NORTH TO ALASKA!

What a journey we took!  In September, 2019, Carl and I took a bucket list cruise to Alaska on the lovely Grand Princess. We sailed out of San Francisco on September 3rd, and returned to San Francisco on September 13th, 10 wonderful days.  I'm probably going to be sharing our trip in 2 or 3 posts, apologizing in advance for the picture heavy reading, lol.  I took a LOT of pictures.

We started out on September 3rd with a beautiful bus ride to San Francisco from Roseville, CA, courtesy of our travel agency, Zoe's Cruises and Tours in Sacramento.  This trip was an ESCORTED cruise, meaning one of their travel agents Nancy, was on board the entire trip, every day we received gifts and if we had questions, she was our go-to for those.  Highly recommend an escorted cruise.  Anyway, our son lives near the bus pick up point so we left our car at his home.  The bus ride to and from the ship meant I did not have to drive to and in San Francisco, or find parking for 10 days.  Saved a ton of money on parking to boot.  More money to spend in Alaska!

Our daughter in law's mom Cyndi took us to the bus...the excitement was building!

Let the fun begin!
We arrived at the pier and boarded the ship quickly, thank goodness there was a wheelchair and staff member to wheel Carl up to the ship and get him boarded..

We arrived at our Cabin, it was perfect, just right.  We had an OBSTRUCTED VIEW outside cabin, but we could see just fine.

 After we settled in we went up on the back deck of the ship for Sailaway.  Got some lovely views of San Francisco, and as we sailed out to sea we sailed under the majestic Golden Gate Bridge.  It was pretty awesome!

 Our ship, the Grand Princess.

The next day was a Sea Day, so we enjoyed touring the Grand and meeting our tour escort, Nancy.

 

 There was a cool sign on our door!

 

 

The first sea day was Formal Night, we decided to get dressed up and have some photos taken, problem is Carl had trouble with his tie!  He has Parkinson's, and tie tying just wasn't in the cards, but we had a good laugh   If you don't laugh, you cry!

We had a great dinner and a couple of photos taken of us at the table that night..

 Day 2 was another Sea Day, the weather was definitely getting cooler the farther north we traveled.  I really over packed for this cruise, I knew it would be cool, in retrospect we could have skipped bringing the heavy jackets, but we just didn't know what to expect.  We know when we cruise to Mexico, it's going to be warm.

We really enjoyed the on board Naturalist!  She had a seminar almost every sea day highlighting all things Alaska, we learned a lot.  And there were so many activities on board.  Sea days are a favorite of mine.

Day 3 we arrived in Juneau, Alaska.  We had booked a whale watching tour, so excited and hoped we would spot some humpbacks and orcas.  We did!

We also got to see Mendenhall Glacier from a distance, very cool.  Loved the whales!

Day 4 we were in Skagway, we had booked an excursion on the White Pass train to the Yukon, a 7 hour trip.  I was a little worried about Carl handling that long of a trip, but he was a champ, and did great!  Such great scenery, lunch in Carcross, Yukon, sled dogs,  a stop at Emerald Lake and a bus ride back to the ship in Skagway.  The colors were turning gold and red this time of year, stunning!

 End of the day, lol...

To be continued...

NEVADA DAY

Hello blog friends!  Long time, no hear!  We loved our Alaska Cruise, but was so exhausted and sick with colds when we got home, I am just now a month later getting around to some posting.

Today is Nevada Day, a state holiday.  Nevada entered into the Union on October 31, 1864, but is celebrated on the last Friday in October.  Schools, banks and state government offices are closed.  For us retirees, it's business as usual.  Retirement business.  Meaning for me probably a pajama day since we don't have any doctor or physical therapy appointments today, hooray!

The scenery around these parts is amazing.  I love living where there are seasons!  I'm going to share some pictures I took of our home and my attempt at fall décor!

Enjoy!

I will be posting about our Alaska Cruise, probably two or three posts since they will be picture heavy...Patience!

Have a wonderful day from Carl and I...

Our Week

Nothing much to report! 

Monday morning, Carl had a recheck appointment here at the University of  Nevada, Reno, with his endocrinologist or results of lab testing and his ultrasound of the neck and bone density results.  Found out that today, Friday, was his last day before he left the state for work and to live.  Ugh.  Carl has elevated calcium level and elevated parathyroid hormone levels in his blood, which can suck the calcium out of the bones and cause brittle bones.  Which the bone density scan confirmed.  So of courses this doctor doesn't want to recommend or send him for surgery or medication treatment due to the fact that the dr is leaving town and can't follow up!  !  We decided to try to get him referred through the local VA to their endocrinologist.  I have to take his lab and ultrasound reports to his VA primary care dr today so they can work on that.  I will be glad when all his care is through the VA.

We travelled to our son's home in Roseville, a two hour drive on Monday afternoon.  It was so HOT.  I kept saying, Satan called and wants his weather back!  Was close to 102 on Monday and Tuesday.  We went to our grandson Jackson's first practice on Monday late afternoon for his Fall Baseball team.  Again, HOT. Even in the shade, HOT. 

Tuesday Carl had an appointment at the Sacramento VA for his yearly dermatology check.  Everything was fine, a few spots burned off.  No issues thank goodness.

Wednesday morning I had an appointment with Jamie for a cut and color.. Nice to treat myself! Jamie and I always have fun and laughs and heart to heart talks.  Good therapy!

We drove home Wednesday afternoon after stopping at Starbuck's for a treat.  Even Prince had a Puppachino!

Yesterday, Thursday, we did a lot of errands after Carl's physical therapy appt and had a nice lunch out.  Later in the afternoon we had a painter come and spray stain on our wood fence.  We live in a HOA and are required to stain the fences every 3 years.  They provide 5 gallons of stain, we had to buy a couple more gallons since we have a lot of fence.  Money well spent to have it done for us, we aren't able to do these type of things any longer.  Carl was exhausted last night!

Our neighbor Will came over and installed the new shower head we bought for our master bath shower, the old one came from our previous home and developed a crack.  Looks nice, Carl was too tired last night to try it out, but he took a shower this morning and said it was great.  Thank you, Will!  We have been blessed with wonderful neighbors that is for sure.  So helpful to us old folks...

Today going for a mani/pedi this afternoon in preparation for our cruise in 4 days!  Need to finish laying out clothes and finish the packing by tomorrow.  So excited to cruise to Alaska!

That's about it.  Have a great weekend!