Candies!

We went to a fudge factory in Juneau. The Alaskan Fudge Company!

They make the fudge on premises.

They have a lot of varieties and it was very tasty. Just a word of warning - the first ingredient in fudge is SUGAR.



I got these in Ketchikan (Alaska) because I thought the logo was cute. Sort of a take on the Candies Shoes logo:


Too bad the chocolates didn't taste much better than Candies Shoes. To be more specific, the chocolate was tough and didn't have that crumbly goodness after the initial crack-of-the-bite. I suspect these were leftover from last season.

I bought a bunch of candies that are available in Canada.


Bueno is pretty good and also Cadbury's Mister Big. They have a KitKat and Reese's variations which I have not seen in the States - yet. I dunno what the appeal is with Aero. It's OK, I guess.

Prince Rupert

The roughest part of the trip was on the way to Prince Rupert. It was a day and a half at sea. The waters were very rough, as in rocking and banging. Brings a whole new meaning to Rock and Roll!

We arrived Prince Rupert on a rainy afternoon and we only had a couple of hours to spare so we did not bother to book a shore excursion although there are many to choose from.

There was a small group of buildings that had shopping and a local artists showcase and if you walk up the hill, there is some sort of government building and a Safeway, where we replenished supplies for the return trip to Seattle.

Along the way, we ran into a crowd having photo-op with two Canadian mounties.



The Filipino staff takes this opportunity to make calls to home. This was common at every stop. It must be really difficult to be separated from their families so I can have a wonderful cruise experience. Looks like Calling cards make excellent tips to your favorite server/attendant!

Birthday Dinner #2

After all the unpleasantness of the disappearing birthday cake, we were given a "make-up" dinner at Cagney's by the Norwegian Star's Restaurant Manager, Adine. We received very attentive service and the staff is very proud of their restaurant.


Cagney's is the steak house and is located on the uppermost deck next to the Star bar. (Actually, the Star Bar is one of the quieter bars, if you need to get away from frenzied cruisers and crowds).

We had some appetizers:
Left: Oysters Rockefeller, Right are Crab Cakes

The main course steaks:
On the left is Rib Eye and on the right is filet mignon.

And finally, the birthday cake presented by the maitre'd and waitstaff!


And how was the food? Hmmmm....one of our cruisemates best described it as "cruise food", which is to say, it's OK but not spectacular or does not live up to the hype. Neil's Filet Mignon was a little tough for medium well. Steak-wise, in our book it's right below OUTBACK.

Sawyer Glacier

(click photos to expand)

As we approached Sawyer Glacier, we noticed the ice has not thoroughly melted to allow us to get closer. This was expected since we were the first cruise of the season. So, this was as far as we got, but still an exhilirating and wonderful view!




Arrow points to Sawyer Glacier, which is receding an average of 84 feet a year due to global warming, so I'm told.

The Inside Passage

It's scenery like this that makes cruises like this sooo worth it!

After leaving Juneau, we enjoy some great views on our way to see Sawyer Glacier.






Floating little islands of ice:




Melting ice makes baby waterfalls everywhere:

Musher's Dog Camp

Due to the short time we were docked at each port of call, we only scheduled one shore excursion each for Ketchikan and Juneau.  We did not schedule a shore excursion for Prince Rupert since we were going to be there less than 6 hours.

The shore excursion we picked for Juneau was the Musher's Dog Camp.  This is where they train dogs for the Iditarod and Yukon Quest dog races.  The dogs run around tracks pulling weights and today, we are the weights!

Above is Louie modelling the latest running gear.  Note the microfiber booties for running in the snow.

Above is Bill Cotter, who was a champion at Yukon Quest (another dog race like Iditarod) with his lead dogs.  The Alpha dogs usually take the lead and the strongest most athletic dogs go behind.

There are 16 dogs total pulling the sled.

And away we go! Wheeeee!

Above is Brian showing us what he takes to the Iditarod.  His grandfather started the Iditarod races in  1973.
Above is a typical sled that the mushers use on the Iditarod Trail.

Then we go visit some puppies.

Below is a mama dog who just gave birth.  As soon as she saw us, her mother instinct kicked in and she ran inside to protect her little baby (see blue arrow).  The dogs they use in Iditarod do not look like a husky.  Today, they are bred to be leaner and stronger and they are a hybrid of several breeds including Saluki.

Below are the puppies who we got to play with:
Above left is Buffalo and above right is Hippo.  Buffalo was very outgoing and Hippo just kept to himself (herself?).

To read more about this cruise, click here.

Juneau, It Is Here

View of Juneau from the ship.

Downtown Juneau. Above you can see the Alaska Hotel, which I later found out has one of the Best Bars in the U.S. according to a recent issue of Esquire magazine.

Well, we didn't go to that bar. We went to this one instead because everyone said it was famous. The Red Dog Saloon.

We asked the waiter what made it famous and he couldn't give us a straight answer. Apparently, it's only claim to fame is that it stands on an old watering hole where miners used to hang out. Ok, whatever.
It does have an interesting interior (sawdust on the floor and everything but the kitchen sink) and very friendly waitstaff.

Do You Know The Way To Juneau?

We say goodbye to Ketchikan and we are off, off, off to Juneau.

Brrrrr. Now you can really feel the cold.



How to take sunset photos. Bundle Up. Run out to deck and snap a quick one. Run back indoors and warm up. Repeat.

Dolly Arthur's House

Dolly Arthur is a famous prostitute who moved to Alaska after a troubled childhood in Idaho and eventually set-up shop on Creek Street.

Here is an earlier photo of Dolly:


She plied her trade from a house she bought on Creek Street for $800 and charged $3 a "pop" so to speak, at a time when the daily wage was $1/day. She worked until she was 72 (very loyal clientele). She worked alone. No madam or pimp. That's her house painted in mint green:


At the time in Alaska, prostitution was tolerated but only if it did not occur on land. This gave birth to Creek Street, where the houses were built on stilts above a creek with a boardwalk access.


View of the Norwegian Star from Creek Street:


Dolly decorated the house herself.
Above is the dining room with her Franciscan dinnerware.

Shown above is the kitchen with "modern" appliances.

Above is the bedroom where all the action happened. Dolly's money-maker!

Above is Dolly's private bathroom. If you look at the shower curtain trim closely, those flowers are actually made from French silk CONDOMS! As you can imagine, as soon as people discovered that silk condoms were a big mistake, there was a lot of dead stock lying around and leave it to Dolly not to waste all that valuable French silk!

Hey, maybe I should give this prostitution thing a shot!


I'll stick to blogging.

To read more about this cruise, click here.