In July, we spent a delightful evening at Albany's Monteith Riverpark listening to Paul Revere's Raiders and learned they were taking in September a "Concerts at Sea" trip─Rock-n-Roll groups from the 60s─to Alaska.
Deb said, "We have to go." After our last cruise some 20 years ago to the eastern Caribbean, I was not at all so sure, but nevertheless, she persisted, gathered information, and I agreed. She invited Elizabeth Kalowski, a friend of some 40 years, to come along. Thus, late Friday afternoon, September 7, Elizabeth's son Peter drove the three of us to the Albany train station where we caught the Amtrak Cascades for Seattle, and the next day we boarded the
Ruby Princess.
The
Ruby is a fifth of a mile long (951 feet), 19 decks high (195 feet), carries 3080 passengers and a crew of 1200. It's easy to get lost; each passenger is issued a detailed map. Concerts' cruise members (550 people) had wrist bands.
At a few minutes past four, we headed out to sea, Seattle on our stern, adventure ahead.
To save time to Juneau, we steamed west of Vancouver Island into some weather: 1000 mb (29.54 inches of mercury), Force 7 winds (gale winds, seas 13 to 19 feet). On Lido, deck 15, where we had our stateroom, swaying made walking tricky. Bonine fixed Deb, pressure bands worked for me. Shortly after embarking, we gathered to meet musicians,
then Sunday the first concert: two and a half hours of Charlie Thomas' Drifters
and Gary Lewis & the Playboys.
Fine sounds.
It was Formal Night, so we dressed for dinner.
The weather continued all night and into the next day, making port at Juneau as scheduled not safe, so we sailed to Skagway, where the weather changed,
but we arrived too late for our planned shore excursion.
I took the shuttle to the town's only antiques store and found a foot-tall raven totem, carved, according to the clerk, about 1900 to 1910.
The weather was perfect, hot in sun, cool in shade. Deb joined me at the Red Onion, Skagways' most famous bar and bordello.
Not sure what was included in the brothel tour; we didn't go.
Across the street was a railroad snow blower that looked like it could tunnel through anything.
Left Skagway in the evening, sailed all night and docked in the morning at Juneau. Deb and I boarded a small helicopter to tour the Juneau Icefield.
The flight gave us a bird's eye view of the ice field, about the size of Rhode Island, and the glaciers that flow from the main body.
We landed on Gilkey Glacier and walked gingerly. The tour agency supplied us with caulked overshoes, but the surface was still slick.
After a short walk, we took off and surveyed other parts of the ice field, frozen lakes, frozen rivers flowing between jagged mountain peaks, massive frozen falls.
We set down again, this time on Mendenhall Glacier, and Nick, our pilot, helped Deb collect glacier water, which he claimed was the purest water one could find.
It was sweet.
As ice descends over falls, it splits into deep crevasses, which close as more ice presses from behind.
Deb walked right to the edge and took these photos.
Too soon we were in the air, flying back to Juneau.
In the afternoon we wandered around Old Town where streets follow the contours of the mountain. The only part I recognized from my visit 30-odd years ago were the stairs connecting one street with another; I did not get a photo. Instead of a Red Onion, Juneau has a Red Dog; Deb looked in but we didn't enter.
We returned to the ship to recover, ate supper at the Da Vinci dining room where our waiters Rex and Joselito babied Elizabeth, Deb, and me. At 10, we set sail for Glacier Bay National Park.
The next morning, Deb saw whales, but I caught only one.
We started seeing ice chunks in the water (one could hardly call them "bergs") including one with seals.
As we approached the northern end of Glacier Bay, passengers crowded the deck above the bridge to see Margerie Glacier and the end of Grand Pacific Glacier─the remnants of the glacier that carved out the bay. First Nations people tell that the glacier advanced at the pace of a dog running. About 1750, it filled the entire canyon and has been receding since. I caught a panorama on the bridge,
but from our stateroom balcony we watched Margerie and listened to the boom of ice collapsing into the bay.
The captain idled the
Ruby at the glacier face, slowly turning so everyone could experience the sights.
Margerie Glacier rises about 250 feet above the water and descends 100 feet beneath. Grand Pacific Glacier, called a "dirty glacier" for the gravel and dirt it carries, is about two miles wide at its end, about 150 feet high at the ice face with 60 feet below the waterline.
After about an hour, the ship headed south past other glaciers.
On the way, we listened to Peter Rivera, the lead singer and drummer with Rare Earth,
I enjoyed his performance best of all those on the trip.
The next morning we docked at Ketchikan, population 8,000 to 14,000 (sources differ); primary source of income: government services, tourism, fishing.
Our tour bus operator claimed it is the "Salmon Capital of the World." We took the city tour because it included a visit to Saxman Village, a First Nations' community of some 400 people about two miles south of Ketchican, noted for totems, a carving shed, a clan house, and, of course, a gift shop.
The tour dropped us off at Creek Street, a boardwalk with buildings on stilts along Ketchikan Creek, once the red light district, now shops selling souvenirs, still doing tourists.
The creek was full of spawning and spawned-out salmon but I didn't get a decent photo. We walked up the creek to the Totem Heritage Center which displayed old totems floated from villages along the Alaskan coast,
and other artifacts, including a lovely thunderbird dance mask
and an Eagle-Raven button blanket.
The
Ruby sailed about 1:30 while in the Princess Theater we listened to the Cowsills
and Mitch Ryder.
One of the attractions of Princess cruises is food; wretched excess at every meal: formal dining, and here and there restaurants and bars, cafeterias open all hours serving a wide variety of tasty dishes, soft ice cream from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
While Deb attended a Rock-n-Roll Trivia event, I attended a "Maitre D' Hotel Wine Club" wine tasting with scrumptious canapés. Six wines were presented, ranging from Simi Chardonnay at $45 a bottle to Overture by Opus One at $119. Yum.
Our last day at sea we attended the Princess Theater to listen to Paul Revere's Raiders; for me, another enjoyable concert.
Perhaps as enjoyable as the music were the musicians. Every one that Deb approached seemed happy to pose and talk.
Our last event ws the autograph session.
A few hours docked at Victoria, then Seattle in the morning and Amtrack home. A good trip.
We made reservations and in heavy I-5 traffic drove to PIR, parked among a range of cars belonging to other lead-foots, and Deb walked to the sign-up booth, showed her driver's license and had her helmet inspected.
Next was orientation, which mainly involved explaining flags and how the afternoon would progress.
Since cars of all sizes and potential speeds would be on the track at the same time, much of the instruction involved procedures in passing. Then back to the Veloster and the wait for the novice group to be let on the track.
Finally, the announcement: Line up. There were about 30 cars in the novice group.
The flagger sent them out one at a time. Deb's turn: she floored it and headed down the straight toward Turn 1, the start of the chicane where over the years we had watched many Indy cars come to grief.
While Deb played race car driver, I set up at Turn 12 to try to record her effort.
I managed to catch her a few times.
At the end of the 20-minute session, the checkered flag signaled everyone to return to the paddock for more orientation and to wait for the second session. There were three 20-minute sessions.
Deb loved it. She hit 95 on the front straight and managed to stay on the pavement throughout. Not everyone did. One driver in a Lotus spun into the wall.
Another slid into the grass and had to be hauled out.
Deb's ready to go again.
