I went on a cruise and this is what happened.

19 August - Day 1

The pampering on this ship is ridiculous. I truly am a mollycoddle. The buffet was the first meal for lunch today. We braved the crowds and loads of fat people for the food. The ship moves quickly and smoothly. We have caught and passed two other cruise ships since leaving Seattle. Our ship, the ms Oosterdam, was built in 2003 somewhere in Italy. Dad and I traded taking pictures of one another against the Seattle skyline in great gusts of air on deck ten. Later on we had some drinks, looked through the binoculars, and chatted about wedding expenses while we cruised up the Puget Sound.

In the last hour we have sat in the jacuzzi and watched the news. Dinners are at 8. John Karr is all over the news for admitting he killed JonBonet. I don't think he is guilty. The press ask him questions and he either takes way too much time to answer or he can't answer at all.

The majority of the people on this boat are either old, fat, from the South, war veterans, or a combination of the four. Cruising seems like it would be the ideal vacation for fat, lazy people. Everything is done for you, you don't have to move beyond your cabin if you don't want to, and the ship is a 24 hour a day all you can gorge buffet.

Later that evening...

The food at dinner was great. The company could have been better. There are three teachers and an artist at the table.

20 August - Day 2

We sat with more strangers for breakfast. I spent an hour in the gym. Dad is engrossed in Blue Like Jazz and I have brought along The Diary of Samuel Pepys. We saw our first wildlife today, no, it wasn't the UW Dance Team, just some whales off the starboard side. The weather was cold today. Partly cloudy. The only land we saw were the Queen Charlotte Islands.

After dinner we watched a couple perform some magic tricks on the main stage. Their trickery was good at times, but the angle we were watching at enabled us to see how the husband levitated his wife. The performers have been married six years. Wouldn't that repetitive show get boring? As an aspiring writer I can give myself a nightmare thinking about writing the same thing over and over again. I don't want my writing to become formulaic.

21 August - Day 3

Tracy's King Crab Shack was a highlight of the day in Juneau. We told Tracy some friends had recommended this spot to us and she remembered talking to them the week before. Dad took a picture of Tracy and her shack. I almost bought a shirt that said, "Tracy Gave Me Crabs." The boat was pretty empty when we got back. We each had a hot tub to ourselves on the stern while the Alaskan rains continued. Juneau gets 40 days of sunshine a year. Thomas the tour guide said earlier in the day that it snowed from February to April last winter. He also said the record low in Juneau is -15 F. This was much less snow and a much higher low than I would have predicted.

While sitting in the hot tub I contemplated the fragility of humankind. Life is a very small and precious thing. One life is so brief that it barely shows up on the timeline. While thinking about this I thought about the selfish desire of mine to have something I write outlive my time in this earthly vessel. A writer is truly blessed when the words outlast the breaths.

22 August - Day 4

For about two hours before lunch we watched the Hubbard Glacier and scanned the face of the glaciers for calving icebergs. The site was amazing. The pictures don't do it justice, but we took a lot anyway. We stood on the bow and drank hot chocolate in free Holland American Line mugs. We spent a lazy afternoon in the fog so we sacked out in the room. X3 was on TV and we watched that. Dinner was okay tonight. I find myself dreading the company a little more each night. One lady at the table is impossible to understand. Her skin has been pulled so tight that her face doesn't move when she talks. Come to think of it, I don't even know if she can close her mouth. Shocking it is, not to have her drooling all over the place. She must permanently have to tilt her hed back to keep the saliva in.

Divorce and many marriages seem to be the trend among our dinner guests.

23 August - Day 5

Sitka, starboard side, midship, window seat, and a curved couch is my location as I write this. Rainy sea kayaking was the main activity of the day. Sitka is beautiful, but again, not enough sun. Paddling with Dad was a little annoying because communication was poor because of the rain and noise. We did still have a great time and we didn't flip.

There is a huge difference between the tides here. Water laps at rocks that rise ten to four feet out of the water right now and then plateau. Pine trees come down to every ince of the coastline. At high tide the branches touch the water. I saw a jellyfish hanging from a branch. It had gotten snagged during high tide. It never feels like the rain stops. A blanket of water rests in the air, ready to drape you in the liquid sunshine at any moment. I haven't seen the sun since Saturday. Things stay mostly hidden in the fog here. The clouds smother the trees and stretch their fingers down to the shore, weaving in and out of the tree tops. You don't have to live here to know in a limited sense how things would be so much different than living in the lower 48.

24 August - Day 6

A lady at our dinner table tries to say everything in one breath. Her words rush out quickly and gather speed as her oxygen bank rapidly depletes. The pitch of her voice rises higher as she reaches the end of her story. Usually the stories are bad too. The big inward breath at the end of the story really is the climax for me. It is hilarious.

Today was pretty relaxing. Ketchikan is very touristy and generally a boring looking place. There are some good shops. Dad and I bought gifts at a store on Creek Street, the old red light district. A giant Bald Eagle was flying around the town and occasionally perched atop buildings. There were five ships scheduled to dock at Ketchikan today. That means 10,000 tourists were going to be spilled onto the streets of this small town to shop, sight see, eat, and explore some more or Alaska.

As we left there were many humpback whales in the area. To get a great picture of them I would need an SLR digital camera with a high powered lens. It would be nice to have one of those when I return to Alask sometime in the future.

Our servers every night were Pandhi and Andik. They were great. I enjoyed seeing all the Indonesians and Filipinos around the ship. They are approachable, friendly, and genuinely interested in your day. Freaking studs.

25 August - Day 7

The ms Oosterdam just plowed right out of a thick blanket of fog that had been covering the seas for the last three or four hours. We dock in Victoria tonight. I have never been to Canada. I wish we had a full day in Victoria. I anticipate the city to remind me a lot of England.

Even here on the ship my thoughts turn to the job searching that needs to be done when I get home. My least favorite feeling right now is the jealousy I have of others that have something to do. I love being happy for others, but it has been damn hard to see or hear of others in my position, being a recent college graduate, who are off on their next adventure with a new job, city, and people. I am envious of this experience.

26 August - Day 7

Victoria was the best port of call on the cruise. Our excursions in Alaska were great, but none of the cities we visited earlier on this trip can compete with Victoria. The downtown of Victoria is as aesthetically pleasing as any coastal city I have seen. The architecture of the Empress and Pariliament building is marvelous. There was busking (street performing) all over the streets. People dancing, magic tricks, drummers, and acoustic guitar artists fill the sidewalks. I walked through the streets wishing I could live here. There are many welcoming pubs filled to the brim on Friday nights with young people. The place is a dream and I am determined to come back here on a vacation with Kate. I could have spent the week here.

Now we are at the Seattle airport six hours early. After relaxing and eating lunch we still have over two hours before we leave to return to Denver. This was a fantastic week.