Day 5

August 31, 2009

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

We didn’t plan a tour today but knew that we wanted to see the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. So, off we went this morning for a 10-15 minute walk along the water front to the museum. It was very cool. There was a lot of old fishing relics and there were wonderful exhibits on both the Titanic and the 1916 Halifax explosion. Also at the museum was the set and models used in the “Theodore the tugboat” television show that was filmed in Halifax from 1993-2001 and aired on PBS. Scott enjoyed this show and there was a boat named Emily so I got a kick out of watching it occasionally also.

After the museum we continued down the water front and saw a life size replica of Theodore that was built as an educational tool for kids and also as a tourist trap, they sell harbor tours during the summer months. We had lunch at a wonderful little pub.

On our way back to the boat we stopped at the HMCS Sackville a retired navy “corvettes” that fought in the battle of the Atlantic. They were mainly used for submarine patrols. They have done a wonderful job turning it into a museum with wonderful talking exhibits at different areas of the boat. I think we both really enjoyed this stop.

We are going to watch the new Star Trek movie this afternoon in the screening room and also have a reservation for a couples massage this evening after dinner.

This is the life size version of Theodore the Tugboat.

Too bad they didn't make a lifesize version of Emily as well.

This is the CSS Sackville we toured.

Day 4

August 30, 2009

Bar Harbor, Maine

We decided to get off the boat today, especially since the weather has much improved. Bar Harbor is a very cute little town that reminds me of home. The waterfront is very tourist oriented and most of the shops had “locally owned” signs in the windows. We wandered around and did some shopping and had lunch. I am still amazed by the number of lobster pot buoys that are afloat in the harbor. They are little white floats with a colored strip on as identification; nothing like our bright orange buoy balls. We boarded the boat and had dinner in the main dining room.

The harbor was full of these lobster boats and lobster pot buoys.

This is looking up the main street.

We just happened to wander by the fire station, so of course Scott had to take a picture.

Notice how skinny the doors are, it looked like the trucks could bairly fit in.

Day 3

August 29, 2009

Boston, MA

IT WAS WET!! Tropical storm Danny caught up with us overnight and it was pouring down rain in Boston. We were signed up for the Freedom Trail tour. I remembered this tour from my trip in high school. It was great then, probably because it was not pouring down rain. This time, the tour was still good, but we ended up cutting out early to stay at Fanuial Hall instead of continuing on to see Paul Reveres house the and Old North Church. We had a really good lunch of clam chowda (no, I didn’t forget the “r”) and lobster rolls. Then it was off the New England Aquarium. They have a great penguin display as you enter the building and a very cool tank that you spiral up. There were very cute puffer fish and tiger sharks. After the aquarium we caught the shuttle back to the boat and proceeded to dry out. We had dinenr at the Italian specialty restaurant. I had the lasagna and scott had veal milanase. Both were very good. The sea state was very bad last night. No one was allowed out on deck and they even locked out verandah door. The spray from the waves reached our deck…we are on deck 5!

Did I mention that it was wet?

This clock tower was across the street from the aquarium

the clouds were really low this day.

This is a statue of Benjamin Franklin in front of the old court house.

Cruise Day 2

August 28, 2009

Newport, RI

We woke this morning to the coast of Rhode Island as we neared Newport. We sat on the verandah and commented about the “houses” that are on the coast. When I say house I really mean mansion…HUGE mansions. We also saw a couple lobster boats out pulling pots early this morning. Before lunch we sat on our balcony and watched all of the boats. There is a sailing class out front of the boat. It reminded me of a bunch of little kids, everyone was trying to make a turn around a bouy and it was just wonderful confusion. It was very fun to watch. I then visited the spa and had my nails done. Then it was off to the Asian specialty restaurant on board. Very good food! We are going to be visiting that restaurant again. The sea state was starting to increase while we were eating dinner. The weird thing was that we had 5-6 foot seas and I could hardly feel the boat rocking at all. Very different from being in the same seas on any of the work boats…the best part was that I was not trying to analyze stomach contents of a salmon while in the seas. We watched some t.v. then it was off to bed to get ready for our first shore excursion in Boston.

These are 2 of the largest houses that we saw on the way into Newport, RI.

This is the Coast Guard boat that escourted up in Newport.

Notice the guy arming the machine gun at the front of the boat.

Day 1 of Cruise

Wednesday August 26, 2009

We left Seattle bright and early this morning and flew to Minnesota. We switched planes and flew into New York. It was very cool to fly over the New York sky line. I was really surprised with how much farm land I saw as we approached New York. Then we got to the houses…and more houses…and even more houses. Then there was the Statue of Liberty. I am really excited to see it up close tomorrow and we leave on the cruise ship. We got a taxi at the airport and 30 minutes later we were at our hotel, smack dab in the middle of Time Square. On the way to the hotel we drove by the American Girl Place. I would love to take Katie there someday but this is not a place that I would want either of the kids in, they would hit sensory overload before we got out of the car. We got our bags to our room and went out to find dinner. On the way to dinner we went to the M&M store and the Hershey Factory. We saw a police man on a horse. We had dinner at Olive Garden, Yummy. We also stopped at Junior’s for Cheesecake. I saw him when he was on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown. Scott is not taking pictures of Time Square throughout hotel window while I am in bed getting ready to try and acclimate to the time change. It is 630 pm Juneau time and we really need to go to sleep. I was apprehensive about New York when we were flying in but Time Square is so geared tourists that it reminds me some of Vegas. We get to board the ship tomorrow!!!!!! I have been waiting for this for a long time. I really hope that it ends up being all that I hope it will.

Thursday August 27, 2009

We boarded the boat at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, had a little lunch, and found a spot on the deck to lounge until our room was ready. We toured the spa and the culinary art center. I am getting my nails done today and we are both going to take a cooking class on day 4. Finally it was time to cast off…while leaving New York we sailed past the Statue of Liberty. I would like to come back and visit the statue up close and also tour Ellis Island. Then it was time for dinner. We decided to try the main dining room. We both had French onion soup and caesar salads with apple streusel for dessert. We had a wonderful table, we were next to the window at the back of the boat and watched the sun set. We were both feeling the results of the time change and getting up so early in the morning so we turned in early.

Statue of Liberty

Em on the ship with the New York skyline in the background.

Scott on our stateroom balcony.

July Research Survey

I was on the F/V Chellissa during the last 2 weeks of July. I was collecting juvenile salmon and plankton samples. Here are some of the pictures from the trip...

This was the crew for the 2nd leg (Icy Strait) of the trip.

Molly, Joe, Emily, & Libby

This is me processing an adult pink salmon.

We "sample" (take out) their stomachs to see what they have been eating

This basket is the size of a normal laundry basket
and was 3/4 full of juveniles salmon...this is a BIG catch!
Next step is to sort them by species, measure their length and freeze them.

This is the crew (minus Joe...behind the camera) for the first leg of the trip

(Molly, Emily, and Alice). We are measuring fish on the electronic measuring board.

We catch a lot of jellyfish in the trawl net with the fish. We sort them by genus and toss them overboard. This is a really big Cyanea, the type that sting!

First Camping Trip

We took the kids camping for the first time. We ended up at Eagle Beach campground after looking at a couple other sites out the road. First on the agenda: tent...after bug spray of course.

We had tin foil dinners (meat & veggies wrapped in foil then cooked over coals) then went for a walk. It was a really nice night...UNTIL...the mosquitoes decided that I was dinner. I was in the tent by 8:15 and were asleep by 8:45. In the morning the mosquitoes were not much better. Luke was the only one that really didn't seem to be bothered by the bugs. We were packed up by 8:30. Notes for next time: No bugs or pick a spot that has a breeze.