Betz RV Travels: The trip part 1

Thursday June 29- our alarm was set for 4:00 am but I woke up about 3:30 and went ahead and got up. Our bags are packed, we’re ready to go. Bill put the big suitcases in the car last night and today I finished packing the carryon bag. We were off on our big trip. The drive to the airport wasn’t bad, traffic was light at that hour. Google maps took us straight to the economy parking lot ($9 a day). The shuttle was parking right by where we parked so off we went. We dropped the checked bags and got in line for security. They only had line for precheck and general, no first class, so we got in with the riffraff. I was surprised when they wanted to pat me down and said it was my hips that caused it. My knees are metal but no metal on my hips! Bill didn’t have to take his shoes off because of age but the TSA agent at the people X-ray machine yelled at him about having his shoes on. She thought he was under 75! Anyway, we cleared security and started the haul to get to our gate. At Cincinnati airport you get on a train in the main terminal to go to the gates. We were going out of gat B1 so when we left the train we had to hike to the far end of the terminal. We hadn’t eaten breakfast as we were getting food in the plane but the restaurants we passed sure smelled good. Our flight was on time and left left the smoky air of Ohio.

The flight itself was uneventful except breakfast didn’t settle in Bill’s stomach and he didn’t feel good. After returning his breakfast to Delta he felt better and slept most of the way. I watched the move The Whale. It was interesting. They kept bring snacks around so Bill filled up on those. We landed in Salt Lake City in gate A19 and our connecting flight was gate B26. Yep, all the way across the airport again. We sure got our steps in today. They are doing construction at the airport so to get to our gate you walked through the door and went outside to a bus. They took you out to the plane where you walked up ramps to get in. Haven’t had to do that in years. The flight to Eugene, OR was bumpy but ok. Soon we were getting our luggage and Terry arrived to take us to his house. We will be staying there until Sunday.

We went out to a local Mexican place and sat in the spa at the house before going to bed before 10:00 pm. The 3 hour time difference was brutal but we stayed up until almost regular bedtime to help get adjusted. I unpacked every thought we needed while we were here. I of course forgot some things and had to open the suitcases a couple of times.

Friday June 30 - we woke up a couple of times during the night but finally stayed awake around 6:00. I got up and got dresses and discovered I was missing my hairbrush. I swear I packed it. So a trip to Walmart is in the plans today. We went to breakfast at a little local spot called Kristie’s. It is like an old time diner. The food was good. Afterward we make the required Walmart run. We got my brush and also picked up some 3M hooks to use on the walls on the boat to help organize things. Today we are going to the movies to see the new Indiana Jones film. I hope I can stay awake. I am settling into the new pill routine but did forget on set yesterday. The rest of the day will be resting and a bbq tonight. We did go to see the new Indiana Jones movie. It was pretty good. They referenced bits from all the older movies. Dinner was kabobs, salad and potatoes.

Saturday July 1 - Cathye made breakfast today - eggs, bacon, potatoes. No real plans today. Terry drove us around to see various places around the area. We went to Sweet Home and Foster Lake. We tried to find an ice cream place but wound up getting some from a grocery store. Back at the house we made sure we had e dry thing packed. We are leaving some dirty clothes here, no need to take them with us on the cruise.

Sunday July 2 - We were up really early and on the road around 6:00 am. We stopped at the Black Bear Cafe for breakfast it was really good. The trip took about 5 1/2 hours, including our breakfast stop. Once at the dock Terry dropped the three of us off with the luggage then he went to park the car and take a shuttle back. Bill and I got a porter to take our big suitcases and we went to check on where we were to go since we were early for our checkin time. They told us to go ahead and go through the process. Once we got checked in we found a seating area and waiting for Terry and Cathye. They were only about 15 minutes after us. We were soon on the ship and locating our rooms. We are cruising on Holland America on the ship the Westerdam. We have veranda rooms, which is a small balcony. Here are a couple of pictures of the dock, Seattle skyline and Mount Rainer.

We got on around 1:00 so after we dropped our stuff in the rooms we went to check out the ship. We wound up backtracking a bit as we got lost a few times. We had dinner in the dinning room. I forgot to take pictures of our dinner and I don’t remember exactly what we had. You get an appetizer, a main dish and a dessert. The servings are not overly large but it is still a lot of food. After dinner I checked out the jewelry store. I saw a bracelet that was beautiful. They let me try it on, in fact they insisted. Turns out it was 13 carats of diamond baguettes and was priced at a modest $20,800.00! 😳 needless to say I didn’t buy it. I kept teasing Bill that I was thinking about going back the entire trip.

Monday July 3 - Happy 80th Birthday, Bill! We decided to have breakfast in the dining room. Terry and Caythe went to the buffet. After breakfast we tried to go for a walk around the promenade deck. Turns out it was way too windy and cold for walking. We made about half a lap and abandoned that idea. In the early afternoon we went to the main stage where they gave a talk on whales in Alaska. They described the two main types that live in the waters around Alaska, the grey whale and the orca or killer whale. I hope to see one. We took a nap in the afternoon and then watched a Disney movie about bears in Alaska. I really enjoyed that. Dinner tonight is in the Pinnacle Grill, the ships steakhouse. I sort of remembered to take pictures. I have a special appetizer of candies bacon. Here is a picture.

I had a filet with asparagus and a baked potato. I bought a bottle of wine that will be brought to our table each night until I drink it all. Bill had crab cakes for appetizer and halibut with whipped potatoes for main. They brought him a chocolate mousse cake for his birthday. Luckily they didn’t sing to him.

For dessert I had a chocolate soufflé with a cream sauce. Here is what the dish looked like after I finished it.

Bill also got his baked Alaska that was ordered before the mousse.

Tonight was dressy night so we had our pictures taken. Here are a couple we bought.

Dinner was great until a group was seated next to us and they did not understand what inside voices meant. They had a baby with them and when it started fussing the father left the room with her. Why didn’t they take the hint that a fine dining restaurant is not a place to be yelling. Luckily we were just about finished and got the heck out of there.

After dinner we went to the main stage to see a dance group (Step One Dance Co.) do a performance they called Move.

Here are some pictures of our room

Tuesday July 4 - Happy 4th of July. Juneau does their fireworks at 12:01 AM so we won’t be seeing any today. We woke up to a nice day at sea. We will be docking in Juneau later today. After breakfast they cleaned our rooms and left this towel animal for us. We decided it was a dinosaur, like a brontosaurus.

In Juneau we had an excursion planned. But we had time to check out some of the stores first. Here is downtown Juneau. When we first got there this restaurant had a huge line

We found our bus and got on after a bit of confusion on the part of the tour people. Our first stop was the salmon fish hatchery. They grow all 5 types of salmon there. We have been to other fish hatcheries before but it was still interesting.

After the hatchery we were taken to the Mendenhall glacier National park. We didn’t get to walk on or even get real close to the glacier but it was still beautiful. There was a nice waterfall there, too.

Our last stop was the salmon bake. The food was very good. Salmon isn’t my favorite fish but I really liked this. We had salmon, ribs, salad, coleslaw, rice, scalloped potatoes, corn bread and a few other things. For dessert they had a yellow/blueberry cake. After dessert we headed back to the ship.

While sitting on the balcony we saw some eagles. They are on the top of the poles in the picture.

We didn’t go to the dining room as we had been to the salmon bake. I believe Terry and Cathye had dinner in the buffet. We did go to the buffet and got some ice cream for dessert.

Wednesday July 5 - today is an at sea day, meaning we won’t be docking anywhere. We will be cruising to Hubbard bay and viewing the Hubbard Glacier. Bill and I went to the dining room to have breakfast. We prefer to be waited on and Terry and Cathye prefer the buffet. It works for both is us. We sat at a community table and met two other couples. That is part of the fun. I had an omelet and it was excellent. We did find that you need to be very specific on ordering. I forgot to ask for cheese in the omelet so I didn’t get any. Bill forgot to ask for jam for his toast so he didn’t get that either. We won’t make that mistake again.

We went to the photo area to see what pictures there were. They take a thousand pictures of you all over the boat and on shore. We found our dressy pictures and really liked most of them. We bought two and Bill was supposed to put the others in a trash box but he just stuck them in the folder the ones we bought were in so we got all of them I hope Holland America isn’t reading this and can ask for more money.

We met Terry and Cathye and went to the Main Stage to hear the wildlife expert give a talk. He was very good. He talked about animal intelligence. I enjoyed the talk very much. He only had an hour but I could have listened longer.

As the ship entered Hubbard bay we went out on the veranda to check things out. The area was beautiful and we enjoyed it very much. The captain got as close as he could to the glacier and then turned the ship so that both sides got a good look at it.

We originally planned on having tea at 3:00 but that would have kept us from seeing the glacier when the ship turned so we will do that later in the week. Tonight was orange night. Bill and I didn’t have anything orange, it isn’t a color we wear, so we didn’t join in but Terry and Cathye did. There will be an orange party tonight in the Rolling Stone lounge but we will be asleep. Once again I forgot to take pictures of the meal but it was very good. After dinner we went to the Main Stage and saw a singing group called Major Fourth. They were excellent. They only did 12 songs but I could have listened longer. They are performing on another night but we will be doing something else and won’t be able to see them.