pictures since he/she didn't stay around to long to pose. HOW COOL IS THAT........ BALD EAGLES!!!!!!!!

 

We started down the George inlet and I snapped of a couple of pictures of the cannery, and then about 100 pictures of mountains. I won't bore you with all of the mountain pictures but a couple are posted here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum9.html

 

Also there are a couple of new Island Princess Pictures here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum8.html

 

I hear fireworks going off outside my window, I'm looking at my pictures of Bald Eagles and it reminds me that tomorrow is the day we celebrate our countries founding. I hope everyone takes some time tomorrow and thinks about how blest we are to live in this time, and in this place.

 

I hope you have a great 4th.

[cworld]

Also there are a couple of new Island Princess Pictures here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum8.html

 

 

 

I lied again. The new pictures are here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum10.html

 

Sorry.

[Perley1]

Carl, buddy, where are you?! It's been 2 days...we've slipped down to page 3 on the boards...can't lose the momentum!!! Keep the good stuff coming...I only have 10 days til my cruise... :)

[margord]

Carl,

 

Please keep it coming. Your review is awesome.

[cworld]

THIS IS IT! ! ! ! !

 

The reason we came to Alaska.

 

We came to see the abundant wildlife that we had heard so much about. Black bears, brown bears, grizzly bears, polar bears, little bears, big bears, killer whales, humpback whales, blue whales, black whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters, sea horses, dolphins, porpoises, salmon, salmon, salmon, salmon, salmon, big fish, little fish, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish (sorry, getting a little carried away) and the king of them all BALD EAGLES.

 

When we first looked at the shore excursions this is the first one we circled. The description says: “Explore the coastline of glacier-carved George Inlet while the onboard naturalist explains the natural history of southeast Alaska’s forests and ocean. Look for eagles, seals, porpoises and other wildlife while the captain maneuvers for the best possible views.” Let's see, naturalists, seals, eagles, porpoises and other wildlife... We were so ready. We were pumped. We were primed. We had been waiting all of our young lives just for this moment (Oh, give me a break).

 

Hey, was that a whale? NO?

 

We were waiting with breathless anticipation as our waterjet-powered vessel came up to speed. This was a very nice waterjet-powered vessel. It was comfortable and seemed fairly new. It accelerated nicely, and quickly we were rocketing down George Inlet. We were looking for eagles, seals, porpoises, whales, bears, salmon and other wildlife. We were looking hard searching the trees, searching the water, searching the shores… What we found, what we found was…

 

What we found was are you ready for this? Can you believe it? We've traveled 10,000 miles, we've paid 10 bazillion dollars, we’ve spent 4 ardous days toiling away to get here, we’ve endured being crammed into a very small seat in a primitive death tube with 150 other lost souls, we had to put up with lost luggage, hours in customs, prime rib with gravy, fish murdering… And what did we see. What is the first thing on the agenda. The first thing this suped up hot rod of a boat shows us is PINK MOSS. Yep, PINK MOSS. PINK (stinkin) MOSS. How great is that. I know that all of you hope the first wildlife you see in Alaska is the PINK MOSS. Not bears, not salmon, not even eagles, but PINK MOSS. Our waterjet-powered vessel took us to a little cove area where Joan, our naturalist, showed us a small patch of PINK MOSS. And the most unbelievable thing was that it was a very small patch. Someone had to look pretty hard to find this stuff. PINK MOSS… Yep, this overpriced boat ride is getting of to a great start.

 

Did you see that? Was that a whale? Nope.

 

As we left the PINK MOSS another bald eagle showed up. He/she posed for 10 or 20 pictures before flying away. I was beginning to suspect a conspiracy. Every time we stop, there’s an eagle. I’m gonna have to take a real close look at some of these pictures to see if I can find the cages. We moved on down the inlet and stopped to look at an active eagles nest (could be manmade). I took a couple of pictures from about a quarter of a mile away that came out pretty good (man, that new camera is something, and by the way for you camera bugs, this was taken with the zoom lens, and if you get out a looking glass you can probably see the cement that makes up the nest?).

 

Joan, or was it Jenny, one of the naturalists told us that someone reported that their was a chick in this nest the week before (kinda funny since this is the first day of the tourist season). We didn’t see any signs of a chick (at least not one with wings). Joan, or Jenny also told us that eagles will have 2 or 3 nests and switch every couple of years, how cool.

 

Hey, what was that? Nope, not a whale.

 

We continued down the beautiful George Inlet, I snapped about 100 pics of mountains and islands. It really was a spectacular day out here, and there sure is some beautiful scenery around here. We moved on to a rock formation where there was a bald eagle posing for the cameras. (either a conspiracy or Uncle Walt has been here) For a few minutes I thought the eagle might be on of those Rodent World fakes until it flew away. I’m still not totally convinced. I don’t know for sure, but something’s up with these eagles.

 

Look over there --- What’s that ripple in the water, whale? Just the wind…

 

Maybe this would be a good time to tour our “waterjet-powered vessel, with a heated main cabin, comfortable seating, snack bar and restroom.” Yep, Congratulations Princess, you described it pretty well. Except for the waterjet-power thing. Come on. What’s up with the jet thing? Does everyone want to be an airplane so bad that they have to have a jet involved? This isn’t a jet. It moves pretty fast, but I don’t think it’ll even get air going over a wake. I’m sure this waterjet-powered vessel is actually powered by some kind of gas burning combustion engine. I’ve heard of a water burning engine, but it would one cost more than a million dollars. And it didn’t put out a whole lot of horsepower. This is no jet powered vessel. Probably marine diesels, but not jets… Sheeessshhh.

 

The lower deck of the boat would probably seat about 40 or so and is enclosed by windows that were clean enough to take pictures through. It was heated or at least it was very comfortable while we were there. The upper deck was open air. And the faster the boat moved the cooler the air was. And that got to be pretty cool at some of the speeds we moved at. About now, I was really wishing that I went ahead and bought that coat from Calypso Cove. But alas, I guess I’ll just freeze.

 

Note for anyone taking one of these that have open-air boats. The day we took this tour, it was 73 degrees in Ketchikan and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. When we got on the boat, I was contemplating taking my sweatshirt off. It was that nice. But as soon as the boat accelerated, the top deck became pretty chilly. A couple of times while we were up to speed, I had to go down to the main cabin to keep warm. I would advise that you have both a sweatshirt and a jacket available even if the temperature is in the 70’s. I would guess that when we were moving the temperature on the top deck was in the mid to low 50’s. It wasn’t unbearable, just unpleasant.

 

Rating for taking a boat ride without a jacket – S for stoopid (yes, I know, it’s stupid, but I felt stoopid).

 

The reason we came...

 

PINK MOSS, right.

 

More tomorrow. I'm working on the pictures, and as soon as I get them ready I'll post something to tell you where they are.

 

Sorry this took so long. Writers block.

[cworld]

pics at:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum11.html

 

I'll add more pics in the morning. Internet not working too well tonight.

[zachnlucy]

Okay, okay I lied. No way could I stay away for a couple of weeks. I actually had to stop myself from posting yesterday after the end of the fish murdering place and the beginning of the waterjet powered boat saga. You've come through once again. We're still on day 2, right? I love your posts, truly do. Now whenever I check my yahoo email and see there's a new posting for "Island to Alaska with Pictures", I eagerly click it to see what's happening with your week that actually happened many weeks ago. :)

 

Keep em coming Carl. You crack me up.

[alwalaska]

Thanks for the continuing story and the cool pictures. I want to go tomorrow, but alas, I have almost a year to wait. :( This was not a tour we were looking at, but you make me want to go. We have a fairly short day in Ketchikan, so we will have to pick carefully.

 

Please keep the stories coming. I look forward to reading your story.

[cworld]

We made a couple of more stops in the waterjet-powered vessel. One was around a rock formation where some seals/sea lions were playing. I never was sure just what kind of animal they were. Joan called them one thing and Jenny called them something else. Whatever… after an hour or so of looking around, no whales, it was time to head back to the dock. Yeah, lunch time. George is talking again. Some time during our excursion they served us some Cheese-its or something like that and a drink. I don’t remember exactly what the drink was, but I have a fuzzy memory of some kind of flavored pop. It wasn’t prime rib, but I ate it. But it was wearing off.

 

We turned back toward the dock. The brochure says, “Entering Tongass Narrows, you pass a fascinating variety of working vessels. Your tour’s final backdrop is a mariner’s view of Alaska’s busiest port and your cruise ship.” I don’t know about working vessels, but we did see some old ships.

 

The first thing we saw was a residential area. We had driven through this area in the motorcoach, with Bob this morning, but, seeing it from the water gave me a whole new perspective. It has to be one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen. It kinda reminds me of Ft. Collins Colorado 30 years ago. Quaint, colorful and pretty. You can see it here.

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/350094962/350094962FezZCt

 

I’m still getting the hang of this photo thing.

 

As we came around the bend, we saw a couple of boats. One of them Joan said used to be a floating lighthouse. I think it was used by the Coast Guard, after they didn’t need it anymore it was parked and used as a lighthouse until it became too costly to maintain. From what Joan said, it is no longer in use. But then again I’ve slept a lot of times since she said it, and my memory is a little fuzzy. Must be the drugs.

 

Pic is here:

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/350095417/350095417rYwtcp

 

About this time another of those programmed Bald Eagles showed up. This one stayed around for a few minutes and posed for 30 or 40 pictures. I’m telling you these things are everywhere. They are beautiful in flight, very majestic. It’s no wonder that the Bald Eagle is our national symbol. I’ve added a couple of pictures of this one to:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum11.html

 

Then we came around the corner, and there she was, one of the most beautiful, the most well defined, with lines that went on and on… This baby was stacked. She was built like a brick house. Her curves were as smooth as glass. She jutted out in just the right places (if you know what I mean). She laid so gracefully in the water, the water caressed her so gently. She sat there so proudly, saying come on over, come join me, be with me. What a wonderful view, her sitting there, in the shallow water, the beautiful town of Ketchikan in the background, I was mesmerized. I couldn’t help it. I took about 40 pictures of her right then and there. I couldn’t wait to get some close ups. But the distance shots were just great. What a beautiful lady. Don’t you think?

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/350096015/350096015hFrVIw

http://community.webshots.com/photo/350096522/350096522tqgHfi

http://community.webshots.com/photo/350097097/350097097pTaHcp

http://community.webshots.com/photo/350097562/350097562PxMNbf

http://community.webshots.com/photo/350097874/350097874jwrGew

 

I better go ahead and post this. Got daddy duties tonight, and have to make a last-minute business trip tomorrow. I may or may not get anything tomorrow or Friday. If I don’t I will have something on Saturday. I know, it’s hard, and I need to get finished. But, all in good time… Remember PATIENCE.

 

Oh, by the way, it was a beautiful day in Ketchikan.

[cworld]

I forgot,

 

Rating for sea portion of Best of Ketchikan by Land and Sea - A-

 

The boat ride was really fun. We were a little early in the year for a lot of the wildlife. Too bad so sad.

[goblue]

Carl,

did you remember how many electric outletds in the cabin ?

are they 2-prong or 3-prong type?

thx ...

 

Somewhere I rembered people (on this board) suggested to bring extention cord /additional plugs but most of these extention cords are 3-pronged ....

[cworld]

Carl,

did you remember how many electric outletds in the cabin ?

are they 2-prong or 3-prong type?

thx ...

 

Somewhere I rembered people (on this board) suggested to bring extention cord /additional plugs but most of these extention cords are 3-pronged ....

 

There was one in the bathroom, and one next to the desk. They were both the 3 pronged type, I think. We took a power strip, but didn't really need it.

[zonicruiser]

Thanks Carl for the information about dropping temperature and the need for our jackets when riding on the "Jet" powered boats. We leave in 8 days.

 

Your saga has me laughing. Extra days of waiting are worth it.....

"...primitive death tube with 150 other lost souls...."

"...This baby was stacked..."

I'm saving this one!

 

Zonicruiser

[marcruiser]

Thanks again for sharing your memories with us.

[goblue]

There was one in the bathroom, and one next to the desk. They were both the 3 pronged type, I think. We took a power strip, but didn't really need it.

 

Cral, thx ....

[cworld]

Man, all the way to page 4, I bet you all were getting nervous.

 

Our waterjet powered vessel pulled in to the marina area of Ketchikan. The marina area is absolutely beautiful. There were all kinds of boats docked all around, and yes I know, that they dock boats in a marina, but these boats just provided the perfect backdrop for the city and surrounding areas. I would like to believe that there was some thought put in to the arrangement of this marina. It seemed to fit in naturally to the area.

 

Right before we docked, I noticed (that keen secret power of perception I’m well known for) a Skiiii-korse-kee twin motor-engine-rotor thingy whirlygig flying up and down a canyon. This was one of those troop-carrying size flying blenders that looked like you could put a whole baseball team, or a couple of NFL linemen on. This was one of those REAL MAN MOACHINES (HAR, HAR, HAR). Me, being a REAL MAN who is involved every day with this flying moachine stuff, I was keenly interested, and well aware, of what this moachine was doing.

 

This thing kept going up and down, up and down, up and down, and after a few minutes he would fly off. 5 or 10 minutes later he would return. Up and down, up and down, fly off, back… repeat. It was getting a little annoying. At first I postulated that there had been a big industrial type accident, and this was a medical helimobile picking up prisoners, I mean patients. I discarded that theory, when I, using that super hearing thing I’m also blessed with, noticed that I couldn’t hear any sirens going off. OK no large industrial accident.

 

Being privy to this type thing, I knew it wasn’t any major government secret plan to infiltrate the town of Ketchikan, because I would have heard of something like that. I’d spent the week before checking the Enquirer and they hadn’t had any stories on any secret government whirlycopter missions in Alaska. Their always the first to know. Up and down, up and down, away and back… Hmmmm. What could they be doing? Answer later.

 

Any guesses?

 

We got off our waterjet-powered vessel, and we walked right up on to the boardwalk, just a little ways from the Island Princess. It was about an hour until we needed to leave for the I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK show, so we decided we’d walk around town for a few minutes and then go grab a hamburger or something.

 

So we ambled down the boardwalk. There were lots (jewelry) of shops (jewelry) along the boardwalk (jewelry). We didn’t think (jewelry) anything about it at the time, but the night before, after the show, Dave (the serial announcement maker guy, I mean, Cruise Director, not the No Worries guy) mentioned the jewelry stores in Ketchikan. He said we wouldn’t want to miss the briefing (which we promptly did) about the Ketchikan jewelers. He said that the Alaskan jewelry market was becoming as big as the Caribbean jewelry market. This went on for so long that I was getting embarrassed, seeing as how I had my fingers in my wife’s ears. Then I remembered that she hates to shop, so I pulled them out. Silly me.

 

As we walked down the (jewlery) boardwalk the signs above the shops just jumped out at me. Royal Jewelers, Klassique Jewelers, Modern Jewelers… Every shop that had a sign was a jewelry store. One or the reasons I noticed this stuff is because my semi-favorite brother-in-law owns a jewelry store. So these places weren’t very appealing. It’s not that they weren’t nice looking, but I can go over and see him at anytime and get items at cost. So, no (jewelry) shopping, sorry.

 

I snapped a couple of pictures of the handy dandy map of Ketchikan that was right across from the ship. Nice placement. It’s about the first thing you come to whenever you disembark. Mrs. cworld wanted to find the sign that showed the rainfall, so we walked up the hill toward the other end of town. We saw the sign and I made her go and pose next to it. They sure do get a lot of rain here, or they are really big liars. I’m suspecting the latter, because, it’s an absolutely cloudless, clear as a bell, see for 10000000000 miles, grab the SPF-400 sunscreen, let’s get a tan, kind of day in beautiful downtown Ketchikan.

 

Our time was getting short, if George was going to get any nourishment. So we shuffled back to the ship and started to board. HEY, What’s going on here???? I know when we got off this morning that we were disembarking from decks 5 and 6. Now we are reembarking on deck 7. Does the crew need practice resetting the ramps? What’s going on. Hmmm, Carl,why don’t you use that observation power you’re always bragging about and notice that deck 5 is now below the height of the boardwalk? So it is. What in the Sam Hill is going on here?

 

For the answer to that and many other mind-numbing questions please return to this happy place sometime in the near future, and hopefully the idiot that writes this tripe will find a couple more hours to continue our discussion.

 

The pictures of the boardwalk area of Ketchikan, and some others, have been added here:

 

http://homepage.mac.com/cktrent2/PhotoAlbum7.html

[margord]

Thanks Carl,

 

Been waiting all weekend for this one. Did you ever get the luggage? Did you use the $500?

[cworld]

Thanks Carl,

 

Been waiting all weekend for this one. Did you ever get the luggage? Did you use the $500?

 

 

OK, I give up. Yes, eventually, and some of it.

[zachnlucy]

I bet he bought that nifty blue jacket.

[cworld]

When we got up to the ramp, we were behind a moderately rude group of people. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a bunch of high-strung, high-maintenance, balcony cabin cruise snob types, who though they should always be first. They pushed their way in line in front of us. No big deal. I twitched my nose (Bewitched style) and caused a little commotion to fall upon them.

 

Mr. Big Shot was trying to put his drivers license back in his wallet, when a puff of wind came out of nowhere and blew it right out of his hand. (wonder where that came from?) The license blew down and went right between the planks that make up the pier. Zoom, just like that Mr. Big Shots drivers license was gone for good (smile). It turns out that since he was such a Mr. Big Shot, that he had a passport that could serve as his identification, but still he was going to be inconvenienced (serves him right).

 

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL TRAVELERS IN KETCHIKAN – The dock area in Ketchikan Alaska is built over the ocean. All that’s between you and the cold dark water is a big deck. Being a deck, there are openings between the planks. Openings large enough for things to fall through them, things like wallets, papers, glasses, etc. I would strongly suggest you be very careful with your belongings whenever you are walking in this area. If you drop something, it’s probably gone for good.

 

We put our room keys in the honking thingy, and walked through the beige arches, jumped on the talking elevator and went up to the grill. Hmmm, what to say about the grill???

 

On our first cruise on the SS Dolphin “Scourge of the Seas” everyday from about 11 until 3 the grill was open. The grill was located next to the main pool. We decided to try the grill the first day of our semi-amazing (really, more semi than amazing) 4-day cruise. After that, we ate at the grill every day. The grill on the SS Dolphin “Scourge of the Seas” was outstanding. If I remember correctly (after 200 or so years, memories fade) they had hamburgers and hotdogs. The same chef cooked them every day. This guy was good. The hamburger patty was like 2 pounds of fine meat. The hotdogs were those big round thick juicy types that were so big you almost can’t get them in to your mouth. When you got to the front of the line, you told the chef how you wanted yours cooked. He’d slap it on a bun, and off we’d go to eat the best hamburger I’d ever eaten. I like my hamburgers medium rare. When you bite in to them, they almost moo. The ones on the SS Dolphin "Scourge of the Seas" were just the way I liked them, very pinkish in the middle with the juices that exploded in my mouth.

 

The chef on the SS Dolphin, “Scourge of the Seas” knew how to cook hamburgers just right. To this day, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better hamburger, and believe me, I’ve tried almost all of them.

 

OK, so nobody cares what about the grill on the SS Dolphin, “Scourge of the Seas”, but it gives you a little background on what I was expecting when we pulled up in to the grill area on the Island Princess. I was expecting hamburger nirvana, the burger of all burgers, Heaven on a bun. I wanted melt in your mouth, super special, to die for hamburgers that I would remember for the next 25 years. I was sadly disappointed. The hamburger and the hotdogs at the grill were everyday, run of the mill, nothing special, good, but not great.

 

Note to Princess – The hamburgers and hotdogs that you served on the Island Princess when we cruised in May of 2005, were acceptable, but didn’t make me want to come running back. I was hoping for more. The main problem I had was that they were flavorless. There was no real taste to them. They tasted like they were cooked on a sterilized cooking surface. Hamburgers and hotdogs must absorb some of the grill ambience, some of it’s flavoring. That’s what makes grilled food outstanding. Unfortunately you didn’t accomplish this.

 

Rating for the grill on the Island Princess – C – I was hoping for so much more.

 

After swallowing our lunch we made our way back down to deck 7 to get off and go to the "I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK" show. We had tickets for the 2:30 show. But before we went, we stopped by the cabin to see if our bag had appeared. NOPE, and no messages on the phone from Dave, the No Worries guy. Oh, well.

 

We walked down the stairs, and then down the hall to the disembarkation area. While we were waiting, someone asked a crew member why we were on another deck other than the one we started on this morning. The crewmember looked at this passenger as if they were the stupidest person that ever lived and said “tides”. I certainly was glad it wasn’t me that asked the stupidest question that this crewmember had ever heard. “Tides”, makes sense, but I would have had to think about it for a long time to come with that one.

 

We got off the boat, and made the long trek through town to the “I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK” show. It’s a good thing that all roads in Ketchikan lead to the show, because none of the documentation tells where it is, and unlike all of the other shore excursions, there is no one with a clipboard to tell you where to go. I missed that security blanket.

 

Being that I’m part Indian, I quickly sniffed out the path. After about 2 days of traipsing through uncharted parts we came to the theater. Really it is easy to find the “I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK” show. It’s at the end of town a couple of blocks up from the dock. We arrived about 25 minutes before show time, so we had time to browse the gift shop. Mrs. cworld needed some post cards and refrigerator magnets, so I bravely handed her a wad of cash and found a bench outside. About 15 minutes before the show they let us in to the theater, and that’s where we went.

 

Tomorrow, the "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK" show.

[zachnlucy]

If it's anything like the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, I bet you loved it. However, from the sound of your show's name, it sounds like these lumberjacks are just a bit defensive about their chosen career.

[cworld]

I guess it’s time for me to hang my weary head. I make a couple of small disparaging remarks and some semi-funny comedian writes some semi-funny top nine list (can’t even get to 10) about how everyone on these boards is always complaining. Just a couple of hundred words and everyone flocks to tell him how funny he is, how clever. Well,... Well,... Well,... Yeah, but,... but, can you rap out a thousand words every day for months and months and months. I don’t know if there’s room enough for the both of us on this board. Maybe I’ll challenge him to a duel. Comedy at 10,000 paces. HUH. (No issues here) Give me a little time and I’ll come up with some witty repartee. Like Pbbbbbbbbbbbb!

 

Or something equally intelligent. Or maybe I’ll just ignore it. Yeah that’s the ticket, just ignore and go on. (PLEASE.)

 

Maybe what’s really bothering me is that our preacher at our church last week preached directly to me, you know how they do that. A thousand people in the auditorium and you know he’s talking directly to you. He talked about complainers. And now this comes along…

 

I’m sorry… I’ll try to do better. (Man, I’m full of issues tonight.)

 

Note to Carl – Don’t say any more bad things about Princess or about your cruise, about your wife, about your kids, about your mother-in (can't go that far). From now on everything must be seen through rose-colored glasses. (Yeah, right)

 

 

So on we went. We walked into the theater of “The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show”.

 

-----INSERT EXPLINATION HERE -----

 

When I was growing up, late every Sunday night on some pirate radio station, the Dr. Demento Show would come on. It was one of those shows that all teenage boys would listen to, and no one else in the whole wide world would ever admit to having ever heard. It played a lot of silly music. One of the weekly favorites was “I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK”. It was a silly song about lumberjacks, so when I started to talk about lumberjacks, it was the first thing that came to mind. I haven’t thought about the words of the song, only the title.

 

Enough of that stuff, on to the show.

 

---------END OF EXPLINATION-------

 

If you buy your tickets through Princess (like us stupid people, who went to Princess web site and without any thought, ordered our shore excursions), you pay a whopping $29.00 real American money for your tickets. However if you spend hours on the internet, and days on the telephone, you can buy tickets online for the drastically discounted price of $30.74. That a savings of a whole minus 1 dollar and seventy-four cents.

 

What, you can buy tickets cheaper through Princess? Yep, that’s the way it appears.

 

Note to Princess – Dear Princess, as a potential future major stockholder in your company, it has come to my attention that your price for some of your shore excursions might be set too low. If you do a search for the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, you’ll see that the internet price for the show is more than what you charge for the same show. I’m not sure that you want to get that reputation. A cruise line bringing value to their passenger... shame on you. You need to increase the price dramatically today. There is no telling how much profit you are squandering by undercutting the local vendors. Shame, Shame, Shame,

 

Back to the show. The crowd pressed their way into the overcrowded theater. There were about 20 of us in a theater that would seat about 500. It was a very nice theater. Very well laid out. There were bleachers for the guests to sit in. These were those kind of metal bleachers that you see at little league ballparks. They had about 6 rows of seats. Behind the bleachers was a wall that made up the theater. The wall was on the west side of the theater, which kept the afternoon sun off of the guests. The only problem with this, and I’m not complaining, is that all of my 100 pictures that I took here have major shadows on them, again I’m not complaining, just stating fact. The benches were mildly uncomfortable, but overall I was impressed with the layout of the theater. It let the audience be right in the middle of the experience. Right in the action. Wood chips flying in to peoples hair and STOP. Take off the red glasses, you look silly. OK, The seats were fairly close to the action, but not real comfortable.

 

Before the show began, Jane, the “mistress of ceremonies” told some very bad jokes, and a couple of bear stories. I don’t remember any of them, but I remember that they were pretty lame. (Again I’m not complaining.) Then it was time for the show to begin.

 

But, before the show began we had some time to meet some of the other guests. There were people from Texas (of course, all of Texas was on our ship), New Jersey and other places that won’t come to mind right now. One lady became very prominent quickly. She was one of these “northern” types. Kinda whiney, very pushy, and very, very loud. She was the first to yell, the first to answer questions, the one applauding at the wrong time, you know the type. We didn’t think anything about it. We'll never see her again. There are over 2,000 people on our boat. Anyway, she's probably a local. (Right?)

 

One more interruption before the show begins. Princess has been notorious (one, so far) for writing descriptions for shore excursions that have limited basis in reality. So how did they do this time? This is how Princess describes the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show on their website:

 

“The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show –

 

Alaska's frontier lumberjacks battle British Columbia's premier woodsmen in a no-holds-barred competition for the title "Bull of the Woods.”

 

Southeast Alaska's rich logging history comes to life in this thrilling display of skill. World champion athletes are featured in springboard chopping, buck sawing, axe throwing, log rolling and a tree climb ending in a 50-foot free fall. Your colorful host delights the crowd with stories of lumberjack lore.

 

Located a short walk from the cruise ship pier, this celebration of a bygone era is a rip-roaring good time and quality entertainment for all ages.”

 

I said I was going to be nice, and I will tonight...

 

But who knows about tomorrow. I’ve may just have to come up with a top 10 list of my own.