Under 2 Years Until Alaska--Preliminary Information

Yes, in just a little over 4 weeks we leave for our Hawaii cruise, but I'm already a couple of vacations ahead. Unlike some people :) we have to save up for our trips.

We have decided to do another cruise to Alaska in late August of 2013. I'm putting out the preliminary information now to gauge interest in getting a group together. The final dates for the 2013 cruises will probably be released in March and that will be when we will lock in our cabin. We will be putting down a credit toward a future cruise while we are on the one in Hawaii.

This is the one we have chosen:
--it is on Holland America
--it is a 2-week round trip out of Seattle, currently leaving on Fridays
--we will probably go to Seattle 2-3 days early to do some sight-seeing
--it is not a back-to-back cruise where you visit the same ports each way
--here is the itinerary:

F--depart Seattle
S--at sea
M--Ketchikan
T--cruising Tracy arm (Twin Sawyer glaciers)
W--Icy Strait Point
T--at sea
F--Anchorage
S--Homer
S--Kodiak
M--cruising Hubbard Glacier
T--Sitka
W--at sea
T--Victoria, BC
F--Seattle

--there is no option for land tours on this cruise and it does not do the interior of Alaska
--tentative leaving date would be the last week or so of August, cruising into the first week of September---2012 prices for the cruise are approximately $2100 for inside room per person, and $2400 for oceanview room per person--probably add an extra 10% for 2013

David Williams always says that for Alaska you figure that your shore excursions and on board costs (tips, bar tabs, laundry and souveniers) pretty much equal the cost of your cabin. He's probably pretty close. Alaska shore tours are not cheap, but they are wonderful. We plan on taking lots of whale, bear and other nature watching trips. If you add in the float planes, helicoptors, and glacier landings, you can really add to the cost, but most people think it is worth it. Alaska really is a unique destination.

If you are remotely interested in going, let me know and I will put you on an information list to keep you updated. The more the merrier. We would love to have a bunch of our friends and family join us. I will not be your travel agent, but I can possibly help with roommate matching and travel information.

A Little Getaway

I usually hate to take trips in the summer as it is too hot for me, but I was dying to get away for a few days. So in late July I decided to surprise Marcia with a little getaway and didn't tell her where we were going until we pulled into the hotel parking lot.

I picked a little town called Lake Wales. It is just below I-4, midway between Tampa and Orlando. It's less than 3 hours away and wasn't too expensive.

What's there? Well, the first day we went to an aircraft museum in Polk City. This rich guy has a huge collection of vintage aircraft and restores them and flies them and displays them. We spent almost a whole day there just wandering around and looking. Loved the B-16, which was set up so you could walk through and see what it was like on a bombing raid.

The second day we were going to do "historic" Lake Wales. Well, never believe everything you read on the internet. The orange juice welcome center was closed, "historic" downtown had one store open and no restaurants, so that was a bust. We headed to the Chalet Suzanne restaurant and ended up having a light lunch there as Marcia spotted some sandhill cranes and a bunch of turtles right outside the window. They provided the lunch time entertainment. We did "Spook Hill" (twice--Marcia liked that) and then went to Bok Tower and Gardens to hear the concert and tour the grounds. Had time to hear the concert and see a very small portion of the grounds before the sky opened and DUMPED for the next three hours. We gave up and went back to the hotel. Really would like to do the Gardens again some day.

The next day I managed to hit a home run though. I had made arrangements for us to go on an airboat tour on a nearby lake. Neither one of us had ever been on an airboat before. There were four other people with us (a family from Scotland) and the Captain. It was an overcast day, not too hot, and there were lots of birds and gators out. We had two hours out on the water and saw lots of really neat stuff, including three different bald eagles.

After that it was a drive to Tampa to the Hard Rock Casino where we used my comps to have the buffet lunch and spent a couple of hours losing money in the casino before coming home. It was a great 3 1/2 day getaway!

Big Cat Sanctuary in Tampa

Okay, so I'm way behind on the blog. This is Marcia's birthday trip back in June. She wanted to go the the Big Cat Sanctuary in Tampa. We invited Linda and Elaine to go with us.

This sanctuary takes in the big cats that people have taken in as cubs and raised, thinking they were cute and cuddly, then they grew up. Or people were raising them for fur, or showing them on the side of the road for a few bucks, or whatever. They cannot be released back in to the wild and the sanctuary takes them in and provides them a safe environment to live out their lives. The tours given by the interns help pay for the food for the animals. They have all kinds of cats, from little ones to really, really big tigers. It's hot in the middle of June so a lot of them are camera shy, but I did get a few pics.

After a nice (hot) tour we headed to St. Petersburg where we had lunch at the Columbia, one of our favorite restaurants. Marcia had a great birthday!