Already there were quite a few letterboxes planted on board even though we were having a meeting at 4:00pm with ship security (Nelle) about planting boxes. I had tried to solve densierows' clue that she had in the goodie bag but I was having trouble. Luckily, when we returned to our cabin there were two set of clues on our door. One from sewsewbizzy and one from Yiker. Sewsewbizzy had 17 boxes planted on the ship and Yiker had six boxes planted. And deniserows also was hiding one of her Build Your Own Totem Series boxes each day. So there was plenty to do. But I also had three boxes to plant as well. So my first order of business was to walk the ship and find three good spots. Since others were planting already I gathered my letterboxing things and headed out. Thomas decided to stay in the room and read for a little while.
Our cabin was at midship, when you exited our room you just had to take a few steps to reach the stairs and not far from that was the elevators. Words, the library on the ship is right outside our cabin and my first thought was to plant one of my boxes there. But as I went to open the door doublesaj and Old Blue exited and told me they had found a box hidden there and they were also looking for hiding spots. So I decided that this would probably be a very popular spot for boxes so I decided to scrap that idea and think of something else. There was a sitting area just outside of the library with two chairs and a book drop on one side and a single chair with artwork above it on the other side. The boxes I wanted to hide were small camo bags with the stamp and a small logbook. Finding a spot, even with a small bag was proving to be hard. So I sat in the single chair and thought about it. I tried to hide a box in the chair but the bag stuck up a little and wasn't really hiding. So I took the stamps out of the bag and decided to just hide the stamps. This turned out to be better. So I found a spot right there for one of the stamps. I hid Tlingit Art in a gap between the wall and one of the art pieces - it fit perfectly and blended in so that you couldn't see it - you had to feel for it. So I wrote the clues . . . Outside Words, Single Chair, African Physics, Just Above. Simple and to the point. So I spent the next hour or so walking all over the ship just looking for two more spots for the remaining stamps. I bumped into quite a few of the group as I navigated the ship. I was having trouble finding spots that I felt were safe and good so I decided to go back to the cabin and see what Thomas was up to. On the way down the midship stairs I noticed that one of the 'Big Heads' in between floors had a space on top that would hide a stamp perfectly. So I placed Alaska: Land of the Midnight Sun on top of one, and the clues . . . Midship Stairs, Between Decks 8 and 9, Big Head, On Top. Again, simple and to the point. When I got back to the room Thomas said he was ready for lunch and I agreed that it was time for something to eat. We decided on the Ocean Cafe on Deck 10 (Resort Deck). As we exited the room and were heading for the stairs we met up with Dave and Deanne and they were headed up for lunch as well, so we joined them. The Ocean Cafe is a buffet and so we all went our separate ways to find what we were hungry for. We had a great visit and a nice lunch Afterwards, I went in search of one more hiding spot while Thomas went back to the room to read. I was still having problems so I abandoned my search for a hiding spot and decided to find a few boxes. I met up with deniserows and twanda70 and we all made our way to Fortune's Casino to find sewsewbizzy's Token Totem boxes. There were four of them all hidden in and around the casino. We would find one and then find a place to sit and stamp in and the rehide the box before looking for the next one. We found all four without too much difficulty. Once we were done I headed back to the room to meet Thomas and get ready to find a place on one of the outside decks so that we could view Hubbard Glacier. As I got to Deck 8 I met up with a few other boxers and we went into Words to find a box. We found Central Washington by sewsewbizzy. After stamping in I made my way to the cabin to meet Thomas.
We made our way down to Deck 4 to access the helipad for a view of Hubbard Glacier. We found a good spot to view the glacier as we approached it. It was a cloudy day and it was pretty cold out on deck and seemed to get colder as we got closer. Over the loud speaker we could hear a commentary about the glacier (size, history, distance away, etc.) and where you could go to get a good view. At one point Thomas got cold and went back to the cabin to get our ski caps (luckily we were smart enough to bring jackets with us when we first left the cabin). I took pictures while he was gone and for a little while after he returned. I think we got as close a one mile from the glacier but that is as far as the Captain wanted to go because the water was covered in ice. Not only did we get a great view of the glacier we also got to see some calving. When the ship started to turn around to leave and head for Juneau we decided to make our way up to Deck 10 and the pool area.
There was an ice sculpting demonstration going on and afterwards they were having a Polar Bear Plunge. Two of our group were jumping in - deniserows and the Letterboxing Ham. Thomas and I decided to go up to Deck 11 and get a bird's eye view of the plunge. We met up with Mark & Sue on that deck and found a good spot. The whole thing was over pretty fast and Dave and Denise seem to enjoy themselves although they both said that the water wasn't as cold as they thought it would be.Mark & Sue had scheduled the group a meeting room at 4:00pm for everyday we were on the ship so that those that wanted could meet for exchanges and to get information. I made my way to the Gamma Room on Deck 3 while Thomas went back to the cabin. I arrived a little early so I sat in a chair outside the room and decided this would be a good spot for my last box. I shoved the stamp down into the seat on the right and towards the back. The clues for this one . . . Deck 3, Outside Gamma Room, Monitor Artwork, Chair Below, Cushion Right and Back. At the meeting one of the Security employees (Nelle) came to talk to us about planting letterboxes on the ship (which a lot of us had already done). They were definitely worried about security and had all kinds of rules for planting boxes. We had to provide a picture of the box and stamp, the clues, our name and cabin number and get a small zip lock bag with a note on it from Nelle before hiding boxes. Well that seemed like a lot of work and some people did go through all that but most just decided to either hide the box and take a chance or not to hide the box at all. After Nelle left we talked about a few things, did a little exchanging and also traded clues. I felt that the whole thing was very chaotic and I left with very few stamps or clues. But I wasn't too worried since we still had a week of cruising I figured eventually I would get everything. Now it was time to get to the cabin and change for dinner.
Tonight was formal night so Thomas and I were wearing dress pants and shirts with a tie and sports coat. We had made plans to join Dave and Deanne for dinner at 6:30pm in the Metropolitan Restaurant. Before dinner I brought something to Mark & Sue in their cabin and they asked what we were doing for dinner and we ended up combining their group with ours. At 6:30pm we met Dave and Deanne, Mark and Sue and Jason and Amy at the entrance to the restaurant and we were all escorted to a table. It was a great night, the food was good, the company excellent and everyone looked incredible all dressed up. I had escargot, chilled melon and mint soup, tomato and lettuce salad, gulf shrimp and caramel pecan ice cream.
Thomas had a caesar salad, roasted pork loin and chocolate truffle cake. It was a relaxing and entertaining evening. Once we were all done a group of us met in the entry and decided to get some pictures while we were all dressed up. So we went to the staircase and had one of the ship employees take a picture. It came out okay but then we all decided to have a picture taken by one of the ship's photographers. We wanted to use a backdrop but we had too many people and they sent us the the staircase in the Grand Foyer. The photographer got us all situated and got a pretty good picture. Deniserows, the lazy letterboxer & the letterboxing ham, Mark & Sue, TsukiAmes & Jei, Yiker & Spike, Doublesaj & Old Blue, roadrunner, Black Ibis and Thomas & I were all in this picture.Thomas and I went back to the cabin and changed and then I headed out to do some letterboxing and Thomas went for a walk. He said he would probably go for a walk and then go back and read. Tonight I was all over the ship and I bumped into quite a few of our group who were also letterboxing. Sometimes I would join people and sometimes I would go off on my own. I found two boxes in the Rendez-vous Lounge, three boxes in Words, one box near the Conservatory and another box in Fortune's Casino. It was pretty late by the time I got back to the cabin. Thomas was already asleep so I tried to be quiet while getting ready for bed. I am really tired and need some rest because tomorrow we have a full day in Juneau.
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