North to Alaska!!! I"m Back!!!

[OTRphoto]

My Mom, Aunt and a friend have been booked for an Alaskan cruise the week of May 11-18 since before christmas. They have been very very excited about their adventure.

Unfortuneatly last weekend my 74 y/o Aunt (the one that was booked on the cruise) was at an HEB when a Dr Pepper display case fell over on her Other than a few bruises and a broken pelvis - she is Ok... But there is no way that she can go on the cruise in 2 weeks. She is still in the hospital and will have lots of rehab before she can properly walk with out pain.

She actually has a great attitude about the whole thing and had me rolling when she was telling me about her falling and the exploding soda cans going off all around her.. Ooh and then there was some really georgous fireman that came to her resuce.. lol

She was talking to my Mom about it and they decided that I should go in her place!!!! Yeah - I will have to pay her back over time... But I have the leave available from work (well - I will need 40 hours.. and have a balance of 40.25 right now.. lol) and can swing the plane ticket and a lil spending cash.

I have been on an annual chartered cruise every year since 02.. But it's not a 'regular' cruise.. they have 4 stages with 30 bands and music playing all the time.

So this will be my first "real" cruise... I've always worried about being too bored to go on a regular cruise... My mom goes on them and tells about spending all day reading her books by the pool.. That holds no interest for me. I have always thought that an Alaskan cruise would be about the only normal cruise I would want to go on...

And now I get to!!!!

Holland America
7-DAY ALASKAN EXPLORER VIA GLACIER BAY

Ship: ms Westerdam

Day Port
0 Seattle, Washington
1 At Sea
2 Glacier Bay Scenic Cruising CO 10:00 AM 07:00 PM
3 Juneau, Alaska 07:00 AM 08:00 PM
4 Sitka, Alaska TR 08:00 AM 05:00 PM
5 Ketchikan, Alaska 07:00 AM 01:00 PM
6 VICTORIA,CANADA 06:00 PM 11:59 PM
7 Seattle, Washington

[ttusa]

Wow, you should have a marvelous time!

[Howard Barlow]

I did that cruise on Norwegian last May. You're gonna luvit.

[Roy]

Yeah, you should have a great time! We had planned on going in August be haven't set anything up. Not sure if it's going to happen now are not. We have a few members here that have been and posted some great photography from up there.

Happy North to Alaska days!

[alamoshutterbug]

Wow, to both the cruise and the Dr. Pepper snafu. That 10-22 is gonna come in handy.

[OTRphoto]

Yeah - I can't wait to see what that 10-22 will do with those kinds of MASSIVE landscapes!!!!

I'm excited, but still tying to figure out what gear is going.....

[GypsyHighSide]

Congrats on the trip . . . well kinda. Sorry to hear about your aunt. It sounds like she is going to be ok.

One thing you should do is get the list of on shore activities and figure out what you want to do now. I am sure they have some neat hiking or nature tours. Lots of photo ops. These things are on a first come, first served basis with limited availability. They fill up quick so try and book ASAP. Have fun and take lots of pics.

Rob

[OTRphoto]

I've looked briefly over the shore excursions and alot of them are already booked up. About the only ones that aren't are the ones where basically it's a tour of the won.. which is cool with me.. I can wander around a town for hours and keep myself busy through the lens >:o)

[Davidtxs]

my folks are goin on May 28 i think on the Carnival Spirit they fly into alaska and cruise back to Vancouver
you will love it im sure
do you need a passprt for that one ??

[OTRphoto]

Well I finally broke down and booked my shore excursions today.... OUCH

But it looks like i'll have LOTS of GREAT photo ops!!!!!

JUNEAU - May 14, 2008
Photo Safari by Land & Sea (Departs 8:00AM)


SITKA - May 15, 2008
Sea Otter & Wildlife Quest (Departs 8:00AM)


KETCHIKAN - May 16, 2008
Rain Forest Sanctuary & Eagle Center (Departs 8:30AM)


VICTORIA,CANADA - May 17, 2008
Victoria Highlights & Craigdarroch Castle

[kellyjoseph]

As an Alaskan born sourdough, I recommend eating your fill of salmon and beer battered halibut. If you're feeling adventurous and the opportunity presents itself, try moose. Makes a great burger.

I wish you luck in trying to capture the state's majesty in pictures. Look forward to your photos.

[Angelo]

Mel, talk about photo ops..
You will have fantastic views just sitting on the side of the ship or room balcony.
MY 24-105 was perfect for the scenery, but the 10-22 will get you even more incredible images.
Have fun...

[OTRphoto]

I'm getting more and more ready to go every minute!!! lol

I can't ever decide and the possibilities will be so different - I am just lugging the whole bag of tricks with me! lol I am only taking one body (the 30d) though... My b/f is up in WV visiting family and has my 20d, 28-135 IS, and 430EX with him.

I actually bought HIM a new lens for his trip (Tamron's 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC (Vibration Compensation) LD Aspherical (IF) Macro ) but that was before I knew I was going up to Alaska. When I found ou that I would be cruisin - I decided I might need that 300 reach more than him. So I re-negged on the deal and sent him with the 28-135.. lol

So I'll have the 30d, 28-300, 70-200 2.8L (non-IS), 10-22, 100 2.8, 50 1.8, and the 580EX. And I just picked up a manfrotto monopod (thanks Sean for letting me see your to deside) with swivel head thing.

I think I'm ready to catch LOTs of images!!!!!!

[OTRphoto]

I"m Back!!!

The scenery was AMAZING! We even had a few days of sunshine The ship was very nice. The excursions were very cool. The people were nice everywhere. And my feet are KILLING me still!! lol

The worst part of the trip was delayed flights getting home. Got in at about 1am Monday morning and had to report to a computer class out at Randolph (36 mile drive) at 7am Monday morning And its a class on something I already know but have to go anyways.... I'm struggling to stay awake... lol

I counted up ALL the photos I took from Seattle, Alaska and Canada (I haven't sorted out the reject's yet) and the total is a mere 2647 files! In that count are shots of space needle, monorails, pikes market, Bald eagles, sea lions, otters, glaciers, flowers, landscapes, mountains, snow, detail shots of inside the ship, boats, waterfronts, stairs.... etc etc etc

So needless to say I haven't had a chance to edit or go through them all yet. Most days I just uploaded them to the laptop after dinner and did a quick slideshow view of them and then fell over alseep lol

But I know I have sooo many cool shots I can't wait to share.

Hopefully over the weekend i'll get to them so I can share..

and a HUGE THANKS to Ken for the last minute loan of the 1.4x TC... worked awesome on the 70-200!

[tab]

I'm looking forward to seeing them, i've always wanted to visit Alaska, but have been too scared because of the weather.