Alaska trip!

All right, kiddies... I'm back from Alaska to entertain you lot. ;)

Pictures will come later when Steph uploads them.

Dawn Princess Alaskan adventures!

Monday, May 23

Did last-minute packing. Eric called to say he had locked himself out of his car because he lost his gas cap. Unfortunately, we couldn't help him as the taxi arrived five minutes early and we had to leave. At the airport, my mother said that I was "SO strong!" Reason: I opened a bottled water for her, which doesn't require THAT much strength! *laugh*

Just as we boarded the plane to Anchorage, my sister asked me whether I'd ever been on a plane before. My reply: "Uh, yes.. I flew to Disneyland on that family trip in Grade 8. I also flew when we went to Toronto last summer!" She then concluded that she was losing her memory, just like Mom. I wouldn't be surprised, haha! This family bonds through memory loss! ;)

We took a taxi from Anchorage to the ferry terminal at Whittier.. lucky thing we had a knowledgeable taxi driver (Jim Bush) who told us a lot about Anchorage. When we went through a mile-long tunnel, he told us that once he had a lady claustrophobic passenger.. yikes! Jon looked out the window at one point, and saw a Raspberry Rd. That was very interesting! Mom gave us some seaweed to eat, and I then observed that Grandma used to feed us with that when we were younger. My sister turned around and said, "Grandma's fetus?! What?!" Hahaha! Later, I mentioned something about heliskiing to my brother: he thought I'd said "LSD'ing." No.... hahaha.

The cruise ship Dawn Princess is very opulent: it was very cool being on one for the first time! I tried caviar, iced pina colada soup with rum, hazelnut ice cream, and honeydew sorbet as part of dinner and dessert. We met our stateroom steward June; he was very nice! (should have got a picture of him, but didn't) There was a lifejacket drill later... it was a sea of orange vests in the Vista Lounge muster station! We explored the cruise ship later; marble staircases, an Internet café, a library, the Wheelhouse Bar, the Horizon dining room, and so many other things to be seen! Then we watched Meet the Fokkers and Finding Neverland. Jon and I hung out in the bar a little later: some Mexican passengers were dancing to La Bamba and other Spanish songs. It was definitely a cool day!


Tuesday, May 24

We slept through College Fjord. I made a stand for myself regarding certain issues (Net friends and much inquisitiveness) and got called an ungrateful brat because my parents had paid $5000 for the cruise, so they should ask me anything they liked. It wasn't any use arguing even though I didn't quite see the point, so I dropped it. Apparently, I look better with makeup on than without it, even though I dislike the whole makeup thing. It was a Formal Night and our parents' anniversary, so we took more pictures with the ship photographers than usual. They were giving out free cocktails in the lounge area, too! As part of our ongoing quest to teach Mom English, we had to inform her that "saloons" are not "salons"... "taxis" are not "taxes" either. But at least she's willing to learn... we even made her pronounce "souffle" a few times.

There was a comedy magician as part of the night entertainment. When he went out into the crowd, he chose this drunk woman to be onstage with him. Barbara provided unintentional comedy, but the poor guy must have been wondering why he chose her! "Send me your vibes... but not THOSE kind of vibes!" It was all very amusing!


Wednesday, May 25

We saw a lot of glaciers at Glacier Bay... funnily enough, I had Death Piggy's Whipping Round The Bay in my head for hours! A couple of park rangers came on board the ship to give us a lot of information regarding their nature and some history. I had grits as part of breakfast, a calzone pizza for lunch, and an Italian dinner.. very good food! (then I had the Dave Brockie Experience's Dance of Europe in my head!) My mom thought she saw me gambling at the casino... I didn't do such a thing since I had to GO THROUGH the casino to get to our stateroom! My siblings and I convinced Mom to buy some of our pictures from the Photo Gallery. She wasn't going to get one with just her and Dad, but as the argument went: "It was your ANNIVERSARY! Nothing to do with us three!"

My sister mentioned her friend Emily Chow coming in June while she's away. I don't mind her staying with me for part of the time, even if she DOES bring 14 pairs of shoes with her like she did a couple of years ago! There was a funny comedian show on tonight: we laugh because it's true!


Mom: Do you want any more coffee?
Me: No, coffee is a diuretic.
Mom: What?! Coffee gives you DIARRHEA?
Steph: No, she said diuretic. That just means it makes you pee.

Hahaha! I know the two words sound kinda similar, but aiyoh! :P


Thursday, May 26

We went to Skagway for a few hours.. it's a very nice town! I got free bracelets, color-changing rings, train whistles, little plush toys, 36 postcards, and a little vial of gold. (Steph got a shotglass for Jessica Marr) There was a walking tour, which gave us an idea about the history of the area. I bought some beer for my brother at a local pub in the afternoon: I had Alaskan Amber, and he had Alaskan ESB. We discussed Palmer, Dave, Dawn, Tracy, Jen, Adela, work, money, and some other things. I know my parents are concerned about me, but sometimes it gets to be too much. That's not a criticism; it's just my opinion! They're not happy about my hanging out with Internet friends, and want me to hang out with my church friends more often. Not that I don't care if they're happy or not, but I'm not going to be one of those Christians who just hangs out with people of my own faith, for one. No, I'm not out to proselytize... but having friends of all different walks of life is better than being exclusive! (and it really gives you more perspectives and such)

Later on, we all watched an awesome musical tribute show to the Beach Boys / the Beatles / Frank Sinatra / Sammy Davis Jr. / Dean Martin. (among others) I should have tried the rabbit for dinner, but was too full for anything else! In the stateroom, my sibs and I watched Ray... it's a great movie about Ray Charles, but also pretty sad in parts. While I wrote some of my postcards, my siblings then watched the poker championships on ESPN.. there was no basketball game, SportsCentre, or other sports highlights.


Friday, May 27

We went to Alaska's capital, Juneau. It's a small town with not much to see even if you go on tours of the Mendenhall glacier and such. I got more rings and bracelets, a Russian nested doll (Matroschka), pooping bear keychains, and a hat. The keychains reminded me of the time my friends were over once for prayer meeting a few years ago...

Keith: *laughs* Hey, what's that? One of those pooping animals?
Me: Yeah! It's so cool, haha!
Keith: Where'd you get it?
Me: I don't know. My mom got it for me. I'll call her.
*picks up phone and calls home*
Me: Hey, Mom! Where'd you get the pooping pig?
*guys laughing in background*
Mom: In Aberdeen at one of those cheap stores, I think!
Me: *relays information, to even more laughter from my friends*
Mom: Who are you talking to? I hear men!
Me: It's Keith, Anita, Maxine, Vernon, and Tim. You know them from CHURCH!
Mom: Well, I just want to make sure there are no strange men at your place! You've heard the latest rape / kidnap / murder story, right?
Me: Uh, I should go. They're here for Fellowship prayer meeting!
Mom: Oh, okay. Bye!

Hahahaha! My mom can be so weird sometimes!

We had venison, Alaskan king crab, coq au vin, a Ketchikan silver salmon salad, frog legs, crispy duck a l'orange, and amaretto ice cream as part of dinner. Jon invited me to a Hillsongs United concert in Langley next Tuesday night. I'll see if I go: it's kinda dependent on whether I catch up with most Internet things first or not! (sad, I know :P) Later, we watched a great comedy ventriloquist: his puppets looked really cool, and the jokes were funny! Then there was a singer from Broadway: very good entertainment!

Mom: If you want to shop like a crazy madwoman, wait until we go to Ketchikan tomorrow. You can shop until you drop DEAD!
Me: *horrified* MOM!
Mom: What? That's the expression!
Jon: No, it's not. It's just "shop till you drop," not "drop DEAD!"
Steph: Yeah, Mom... it's like you want her to die or something!
Mom: Noooo... I'm just saying that you can shop a lot tomorrow because of all the good deals!
Us: Yes, Mom. But just remember this, okay?

Hahahaha! My mom can be strange, but hilarious!


Saturday, May 28

We went to Ketchikan: I got an ultraviolet T-shirt (it changes color in the sun!), more postcards, a free calendar and photo album, and some more stuff. Jon bought me beer at a local pub this time: we tried Midnight Sun Kodiak Nut Brown, Alaskan Rhino, Moose Drool, and Black Porter. Definitely good times, although I took longer to turn red than the other day. We laughed at all of the raunchy T-shirts and clothing on sale: my sister has plenty of those pictures! "Blue Moon" and "Humpy Day" on a pair of boxers, various shirts with allusions to farting / mooning (our family loves those, hahaha), and various veiled sexual references... oh my!

I decided to be a royal personage at the formal dinner: I ordered pheasant (which tastes like chicken) and Beef Wellington. (I had chilled strawberry cream soup for lunch) My siblings and I decided that Eric would be proud because Parisienne potatoes were on the menu. Later, I sent out all my US postcards at the purser's office. As part of the night's entertainment, we had another comedian who told jokes rapid-fire style. There was also a good "Piano Man" show which paid tribute to Billy Joel, Neil Sedaka, Liberace, Barry Manilow, and Elton John: they had very interesting costumes! Afterwards, there was a champagne waterfall party going on: the mood was very celebratory and LOUD! Some cruise staff led the dancing: they did the Macarena and YMCA, of course!


Sunday, May 29

The crunch of family time was getting to me: if you spend too much time in someone's company, you'll get tired of them no matter how you feel about the people in question! (quote from my sister: "She's getting saturated with family time... I love it!") But overall, the cruise is a good experience. I had Russian borscht and Hungarian Magyar Paprika Goulash for lunch, and linguine with chilled pumpkin cream soup for dinner. Our waiter was named Dragon, from Grenada. We should have taken a picture of him, but didn't.. oh well. Since our parents were busy packing afterwards, my siblings and I took in the comedians and a repeat of "Piano Man" by ourselves. Then we had dessert: my sister couldn't resist ordering "La Bombe Diplomate" while I had some dark cherry sorbet. (we'd finished earlier, thanks to my clearing out the drawers in the afternoon while they were working out) The purser's office called our room again to insist that they didn't have an imprint of our signatures on our parents' credit card form or something. That made our parents justifiably furious! Things were kinda sorted out later on, and we watched Sixth Day. (it was shot in Vancouver, and has Arnold Schwarzenegger / cloning in it!)

Me: Coffee goes down better with cream than without.
Steph: What?! Coffee makes you want a whipped cream massage?!
*Jon and I burst out laughing and explain*
Steph: Well, that's what I *heard* you say! Enunciate and articulate!

Hahahaha! My sister's way too funny!


Monday, May 30

It was SO CROWDED in the public areas before breakfast since they were filled with people disembarking! Eventually, we got a taxi home and arrived at 10-ish. My mom told me: "You can have Internet friends, but try not to spend so much time with them because you should go to more of those Christian church functions!" Uh, it's not a matter of what I can and can't do since she can't control it. Sure she's looking out for me, but... ugh. Later on, we had an unpretentious lunch of wonton mein and chicken knees before going to Viva Java for some good coffee. (the cruise ship coffee was okay, but not what we're used to!) I checked my email almost immediately when we got home: 1789 total messages, with 50 of those being journal comments!

Gem of the day from my sister:

Radio: "... testing is underway for E. Coli...."
Steph: What?! Testing is UNDERWEAR for that?!
Me: No! They said UNDERWAY! I know being raised in this family makes you think of underwear, but...
Steph: Oh! When did I get selective hearing?!


Overall, it was a good cruise!
(I also had minute steak for breakfast once, haha)

Now, to get caught up on people's journals... that is, if they aren't being blocked by the Parental Control filter on my parents' computer!

This is what happens when I try to access them:

This webpage has been denied by Parental Control
The webpage you are trying to access contains restricted material (Adult) and is therefore blocked by Parental Control.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To access this webpage, click the menu button, and:

Choose 'Allow this website' to add this site to your allowed sites list.

Choose 'Suspend Webpage Filter' to turn off the filter for this session.


Note: Both actions require the Parental Control password.


Oh well... you can't have everything! ;)


Here's an example of what I did have on the cruise ship:

Lots of fruits / veggies / sorbet / meat...

caviar, iced pina colada soup with rum, hazelnut ice cream, and honeydew sorbet

a calzone pizza for lunch, and an Italian dinner

venison, Alaskan king crab, coq au vin, a Ketchikan silver salmon salad, frog legs, crispy duck à l'orange, and amaretto ice cream

lots of beer / champagne / cocktails (Alaskan Amber, Alaskan ESB, Midnight Sun Kodiak Nut Brown, Alaskan Rhino, Alaskan Summer Ale, Moose Drool, and Black Porter)

Russian borscht and Hungarian Magyar Paprika Goulash for lunch, and linguine with chilled pumpkin cream soup for dinner

pheasant (which tastes like chicken), Beef Wellington, chilled strawberry cream soup, Parisienne potatoes

(I also had minute steak for breakfast once, haha)