Alaska Day 4 - Juneau Harbor

     On Tuesday morning, our ship was moving slower as it headed east through the Aleutian islands toward Juneau. It was a beautiful morning - sunny with a few puffy clouds. I woke to the sound of our neighbor snoring quite loudly. I often wondered what it must have been like for anyone sharing that cabin. I hope they had ear protectors and that they finished this trip with their hearing still intact.     By 8 o' clock, Philip and I were heading back to the Infirmary.  This time I met Dr. Sebastian Campuzano and Nurse Katalin Bartha.  Dr. Sebastian appeared to be the head of the unit as he was often referred to as "Boss." Nurse Katalin was known as KT. They gave me the antibiotic infusion and a blood test afterwards. The blood test showed that my infection was going down in one area but going up in another. This worried Dr. Sebastian.  He was a young man and it was him who said "I hope you haven't waited too long." 

What doctor says that to a patient? 

     Afterwards, Philip and I went to breakfast. It was a great morning to enjoy the weather and get some food before our arrival. Yet, still, I had no appetite. There was food everywhere on the ship but nothing appealed to me. 

     There were a lot of disabled folks on our ship and of course many of these folks were elderly. More than once, Philip almost got mowed down by a Rascal. Well, I am going to tell you about a moment of 'smallness' on my part. There was a woman eating breakfast on Deck 12. She was walking a fine line between super thin and totally frail. Her hair was almost gone and the only hair that she had left on her head served only to outline her skull - like a child's drawing. She was wearing big glasses and a metallic thing stuck out from above her ear. I took this to be a Cochlear Implant. She was talking to several friends at her table and beamed as she talked about all the whales she had seen earlier that morning - while I was with the doctor. According to her, there were whales on both sides of the ship. Then she went on about seeing eagles and the 'HUGE' rainbow at the back of the ship. I could see that she was so tickled to have witnessed such sites. And in that moment, I just stared at her and thought "I hate you!" 

     As the ship began to approach the city of Juneau - around 2PM - most of the passengers came out on the open decks to watch the ship dock and take in the view of Juneau. The temperature was around 70 degrees with just a small breeze in the air. Perfect.

     We stood on the top deck and sea planes started flying in along side the many cruise ships in the harbor. Suddenly, thoughts of Maggie McConnell - pilot,  and Dr.Joel Fleishman - characters from Northern Exposure - as they argued their way across the frozen north - Maggie with ultimate confidence and Joel, sure as the world that this flight would be his final day.  I loved thinking of them and breathing the fresh air of this wondrous land.

Alaska - Day 3 - At Sea and in the Depths

     It was ten o'clock at night. Philip and I made our way down the hallway and into the elevator. Our room was on deck 11 and we hit the button for 4. The door opened on 4. Gone were the bright, showy colors of carpet and walls of the upper 'cruisey' floors. Deck 4 was black - shiny black metal - like a foot locker - with brass touches (door knobs, buttons, trim) and the floor was covered with a rubber mat - no colorful carpet on deck 4. We walked over to the Infirmary door. It was about 4 foot wide and 10 foot tall and locked tight. There was not a soul in sight. Phil and I were having a Wizard of Oz moment  (the Dorothy and friends at the door to the Emerald City scene). On the black metal door was a sign that basically said 'For after hours help call 6-8-9-2.' We read the sign and Philip stepped across the foyer, to the phone on the wall and called the number. He spoke to someone and hung up without comment.  There we stood before the big door - ready to go in. About 45 seconds later, a small door down the hall - about 20 feet away - opened and a young woman stepped partway into the hall and said "Come down here."
   We went to the side door and stepped into the Infirmary. A woman by the name of Haydee (Heida) Baptista began gathering our information into the computer. She also started handing out papers for me to sign. Here we stood in the most precarious medical / insurance situation that a human being can find themselves in. I paused for a moment, took a deep breath and started signing away whatever they needed to help me feel better.
    In a few minutes, the on-call doctor stepped into the room. This was Dr. DelaCruz. He had a kind face and began asking questions as well. He touched my left back - between my ribcage and hip - which I later found out is my left flank - I never even knew I had a flank but apparently I have two. I could not stand to be touched. I was at a level 8, on a scale of 1 to 10, and that is equivalent to "I just sat my hand on the red hot surface of an electric stove eye." A 10 would have me shucking this husk of a human likeness that everyone sees and knows me as Sarah. And a red and black entity would emerge with two inch claws and start ripping everything and everyone in sight! A drug laced bullet from a dart gun would be the only hope to save the world. Thankfully I never reached 10.
   I told Dr. DelaCruz about painting the bedroom in a rental and that I thought I had a pulled muscle. Well, he looked dubious. I will mention here that someone on the staff had already poked a needle in my arm and had taken a blood sample, leaving one of those 'port' 'hook-up' thingees in my inner arm. Dr. DelaCruz listened to me and shook his head slightly. "We'll see what the blood test shows," he said. 
   So after giving a urine sample and a blood test and being told that I have a fever of 100 degrees, I was informed that I have a kidney infection. I was dumbfounded! In my mind, I could see the muscular jock standing there in the gym shorts and tank top, weights in hand, and slowly that image disappeared on the news of 'no pulled muscle.' And now, a very familiar looking guy in top hat and tails, with a Sam Elliot mustache and a monocle in position over his left eye , shows up to represent a more complicated diagnosis. He lifts the eyebrow of his right eye - in a 'take that smarty pants' response.
     They gave me an infusion of antibiotics and Tylenol for my pain. They felt that taking the antibiotics by mouth would take longer to get ahead of the infection.  And then they wanted me to come back the next day for two more treatments. I agreed and after the infusion, they wrapped my arm up and Philip and I made our way back to our room. I slept like a baby.

Alaska - Day Three - At Sea

Before I go on with our Monday journey, I wanted to add this picture from the night before of another cruise ship heading to Alaska. It was dusk and we were eating dinner in the fancy dining room. After dinner, Philip went to the floor show and I headed back to our room.  The air was chilly and my back was hurting. I propped myself up on several pillows and fell asleep. When Phil came back to the room, we watched TV for awhile and he fell asleep. There in our darkened room, I watched the TV channel that shows where the ship is travelling. I could see the front of the ship and the darkened sea that we were sailing in and what looked like a sky full of stars! I wanted so much to get up and go out on the deck to see the night sky. Knowing I was too tired and cold to go, I vowed to do it tomorrow night.

***********************************************

Monday morning, I woke up early and headed upstairs to get some breakfast. 

The ship was sailing faster. They had to travel from Seattle, Washington to Juneau, Alaska. We left Seattle at 4PM on the 9th and didn't get to Juneau until 2PM on the 11th. The faster speed of the ship made walking in a straight line more difficult. Once, when I almost careened into a fellow passenger, he said "It's like being drunk without drinking." 

The scenery was gorgeous. You cannot imagine how fresh the air was to breathe. It felt like, as you're breathing through your mouth or nose, that air is also entering your lungs through the skin of your chest. Just wonderfully fresh. The temperatures were between 50 and 70 degrees. At night it was a bit colder - around 40 degrees.  Philip and I walked around the ship and took in the views. At one point, Philip decided that he would get in the hot tub.  He's a brave soul.

The day passed on with the ship making it's way north. I remember at one point, walking down the main stairway, mid ship - which has automatic doors on several levels for folks to go out to the outside decks - and two women behind me on the stairs were talking. One lady said to the other "Ooh, where's that draft coming from?"  I thought "Uh, Alaska."

 After dinner, Philip again decided to go to the floor show and I wanted to go to our room. My back was still hurting like the dickens and I just could not get warm. This is why I advise folks who travel to bring some warm pajamas.  Philip and I were in a constant struggle with the thermostat in our cabin. Just a little heat and he was too hot! I was laying in bed and again watching the night sky on the TV. I got up, dressed as warm as I could and headed to the top deck to see the night sky. I got as far as the automatic door on the upper deck and could not do it. I was so cold. So I went back to our room/cabin.

**********************************

And Then This:

I was laying in bed, trying to find a comfortable position, when Philip came back from the floor show. I had taken some Ibuprofen but it had not even touched the pain I was feeling from my pulled muscle. I figured that with all the motion of the ship along with the constant vibrating ripple of the working engines, that I was just super sensitive. I knew that I would not be able to sleep. So as Philip and I sat there on the bed, watching TV, I asked him. "Is there a phone in our room?" He said "Yes, it's right here," pointing to his side of the bed. I asked if he would call and see if I could see a doctor? Without hesitation, he picked up the phone and made the call. They told him there was a doctor on duty but it would be cheaper to come by during daytime hours. I told him we need to go now. I knew I would not sleep and I hated that I was missing a fabulous trip and making it less than great for Philip too.

So we went to deck 4 to see the doctor.

Alaska - Day Two - Heading North

We got up early - around 8AM. I think we were both excited about getting started. Phil ate a little breakfast but I didn't have much of an appetite.  We packed our things and called for a Uber. We met the driver on the corner and we all headed to the docks. It was too early for us to get on the ship but we were able to check our bags at the pier where the Norwegian 'Pearl' was docked. Since it was going to be several hours before we would be able to get on board, we took a long walk along the bay. There was a sculpture park that ran adjacent to the sidewalk and the bay. The morning was cool - around 65 degrees. It was clear skies all around. 

At around 12:30 we headed back to the pier where our ship was docked and checked in. By now, a large crowd had gathered to check in as well. Now the bag handlers at the pier were gathering the bags like bees in a bee hive. Carts were packed high with luggage, while other carts were being hauled to the ship. It was organized mayhem! And people were filing in to the check in line like cattle making their way down a cattle shoot. This is when people watching is at it's very best.  Of course there were photographers from the ship taking professional shots of each group or couple in order to later sell the same group or couple a picture of their check in experience.

As soon as we got cleared to come aboard, Philip and I headed to the fancy dining room to get some lunch. For some reason, regardless as to what I ordered. I would always get a platter full of food that would feed three of me. The dining room was called the 'Summer Palace'. There were paintings of what I assume were the Russian Romanov family and their wonderful, royal life. Well until their lives went horribly wrong.

After lunch, we headed up to the top deck to watch the activities for the sailing away party. We sat on some deck chairs and checked our phones for final messages. Around 4PM the ship started sailing out of the Seattle harbor. Philip and I both were drinking lemonade when suddenly, a lady accidentally kicked the table my glass of lemonade was setting on and I found myself with a shoe full of lemonade. She apologized profusely, stating that she was looking for her friend's lost pass card. I still had a shoe full of beverage

As the ship sailed past Seattle, a band started playing in the gazebo on the top deck. They were a great band and they played fantastic dance tunes. The cruise director came out and started introducing his staff and urging folks onto the dance floor.  Over a short time, folks started joining in the fun.

And then he announced a conga line challenge. He said that on the last cruise to Alaska, they had set a record of 100 people long conga line. "Can we break that record? Let's get 200 people in a conga line." At this point, Philip and I got to our feet and got in line. 

Our cruise dancers failed miserably in defeating the last cruise's conga line challenge but all who participated got a gift of a free dance lesson.  So the music played on. And the dancing continued.

Goodbye Seattle

and hello to our northern adventure!

****************************

An additional tidbit:

Here's a couple of pictures of our room. The bathroom/office is compact - which matches the bedroom. Notice the little white square above the toilet? This is the flushing button. You have to close the lid to be able to push the button, which is a good thing. Once you hit that button it sounds like a great depth charge which is sending what you've deposited to the very bottom of the ship. It's loud and I can't even imagine what would happen if you held the lid open during the button pushing. You'd probably clear the room of every towel in this small space.

Here's our bedroom. I slept on the right and Philip slept on the left. It was comfortable enough. Here's a couple of things I could have done without. First off, this room and those in proximity of it were all located under the 12th floor dining area. So, late at night, in the depth of a darkened room, we could hear all sorts of repair and kitchen business sounds. First off there was this weird knocking on the pipes and I kidded Philip that it must be a stowaway trying to get out of a box. We could hear carts rolling across the ceiling/floor. An occasional dish would hit the floor upstairs or folks would be talking but the sound was so muted that I could only make out that it was human language. Then to add to the intrigue, a person to the left of Philip's side of the bed, could be heard snoring in another room/cabin. At times it felt like three people were sleeping in our room. 

Alaska Adventure: Day One - Let's Tour!

Phil and I went on a tour of the Seattle Underground. To be honest, I had never heard of this. So here's my quick recap. The first settlers came to the Seattle area and wanted to expand the business area along the bay. They filled in the low tide water areas with saw dust. (Seattle was a large lumbering area.) Anyway, they covered the sawdust with concrete and had a business district along the bay. Well, the place was always flooding and then a cabinet maker accidentally set the entire downtown on fire and Seattle was burnt to the ground. This was around 1900. Everyone decided to build Seattle better. Their plan was to build the city above sea level by building the walls up and making the current city 15 foot higher than the old, burnt up city. The tour guide described the building site like a waffle. The pockets where the syrup pools was the old city and the ridges where the butter is spread was the floor for the new city. The walls were 15 foot high and fun fact: No lives were lost during the devastating fire that destroyed the city but 17 people died from falling off the walls.

The woman with the curly hair was our guide for the Seattle Underground tour. She was excellent. At one point she asked if any of us had noticed the panels in the street with the small circles. When she told us that they were glass circles, she asked if any of us thought they provided much light for the underground levels. Our group pretty much thought 'No' since the circles of glass were dark and small.

The round circles are actually the ends of prisms which stick beneath the street and refract the sunlight into the lower levels.

Yes, lots of good light!

***********************

Now for the Space Needle:

 Here we are at the Space Needle.  It's lovely. We didn't go up to the top because it was late in the day and the line was enormous.  We did get some food in a near by shop and then headed to Pike's Market - another Seattle tourist spot.

Pike's Market Place:

Pike's Market Place was booming! People were everywhere. There were so many people that it made it hard to figure out what was actually available in the market. Imagine, standing in one spot and as you turn, you are face to face with another human being. We did not stay here long. We just came by to see what the market place looked like. I will add that they had a flower stand there that was one of the best that I have ever seen. There were all kinds of flowers available for bouquets. And the ladies behind the counter, gathering flowers into bouquets were amazing to watch. It was a show, if not the show of the market.
End of the day:

At the end of the day, we caught the bus back to where our Airbnb was located. We trudged a couple of streets from the bus stop, climbed the dirt path, crossed the sidewalk and climbed the haphazard stone steps and made our way to the deck. Luckily, we were just in time to watch the sunset over the bay. At about this same time, a young (twentyish) couple climbed the same stone steps and joined us on the deck. They were Ben and Jesse from Austin, Texas.  They were a sweet, mannerly couple who were vacationing in Seattle for several days and they too were staying at this Airbnb. Ben told us that he had gotten a text from Haley (the homeowner) and she wanted to somehow conduct a 'Safety Meeting' with the four of us, sometime this evening.  We all looked at each other like 'WTH.' So Ben called her - she was vacationing in Hawaii with a friend - and the safety meeting began. First off, she asked if we had all read over the paper with the safety instructions on it? Between you and me, I never even noticed it. So Ben goes into the house and finds the safety list instructions on the dining table. Yeah, the table packed high with her assortment of junk. And though I was present for the 'Safety Meeting' and I do recall that we read down the list with Haley just to be sure we all knew - safety. I can only remember two things from her safety instructions. One, the fire hydrants were sitting beside the upstairs bathroom door - which was easy to remember because that is what your eye is focused on as you climb the stairs to the bedroom. And second, she actually said that in case of an earthquake, someone should go down into her basement and turn off the gas. Ok, Wow. What are the odds? This woman had no lighting for us to find her residence during a night time arrival but wants someone to risk their life to save her home during an earthquake? 
Around 1PM, I was still laying awake. My back was hurting so much. I had watched a YouTube video before we left which said that one should use ice packs on a pulled muscle and later switch to hot packs. At some point, I decided to get up and get some ice and somehow make myself an icepack. I went to the kitchen, opened the freezer door and immediately noticed a gel pack in the door. This is exactly what I needed. So I stood for a moment and pondered. Haley's instructions were to, "Ask permission first - don't even think about apologies later - ask permission first." Suddenly, I pulled that gel pack out of the freezer, grabbed a linen napkin from the kitchen shelf to wrap the gel pack in and went upstairs to bed. I was at my wit's end and needed some sleep. In the morning, I wiped the gel pack off and put it back where I found it. This will be our secret.

And that was our first full day in Seattle.