Sitka, AK

Our cruise port today is Sitka, Alaska where we went on a photography tour. On our way to the first stop, we spotted a bald eagle landing in a tree so we stopped and got some pictures of it while it watched us with an eagle eye.

Our next stop was at a cute little scenic island and, since it was low tide, we could walk out and explore the island. The trail to the island took us through a beautiful rain forest where we saw lots of interesting natural views such as an old fallen tree that looked like an emerging whale. We finally got our first glimpse of the island. On the shoreline facing the island was our first totem pole sighting. We were told that it was dedicated to a Japanese photographer. From the island, we looked back across the rocks and barnacles at the cute Alaskan village we had walked from. The trees and rocks of the island offered many opportunities for nice pictures...my favorite being this out-growing tree.

When we got back to Stika, we explored this little town and its beautiful marina. Then we took the tender back to the MS Oosterdam that was anchored out in the bay. The beautiful scenery was not over though. The view from the ship was awesome.

Juneau, AK

Today's port of call is Juneau, Alaska. We began our day with a little shopping around this quaint little town while awaiting our late morning tour. For some of my more politically-oriented friends, I couldn't resist having my picture taken with Sarah Palin (well, at least a life-sized cut-out of her).

We then started our Juneau tour with a stop at the Macauley Salmon Hatchery. The first picture shows some of the floating covered hatchery nets where the fertilized salmon roe are placed to hatch and grow in the local waters until they are large enough to survive on their own. They (about 1.3 million annually) are then released to swim out to the oceans and mature. In a few years, when they are ready to spawn, about 15-20% of them will return to the hatchery and swim up the salmon ladder shown in the next picture. When they reach the top of the ladder (e.g. inside the hatchery), the roe and sperm get harvested, the roe gets fertilized and placed into the hatchery nets to begin the cycle again. Of course, the adult salmon are then processed for consumption.

Stop #2 of this tour was at the beautiful Mendenhall Glacier. The view from the Welcome Center was simply awesome - snow covered mountains, big waterfalls, icebergs floating in the water and the glacier - wow! I decided to take the 45 minute (if you don't stop too much) walk to the base of the glacier. About half way there, we stopped for a rest and Kodak moment. When we reached the end of the trail, the view of the glacier was great! Cloudy skies allowed the blue ice to be seen (the sun bleaches out the blue ice). After another 45 minute or so walk back, I re-joined with Susan at the Welcome Center and read about the glacier's history. It sure felt good to sit down in the tour bus!

Our late afternoon last stop was at a Salmon Bake. We were seated outdoors to enjoy the beautiful Alaskan scenery while we were served a delicious meal of open-pit cooked salmon. Yum-yum! We didn't eat dinner on the ship that night.

Cruise to Alaska

On Sunday morning, we, and about 50 others from the reunion, boarded the Holland-America ship MS Oosterdam to begin a week-long Alaskan cruise. Our first day, Monday, was spent cruising North through rainy seas but we didn't mind the rain at all. It gave us a chance to get to know the ship and sit around the enclosed and warm pool area and enjoy the view with friends.

On Tuesday, we were scheduled to cruise through a narrow fjord to Tracy Arm, Alaska, where we were to see a glacier. Unfortunately, as we turned the corner, we found that the fjord was blocked by large pieces of recently calved glacier ice. The ship immediately made a u-turn for safety, so we didn't get to see the glacier. You can see some of the icebergs over my left shoulder in this picture of me on the bow of the ship. The mountains and icebergs were very beautiful to see so it was still an enjoyable experience.

This is one of my favorite mini-iceberg photos taken in the Tracy Arm passage. One iceberg (maybe 15-20 feet long) looks like a submarine slowly approaching a man relieving himself on the ice. Yes, I know I have a strange imagination...

Seattle, WA

For our last day in Seattle, we began the day by taking our first Duck Boat ride ever. Duck boats were originally made during World War II for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks. Now they are used to transport tourists around, in this case, Seattle, where we toured around the downtown area then went out onto Lake Union where we saw, among other things, the Naval Shipyard where the USS Kitty Hawk is being restored before bringing it to NC and the house that was used in the movie "Sleepless In Seattle" (just to the left of the pink house on the water).













After we got back, we had to walk a few blocks from the hotel to get a picture of the third most photographed object in Seattle, the Pink Elephant Car Wash sign. Now you've seen it, too.

Then it was back to the hotel to prepare for the reunion banquet for our last night at the reunion.

Bremerton, WA

Today we took the ferry over to Bremerton, Washington, along with our reunion shipmates. Our destination was the USS Turner Joy, DD-951. When I was aboard the Hubbard, the Turner Joy was one of the four ships in our squadron when we took our WestPac (Western Pacific) Cruise in 1960. It was a real treat for me to be aboard the Turner Joy once again after all these years. We went there to attend the annual service to honor our departed shipmates. The service was held on the fantail (the back of the ship) and, after the names were read, three shipmates - one from each wartime era that the Hubbard served in - took part in the ceremonial throwing of the wreath into the waters. BTW, the wreath was bio-degradable so no creatures were harmed during or after the ceremony. After walking around Bremerton for a while, we took the ferry back to Seattle for some more reunion fun.

Seattle, WA

On May 16th, we flew out to Seattle to attend my US Navy ship's annual reunion. Each year a group of shipmates from the USS Harry E Hubbard, DD-748, meet somewhere in the USA to socialize, reminisce and basically have a fun time with friends, old and new.

This morning, Susan and I began our day by going to the top of the famous Space Needle (which was less than 2 blocks from our hotel) to enjoy the beautiful scenic views of Seattle. We were fortunate that it didn't rain at all while we were there (it was the first time in over 2 1/2 weeks that it didn't rain). Whenever a local would comment about the sunshine, we said that we brought it with us from Florida and all that we ask is that they send us some rain. It looks like it worked.

Then we went to downtown Seattle and took a walk through another of Seattle's famous landmarks, Pike's Market where, among other things, we saw salmon being thrown around at the Pike Place Fish Company. Then we had a delicious lunch (with some local brews of course) at Pike Brewery. We then wandered around the area enjoying some beautiful architecture and interesting art objects scattered around. After stocking up on some See's Candy, we took the monorail back to the hotel for some more reunion socializing.

Perry, GA

Spring is here, so it's time for us to hit the road again. Our first stop on this trip is Perry, GA, where we attended a big, week-long RV Rally at the Georgia Fairgrounds with about 3,000 rigs in attendance. Now, we're staying an extra week with some RV friends from The Villages at a smaller RV rally and lots of socializing.

Last Saturday, we drove to Warm Springs, GA to visit Franklin D. Roosevelt's Little White House. Roosevelt came to Warm Springs in 1924 in hopes of recovering from polio. He had this house built in 1932 while he was Governor of NY and visited it many times while he was our President. It was neither large nor pretentious as many Presidential homes are, but more like a nice, comfortable rural retreat overlooking a small valley. He died here in this bedroom in 1945 after suffering a massive stroke while sitting for a portrait.

From there, we paid a visit to Callaway Gardens. It was a bit too early in the season for the gardens to be in bloom, so we spent most of our time there walking around the beautiful Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center and seeing a variety of local butterflys emerge from their cocoons and fly around inside the center.We'll have to return here when everything is in bloom.