Alaska Day 2 - Monday May 7, 2007

This cruise ship is crazy. It is sooo big! There are 3000 people on board: 2000 passengers and 1000 workers. There are 2 pools, a kiddie pool, 4 hot tubs, 9 restaurants, somewhere around 9 bars, a dance club, a basketball court, shuffleboard, 3 ping pong tables, a spa, a 24 hour weight room, a fitness room, a casino, a shopping arcade, blah blah blah. It's pretty crazy. There are 12 decks! It's fun to explore everything. My dad especially likes to explore the casino. Oh, yeah, and there is a large theatre which has a different show each night.

We had to do a “safety drill” where we had to practice grouping together for the lifeboats. Sort of fun, but really cold outside! There is a picture below.

What is very obvious here is that we are white. ALL of the servants, waiters, stewards, are from third world countries. Talking to them, we find out that some of them have been away from their families for months, even years. All of the white people are either passengers, crew members, or have more prestigious jobs such as hosts or entertainers.

This whole day we are simply traveling to our first port. The boat got soooo shaky that I, and some of the rest of us, got serious motion sickness. It's pretty funny, you walk down a hallway and suddenly find that you are touching the left side of the hallway, then a few seconds later you find yourself touching the right side of the hallway. That's how much the boat is rocking back and forth today. I took some motion sickness pills and my mom gave me these motion sickness arm bands which apparently work even though it seems a bit voodoo-ish. Cool!

Today we saw a hypnotist. She did a show in the theatre. It was pretty funny. I'm not sure what to think about this hypnotism thing, but it is a funny thing to watch. There was this one guy who was hilarious. He was from Arkansas and was totally a riot. I wish I would have been allowed to film the show, because it was that good. We stayed for the second show, too, and our friend Barb went up to be hypnotized. She did well too, and once it was over she said that she felt super rested. Cool.




Here are lots of pictures of the ship (notice how the pool is empty 'cause it's way too freaking cold!):

Alaska Diary Day 1 - Sunday May 6

Who doesn't like waking up at 4 am? Really?


Our plane left at 6:30 am, so i had to wake up at 4 to get ready and get to the airport on time. The day before wasn't the best. I was getting over bronchitis, scrambling to get ready, got called to a meeting, and developed a crazy headache. all was fixed with a phone call to my lovely mommy who made me feel better.

anyway, my dad was so excited that he pretty much raced the buick to the airport. i've never seen a buick go that fast. we raced to the airport, checked in, went through security with surprisingly little problems considering i'm on lots of black lists due to my political activities (or at least, I like to think that Stephen Harper fears me). Got some coffee, flew in the tiniest plane seats you've ever seen, slept lots, drooled on Jan's shoulder, and landed in Vancouver.

We had about 6 hours until we were allowed on our cruise ship. Lucky for us my Uncle Dan, his partner, and his son came to pick us up and show us around Vancouver. It was good to get to know Christopher a bit as we are cousins but have never really seen each other since we live so far away. We drove around a bit, then stopped at the pier for some fun times!

It is pretty random to see small boats selling dead fish right off of the dock. I love that idea. I totally would have purchased some fish, shrimp, and sting rays if I didn't think they would rot in our cruise ship stateroom.

After the pier, we went to eat lunch at a pub. We were the first ones there, it was 11 am their time (but 1 pm our time so we were pretty hungry). My mom wasn't hungry, so she just had some booze. Way to booze it up at 11 am, mommy!

I had the best burger ever. We were on the coast so I wanted something fishy but not too expensive and decided on the "Cracked Black Pepper Tuna Burger." It was one of the best things ever. A tuna steak rolled in full black peppercorns, and lots of lemon juice. Rocking! Everybody else thought I was crazy to eat that, but it was honestly really good.

Then we headed over to Stanley Park. I had no idea how gorgeous it is! What the heck? I was thinking something akin to Assiniboia Park in the ‘Peg or Central Park in NYC, but this is really a bona fida park in the city. It was HUGE and had so much stuff in it! Beautiful trees, great views of the city, even an aquarium. I had no idea. I am so thankful for those civic leaders who decide to keep parkspace for citizens. Take a lesson, Sam Katz. Public spaces are very important.

Finally, it was time to go to the cruise ship. Vancouver is the CRAZIEST city to drive in. so many one ways, so much traffic, so confusing! I am glad I wasn't driving.

We made our way to Canada Docks, said goodbye to our gracious hosts, went through customs, did all of the paperwork, and headed onto the ships. It was so fast! And so easy! We boarded the ship, and found our stateroom. Now we are pretty cheap, so we got the cheapest staterooms available. Which means that they are tiny and on the inside so they have no windows. I felt a little claustrophobic the first few hours but then after that it was no problem at all.

We spent the rest of the night exploring the boat, eating, and trying to settle down from our excitement. Our trip has started!

I'm baaaaacccckkkk

Hey all!

No, I was not in the cruise ship that ran aground in Alaska, although we saw the cruise ship the day before it hit and made fun of it 'cause our ship was so much bigger. :-)

I'm compiling a diary of Alaska and will post soon, but in the meantime enjoy this stellar blog:

Shopping for Jesus

whoops

Hey! Sorry for the lack of updates! I've just spent a stellar week in Alaska, and will be in Calgary for a week - see you after May long!
Bre

Deadly Frying Pans

Beware, my friends.

You are What you eat

Isn't that devestating? Even my cooking utensils are out to get me. Now not only do I have to worry about deadly spiders, greenhouse gases, my nalgene bottle, hazardous rays from the sun, microwave radiation, pesticides, sugar, vinyl siding, salt, and people stealing my kidneys (thanks for that email forward, mom), now I have to buy a whole new freaking set of pots and pans.