Alaska

Alaska is an experience.

Work has been amazingly busy. Satelitte signal is quite a challenge in the mountainous regions up here. I've got a Cruise Director who never lets up, but we have so much fun when we're working together I don't really mind it. I've put together some great videos here that I'm really proud of. The higher ups here really like my writing which is always nice to hear. I get on really well with the crew here. Most are leaving soon, but it's always so nice when you have a team that just clicks. The Acitivity Manager and I are old friends, my assistant and I laugh all day, the Cruise Director is a really fun guy, the Associate Hotel Director is an old friend from the Eclipse open, and there are so many new friends here.

One thing that's kept me rather busy has been the Shore Excursions I go on with my Cruise Director, Mike. We go out to film the tours and I make mini travel documentaries. One of them was shown in the theatre. I love when we do that. It leads people to talk about the videos around the ship and I get to overhear it. It's great to hear your work complimented.

The tours we've done are incredible. The first one was insane! The Cruise Director calls me the night before and says, "Clear your schedule for tomorrow, we're going to ride a elicopter to a glacier." Oh darn, I guess I'll have to find the time...

Helicopters are incredible. I loved the ride. No steep take off or landing, just pick up and touch down. It was amazingly comfortable. On the Mendenhall Glacier we had to wear these boots over our shoes, I called them "Moon Boots." So we get to the glacier and it's absolutely freezing, but stunning. It was like stepping into another world. I expected dinosaurs to appear around the corner at any minute. There were little rivers running with sides of the most amazing crystal blue.

The best side story to this tour was there was an obnoxious, annoying little boy running around not listening to his parents or the guides. For added humor, he was a fat kid. Mike turned to me and said, "That kid is going to fall in," and I respond with, "Shhh. No he's not." Sure enough, five minutes later we hear, crack, crack, crack and the ice beneath the kid cracked and he was neck deep in glacier water. His dad ran to his side, but no one else seemed to mind. It was quite comical. I swear it was like seeing the fat kid in Willy Wonka fall into the Chocolate River. It was fantastic and I feel only slightly guilty about laughing.

The next tour was in Juneau. Mike and I took a seaplane to the Taku Lodge. It was a hunting lodge in the 1920s and is now a spot for tourists to come see the Taku glacier and river. This tour was not Mike's favorite, but it was right up my alley. It was so relaxing. We flew over mountains and glaciers to land at the lodge. The grounds were amazing. There was a nature trail with waterfalls and some of the most interesting plants I've ever seen. The best part - there were dogs!!!! There were four labradors running around and they loved me. I want a dog so desperately. So Mike and I took a walk around filming the trails and then the beel was rang for dinner. Now, I'm not a salmon fan, but it was so different there. It was such an amazing meal of salmon, home made bread and lemonade with glacier ice in it! They actually go out and chip ice off the glacier to serve to their guests!

While sat for dinner someone near the window called out, "Oh my goodness look!" It was a brown bear! A brown bear had come from the woods to start eating the sand out of the grill. Some of salmon oils had leaked into the sand and he wanted it! I know I was supposed to be frightened, but all I really wanted to do was go and hug it! They're just so cute!

The last tour we went on was in Skagway. We took the White Pass Railway Ride. It was beautiful. It's the same route the miners used to take up to their panning sites. It was a lovely ride and seeing how the scenery changed was awesome. It started very green and rugged and as we climbed higher and higher it started to have that jurassic look again. It was lovely. I spent a lot of time on the platform outside and it felt very tranquil. I took deep breaths and said a prayer of gratitude.

The second part of that tour was a 15 mile bike ride back down the mountain. That was interesting. It was freezing, rain rushed at my face, my fingers and toes went numb and the scenery was majestic. I kept looking around thinking, who knew I'd ever do this!? I spent most of the ride at the back of the line talking with Alex, one of our guides. It helped the 15 miles go by much smoother.

Now I know this is the Alaskan voyage, but I have to say my favorite port has been Victoria, British Columbia. It's a gorgeous little town where we've been able to stay out until 11. Our first time there I went out with such a fun group. There was the Shore Excursion Manager, the Spa Manager, the Cruise Sales Manager, the Port and Shopping Guide, a Shore Excursion Assistant, the Cruise Director, myself and so much laughing. There are no bad restaurants in that town.

Elisha the Cruise Sales Manager and I spent an evening touring the Butchart Gardens. It was very lovely, but I wish we had more sunlight. The gardens smelled soooo nice. The coolest part was the part of the tour we didn't expect. We were taken to the Butterfly Gardens on the way back and there... were... FLAMINGOES!! I have actually never seen flamingoes up close. So Elisha and I were doing everything we could to get their attention for a good picture. I said, "Elisha get them to look up!" She turned and looked at them and said, "Hey! Gobble Gobble!" What!?! We cracked up for a good few minutes about that. For future reference, flamingoes don't go "gobble, gobble," though, they did look up! Probably wondering, why the hell is that girl making turkey noises??

One of the things I'll never forget about Alaska or the Infinity is having my Mom sail for a week. She brought her friend, my new "Aunt" Diane. They had such a blast and I'm still touched by how much the crew went out of their way for them. It really means a lot to know that the crew will go out of their way for my family.

All in all Alaska was nice. Too cold for my liking, but I did some pretty incredible things. I suppose it's time to tick ride in a chopper and see a real bear off the old bucket list. What am I talking about? I don't even have a bucket list. Most of these things just happen. I never even knew I wanted to ride a helicopter until someone told me I was going to. It's an odd life I lead.

Off to Panama...