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One of the ports we stopped in during our Alaska cruise last year was Juneau. Along the waterfront there are quite a few totem poles. They’re part of the Totem Pole Trail(Kooteeyaa Deiyi). Each pole tells the story of lineage, clan crests, and ancestral history. There are story boards and scan codes to explain their stories beside the totems. There are plans to expand to 30 totem poles representing all the clans of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples.
This one is the Kaagwaantaan Totem Pole it was created by artist Nicholas Galanin in April 2023. It depicts clan crests including the Killer Whale, and Eagle.
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This week I’ll share some photos I made of the ship we sailed to Alaska on. She’s the largest Royal Caribbean ship we’ve sailed on.
She was built in 2014 and sails under the flag of Bahamas. At the time of her delivery she was the third largest cruise in the world by gross tonnage (168,666 GT). She’s 1,141 feet long (347.7 meters) and 236ft 3inches tall, (72 meters). Her top speed is 22.0 knots and will hold 4,180 passengers (double occupancy), and a maximum of 4,905 passengers, with a crew of 1,500.
On sea days we felt the 4,900+ people on board especially on the days the pool deck was closed due to heavy winds, and rain.
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He-Man and I were recently on an Alaskan Cruise which was a lot of fun and full of beautiful scenery, but you know I had an eye out for the unique or unusual door too. I think this one fits the bill. Vintage’s Bar on the Quantum of the Seas ship.
We passed this store on the way down to Henderson, NV and knew we’d have to stop on our way home. It’s got an ice cream shop, and lots of souvenirs all on the Area 51 theme. It’s a fun stop along the journey.
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After several hours of birding my birding partner and I were hungry so went looking for a place fairly close by to have some lunch. We found Quaker Steak & Lube.
This is the only one in FL going by their website. We both had salads and I failed to take a photo of either of them. It was just a Caesar Salad w/grilled chicken. Instead of croutons they served it with Cheese Curds. Now, I thought that sounded gross and would probably just pick them out, but after trying one I gobbled them up! They were warm and slightly gooy and tender on the inside yummy. Mary had the Biker Chick salad. It sounded delicious too, but it was on the sweet side and I was hot and wasn’t in the mood for sweet.
The inside of the restaurant is car themed. Each wing of the interior has a small sports racing car hanging from the ceiling, and lots of car memorabilia like a dividing wall full of MAC tools for fixing cars. I went back a second time for that salad and this time He-Man was with me he said he has some of those tools. Who knew?!
Anyway, I did get photos of the exterior and the doors.
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Last week He-Man and I had a little get-away for our 43rd anniversary. We didn’t go too far just up to Sparks, NV.
We booked a balcony suite at Hampton Inn & Suites at the marina for the view of Helms Lake, and view of Reno’s skyline. This lake has an interesting beginning.
“The site was once a gravel pit owned by the Helms Construction Corp. (1968-1995) The pit is 100 feet deep. They found petroleum and solvent contamination seeping into the pit in 1987 so it was declared a Super Toxic Sight and clean up began. In 1996 it was declared free of petrochemicals and the site was turned over to the city of Sparks.
Millions of dollars of spill mitigation money was made available to the city, which they used to construct the park and make the pit a recreational pond. They had planned to fill the pit to 30 feet, but in January 1997 the Truckee River overflowed its banks and filled the Helms Pit creating what is now Richard Helms Lake or Sparks Marina Pond.” You can read a little more about how it stays filled at the link. https://www.ndow.org/waters/sparks-marina/
Now for our view-
Our day-time balcony view
It was pretty windy the day we were up there as you can see by the water.
Our Evening View
We both really enjoyed having this evening view when the lights in the city came on.
I had hoped our 4th floor balcony room would afford a great view of the sky so I could also try to photograph Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, but alas we had a storm rolling in and cloud cover.
Finally, Monday night April 1st…no joke! We had a clear night so I went out to my front yard and spied the Comet.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with faint tail.Green Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks cropped in.Dialing in my focus I got Jupiter and her Moons too.
We had a lovely anniversary walking around the lake both days, and we found a new Indian place we liked a lot for dinner so, we’ll make the drive up for that again when we’re craving Indian food, and we’ll be staying there again when the weather is warmer and we’ll take our kayak up for a paddle around the lake.
I hope the stars have lined up a fantastic week for you.
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