National Adult Literacy Database

February 7, 2005

This week, we have a story written by Deborah Chadwick, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Deborah is a student at Program Read in Sault Ste. Marie.

My Trip to Alaska

by Deborah Chadwick

My friend, Cheryl, her son, Joshua and I went on a great trip to Alaska in the summerof 2003.

We flew from here to Winnipeg, then to Calgary. We changed planes in Calgaryand flew to Vancouver.

We stayed inVancouver for two days before we went on the cruise. We took the "Seabus" toNorth Vancouver and then a city bus up to Grouse Mountain Gondolalift. You could see the whole city from the gondola. My ears feltfunny but finally popped at the top.

On Saturday,July 19 we got up and took a cab to the dock ready to board ourship. It was called "Ravens of the Sea." That boat wasgorgeous!

We found ourroom. It was great and we even had a balcony. Every morning Iwaved to the captain from our balcony. The food on the buffetswas excellent. There was always food out - even at midnight! Everynight there were shows - an early one and a late one.

One afternoonwe went to a wine-tasting and that evening we met the captainand had a glass of champagne with him. That was the first "dress-up" night.We all had our pictures taken with the Captain.

One morningwe went on a catamaran to see humpback whales. They are huge.Also we went to see the harbour seals. Then we went to Juneauto do some shopping. Later that day we saw a bald eagle from ourbalcony. What a beauty! To finish the evening we went to see a "showdancing" program.

At Skagway wewent on a train ride up to White Pass Summit. It was really awesome- lots of beautiful scenery. That night at 11:30 we went to takephotos of chocolate carvings - like a dinosaur, swans and a hugedragon. At midnight we got to break chunks of chocolate off forourselves. Also, there were lots of other chocolate goodies likecake and strawberries dipped in chocolate.

The next daywe passed Admiralty Bay. We sat on our balcony and saw the HubbardGlacier. A huge chunk fell off and it was so noisy when it hitthe water. The glacier was a lovely pale blue colour.

At Ketchikanwe went to see a lumberjack show. That was the last port beforewe headed back.

July 25 wasour last full day on board. We went to watch a towel folding demonstration.A lady folded towels in the shape of an elephant, chicken anddog. There was an art auction and a large Bingo game. In the eveningthe farewell show starred Dave Dania. He sang and did a magicshow. The captain, who has a lovely voice, sang for us too.

The day we leftthe ship we had to wait in Vancouver airport for two and a halfhours so we missed our connection in Toronto for the Sault. Westayed overnight in Toronto and finally arrived home at twelvenoon on Sunday. The cruise was a delight and I would do it againin a second.