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5/22-6/1 Alaska Cruise (Radiance) & Land Tour, LOTS of Photos (L.J. & Bev Part II/I)


WalleyeLJ
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So excited to read your review. I read your very thorough and most enjoyable review from your trip last summer and enjoyed it very much. We're cruising to Alaska from Seattle to Vancouver in September. So I can't wait to check the rest of your review. Thanks so much for doing it! :)

 

You're very welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed the last one. This is a little older, so I've got some work to do on remembering some of the details - thank god for photos!

L.J.

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Right near the Cafe was a great candy shop. I picked up some gummy bears (favorite travel food), but just not THIS one...

 

 

 

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One thing we did do in terms of souvenirs was that we started picking up Christmas ornaments. We try and pick up one in new places we go in our travels, and since this was our first time in Seattle, we started collecting...

 

 

 

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While there were many different and unique things in Pike's, I wanted to close out our visit there with one pretty unique - at least to me. Amidst all the fresh, fish and produce, there was one location that sold all sorts of pastas. Different shapes, sizes, colors, textures AND - flavors! While foodies out there may not find that unusual, it was a first for me. I can't imagine wanting chocolate pasta...and I LOVE pasta - it's my main food group...

 

 

 

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Having finally completed our tour of Pike's we headed outside to find the very first Starbuck's - the only chain type store allowed in the whole Pike's area - since it started off as one of kind:D.

 

 

 

L.J.

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This is a little older, so I've got some work to do on remembering some of the details - thank god for photos!

 

L.J.

 

Look at it this way, it is going to keep your appetite "wet" for your next trip to Alaska.

 

I try and create photobooks of our cruises/travels via Shutterfly and it is so much fun to sit and look at them and relive the trip!

Susan

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Over the years I've developed a fairly wide ranging taste for coffee. Not coffee drinks (although I like some), just straight up coffee. Some people will only drink their brand the way soda drinkers are die hard Coke or Pepsi (Coke for me please!). I grew up in New England, so I was born and raised on Dunkin' Donuts. While I did have the occasional Starbucks, I often found it a bit to bitter for my taste. That said, Starbucks was better than no name gas station coffee by a mile. When I moved to where we are now in North Carolina almost 10 years ago, there were no Dunkin' Donuts - or Starbucks, or Seattle's Best, or fill in the blank - not a single coffee chain shop for miles. Then a year or so after we moved here, Starbucks opened a store. Since other coffee options in the area were limited, I started to go to Starbucks on a regular basis. As we started cruising regularly, I found I loved the Seattle's Best that I've found on most RCI ships. Now, I enjoy finding new coffee shops and chains to try out wherever my travels take me (i.e. Port City Java inn he Wilmington, NC area). So, even though Starbucks has now grown to be worldwide cultural coffee phenomenon, it still started with a lone shop at Pike Place, so before we headed to the Amtrak station to get our tickets for our trip up to Vancouver the next morning.

 

 

 

The storefront of the very first Starbucks

 

 

 

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My goofy self posing in front of the commemorative seal inside the store

 

 

 

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Energized by a fresh cup of Starbuck's Pike's Place brew (not normally a fan of that particular roast, but getting anything else while at the Pike's Place store for the first time just seemed wrong), we made our way out of Pike's Place and down to the Amtrak station, an easy 8 or 9 blocks or so. We found out that 1) of business class seat purchase was refunded to us because the train the next day wouldn't have those cars on it, and 2) no assigned seats. In the end it did save us waiting in line the next morning to get ticketed, so it was still worth it.

 

 

 

L.J.

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I'm so excited that you are doing this review. I leave for Seattle June22nd and our cruise is June 25th. Looking forward to reading another wonderful review by LJ

 

Thanks Flounder315!

 

You're lucky - 3 days pre cruise in Seattle - wahoo! I wish we'd had more than one day to explore Seattle, but also thankful we had that - and such great weather to boot! Hopefully you'll be as lucky:).

 

L.J.

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Train tickets acquired, we took a quick taxi ride back to West Lake Center. We were headed to the world famous Space Needle next, but not only did we want to save money going that far across town - we also wanted to try a pretty unique public transit opportunity - the Seattle Monorail! Built for the World's Fair in 1962, it still runs the cars originally built for the project in 1961, and carries around 2 million passengers a year. It runs a little over a mile between West Lake Center and Seattle Center, where the Space Needle and a number of other attractions are located. You can't beat the experience for $2.25! With service every 10 minutes, we didn't have to wait long. It wasn't too crowded, and in a matter of minutes we were at our next destination...the dreaded Space Needle!

 

 

 

My Bestest Travelling Transit Companion!

 

 

 

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The Monorail Station in Seattle Center

 

 

 

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The Monorail Leaving the Station...

 

 

 

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A first look at the Needle

 

 

 

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If the Seattle Space Needle were the Leaning Tower of Pisa...

 

 

 

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L.J.

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So you may have noticed I mentioned in the previous post "the dreaded Space Needle". So, the Space Needle is just about the most iconic image of Seattle - at least in my mind. World famous, with towering, 520 foot high views of Seattle, Puget Sound, and the Cascade & Olympic mountain ranges. So here we are, standing at the base of this massive, amazing feat of science and engineering and human creativity, and me a photographer on just about the most picture perfect day possible. It's an absolutely perfect moment that couldn't have been scripted any better.

 

Except for one teeny, tiny, silly little thing, a bit of a fly in the ointment so to speak...

 

I have a nearly debilitating fear of heights!

 

Like heart stopping, rubber-legged, I'm going to pass out, pulse racing 200 beats a minute kind of fear.

 

Two previous examples of similar circumstances . First, I proposed to Bev on the top of Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, NY in the middle of fall foliage season. Now being on top of a mountain generally isn't a problem. However, after pooping the question, I took Bev into Lake Placid to check out the Olympic sights. One of those was going up in the ski jump towers. 70m - less than half the height of the Space Needle. We rode up in the elevator, stepped out...and I couldn't move more than a couple of steps. Not proud of it, not happy about it, but it was like I was glued to the floor around the main concrete pillar holding the whole thing up. Bev went right out into the actually ski jump area and took photos so I could see what the view looked liked. Even the photos made me ill. It's a wonder she didn't hand me the ring back after we got down to terra firma!

 

Second, the Empire State Building. Got out on the 86th, or 89th floor, took about 5 steps, and froze. I SWEAR the whole building was swaying 2-3 feet. Mind you, I know that skyscrapers are built to move in the wind, but NO one else in our group felt what I felt. When I FINALLY made it into the next elevator and up to the main observation deck, I had to kneel initially at the edge of the deck wall because I couldn't stand - even though it was about 3 feet thick.

 

So, now that I've embarrassed myself completely - back to my dilemma at the Space Needle - or rather Bev's dilemma. After 20 or so minutes of my sitting and staring at the thing, I'm sure her patience was wearing thin, but she didn't show it. She Kept telling me if I didn't want to go up, it was fine. But I didn't want her to miss the experience either. Watching the external elevators glide up and down the skeletal tripod legs of the Needle was not helping calm my fears. All I could picture was being halfway up and an earthquake striking at that exact moment.

 

 

 

Abstract Beauty

 

 

 

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So, learning that the Needle was built to withstand a CAT 5 hurricane and a 9.1+ earthquake, and knowing I was likely never going to get a perfect day like this again, even if I was fortunate enough to make it back to Seattle again, I finally decided to just go for it!

 

 

 

A shot of the happy moment of facing my fears...

 

 

 

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We had a bit of a wait as there was a long line, but it was like that when we got there, so no harm, no fowl (that came later;)).

 

 

 

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It did, of course, allow me plenty of time to amp my fears back up again, but I persevered - sort of! When it was finally time for us to board our elevator, I had decided to video the ride up. But I was so stressed out that I just closed my eyes, stuck the video camera up over my head, and clenched my teeth for the whole ride up to the top. The funny thing is you'd figure that it would be 45-60 seconds of the most useless video in history - but when we got back from the trip and I went through the video clips, it was probably the most rock solid, steady footage I shot the whole trip - go figure!

 

 

 

L.J.

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So, 520' of gravity-defying riding later, we step off the elevator. Even though the elevator ride is almost entirely on the outside of the Needle, it winds up inside the space ship ("he come the Men In Black...") er,.. observation deck, so you don't just immediately walk outside. This is a good thing as it allowed me to take a lap around the seating/lounge area once before taking it outside for the main event. Fortunately, unlike last my tall building experience at King Kong's house, I didn't feel like a palm tree swaying in the breeze this time! So, we headed outside on the SSE side of the Needle. Up on the Empire State building, there was a brisk breeze, which makes sense being that high in the sky. So while I was braced for it, the weather outside was quite calm and warm - very comfortable. Despite my procrastination, the terrific visibility and generally clear skies had held up.

 

 

 

Our first look at beautiful downtown Seattle from the 520' high Space Needle Observation Deck.

 

 

 

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In the upper right corner you can make out Quest Field, Safeco Field, and looming in the distance, massive Mt. Rainier.

 

 

 

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I think the wire catch fence helped! I'm actually almost as calm and happy as I look...

 

 

 

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After a few minutes of gazing at downtown Seattle, we started to make our way counterclockwise around the deck. As I grew bolder, I began to look down into Seattle Center Park. I even stuck my DSLR out over the edge and took a few shots. I had the camera strap wrapped around my hand and wrist so tight so I didn't lose the camera that I was lucky I could squeeze off a few shots!

 

 

 

A top down view of Seattle Center, including the rollercoaster and the EMP Pop Culture Museum - and the shadow of the Space Needle!

 

 

 

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Continuing around the deck we were treated to our first views of Lake Union - which we'd get A LOT closer to before the day was over!

 

 

 

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L.J.

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The sun was high over Puget Sound, so it caused a lot of lens flare and really washed out the shots I took, but the view was still amazing. working on completing the circle, you can see that a lot of people were taking advantage of the great weather:

 

 

Looking for Pacific Northwest Pirates or better yet Bigfoot!

 

 

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Mount Rainier - Up Close & Personal - from 60 miles away. Would we get to see Denali so clearly??? Fingers crossed!

 

 

 

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Before we headed back down, we took in one last moment. Even if we get to come back to Seattle, we may never get this great a view again!

 

 

 

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Much more comfortable on the descent, I kept my eyes open the whole time - who says travel can't help your personal growth & development! As we reached the bottom, the elevator opened up in to the gift shop. They had a lot of cool things, but again we were only on Day 2, and I still had a t-shirt to buy in every port (or at least that was the plan)!

 

 

 

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So, feet back on solid ground, we spent a few minute wandering the park underneath the Space Needle, admiring the views and the amazing feat of engineering one last time. By this time, it was around 5pm or so and we were wondering what to do next when we spied the Seattle Duck Boat Tours right next to the Park!

 

 

 

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L.J.

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Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures and narrative. We are on Rhapsody of the Seas May 31st. We can only hope that the weather is this good for us, but it isn't looking like it will be.

I look forward to the rest of your pictures.

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So, it turns out that 5PM was the LAST Duck Tour of the day. We paid the fare and hopped in line. We were lucky (at least to me) to get seats in the very back on the right side. We had great views of the city and got to enjoy the show on board as well. We had a fabulous young woman as our tour guide. She was, hands down, the BEST tour guide I ever had. She was a hoot, witty with an endless supply of knowledge about the city - plus she had about a dozen costume changes WHILE driving - here's the first one she wore while giving us our safety briefing. The best part was when she explained where the emergency exits were (if you've never been on a duck boat, check out the second photo - you too should be able to find the emergency exits)!

 

 

 

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One highlight of the tour was the high energy music and the live karaoke sing-along's we had the whole trip - from the classic "YMCA" to Brooks & Dunn's "Boot Scootin' Boogie" to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" - sung as we stopped to check out Safeco Field!

 

 

 

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We had a very eclectic mix of people on the bus from several different countries, but we had a blast with everyone singing the songs the whole way - none more than me. Fortunately I can' t post videos on here as easily as I can photos - which is probably better for everyone. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, but I can have some fun trying! In between recording sessions, we saw all sorts of cool things in and around the city. One of the cool things we loved about Seattle is all the different type of public art displays. This one was part of a series of displays of office and technology items:

 

 

Name That Office Supply Item!!!

 

 

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After leaving Seattle Center, our loop took us down the hill to the Seattle waterfront where we turned left and ran down Alaska Way, checking out the sights along the water, including the Seattle cruise ship terminal!

 

 

Checking out the sights on Alaska Way - loving the roll up windows!

 

 

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Seattle Cruise Ship terminal Entrance

 

 

 

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L.J.

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Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures and narrative. We are on Rhapsody of the Seas May 31st. We can only hope that the weather is this good for us, but it isn't looking like it will be.

I look forward to the rest of your pictures.

 

Sherril,

 

If it's any consolation, the weather forecast was unsettled at best almost every day of our cruise, and we ended up with generally great weather. Here's to hoping you'll have the same luck!

 

L.J.

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Another great review I cant wait to get to Alaska .... Love all of the pics... I hope I can take some great ones.

 

I now have acess to the new Canon 1D-X I am not sure if i will be ready to take it with me because there is one hell of a learning curve.

 

I think I have asked you this in the past On glacier day what do you see as the best spot to shoot pics of the glacier? Please share thoughts

 

 

Thanks

JD

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Another great review I cant wait to get to Alaska .... Love all of the pics... I hope I can take some great ones.

 

I now have acess to the new Canon 1D-X I am not sure if i will be ready to take it with me because there is one hell of a learning curve.

 

I think I have asked you this in the past On glacier day what do you see as the best spot to shoot pics of the glacier? Please share thoughts

 

 

Thanks

JD

 

JD,

 

Two main spots for me. One is to be out early and right up in the off the helicopter deck (Deck 5). That's a bit more intimate an experence - lots of people around/behind you, but no one in front. Otherwise, the fonrt section of Deck 12, with a walk down to the Deck 11 sundeck from Deck 12. Get there early enough to be at the front so you aren't trying to shoot over/around people. That'll also allow you to get the people crowded on the bow into you shot. (see below)

 

 

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L.J.

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Subscribing! We'll be in Vancouver 4 weeks from Thursday, departing on the Radiance and finishing up with 4 nights at Denali! Very excited to see this review (read your other one Thursday night for MANY hours) going in the same direction! Thanks

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We were on the August 10-17, 2012 Southbound from Seward to Vancouver on the Radiance.

 

Ahhh...You're username seemed familiar, and I couldn't remember if it was from my last review of our Roll Call boar dlast summer. How was the August weather for you all?

 

L.J.

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We were on the August 10-17, 2012 Southbound from Seward to Vancouver on the Radiance.

Ahhh...You're username seemed familiar, and I couldn't remember if it was from my last review of our Roll Call boar dlast summer. How was the August weather for you all?

L.J.

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Sorry LJ but I just couldn't resist responding to this. I've received several proposals in my life but none comes close to this. :D

Sigh...:o:o:o

Well, in any case, for some reason she still said yes!!!:D

L.J.

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