Visiting Victoria

We arrived before dawn in Victoria. No surprise there as the distance from Seattle is a mere 66 nautical miles. I'm sure the ship did circles in the ocean for much of the night. I truly appreciated having the balcony for the early mornings. No need to get dressed before I headed out for the sunrise photos!

After we were cleared to disembark, I stayed onboard until later in the morning. My plan was to walk to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch at Barb's Fish and Chips - yes, please for halibut. Since I had time, I went to the Knitter's and Knatters group. There were six of us that morning; Diane, Catherine, Carol, Helen, Bree, and myself. We were set up in the Doubledown bar next to the casino and the stale smoke was evident. Diane took charge and got permission for us to move to the Symphony dining room - more space and a large table to set out our supplies.

Carol had no plans for the morning, and asked if she might join me in Victoria. Of course, and we made arrangements to meet at the gangway after dropping our projects in our staterooms. Well, best laid plans and all, there are two gangways so we missed each other. I had waited about 15-20 minutes when I decided to head out on my own. She did catch up with me after I'd arrived at Fisherman's Wharf.  Funny story, I mentioned my destination to another, non-Canadian passenger and was informed that Fisherman's Wharf is in San Francisco. :) 

The wharf was a short walk from the port, winding along Dallas Road. At the wharf are the private houseboats, as well as several businesses; mostly restaurants and a couple of gift shops. 

There are public walkways between the length of the houseboats, but these are private homes. 

One can, and I did, walk towards the inner harbour where I could watch the floatplanes start their journeys. It's been over 40 years since I left Northern Saskatchewan, but I still find great joy in seeing and listening to the sound of small aircraft.

Back on the board walk, we spotted these manniquens on a balcony keeping watch over the tourists below.

Another favorite was this sign: beware of log!

Carol had caught up to me and when I was finished with photos we headed to the order window for Barb's Fish and Chips. We both ordered the one piece fish and chips, along with a drink and were handed a pager. It wasn't a long wait before our food was ready, and we carried our trays over to a picnic table close to the water to eat. Oh, it was a good as I hoped, the batter crispy, the fish fresh, and so very tasty. We did have a few pigeons keeping an eye out for fallen bits of chips, but neither of us shared.

Carol is from Ohio and recently retired, an enthusiastic and prolific knitter, and was also travelling solo. I invited her to join the group for dinner, but she had other plans for the evening. We parted ways back at the ship, and after a short nap, I took my knitting to the aft deck for a cup of tea.

Next to us in port was this National Geographic cruise ship. I took a quick look at their website and while the itineraries look amazing the cost is way beyond my means. On the other hand, a smaller ship would allow the passengers views and opportunities to explore that are not available with the large cruiseliners. Perhaps I need to start buying lottery tickets.

Sail-away happened late that evening, after dinner so I have no photos. I met with eight of the solo/singles group that evening for drinks and dinner. No photos of my food this night, but I did try vegan ice cream for dessert; blueberry and it was good.

Next up - Day 4 - San Francisco

Getting there and Embarkation Day

My son drove me to the airport about noon on Saturday, Sept 28. I hadn't remembered there was a football game happening, and we took what should have been the shortest route, but traffic was pretty busy. In any event, I was there in plenty of time for my 3 p.m. flight to Calary. The flights to Seattle via Calgary, were fine and on time. However, the airport in Seattle is a gong-show due to the amount of on-going construction.* We arrived to be told we would be disembarking on the tarmac, where we transferred to a bus, and then seemingly, drove the far way around the terminal to a long ramp that switched back and forth until finally spitting us into a lower hallway. From there we turned right and walked the length of the building to the carousel. Once the luggage arrived, I called the hotel and was advised to go upstairs, walk across a skywalk to the garage, take the escalator back downstairs, cross the street and call back with the number on the red pillar closest to me. Confused yet? I was. I eventually found my way after checking with a young woman at a kiosk in the garage.

When I booked this cruise, I booked the Holiday Inn Express - Tukwila due to the availability of a hotel shuttle, a complimentary breakfast, and the fact the hotel was on the list of hotels for the Seattle Express shuttle. The shuttle driver arrived about 15 minutes after my second call. I've forgotten his name, but the fellow was friendly, and very curious about Canada. We arrived at the hotel about 10:30 p.m. by which time I was feeling quite tired. The front desk clerk checked me in quickly, gave me directions to the elevators and I was soon in my room for the night.

It was a lovely room, spacious and spotless. The view from the window was a parking lot, so I left the curtains closed. The bathroom, no photo, was also large and clean. It didn't take me long to get ready for bed and I'm sure I was asleep in minutes. The next morning, I went down for breakfast about 7:15 - lots to choose from! I had the shuttle scheduled for 9 a.m., but my notice indicated I should be downstairs firfteen minutes earlier. Since I'm always concerned about missing the bus/flight, I was there even earlier, about 8:30 and the driver Satchel, arrived a few minutes later. I was first on the bus, but there were several more stops before we reached the pier. We were unloading just before 10 a.m., dropped off luggage with the porters and were soon in a queue to get through security before heading upstairs to the waiting area. I don't think we were waiting more than 10 minutes before we were allowed onboard the ship.

There was time to visit the aft of the ship for some photos, a chance to relax and knit, before I met some members of the FB group for lunch. There were eight of us for lunch, including two women I would see more of throughout the cruise. (Lisa and Lee)

We were docked at Pier 91, while this Norwegian ship (not sure which one) was at the downtown Pier. 

After lunch, the staterooms were available and I went up to drop of my carry-on and personal items. There I met Jerry, my steward, who asked me to complete the declaration form for Victoria. Yes, since we were heading to Canada for our first port, we all had to complete a form indicating the purpose of our visit, the goods we were bringing with us, etc. That was a first for me. After collecting the form, he headed off and as my luggage had arrived, I took the opportunity to unpack. That out of the way, I spent some time reading on my balcony, before heading back to the Wakeview area (Aft 16) for sail-away. Lee met me there and we had a great chat. 

At the dock opposite to us was the Royal Caribbean Radience of the Sea. This is one of RCL's smaller ships with a capacity of approximately 2500 passengers. In comparison the Majestic Princess carries 3560 passengers. I can assure you, there were not nearly that many - getting my luggage before mid-afternoon is quite unusual. 

Then it was time to get ready for dinner and the pre-dinner meeting with the solos and singles. There were two or three who joined me at the Crown Grill bar at 5:15, but it wasn't until 6 p.m. the the Princess host realized that there were several groups in the vicinity and brought us all together. In total there were nearly 25 people who came that first evening. I should note there was no signage, the Crown Grill bar seating area is small, and the majority of the group ended up meeting in the hallway - there was seating but it wasn't in the location indicated. 

Oh well, not an auspicious start, but I did join a group of eight for dinner in the dining room. Several of these solos/singles met every evening thereafter: Bill, Leeann, Sharon, Andy, Edlinda, and me. Others that came and went included Dave, Lynn, Jan, Lee, Lisa, Rose, and couple others whose names I have forgotten. Dinner was lovely, but I chose not to go to the shows that evening, rather headed back to my stateroom for a good night's sleep.

Next up - Day 1 - Victoria, British Columbia

* On the other hand, the departures area of the airport, while congested, did not have the same level of construction. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 *comments off

I'm back!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

This is, based on a Google search, a portion of a children's song: To Market, To Market. My Dad used to say it to us when we were headed home after a Saturday afternoon in town. Another favorite was, Home James and don't spare the horses. Funny how such simple memories are retained.

Again, I am reminded how much I dislike travel days. Getting to Seattle was a relatively simple process, no delays BUT the airport is a mess. More on that later. Getting home however took several hours longer than anticipated due toflight delays. If only I lived closer to a port city, but that isn't happening. I can't be too irritated though, especially watching what has happened the southeastern States with the devestating tornadoes and hurricanes. The house was still standing when I got home, the kitchen was tidy, and the furnace kicked in when it went below freezing. 

This is just a quick check-in. I've unpacked this morning, had a lovely long chat with my brother, and will head out shortly to pick up some groceries. There's nary a vegetable (other than frozen) in the house, nor any real leftovers in the fridge to nibble from this morning. You can bet I'm missing the Marketplace Buffet. No one brought me my tea either. :p

Meanwhile, I'll share a couple of photos, one taken the last night of the cruise, about midnight. The second one I borrowed from my brother of last night's Aurora Borealis. I went straight to bed upon arriving home, and he has less light pollution at the farm.

BTW, the earlier photos were of Seattle (Connie noted this one), sunrise in Victoria, British Columbia, a view of the city of San Fransisco from the Golden Gate Bridge, the marine fog as we pulled into port in Los Angeles, and a sleeping snow leopard at the San Diego zoo. As you can imagine, I've many more photos to share. :)

I likely won't post tomorrow - have a good weekend everyone!

Cruising the California Coast

First off, there will be no sunset photos and just one sunrise. Since Day 2, we've been dealing with fog; the worst was between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Even this morning, in San Diego, the marine fog didnt burn off until mid-morning. 

Otherwise, it has been a great cruise and I'll share more when I get home this weekend. In the meantime here are a few of my phone photos.

Preparation and the final countdown

First off, the Wednesday photo was a shot of the city crew in the process of replacing the sidewalk across the street. There are 5 workers (one behind the two standing), two with shovels, the hidden one cutting up the sidewalk to the condo, and the two guys standing there. I assume one of the standing guys was the driver of the truck...the other a supervisor?

It was a busy week leading up to today. I like to think I'm prepared for travelling, but there are other things that needed to be done before I leave the house this afternoon. 

We had cool weather through the weekend and into Monday, but it did warm up enough on Sunday afternoon enough for my son to clean out the eavestroughs on the house. As he pulled out the gunk, he dropped it below onto the front deck and the back patio. I followed along behind with a broom and dust pan and garbage bag. Most of the accumulation was at the ends of the eavestrough, especially at the downspout. In fact, he asked for his toilet auger to clear the downspouts! I'm thinking it has been awhile since the job was done. I brought the hose and he ran water through each eavestrough so we could confirm the water was flowing well. (And yes, I'm aware he bought this place last November and this is the first time he's cleaned the gutters.)

Seemingly overnight., the trees across the street have turned yellow

On Thursday I picked up a few grocery items for my son, and for the cat too. We were running low on wet cat food, and I bought eggs, some sandwich meat, and a loaf of bread for C. Breakfast for dinner is something C will make for himself, as well as grilled sandwiches. He actually is quite adept at cooking, but tends to do that when he has more time. I remember the days of coming home from work and being tired and not wanting to cook a big meal.

I also got the weeding finished in the backyard! With the rain we received, the ground was easier to turn with the pitchfork. It was tiring work, even so, and I'm glad to have it done for a couple of weeks. I'm certain some will come back though the area I'd finished early in the month has stayed mostly clear, just a few weeds that needed to be removed. The hard part are the tree roots - those suckers go far and deep. I've run into a couple that will require me to dig down as far as I can and then use an axe to remove as much of the stump as possible. That will be left until I return from my trip.

That pile of brick and blocks by the wall were dug up as I cleared the weeds. You'll note I never posted a before picture...take my word for it was bad. The soil in pretty much the entire backyard was dug up and turned over.

The other big news this week is the neighbour next door with the big dogs is planning to build a fence this weekend. He came over to talk to C, one evening, and discussed his plans. Those plans changed slightly but he let us know, and I'm looking forward to knowing the two dogs are contained. They are large dogs, and clearly not well trained. The couple bring them out on leashes, but if I happen to be in the back they lunge towards me, and the wife, especially, doesn't seem to have great control. She manages, but I suspect the dogs could get away from her if they really wanted to. We had planned to put up a fence anyway but were waiting until next spring. Now, it should be complete by the end of the weekend. Fingers crossed, though I won't be here to see it.

Packing is done, with the last few items tossed in the bag this morning. That includes the phone charger because, if you were with me last March, it caused some issues when I forgot mine at home. Amazon did come through, but barely. I was asked in an early post about concerns of Covid on the ship. It's a possibility, as it is on an airplane, in a mall, at a concert, or anywhere that people congregate in large groups. I prepare as best I can, wearing an N95 mask on my flights, washing my hands frequently, and avoiding touching my face. I take cold/flu meds with me just in case as well as a couple of testing kits. The bigger issue on many ships is Norovirus which spreads due to improper washing of one's hands (or lack thereof), transfer through shared use of serving utensils in the buffet, and door handles and stairwell banisters. It frustrates me to see people enter the buffet and bypass both the sinks and hand sanitizers that are provided. While I do use the buffet, I tend to take my meal outside the open air tables, even on cooler mornings, and I only rarely take an elevator to avoid the hordes who fill them. Better, that I use the stairs and the reason that I book a cabin on a floor about midway between the upper and lower decks. Hey, I don't want to climb eight to ten flights of stairs unless I absolutely have to! I've been cruising since 2011 and I've yet to contract any illness, knock wood. There is a medical facility onboard too, that I hope never to use.

My son is dropping me off at the airport this afternoon for my first flight to Calgary. I have almost 3 hours layover there before the flight to Seattle. Without delays I should be at my hotel by 9:30 p.m. local time. I've pre-arranged transportation to the port from the pier, and should be picked up about 8:45 a.m. the next morning. I've been warned that traffic is quite congested due to the time of day, as well as on-going construction. Boarding won't start until 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. - I might be a bit early, or maybe I'll be just on time. :) A few of us on the FB group have arranged to meet in one of the main dining rooms for lunch. It will be nice to meet some fellow passengers, at least two that are also sailing solo. Plus it ensures we avoid that darned buffet that is absolute zoo on the first day. 

Assuming I'll be able to access free WiFi at the various ports, I may post a few phone photos. Regular posts will begin again in a couple of weeks. 

Take care everyone!

Friday Funny