Winter's on the Wing

As the Alaskan season comes to a close (with very uncharacteristic weather I might add, thank you 23 degrees or 403 for my US readers, in our final port!) I just wanted to update all three of my readers that I will soon be headed back to the movie-set like fictional town of Santa Clarita, CA for the next 10 days to learn a new show.  Nothing helps a sprained ankle like hours of choreography.  Ha ha.  I'm such a dancer.

Anyway, this last Alaskan run I was very lucky to have my brother Mike cruise, see and smell the salmon fight for their lives upstream, miss every opportunity to go dog sledding, and enjoy a few pints of Spruce Tip Ale at the Skagway Brewing company.  I also discovered a lovely café called the Stowaway Café in Skagway that had the most incredible sandwiches and service I've encountered on this route.  This itinerary is definetely about the food and internet if you're a crew member.  Alaska can feel somewhat sad at times, so while I appreciate the beauty that is the wilderness, I'll be happy to arrive on the 45 degree beaches of Cartagena, Colombia in a few weeks.

We will be doing 15 day runs through the Panama Canal between LA and Fort Lauderdale.  The canal is truly a marvel, and a great day to do laundry.  I know I may seem ungrateful, but if you work at Starbucks, their mocha-frappa-latté-steamer-chinos don't seem so glamorous after a while either.  Again I say, I am lucky to have the job I have, but at the end of the day, it's still a job.  I welcome this itinerary change though.  A little vitamin D will be good for all of us.  (And the likelihood of getting locked in a tanning bed like Adrian Zmed did in Skagway isn't as probable in the ports we'll be hitting.)

So long cloudy skies and and foggy passages.  It's been a slice, but I hope we don't meet up any time soon.  I've got a tan to work on.