My cabin

Don reporting

Sorry, but some postings will be out of order. Yesterday, silly me, upgrade the iPad operating system only to discover it was a major change. I wrote the posting 'The Cruise starts?' twice and lost it both times and the same seems to have happened to a posting about 'Underground Seattle'. I have now upgraded the blog program and if you see this you will know it has worked. Of course if you don't you will not know it hasn't worked

My cabin looking towards the door... desk, three wardrobes, and on the right the bathroom ...

The sitting area ... the bathroom door and just visible ...

The bed and window ...

And finally the art work reminding me to eat healthily ...

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The Cruise starts?

Don reporting

Sunday, 29th September, the day my cruise starts. Up early sorting my luggage and checking the coastal weather. Yes the high winds and seas are still forecast to reach the Seattle area today. I grab some breakfast and then take a taxi down to Target department store - sea-sickness tablets the top of my list.

I finish packing and take another taxi out to Pier 91, the cruise terminal, and board the Holland and America ship Oosterdam. The boarding process was quick and relatively painless - some airlines could learn a few things here. I find my stateroom (posh-speak for cabin) and as my luggage had not arrived I head up to the Lido restaurant, on deck 9, for lunch. The Lido is self-service buffet but for the first 48 hours after boarding, for health reasons, staff are there to hand out any food you want. My selection of food was influenced by the forecast of high winds and high seas. Back to my room and finding that my luggage had arrived I started to unpack. Plenty of storage room for my clothes and cases.

While unpacking the cabin sound system went 'Bing! Bong! ... this is your captain speaking...'  Good and bad news - due to the high winds and 30 feet waves out at sea we were not sailing today so tonight at least I will have another sleep in a stationary bed.

Next morning we had a large cruise ship tied up at the next wharf. Later the captain announced several cruise ships had entered port overnight because of the storm. Also that we would be sail at noon and about 4 pm would be dropping off the pilot, turning south at Port Angeles heading for LA. Just to cheer us up he asked that we stow everything securely in our cabins, then assured us that everything was being done for our comfort and safety and that he would update us in the morning.

Well it is four fifteen and the boat (sorry ship) has just started to rock slightly. I am off to the deck to check things out.

I have just been for a turn round the deck - cold and breezy. Another announcement - it appears we won't be out in the open sea for about four hours, the decks will be roped off, and the swimming pools are being drained. 

A photo while on deck looking forward to some funny weather.

Before coming on this trip I read a book by the navigation officer on board the HMNZS Endeavour when I went to the Antarctic in December 1959. He states that anyone who survived that trip would never be sea-sick again - I hope he is correct!

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Under ground Seattle.

Don reporting.

Last year I spent couple of days in Seattle, but due to some problems with my knees due to a lot of stair climbing on a Panama cruise I did not get to go on Bill Speidel's Underground Tour. However, this time I made certain that I would take the tour. So saturday morning I walked around the corner to Doctor Maynard's Public Bar, the starting point for the tour. Each tour starts on the hour and although I missed the 10 am (it was booked out) I waited for the 11 am tour. I was surprise to find about 150 people at the 20 minute post-tour talk. After this we broke up into groups and set off to see the ground floor shop fronts of old Seattle now hidden below the current pavements.

How come the ground floors are now below pavement level? Well, old Seattle was built on low lying ground that used to be regularly flooded by the high tides. All the buildings were constructed of timber and as expected one day was there was a great fire. The council wanted to rebuild Seattle after raising the ground level and business people wanted rebuild immediately. Both had there way. The businesses built their brick and stone buildings and the council built 15 feet retaining walls on the boundary between the footpaths and roadways. These were back filled and the roadway was the at the first floor level while the footpaths were at the old ground level.

To go from a shop on one side of the road to one on the other side you would fist climb a ladder to road level, cross the road and the descend to opposite footpath via another ladder. Although the council run out of money, eventually the open air between the road way and the first-floor levels was covered leaving the old footpaths as tunnels. Slowly over time the old ground floors became basements.

The next photo taken inside an old grond floor looking towards two windows facing the old pavement while the followingn is a drawing of that building that has its old groundfloor below the current footpath.

We were in Seattle, it was raining and we got very wet walking between various underground sites.

Luckily below ground it was relatively dry.

 

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All Day on the I-80

Jane Reporting for 29th September

Today (29th September) we spent all day on the I-80 heading west through Iowa and Nebraska.  (Yes, folks, that is our 11th state to date, and Lyn and I can recite them all.  This is the kind of thing us back-seat passengers do for entertainment.)

On the Road
Lots of the towns just off the interstate have tall water towers.  Some look like Martians on tripods, some are more elegant.  Some are very smiley!

A smiley water tower

These wide open plains must be ideal for wind farms as we've been see them pretty constantly as we've driven along.  Today we even saw a lone blade standing up on its end beside the road, perhaps in transit to somewhere.  The scale is given by the cattle in the field below the 'fan'.
 

Farming wind

As well as water towers and wind farms there were a lot of crop farming (far more than stock) and some very pretty traditionally shaped barns, painted red with white trim.  Sadly none of my drive-by-at-speed photos of the buildings have come out, but this is a typical scene:
 

Typical scenery

This is a country of flags.  US flags mostly, with state flags occasionally joining them.  And the flags are often huge - the size of the New Zealand flag flying at Auckland airport.  They're not just on public buildings or national monuments, but a businesses and restaurants, and random spots all around the country.  Often I can't even see where they are, but we see them flapping away as we drive by.  The one below is an example of this from today's journey.  The nearest business was a petrol (gas) station.

Flags everywhere

This one is a photo through the front windscreen - what Gary sees - and was interesting enough seeing how they were building an overpass over the interstate.

Bridge construction

But then I managed to snap the bridge through Lyn's passenger window as we came along-side it and got this:

Same bridge, end view

Gary will be pleased as the one downside of driving for a man who loves to drive is the inability to get all the photos he might like.


An(other) Air Museum Stop
The Strategic Air and Space Museum at Ashland is a place we visited on last year's trip with Dad. 

Although they tried to confuse me with this Skytrain business, I was sure this was a DC-3 - and it practically is being the military version of the Dakota.  (AS usual, my thanks to Mr Wikipedia who answers all my questions.)

Douglas C-47 Skytrain

The museum is in a lovely, grassy setting and the day was warm with a warm wind blowing all the flags about.

View from the front steps

Geoff noticed the Vulcan bomber on the map of the place and Gary found it hard to believe that such a thing was loitering outside but it was all true and the staff of the museum found somebody to open 'door 16' for us and there we were - in what serves as the staff car park and the parking spot for planes that won't fit in the hangars.  There was a B-1 there (and we had seen one of them taking off as we left Sioux Falls a week or more ago), and the Vulcan.

Vulcan bomber

We are sure Dad will be gnashing his teeth that we missed seeing this on our last visit.

Lyn listens to Gary's explanation

Back on the Road
It was another couple of hours' drive (Geoff did the driving) to Kearney and this is the sorts of things we saw ... except I was mainly reading and/or sleeping.  It is hard work being a back-seat passenger.

Scenery

Look at the speed limit, 75 miles per hour! That is - a pause while I ask Google for help - 120 k.  Wheeee!

Our friend, the I-80

State Quarters
It's hard to keep up with Lyn at the moment.  Now she has her collecting book she is going all out to fill it up - actually asking for her change in quarters.  I'm sure that could almost be cheating. ;o)

State Quarters: Louisiana

Louisiana's quarter celebrates the Louisiana Purchase - and shows it on a map of the US.  There was I thinking they just bought the state of Louisiana.  Not so!  They doubled the size of the existing United States.  Here's a link to what my friend Mr Wikipedia says about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase

Back on the Road - Minneapolis to Des Moines

Jane Reporting for 28th September

After four nights in Minneapolis for my Ragdoll cat breed history research we got back on the road yesterday (28th September) and headed due south to Des Moines.  It was hardly a navigational challenge with us getting onto the I-35 and leaving it only to visit Owatonna, have lunch, and find the motel once we got to Des Moines.

Owatonna
We had two stops in Owatonna - one for Uncle Tom's Antique Mall which kept us busy for over an hour.  As well as antiques, 'Uncle Tom' did rocks ... there's sure to be a proper word for this but the business card has escaped me!

Owner Tom and Mrs Tom with an unusually shaped crystal

As well as buying rocks (fossil rocks), Lyn bought a display folder for her collection of state quarters. As soon as we were back in the car she settled down to getting them all in the designated holes. 

Lyn adds her coins to her new folder

After the Antique Mall (and in pouring rain) we pulled in for a whistle stop tour of the National Farmer's Bank Building that we had visited on 20th September last year.  As we needed to be in Des Moines by 3pm it was a very quick visit - just long enough for Lyn and Geoff to see the place before we headed back out into the rain and into the car to find lunch and carry on south.

During our last visit we hadn't gone up into the viewing balcony but this time I had read online that it was open for visitors and then, when we realised we couldn't find Gary, there he was, already up there taking photos of us.

Gary sits in the viewing balcony

Being up on the balcony gave a much better vantage point for photographing the stained glass without the interruptions from ground level so here is the skylight:

Stained glass in the skylight

And one of the two windows:

Stained glass in one of the windows

As we were driving out of Owatonna Gary pulled off the road to adjust the GPS and I kept telling him to drive a little further forward, and further forward, and further ... until I could get a photo of this building.  I looked it up on the excellent site Prairie School Traveler It is the Federated Insurance Company building and, yes, another example of Prairie School architecture.  It is one of the last examples as very much in the Louis Sullivan style.  Next time we're in Owatonna I'll spend a bit more time looking around. :o)

Federated Insurance Company building

Des Moines
On to Des Moines.  The rain eventually eased and I got a couple of shots through the front window (a.k.a. What Gary Sees):

On the road to Des Moines

Leaving the I-35

We stopped briefly at the hotel and then headed on to visit Roger and Susan.  Roger is a genealogist who bought a copy of Macnamara's Memorials of the Danvers Family from us as one of his long ago family members is descended from the family.

Although the visit was very short we had a wonderful time there and much appreciated the chance to photograph the squirrels - first on their neighbour's roof:

Squirrel sighting!

and then in the back yard where the squirrel all but stopped and posed for us on the tree outside the back windows.  These ones are bigger than that ones we were seeing on the west coast, and much more red.  Naturally those weren't the only photos I took of the squirrels but I might save them for a special blog entry.  (You can always click on the photos to see them larger size.)

A squirrel who poses for the camera

Here we are, then, just before we had to say good-bye to Roger and Susan:

Jane, Roger, Susan, Gary, Geoff

From Kingston Ontario

Don Reporting

First full day in Kingston, beautiful sunny day, blue sky and expected 21 degrees. Just back from a walk with Maureen, hot and puffed, as usual for me. I am sure it was hardly any effort for Maureen.

Here I am back again. It is three days later and I am on the train back to Toronto after meeting up with lots of old friends. Three days just relaxing and enjoying good company and the good weather. The weather so good that on the train the carriage attendant suggested I take a seat on the right to be out of the sun - which I was grateful for. The only down side of the last few days was learning that we had not won the Americas Cup.

When I get to Toronto I grab the airport bus this this afternoon fly out to Seattle, arriving about 8.30 this evening. I have one day there and on Sunday board the Holland and America's Oosterdam for a cruise down to Sydney.

Sorry no photos, this is just a short note to let you know whats is happening.

 

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An Uplanned Stop - The City of Windom, Minnesota

Jane Reporting for 24th September

Today
Today (24th September) we left the big interstates and took the shorter route along Minnesota State Highway 60 (MN-60) from Worthington to Bloomington (effectively Minneapolis).  While every drive is interesting this one was a bit different because we were on a road small enough to go through towns, rather than around them, and one of those towns was the City of Windom.

Lyn was delighted by the glimpse she caught of the Cottonwood County Courthouse which is why we took a left turn, and then another and then pulled up outside the back door of the courthouse - just to stretch our legs and take a photo or two of the building.

Cottonwood County Courthouse

The building was completed in 1904 and the architects were Omeyer and Thori of St. Paul.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Inside is a large foyer over which is the dome, including a mural of Justice - which you may be able to make out at the bottom of my photo:

Dome and mural

Outside, along the edges of the courthouse plot, were some interesting street lights:

Street lights

The sign in the photo below indicated that snow might be a problem in winter so I checked up and, according to my friend Mr Wikipedia, the average low in January is 7 degrees F (-14 degrees C) and the record low is -36 degrees F (-38 degrees C).  Yep, that sounds like a place that would be liable to the odd 'snow emergency'.

A snow emergency is something quite unknown to me but it appears it is "A Snow Emergency is the term used to indicate the active response plan when a snow storm severely impacts a city, county or town in the United States or Canada. Schools, universities, government offices, airports and public buildings may close during a Snow Emergency." -- Wikipedia

There are times when I think I might just have to come back to this part of he country in winter just to experience this snow way of life but let's not mention this idea to Gary just yet ...

Snow sign

All of this is no doubt interesting enough to have made Windom stick in our minds but then I wandered into a shop near the car and discovered I could have my 'cat fix' because there was a resident cat - who is a rescue Ragdoll:

Biggs

Those claws you see are not grumpy claws but him padding his feet in the air because his tummy is being rubbed.  The neat shop he lives at is called Enspired:

Enspired

While I was introducing Gary and Lyn to Biggs, Geoff was visiting one of the local hardware stores where he met with Dwight, a fellow gun enthusiast, and a WWII veteran with fond memories of Australia.

Lyn's attempt to find Geoff meant she was in the courthouse when a prisoner was handcuffed and hobbled (apparently something not just confined to tv and movies).

All-in-all an unexpectedly interesting short stop on the day's drive.


State Quarters
Today we have California, one of the nine states/provinces (California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota) we've visited to date on this trip.

If anybody is interested in the significance of the images or wording on the coins, this Wikipedia article may just have the answers:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_State_Quarters#Designs
 

State Quarter: California

On from Jasper

Don reporting

As you would have seen I manage to post the last blog from Jasper. The Wifi connection in the station was not the best. It took three attempts before the blog finally posted. The next station we stop at is Edmonton, but I am not getting off there because it will be midnight - I will wait until Winnipeg at 8 pm tomorrow night

I have just received an email from Jane and she pointed out the date shown on my postings is one day ahead - your NZ date not the date over here. She has explained how to fix it but sounded a bit complicated - I would have to remember to do a few extras each time I posted - a bit too much for an oldy! If the dates important to you just mentally minus a day otherwise forget it.

Here at Jasper we have stopped for one and half hours, it is warm, the sun is shinning, it is raining, and there is snow on the hills in front of the train. So far we have come 534 miles from Vancouver passing over the Rockies and have another 1800 miles before we reach Toronto.

Here are a couple of photos of the train which has about 26 carriages is over 3300 feet long.

We travelled up country to Edmonton arriving there about midnight. I did not get off the train to use the stations WiFi. The next day we travelled through flat country with a lot of wheat and cattle. Saw a couple of moose running through the wheat stubble and two bison in a high fenced paddock.

Again late in the evening we stopped at Winnipeg. The next day (today) to my surprise we travelled through bush - mainly pine or fur trees and lots of birch just starting to change into their autumn foliage.

Now to finish up a photo of the lounge car at the rear of the train.

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