Mail, mail, and more mail

We are home! Unpacked! Laundry done! And the mail - oh yeah, the mail. We had a lot of mail but the best were the boxes we mailed from Alaska! 

Did I really buy that many batiks?

I remember saying "no more buying fabric without a plan" and I remember thinking "I don't get to these shops very often!"

I've never seen striped minkee. There are a couple of baby boy quilts coming up.

Some of these might show up in those baby quilts.

I found a few patterns and thought I should try the Whisper Web.

I found the elusive Isacord thread, a finger rotary cutter and scissors that I've never seen. I just had to have that gadget in the box to cut chain-pieced pieces apart.

Oh yes, more batiks.

Ray bought some canned wild salmon and we fit it in!

It really was fun to open the boxes and see everything!

Statendam Cruise - part 3

We ended up leaving Haines about 5 1/2 hours late. They called a tug from Skagway to help get the ship away from the dock. The tug came and helped when the 50-knot winds finally began to die down. Our departure happened around 1:30 AM. We still arrived in Juneau on time - about 7AM - guess there wasn't much traffic and no speed limit!

It has been a really nice day- a few showers but lots of sun and little wind. The temps were in the low 50s.

We caught a bus and headed for the Valley – it is a number of miles out there. Thanks to some locals on the bus (the driver didn’t talk much) we got off at the right stop! A short walk and we were at Raintree Quilting.

It was definitely worth the hassle of getting there! It is a nice store with a great selection of fabric and very friendly ladies.

Here is part of the store.

I was debating how much I could buy since I had already shipped everything home. I found enough that I knew we’d have to make another post office stop - then they offered to ship it for me. The neat part is that there is no tax if they ship! So we will consider this as a day that I saved money!

We walked the whole downtown area this afternoon. Stopped at Changing Tides quilt shop downtown but I passed on buying anything. We also found the fabric part of Ben Franklin but again passed.

We did find a number of bears downtown. This fellow was pretty big!

It was a great night with comedian ventriloquist Mike Robinson, The Marriage Game, and The Indonesian Crew Show – I love the 1000 Hands Dance!

Our crew is fantastic. Each of them always has a smile. We talk often to one young man and asked about the name on his nametag: E G I that he pronounced as Eggie. He said that is the short version of his name. We asked for the long version. He said Scrambled Eggie or Eggie Benedict! We all laughed and he just kept cracking jokes! Our cabin stewards always want to know what we have done when we leave the ship. It is hard to believe that they sign on for 10 months, work 12 hour shifts 7 days a week, are always smiling, and enjoy their jobs!

In Ketchikan we went on the Herring Cove Bear Adventure for about 3 ½ hours. We were on a bus for 8 miles then we hiked in the rainforest. Ray and I were both in shirtsleeves. We walked over 4 swinging bridges

I really don't like swinging bridges!

with tree stands in-between and at each end. The bridges are 50 feet above ground. We saw 12 black bears! We were told there are no grizzlies on the island.

At the end of the bridges, we were on a board walkway and we were completely surrounded by bears. Twice, our guide put himself between the 9 of us and a bear. I think the closest bear was about 10 feet away! We all slowly backed up as a group and all was well!

There was an old boat that this fellow seemed to like!

Saturday was a wonderful day for cruising  - sunny, clear, and in the 60s. It was a great day watching orcas, humpbacks, and dolphins.

We were up early Sunday and watched our arrival in Vancouver. Sailing under the Lions Gate Bridge was pretty awesome – the bridge was all lit and it was still fairly dark out. The disembarkment process went extremely well as did our plane trip to Chicago. Tomorrow we will arrive at home.

It has been a wonderful adventure. 

Statendam Cruise - part 2

I feel good. Ray feels good. So Life is Good again! It is so nice to be over the motion sickness!

We spent a day in Glacier Bay and the sun came out for part of the day.

The day in Haines was fun – rather cool, extremely windy, but no rain! I knew there was a quilt shop but what a surprise to find out that there are two!

Inside Passage Quilting is a small shop very close to the dock – some fabric and a longarm business. The owner was friendly and talkative. I found some fabric to buy!

Material Girls Ltd is downtown. It has a wonderful assortment of fabrics and yarns. The lady working was so nice. It was a great stop and I’d definitely return to the store the next time I’m in Haines. Can you believe that I found more fabric to buy!!!

I loved this sign at Material Girls. I’m definitely not a quitter!

We found the post office and shipped home my second box of fabric. Flat Rate boxes are great – they cost the same in Alaska as in the lower 48.

We visited Fort Seward and the American Bald Eagle Foundation Natural History Museum. We really like Haines. It is still a small town without all of the cruise ship stores. Everything appears to be local and the people are very friendly. 

We thought we might be in Haines another day. We couldn’t sail at 8:30PM because of strong winds - 50 knots! (I guess safe sailing is 30 knots or less.) They called for a tug from Ketchikan to get us away from the dock. Sounds like we finally sailed about 1 AM! With no traffic and no speed limit, we made it to Juneau right on time!

I love our towel animal each night 

along with the chocolates left by our steward!

Statendam Cruise - part 1

We are now cruising south on another dam ship - the Statendam!

The ocean is in motion. If you are feeling sick, try getting to the middle of the ship. The main desk has crackers, apples, and medicines to help motion sickness.

Shortly after we sailed Sunday night, the winds came up and we could not go outside to the decks. The water in the pool is sloshing out the sides! I’m wearing a prescription patch for motion sickness but I still feel sick and it is very hard to move about the ship. Everyone walks like they are drunk!

After lunch on Monday, I found some ginger ale. The crew member told me I needed to eat fruit also so she gave me a beautiful dish of mixed fruit. It was good and I am feeling better.

We left Seward before a front came in – didn’t know that until tonight. Last year at this time, they did not beat the storm and this ship battled 50-foot waves all day. So glad I wasn’t on that one!

We are very limited on computer time now so I’ll post when I can. 

Interesting things

Some interesting things so far in this journey:

1. The Alaskan quilt shops carry lots of batiks. For some it is the only type of fabric that they carry. Most have ‘Alaskan’ batiks – ones with pictures of whales, sea otters, and other wildlife.

2. We did one load of laundry – thank goodness, I carried color catcher sheets. It was $3.00 in quarters to wash and $0.25 for each 4 minutes to dry! The rest of our laundry was free to do where we stayed in Soldotna.

3. Parking in Anchorage costs $1.25/hour in quarters on the street. In parking lots, it costs $1.00/hour paid in advance at a kiosk. In some parking lots, you can add time through an app on your phone.

4. The traffic in Anchorage is much better on Saturday and Sunday.

5. Corn fritters are wonderful and plentiful!

6. While we didn’t get to the State Fair in Palmer (we just decided not to go in the rain), the winning cabbage was over 138 pounds!

7. It does rain a lot and Alaskans just tend to ignore it and continue on. So if they plan a hike or bike ride, they still go.

8. The schools have outdoor skating/hockey rinks. We don’t know about indoor ones.

Alaska - the interior - part 3

We left Teack Lake on a cloudy very cool morning. I think it was an omen - the weather only got worse! We crossed the Kenai Peninsula stopping often for road work. Shortly after turning north, we stopped at The The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Girdwood. It was cold and very windy. We saw moose, black bear, eagles, owls, elk, bison, caribou, porcupine, lynx,  and baby musk ox. 

That was enough - it was just too cold to stay outside! As the day progressed, I'm surprised the rain wasn't icy! Talkeetna was getting its first snow!

We are staying in another VRBO.com rental. This time we have a mother-in-law apartment, a basement apartment with a separate entrance. We have a full eat in kitchen, a living room, a large bedroom, and a full bath. 

The only problem is Internet access - which seems to be a common problem here! Access is occasional!

Ray finally figured out the TV. It sure is weird to have ballgames on during breakfast! 

The first quilt shop we checked out was the Quilted Raven, a very nice small shop with mostly batiks. I didn't buy anything maybe because I had just mailed a box of fabric home!

The Quilted Tree was an okay shop - I was a bit disappointed after reading the reviews.

We had trouble finding Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe. It has moved twice within the last year or so! It was in University Mall alongside UAA (University of Alaska - Anchorage)! 

They had lots of fabric - for quilting and clothing. It was really a neat shop.

We went to the Dimond Mall which was very different from our malls - it had stores, kiosks, food court, and an ice skating rink, a bowling ally, and many services like doctor offices, banks, etc. It was many stories high. 

The Alaskan Heritage Center was very interesting. Learning about the different Alaskan cultures was fascinating.

We enjoyed the dancers and finding out what all of the symbols stand for. The guy on the right has a warrior on the back of his robe. He served our country in Afghanistan!

During the good-bye song, the dancers all came and shook our hands. It was interesting because a native Alaskan in the back of the room stood and also did hand motions during the song. Their culture is still very much intact. Closing time came too soon - I wanted to learn more!

We went to the Market and Festival which is held every Saturday and Sunday in the summer. It was smaller than usual due to the rain. The weather was so yucky that we didn't really look at many of the booths. But we did eat deep fried halibut and corn fritters!

They were so good! Yup, even in the rain!

Alaska - the interior - part 2

I think we've found a little piece of Heaven - of course the sun is shining - that might influence us a little! Our two-bedroom cabin is on Teack Lake. We have 2 bedrooms, a bath, kitchen, and a small living/dining room. The building to the left is our sitting room. This is all 'ours'.

Here's a view more from the front (although the lake is really in the front and I did not stand in the lake!). Maybe you can see our fire pit too.

Teack Lake is a private lake owned by just three or four families. Our hosts, Ted and Elaina own 40 acres - they have the majority of land here. 

Both Ted and Elaina are hunters, big game hunters. Their collection of hunting trophies is quite impressive. The water buffalo from Africa is huge. Ted returned from a hunt this morning with caribou. They are super nice people and we would gladly return here.

We can see Redoubt Volcano

and some other mountains across the lake. At 10:30 PM we can still see reflections in the lake. This setting is absolutely gorgeous. The weather is wonderful - cool and calm.

One night we ate in Soldotna at Buckets, a sports bar. The deep fried halibut was delicious!

What a gorgeous drive it was to Homer! The scenery was fantastic. I think there are four volcanoes and many mountain ranges. We saw a cow moose and her calf.  Homer is a unique community - kind of a throw back to the 60s. The quilt shop, The Sew-ciable Quilt, is really nice. Homer Spit is a little more commercialized but fun to see.

Kenai and Soldotna are bigger communities with more restaurants/bakeries and shopping but not the kind of shopping we are used to. There is an abundance of shopping available for sporting goods and outdoor activities. The malls are quite small and we never found a downtown shopping area. Both communities had quilt shops! Robin Place Fabrics in Soldotna was a great little shop. Kenai Fabric Center in Kenai was full - almost too much fabric for the space! I found wonderful fabric everywhere!