The Train, Seward and Boarding the Ship

We had a very early start this morning. Our luggage had to be in the hall outside the room at 5:45am and we had to be on the bus by 6:15am. The bus only took us a short distance to the train depot where we boarded the Wilderness Express bound for Seward. Literally, we walked off the bus and took a few steps and then climbed aboard the train. The train car was large with big, comfortable seats and it had dome windows that provided incredible views along the way. They had guides for sale that had a mile by mile description of the trip. So we rode while our tour guide (we still had Debbie with us but this other tour guide named Tony emceed this part of our trip) pointed out things and answered questions. We started out at Milepost 114.3 - Anchorage and at about Milepost 100.6 we passed Potter Marsh - there is a museum here that tells about the crews and work on the railroad. At about Milepost 91.7 we started to look for Dall Sheep on the cliffs - and we did get to see a small group of them at one point. At about this time our group was able to go to the lower section of the car to have breakfast. I had a crab and shrimp scramble and Thomas had blueberry pancakes. After eating we returned to the top of the car for the rest of the trip. At Milepost 57.2 we passed Spencer Glacier (named for a railroad employee who fell into a crevasse on the glacier and died). And just after the glacier we passed through a tunnel at Milepost 51.1. The ride was wonderful and we got to see some glaciers, eagles, dall sheep, a mama and baby moose and a few waterfalls and before we knew it we were in Seward.

As soon as we arrived in Seward Kevin met us at the train depot and we all boarded the bus. We were taken to the Alaska SeaLife Center. I think the only reason we were taken there was to kill a little time until we were able to check in for the ship. This is a small Aquarium (at least to some of the others I have visited) and it didn't take us long to walk through the place. We met up with the lazyletterboxer and the letterboxing ham and decided to go outside and look for a letterbox. A few of the group had already gone and told us the box was missing and that they had put a new box in its place. So we continued walking a short ways from the center and found the box. While stamping in another group showed up, we left them with the box and headed back to the center where we sat outside and waited for the bus to take us to the ship.

Check in for the ship went fast and without any glitches and before we knew it we were in our cabin. We are sailing with Celebrity Cruises on the Millennium. We had our SeaPass Card which was for getting on and off the ship, getting into our cabin and for any charges while on the ship. After checking out our cabin we headed up to the Ocean Cafe for the lunch buffet. While eating we met up and were joined by Mark & Sue, TsukiAmes & Jei, Black Ibis and roadrunner.

We decided to get off the ship for a while since we weren't sailing until 9:00pm and explore Seward and do some letterboxing. We met on the dock and a group of us (Thomas and myself, lazyletterboxer, letterboxing ham, Mark & Sue, TsukiAmes, Jei, Yiker and Spike, roadrunner, Black Ibis and Old Blue) took the shuttle to town. Our first stop was at the Safeway to hide deniserows' Build Your Own Totem Pole #5 - so we all stamped in before putting it in its spot. Then we boarded the shuttle again and rode it to the far end of town (about 2 miles). We all made our way to Sew 'n Bee Cozy (a quilting store) to find a box that had been planted a couple of hours earlier by sewsewbizzy. The woman who owns the store had agreed to host the box and was very nice when our group descended upon the place. She even told us we could use some chairs at the front of the store to stamp in. While some of us were doing just that, others were shopping, so she actually did a pretty good business while we were there. Thomas bought a set of batik fabric squares that have an Alaskan theme to them - this is a gift for his administrative assistant. Once we were done there we started our walk back toward the ship.

Our next stop was a trailhead at the corner of Van Buren and 2nd Street. On our way some of the group noticed a dog that was stuck in a window of a house, he had caught his collar on the window sill and couldn't get out. So Jei helped get the dog loose and back into the house and he tried to close the window but it wouldn't shut all the way, but the dog was okay so we continued on. We made it to our landmark and we crossed a small wooden bridge to the trail and quickly encountered 35 steep steps going up and then 13 more cement steps to the top. The rest of the walk to the box was easy and we quickly had the box in our hands. After we all stamped in we made our way back down to the street and continued on our way towards the ship. Not far along on the walk we meet up with the dog that Jei had helped out. Apparently the dog was able to open the window and get out. A man was trying to catch the dog because it was running in and out of the street. Before long, Jei, Thomas, TsukiAmes and this man were all trying to catch the dog. It was a little scary because this was all happening on a busy street. Thankfully the traffic noticed all the people and the dog and no one got hurt. A couple of times it seemed like the dog might get hit but the cars slowed down or stopped. Finally the dog went into a parking lot on the other side of the road and the man and a woman who had pulled over were able to contain the dog in a safe spot. So we all continued on hoping that these people were able to get the dog safely home. We made our last stop before heading back to the ship at the Train Wreck. We found red fox and stamped in. While we were stamping in deniserows shows up and joins the group. We finished stamping and put the box back in place and made our way to the ship.

Once back on board we went to the cabin and our luggage was waiting outside the door. We unpacked and got things organized and then there was a knock on the door. Deniserows was making her rounds and handing out goodie bags. The bag included a tag decorated with Alaska stuff, two postcards, a pen with a piece of paper on it, some binder clips, a cryptic clue and a sheet with semaphore flags. After that at 8:15pm we made our way to Fortune's Casino for muster. It was a pretty fast demonstration and before we knew it we were done and headed to the Metropolitan Restaurant for dinner. It was pretty chaotic there since everyone was going there from their musters and it was all just a little crazy. We ended up meeting lazyletterboxer (Deanne) and the letterboxing ham (Dave) and we all had dinner together. I had a shrimp cocktail, mixed green salad, chicken saltimbocca and a scoop of vanilla ice cream while Thomas had a caesar salad, roast prime rib of beef and cheesecake. We had a nice dinner and visit and then returned to our room.

It was a long and very busy day and we are both tired. If we keep up this pace we will never make it to the end of the cruise - now I am not complaining - so far the trip has been amazing. More to come!