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Wednesday, June 27 |
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| The cruise ended this morning, with an early call to breakfast. Most everyone was off the ship by 9:30. |
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| A few further reflections on that part of the trip: |
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| Alaska has more sea coast than the rest of the United States combined. |
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| There are more vessels in Alaska than vehicles. |
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| Sitka, with a population of 8,000, is the eighth largest city (sic) in Alaska. |
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| One in every 64 Alaskans has a pilot's licens.e |
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| Conclusion: there is a lot of room up here. |
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| I have been reading about women who went to Alaska in the 19th century, particularly as part of the gold rush. It's hard to imagine what it was like not only with only mountain paths or cumbersome paddle wheelers for transport, but with no telegraph or phone, nevermind Internet connections with the rest of the world. Every book will tell you that those looking to get rich quick worked very long hours and endured considerable hardships. It's difficult to figure why they stayed at it so long. Of course, unlike California, many did leave. |
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| In the tourist business you meet a lot of people who came to Alaska once and decided to stay. It is a low key life, especially in the off season, but we have also heard people discuss the fact that it attracts crazies and is a dangerous place for those with bi-polar disorders -- no pun intended. One man was described to us who lives in a house with almost no windows and keeps pretty much to himself. For entertainment he has a grand piano, in a cabin with a dirt floor. I can't imagine how that piano must sound, but perhaps it doesn't matter since he probably can't get anyone to tune it. |
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| Skagway was the exception in terms of towns where people have come and stayed. Those working the tourist trade as bus drivers etc. seemed to be eager to get out at the end of the season. One woman in the lumber camp follows the tourists -- eg. goes to the Caribbean for the winter season. Of course that's what the cruise boats do, heading down from Alaska with a trip to Hawaii, then Mexico and the Panama Canal in time for the winter season. We were surprised that Tamar, our Turkish dinner waiter, was about to head off on vacation when our boat arrived in Vancouver, but since the cruise business works essentially a 52 week year, it makes sense that the vacations are staggered. |
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| Royal Caribbean is building larger boats with more activities (like a rock climbing wall and a putting green). I guess they figure that the active tourists are the ones more likely to spend a lot of money. They certainly didn't get rich off of us in the casinos. John, who shared our dinner table, explained the strategies of Blackjack to me, so I tried them out on a 25 cent blackjack slot machine. Eventually I lost the eight quarters I started with, but it took more than an hour, so I thought that was sufficient entertainment for my investment. I still don't understand what the house "edge" is in black jack. If the deck is legitimate, why don't I win half the time? Don't worry -- I am no going to keep trying until I figure it out. |
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| So on to Vancouver. Yesterday was gorgeous, with a cloudless sky. Chris had arranged to rent a car, which turned out to be a good thing because there is a transit strike going on here and with no buses, taxis are hard to come by. We headed off to Grouse Mountain, taking Nancy and Ron, the rabbi from Long Island, with us. They didn't have a car and appreciated our sharing. The tram at Grouse Mountain speeds you up 3,000 feet to a ski resort. From there we took the chair lift to the top peak. Going up is not bad, you can look into the mountain, but coming down face out, was more challenging. Back in Vancouver we got Nancy and Ron back to their hotel well ahead of the Sabbath hour and headed out to get our pictures developed and find a laundromat. |
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| When is a dollar not a dollar? When it's a Canadian dollar. It's nice to look at prices and then realize everything is one third off -- the Canadian dollar is 65 cents today. Still, some things are pricey. We went to Vancouver's Science Center today, where they had a magnificent exhibit on Chinese innovations complete with Chinese craftsmen (and women) showing their skills. I had seen most of these artisan types in China, but the models of the different types of exploding rockets and the various seagoing vessels were quite impressive. Did you know that the silk thread from one worm's cocoon can be as long as a kilometer? I didn't either... |
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