Day 2... Juneau

Please excuse the delay of getting Day 2 posted; it has been a tedious process going through over 900 pictures and to figure out which pictures would best capture our adventure!

Pulling into the Juneau port.

The main reason for taking an Alaskan cruise was to see whales. This is something that Gary and I always wanted to do. The day we took the whale excursion it was cold and rainy and we were thankful! (Huh?) We were told that the fish the whales feed on are at the service on cloudy days. We weren't disappointed.

Gary and I on the back of the excursion boat.

Look real close and you can see Sea Lions.

This picture is one of many of the hump back whales we saw. This picture shows that the whales were not afraid of the boats. We saw 12 whales that day. It was a glorious gloomy day!

Next stop....Skagway!

Alaskan Cruise...Day 1

The Golden Princess was built in 2001; the overall length is 951 feet and the overall width is 118 feet. The normal passenger capacity is 2,600 and the normal crew is 1,150 people. The cruising speed is 22.5 knots.

Saturday, we flew to Seattle then took a bus to the dock. This is the view of the ship from the bus.

We went through customs then went on dock to board. This picture was taken from the dock just before we went through another security check point.

These pictures were taken from the balcony of our stateroom. This first picture is a fishing boat based out of Seattle.

We could see the Space Needle from our balcony. There was a lot of activity in the harbor.

This is a Holland ship that cruised the same route that our ship did. Whenever we docked, they docked behind us.

At sea... it was a little chilly out on the deck but the air was refreshing. I got my sea legs right away and did not get sea sick at all.

Next I will post pictures of Juneau for Day 2.

The BIG Double Nickel...

Today, I turned the big Double Nickel! I don't feel like I am 55 years old but I guess age is irrelevant; it's the quality not the quantity.

I googled the words 'double nickel' and 'August 13, 1954' and this is what I came up with:

Of course this is the most obvious one!

I can remember in the 70's when changing the speed limit was a big controversy, especially in the western states, because in many places the major towns are 100 miles apart.


Someone, somewhere took this picture on August 13, 1954. I thought it was a cool picture!



In 2007, Rob Reiner directed a film called: The Bucket List. It starred Morgan Freeman and Jack Nickolson. Essentially, it is about two men who meet in a hospital who begin writing a "bucket list," or things to do before they "kick the bucket." The movie inspired me to do the same.



One of the items on my 'bucket list' is to take an Alaskan cruise to see the whales. Gary, my generous and wonderful boyfriend is taking me on that cruise for my 55th birthday; we leave Saturday!

Our ship the Golden Princess!

I will blog all about it when I return. Thank you family and friends for making this day very special for me!

Love,

Jo

One of the best I've ever received about being thankful....

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?" The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have.

Be creative.
Be innovative.
Think differently and positively.
When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.
Face your past without regret.

Handle your present with confidence.

Prepare for the future without fear.
Keep the faith and drop the fear.

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling…

And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

(I received this via email from my friend, Gerry, in Canada. It was so moving, I had to blog it!)

I realized I was nuts!