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Today was a great day. We honestly weren't actively doing much today. It involved a lot of sitting on our balcony and looking at the scenery, which suited us just fine. We started the day by getting up and going to the buffet for breakfast before we entered the park. Then we sat on our balcony afterwards and watched as we entered Glacier Bay National Park. It was mountainous, but initially there wasn't much to see. We had ordered room service for lunch-nothing special, just sandwiches and a coke. We didn't want to miss anything in regards to the scenery. Of course afterwards we were tired and there wasn't much to see, so we both lay down. Chris watched a movie and I attempted to read, but I didn't get too far before I ended up taking a 30 minute nap.
Around 1:30 the scenery got interesting. We were able to see a number of glaciers and quite honestly, the first one was the most impressive. There isn't much to say about it except for the fact that it was absolutely beautiful, but I'll let my pictures do the talking on this one. At first it was warm-about 72 and partly sunny, but that quickly changed to about 50 degrees, overcast and with a slight breeze. I was getting quite cold, but I didn't care. I sat out on the balcony probably for a good 3 hours straight, taking video and pictures and just enjoying the views. Needless to say the hot shower that followed felt really good!
Unfortunately I didn't get any video or pictures of it because it happened too quickly, but I did see a large chunk of ice fall from a glacier and fall into the ocean, which was pretty cool. We really didn't see a whole lot of wildlife until we were about to leave the park. However, as we were entering, I saw a sea otter swimming on his back probably about 30 feet away from the side of the ship. Many of these creatures really aren't afraid of cruise ships because they have learned that they pose no danger to them and we're not hunters. One thing they are afraid of however is my camera. By the time you see them, you usually don't have an opportunity to get your camera ready. Some of the animals you don't see much of in the first place. We've seen a ton of sea otters, but usually all you see is their nose and their front paws and the rest of their body is in water, and then they dive down and you don't see them at all. Whales are kind of the same-we've seen our share of whales, but they're also somewhat camera shy. You see them blow air up and sometimes you see the tops of their heads, but that's usually it. Today for the first time we did see a tail, which was cool.
As many of you know, today was our 3rd wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to dinner in one of the quieter restaurants on board. It is a new Orleans-style restaurant. Chris had a steak and I had fried catfish. We also had fried green tomatoes, Cajun rice and Cajun fried potatoes, all of which was great. Afterwards I enjoyed a beverage as we sat and listened to some live jazz in one of the bars with couches. After that I came back to the room and loaded up some pictures and Chris headed to the casino. I then went to enjoy some more beverages and listened to a different music act. In fact it was where we had dinner there was a jazz trio. I then joined Chris in the casino and doubled my money on Roulette and broke even on blackjack, though at one point I was up about $30. We also got sucked into the stupid quarter machine and won something extremely valuable- a pair of princess cruises dice keychains!!!
Now that we've headed south, the days are definitely getting shorter. It is midnight and it is actually dark outside! It's not 100% dark, but it's pretty dark-darker than it has been. The thing about this type of cruise is that it is not a lay in the sun, sit by the pool kind of trip. You spend a lot of time sitting on your balcony, walking around the ship and doing activities here and there. The evenings are very busy and there's a lot to do at night. You do not go on a trip like this to get a good night's sleep. Between the evening activities and the long days of extended sunlight both at night and in the morning, it really messes with your internal body clock. A daily nap is almost essential. I don't think we've slept more than 6 hours in a night since we got on the ship. Also, if any of you do a trip like this, I highly recommend doing the cruise. It's the best way to see Alaska in my opinion. Also, spring the extra money like we did for the balcony. You definitely use it and I can't imagine doing a trip like this with this kind of wonderful scenery without it, let alone the fact that it's wonderful to be able to hear the ocean as well.
Tomorrow we're in Skagway bright and early. Our excursion to the gold mining field ended up getting cancelled because it interfered with out train, so we had to pick one. We definitely picked the train. Our train leaves at 8 am and I'm expecting it to be very cool as this was probably one of the highlights of the trip for the two of us. I know some of you have asked about pictures of our room and they are coming tomorrow-I meant to do it today but I forgot. They'll be a part of tomorrow's pictures. Until then, enjoy the blog and the pictures!
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