Tuesday Travels - College Fjord

Today is our last day on the ship.  We have all enjoyed our time together.

This is our dinner group.  We loved hearing what each one did during the days, and what excursions were planned for the next day.  The family we sat with was from Michigan. 

Interesting sites again today...more glaciers and ice.

From Wikipedia "College Fjord is a fjord located in the northern sector of Prince William Sound in the U.S. state of Alaska. The fjord contains five tidewater glaciers (glaciers that terminate in water), five large valley glaciers, and dozens of smaller glaciers"

Also from Wikipedia, "Geographically speaking, a fjord is a  long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier."

This, and the remaining photos are all the Harvard Glacier.

Here a chunk just calved off into the sea...

This thing is HUGE...do you see the small boat?

Mancat Monday

The mancats have had an interesting week...not all happy, but we are adjusting.

Cousin Pirate crossed the bridge on Thursday, Oct 24th.  He had pretty much quit eating, so it was the best decision for him.

The rest of the household seems to have noticed some, but none are overly upset except George.  He has started peeing inappropriately.  Hoping he will settle down, but may take him to be checked for a UTI just in case.

We brought some pumkins home for the boys to play with and sniff.  Always looking for a fun photo opportunity!  Oliver and Harrison were not impressed.

Lenny was a bit curious.  Lenny will officially be Aunties cat now instead of us sharing him.

Rusty had to look from inside his house...

Flynn thought they were pretty cool...we have since put them outside for the birds and squirrels.

Oliver helped fold some towels...Harrison later unfolded them all trying to burrow!

Catnip treat on Sunday afternoon...

Harrison wanting to play with Flynn, but he is too tired.   

Rusty in the other house...He loves to play in these things!

Oliver and Rusty head to the VET on Thursday for their annual shots, and to recheck Oliver's chin.

Tuesday Travels - Glacier Bay National Park

After three days of land excursions, we were all happy to have a day on the ship, relaxing and looking at glaciers.  There are several types of glaciers, but we saw mainly tidewater glaciers.

I'm not sure what this one was called...

The Park Rangers boarded the ship and set up shop.  We could purchase national park goodies and get our NP passports stamped.  One Ranger stayed in the Bridge and gave talks over a speaker about what we were seeing...sometimes it was hard to hear, but very interesting when you could.

The Margerie Glacier.  We spent about an hour or more here.  The ship would practically stop, and then after about thirty minutes it would rotate so the other side of the ship could have a great view.  This was a day you could sit on your balcony and enjoy the views.

Auntie and I ran back and forth, from side to side taking it all in...

They were just beautiful and fascinating to watch and hear.  They cracked and creaked and sometimes would calve into the sea.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture that experience.

Another one I'm not sure the name...Guess I wasn't paying too close of attention!  I'll have to research before making my scrapbook.

No straws for your drinks today...

The rangers leaving us...we still had an environmentalist on board who was giving lots of talks, so we were still learning!

Next week, College Fjord.

Mancat Monday

The mancats have had a pretty good couple of weeks.  I missed last Monday because I was driving home from a relaxing and much needed beach weekend.  Something about time in the ocean and reading on the shore to make everything right again!

Lenny discovered the purple puff in my room...making biscuits!

I laid him down in it to show him how comfy it is...he loved it!

The boys are doing better with him, with only a couple of outbreaks a day.  We have feliway plugged in, and are applying the essential oils as needed. 

Oliver went back for another recheck on his chin.  It is looking better, but he still has a couple of large zits.  He just had a culture done in this photo, and the spot was bleeding quite badly.  Oliver was being so patient while pressure was being applied.  Hoping to get the results of this culture one day this week. 

Cousin Pirate will be going back today to try something else for his weight.  We have started on B-12 injections weekly.  The first week, he gained 2 ounces.  We were super excited and thought this is what he needs...we are on the right path.  However, this week (week three of injections) he LOST 10 ounces!  Unacceptable, so back to the drawing board.

Here he is getting some extra food.  The panthers are super supportive of his eating :)  

Lenny is sitting by the coffee table also being supportive...

Cousin George and Rusty on the couch...cheering him on!  

We are not fooled boys, you are all just waiting on him to finish to get at his food!  Of course, they all got some so they would leave Pirate alone while he ate.  We have a bunch of fanatics in the house!

There you have it.  Tomorrow we will be visiting Glacier Bay...come on back.

Tuesday Travels - Skagway

The third city we stopped at was Skagway.  

This painted rock wall greeted us as we exited the ship.  These are the names of the ships that have visited this port before...

Our tour for the day was called "The Best of Skagway."  We took the White Pass and Yukon Route bus into Canada. Then transferred to the train for the ride back into town.  As we climbed, the fog grew thick, but it was still beautiful.  The color of the water was very unique.

Here we are on the train.  Mom was a bit nervous because she had watched some documentary on the train, and it looked like it was super close to the cliffs below.  She doesn't like heights, but there wasn't anything to the train ride...she was fine! 

Passing the border again...still quite foggy

This is an old bridge that we did not cross...it looks spooky in the fog.

The further down the mountain, the clearer the sky became...here's the front of the train coming around a curve... 

There were plenty of river views along the way...

After the train, we went to a salmon bake and show.  Here are some crab apples...

Liarsville was a recreation of a gold rush town...the characters were very entertaining.

Salmon on the grill...delicious! 

It was quite cool in the woods, so mom and Auntie were thankful for the fire...

After the show, we were all able to pan for gold.  It was harder than you would think, but we all found a few flakes.  It helps that they had pre-loaded our pans! 

Once back in town, we visited the Red Onion Saloon, which was a brothel in its day.  Then we were free to walk around the town until time for the ship to leave.  I'm not sure what this tree is, but it was very pretty. 

The buildings are all old and made of wood, but it felt like a Hollywood set to me.

Here is the saloon..the ladies rooms were upstairs.

I did like how the buildings were colored...no reason to have only brown buildings in a town!

This is a snow plow they can put on the front of the train...

We were having King Crab on the ship for dinner, so we didn't get any here...I have decided I like snow crab, or blue crab better than the king.  The larger they are the less flavor they seem to have.

Our ship waiting for us to return...

The next two days, we will be cruising through Glacier Bay and College Fjord.