A few months ago, while sitting in the dentist's chair, waiting to get my wisdom teeth pulled, I happened to see the very beginning of the movie Meet the Fockers.  The couple in the film are about to fly home to meet their parents, and everything is going their way: they got a taxi right away, every light was green on the way to the airport, they didn't have to wait in a single line, and they even got upgraded to first class.

Well, that never happens in real life, right?  I mean, when John and Mary and I traveled to Walt Disney World in Orlando in October 2004 (sorry, no journal...), we made it through security about five minutes before our plane began pre-boarding...and when we arrived in Orlando, one of our bags had been delayed!  (Mine, of course.)  It had been one of the more chaotic experiences I had ever had in an airport.  (In case you're wondering, though, we did have a wonderful trip, despite the frustration of getting there...)

So, what would our trip to Alaska be like?  Would it be chaos, or would it be like Meet the Fockers?

Our flight was scheduled to leave Phoenix at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 17 (our anniversary), meaning that we would have to be at the airport at 5:30 a.m.  Instead of driving to the airport, we decided to use Super Shuttle, so that we wouldn't have the hassle of parking.  I arranged to have Super Shuttle to pick us up between 5:05 and 5:20 a.m.  Naturally, John was convinced that we would be waiting there until 5:20, so we were both quite surprised to see the big blue van pull into our driveway at 5:05 on the dot!  We were even more surprised to see that we were the last pick-up on his schedule, so from our house, it was straight to the airport. 

His first stop at Sky Harbor was at Terminal 2...and what luck?  That was our stop!

We were not able to check in curbside as there were no agents out there at that early hour, so we had to go inside the terminal to check our luggage.  Although there was a line, it was a fast moving line - Alaska Airlines was very efficient - and in just ten minutes time, we were ready to go through security.

Once again, we were in luck: there was no waiting to go through security either!  We whizzed through the checkpoint in about three minutes.

Although we now had a long wait at our gate, the time passed rather quickly.  First, we ate breakfast; then, John read a book - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which had just been released the day before - and I worked crossword puzzles while listening to the new iPod Mini that John had given to me that morning - it was my anniversary gift.  (I had been wanting one of those for a long time and was very happy when John handed it to me.)  It was good to just sit there and relax and not have to worry about anything.

About fifteen minutes before we started boarding the plane, an announcement was made at the gate that passengers could purchase a first-class upgrade for $50 - that's $50 cheaper than on America West!  I looked at John, and he sort of smiled and said, "Why not?  It's our vacation!"

When he came back from the counter, he announced that he had managed to buy us first-class upgrades for the PHX-SEA leg of our trip only. (We would have to return to our coach seats during the SEA-ANC leg of our flight.)  Now, neither one of us had ever flown first-class before, so we were very excited that we were going to be pampered on our anniversary.

And, yes, we were pampered!  Not only were we allowed to board the plane first, but we were served a nice breakfast of frittata and fruit, with cocktails to go with it.  The seats were very roomy, we had ample leg room, and I didn't have to step over anyone when I got up to use the facilities.  "Now this is the way to fly," I said to John.  "I could get used to this!"

It was a two and a half hour flight to Seattle.  When we landed at 10:00 a.m., we gathered up our carry-on bags and got off of the plane so that we could walk around and stretch our legs.  (We would then have to get back on the same plane for our flight to Anchorage.)  We used that time to call Erika to make sure that Mary was doing well; she didn't answer her phone, though, because she had taken Mary to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that morning.  At least they were having fun, too!

We boarded the plane again a half an hour later, and this time we were back in coach.  After being in first-class, it felt like we were in a can of sardines.  We did spend some time talking to the people around us; the lady seated next to us was a resident of Anchorage, and the one in front of us was a Banner Health employee.  ("Really? I'm the payroll manager!" John said.)

Now, up to this point, it had been the ideal trip, much like the beginning of Meet the Fockers.  Funny how life can turn on you.

I wouldn't say that what happened next was bad, by any means, but it was frustrating.  First of all, we were delayed about a half an hour in Seattle.  We are not sure why our flight was delayed, but just after we pushed away from the gate, we sat on the tarmac for a very long time.  As a result, we landed in Anchorage about twenty minutes late.  That meant that we had missed the Holland-America Gray Line of Alaska bus that would take us to Seward.  Fortunately, we were assured by the Holland-America representatives in baggage claim that another bus would be along soon, so all we had to do was wait there for it.

In the meantime, we collected our suitcases from baggage claim and handed them off to the Holland-America baggage handler, who in turn loaded them onto the truck that would take them to our ship.  (It was nice that we no longer had to worry about them.)  Then, once that was taken care of, we waited...and we waited...and we waited.

In face, we waited two and a half hours at the Anchorage International Airport, along with several other Holland-America passengers, before the next bus showed up.  After we had waited two hours, the Holland-America representative came around to tell all of us that the bus was on its way and would be there shortly, so she ushered us outside to the bus stop.  There, we waited another twenty minutes before the bus finally arrived.  In the meantime, all of us exchanged cameras and took pictures of each other in front of a statue outside of the terminal. 

We also took a moment to enjoy the beautiful weather in Anchorage.  Although it was partly cloudy, the sun was shining through, and it was probably 70°.  On the day that we left Phoenix, it had been 116°, so the cool temperatures was a welcome change.

When the bus finally arrived, at 4:30 p.m. that afternoon, we boarded immediately and took our seats.  The driver announced that it would be a two and a half hour drive to Seward, and along the way, he would be our tour guide for the day, providing us information about the area between Anchorage and Seward as we drove south along Alaska Highway 1.  Our tour would take us along the Turnagain Arm of the Prince William Sound, along the Kenai Peninsula, through the Chugach National Forest, and into the port town of Seward, also known as Anchorage's playground.  Along the way, the driver stated that he would make one stop, but he didn't tell us where.

As the bus left Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska, we made our way south on Alaska Highway 1, which skirted the waters of the Turnagain Arm of Prince William Sound.  Here, the driver told us the story of how the Turnagain Arm got its name: from the explorations of Captain Cook, and how he had reached a point in that inlet that he had to turn again, because they waters had become too shallow for further exploration.  It is for that reason that Anchorage is not a port for cruise ships; the waters in the Turnagain Arm are too shallow for cruise ships to pass safely.  Instead, Holland-America busses their passengers from the Anchorage Airport into Seward, where cruise ships can port safely.

Traffic soon slowed to a crawl along the highway, and the driver received word that there was an accident up ahead.  There was a two-mile back-up in either direction.  He mentioned that Sundays are the busiest days on the highway going into Anchorage, so even little accidents can have a huge impact on that two-lane highway.  During the summer months, residents of Anchorage go south towards Seward to escape for the weekend, and they come on on Sunday afternoon.  Sure enough, as soon as we passed the accident, we could see lines of RV's coming north into Anchorage, all of them coming home after a weekend of fun in the Chugach National Forest.

About an hour into our trip, our driver took us on a side-trip through the Kenai National Wildlife Sanctuary, just across from the turnoff to the ski resort at Whittier.  This wildlife sanctuary was where injured wildlife could be taken to recuperate before reentering the wild.  In this particular refuge, there were moose, bears, bison, caribou, porcupines, and even a bald eagle.  As an added bonus, the driver parked the bus and allowed us about thirty minutes to wander around the sanctuary.

John and I were surprised and delighted.  We had been expecting a bus ride to Seward; we had not been expecting a full-scale tour with such a fun side-trip.  Not only did we get a chance to get out and enjoy that beautiful Alaskan day, but we also got to see some of the animals native to Alaska up close.

One animal that John wanted to see in particular was the moose; there were two bulls sleeping very close to the chain-link fence in which they were caged.  They were so close that we were able to touch their antlers!  It was amazing to feel how soft they were; the hair on their antlers felt like velvet.  John and I walked away from the moose enclosure completely fascinated.

When we left the wildlife sanctuary, our driver announced that we were just an hour away from Seward.  During that time, he continued to point out areas of interest along the highway, even after it started to rain.  (He said, "If you don't like the weather in Alaska, wait five minutes and something different will come along.")  The downpour only lasted about twenty minutes, as promised, and soon the sun was shining on us again.

As we approached the town of Seward, at ten minutes to seven that evening, the first thing we saw was a gigantic cruise ship, parked in the harbor.  "That, ladies and gentlemen, is your ship," the driver announced.  "That is Holland America's ms Ryndam, and the end of our tour."

He parked at the port terminal, and as soon as we were allowed, we all filed off of the bus and went inside to check in.

Checking into the cruise ship was not much different from checking in at the airport; in fact, security at the port terminal was just as tight.  First of all, we had to wait in a long line that moved rather quickly.  Then, we were ushered to a check-in counter, where we handed over our cruise vouchers.  Our passports were checked, our pictures were taken, and we were each issued room keys that doubled as our ship credit card.  It would also be used to leave the ship and get back on again after shore excursions.  This was tied to the ship's manifest, to ensure that no one was left behind when the ship left port.

Once we were checked in, we had to pass through a security checkpoint, much like the one at the airport.  All of our carry-on bags had to go through the x-ray machine, and we had to pass through the metal detector.  From there, we were directed towards the gangplank of the ship.  They ushered us aboard rather quickly, because we had about five minutes before we had to go up to the main deck for the mandatory lifeboat drill.

We were shown to our cabin (731), which was located on the A-Deck (deck 4), just off of the stairwell.  Once we opened the door, we found that, to my great relief, all four pieces of our luggage had made it safely aboard the ship.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any time to get organized, as we were warned that we needed to grab our life vests as quickly as possible for the lifeboat drill.  The life vests were located in our closet, and they were labeled with our cabin number and the lifeboat station number at which we would have to meet.  (Ours was lifeboat station five.)

Wearing our life vests, we walked the stairs up to Deck 6 - the Promenade Deck - to report for the lifeboat drill, along with the thousands of others who had already embarked the ship.  As we gathered at lifeboat station five, a member of the ship's crew marked down our cabin number, inspected our life vests, then lined us up - women and children up front, men in the back.  We then had to be quiet to listen to the ship's captain run through the safety speech, so that we would know what to do in the event of an emergency.  At the end of the drill, a bell rang, and we were allowed to return to our cabins.

Now that that was over, John and I were free to relax and do as we pleased, so we decided to take a few moments to explore the ship.  After changing our clothes for dinner, John and I took the stairs to each deck to see what was there.  On Deck 7, for instance, we found the Vermeer Lounge and the Wajang Theatre, as well as the Shore Excursion office, which was closed for the day.  (We would have to return there in the morning, to purchase my shore excursion in Ketchikan.)  Cutting through Deck 7, we found another stairwell to take us up to Deck 8, where we found several bars, the ship's library, and several shops.  The main dining room was also on that floor; that was where we would be dining every night, at 5:30 p.m.

We continued up the stairs and found the Lido Deck on Deck 11.  The Lido Deck contained the buffet, as well as a swimming pool and a couple of bars.  Above that, on Deck 12, was the Crow's Nest, a lovely bar with window seats that had a wonderful view of the harbor.  We decided to stop there and have a couple of glasses of wine to unwind.

It was after 8:00 p.m. by the time we finished our wine.  Our ship had been scheduled to leave port at 8:00, so we decided to go up on the Sports Deck (Deck 14) to see us shove off.  What we found, however, was that we were not ready to leave port, because there were still passengers filing onto the ship from their tour busses.  So, we spent about a half an hour on the Sports Deck taking pictures of the pretty town of Seward and enjoying the cool, brisk air (okay, it was cold out there).  Then, we went down to the Lido Deck for dinner.

And, of course, the ship pushed away from port while we were eating dinner, around 9:00 p.m.  Typical.

We spent the rest of the evening exploring the ship, taking walks along the promenade, and watching the sun sink lower and lower in the nighttime sky.  (Of course, it never really got that dark overnight; after all, Alaska is the Land of the Midnight Sun.)  Eventually, we returned to our cabin to retire for the evening...

Return to Alaska: The Last Frontier.

Return to Naked in the Woods.