Cosmopolis WA - 2019

Well Hello!  How are you doing today?  We are doing just fine and have arrived at the Artic RV Park in Cosmopolis WA and plan on being here from 30 Aug - 15 Sep 2019.  We are here so we have a place to keep our RV while we go on an Alaska Cruise.  We called this place up about a year out to make reservations, and then called again about 4 months out just to find out they didn't have our reservations.  So we made them again.  This time they had them.   We picked this place because it was only about 2 hours from Seattle and far enough away from most crime.  At the same time, we found a small kennel on a farm that taylors to each dog and what that dog likes to do.

 First thing was to drop the dog off at the Freedom Acres Kennel and then off to Seattle to the hotel.  We are staying the first night in a hotel before the cruise so we didn't have to deal with all the traffic getting to Seattle.  Since we were a day early, that means we have the afternoon to check out part of Seattle, like the space needle.  When you get to the top of the space needle, they have two levels, the top level has glass walls so they don't recommend any stones while your up there.  They even have glass benches to sit on and lean against the glass.  For some reason, Terry wouldn't do that.  The second level had a glass floor.  It took some coaxing but I was able to get Terry on it.  By the time we left, she was walking all over it like it was nothing.  You had great view of the city too.  While there we hit the fish market, but it was mostly closed by the time we got there.  Here are the pictures of Seattle.
The next day, we were off to the parking lot with our truck.  We picked VIP parking so we didn't have to deal with parking the truck.  Since we live in an RV, I thought it would be a good idea to get duffle bags that we can store under our bed in the RV when not in use.  That worked great until you had to carry them with clothes in them.  They got heavy fast and I had two to carry at the same time.

So like I said we were here mainly for a place to keep our RV.  The park itself was small and has a bar/grill as the office.  We didn't really do much before our cruise, so let's just get to it,  the Alaskan Cruise!  Our cruise was from 3 - 10 Sep.  We did our time of standing around and twiddling our thumbs until we got onboard.  We had to wait on our room, so we just wandered the ship until our room was ready.  So the cruise, we were on the Carnival Legend and opted for a balcony cabin for this cruise.  We wanted to see the scenery without having to leave the room and for this cruise, I would do it again.  We stopped at Hoonah (Icy Strait Point), Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, Ketchikan and Victoria B.C..  I heard someone say that the cruise ships have to hit a foreign port before coming back into the states.  Doesn't make any sense to me so it must be a government rule.  So lets break out these stops and the ship activities one at a time.

The first full day was at sea heading to Hoonah.  Since we didn't know what the future held, we decided to get reservations to the steakhouse on board and have a good steak for a good price.  Low and behold, what did we find out?  Everyone that made reservations on the first day, got a free bottle of wine with dinner.  We didn't even have to pay for a corking fee.  After dinner, they corked it back up and we took it back to the room for more refreshments later.  While at sea we hunted down a good place to get refreshments and low and behold, they had a band.  It was a good band too.  For a spoiler, we saw the band every night during the cruise.  The band would say hi to us every night and one day, they sent us some chocolate covered strawberries to the room and by the end of the cruise, we got a ship on a rope. (that is little awards carnival cruises hands out to like winners of competitions and stuff.)

The next day, we arrived at Icy Strait Point in Hoonah AK.  We originally didn't schedule any excursions except for a plane ride in Ketchikan but decided to book a nice and cheap excursion to a river to see what ever was there.  When we were waiting to dock, we got a good look at an Eagle in the tree.  It was just a taste of what was to come.  So from the boat to a bus we go, with a quick tour of the town of Hoonah and then off to an area with a boardwalk and observation decks.  We walked down a board walk through a marshy area and then to the first observation deck which looks out to a river.  Ok so there was 3 decks all facing the same way, just a hundred yards apart from each other.  We were able to see a bunch of salmon splashing up stream, a bunch of eagles, and oh yeah a brown bear enjoying lunch.

The difference between a Grizzly and a Brown Bear is location, location, location.  Grizzlies are inland and mainly eat berries and stuff like that, where Brown Bears eat Salmon mostly.  In fact they only take two bites and then goes for another.  they eat the belly and back.   Because Brown bears eat so much salmon, they are quite bigger than Grizzlies, or so we are told.  After the excursion, we walked around the port area for a little while and then back on the ship we went.  Here are the pictures we took at Hoonah.

Our next stop was in Skagway.  Again, we didn't book any excursion here either, until onboard.  Since we were going to be here all day, we decided to get an excursion here too.  This time we hop on a bus and cruise to Canada, basically the same path as the train (at least part of it).  We ended up at a suspension bridge, The Yukon Suspension Bridge.  It was about, I don't know, 100 feet across a ravine.  Terry enjoyed the bridge and you know 5 years ago, she wouldn't even attempt this, and now she just bounces down it.  Ok not by choice because there was other people on it too, but she made it.
Below the bridge was a nice little river and on the other side was a display of  a hunting/trapping cabin setup.  The place itself was really nice and great views.  On the way there and back, we had to cross the border of course.  I bet those guys were bored.  Not that much traffic on that road.

hmm Salmon!

After the suspension bridge, we headed to a Salmon bake just outside of town.  Since I am not a big salmon fan (eating, not catching), they had chicken too.  It was some really good food.  They even had a little camp area showing how a mining camp would have looked back in the day.

After the excursion, we wandered around the town.  I think this where Terry got a new ring with the Crown of lights diamond in it. Of course I had to get a picture of the brothel with the women yelling down to people to come and visit.  One of the things they told us on the excursion was on the rock wall next to the ship, there was a bunch of painted signs about ships and captains.

One small part of the cliff

The story goes, when a ship came in and docked, the crew would sneak off at night and paint a sign with the ship and Captain's name, along with the date.  The higher the sign, the more respect the crew had for the captain.  There was some really high on the cliff, and some really low too.  Anyway, here are the pictures we took of Skagway.  Oh, our times on the two cameras were different, so that is why you will see the picture story twice and this is true for the entire trip.
Well now we're off to Glacier Bay National Park.  The way I understand it, only a two ships are allowed in the park a day or something like that.  It was a funny cruise as we never seen any water life on it.  Not a whale, seal, orca or anything.  Just kidding, we saw lots.  Here are some sea lions chillin on a iceberg.  During the trip we saw a lot of whales and some Orca's...Yes I know an Orca is a whale, but they have a way cooler paint job.
We were able to see I believe 3 cavitations, you know when part of the glacier falls into the ocean.  The ranger that was on board said that is rare to see that many on one trip.  Some trips, they don't see any.  I tried to get some video of it, but as soon as you see it, get the camera to your face and turn on the recorder, it's all over.  So if you want to see it, look it up on YouTube.  I'm sure there is video of it.   Some of the videos/pictures I took were a long ways away and I wasn't using a tripod, so if the video's shaky and pictures aren't very clear, you now know why.  So in Glacier Bay, we saw I think 3 different Glaciers and a bunch of waterfalls.  Here are the pictures we took of that.

So after some wonderful viewing of snow and mountains, it's party time and a great dinner.  We like to sign up for Chefs Table on our cruises.  Where else can you get a 10 course meal for $65 a person.  We have done this 3 times now and everytime has been a great experience with great food.  We have yet to figure out how to prepare our stomachs for all the food, so we don't come out over full.  I guess practice will make perfect.  Anyway, here is the pictures of that fine night.

Next stop Ketchikan.  This is where we booked an excursion based on Terry's parents opinion.  It was a plane flight inland and back.  This was by far the most expensive excursion we did.  So you know the drill, get on a bus and go to where the excursion starts.  The plane we were on was a little over wing cessna style plane with 8 seats.  Since Alaska has lots of water, this plane had pontoons just for that reason.   We took off down the bay and inland we headed.  We saw lots of beautiful scenery and even "saw" some mountain goats.  Or so the pilot said we did.  I saw nothing.

We ended up landing in a lake (but at the end of this "Lake" was a ship, so maybe it was just an inlet.).  We pulled upside a dock and got to get out and stretch our legs before heading back.
Was it worth the $350+ dollars per person, I don't know, but how often would you get to do this.  After the plane ride, we walked the town.  We didn't have a lot of time, maybe another 2 hours or so, before we have to be on board, so we walked quick.  We did make it to Creek Street where there is a bunch of stores along the creek.  I think this is where Terry got a new necklace and pendant.  Here are the pictures we took here.

Our next stop is in Victoria B.C.  where we get to hang out in the city for about 4 hours, all of it was in the evening.  Of course the town was a good 2 miles away.  A lot of people took the buses, we took the sidewalks.  What was nice was the city was all lit up like Christmas or something.  With us knowing everything about Victoria (NOT), we pointed ourselves in the direction that everyone else was going and started walking.  We must have been good guessers because we made it downtown.  Some of the buildings were lit up like a drawing.  We didn't get to go to the Garden thingy since it was nighttime and all, but we did have a nice walk, and then back on the ship we went.  Here are the picture for Victoria.  Last stop, Seattle.  It's funny that we had perfect weather all week, then there is Seattle.  When we arrived, it was raining, but luckily, it stopped by the time we got off the ship.  We made it back to our truck and headed back to our camper, which was just the way it was when we left.  The next day, we picked up our dog which wasn't very happy with me, leaving him there.  After about 1 minute, he was over that and was happy to see me.

So we had about 4 days left before we move on, so what to do?  I know, let's explore.  The owner told us there was a nice scenic route that we should take, so that is what we did.  We headed to the coast and checked out this little coastal town.  There was a bunch of seals in the area, some hanging on a channel buoy others swimming in the harbor.  We might have seen a seagull or two million too.  It was a fun trip.  And yes, there was plenty of blackberries for Terry and spider webs across the face for me.  Pictures of the Washington coast can be found here.  Well I think that's it for this trip, now on to Oregon to check out it's coast.