It's official; we're going to Alaska in August. A while back I read about a cruise along the Inside Passage (southeastern Alaskan coast) and it sounded fascinating. Dave and I did some research and we're going to take a small boat cruise. "The Discovery was originally designed and built as 'Holiday' for William Morris of the William Morris agency in 1931 in San Pedro, California" and it is a beauty! We don't take vacations often; we'd rather save up for a big 'un every so often. This is the big 'un! The boat holds 12 people, not including crew, and we'll whale watch, bear watch, eagle watch, fish for salmon, halibut, trout... OH MY! They even have sound equipment so we can hear the whales sing. OH MY! This is better than Christmas!

Sandra, That IS exciting news! How long will you be on the cruise? It sounds lovely! Congrats to you and hubby!

JJ

That's great! I've been curious about cruises for years and Alaska is one of the places I'd like to go. Only 12 people sounds different than most cruises but I'm not that knowledgeable.

Yeah, I was thinking the same. I know people who have gone to Alaska on a cruise, but it was a bigger ship. Is this something special?

Vacations are the best. Our problem is that when we go away all we want to do is plant ourselves on a white sandy beach. We rarely sightsee.

HOW FUN!!!
My mother-in-law went on a cruise to Alaska a couple of years ago. I'm sure it was on a bigger ship but the said the sights were magnificent and she loved every minute of it.

The Alaska cruise on a small ship (boat?) for twelve sounds exciting. I've been to the Caribean on the Fantasy Ship. It was luxurious and I loved the islands. But Alaska sounds like an adventure.
Seems like sometimes you need to just go to a beach and vege' and other times you need adventure.
A while back my husband and I went around the world. We decided ahead of time it would be an adventure. We determined to see and do all we could all the way around. For almost three months, we got up early every day and went to bed late every night. We made as many plans ahead as we could and approached it like a job. We learned a lot about cultures around the world and we came home exhausted, but we had some wonderful memories.
I guess there's room in life for both and how wonderful to have the opportunity to visit Alaska while it is relatively unspoiled.
smile

It's going to be fantastic! The boat carries 12 passengers and 3 or 5 crew...can't remember. Passengers have private bed & bath...tiny, tiny, tiny...the boat has 2 or 3 smaller boats for use when folks want to go ashore. We'll hike into the interior...only a couple of miles...to watch bear catch salmon, pick berries, etc. It's as strenuous or not as one wishes. Some of the folk are in their 70's and others in their 30's. As boomer's, we'll fit right in <g>.

When we travel, we like to "fit in" and try to do/stay/eat at places where locals may be found. We usually find a small place to rent and then "blend" hahahaha.

We're going to take a couple of side trips as well, I've family in AK and would like to see them while we're so close.

I've already started planning what to take. Found some silk/mohair long johns on sale and bought them. We're supposed to have 3 inches of snow tonight so they might be put into use earlier than anticipated.

My husband says you always need something to look forward to in life. Thistle, sounds like this trip will keep you going for a bit! What fun.

We tease him about being a travel agent because he loves to plan vacations. He just planned one for us, a cruise for his dad, and a trip to Florida for his mom. He loves getting good deals on the internet. If anyone wants to plan a trip and needs some helpful hints, I'd be happy to ask him what sites he uses.

Now it's official. We've sent in our deposit and will be on the boat for either 8 days, 7 nights or 9 days, 8 nights...can't really remember and don't need to know right now anyway. <g>

We're really looking forward to this trip. I don't know what it is with boats and me...I dog paddle like a poodle and this will be the second boat trip we've taken since we've been together. The first was a 36' yacht (looked like a boat to me) and we sailed the British Virgin Islands. It was fun except the guy that put the trip together turned out to be a drunk and he spent most of his time either drunk or passed out. While he was getting drunk though, he and I would scream at each other. He threatened to put me ashore (oh yeah, like that's a *bad* thing) and I threatened to have his rear end put into a BVI jail. Needless to say, we stalemated <g>. This guy fancied himself a sailor but he spent more time feeding the fishes than most anything else. Do you think being drunk had anything to do with that? Dave had been attacked by sand fleas and couldn't walk because his feet were so swollen so that left moi to sail the boat. God was good to us; we survived the waves that were washing OVER the boat because the drunk had disobeyed the rules and gone OUTSIDE the islands. The next piece of land was Africa and I couldn't see it from where I was standing. In all my life, I.have.never.thought about hurting someone but I did then. It was oh, so tempting. I'm thankful I was busy steering the boat to do anything I would have (possibly) regretted later.

So...we're getting on yet another boat except this time...there are people to do the work. Praise be to God!