Lake Titicaca

Another stunning natural scene I saw during my Globus tour of Peru was Lake Titicaca. The lake is unique in that it is the highest navigable body of water in the world. It's located at 12,500 feet! The lake is over 50 miles long and, I believe over 30 miles wide at its widest point. It's over 900 feet deep at its deepest point. The lake is shared by Peru and Bolivia. While visiting the lake, my tour group got to visit 2 different indians groups that live on it. I'll tell more about them in later blog entries.

Nazca Plain Drawings

One of the most fascinating mysteries of Peru are the famous Nazca plain drawings. The drawings can only be fully seen from up in the air. Some of the drawings stretch for miles. While there are a number of trapezoids (shown above) and lines, there are also drawings of a hummingbird (shown above), spider, monkey, dog, whale and an owl/space man as well as others. The drawings were hacked out of the parched soil and because the area gets very little rain, they've endured for centuries. The last accepted theory that I heard as why the drawings were made was that they were appeals or offerings to the mountain gods. The ancient Nazcans believed it was the mountain gods that provided the needed water that they used to grow their crops. All the water in the region came from the mountains.

These pictures were taken in an airplane I flew on out of Pisac, Peru. The plane flew to the Nazca Plain and descended to 1,800 feet. The aircrew would bank left then right so passengers on both sides of the airplane could get pictures of the various drawings. Due to the tight banking, the airplane ride could be one exciting ride. Still, it was well worth it as it was really something to see these famous mysterious drawings. This was part of my Legacy of the Incas Globus tour which I did in January 2011.

Lima Cathedral

This is a picture of the national cathedral in Lima, Peru. The cathedral was built during colonial times. One particularly noteworthy item about the cathedral is this is where Francisco Pizarro is buried. Pizarro is the man who conquered the Incas and brought down the Incan empire. He did it even though he was horribly outnumbered. He would become richer than he could ever imagine and was made a marquis by the Spanish king. He founded the city of Lima, the city of kings on January 18, 1535. He was assassinated on June 26, 1541.

Sacsayhuaman

One of the first examples of Incan engineering I got to see in Peru was the remains of the Inca fortress Sacsayhuaman. The fortress was located above the city of Cuzco which was the capital of the Incan empire. The fortress is famous for some of the MASSIVE stones that were built within its walls. Some of the stones weigh over 100 tons. As you can see, the stones were expertly carved and placed to where they interlock perfectly. Keep in mind, the Inca did this with stone chisels. The precision they achieved is incredible. The site of the fortress sadly is but a shade of what it would've looked like in Inca times. After the Spaniards conquered the fortress, they used it as a quarry for stone used in buildings in Cuzco so a LOT of the fortress was torn down over the years. Still, what remains of the great fortress can still impress visitors and give an idea of some of the incredible things the Inca did during their all too brief period of empire.

Machu Picchu

Above is a picture I took of the famous lost Inca city of Machu Picchu. I took the picture as I was coming down from a hike to the Sun Gate. The Sun Gate was one of the primary ways the Incas entered the city of Machu Picchu. The gate is located 990 feet about the city and has stunning views of the city and the valley below. Our local guide Rudy asked how many intrepid souls wanted to try the hike up to the gate. I was 1 of 8 crazies who decided to do it. It was one heck of a hike. It took us at least 2 hours and, I was never so glad to see the top as when I FINALLY reached it. The thinner air really kicked my butt. Still, it was neat doing the hike and, it gave me another memorable adventure on this incredible tour I took of Peru in January.

Bosley

Yesterday, I got to visit the Washington D.C. Bosley office for the first time. For those who don't know, Bosley deals with hair restoration. What is that you ask. Hair restoration deals with restoring hair on men who are going bald for various reasons. There are different ways you can deal with balding. There are hair transplants which is the most expensive method. As far as I know, this can cost between $3,000 and $4,000. The reason for that is because you have to transplant a lot of hair to make a noticeable difference in the balding area. 5 or 6 strands of hair isn't going to make much of an impact. Another method is using Rogaine cream. Rogaine can cause new hair growth however, it isn't 100% effective in all men and, it requires to apply it to the area where you want the new hair twice a day. Yet another method is laser comb. Like Rogaine, it isn't 100% effective and, you have to use the comb every other day for at least 10 but no more than 20 minutes. I have 1 of these myself but because of the hassle of using it, I use it off and on. One advantage of the comb is it is a 1 time cost. You pay the $500 plus for it and, that's all you pay. If you take Rogaine, you have to keep getting new cans of it and correspondingly keep shelling out the bucks.

Back to Bosley. Before using Bosley, I used Medical Hair Restoration who I really liked. Sadly, Bosley bought them out. In order to get my Propecia prescription (it requires one) renewed, I needed to see one of their doctors. The doctor I met at Bosley was Dr. Peter Morse. He turned out to be a very nice, informed and helpful doctor. I found out from him how things work with name brand medications and generic with the Food and Drug Administration. By this, I mean he told me what kind of variance you can have with name brand vice generic. In the case of Propecia, if must not go over a 5% variance. If it's a generic of Propecia, it can vary as much as 15%! Obviously, that means you may not be getting the required dose. Worse still, with foreign generics, there isn't any way you can find out just how much of the actual drug you're getting if any at all. I confess I was wondering about that with the Fincom-1 (Indian Propecia generic) I've been taking. You don't want to find out the hard way i.e. your hair starts falling out. Because of our chat, I will be taking more of the name brand Propecia though I wish Merck sold the stuff for less. It isn't a cheap drug.

I was advised I was eligible for hair transplants but, I don't care to spend that much money right now. I did decide to get their hair treatment package. The package includes vitamins which are supposed to be particulary good for your hair, shampoo and conditioner that helps remove DHT (the male hormone that causes baldness) and Rogaine cream. I'm curious to see what if any difference taking these will make. We'll see. I'll post future observations on here after I've given them some time to work.

Overall, the Washington D.C. Bosley practice seemed very knowledgeable and professional. They have very nice offices in Chevy Chase, Maryland with a parking lot right next to their office. I stayed at the Bosley practice for over an hour and, it cost me $3 to park there. I think that charge covered 1 to 3 hours though I'm not 100% certain on that. Getting to their offices can be a bit of a pain as driving through Washington D.C. is never fun. Cheers all!

Local Bus System

This Wednesday, I got to try out the local bus system for the first time. As I mentioned in a previous post, I made the huge mistake of running the battery down on my Yamaha TMAX motorbike. I had no idea how complicated it is to jump start the battery on the bike. It turned out they would have to take the bike's mirrors off, the windshield and the front face plate in order to get to the small battery. This is obviously not something they can easily do on the street. So, my bike was loaded on a truck and taken to the motorcycle dealership where they ended up replacing the dead battery.

Heyser Cycle was as prompt as they could be in fixing the problem with my bike. I say that because right now, they are swamped with work. It's hot; it's sunny; gas is still nearly $4 a gallon so everyone wants to ride their motorbike. Which means, Heyser is loaded with work right now as of course a number of the pesky bikes don't want to run right while the weather is great for riding a motorbike.

2 days after I dropped my bike off at the dealership, they called me and told me it was ready for pick up. Cool. 1 problem, how do I get over there to pick it up? My good friends the Baldons have moved to Bowie. I wasn't about to call them and ask them to drive out to Laurel to get me and then drive me to the dealership. The people I know at work are what I would call semi-friends. We have great times chatting at work and, I am willing to help them out some at work but, I don't have anything to do with them outside work. So, I wasn't about to ask one of them for a ride. I could walk it but, it is over 9 miles to the dealership. I could call a cab but, I haven't forgotten the last fiasco I had with that. So, I looked into the local bus system. It turned out there is a Central Maryland bus system that runs through Laurel and connects with Anne Arundel and Howard County buses. This makes it pretty handy if you don't have access to a car.

The fares on the bus were very reasonable. It cost $1.50 to get to Laurel Mall. From there, I was able to walk the remaining 3 or 4 blocks to Heyser. My only complaint with the system is they didn't have a schedule posted at the bus stop saying when the bus would show up and, you couldn't find out the pick up times on-line either. So, I went out to bus stop and had no idea when the bus would show up. Because of this, I ended up waiting over 25 minutes at the stop in the heat. I wasn't thrilled but, it beat taking a taxi or worse still walking.

That's all on my first experience with the local Laurel, Maryland bus system. It's a decent enough system. It is affordable and, you can get to a lot of places on it with the connecting bus services such as Greenbelt Metro Station, Columbia Mall and Baltimore Washington International Airport. I'm tempted to try to take it to the airport sometime. I figure it would cost me $5 or so to get there vice $35 to use an airport shuttle. We'll see on that. Cheers all!

Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's

Yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a visit at the Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's. It had been over 2 months since my last visit. I enjoy going to the place but finances kept me away. Yesterday, I decided to see if I could add to my ticket horde. I read on Facebook where some person had amassed 1,000,000 tickets. I'd like to do that too though I don't like to think what that would cost me. Dave & Buster's would get big rich of me doing that.

Anyway, I rode my motorbike out there which was fun. Thankfully, Arundel Mills has a special parking spot for motorbikes on that side of the mall. It isn't super big but, it can accomodate at least 10 bikes. I recharged me card with a $100 worth of coins and headed to my favorite game Spin & Win. I'm partial to that game because you have a lot of control over how much you win on it. You don't with a lot of their other arcade games. One catch with the Spin & Win game is that your timing must be spot on. You have a split of second to stop the light on 1 of the 3 1,000 ticket lights. A split of second early or late and you end up with 20 tickets. That's what happened with me a LOT. To my frustration, I would just barely miss it. Still, I managed to hit the thing 5 times and won approximately 10,000 tickets. That takes my ticket horde up to 365,224 tickets. I'm still a long way from accumulating 1,000,000 tickets but, if I keep slogging away, I'll hit eventually. It doesn't hurt that Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's only had one prize I wanted - a steak grilling machine. I'm tempted to buy the thing vice trying to win 1 with tickets. I'm certain it would be cheaper money wise.

Overall, it was a nice visit though I need to do a better job with my timing. Also, there were times when I embarrassingly jumped the gun. I hit the 40 ticket lights a number of times because of that. I look forward to going to the Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's again when they have half price games (I won't go any other time). Cheers all!

Bike Problem

Yesterday, I encountered an unexpected problem with my Yamaha TMAX. I decided to chat with an acquaintance who lives in my neighborhood. I was riding my TMAX at the time. I pulled up to where my acquaintance was working on one of their cars. I turned off the engine on my TMAX BUT, I left the bike's electronics ON. After chatting for about 10 minutes, I tried starting my TMAX only to find out to my dismay that I'd run the battery down so much it couldn't start the bike. The TMAX only has electronic ignition vice having also a kick starter like my previous Vino Classic had. This hadn't been a problem till now.

I let the bike sit overnight hoping the battery would get enough of a charge back that I'd be able to start it in the morning. No such luck. I figured I could get someone from Heyser Cycles to come jumpstart the bike. I found out you don't jumpstart a TMAX and, it isn't easy to charge the battery. For starters, it's a major job to get to the bike's battery. You have to remove the 2 mirrors, the windshield and the front faceplate just so you can get to the battery. Crap!

The solution ended up being getting the bike picked up and taken to Heyser so their mechanics can work on it. To prevent such a major hassle in the future, I found out you can get an electrical connection connected to the battery which leads to a plug that you can connect an extension cord to. What you would do is plug one end of the extension cord into an electrical socket and the other end into electrical lead which goes to the bike's battery. You would let the dead battery charge overnight and presumably the battery would have enough power to start the bike the next morning. Another plus to this electrical plug is that it's not super expensive (at least for the TMAX anyway). So, while Heyser is getting my battery recharged or replaced, I'll had one of these electrical leads installed to so I won't have to go through this again. Lastly, I won't leave the bike's electronics on when I'm not riding it. That way, I won't end up with a dead battery again (hopefully).

Back-to-Back Cruises

I first heard of doing back-to-back cruises during my recent Alaska cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. With the Alaska cruise, I thought it was kind of redundant. You'd do the same cruise only in reverse order ending back in Vancouver. However, with other cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises alternates itineraries between cruises which can make it worthwhiled doing back-to-back cruises. In my case, both of my cruises leave out of San Juan, Puerto Rico (a fantastic place to sail out of, really pretty at night.). I'll be cruising to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Basseterre, St. Kitts; Oranjestad, Aruba and Willemstad, Curacao. Normally, I wouldn't care to go back to places I've already visited once cruising BUT, in this case, I won't mind going back to Aruba and Curacao as I didn't see much of either of them during my first visit. I did scuba diving trips on those 2 islands and, the trips took up virtually all the time I had on those islands. I couldn't tell you anything about what those islands have to offer barring some very good scuba diving. So, I'm looking forward to seeing them again. Also, 8 months after I visited Aruba, they opened a Hard Rock Cafe there. Any readers out there know I collect the t-shirts and, I'll be delighted to add the Aruba t-shirt to my collection.

The second cruise stops in Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John's, Antigua; Philipsburg, St. Maarten and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. This cruise will be neat in that there is just 1 day at sea then, the cruise island hops its way back to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Also, I've never been to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua or St. Croix. On St. Maarten, like Aruba and Curacao, I haven't seen much of it though in this case it was because of a stinker of a deep sea fishing trip I went on which I still haven't forgotten. The captain of the boat was supposed to drop us off at the cruise ship pier and, he didn't. My friend Harvey and I ended up walking nearly 2 miles to get back to the cruise ship pier. We were not happy campers when we made it back.

Another aspect that'll be interesting about doing back-to-back cruises is that there are special procedures for such travellers and, Royal Caribbean has a special department that handles such things as I found out. Apparently, Royal Caribbean's website doesn't like back-to-back cruises. It wouldn't show both of the cruises on My Cruises webpage. I called Royal Caribbean's tech support who referred me to the Back-to-Back cruises department. They got the problem solved eventually. I learned from the man I spoke with that at the end of the first cruise, I'll go to a special waiting area that is just for people doing back-to-back cruises. All people must clear customs when the ship returns to San Juan since they're leaving the ship. However, I won't have to since I won't be leaving. Once everyone has disembarked from the ship, I'll be allowed back on. In regards to my luggage, my suitcase won't ever leave the ship. Instead, it'll be transferred from my first cabin to my second cabin. Due to price differences, I couldn't afford to have a balcony cabin for both cruises. Interestingly, I'll have the same SeaPass for both cruises. Some how, Royal Caribbean will program it to open my first cabin during the first cruise and open the second cabin on the second cruise.

Overall, it should be a really fun adventure barring paying for it. Right now, I owe over $2,700 for the 2 cruises. I'll get them paid off in time though I wish Royal Caribbean didn't demand full payment by 70 days out from your cruise. I suspect that's so they can still sell the cabin if the person backs out. I bet it's still pretty hard to sell cabins for a cruise at the last minute. I know I couldn't take advantage of that. I have to plan my trips at least 6 months in advance. The only reason I was able to break that rule in this case was because I was only adding another week and, it wasn't going to break the bank to add the second cruise. Royal Caribbean was offering a decent price for an Ocean View cabin. We'll see how much I like being enclosed like that. I do like having a balcony cabin. It's awesome to walk out in the morning and watch as your ship sails into port. It was particularly spectacular during the Alaska cruise with the stunning scenery. Stay tuned for more travel adventures all!

Train Ride

Three weeks before I was supposed to on my Alaska cruise, I was checking with my travel agent Joel Mills to make sure everything was in order. I mentioned to him that I didn't see anything marked on my Royal Caribbean cruise page about transfers to the Anchorage International Airport. He said he'd double check on it. It turned out there was some kind of misunderstanding and, I didn't have any arrangements made for getting me from the cruise ship terminal at Seward, Alaska to Anchorage International Airport. Joel found out there were 2 options a) take a bus which took approximately 3 hours and cost approximately $75 or b) take a train which reportedly was very scenic, took an hour longer and cost $25 more. Joel knows me and signed me up for the train. It was a very good choice.

I did a little research on the Internet and found out the cruise ship terminal train station was supposed to be very close by. They weren't kidding. I think I walked no more than 50 feet from the terminal and was able to board my train. The train has wide windows which made it very easy for travellers to see all the stunning Alaskan scenery. During the 4 hour train ride, we'd get to see glaciers, waterfalls, snow covered mountains, tranquil lakes, bald eagles and swift running streams. Also, the train was very convenient in regards to the airport. It pulled up to a landing that connected directly to the airport as well as being close to connections which can take you into Anchorage. My friend Harvey and I would take advantage of this and catch a bus into Anchorage to take in some sightseeing and have a much needed lunch. The train did offer food and drinks at airport prices. No thanks! Another downside to the train was the seats weren't super comfortable. Good luck trying to get some spare z's in those.

Overall, the train from Seward to Anchorage International Airport was a great way to get from the cruise ship terminal to the airport. It enables you to get one last look at the stunning Alaskan countryside. It made a nice finale to my 7 day Alaskan cruise with Royal Caribbean. I would definitely recommend travellers doing an Alaskan cruise out of Seward take this train vice taking the faster and cheaper bus.

Salmon Fishing

One of the things that is typically Alaskan is salmon fishing. The state is known for its salmon and all 5 major species of the fish (Chum, Sockeye, King, Silver and Pink) can be found there. One of the excursions Royal Caribbean Cruises offers on its Alaska cruise is salmon fishing. My last fishing excursion with Royal Caribbean was a fiasco. I went deep sea fishing out of St. Maarten during my first cruise with Royal Caribbean. It cost $200 to go. Out of 6 people on the boat, only 1 of us caught a fish. You can say fishing is always iffy and, I would agree with you. However, the thing that made the trip a fiasco was when the captain of the boat refused to return us to our cruise ship. I ended up walking 2 miles to get back to the ship. As you can see, I didn't forget it. Between not catching a fish and the fiasco of getting back to the boat, I was leery of doing another fishing excursion and yet, it would be neat to go salmon fishing. I checked with folks who actually live in Alaska to find out if the salmon were running during June. They said the king salmon would be. Ok. That sounded like I had a decent shot at catching a fish. According to the description of the excursion (Knudson Cove Salmon Fishing), it sounded like the fishing boat wasn't that far from the cruise ship pier so, I figured it wouldn't be that hard to get back to the ship if I was stranded again plus, I had the local currency i.e. U.S. dollars since the excursion was in Ketchikan, Alaska. So, I signed up.

My travel friend Harvey also signed up for the excursion and, the 2 of us walked off the boat and did a combination lumberjack show and Ketchikan town tour (I'll blog about that later) before returning to the cruise ship pier. Once there, we looked for the sign for our fishing excursion. We found it and to our surprise, there were 46 people that had signed up! On our drive in, I found out how it worked. Apparently, they find out how many people want to go fishing and then, they find the required number of spots of various fishing boats. Then, they notify the captains of the boats they will have so many customers. The people going fishing get assigned randomly to the boats. I would be assigned to the M/V Silver Lady captained by Ivan Leighton.

The M/V Silver Lady was a nice fishing boat as far as I could tell. One interesting aspect of our fishing was we would troll for the salmon. That means, we would regular rods and reels with weights attached to the fishing line that enabled the captain to take the line down to a certain depth (presumably where his fish locator saw where the fish were). Also, it enabled him to space the lines so there was a minimum chance of them getting tangled. There were 5 of us on the boat and, each of us picked our rod that we would watch during the excursion. One tricky thing about trolling was the pull of the boat on the lines caused the rod tips to jerk a lot which to me was a sign of a bite. It seemed a bit tricky trying to figure out when your rod was moving because of the boat vice getting a hit from a fish.

Harvey was the first to get a hit. The way Harvey had to fight to bring his fish in, it looked like it would be a big one. Sadly, it turned out not to be long enough to keep (it has to be 27 inches I believe). Still, it was the biggest fish Harvey had ever caught. After Harvey took a picture of his biggest catch, Captain Leighton removed the fish hook from its mouth and let it go. The second person on the boat to catch a fish was unknown to me. He caught a 14 pound chum salmon which looked enormous. Captain Leighton landed the fish and put it in a cooler filled with ice which was used just for the purpose. The third and last fish our group caught was brought in by me. When the fish struck, I was uncertain I had a bite because of the pull of the boat on the line. I picked up the rod and, the fish struck again. This time, I was pretty certain I had a fish. Captain Leighton told me to set the hook which I subsequently did. Then, the fight ensued to bring the fish in. The fish gave a surprisingly good fight. At times, the line wouldn't come in because of the resistance the fish was giving. Like deep sea fishing, I'd have to raise the rod up to get some slack line to reel in. After possibly 10 minutes of our tug of war, I finally got to see the fish I'd hooked. It looked huge. Captain Leighton identified it as a king salmon, said it was a keeper and broke out the landing net. The fish continued to fight and, the captain had a time landing the fish. Finally, he succeeded and, he put in the cooler with the chum salmon the other fisherman caught. Because I'd caught a king salmon, my fishing was done. The captain had a rule where if you caught one you could keep, you were done. This was to ensure that hopefully everyone caught a fish. Captain Leighton then worked on spotting more fish so that Harvey and the 2 others who hadn't caught one yet could catch their prize fish. Sadly, it wasn't to be. While trolling around, the captain was nice enough to provide some drinks and some delicious salmon dip his wife made.

Our cruise ship was scheduled to set sail from Ketchikan at 4:30 p.m. Captain Leighton tried to give us as much fishing time as he could get away with. Finally, we had to head back Knudson Cove. There, the 2 fish our group had a caught were weighed and, we could get pictures taken with our catch. The chum salmon the unknown fisherman caught came in at over 14 pounds. My king salmon tipped the scales at just over 20 pounds. My salmon had been tagged by some government department who wanted the tag back so they could log the date the fish was caught, where and how much it ended up weighing. Supposedly, I'd be emailed the history of the fish which I thought was interesting.

At this point, you get to decide if you want to keep the fish and if so, how do you want it processed. There are 2 methods. You can get it cut up fresh into weighed packages, frozen and shipped via Federal Express OR, you can get it smoked, cut up into weighed packages and shipped via Federal Express. It costs $3 more a pound to have it smoked. Also, apparently some salmon are better smoked then sent fresh. The person who took processing orders recommended the guy who caught the chum salmon have it smoked while in my case, she recommended I have it prepared fresh. As I don't know diddly about salmon, I took her recommendation.

After we finished the paperwork for the fish processing, we dashed for the bus that would take us back to the cruise ship pier. To the annoyance of the ship, we arrived back 20 minutes late. The ship does have a rule where they can leave you if you are excessively late but, I figured since I was on an excursion sanctioned by the ship, they couldn't blame me for being late and, I didn't think they'd leave me or my friend Harvey. Still, I don't think I've seen the security folks process me back on board the boat as fast they did when we got back from the fishing excursion.

Overall, it was a fun fishing trip. Harvey and I both caught a fish. Also, tt was very scenic as we got to see bald eagles flying around and snow covered mountains in the background. I was surprised by how many fishing boats were out trying to catch fish. I think Captain Ivan Leighton did a bang up job. I'd gladly go fishing again with him. If anyone is interested in contacting the captain about going fishing, leave me a comment and, I'll pass on the information I have from his business card. This is one Alaska experience you should try. Stay tuned for more post on my Alaska adventure.

Hoonah

Yesterday, I visited Hoonah, Alaska. Hoonah is the home to 1,000 Tlingit indians. Hoonah is the primary town on the island though there is a location known as Icy Strait Point. Ice Strait Point features gifts shops, restaurants and desks where visitors can book excursions on the island. The excursions vary from tram tours of the temperate rain forest to whale watching to riding the world's longest and highest zipline. The zipline starts at 1,300 feet (higher than the Empire State Building and runs 5,330 feet.

Not being a daredevil, I did a tour of rainforest, watched a performance of Tlingit songs and dance and did a tour of Hoonah. I found all 3 excursions interesting. My guide for the rainforest was Kerry who was very knowledgeable about the plants, wildlife and life of the Tlingit. She is a Tlingit herself. The island has an abundance of plants that can be eaten for food and used for medicinal purposes. Kerry mentioned a plant called the Devil's Club which can be used in an ointment that helps with joint pain. For a long time, the Tlingit ran the risk of scurvy due to a lack of vitamin c. To fight scurvy, the Tlingit would harvet a fern in the spring time that is rich in vitamin c, cook it and eat it. Other sources of food included salmon, halibut and deer. It is also rife with brown bears which outnumber the native population 3 to 1.

The song and dance show told of the Tlingit and their history. For centuries, the way Tlingit history was passed was by stories, song, dance and totem poles. The show also explained how the Tlingit were organized starting with 2 basic clans and further subdividing into various houses. During the show, the performers show the back of the cloaks which have an animal symbol on them that identifies their clan. They also stated their Tlingit names which tell their ancestry and where they came from. I found the show very interesting.

My final excursion was a tour of Hoonah. The majority of the 1,000 Tlingit living on Chichagof Island live in Hoonah (population:697 as of 2009 per www.city-data.com). The town has one commercial chain store (an Ace Hardware) with 1 gas pump which they use to fuel their various vehicles. Also, they have a small post office, marina and airfield. There are 2 ways the Tlingit use to travel to the mainland - ferry to Juneau which costs $33 each way and airplane which costs $80 each way. The Tlingit have 1 school which teaches grades kindergarten to 12th grade. According to my tour guide, the last graduating class had 4 students. The school teaches the Tlingit language as well as English. This is critical in helping preserve the Tlingit culture. Incredibly, Tlingit didn't have a written form until the 1970's. Before then, all knowledge was passed down orally. According to my guide who's name I sadly can't remember, there are just 10,000 Tlingit in the entire world. This seemed a small number to me.

Overall, I found my visit to Hoonah and the island really interesting. It was something to learn of the Tlingit culture and way of life. For the overwhelming majority of travellers, the primary way to visit Hoonah is via cruise ship. I visited via the Radiance of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean Cruises cruise ship. Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America, Seven Seas, Oceania and Celebrity ships all stop in Icy Strait Point/Hoonah. If you're interested in learning about the Tlingit or want to see some pristine Alaskan wilderness, a port call to Icy Strait Point/Hoonah may be for you. Cheers all!

My 2011 Visit to Vancover, Canada

I made it to Vancouver, Canada. It was a long day getting here. I managed to get just 4 hours sleep after driving back from Michigan. The Big Blue Van airport shuttle folks picked me up at 3:15 in the morning and got me to Reagan National Airport in good time. From there, I had a nearly 3 hour flight to Houston, a 1 hour layover and a 5 hour flight to Vancouver. My travel agent arranged for a driver to pick me up at the airport and, he was waiting once I finished customs and immigration. The drive into Vancouver was just 30 minutes.

The Listel Hotel has lived up to its reputation for being artsy. It is filled with art. The hotel staff are nice and helpful. The location ISN'T the best if you're going to do a cruise out of Vancouver. My friend Harvey and I walked to to the cruise ship terminal and, we realized real quick we weren't going to do that lugging our suitcases. The taxi fare supposedly won't be more than $15 Canadian. We'll find out for sure when we take the taxi this morning.

The Vancouver cruise ship terminal is impressive. It can reportedly handle 4 cruise ships at 1 time. I think the most I've seen here was 3. I spoke with a person named Brett who told Harvey and I what we had to do upon arrival at the terminal. I'll post that procedure after I've gone through it myself so other travellers will know what to do and what to expect.

Yesterday, I used the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off service to sightsee Vancouver. It worked out well. I rode the bus through its entire route so I could hear all the narrative then, I decided what particular sights I wanted to see. I decided on Stanley Park and the Sun Yat Sen Chinese gardens. Stanley Park was really neat. It has a collection of 7 totem poles representing the various Indian nations. It also has dense forest and stunning trees. Lastly, it gives some great views of the Vancouver skyline at certain points. I was really glad I checked out this park. The Chinese garden was a nice quiet oasis in the city. There are 2 Chinese gardens you can visit. The larger classical garden has an admission charge but includes a guided tour of the garden while the smaller garden is free.

During my stay in Vancouver, I've eaten at 3 places - The Irish Heather, The Top of Vancouver and O'Doul's. The Irish Heather is a fantastic Irish pub with an astounding choice of single malt whiskies (over 100 I believe). I particularly enjoyed the steak and Guinness pot pie I had there. The Top of Vancouver restaurant is located at the top of a tower that rotates and looks over Vancouver. It offers great views of the city. The restaurant rotates completely around once every 60 minutes. Service was outstanding at this restaurant. The restaurant isn't cheap but, the food is very good. I had some excellent calimari and escargot for starters. My seafood melody main entree was very good. I was very pleased to dine at this restaurant as it made a nice finish to my day of sightseeing in Vancouver. O'Doul's is the restaurant attached to the Listel Hotel. This makes it very easy to get to for those staying there. I had breakfast at this restaurant as well as a couple nightcaps. The breakfast was very good though pricey. Service was excellent. The bartender at the bar where I had my nightcaps was really nice. They do have some affordable brews. Surprisingly, they don't offer Molson Canadian lager on draft there. Molson has a large brewery in the city which I passed by during my tour of the city.

Overall, I've enjoyed my stay at Vancouver though it isn't a place I would've visited for just itself. It isn't that interesting to me. If you are going to do an Alaskan cruise out of here, it is worth spending an extra day checking the place out. The city has a number of the big cruise lines stop here including Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Princess Lines and Silversea (I saw their Silver Shadow ship at the cruise ship terminal yesterday). A tour guide on the hop on hop off bus I rode told me the city receives over 1 million visitors a year during the cruise season. I can understand why. The cruise ship terminal itself is located in the center of the city making it an ideal base to see the city from and, it looks like it's easy to board the ships there (I'll know for certain on that later today).

That's all for this installment. Stay tuned for blogs on the renovated Radiance of the Seas and how my Alaska cruise goes. Happy travels all.

Greenfield Village

The Henry Ford is a number of different attractions. It includes the museum, Greenfield Village, and IMAX theater and a tour of one of Ford's auto plants. This Monday, I decided to drive to Dearborn, Michigan so I could see Greenfield Village for the first time. The village is an outdoor museum of sorts. It contains historic buildings from the 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's. The buildings include Thomas Alva Edison's laboratory complex from Menlo Park, New Jersey, the Wright Brothers home and bicycle shop and the courthouse where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. The inside of the buildings look just as they would've when their occupants lived in them. In the Wright Brothers bicycle shop, you see bicycles and accessories for sale in the front of the shop. Further back, you bicycle parts and tool or machines for making those parts. In the farthest back shop, you see an airplane wing being built presumably for a glider or one of their airplanes. A guide in the shop explains how things were in the shop and answers any questions.

The village also offers different rides though not of the kind we normally associate with tourist attraction rides. How many tourist attractions do you know that give you the chance to ride in a vintage Model T car or in a horse pulled Omnibus? There is also a steam locomotive with cars to ride in that goes around the perimeter of the village and supposedly a vintage bus that runs through the village. I didn't see or ride on the bus. The last ride is a vintage carousel with painted animals including a giant frog and giant rooster. Personally, I enjoyed all the rides. I thought it was something to get to ride in a Model T car for the first time. The one I rode in was built in 1925. A village guide told me they use one that was built in 1913, just 6 years after Henry Ford came out with the car.

Lastly, the village has craft shops covering glass blowing, printing, pottery making, weaving and milling. The glass blowing shop was particularly interesting as you got to see the master glass blower got through all the stages of making an item while a narrator explains the various steps. Later, at the gift shop, you can buy items that actually made in the various craft shops. The glass blowers at the village make some very beautiful glass ware but, I will warn would be shoppers that the items aren't cheap. A very nice light blue glass pitcher sold for $56. Do keep in mind these items are hand made by master craftsmen.

Price wise for Greenfield Village was $22 for an adult and $21 for a Senior. I don't remember what the admission price for a child was. On the rides, you can buy individual tickets for the rides (average cost $4) or you can buy an unlimited ride pass for $10. If you want to ride either the open or inclosed horse drawn omnibuses, you must buy an unlimited ride pass. They don't sell tickets for those rides as the carriage drivers can't check or collect tickets. They do sell multi-attraction tickets example buying a ticket for the village and the museum. You will save money buying these but, I don't believe you can do justice to either attraction if you don't spend less than a day seeing each. From date of purchase, your ticket is good for 1 year though it can only be used 1 time. There are memberships you can buy starting at $54 a year that will allow free multiple visits throughout the year to the museum and village. Active duty military members may visit the museum and village for free any time. There is a $5 charge for parking which is automatically included in your ticket purchase. You don't have to put anything in your vehicle to show you've paid the parking fee. The complex website http://www.thehenryford.org/index.aspx offers directions to the complex.

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to the village. It was neat to ride a 1925 Model T and the train. The people who work at the village were very knowledgeable and helpful. The village was very clean and safe. I was at the village for over 5 hours and, I could've easily spent more time there. There is LOTS to see and do there. If you are in the Dearborn area, this is one attraction worth seeing. Good travels all.

Son of Neptune

Rick Riordan released some more information on his upcoming Son of Neptune novel. On May 15, 2011 Riordan tweeted on Twitter that the novel was finished and all that remain was publishing and formatting. http://twitter.com/#!/camphalfblood On May 26, 2011, Riordan revealed the Heroes of Olympus webpage http://disney.go.com/disneybooks/heroes-of-olympus/ the cover for the book as well as a link where readers can read the 1st chapter of the book. The book's release date is still set for October 4 according to Riordan's website http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx.

The 1st chapter was good and, I can't wait to read the book. I am curious as to what happened to Percy. Also, it'll be interesting to learn about Roman demigod camp. I'll post anymore information if I find out anymore. Cheers all!

Michigan

My various travels began Friday. I packed a small bag and loaded up my laptop backpack. At 5 a.m., I hit the road. It ended taking me over 9 hours to get to Michigan. I was surprised all the road work that was going on. At times, it brought traffic to a standstill. I wasn't thrilled with the tolls on the Pennsylvania and Ohio Turnpikes. Pennsylvania hit me for $11.35 and Ohio hit me for $10.50. Michigan caught me by surprise with its summer fuel mix. That mix caused fuel prices to jump. By the time I nearly reached my destination, I was nearly out of gas. I looked desperately for a gas station but about gagged when I saw they wanted $4.23 a gallon for regular. I bit my lip and paid it.

It was something to see the state again. I recognized some of the town and city names. I don't see a lot of the state because of my other travels. I was determined to make it to Michigan this time to see my Dad. It was really nice to get to see him again. Yesterday, my favorite Aunt Aunt Marge came up from Indiana. She is such a super nice woman and, she has been through so much. We caught up on news and talked about travels and motorbikes. Her husband Dave and her have done a lot of travelling through the Western United States on a touring Yamaha motorcycle they own. It was neat to hear of their travels.

Lastly, I got to enjoy some White Castle hamburgers. To my annoyance, they're not any White Castle restaurants in Maryland. I've enjoyed their hamburgers since I was a kid. They may not be the tastiest hamburgers but, they're neat with their small size and, you can buy a case of the things. Also, they bring back memories of when my parents would load up the family car and, we'd drive to Indiana to see my Grandparents. To keep my sister and I under control, my folks would promise to stop at the Cleveland White Castles for some of their hamburgers if we were good. That usually worked and, we always looked forward to enjoying some of their hamburgers.

That's it for this travel installment. Stay tuned. More travels are coming. Tomorrow, I'll visit Greenfield Village for the first time. Cheers all!

Serenade of the Seas

In November, I'll get to sail on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas for the first time. The cruise will visit 4 islands I've never been to - Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and St. Croix. The cruise will also stop at Philipsburg, St. Maarten. Philipsburg is where I went on my notorious deep sea fishing trip during my first cruise. The fishing trip was a fiasco as between the 6 of us on the boat, we caught just 1 fish and, the captain of the boat left us stranded at the pier. We had to make our own way back to our ship the Adventure of the Seas. I told my travel friend Harvey we won't try that again when we make port in Philipsburg though I would like to go deep sea fishing again on the cruise. We'll see what the other ports offer in that way.

Internet wise, I found out from surfing the web that the Serenade offers the same kind of WiFi that Navigator of the Seas offered i.e. various hotspots throughout the ship as pay as you go or pre-pay. Depending on much you think you'll use the Internet, the pre-pay plans could save you some money. I know I'll use it a lot so I'll be buying their maximum plan which is 500 minutes for $150. Hopefully, my Crown and Anchor coupon booklet will have a discount coupon for the Internet so I'll be able to save some money like I did on the Navigator of the Seas.

The Serenade of the Seas is a Radiance class ship. I'll get to find out what those are like in less than 2 weeks when I do my previously mentioned Alaska cruise on the Radiance of the Seas. The class is smaller than the Voyager class that I've cruised on before. I'm curious to see what their like. The cruise on the Radiance will give me an idea of what it'll be like on the Serenade. One unique item the Radiance class has that no other ship has is automatically self leveling pool tables! They must have built in gyroscopes which is kind of wild for a pool table to have. I can't wait to try them out and see how well they work.

That's all for this post. Stay tuned for upcoming travel posts. The time is almost here where I'll get to play the world traveller again. I can't wait. It seems like ages since I took Globus's Legacy of the Incas tour. Cheers all!

Cruise Ship Article

Recently, I bought the 15th Anniversary issue of Porthole, a magazine the covers cruising. The magazine has an interesting article on why cruise ships are getting so big. The article is written by Robert McGarvey. It makes some valid points like one reason being "economy of scale." The more passengers you have, the cheaper it is per passenger for docking fees and for staff on board the ship. Another valid reason they give is that passengers are wanting more features on the ships. They want there to be more to do on the ship vice just eating, seeing a show and exercising. Lastly, Jenny Reed, a cruise specialist mentions in the article that the ship is itself becoming the main draw and not the ports.

This is where I differ with the article. While I suspect Miss Reed is right on some cruises, on a number of others, I think the ports very much matter. For example, I don't believe anyone is going on an Alaska cruise to spend time on the cruise ship. People go on the Alaska cruise to see the stunning scenery and visit some of the ports in Alaska where they can experience some of the things that are unique to that state. For example, seeing a logging show where you see lumberjacks practice skills they use in their trade. Another example would be attending a native dance performance where you can learn about some of the indian groups in the area. Lastly, you can learn and even try your luck at finding gold in the areas where it was found in Alaska at one time.

Another item the article doesn't mention but which I think influences the size of the ships is increased profit potential. A bigger ship can hold more shops and restaurants where people on the cruise can spend their money. An example would be the refit that is being done right now on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas. When the refit is done, the ship will have a new Brazilian steakhouse, a Mexican restaurant and a new Italian restaurant. All these restaurants should increase the ship's profit from its cruises. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines are allegedly the most profitable and, I suspect part of the reason is because they have such large ships and thereby, their ships have greater profit potential as they can offer more shops, restaurants and other services such as massages and body wraps.

For me personally, the ports will be the deciding factor on what cruise I do. I want the ship to be clean, modern and comfortable but, I don't go on a cruise to spend time on the boat. I go on a cruise because it is the best way to see certain areas like the Caribbean islands or the Greek islands. It would be a major hassle to island hop between those islands using ferries or airplanes. A cruise makes it considerably easier to visit those islands. You only have to unpack once and, your food, lodging and transportation are pretty much taken care of. Stay tuned for future posts on my upcoming Alaska cruise. Good travels to you all.

Royal Caribbean Alaska Cruise

As any readers I have can see, I'm playing catch up on my blogging today. I've been meaning to post some stuff but, I just didn't give off my procrastinating butt and post. This post concerns my upcoming 7 day Alaska cruise with Royal Caribbean.

I think it was last winter that I started trying to figure out what I wanted to do travel wise for this summer. I wanted to return to Iceland and finish all the sightseeing I'd like to do there but, it turned out I didn't see any reasonably affordable package deals I liked. My friend Harvey was interested in doing an Alaska cruise. My travel agent Joel raved about it saying the sights were stunning. I decided to look into it and to my surprise, I found a nice deal with Royal Caribbean for a cruise in late May. I subsequently booked it then, Royal Caribbean decided to put the ship in dry dock for some renovations during the month of May. They offered me a deal where they would give me a $400 ship board credit, a more expensive date in June 2011 and pay the fee to change my airplane tickets. I readily agreed to the offer. So, next month, I'll fly out to Vancouver, Canada and board the Radiance of the Seas for a 7 day Alaska cruise.

The cruise will stop in Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Skagway. I should get to do a number of Alaska type things like salmon fishing, see a glacier and hopefully see some whales. The ship itself will be a new one to me as I've never cruised on a Radiance class ship before. The ship is smaller than the Adventure or Navigator of the Seas. It holds a max of 2,500 passengers. Still, it should be a nice ship and, I look forward to exploring it when I board for my cruise. This will be my third cruise with Royal Caribbean. This time, I should definitely know all the ropes with them. I've already got my boarding paperwork done and my cruise luggage tags are en-route to my home. They should arrive in plenty of time so I'll be able to attach them to my 1 bag. Also, I've booked in advance all my shore excursions and prepaid for their unlimited soda refills. I know I have to drink a lot of soda to make that worth-whiled but, I prefer that to Royal Caribbean charging $2 to my ship account for every soda I drink. Another nice thing about prepaying on the sodas is that the icon they put on your ship pass is made into the pass vice them attaching a sticker to it. Stickers can come off and, I prefer the icon being part of my ship pass.

I plan to use Royal Caribbean's WiFi again. I was impressed with it last time. One nice difference Internet wise on this cruise is I should be able to post stuff while at the various ports in Alaska. My Sprint USB modem should work in those towns. We'll see on that.

That's all for now. Stay tune for some interesting travel posts coming in the future. Soon, I'll get to play the world traveler again. I can't wait. It seems like ages since I traveled to Peru. Good travels to you all.