Alaska Cruise II: Juneau

Juneau is the most remote of state capitols.  To reach it, you sail up a fjord.  Juneau sits at the end of the fjord, with roads that extend just fifty miles from the city limits.  The sea on one side and rugged wilderness on the other block Juneau from the rest of Alaska.

 Despite its remoteness, Juneau has multi-story office buildings and other trappings of urban life.

We explored the Juneau wharf while we waited for the van taking us to the Mendenhall Glacier.  King crab is the foremost delicacy of Alaska.  Crab dinners at wharf crab shacks cost $42, and we certainly weren't hurting for food on the ship.  I still wish, though, that I had eaten king crab at a crab shack on the Juneau pier!

 Small planes with pontoons flitted over the harbor and landed in the water. 

Our tour group had just 20 members, and the tour began with a short hike through the rain forest to Mendenhall Glacier.  Our guide, Audra, was a member of the Tlingit tribe, and she teaches about Tlingit culture in the Juneau elementary schools.  Audra pointed out the plants the Juneau area tribes use for medicines.

Audra also taught us about geology.  She said that little and big lakes were scraped from the ground as glaciers rolled down the mountains.  They then filled with water.

Mendenhall Glacier has shrunk lately, but it is still a massive, white presence, leaking into a gray-brown lake.

 The Alaskan landscape is gloriously green, and covered with wildflowers.

 Our next stop was an inlet off the fjord leading to Juneau, where the whales played.

Our guides were as interesting as the places they led us to.  As our boat sailed through the inlet, Pat held up a rubber whale and told us about whale habits.  She had a degree in environmental biology from a California college, migrated to Maui to lead whale watch tours there, and then followed the whales to Alaska.  She pictures herself wandering around the world, leading tours as she goes.

We found a huge humpback whale nosing along the deep drop-off, just offshore from dark green woods.  He kept rocking in and out of the water, alternately lifting the front and back parts of his body, until he finally lifted his tail and disappeared into the deep.  "We saw his face!" the guide exclaimed.  "That never happens.  And it's beautiful weather!  Usually, as I open the cabin windows so we can see the whales, freezing wind and rain rush in !"

Finding whales was exciting, but the bay was spectacular even without wildlife--blue sea, blue sky, blue mountains, and dark green forest.

 We spotted two bald eagles nestled in the tree tops above us.

 As we docked our boat and reboarded our van, the bayside village, with its fishing boats, motorboats, quonset hut, and wide-spaced clapboard buildings, seemed iconic Alaskan.

Alaska Cruise I: Just Sailing

 A cruise ship is a magical world.  On June 16, 2018, we sailed away to Alaska with Kyle and Lisa on the Holland America Eurodam.  We ate gourmet food, attended shipboard classes and events, traveled to exotic Alaskan venues, and just watched the sea.

 The adventure began as we drove through downtown Seattle to the pier.

 We passed other cruise ships on our way to the Eurodam, including this Norwegian Cruise Lines boat, docked near Pike Market.

 At 4 p.m. the ship sailed, sliding into Puget Sound and passing sister cruise ships on its way north to the Pacific.

 We explored the ship from bowels to top deck.  We found the track along Deck 11 for daily walks.  It was windy most mornings, so I opted for the treadmill in the gym, which had a great view across the bow of the ship.

The Crows Nest on Deck 12 was Dave's haunt of choice.  He took a book and read as the blue world floated by outside. 

 We passed small, wooded islands and lots of sea as we sailed north.

 We left behind the Cascade range of mountains.

 "You really spent your cruise taking computer classes?" my brother Scott asked in amazement.  Actually, yes.  June 17 was an "at sea" day, as we steamed from Seattle to Juneau.  Holland America has adopted a "celebrity" line of classes, including computer classes sponsored by Microsoft, cooking classes sponsored by America's Test Kitchen (the editors of my favorite cookbooks, the "Cook's Illustrated" brand), and classical music concerts sponsored by Lincoln Center.  Kyle, Lisa, and I attended many classes during the week that explained the Windows 10 computer operating system, including how to edit and organize photos, how to make videos accompanied by music, and how to use specialty programs such as OneDrive.

Lisa and I took several cooking classes.  I especially enjoyed the Spanish tapas class, with recipes for shrimp sauteed with herbs and Spanish tortilla.  I even learned to make alcohol-free sangria!  I have ordered a black silk flamenco shawl, will spread it on the table as a runner, and will serve a paella dinner with the tapas I learned to make on Holland America.

The Eurodam staff of naturalists gave lectures on Alaska geology and wildlife.  We learned that salmon is at the base of the Alaskan ecosystem, providing food for wildlife and, after making its way through bears, fertilizer for the forests.

 A quintet from Belarus provided concerts nearly every day.  Their American music concert was a special treat, with Gershwin's "American in Paris" and Copland's "Appalachian Spring".

 On our first night at sea, we tried out the Eurodam's specialty restaurant, "The Pinnacle."  My cioppino was nearly as good as Lisa's and Dave's fresh halibut.

 And, of course, we ordered the pecan tart for dessert....

Dave's and my favorite nightly performers were a man and woman who played two pianos and sang pop ballads.  Twice an evening, they focused on different eras and performers--Beatles music, Elvis music, songs from the 40s, the 60's, the 80's.  Their acts tempted even early bird David to stay up late.

 We returned to our cabin each night to find the signature Holland America towel animals.  One afternoon I took a class on making towel animals and even bought the book.  Visitors to the Spendlove B&B may now receive a towel animal!

The on-board presentations and treats were almost too diverting.  Dave and I both spent an hour or two, now and then, just recovering!

In Search of the Perfect Pierogi

 Dave has promised Lisa for years that he would take her on a cruise.  June 2018 was pay-off time.  We left Seattle on June 16, 2018 and sailed with Kyle and Lisa to Alaska.  We had a good-bye dinner, on June 15, with Lisa's children, Bryce, Grant, Alyssa and Kirsten.  Kirsten arrived later and missed the picture-taking.   It was great to hear all the news.  Grant, who is in premed at BYU, is spending the summer as an aide at a nursing home.  Tonight he was taking a break to attend a Seattle Mariner's game with friends.  "It's just $20 for the game and a Mariner's hat," he said.  Alyssa has been accepted into her junior high's algebra class next fall, which is an important step towards taking AP calculus and being accepted to BYU.  Bryce will soon turn 15 and has been invited to lots of 9th grade graduation parties.  "My friends are the athletic nerds," he says.  Kirsten is working as a counselor at the YWCA and will leave on an LDS mission in the fall.

The restaurant we chose was "Sebi's Bistro" in Eastlake, a Seattle suburb which is "across the bridge" from the Flindts' Sammamish home.  Sebi's reputedly has the best Polish food in Seattle.  I have been perfecting a Polish dinner to serve to family and friends, and I wanted to know what a really good Polish meal tastes like.

Several of us ordered the "schnitzel" plate, with a breaded pork cutlet, a cabbage roll in tomato sauce, grilled kielbasa sausage, and pierogis, or stuffed dumplings.  "This tastes like Czech food," I said to Grant, who has just returned from an LDS mission to Czech Republic and Slovakia.  "Yes," Grant agreed, "but of course Czech food is better."

Israeli Feast with Jonny and Jenny

 "It doesn't look like any food is getting served here soon," Jonny observed, as he surveyed my chaotic kitchen on Sunday, June 10, 2018.  True, it took a while to get everything on the table, but it was delicious when it was ready.  Jonny stepped right in to season the hummus and spoon the food onto platters.  Our guests included Jonny and Jenny with their boys, our neighbor Carol Garza, Dave's brother Alan and his wife Shauna, Dave's sister Janice, and Mike and Heidi.

 We started the meal with homemade hummus and pita bread and moved on to salmon in a pomegranate and garlic glaze, roast potatoes flavored with z'atar, two types of Persian rice, watermelon and grapes, Alan's homemade bread, and baklava with homemade lemon ice cream for dessert.

 Sam and Henry are good eaters, and at least the watermelon and grapes looked familiar!

Heidi was very festive in a hot pink hat with matching shoes.  Jenny was a good sport to come at all.  Her baby is due within the next two weeks.  It's tough to have a baby away from home, and especially in mid-summer, with the heat in the 90s!

Truffles with Heidi

Bastian women can do everything and anything.  Heidi's mother, Gay Bastian, designed her 7,000 square foot house herself and then did part of the carpentry.  When Heidi got married, Gay and her

daughters arranged all the flowers, decorated the hall, and put on the program themselves, including Broadway show tunes sung by Gay, folk and square dancing called by Mauresa, and a Bach piano duet by Heidi and her new husband, Michael Spendlove.  Since her 2015 marriage, Heidi has become an excellent candy maker.  On June 9, 2018 she taught a class for her Church Relief Society on making orange truffles dipped in white chocolate.  My other daughter-in-law, Jenny Spendlove, and I attended and were most impressed.  Heidi's friend, Pam, was Heidi's sous-chef.

 

Heidi's career is as a scientist--an environmental engineer--and she taught the 30 or so attendees at her truffle class with precision.  Each step in truffle making was clearly explained and demonstrated, with links to recipes, invitations to come take a look, and finished truffles to both taste and to take home.  

 Heidi has her own chocolate dipping machine and the dipping forks to make perfect candies.  We are proud that Heidi, a true Bastian woman, has now become a Spendlove!