We're home!

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How does one know one was just in Alaska? One finds a polar bear in her shorts.

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Um, wow.

If you prefer recaps in pictures, click here. Otherwise, stick, around for the brief narrated version. If you can call this post brief. It's a whole week's recap, so maybe get a little snack first.

First highlight of the trip: we got to visit Tom Bihn & Darcy [!] at his factory.



Many more pictures on Flickr. We had a fantastic time seeing into the inner workings of one of our favorite companies, and spending time with Tom and Darcy was fabulous. Of course, once we got to the shop, we were unable to prevent ourselves from buying a few choice souvenirs. Hub got a Smart Alec backpack to hold his laptop, already protected by the Archetype bag we got him when the computer first arrived. They're a perfect pair. The Archetype has clips that snap into the Smart Alec to hold it in place. So cool.

Me? I finally got to see a Cafe Bag in person, and couldn't leave without the Plum/Wasabi one for my trip. It is a brilliant bag and I adore it. So did everyone who saw it on me during the cruise. :-)

In Swift news [the Swift is the knitting bag that Tom designed with the help of Knitty readers], they now offer it in pink [!] and a cool blue. Yup, I got a pink one. You're surprised?

After that visit, we met up with the first installment of Sea Socks cruisers and took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. I got to re-hug Kit and John and Deb of Churchmouse Yarns and Teas and watch as my fellow knitters decimated the basket of Shoalwater silk lace [the same stuff I'm knitting my tube out of]. I managed to score the last skein of purple for Keri.

For those not there, yes, Churchmouse is glad to take telephone orders. [I asked.]

My souvenir of the day?

We made it to Mora just before they closed. Strawberry and Swiss Chocolate [which is actually chocolate with dulce de leche and chocolate flakes]. Oh, sigh. Heaven, once again.

The next day, a yarn crawl all over Seattle. You want to see my haul? Sorry, but there's not much to show. My travel rule is that I only buy yarn I can't get at home [unless there's a specific urgent reason to break that rule]. So I bought two skeins of Berroco Comfort DK to play with, two skeins of Muench Big Baby [which I made into a fabulous pair of faux-felted slippers on the cruise] and that was all. The yarn shops were all fabulous and I'm glad I got to see them, though!

Finally, we got on board the ship. Our cabin was fabulous [I never remember to take pictures of the cabin] with a balcony and a larger bathroom than we remember on the Princess cruise we took in 2006.

The next week is really a blur. The weather all week was mostly rainy [until the day we visited Victoria, where it rarely rains], and the seas were stormy on many of the days, too. My patch kicked in after dinner on the first day and I was never queasy again for the whole week. I <3 the patch.

First stop: Ketchikan



A little town but very charming.



See? Rain. But we had fun anyway! It was mostly misty stuff.

What's in that bag I'm carrying? Why, yarn! My one purchase on the trip: Raven Frog Fiber Arts Silk Chenille [!] hand dyed in a crazy pink/raspberry/brown/cream combo that begged to be crocheted into tiny granny squares for a scarf. [Dawn gave me a refresher lesson.] No pics just yet.


That is my boy in his new Utilikilt. We drove past the shop in Seattle and I squealed, "go get one!" [He had the day to himself when I was on the yarn crawl]. And he did! I couldn't stop grinning when I saw him in it and I'm rather proud to be married to a man who suits a kilt so well. He wore it all over the cruise. No, I'm not going to knit him kilt hose. There's no non-wool yarn suitable.


That night was Knitty Knits night on the ship. Look at all the fabulous Clapotiseseses! And there's way more in my Flickr album, too. Way fun.


This is pretty much our view for a good bit of the cruise. Grey and stormy. But then...



little iceberglets! We must be getting close to...


the Hubbard glacier!

This was, without question, the highlight of the cruise. We gathered on my balcony and Brenda Dayne's [a few doors down]...


watched the berglets float by and took a billion pictures of the ancient ice.



When the iceberg calved [a chunk broke off] everyone scrambled to take pictures. We couldn't quite work out if we should be glad to see it or mourn it, but we were all fully present, witnessing it. We were told that icebergs are growing and shrinking all the time [not just shrinking, which is what I'd feared was happening due to the warming-up of this planet of ours].

The next day, we arrived in Juneau, where hub and I had signed up for a glacier-view sea kayak excursion.



It was beautiful, as you can see. The glacier is the white bit dead ahead of the kayak. We paddled for more than an hour and got quite a bit closer to the glacier.



It was beautiful and quiet. Hub and I shared a kayak, which we had feared might not be such a wise idea [we don't share moving vehicles very well], but it worked out just fine. We behaved ourselves and I took pictures of him, me and everything around us, including the seals [which you can't see in the pictures] and the bald eagle that came to visit:



Then back to Juneau for lunch at the very touristy, but also very friendly [and tasty!], Red Dog Saloon.



Okay, I've run out of steam. I managed [despite constant hand-washing] to catch a cold which showed itself on the plane home. So I'll finish this up tomorrow. Oh, the suspense! :-)

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*On the cruise, the very interesting naturalist told us all sorts of stuff about the glacier we were seeing. And at the end of each little blurb, he'd say, "As I wrote in my kayak journal..." and then spout some kind of weird Jack Handey-type naturalist wisdom about being in the wild, in all seriousness. We were practically peeing our pants with the laughing by the third or fourth time he did this. So I've brought him home with me. I've also intentionally not mentioned his name here because I don't want to hurt his feelings, should he happen to google himself. He was a most cool dude, but the kayak journal stuff was just too too much.