We visited Sitka on Thursday. I love Sitka! The town is small with a population of about 8,000. The harbor is small, so we had to take tenders to shore. Deciding whether to make it possible for more ships to dock is apparently a hot topic in town. I hope they keep it the way it is.

Deborah is a Sitka Trailworks board member and her husband is a commercial fisherman. When I eat salmon and halibut at home, I can connect a face and story to that fish now.

Deborah and Max, her Australian Shepard, took us on a hike up to and around Beaver Lake. Those big rocks by the shore are part of the trail. Deborah told us that the rocks, gravel, logs, etc. that go into making the trails have to be brought in by helicopter.

It was a moderately strenuous hike and we were the only 3 people in sight. It was a lovely day… it didn’t rain on us and the clouds lifted some. We almost saw blue sky! We tasted blueberries and huckleberries growing by the trail. The salmonberries (salmon-colored raspberries) were almost ripe enough to eat, but not quite.

 

On the way back to town we stopped for chocolate at the Theobroma chocolate factory. It’s a small operation and they make wonderful chocolate! They are situated in what used to be a logging facility. When the logging operation shut down, small businesses moved in.

Back in town we visited the quilt shop (there is one at nearly every stop!) as well as the local book shop, an art glass shop, and a variety of other artists venues. I have to say that it felt good to help support the local economy.

We walked to the cultural center in the National Historic Park on the south side of Sitka. This park is devoted to totems. We happened to walk up as one of the rangers, who grew up in Sitka, was about to go out and she took us on a guided tour of the park. I am particularly fond of the raven images in the totems.

On the walk between town and the cultural we came upon these two girls selling homemade jams, jellies, and kelp pickles. It’s a family business (Simple Pleasures) and they are saving the money for a big trip to the lower 48 states. We helped by buying 2 jars of salmonberry jam. These girls are sure to be selling a lot of jelly – who could resist?

Wednesday we sailed into Juneau harbor. Steve had booked a rental car online before we left home. It turned out that we needed to take a taxi to the rental car place, but that turned out to be a good thing. Allen, the taxi driver told us how to get to the Mendenhall glacier and he told us some about what it’s like living in Juneau.

Juneau is not very big. The population is about 30,000. There is one main road that goes though town, up to the glacier, and then around and back to town. This is the state capitol so there are often politicians in town. There is a college campus. The town is spread out for several miles along the waterfront, which moderates the temperatures somewhat. 

Here, and in the other towns we visited, the structures are brightly painted. With the weather often gray and rainy, or gray and snowy, I’m sure the color is good see.

We got off the ship early and drove up to the glacier for a 3-plus mile hike. The Mendenhall glacier feeds into a beautiful, placid lake. There were two raucous waterfalls falling into the lake near the visitor center. In fact, there are waterfalls all over the place. You can see long, skinny ones running off the mountains from pretty far away.

We hiked up a trail that went along fast-flowing streams, through rainforest trees. I was surprised at the diversity of plant life – the ferns were huge. There is a spiky plant called Devils Club that, as it turns out, is prized for its medicinal uses by the native Alaskans. The plant is insanely thorny (being pricked by it is apparently a very bad thing) and the berries are poisonous. The natives use the root and bark – they probably use the leaves too.

I bought some Devil’s Club soap from the Winter Song Soap Company in Sitka the next day. It’s supposed to have anti-inflammatory properties and be good for rosacea and other skin problems. I think I like it!

There were several glacier overlooks and photo ops on our hike. It is hard to take a bad photograph here. I liked this shot because you can see how river-like a glacier is. We didn’t get a chance to walk out onto one. There’s just not time to do it all!

We were cold and damp and a little sore when we got back to the ship so we went to the hydro spa! I had bought a pass on the first day that was good for the entire cruise. Our pass got us into the big fancy whirlpool hydro spa, the lovely sauna and steam rooms, and the room with the six heated recliners that are covered with aqua-blue glass tiles and that sit in front of a picture big window. I knew I would like the hydro spa but I was surprised at how much Steve has enjoyed it. We have visited the spa every day.

Tuesday we sailed into Glacier Bay. The weather is gray and rainy with temperatures in the 40s F. I wondered if the glaciers would look blue under gray skies and I’m happy to report that glacier ice is blue whether the sky is blue or not!

We spent a good part of the day looking at the Lamplugh (above) and Margorie (below) glaciers. We watched ice fall off into the water… it was cool to watch but I couldn’t help but wish it would stay put. The glaciers are melting so quickly these days.

The food onboard is good. The fish (mostly salmon and halibut) is terrific! It’s hard to resist dessert when it is offered at every meal so I gave up and have not been resisting.

The one mishap that we’ve had this trip happened as I was glacier-watching. As I said, it was rainy. I had my new iPhone in my jacket pocket. My hands were in and out of my pockets and I didn’t think it was happening, but a tiny bit of water got in there with my iPhone. Oh my. I killed it. I have to go home and hook it up to my computer to verify it, but I truly think my iPhone is dead. I have apple-care, but it doesn’t cover water damage.

My dear husband said not to worry, it wasn’t as if he’d never made a costly mistake so I should just treat this as a learning experience and move on. So – let me share with you all that even a few drops of water in the right place can wick into an iPhone. I will carry a baggie from now on to put my new phone in at the slightest hint of water. FYI – being too hot or too cold can kill one too.

As I wrote earlier, Steve and I have been on an Alaska cruise! I taught 2 classes on the Alaska Quilt Camp at Sea. There are lots of quilters onboard. So many, in fact, that I haven’t gotten to visit with everyone. But I think it’s safe to say that we are all having a good time.

We got some good shots of Seattle from our veranda on the way out of port. There was a great deal of horn blowing on the way out of port.

 

Not long after we got underway, there was a mandatory lifeboat drill. I only heard of one lady who skipped it and she apparently had a stern talking-to later. For my part, I was happy to know what to do in case of emergency.

The first day, Monday, was spent at sea. Both of my classes were on Monday. The seas were a bit rough, but that didn’t seem to bother any of us appliquers too much. I have taken non-sleepy Dramamine on this trip and it has worked very well for me. I would recommend it over the patch (which I have taken in the past).

As I just wrote, we are in Seattle. As we were waiting for the bus back to the hotel from the Seattle Public Library, we did some people watching. People are really fascinating! We spotted these two fellows across the street and I managed to get an almost good photo of them.

I am teaching on an Alaskan cruise… we sail tomorrow. My husband, Steve, is with me on this trip. He enjoys accompanying me to scenic places :-).