Lower Dewey Lake hike

Met up with the Star cast and hiked to Lower Dewey Lake. Erica is not feeling well, so she did not last long. But she gave it quite an effort.

That night, we went out to Bar City, where we sat right by a older, pony-tailed passenger who was passed out and sleeping. At one point, a woman came up and looked at the man and said: "That's my ex-husband," and walked off. We laughed, wondering if he was indeed her ex, or just an example of what her ex-husband was like.

Later, she came back, took a picture of him, shook her head disapprovingly, and left again, as quickly as before.

This should clear things up.

Please read the sign:

Port Hole View #1

On the Star, we did not have any windows. The room was pitch dark, which made sleeping all day real easy, since you never knew what time it was outside. I used to leave the ShipCam channel on the TV at night, so I had some kind of "window", but Erica hated having it on when we tried to go to sleep, so that didn't last.

On the Pearl, we have a port hole. and I love it. It adds a sense of normality that I am loving. So I am starting a photo series from the porthole, starting here with Glacier Bay.

Bullwinkle's

My good friend Jeff Hedges is from Juneau and just happens to be in town this week. Amazing. First week in and we already got to see someone from home. I would have killed to see someone from home on the Star.

Jeff was on my very first improv team in Chicago and is a hell of a funny guy. We could only meet up for a few hours, so Jeff fulfilled our request for a local haunt of his and took us to Bullwinkle’s, the pizza place he always went to in high school after football games to enjoy pitchers of Alaskan Amber and BBQ Chicken pizza.

He told me that playing high school football in Alaska often meant flying with the team to different towns and staying overnight with players from the opposing teams.

“Man, I bet it’s pretty weird when you lose,” I said.

“Actually it’s more awkward when you win.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, because when you win you then have to go back and hang at some guy’s house, and be like, ‘So what’s for dinner?’ And you’ve won the game that night, so yeah, it’s pretty awkward.”

Deja Vu.

It’s weird to be somewhere new that feels like a place you’ve been. The Pearl is a newer ship, so while it’s similar to the Star there are differences. Yet, it’s like moving into a new apartment that is almost identical to the old one, so you kinda know where everything is without having to explore the ship much. It’s very surreal.

It was a tiring day, and Erica and I didn’t get to fully move into our room until evening. After an our of putting things away, we got a knock on our door. It turned out to be Hugo, our new neighbor, whose business card on his door says “aerialist” beneath his name.

We introduced ourselves, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then he got to business, French-Canadian-style: “Could you please keep it down. You are slamming a lot of doors.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize we were making noise.”

“Yes, well, it has been an hour, so you know, it is very annoying?”

"Right. No problem."

Then he did a dance that Matt Craig, Laurel, Ed and I all did back when we were working on an improv group called Falderal.

As quickly as he did the dance, he said:"I was supposed to do this dance, yes?" Then, he left.

I laughed out loud.