We Take Ourselves With Us

We had initially left our port day in Skagway open, just in case we needed to reschedule the glacier/sled dog excursion due to weather.  So, the night before, we found another excursion that looked good: a hike/float combo along the Chilkoot Trail.  Since this didn't leave until the afternoon, we had the morning to laze around the ship and slow roll our breakfast, which we took on the covered dining patio on 11 aft.   Our excursion was billed as a two mile hike on the Chilkoot Trail followed by a float back down the river to our starting point in Dyea.  Our tour guide John mentioned several times that the first 45 minutes of the hike would be the most strenuous.  He offered us hiking poles, which Ned and I took more for show because why would we need hiking poles?  Then, we saw that just the entry to the trail required a nearly completely vertical climb up a combination of tree root and boulder steps.  My first inclination was t...

I woke up Thursday morning realizing that I had many, many muscles previously unknown to me.   Kayaking cross current had seemed difficult but doable yesterday.   But today, hmm … So I started the morning in search of the Aleve and, having found that, coffee. Most of my mornings are spent in the Sun’s sports bar, which is empty that time of day, set for breakfast, and—for whatever reason—completely unknown to those in the super-crowded, super-loud Garden Café just across the hallway.   So, I get to catch up on the blog with incredible views and Wimbledon on the TVs.   At some point, the rest of Kress-Davis troop shows up, and we eat, catch-up on emails while in port, and generally enjoy the comfy chairs and relative quiet.   I’ll note that the only time we’ve felt the press of the more than 1,900 people on board has been at the breakfast buffet; at all other times, the Sun, classified as a small ship, works some ocean magic to make the ship feel spacious. ...