North to Alaska, Part II

Fun Nighttime Activities

My son Marlowe is a party animal so he enjoyed all the shows in the Queen’s lounge, featuring the Amsterdam Sings and Dancers, the ABBA favorites in the Crow’s Nest, as well as name that tune and was a hit at Karaoke several nights. I watched him woo the audience with his karaoke performances, then laughed at him line-dancing and just dancing to the music. I didn’t dance, but it inspired me to take a Zumba or line-dancing class back at home.

I don’t know what other shows Marlowe watched (I was so tired I went to bed early many nights), but I know there was various “Name that Tune” shows along with various performer’s music including that of Frank Sinatra, Groovy 60s singalong, Billy Joel and Elton John, Motown, Abba, Neil Diamond, and country western music, just to mention a few—although I doubt Marlowe watched the last. There were various comedians and a magician that he relished, I know, as well as a number of trivia games. The ship definitely kept us entertained.

Meeting People

I love to meet and talk to people and that was especially fun on the cruise. My daughter texted me that a friend of hers from when we lived in Italy was onboard the ship, and we located and talked to her. Mostly we met people at dinner.

Most of the dining room tables were for eight people, so we shared with different people each night, and it was so fun talking to people and making new friends. By the end of the voyage, I was having trouble keeping straight who was who and what night we had dinner with them. On a ship as large as ours, you would think you would never run into people again, but we kept doing so.

Beginning our Victoria Haunted Tour

My Favorite Things

I am asked what were my favorite parts of the cruise, and it is hard to decide which was best. I loved all the excursions, the food, and the entertainment (although Marlowe’s karaoke and dancing has to be in the top five most enjoyable activities). I think the most enjoyable was meeting interesting people, and of course my scrapbooking and culinary experiences.

If you get a chance to take a cruise to Alaska—DO IT! TODAY! It will be an adventure of a lifetime.

Victoria habor

The Hubbard Glacier

Bear looking up at us

Chunk of ice from glacier

Juneau from the tram

Marlowe & a moose face off,

The Mendenhall Glacier looks like a frozen river

Whale jumping out of the water

North to Alaska, Part I

Marlowe as we left Seattle

My late husband, Ed, always wanted to go on a cruise to Alaska. I admit I wasn’t too enthusiastic. However, now having been on a cruise to Alaska, I realize how wrong I was. A cruise to Alaska is a blast, especially if you are going with family.

My oldest son Marlowe invited me to go on a cruise to Alaska with him, and even took care of my
trip from Salt Lake City to Seattle where he lives. We went on a 7-day Holland America Cruise, stopping in Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan and ending up in Victoria before returning to Seattle.

What is a cruise like? No cooking, cleaning, or picking up for a week is one biggie. As well as no gardening, no wi-fi or phone except in port, and fabulous food. But there is far more fun than just that!

We boarded our cruise on Sunday afternoon, after I attending church with Marlowe and his family; I heard Marlowe and his daughter sing in the choir. We took Lyft (an alternative to a taxi), and dropped our stuff in the room before going to dinner.

Food on a Cruise

Marlowe & Beth at Gala Night

There were several options to eating on a cruise—

1. The Lido deck (on the 8^th floor), a perpetual buffet with food almost all day and half the night
2. The formal dining room (call La Fontaine on our ship), where you could eat breakfast and dinner at certain times of the day, plus several Gala Nights where formal wear was requested
3. Specialty dining room where you paid extra to eat there. Ours were the Canaletto Restaurant, where you had authentic Italian food, and the Pinnacle Grill where you had steak and seafood in an intimate setting
4. There were several fun events, like the “Klondike Gold Rush Dinner,” “Alaska Lumberjack Sail away & Salmon Bake,” and “An Ice Cream Social” (with ice sculpturing)
5. There were also some cafes where you could get drinks and coffee throughout the ship. 

I loved the convenience of the Lido deck food, especially when we had to be on the dock at 7:45 a.m., but the elegant food of the formal Dining Room was nice, especially the steak and lobster night.

Activities

The hot tub

People have asked me what I did all day when we were at sea—everything! During the day, there were craft classes, cooking classes, lectures about the upcoming port, fitness classes in the workout room, Microsoft classes, newly released DVD movies in the theater that you could see next day on your room TV, seminars on painters, “Name that Tune” and other trivia games, line dance classes, art auctions, Bingo—indeed you might say, you didn’t have time to do all the activities.

At night there was Karaoke, piano bar entertainers, Showtime with the Amsterdam singers and dancers, magicians, comedians, singers, music and dancing—you name it, there were all kinds of entertainment—often geared to the port, so no one was bored onboard.

And of course there was also shopping, shopping, shopping onboard the shops, with special sales. Whether you were looking for something inexpensive or very expensive, souvenirs or diamonds.

There was also the Greenhouse Spa, with various seminars from feet, to backs, to flawless skin, acupuncture, teeth whitening, as well as all the services of the spa. As soon as we were underway on the ship, I began to get dizzy (I have a middle ear problem), so one of the first things I did was get an acupuncture treatment to deal with it. In addition to the regular acupuncture, she left four small beads in the folds of my ear. I had no further problem, even when the seas got rough as a storm hit as we were going to Sitka. It was a small price to pay to have no problem with my balance during the cruise.

I took several of the craft classes (and made envelopes and cards from Alaska magazines), a few cooking classes, some “Location Guides” where I could learn about the history of the upcoming port,

I took several Digital Workshop Classes to learn about Microsoft features like Photo Gallery,

MovieMaker, Cortana, One-Drive and even several Q&A sessions, where you could meet with the Digital Workshop host and she would answer your individual computer or Windows problems. But then everyone knows I’m a technology nerd.  I was surprised how full the classes were.

Atmosphere of the Ship

Being onboard was like being in a luxury hotel, with far more amenities. Several pools, a hot tub, gorgeous artwork everywhere, game rooms and a casino, with lots of seats to just watch the ocean.

Port Excursions

Marlowe & Beth in Sitka

Some people go on cruises for the excursions, and I can see why! There are hundreds of excursions, from flying on a seaplane or helicopter to see the sights, tours of the local towns, underground mine and gold panning, tramways to see over the scenery. There were even Zipline expeditions, dry-suit snorkeling (yes, in Alaska), sled dog and musher’s camps, kayaking, bike or extended hikes, wildlife quests, whale-sighting adventures, jetboat expeditions, guided fly fishing expedition, floatplane flights over the magnificent Misty Fjords (the only way to see them), deep sea fishing, backcountry jeep & canoe safari, off-road adventures—there were too many to choose from. The more adventuresome and exotic they were, the more they caught.

Marlowe allowed me to choose which expeditions we went on, as this was “my” cruise, indicating that someday he’d be back and do his own thing, while I probably never would. I love history and nature, so most of the excursions I picked were based on that.

In Juneau, we went to the Mendenhall Glacier, Rainforest Gardens, and took a trip via the Mt.

Mendenhall Glacier

Roberts’ Tramway to an eagle raptor’s nest.  We saw the city down below from an eagle’s view while learning about the Juneau gold-mining history.

The Hubbard Glacier was not a port, but a close view of the majestic Hubbard Glacier near Kodiak, where we had Dutch Pea Soup and hot chocolate while we enjoyed the glacier. Marlowe and I kept trying to find the best place to view the glacier, so Marlowe’s fitbit recorded the 29 flights of stairs he walked (or ran) up that day, as well as the 16,000 steps he made. As we left the glacier, they hosted a polar bear plunge in the Lido pool for those crazy enough to do so. Obviously, we didn’t. I enjoyed the hot tub!

Beth taking photos of the Hubbard Glacier

In Sitka, the Russian capital of Alaska, we went on a nature hike, visited bears, saw the salmon going upstream, and learned about Sitka’s history. All of this was done in driving rain, but it didn’t deter us or negate our enjoyment. We learned a great deal about the native Tlingit natives and that was fascinating.

Marlowe mimicking a totem

In Ketchikan, we took a Cultural Discovery
Excursion, learned a lot about native culture, saw the Totem Heritage Center, and explored the Potlatch Park, including a fully recreated native Alaskan village, and saw how they carved the totem poles. I really enjoyed the history and understanding of the culture, including how you got into the clan house.

Our final port, Victoria, British Columbia, was different as we arrived in the evening, so Marlowe and I decided to tour the Empress Hotel, Parliament Buildings, and go on a haunted tour of Victoria—on foot. Luckily it was a beautiful, warm night and we learned more history than being scared. Instead of high tea at the Empress Hotel, I bought a miniature tea set for my collection.

Beth & Marlowe in front of the Victorian Parliament

Marlowe & Beth as we came aboard

Marlowe by entrance to the clan house

Potlatch Park--a Tlinget Clan House

Traveling to Costa Rica with My Grandkids (Part 2)

Zipping Through the Skies

On Tuesday, we drove around the area scouting for souvenirs, and went to a Zip-line “canopy tour.”

Me Zipping through the canopy

That was really exciting. There were 12 zip-lines we went on, going from platform to platform, progressively higher above the jungle. We even decided to do the “extra” two lines which we had to hike straight up to reach. I didn’t know whether I’d make the hike, and my grandson kept say, “we have to rest for Nona (which is my name—Italian for grandmother).”

Climbing on fragile bridges

My grandchildren took the lines as superman and supergirl, even upside down, but at my age, I took each trip in the normal way. The guides loved to bounce the lines on the longer ones, but I asked them to forgo that on my excursion across the skies, and they did. Back at the hotel, my grandkids went swimming and I rested—I had had a fun, but tiring day!

Pokemon

Now I must mention Pokeman Go, which is as popular there as in the United States. On the resort or everywhere we could get wi-fi, my grandson was catching pokemons. Even up at the restaurant, we had to look for them. I finally had them catch one on my phone just so I could say I was “with it.” The next day at the Pợas Volcano, when we bought our tickets, the gatekeepers were playing Pokemon Go on their phones, too.

James playing Pokemon

We drove back to San Jose, but this time we took the “expressways” even if we had to pay the tolls.

We stopped to buy fresh Lychee on the way and it was wonderful. My granddaughter Jenni tasted one and said it was an acquired taste, so James and I ate the whole package. The outside shell was a little different than the Hawaiian ones I liked, but inside they tasted the same.

Poas Volcano

We stopped at the Pợas Volcano on our way back to San Jose, and I again had winding two-way roads with trucks blocking our way. But the volcano was enjoyable, even if by the time we arrived the whole mountain top was covered with clouds and we couldn’t see anything. The volcano center was interesting, but it was so cold (at 8,855 feet above sea level), that we ate “top ramen” to keep us warm.

James at the volcano--picture

Back at our hotel in San Jose, we were so anxious for “real food” that we walked to the big modern Best Western hotel which had a Denny’s at it. The food there was the most expensive food we ate, and even though it was after 6:00 p.m., both grandkids had breakfast food.

Nature Tour

Our last real day in Costa Rica, we turned in our rental car and took an all-day “Jungle Tour.” It was entertaining in a different way! In the morning we hiked through a “Humid Forest” which is different from the rainforest we’d been driving through and our guide (who had a Bachelor’s Degree in Natural History) showed us all kinds of wildlife and plants indigenous to the area. Poisonous dart frogs and tree bats intrigued us and I even got bitten by a vicious ant that lived in the hollow thorns if a tree. The guide touched the thorn and they would come out to attack him, even to committing suicide by jumping at him. I held onto the rail and apparently one of the ants went from the thorn to the rail and onto my hand and bit me. My hand stung and swelled up, but it wasn’t bad.

Then we went on board a jungle boat and toured the Tárcoles River, where we saw crocodiles close up and even watched “Mike Tyson” the largest crocodile in Central America sun himself on the beach. We learned a lot about the ecology of the river and the jungle and it was entertaining. A dinner at a local restaurant and a stop at the largest (and cheapest) souvenir shop in the area completed our trip.

Crocodiles on the beach

Our San Jose hotel which we reserved for a week, even when we were in Guanacaste, was very Spanish in its design, with a central courtyard and two TVs—one flat screen that I found a Miami channel that gave the news in English so we knew if the world had gone up in war, or in truth, just continued on as always, even without us watching it. It had three bedrooms, a full kitchen and living room, with two-and-a half bathrooms. There was no air-conditioning here, but it wasn’t as hot as Guanacaste, so we didn’t have a problem.

Going Back Home

James relaxing!

Our trip home was a snap, except that gathering our luggage to go through customs in Houston, then walking all over the airport to the various gates put my back into spasms.

It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it tremendously, especially my bi-lingual grandson’s translation and their help with my luggage and everything. I would recommend the trip to anyone. It is the best-educated, safest, best economical country in Central America. If there had been time we could have taken a chocolate or coffee-plantation tour, or done many other fabulous things than we had time for.

Or to save money, you could just as well go to the big island of Hawaii and not worry about a foreign language. 

Take Grandchildren to Costa Rica? Why Not? (Part 1)

Recently I took two of my grandchildren, one 18 and one 21-years-old to Costa Rica with me for a vacation. The oldest, James, had returned from a two-year mission to Costa Rica six months earlier, so I decided he could translate and show us his mission.

Our trip was a ball. Having two young adults along helped me feel young again. I tried very hard to keep up with them, although I am sure that they feel I failed.

We arrived in San Jose, the capitol city on Saturday night. One difficulty I discovered while booking

James at customs

the flight was that it is hard to go from Salt Lake City to Costa Rica. Your best bet is to go through Houston Airport, and depending on your layover, your trip could last from eight to 21 hours, and often stretch into the next day. Luckily I was able book a flight that could eight hours going and 10 hours coming back. So we left Salt Lake City at 5:30 a.m. and arrived in San Jose at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 6, 2016. In Houston Airport we only had a short time to go from one gate to the other. When we’d left Salt Lake City, it told us to go to one gate, but we didn’t know that they’d changed gates while we were in the air, so we hiked to one gate only to find that it was wrong and we had to go to another gate a long way away. We were almost running to make the flight which was boarding, when I flagged down one of the carts and they got us there before they finished boarding.

Just to get through customs in San Jose took over an hour; even though there were 28 incoming booths for non-residents to check through, only four were open. I guess they have a two-day weekend for government workers. All we did was check into our hotel and rest.

Jenni at church

Sunday we took a taxi to the local church, where James had attended while he was the Mission’s financial secretary. It was fun for him to see local members, and we “enjoyed” three meetings in Spanish. It was fast meeting, so we felt the spirit, even though we didn’t understand a word. Sing in Spanish wasn’t too hard as I had lived in Italy and sung in Italian—but I am afraid I probably sang the hymns with an Italian accent, as I often pronounce Spanish in the Italian way—which is different.

In Sunday School, the teacher used his tablet to play a church video on the large flat screen TV. I was amazed at the use of technology that as a church librarian I had tried to encourage. They certainly needed to encouragement to use it in a “Third Country.” Right then I realized that Costa Rica is not a third world, but as modern as the United States. Everyone had the newest cell phones, and used them all the time.

Relief Society was fun as a sister from Texas visiting her mother in San Jose, interpreted for me! The lesson by a member of the Relief Society presidency was about visiting teaching and very creative. She showed us a survival visiting teacher kit, and pulled out items and correlated them to visiting teaching. I wrote down the very BASICS of it.

1.       Lock: Lock your mouth about anything your sisters tell you.

2.       Soap: Always have clean thoughts

3.       Toothpaste & brush: Always have a beautiful smile

4.       Rubber band: Be flexible & visit when your sisters can have you come.

5.       Q-tips: Clean your ears so you can listen carefully to their needs

6.       Cotton balls: Speak softly and have a soft heart

Who would ever think that one of the most creative Relief Society lessons I have ever heard was in Costa Rica?

After church we walked to several members’ houses. The first home was a very humble one of a sister who served us baked Yucca and Gallo pinto (their favorite food of rice and black beans). Four of the local missionaries ate with us, and she stretch a pork roast to serve far more people than it was designed for. Again, a very humble home with boards showing through to the open air, but the sister’s daughter sported a cell phone.

Next we visited the ward mission leader and his huge family that lived together in one home that had been stretched to make several homes. All of the grown members of the family, along with their children, sported and used NICE cell phones. They had a large flat-screen TV in the living room.

I had fasted that day and as the day went on, I began to get a migraine! Finally, I excused myself, leaving my grandchildren there speaking all Spanish, and took a taxi home. I hadn’t gotten used to the currency exchange, and my head was so foggy that I watched the taxi’s price counter go higher and higher. I began to panic because I thought it said, “60 million colones,” (about US $120.00), and panicked because I had barely brought that much money with me. When I gave him the money, he corrected me and told me it was only “6 million colones” about $12.00 US money. I was so grateful that he was so honest as I was totally a ditzy tourist. My grandchildren were still hungry, even after a lunch and two Costa Rican traditional dinners, so we ate at the hotel restaurant, which served the most flavorful salmon I’ve ever taste (either that or I was starved after eating only protein bars that afternoon).

Monday I rented a car and we drove across the country to the Pacific beaches of Guanacaste. 

 

Coffee plants

I hate to drive or ride in a car, and my driver was my 21-year-old grandson, so I quailed at the thought, but it was okay. I felt at peace and enjoyed the trip, which I know was a real blessing. Taking a private shuttle there was $500.00 each way, and the bus stopped in every town and took forever. I even checked on flying—but it was prohibitive, too. Fortunately, the rental car cost $210 (including insurance) for four days.

There is a way to get to Guanacaste that is much more modern and faster than I realized, but I had downloaded a google navigator map on my phone and we followed it. We left in a torrential rainstorm, which added to the fun. I assume I had chosen on the app that

Along side of the road

I wanted to avoid toll roads (of which there are many around San Jose), so it took us on every mountainous back road in the country. It was beautiful and reminded me of the very rural big island of Hawaii where we lived during the late 1970s, and I kept repeating the thought every time we saw something new. Heavy rain accompanied us for over five hours—until we reached the desert plains of Guanacaste.

Our hotel resort was on the beach of Playa el Coco, and we could walk down to the beach, which was

Our hotel

really fun. Our suite had a full kitchen, living room and one bedroom with two double beds and a futon bed in the living area for my grandson. IT WAS AIR-CONDITIONED, which was wonderful in the 90-degree weather with 90% humidity. Yes, I am a wimp, but I walked around with my clothes completely wet unless I was in the suite. Up above, looking over the cove, was a restaurant, lots of swimming pools, a cafeteria (which we never saw open), a gift shop and other facilities. We could take a shuttle that came every five minutes, or we could walk the steep incline. I decided I’d walk down, not up.

On Tuesday, we goofed around, bought food at the gift shop, then body-surfed in the beautiful beach. I had reserved a snorkeling tour for the afternoon, and it was fantastic.

James with pufferfish

We first went to some rocky islands in the bay. I hadn’t snorkeled for years, and it was something I’d always loved to do, especially on our favorite beach of Kona, in Hawaii and on the Baja coast of Mexico. We saw tons of beautiful fish, and the guide showed us a pufferfish and a spiked pufferfish. I don’t swim, so I used a life vest, but still was able to enjoy the sights. I wandered and every once in a while, my grandson would come checking on me to make sure I wasn’t lost.

Next we went to a beautiful secluded beach and snorkeled where the water wasn’t over our head. The guide gave us fresh Costa Rican pineapple and part of the time I rested. I had had rotator cuff surgery two months previous to our trip and my arm wasn’t as strong as I had liked.

One other lady was on our snorkeling tour with us, and I enjoyed talking to her about genealogy, of which I am a tremendous fan. 

(TO BE CONTINUED)