We're back home and it's so very good to be here. The anticipation of travel is always so much better than the reality of it. Over time, the memories get sweeter and the hustle of getting there and then getting back home fades.
Cruising Alaska....that's a bit of an oxymoron isn't it? Yet that is exactly how most of us who are fortunate enough to be able to travel to Alaska actually experience this wondrous piece of God's creation. As I look back with memories so fresh in mind, it is a little difficult to separate the geography of Alaska from the confines of our massive cruise ship Oosterdam. The two are tangled up as I have them filed away in my memory. It's a mix of reality (the land that is Alaska) and fantasy (that Utopian experience that one lives aboard a cruise ship).
Let me start by looking back at Alaska the land. First impressions are the best impressions. We begin with a nearly day-long cruise through Glacier Bay National Park. Words are almost not enough to describe this pristine place where seals, whales, dolphins and other aquatic mammals begin their lives and prehistoric glaciers end their majestic thunderous death walk to the sea climaxing in enormous eruptions of seawater being reborn as icebergs and looking for their very own Titanic. What an amazing and breathtaking place and truly one of the finest wonders of God's creation.
Then comes Juneau, the state capital and one of the worlds tackiest tourist traps to which I have been unfortunate enough to visit. What a contrast to the natural God given beauty of Glacier Bay! To say this town is tacky is a bit of an understatement. It is the mega-center of T-shirt shops and jewelry shops. As we stood atop the beautiful Utopian Oosterdam, we were subjected to a shoreline packed with commercial shops, tour buses, and tens of thousands of tourists flocking ashore from the three or four massive cruise ships filling the harbor. This spectacle is certainly one I'm anxious to forget and stands as an apt tribute to man's creation and mistreatment of Alaska the landscape!
And so it went for five more days....indescribable beauty and wonder of what God made interspersed with the tackiness of the man-made stuff.The simplest things bring the most pleasure. Without a doubt, the best memory of the trip was whale watching from the balcony of our state room aboard the Oosterdam as it cruised from the harbor at Sitka. E???? and I stood and watched a dozen or more orcas put on a show just off the starboard side. One of these mammoth creatures floated on its side for several minutes waving its dorsal fin as if to say goodbye. Truly a spectacle equaling any we have viewed anywhere in the world.
How can one describe a cruise without discussing life aboard the cruise ship? This is about as close to a Utopian experience as one can live on this earth. It's a little like Disney Land on water where the reality of life is hidden away and replaced with the illusion of perfection. Where else can you get up in the morning to room service coffee served by a smiley faced Indonesian cabin steward while you sit snugly in a fluffy white robe and watch the Alaskan countryside float past? Do you want gourmet dining for every meal...it's available. Do you prefer an endless buffet...it's available. Do you want to be entertained your every waking hour...it's available. How about loosing a little money at the casino? Bingo your cup of tea? How about a nice massage or whole body detoxification? Do you want to be the entertainment...then go down to the karaoke lounge.
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