The Benedict Family Blog
Living HAPPY in the Land of Corn!
Sunday, August 15, 2021
A Garth Event
Monday, August 2, 2021
The Cruise - Brief Recap and Video Links
Monday, July 26, 2021
The Cruise - Day Seven - Endless Views
Our last night finished with the best show of the entire week, and there were some really good ones. This one was created brand new as an homage to stage and screen, primarily Broadway. We LOVE Broadway, so we were really looking forward to it. What we did not expect were some vocalists, the blonde in the middle of this picture in particular, who were Broadway quality. My GOSH was she good. It was 47 straight minutes of non-stop action, moving between different numbers, different sets, different dances...it was almost dizzying and again, the quality of it was absolutely incredible. I could have watched that for three hours.
Sunday, July 25, 2021
The Cruise - Day Six - Ketchikan
Day six found us on our way to Ketchikan. When I awoke before 7 and went out to our balcony, I spent about an hour just enjoying the view and watching the world pass us by. One thing that caught my attention was just how serene the waters were. I tried to capture them in this picture here, and also the variances I saw in currents, or whatever that is where you can clearly see differences in the water. I also saw a whale pop out of the water and go down, tail and all. Not as chilly as it had been around Juneau the day before, it was a relaxing morning to settle in before breakfast.
When we arrived in Ketchikan, our first thought was that well, this looks a lot like Juneau, just a little smaller. Same look of the port, same bunch of businesses and houses right up against the mountain, but one house in particular caught my attention. This yellow number you see to the left looked like it was perched so much on the edge that if you leaned too much to that side of the house, the entire thing would come tumbling down the mountain. No thank you! Guess this is not the kind of home you'd raise your kids in. :)Saturday, July 24, 2021
The Cruise - Day Five - Juneau
Ah, Juneau. What a nice change day five was for us. I have shared several things on FB already but this was my favorite stop so far, by far, because of the people.
We arrived to a sort of Juneau red carpet, it seemed. Since our Sled Dogs excursion didn't start until a little before 9, and the ship had docked around 7, we were in no rush to get off the ship before breakfast. Once we completed that, we headed out. Arriving on the pier we were immediately greeted by someone with, as he called it, the Assembly. That's what his nametag said as well. I guess it's a kind of welcoming committee, and it was so friendly, and he was so happy to see us...what a great start to the day!
And there was more! We had people handing out stickers and welcoming us, thanking us for coming. THANKING US. That was one of the neatest parts, along with the TV crew taking video of us, up close, as we were being greeted. Yes, we have stopped in a few ports prior and done some neat things, but nowhere were they as excited to see us as in Juneau. I realize tourism plays a big role in this little city and helps drive the local economy, but the joy in seeing us was very genuine. It made us feel like we were very welcomed, not a nuisance, not just these tourists that drop in on their lives.
Friday, July 23, 2021
The Cruise - Day Four - Icy Strait Point
Thursday, July 22, 2021
The Cruise - Day Three - Sitka
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
The Cruise - Day Two - A Day On the Sea...and Music!
In the evenings, all 10 of us dine together in the main dining room, always at the same two tables, always with the same two staff. I was a little surprised last night when we were called by name and that they had remembered we liked lemon with our water. Last night for dinner I had the butter-lemon baked cod. This picture is just horrible at showing how thick and huge this piece of cod was. I'd guess 2 to 2 1/2" in height. Opened the meal with a bowl of pumpkin soup (meh, I've MADE way better) but finished with an apple blossom. Essentially, a small apple tart/mini-pie/thing that was YUMMY, and it came with a small amount of a sweet, buttery whipped cream and a very small, very cute scoop of ice cream.