It's Done Turned Fall, Ya'll

Friday, August 21 - We are finally seeing a show at the world-famous Blue Bird Cafe together tonight.  Ashlee's been before with some friends long ago, but I've never been.  We saw Sean McConnell tonight for one of two shows there.  Sean will also be on our upcoming music cruise in November.   We chose the early show to get us home at a reasonable hour to our melee of pets.  He was awesome with this intimate acoustic set.  Such a great local talent!   And the cheese sticks here are boss!! 

Friday, August 28 - O/A/R at the FirstBank Amphitheater in Franklin.  $30 flat deal. Openers were pretty big names in KT Tunstall and Gavin DeGraw.

Stayed overnight in Franklin. 

Saturday, August 29 - Mat Kearney at The Pinnacle (tour poster pic on phone at 7/8, better one on 8/11) 

Beforehand, we did a behind-the-scenes tour at The Nashville Zoo with a sloth encounter as an early birthday present for Ashlee.  Our trip to Costa Rica earlier this year piqued our interest in these fascinating creatures.  

Tuesday, September 8 - We drafted tonight for the 27th season of the BFFFL.  This season is dedicated to the 26-year veteran of our virtual gridiron, JD Franklin, who passed away last year.  We're going to miss you, bud, RIP.  

brunch at Inglewood Lounge with their locally famous patio cat, Penny 

Friday, October 23 - Andrew McMahon SOLD-OUT solo at City Winery in Nashville (concert poster pic on phone at 6/9) and VIP meet-n-greet beforehand

ALASKA! TOGETHER! FINALLY!!

 While we have both been to Alaska, we have not been together and neither of us have been there on a cruise, so this is a big bucket-lister trip for us along with some family as well. 

That's 2,081 Nautical Miles Traveled + 2,072 airline miles + a few hundred road miles in between!! 

Wednesday, August 5 - We had an early direct flight on Delta Airlines to Seattle today as we prep for our Alaska cruise from there on Friday.  The flight went smooth and uneventful.  Thanks to our friends for dropping us off so as not to incur a large parking fee at the airport.  

Mt. Rainer came in to view as we neared Seattle, rising above the low cloud cover and a good amount of nearby forest fire smoke. 

We had to rent two vehicles to carry all our luggage and bodies! Our first stop while we waited on our lodging to be ready was The Museum of Flight which is close to the airport and where we also had lunch.  This place is so big and so interesting that you could spend a couple days here instead of just the couple of hours that we did and definitely without seeing it all.  But what we did see (warplanes from WWI - above - and WWII, fighter jets, inside a Concorde jet, inside an Air Force One, inside a FedEx freight-hauling jet, etc.) was pretty great! 

Here's the whole gang goofing around and posing with the retro Pan Am mannequins.  Who's the dummies here, again? 

Our adorable AirBnB home (good find, Paige!) in the very sweet Magnolia neighborhood of Northwest Seattle was our next stop.   We had three separate bedrooms and lots of room to spread out and hang out.  And it saved us some much money compared to hotel rooms! 

The minivan that Ashlee rented could seat us all without luggage, so we saved a ton of money on using Uber/Lyfts (which are really high here) to go see the Seattle Mariners game vs. the Detroit Tigers tonight.  We had front-row, aisle seats in the outfield of beautiful T-Mobile Park.  (our first time there for all 7 of us).  It was my treat since not everyone in the group is a sports fan like me, but we all wound up enjoying it on "Jimothy Night." 

We actually saw a lot of action in our front-row left foul pole seats.   Mariners left fielder, Randy Arozarena, put on quite the show in front of us with a homerun-saving catch over the wall in front of us and a wicked bullet of a throw to 3rd base to get a runner out.  At bat, it was Randy's single that started the scoring for Seattle with three runs in the bottom of the 6th.  We didn't stay for the end to beat some of the traffic out of a nearby VIP parking garage that we were at the top of (good find, Ashlee!), but the Mariners went on to win the game by a final score of 4-2.  There was a huge crowd and the weather was perfect for watching a game! 

Thursday, August 6 - We had a full day in Seattle to enjoy before crusing out tomorrow morning, so we started the day off with an awesome chef led food tour of and around famous Pike Place Market.  Our first stop was a dandy: CHEESE!  Beecher's Cheese to be exact.  So fresh, so good!  Next was some outstanding smoked salmon City Fish Seafood Market with an optional bonus fresh raw scallop (photo above) that you shoot from a seashell.  Wow was it good!  

Our next stop was the amazing Greek gelato shop called Hellenika.  This stuff was extremely smooth and creamy!  Street tacos came next.  Always a crowd favorite.  It was on the Truffle Queen next for exquisite fresh truffles.  We also got a free bonus fresh fig slice from the store's neighboring standing across the way.   Next were savory, delicious Portuguese custard tarts (pasteis de nata) at the Lands of Origin shop.  A slice of pizza came next from the authentic Pizza & Pasta Bar, then some legendary Rachel's Ginger Beer, some award-winning clam chowder from Pike Place Chowder, a quick stop to see one of tour group do a great job at catching a famous flying fish at the Pike Place Fish Market and concluded with some fine European chocolate at Frans.  We were stuffed and our chef host, Will, was outstanding! 
Afterwards we made a few more stops of our own around the market area that included the hip and popular ice cream shop, Salt and Straw, (there's always room for ice cream!); then The Cheese Box for some outstanding blue cheese recommended by our chef/tour-guide, Will, (there's always room for cheese!); and a few brews at the Taproom at Pike Place (there's always room for beer!).  

Ashlee's bad knee only lasted for the first part of an Underground Seattle Tour we had scheduled next since most of the tour was up and down a lot of stairs.  But it was quite interesting with information like the fact that Seattle is the only major US city named after a Native American chief.  However, it does look like the name got butchered somewhat from its original pronunciation which is probably why his bust (photo above) seems to be more like "Chief Resting Bitch Face."  
We got a great parking place again near the busy downtown waterfront market area by using the SpotHero app at a hotel with cheap valet parking.  

After getting back to the AirBnb house and freshening up, everyone but Ashlee and me went to dinner nearby.  We had other plans, and to kill some time we drove through the enormous and lovely Discover Park which dead ends at West Point Lighthouse (and a beautiful driftwood beach) overlooking the Puget Sound.  Catching the sunset here tonight was a bonus!   In a bit of an odd pay-it-forward move, we gave two German tourists a ride out of the giant park and back to a bus station near the entrance where they had gotten off earlier in the day.  Nice fellas.  Glad they didn't murder us! 

Our other plans tonight were to meet for dinner with our long-time friend, Paige, from Nashville originally who moved out here several years ago.  We met at her choice of location, the eclectic and fun Dreamland Bar & Diner in the funky Fremont neighborhood.  The walk to the bathrooms (photo above) should tell all you need to know about this interesting place! 

Friday, August 7 - Time to get on the BIG BOAT!!  After a bit of harrowing and annoying time to return the rental cars this morning, we got smoothly onto the beautiful Celebrity Edge to begin our cruise out of Seattle.  Ashlee and Paige have both been on this same ship before and it's one of their favorites, and I can see why.  So beautiful from stern to aft.  

Our first cruise out of Seattle, but probably not our last.  The Emerald City is such a great place to visit.  With a little creative contrast work, I was able to clear the still-lingering wildfire smoke from this above shot as we pulled out into The Puget Sound.  

With so much port time and cruising with a view of the Alaskan coast most of the time, we decided to not get the booze package, but did upgrade a little to include high-end coffee, soft drinks and other upgraded non-alcoholic drinks.  One of our new favorites is the many flavors of Italy-made Sanpellegrino.  We are not always the biggest fans of sparkling water, but this stuff is very smooth and flavorful.  

Saturday, August 8 - Waking up at dawn and seeing the ocean outside your window is always a special feeling.  One of the coolest features on the Edge are the new "infinity-balconies."  Instead of a door to a separate balcony, you get more room space with a large window instead, the top half of which can be rolled down for the open balcony effect.  Pretty ingenious if you ask me! It was a relaxing day at sea for us as we cruised north up the Canadian coast toward Alaska.  

The dazzling interior design throughout the ship just continues to amaze.  This art piece is made entirely of pearl necklaces, tiaras and bracelets. 

One of our favorite new-to-us Celebrity Cruise Line on-ship offerings are the "Beyond the Podium" talks presented before entering each port.  The speaker we had for our India cruise was outstanding and we didn't think she could be beat, but, alas, there's naturalist and all-around awesome dude, Brent Nixon! The photo above is a screen grab of his first talk today about Alaska overall that was rebroadcast on the ship's TV system after it was given, but we were there live (and so was about half the ship - it was so crowded).  If you can't get fired up about nature and all it has to offer after listening to Brent, well, you might be dead! 
All of his talks were packed with listeners.  Come to find out that his wife, Mary Amanda Fairchild, was also a speaker on the cruise and was very interesting in her talks about overall travel, culture and tourism.  
   

After a free tour (and a pretty good sales pitch) we opted in for spa access on the ship ever day on the cruise for a couple hundred bucks each.  The ship was crowded (just under 3K in passengers alone), so this was place was a great respite from the crowds.  These heated loungers shown above were our favorite accoutrements of the spa area, but we also enjoyed the salt room, the crystal room, the Turkish bath and steam room, etc.  But the # 1 reason we chose spa access was private open front deck access which will really come in to play a couple days from now (see below).  

Tonight we chose to have dinner in the beautiful Eden specialty restaurant at the back of the ship.  You pay extra for this experience, and I thought it was great (especially the butterscotch creme brulee in the photo above).  However, the girls, who, again, have been on the ship before, thought it had changed somewhat for the worse in their opinion to what they had experienced before.  That's too bad since paying the extra cost should blow you away in flavor, choice and presentation. 

Meanwhile, back at the Martin Avenue Zoo...big thanks to our friend and pet-sitter, Leslie, for taking such great care of our pets again while we travel for a long period.  How she got all seven of these goofy cats to pose in the same picture is beyond me.  She's amazing!!  Don't forget there are also two dogs in the den!  

Sunday, August 9 - Hello, Ketchikan, Alaska!!  It seems the 49th state is just bursting to welcome us back as a couple! After promptly spending a little time apart this morning doing different activities, we met back up for a low-key afternoon wildlife and waterfall tour that I had booked through Viator.  

Baleen Brewing 

The weather was exquisite! 

We went bear hunting and danged if we didn't just miss him!! #scathumor

Rainbow Falls 

Woop!  There he is!!   

Cape Fox Lodge 

It was early to bed after saying goodbye to Ketchikan because very early tomorrow we cruise into the Endicott Arm and ever closer to Dawes Glacier.   One other note of interest is that we got to briefly meet Brent and Mary (our Celebrity celebrity speakers) tonight! 

Monday, August 10 - EPIC DAY ALERT!!! Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier and on to Juneau, Alaska 

Iceberg right ahead!! 

The waterfalls started appearing fast and furious.  Too many to count (or to name). 

Man, that first peek around the corner is draw-dropping. 

I caught this with a photo, not a screengrab from video.  But see below for a pretty awesome video of another cleave drop.  

Panoramically sublime. 

Only two cruise ships a day are allowed into the Endicott Arm. 

Weather moved constantly in and out Alaska, but we were very fortunate overall to have great weather during time there and in Seattle before and after. 

The unfortunately named Sumdum Glacier 

Welcome to Juneau! 

Alaskan Brewing 

Sweet girl! 

Away we go!! 

immediately the views are astounding 

and then come the mountains! 

Our first glimpse 

And here it is in all its glory! 

Such a smooth take-off, ride and landing! 

Our first-ever walk on a glacier! 

Free glacier water.  So fresh!! 

Like you are on a different planet...

The flight back was just as scenic.  I am so glad our tour was late afternoon to catch the start of The Golden Hour. 

Tuesday, August 11 - Skagway, Alaska, waterfall tour, and cruising The Inside Passage - waterfall tour just for me 

We met back up in town for some shopping and Alaska Fry Bread! 

Just before we left port, we got a cool visitor near the ship...

So long, Skagway!  It's been great! 

Wednesday, August 12 - At Sea 

Turkish steam room in the spa 

Calamity Ashlee strikes again? 

Happy <Very Early> Birthday, Ashlee and Paige!! 

Thursday, August 13 - Victoria, British Columbia in Canada Now we didn't go completely sober on this cruise.  And look at that fog! 

One more shot of Brent! 

Now THAT is a bank of fog! 

Victoria is such a lovely, green city. 

We went all over Alaska, yet this is one of my favorite shots of the trip.  

Herald Street Brew Works - met a great older couple from Atlanta.  Then had to put some MAGAs in Minnesota in their place at Swan Pub and Brewing.  But they did shut up and we wound up having a nice time. 

The pretty lady at night.  

Friday, August 14 - return to Seattle  Thanks Wal-mart delivery! 

Our giant rental car 

sunset cruise in Seattle

such a great city 

Nice shot, Paige! I had to steal it.  

Saturday, August 15 - Another full day in Seattle - 
Mt. Rainer National Park tour with our awesome guide, Mark. 
With all due respect to Alaska, this national park is quite amazing. 

Box Canyon 

Falls 

Lakes 

highest elevation for us today was .  In contrast, Mt. Rainer's summit is '.

Ashlee's knee didn't allow her down to the base of pretty Myrtle Falls, but she was able to make to the footbridge across the top of it shown in the picture above. 

A shot from the footbridge above Myrtle Falls. 

Inside the amazing Paradise Lodge.  We definitely want to try and come back and stay here maybe. 

Our tour guide, Mark, did such a great job including small stops and info along the way that weren't on the usual agenda.  

Once again, Ashlee's knee wouldn't allow the steep hike in and out to the base the incredibly beautiful Falls, but yet again she was able to make it to the bridge above it show in the photo above. 

Ashlee and her bum knee made it to this one!! 

fun "swinging" bridge across the River 

They grow 'em pretty big around here...

The whole mountain gang! Thanks for the pic, Mark! 

Mark said we were a good enough group that we could stop and get ice cream after leaving the park.  Well, we were loud, goofy and talkative, but we still got ice cream at Store where huckleberry is the most unique flavor and it was delicious!

Sunday, August 16 - Fly home from Seattle