Three more ports in Japan, first, Hitachinaka and its lovely seaside park:
A clever tour guide taught us to count to 99 in Japanese, using easy-to-remember drawings. Don't have a photo of the drawings, but here we go, using english alphabet:
1 to 10: Itchy, knee, sun, sea, go, rock, nana, hatchi, queue, ju.
11 on, just add it up! Ju itchy, Ju knee, Ju sun...you get the picture. Twenty, then, is Knee ju (two tens), 21 is Knee ju itchy (two 10's plus 1). Keep going. Thirty is Sun ju...
Hakodate. Off to the morning market. Dinner! Trying to escape!
Cherry blossoms were still in bloom and visible on our way to up Mount Hakodate on the "rope line", cable car to us neophites.
Onward to Muroran, and another rope line, this one passing a live volcano spewing steam.
We also visited the history museum, which was full of real honest to goodness ninja stuff.
It was here, in the parking lot, where after over four months at sea, the one and only wiener dog was spotted and legitimately called. There had been one previous sighting, but the International Wiener Dog Spotting regulations strictly prohibit calling dogs when riding on busses...unless the dog is on the bus.
Happy birthday to Pati!
Seven days at sea to cross to Alaska, with a time change every night. Everyone was tired, especially the crew, who keep odd hours at the best of times. Smooth sailing, however.
We had a great guide in Kodak who was a fisherman for most of his life and now head of the local museum. He explained how the crab is caught and assured us that "Deadliest Catch" was about right, but without all the personal drama.
Some say that this is the oldest bar in Alaska.
Sitka. Eagles and raptors and bears, o my. These are all rescues. The bears were rescued as motherless cubs and the eagles and other birds were injured. The bears stay forever, but the eagles are rehabbed and released. The motto: "The eagle has landed. To get him flying again is our job."
Horrible weather, windy and rainy low tossed and turned us ll night and most of the day. Miserable until we got into the Inside Passage and some respite, but maybe late to Vancouver. Captain Secret shored nothing further as of 5 pm.
We were late. So, highlights of our last ports Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, and Astoria.
They still throw fish at Pike Place Market in Seattle.
The Boeing Factory!
Last stop, Astoria, Oregon. Big thing there is the Astoria Tower.
So, in the end, 150 days on a cruise ship. Never cooked our own meal, made our own Gibsons, or made our own bed. We lost track of the number of countries visited.
Gordon won the Wiener Dog contest, 1 dog to zero.
