July 31 – “Bad to worse”

Bad …

I had my dentist appointment yesterday to see about replacing the filling that came out right at the beginning of our Alaskan adventure.  The doc told me we could indeed do that, but a perfect storm was brewing in my mouth, and it would be my choice how to deal with it.  So, actually part of the tooth broke off as well as the filling.  The tooth next to it already has a crown, accentuating this one’s weakness.  It is the tooth that does the primary chewing job – now for both sides of the mouth since the extraction on the other side.  A filling will work, but will be a temporary fix at best.  It may last for a few years, probably less with the extended use.  A crown, on the other hand … ouch.  But yep.  The new material they are using for crowns, zirconium, is much stronger, and was created for people who have teeth that tend to break easily … “And that would be you.”  Yep.  She said that.  So we started the crown process.  The temporary one is in now.  The permanent one will be here in five to seven days.  It will only take fifteen minutes to install.  Can’t wait.

Badder …

It seems our air conditioner has been running almost constantly just to keep up with the temperature we have it set on.  That makes for quite the electric bill, so we called the repair folks … again.  He came while I was at the dentist’s office, so he had the pleasure of dealing with a hot and bothered Chris.  She didn’t have to press too much, though.  The guy agreed with her one hundred percent that it shouldn’t be doing this.  They have had to come out way too much.  He finally added some more Freon and assured her that he would talk to his boss in the morning about what more they can do.  It still ran forever.  Well, until Chris set it up to 78 degrees.

Worse …

Last night Chris got sick.  Like fever and chills and coughing sick.  She ended up sleeping on the couch.  Never good when Mama doesn’t feel well …

But good …

Gotta find a silver lining in all this.  Before Chris started going downhill we went over to Nathan and April’s for dinner.  Nathan made spaghetti and green beans and salad.  Good stuff.  The best part of the evening was watching Chris get excited all over again as she relived our trip through showing off our pictures.  They were kind enough to watch them all, too.  Modern version of the proverbial vacation slide show, I guess. 

Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!  Amen.”

Father, please heal Chris quickly.  Amen.

July 30 – “Recuperation Day … Rough Night”

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Our two weeks of constant motion, hurrying here and waiting there and eating strange foods and wearing dress-up clothes and carrying suitcases and lugging backpacks, all at what amounted to three hours later than we were used to (Or was it earlier?  I have no idea), is apparently finally catching up to us.  And not just us.  We heard than Cary is still feeling pretty puny, and KayLynn and he have both developed a nasty cough.  Sure hope the Sprays have been spared.

I slept in until seven because I couldn’t fall asleep until after eleven.  Come on body.  Get back on Galveston time.

I started working on stuff for church, a sermon and the like.  When Chris got us she watered the grass and began the ordeal of washing our 85 pounds of dirty clothes. 

Lunch was Whataburger.  An easy choice when there is really no food in the house except a can of corned beef hash.  Oh and some leftover Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Not ours, though.  We found out later it was from the day Nathan and his family came over to have dinner with Freddy.  They didn’t want it, though.  Now we had something for supper.  By the way, that Freddy is one spoiled dog.  While we were gone she got to visit her cousins Tilly, Abby, and Scooter.  She also had a play date with her neighbor across the street, Max. 

Other than Chris’ persistent laundrying it felt like we were both still in a daze.  Lauren came by after work to chat a bit.  I hope I didn’t sleep through too much of the conversation.  It was great to see her and hear about the ministry opportunities that have continued to pop up at Seaside while we were gone.  And Chris did regale her with a story or two about whales and puppy dogs. 

We tried to watch some TV.  All we could handle was some house restoration show on DIY Network.  I kept waking up during a commercial because I forgot to fast forward.  At one point Chris brought in ice cream in a valiant effort to recreate our late-night escapades on the cruise ship.  I’m just glad we didn’t have any high stakes card games to play.  I don’t think I could have told an ace from a queen. 

Neither of us slept much last night.  Chris started coughing.  I was just really hot.  Temperature hot.  I’m used being to the other kind of hot.  We finally set up an extra fan, and that helped a lot.  I’m not sure how much after midnight it was when I finally dozed off.  We didn’t get up until after eight this morning.  That’s a record for me.  But the, it was only five in Alaska …

Oh, well.  Maybe I’ll be able to focus a little better today.  Dentist at 2.  Haircut tomorrow.  Oral surgeon follow-up Thursday at nine.  Etc.  Etc.  Etc. …

Isaiah 12:2 says, “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”

Father, I give you today.  I pray that you will make something more of it than I could by myself.  Amen.

July 29 – “Real home”

We didn’t make it to church in Arlington yesterday as we had planned.  I guess we could have, but I don’t think any of our group of six could have stayed awake through a sermon.  So … finally … we headed for home.  Not a stateroom on a ship home.  Not a good friend’s spare bedroom home.  Real home.  Galveston home.

We hated to wake up the Winkle’s.  But KayLynn got up early and made some biscuits and coffee for us.  Cary was still a little queasy from “the plague,” but he ate a biscuit and some honey.  Then the two of them sat down in their respective recliners and were out like a light. 

Meanwhile we got packed up.  Well, OK.  Chris got us packed up.  I finished yesterday’s blog.  A real page turner, you know.  Trip climax and all.  But the adventure was not over yet.  There is always one more chapter to tie up loose ends and present that one more little plot twist to grasp your interest and hold you in utter suspense until the sequel comes out.  And what is that twist in our case?  What lies ahead on our final leg home?  Read on …

So … I woke up around 9 a.m.  Let’s see.  4 to 9.  That’s 5 hours.  That’s enough sleep, right?  Chris was up … well, later than that.  But by the time we got all our stuff together and had some breakfast, it was well after church start time.  Just as well at this point.  Cary and KayLynn went back to sleep.  Oh wait.  Chris just joined them.  A nap does look good about now.  I may be right behi …

                                                          …

                                                                   …

Phew.  Awake now.  We left for Galveston at 12:15.  That’s 9:15 Alaska time.  And, yes, it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.  I woke up near Buffalo, I think.  And then I dozed off again.  This time I woke up just before Madisonville when my phone alert went off.  The Astros had just scored.  Forgot all about it being Sunday afternoon.  I called up the game on my phone app and watched to the end of the Astros victory.  Well. I actually missed some of the game when we stopped at Buc-ees to use the bathroom and get some lunch.  But thanks for the welcome home gift, guys.  That was the highlight of the trip home so far.

A.B. (After Buc-ees) we ran into some pretty severe thunderstorms, but Chris handled them like a champ, as usual.  We talked a little about my dental situation.  Looks like a call to the regular dentist first to get the filling fixed up.  Then the surgery follow-up happens on Thursday.  WooHoo.  Two in one week.  Can’t wait.

We made it home and unloaded the car amidst a few stops to talk to the Geran’s and to watch Freddy run wild in circles around the house.  Guess she was glad to see us.  Chris found some leftover pizza in the freezer, so we heated that up for supper.  No more unpronounceable meals for us.  At least not until the Panama Canal cruise in January.  It’s going to take us about a week to recover from this trip.  As our travel agent kept reminding us, “This is not a vacation … it’s an adventure.”  And adventures are sometimes … exhausting.

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

Father, thank you for riding and floating and flying with us for the last two weeks.  It is really good to be back home.  Amen.

July 28 - “And then came the climax ...”

Well, we landed safe and sound in the port at Vancouver, Canada.  We were able to take our time at breakfast after having to be completely out of our room by 8 a.m.

The last breakfast on the boat was very nice.  We went to one of the dining rooms instead of the buffet.  How’s this for a breakfast? Pancakes, bacon, sausage links, ham, fruit, coffee, and orange juice.  Hey, it had to hold me over through a three hour bus ride back to the good ol’ U.S.A.

We received our official goodbye over the loudspeaker from our English cruise director.  He signed off with his signature saying: “Wikki Wikki Wan.”  Not at all sure what that means ...

We were hurried to the gathering room so that we could wait.  There we received a sticker that read: “Direct to Bus.”  Among other possibilities we figured that must stand for something like: “Dawdle Indignantly Receiving Even Catastrophic Tardiness To Become Upset Sufferers.  Did I mention the whole hurry up and wait philosophy?   Rampant.

Our color was finally called to disembark.  We were enrolled in a special program to allow us to skip passing through the hassle of customs inspections, but it involved an unusual procedure.  We were herded along a back corridor down a winding tunnel into the Canadian cruise terminal.  Right in the middle of our trek were were told to stop and wait - hurry and wait yet again.  Apparently an ambulance was on scene to pick someone up.  It wasn’t our 90 year old lady, though.  She was plucking along famously.  We all got locked in a bus that had the door and luggage compartments taped shut.  As long as the bus driver didn’t open the door in Canada we were now a tiny traveling portion of the United States.  They referred to the bus as having been sterilized.  Not sure how I feel about that.  Especially when several people started in with coughing fits.  That’s all we needed.  Trapped in a locked bus with the bubonic plague spreading amongst us.  Panic could ensue.  Someone could try to break the seal.  We would be arrested and ... horror of all horrors ... sent through customs.  Aaaargh.
 
Fortunately a few mints and a pack of gum solved the problem.  We got away from the airport with no problems.  Driving through downtown I noticed two things:
1) The downtown Vancouver skyscraper buildings all had planter boxes.  Not unusual, I guess, but these were all big enough to be growing fully mature trees.  And many of the buildings had grass growing on the roofs as well.
2) There are Starbucks stores on every other corner.  Guess Vancouverites love their coffee.

At the border the driver collected our passports and left the bus.  Again the stress level increased among us.  Would he return?  Would we be stranded in a strange foreign country with no means of international identification?  Is one of us secretly a double agent ... a spy among us?  Wait.  No.  We are in.  Back in the U.S. of A.  Hey, that would make a good song title, don’t you think?  As if to confirm our suspicions and calm our fears, we passed the football stadium of the Blaine, Washington, High School Fighting Borderites.  We couldn’t come up with a satisfactory idea as to what their mascot could be, though.  A border agent?  A half Mountie, half DPS officer?  Sigh.  Whatever.  We were in “Merca.”

We drove down a highway in Washington that had mountains on one side and water on the other.  Meanwhile phones on the bus that had been stuck in airplane mode for the week on the ship began to come to life.  I have never heard so many different beeps and chirps and dings all happening at once.  My phone may or may not have been among them.

It took us about three hours to get to the Seattle airport.  And that airport had yet another first-time experience for me.  A Talking Water Fountain.  As you bent over and pushed the button for the water to flow, a LOUD loudspeaker made a sound like you were gurgling the water.  Pretty weird.  I tried it three or four times.  The extra bathroom trips later were certainly worth the novelty of the experience.  And I wasn’t alone.  One young boy was filling up a water bottle, so his gurgle was long as well as loud.  An amused crowd began to gather.  His Mom finally called out to him, “Leave some water for everybody else.”  And the crowd went wild.  Well, as wild as an airport would permit ...

We boarded our final airplane with little difficulty.  Well, other than the plane that we were supposed to be on had some “maintenance issues”  so they switched it out.  The new one was kind of nice.  Leather seats.  A little more comfortable than usual.  Well, until I tried to watch the in-flight movie.  My little screen rebooted itself 17 times (yes, I counted) before it took hold.  Then, just as the movies was about to reach its climax, it rebooted again.  Guess I’ll check to see if it is on Netflix.  Don’t tell me how “The Kid Who Would be King” ends.

We arrived in Dallas about 12:15 a.m.  Touchdown was a little rough.  I think our pilot was eager to get home as well.  We bounced and lurched forward as he slammed on the brakes.  Once we settled down a bit and began taxiing, someone ahead of us yelled out, “That was fun.”  YeeHaw.  Welcome to Texas.

Cary and Wayne called the remote parking bus to pick us up.  And ... the adventure continues.  The Winkle’s car wouldn’t start.  It was completely out of gas.  Wayne stopped a driver and explained our predicament.  He promised to notify his supervisor.  Hurry up and wait.  The lot supervisor took Cary to get some gas.  But when they tried to pour it into the tank, they realized that the spout had a hole in it.  A paper cup nearby was co-opted, but the exchange proved too messy.  The supervisor, however, assured us that the had a funnel at the next lot over.  “I’ll be back in three to six minutes.”  Thirty minutes later he returned.  While he was gone, Cary got sick.  Like throwing up sick.  Like maybe he got that bubonic plague from the sealed bus earlier.  When the driver got out of his car, he had something in his hand, but it wasn’t a funnel.  It was a bottle of water.  His plan was to cut out the bottom and use it as a funnel.  Wayne stopped him and suggested he let Cary drink the water.  The supervisor jumped back in his car and drove over to where Cary was, picked him up and took him to get another bottle of water.  For the rest of us?  Hurry up and wait.  They finally got back, and surprise, surprise ... the makeshift funnel worked just fine.  We got a few gallons in and stepped back for the moment of truth.  Would the car start?  Would we be leaving it for later and call for a Lyft driver to take us home?  Cary sat down in the driver’s seat.  He slowly reached for the starter switch.  A crank.  No.  Another.  Was that a different sound than before?  Perhaps.  Another crank ... and behold ... we have lift off.  The car started.  We all piled in and followed Wayne and Sheri and all of our luggage to the exit gate.  Finally we were on our way home, right?  What else could possibly happen at 2:30 a.m., right?  Wellllll ...

And then came the climax, the crowning blow of the evening.  The exit gate.  Wayne drove right through and pulled over to let us catch up.  Our lane had a line.  Hurry up and wait.  It was finally our turn.  KayLynn was driving by now so Cary could recuperate a little.  She handed off the ticket.  And the attendant called out a required payment amount.  But Cary already had pre-paid that bill online. The guy asked to see the email from the airport confirming the payment not.  While Cary frantically searched through his emails on his phone, we noticed the flashing lights of a police car.  Then another.  Where were they going?  Seems someone had randomly pulled off to what he thought was the side of the road, but in reality was parked in the roadway.  Yep.  That would be Wayne.  It was too early in the morning to give him a ticket for obstructing traffic, though.  There WAS NO traffic.  Wayne did agree to move further down the road to a pull-off spot, though.  Phew.  Escaped that one.  Meanwhile, back at the window, Cary still could not find his receipt.  But the little man in the window was also making some phone calls.  And finally, whoever he was waking up told him to open the gate.   We were through.

We arrived at the Winkle’s a little before 4 a.m.  Cary went to bed immediately.  We got the suitcases in and followed him soon thereafter.  Not in the same bed, though.  Bubonic plague and all ...

Micah 7:18 says, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

Father, would you please heal Cary quickly and protect KayLynn and the rest of us from whatever he has?  Thank you for loving us.  Amen.

July 27 - “Like a Normal Person ...”

We woke yesterday morning to the sound of foghorns sounding.  Loud foghorns sounding.  From our ship.  It sounded at least six or seven times.  One of them woke Chris from a deep sleep.  I think she was dreaming about the Titanic or something.  Now, Corey Geran has already assured us that we’re fine unless the string duet becomes a quartet and they start playing “Nearer My God to Thee.”  

The big activity on the ship was shopping.  Lots of shopping.  They even co-opted one of the dining rooms to set up a flea market to do their best to dump their extra merchandise.  They even had stuff from cruises to New Zealand.  Chris got a pretty scarf thingie and some Christmas presents.  

Chris and Sheri sat around a jewelry store waiting for a raffle of free jewelry.  Three guesses how that turned out.  Oh, have I told you yet about the wisdom of the diamond industry?  We heard it more than once: “Only one in every ten white diamonds is yellow.”  Hmm.

We had an authentic English pub lunch.  Fish and chips.  really good.  We could have ordered kidney pie.  Nope.  We did like the quiet atmosphere after a week of eating at the buffet.

Our late night card game was moved to middayNone of us knows what time it is anymore anyway.  And we didn’t even finish the game.  We saw the Canadian Pilot boat delivering our pilot for the Inside Passage, so we decided to go to our rooms and watch for whales.

Our travel agents threw us all a Last Night Cocktail/Coketail (Cute, huh?) party.  I had a Virgin margarita.  Tasted like a lime slushie.  After the party we decided to try again at the card game.  We barely got in a game or two, in spite of the accident Cary experienced.  Something like that might embarrass some people, so I won’t even mention that his pants were a little ... well, “damp.”  No details other than that.  And you certainly didn’t hear that from me.

Our last supper in the fancy dining room became a raucous affair.  Not at the start, mind you.  One of the options for appetizers was a combination lobster, shrimp and squid spam.  Nope.  Not going there at all.  Ever.  I ended up ordering their version of deep sea Kingfish.  Good stuff.  Chris had the salmon again.  She really likes that stuff.  

Then began the wild side.  Dessert.  The waiters all got in a line and marched around the room carrying baked Alaska and singing.  All the patrons were asked to wave their napkins and shout.  And then, so we would remember them and be sure to speak highly of them, we were asked to dance the chicken dance with them.  Told you it got wild and crazy.  But that wasn’t the crazy part.  Our table of six ordered no less than 11 desserts.   Cary ate three of them all by himself, and before long he was rocking a major sugar high.  Wayne had three as well, but he was sneaky about it.  He just went into a sugar coma.  The girls each had one.  I just had two.  Like a Normal Person.  We had to have one “normal” guy at the table ...

The night ended early.  That’s because we had to have our suitcases all packed and outside our rooms before 10:00.  With all the extra souvenirs and stuff, we were all weighing and rearranging right up to the deadline.  Now it’s on to a long day of bus riding and flying back to Dallas.  

Here’s a classic for you.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

Father, it’s still a long way to Galveston.  Thank you for this experience.  It was unforgettable.  Amen.

July 26 - “It’s raining”

After a loooooong night of card playing that kept us awake until almost midnight, i woke up at 5:58.  That would be almost 6 a.m.  Back home it would be almost 9: a.m.  My body is so confused.

So ... Ketchikan.  Raining.  Apparently the two things are virtually synonymous.  They have already hand over 168 inches of rain this year.  Kind of behind schedule for them, but then the rainy season hasn’t started yet.  We started the day right off with a tour of the city.  Our tour guide told us that Ketchikan means something like “Towering Eagle.”  She took us to see her friend the amateur totem pole carver.  Just a hobby for her/.  I think I may try it.  All i need is a dead cedar tree...

Here’s a joke she tried on us: “What do you call a bald eagle sitting on a church steeple?  A bird of pray.”

The tour was pretty bad.  A storm was blowing in that was bringing different a level of rain to the rain.  We heard everything we didn’t care to know about salmon hatcheries.  Oh, and here’s an example of the recitation technique: “I’m going to go over this bridge (by this time we were already over the bridge) very slowly, because this is the place where you might see some black bears.”  Ah.  Would have been nice to know before we got to the bridge.  We finally made it to the totem pole village, once of the places Chris was really looking forward to.  There was some fascinating stuff, but it was raining hard and blustery, so everything was cut way short.  If it was for the native guy telling about the clan house, the visit would have been a total bust.  Oh, and we didn’t even go to the gift shop.  Can you imagine such nonsense?  No gift shop stop?  I was horrified.

After this forgettable portion of our trip (The only one, thank goodness), we headed back into town to walk around in the rain.  First stop was the office of the National Forest Service.  Yep.  They had a stamp for the National Parks book.  Check.  Next we went to Creek Street, the local red light district.  Well, it used to be back when what you did in your own home was perfectly legal as long as you owned the property.   Finally the city government bought out all the madams and ran them out of town.  The buildings are now tourist shops.  So, we went to Creek Street all right, but we got distracted by five seals playing in the actual creek.  W also saw some salmon swimming around, trying to avoid the seals.  Gotta love that marine life.

Sasquatch Seal joined our ranks.  He has high career aspirations.  He really wants to be world renowned for something.  Hence the stage name, Sasquatch.  You can’t tell anyone, but his real name is Marion.  He’s embarrassed by it.  I just think it’s kind of boring.

Finally (after wading through a few souvenir shops, of course), we made it back on board the boat.  My new knee set off the metal detector again.  WooHoo.  But that didn’t set us back long.  We were wet to the gills, so we went right up to change clothes and get some lunch.  Then we sat in the atrium drinking coffee (Even Chris.  She discovered caramel latte) and listening to the string duet.

Next on the agenda was watching the boat pull away, but by 5:15 (check-in time) the gangplank was still hooked up.  Uh oh.  More stragglers.  They finally made it on board though, and we were off.

Now the appetizer for dinner was the “interesting” delectable of the evening.  I ordered something with the words “quail” and “venison” in it.  Didn’t understand the other words.  What did they bring me?  Spam.  Well, not exact;y seem.  See, spam tastes really good.  This stuff?  Not so much.  Apparently they ground up a quail and some deer meat and pressed it in to the shape of a loaf of bread, then sliced it.  Isn’t that basically what spam is?  It tasted really nasty.  Maybe Freddy would have enjoyed it.  It did have that dog food taste to it.  But the main course was seafood stuffed trout.  Very good.  After the meal the waiter entertained us with magic challenges and napkin folding.  He’s pretty good at both.

The Hand and Foot tournament continued with the guys still in the overall lead.  Two games to two last night.  The girls are trying really hard ...

Deuteronomy 28:2 says, “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

Father, please continue riding with us as we journey south.  Amen.

July 25 - “Meeting Seeco and Paul and Herbert.”

I found out the name of my new English brother.  In the indomitable accent of one of his security staff underlings from the Philippines, his name is Seeco Barry.  I showed him the guy’s picture.  He seemed quite surprised to see his boss on my phone screen.  No idea if that is how you spell it, but that’s how it sounded.  That’s phonics.

While waiting for our tour bus to arrive we stopped in for some fudge.  Guess what I found in the shop?  A tiny homeless puffin named Paul, no doubt after our tour hosts, Tom and Rita Paul.  Actually that was probably just a coincidence.  He’s coming home with us.  

It rained a little bit on us back out in the parking lot.  We didn’t really notice it though.  We were watching a bald eagle roosting in a tree.  Then another one flew by in all his regal glory.  Then we got on the bus and saw one perched on just about every other street light.  Ho hum to the locals.  Pretty special to us.

Speaking of the bus, it had a name.  Herbert.  No, really.  The driver told us the bus’ name was Herbert.  Even had the name printed on the side.  Herbert.  

So Herbert took us to our whale watching tour.  I gotta say, that was worth the money.  We got to witness a phenomenon so rare that the guides were open-mouthed in astonishment.  About seven whales were feeding in a bubble circle pattern.  All seven would leap upward at the same time to grab a mouthful of supper.  Amazing.  When we left there, we found not one but two moms and their calves.  Cute kids.  It was a very bouncy ride back to the dock.  I dozed on and off.  I felt like I was back on our little boat with my Dad on our way to go fishing.  Nice memories.  

Next was Mendenhal Glacier.  Beautiful.  Also saw a gorgeous waterfall nearby.  Wayne and Sheri shamed us all by walking the two miles over to the waterfall and back.  The ret of us settled for taking the proverbial hundred or so pictures.  Oh, and we found Humperdinck there.  He’s a whale.

Next we went back to downtown Juneau to do some shopping.  Then it was back on the ship for a quick lunch.  The ship was scheduled to depart as soon as everyone got back on.  Someone was late. Almost 30 minutes late.  The entire port side balconiers cheered their arrival.  We wanted to watch the boat cast off.  The guy was pretty embarrassed, but he did tip his cap to us.  Oh, and while we waited we saw a little otter with his catch of a fish almost as big as he was.  And it rained as we pulled away from the dock.  One of our guides told us that Juneau is the second rainiest city in Alaska.   The first?  Where we are going next.  

Nighttime was dress up for supper night again.  I ate four snails.  Escargot.  It wasn’t horrible, but I wouldn’t order it again.  The lobster tail was good, though.  After supper we went back to our rooms to change and ended up watching passing whales for almost an hour from our balconies. We saw one go kind of nuts slapping his tail against the water over and over again.   Fun stuff.

We ended the night with another rousing game of Hand and Foot.  The guys smoked the first two, then slacked off so the girls could win a few as well.  We needed up tied.  Always a happy (and safe) conclusion.

Job 42:5 says, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”

Father, thank you for making it easy to see you through the incredible works of your creation.  Amen. 

July 24 - “Morning creatures”

We woke up to the ship not moving.  Nothing.  No forward momentum at all.  Crisis?  Nah.  We just made really good time and we were already in port in Skagway.  so we had a casual breakfast and then figured out how to get off the ship.  A kindly security officer led us to the right place.

And at the “right place” I met my long-lost, coulda-been brother from England.  He was a regular morning person.  Everything he said he enjoyed doing in the mornings ... Chris pointed to me as well.  We finally hugged and KayLynn snapped a picture of us.  

Speaking of morning people, I did my utmost best to transform Sheri into one of us.  I sang the good morning song.  Failing to sufficiently motivate her with that one, I switched to that all-time favorite classic, “I’m a Nut.”  That one did draw a smile, especially after she thought I was through ... three times.

We headed off the boat to meet our bus driver.  On the way Cary and I saw a baby seal playing in the harbor.  What fun.  What a morning creature, Sheri.  

Our driver Heidi drove us (imagine that) over to the train station. She then picked up up in Canada and drove us back to Skagway.  What a job.  Our train car guy was named Nathan.  He was from Friendswood, Texas.  Imagine that, a nice homegrown Texan kid in the wilds of Alaska.  We saw a big old black bear from the train just before we crossed over into British Columbia, Canada.  And then came the Yukon.  Silver mines, but no gold, although the gold rush had to come through the area.  Emerald Lake, but no emeralds.  Just green stripes in the water.  Weird.  We stopped for lunch in Canada and had barbeque.  Kind of strange.  Not Texan, for sure.  While there we met and adopted Yukonicus P. Mountie.  He’s a Canadian moose in the Royal Canadian Mounties.  Didn’t know they admitted animals.  

We made a stop in Carcross, Yukon.  There we grabbed an ice cream cone and watched the local fire training academy do hose training.  The students were all girls in their 20’s and 30’s.  Their academy has done this weeklong event for five years and they have an amazing retention rate for students staying involved in their local VFD’s.  

We learned a few Canadian words.  Mene in Tagish.  Weeaax in Tlingit.  The Lakes in English.  Also learned that they filmed a movie set in the arctic in British Columbia because it looks alike in the winter.  Cold and bleak.

We drove over a place where several fault lines come together.  They have built a cantilevered bridge over the spot.  That means it is anchored to the rock on one end and hangs from cables at the other, so it will move around with the earthquakes.  Fascinating.  Then we stopped at a nice waterfall and took some romantic pictures.  

Final stop was in Skagway again.  We walked around town a bit and got the National Parks book stamped.   

Last night was dinner in the frou-frou restaurant on board ship courtesy of our travel agent.  Steak and lobster.  Also other stuff that I couldn’t pronounce.    

After we ate we went to the back of the ship to watch the crew release the ropes tying us to port.  We stayed on deck to watch Skagway disappear into the distance.  Long day.  Another tomorrow.  Here we go.

Luke 1:37 says, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Father, thank you for fun people like Heidi the bus driver and my new brother from England.  They are just as amazing as the other creations surrounding us.  Amen.

July 23 - “A WHAT kind of band?

Chris and I were enjoying another of those leisurely buffet breakfasts as we approached the entrance to Glacier Bay.  That whole thing, by the way, is a National Park.  In fact when we got a little further in we watched the Park Rangers climb onto the cruise ship via a pilot boat.  But this breakfast proved to be like no other.  I noticed a group of unusual eddies forming in the water, so i began what became a ship wide pastime ... staring.  Suddenly, a spray of water shot hip from below the surface.  It was a whale blowhole.  We stared for a while, but he never surfaced more than that.  And then we were sailing into ... the Twilight Zone.

Yes, the Twilight Zone would hav been proud of the fog bank we faced.  It was eerie.  AT times we could see nothing.  At other times the fog looked like waves crashing onto the still bay waters.  But on the other side ...

We were back in our room by this time.  I was napping when Chris called out for me to come onto the balcony ... quick.  I stumbled out as fast as I could, and was I ever glad I did.  For the next thirty minutes or so we watched a humpback whale play.  He blew out his blowhole.  He rolled over and waved to us with his side fin.   He slapped the water with his tail.  He even jumped out of the water completely.  I thought we were watching a Sea World exhibition of trained creatures.  But these guys were just having some breakfast fun.

During a later walk on the deck we saw some horned puffins.  That’s a bird.  How do I know that’s what they were?  We also saw an overly excited Ship Naturalist.  

In the afternoon we saw a family of orcas.  The park rangers were absolutely beside themselves.  Apparently it is rare to see that here.  We also saw a pair of bald eagles, sitting majestically on a high rock.  Next came an entire little island full of dark brown sea lions.   One really big light brown one sat in the center of the crowd like a proud King of the Island.  We also saw some more whales and  plenty of little otters flitting around.

Supper was in the dining room again.  It was Italian food night, so all the waiters were dressed in either red and white or green and white stripes.  Cary wondered if we were living in a Where’s Waldo Book.  I suggested that we try to find the real Waldo - someone among the international staff who was actually from Italy.  We didn’t have to wait long.  The guy who was apparently in charge came to our table.  He was wearing an apron that read, “Don’t ask me for the recipe.  I’m Italian.”  Sure enough, he was.  The only one in the room NOT wearing a Wear’s Waldo shirt.  Wouldn’t you know it?  He introduced the evening entertainment.  And I quote ... “A group of Philippinos singing an Italian song and playing as a Mexican mariachi band.”  He was actually pretty good, too.  

Non of us lasted long after supper.  We got together and filled out some form that would enable us to go through customs in Canada a little easier than normal at the end of the cruise.  Sheri taught us how important it is to watch your account status on the boat.  You’ll have to get the details from her.   Wayne and Cary both had some more dessert, of course, but we did head for bed.  Very early day tomorrow ...

Deuteronomy 28:2 says, “And these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

Father, you continue to outdo yourself in this nature experience we are having.  Thanks for being such an awesome Creator.  Amen.