THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Well the real journey started in New York but I have way to may photos to go through before I can even start to pick out which ones to show.

But, before I go any further, I must say, New York is MY kind of town! Boy what I wouldn't give to live there. As excited I was about going on my 10 day cruise through the New England States and into Canada, I was sad to leave New York.

I'll be going back though. That is for sure. I think in the Spring I'll have to take a week and visit once again.

I'll post about all the great fun I had there after I take you through the cruise.

So come on, lets get on board the ship. The ship is Holland America's Eurodam. A beautiful, super big, ship.

The first thing, after checking in, they lead you to the Lido Deck to eat lunch. The rooms are not yet ready as they are still being cleaned from the last group that just got off.


About 1:00pm, the announcement came over the loud speakers telling us the rooms were ready. So of course, every was in a hurry to see where they would be living the next 10 days.

I had a lovely balcony room. What is that I see? A bottle of champagne? Oh, it is a gift from my travel agent. How sweet.

However, I am on Weight Watchers and I vowed to lose weight on this trip. Since I'm not a big drinker and champagne doesn't really thrill me any way, I wasn't bound to drink it and use my points for that. There is way to much food on board to tempt me as it is. I don't need to eat or drink anything that isn't 100% wonderful.

So, I gave it to two girls who I met on board. They were room mates and loved champagne so they were excited to get it.

The bathroom is small (as are all bathrooms on the ship) but there was a bathtub. Yes, I did take a nice long hot bath. You haven't lived until you soaked in a tub as you are in the middle of the ocean.

Oh, by the way, I went to weigh in today at Weight Watchers. I reached my goal! I lost weight on this trip. Two weeks of eating the most delightful, sinful food and I still lost. I lost 1.6 lbs. Not a lot but still a loss.

Had it not been for all the walking I did, I know I would have gained. I'm back on track now and hope for a bigger loss next week.

We sat sail around 5:30pm. We were late in leaving because we had to wait for a few people who I assume were delayed by the flights they were on.

They must have booked their flights through the cruise line or I have no doubt we would have left them behind. The Captain we had made it very clear he was going to set sail at the scheduled time we were to leave every day and if you were not on board then we would see you at the next stop. Of course, you would have to pay your way to get there.

As we sailed by the Statute of Liberty, I felt a tug at my heart strings. I don't know why she has the ability to do that to me. I guess I think about all the people who saw her way off in a distant and then knew for sure they were finally about to have their dream come true. They were coming to America.

She makes me proud to be an American as we drift by her. She also made me sad to have to have to say good bye to New York. Though I knew there was a lot of fun ahead.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and we were docked at Newport, Rhode Island.

We had to tender to shore. For those of you who don't know what that means it is when the ship can not dock at the pier for one reason or another. Mostly because they are to big. So they drop the anchors and you have to take a "tender" or life boat to shore.

Being Newport is a big fishing town, there are lots and lots of boats. Some were really big ones too. This town if full of money.

Since I was traveling alone, I decided to book my shore excursions through the ship so I would be with people and know for sure I would be back in time so the ship didn't leave us.

The excursion I did in Newport was to some of the Mansions. The first one we went to was the Breakers. It was the Vanderbilt's summer "cottage".

They didn't allow photos inside but it was something else. Gold leaf, marble, crystal, carved wood, art and even platinum walls.

Isn't this house darling? Wouldn't you like to live here?

This is the children's playhouse! I couldn't believe it. It is bigger then many people's home.

This "Summer Cottage" looks like a 5 star hotel from the outside.

They still have the original gas lamps. They were a beautiful color with the green patina and darkened areas highlighting the designs on them.

This is the back side of the house. Oh wait, I mean cottage.

The walls had a lovely moss growing on them. The grounds really made you feel like you were on the grounds of historical site.

The lawn and flowers were so pretty. Of course there is a wonderful view of the sea below them. Can you believe they only would stay here about 2 months a year. Why would you ever want to leave?

We then went to the Marble House. Another huge, I mean sweet Summer Cottage.

Gee, I wonder what the "real" houses looked like if these were called cottages.

When I think of a cottage I think of a cute little home nestled among flowers and trees. Not huge estates.

This is a very big fountain in the back yard. It wasn't turned on the day we were there.

Standing at the entry way and looking out, you feel so small. Everything is grand and towers over you.

I just had to ask if there were any ghost stories about these places. The girl working the gift shop looked at me for a minute with her eyes wide opened and just shook her head yes.

I asked her what she had heard. She said she had heard lots of stories but, she herself, was alone in the house one day. There are underground tunnels that they have to go through to punch in and out on the time clocks.

The tunnels were originally for the staff to run back and forth through without having to go through the house. After all, the staff was not meant to be seen and tried their best to remain behind the scenes.

So this girl, was walking to clock out. When she saw a shadow of a woman walking in front of her. She said she was so freaked out by this because she could see through this lady. The lady was dressed in clothes from the turn of the century.

The girl said she ran out, locked the doors behind her and even to this day she will not go back to the tunnel or stay alone in the house. She got permission to hand write her time card so she didn't have to go punch in/out and walk through the tunnel again.

Of course, I loved the ghost story. She thought I was crazy.

Tomorrow we will be in Boston. My excursion will take us to Salem. Home of the Witch Trials.

I'M BACK FROM MY CRUISE

I got home last night and am so happy to be home. It's always fun to plan and go on a vacation but it's always wonderful when you finally get home.

Rather then take days to show you where we went I thought I would do it all in this one post and just hit the high lights.

I went with Trinity, my great niece. We got up early and made it to the airport in plenty of time to check our bags, have a bite to eat and then we only had to wait about 10 mins. before we got to get on the plane.

We went out of Long Beach airport which is a tiny tiny airport and had to walk out to the plane like in the olden days.


We were lucky enough to fly first class but since our flight was only about 2 1/2 hours long there weren't really many perks.

We of course had more room in our seats and got, what they called breakfast, a cinnamon roll, yogurt and a drink. No movies as the flight wasn't long enough.

On the ship the beds were comfy and had nice fluffy pillows and a down blanket to keep us warm in the cold Alaskan nights.

This ship had some crazy, wild things on it. One was a bed in a lounge area that you could lay on and watch tv which was above you.

This is a picture of Trinity giving it a try.

The staff on the ship was not the friendliest staff but this one guy who served us our drinks every dinner was wonderful and quickly became Trinity's favorite staff member.

We went on the NCL Pearl. The staff in the kids club was wonderful and our room attendant was nice but our room could have been kept cleaner. I've been on other cruise lines and this ships staff didn't even come close to the customer service I've had on other lines.

Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad. They just didn't do anything they didn't have to do. Most didn't smile or say hi when you walked by, none of the staff in the dinning room or cafe ever asked if they could get you anything or help you carry your food, get you something to drink or help you find a table.

If you bought the soft drink card and then ordered a coke they got the drink for you, handed it to you and walked away. No smile, thank you or can I get you anything else. If you ordered a coke in the show rooms chances were you were not going to get it. Only if you bought the drinks that cost extra money did they make sure you got your order.

I guess they figured they already got the money up front for the cokes so why bother with you?

The sunsets were just lovely in Alaska. Though they didn't show up until late. The sun set around 11:00 to 11:30 pm and it never got really dark out.

They had a chocolate buffet one night. Boy did everyone go crazy that night.

This is Trinity enjoying one of many chocolate items she tried. YUM!

We spent a lot of our time out by the pool. I know you are thinking "Who swims in Alaska in that cold weather?" Well to be honest we had mostly warm days. One day even 87 degrees!

Here is Trinity kicked back and relaxing as we watched some people playing Wii.

The screen is huge! Larger then life.

Bowling was not very popular. I don't know why. But every time we went in there you could always find at least one lane to bowl on. They have four lanes.

It seems like we did a lot of eating. Well, maybe it seemed that way because we DID eat a lot. LOL

Trinity loved coming back to the room every night to see what towel animal was waiting for us on our bed that night.

She spent a lot of her time in the Kids Club. She couldn't get enough of that. This picture shows her with her face painted by one of the other kids in Kids Club.

The first stop we had was in Juneau. We decided we wanted to go on a helicopter ride to the Glaciers where we could get out and walk around.

They give everyone special boots to wear so you don't slip and slide on the Glacier.

Even though it was very hot that day they told us to wear a jacket as it gets super cold on the Glacier.

We loved the helicopter ride. We wore head sets to listen to the pilot telling us what we were seeing. It was beautiful everywhere you looked.

Then we landed on the Glacier. It was the most beautiful sight ever! Pictures do not do them justice at all.

The water is so pure and has very little oxygen in it so it is a lovely shade of blue.

Some places looked like it was a bunch of water but then it was actually frozen over and very deep ice so you could walk on it but gave you a strange feeling like you were going to step down and just fall through.

The scary part was some of pretty blue was actually water then went hundreds of feet down and you could have fallen in there. Though the guides do keep an eye out for you and point out where to watch out.

This picture shows a rushing river of water running through the ice.

There are cracks in the ice you have to watch out for too. It's hard to watch for everything because you are in awe of the beauty all around you.

Trinity loves to eat ice. She loved knowing the ice she was eating from the Glacier was over 300 years old.

It's amazing to think about how old the Glaciers are and that while it seems like you are just standing on a lot of ice you are really standing on a river of ice that is moving, even though it's moving so slow you can't feel it.

The sad part was seeing how much the Glaciers have melted over the years. Seeing first hand the effects of Global warming really makes you think about things differently.

We all cupped our hands and drank some of the most pure fresh water on Earth. Boy it was super cold but so good tasting.

Our next stop was in Skagway. There we took a train ride that lasted 3 hours. It took us some of the most picturesque spots I've ever seen.

The train was over 100 years old and used to be used by the men going to mine for gold.

We went over bridges and in tunnels that were so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

We saw rivers, water falls, snow and even a bear. The bear was so cute. He was 2 1/2 years old and was just sitting on a rock about 5 feet away from the train tracks watching us go by.

Sadly I didn't have my camera ready and we went by to fast for me to get his picture. He was the only bear we saw on the whole trip.

One day we went through Glacier Bay. It was also a day filled with breath taking beauty. The Glaciers were so pretty with all the blue, white and even the black mixed in.

The black part is the soil from the mountains. The wind will blow or the water or ice picks it up along it's journey to the sea.

The ice chunks in the water are where the Glacier breaks off and splashes into the water. We got to see a very big piece break off. It is something to see in person. The sound is a loud roar and then a crack like thunder.

The pieces of ice that break off are icebergs.

There are a lot of Totem Poles in Alaska.

I've never been a big fan of them but then we found out that to purchase one you will pay anywhere between $500.00 a foot to $15,000.00 a foot to have one made for you.

Since most are very tall they cost a fortune. Knowing that I got a better appreciation for them. Though I still wouldn't want one.

Our last stop in Alaska was in Ketchikan. This is the only moose we saw on our whole trip though we were told they are all over and most people in Alaska hunt them so they have meat all through the Winter months.

Bald Eagles are everywhere. They were flying all around us and we saw several nests they made. The nests can get up to 100 lbs. They build them high up in the trees.

We went on a hike through the rain forest. Did you even know they had a rain forest in Alaska? This is the 2nd wettest spot in world.

We lucked out though as the weather was perfect. Not to hot and not to cold.

The different shades of green in there were so pretty. It was like walking through an emerald field.

We got to eat wild berries, saw bear dens, lots of signs the bears had just been walking where we were but no actual bears. At the end of the tour we feed reindeer and went to an old saw mill then talked to a man who makes Totem Poles.

Our last stop was in Victoria BC. I loved this place. It's my third time going here and I would go again and again.

When you walk down the main part of town there are rows of shopping, dinning, bars and so on. Out on the street there are lots of people entertaining you with music, magic, painting and so on.

This one young guy was doing the most lovely art work with chalk on the walk way.

He did this one and showed Trinity where to sit so the picture appears like the humming bird is actually flying towards her hands. I love it!

We took a bike ride back to the ship as the sun was setting and the sky was purple and pink. The clouds were coming in and it was cold out.

It was a perfect way to end our stop in Canada.

We thought it was fun to think about all the ways we traveled on this trip. We flew in a plane, rode a bus, took a taxi, flew in a helicopter, took a horse drawn carriage ride, rode on a train, had a guy on a bike give us a ride as we sat in the seats on the back, sailed on a ship, rode on a shuttle and then of course in a car.

This trip was so fun, very beautiful and just a perfect time.

I have so many more photos and stories I could share but I don't want to go on and on. If you have any questions or want any more information about anything on our trip just let me know and I will be happy to tell you.

Today I'm staying home and resting. Even though it's very loud as they are tearing out the 2nd bathroom today.

I'm happy to be back.