Accents
A slice of Alaska and Canada (3)
Awesome! That was Alaska's mountain range that was enveloped with ice, and this time my granddaughter Danika's favorite expression hit the bull's eye. The six-year old tyke easily dismisses anything that impresses her as awesome--the word is cheaper by the dozen, its sheen of awe is completely lost. Not at the grandeur of the sight that confronted us.
Awesome recovered all the daunting wonder it implies as we gazed at Alaska's icy mountains that seemed just a stone's throw from the observation deck of MS Noordam. We woke up on the second day of our Alaska cruise, May 13-19, gushing "Awesome! Awesome!" Writer's block that usually lasts for hours when we're not contented with the term at hand, gave way to a wave of adjectives--majestic, spectacular, and of course, awesome.
We are all suckers for Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth that we thought we just have to see the glaciers before global warming melts them down. Oh, please say not ever into the far future. Everyone heed the call of the hour: contain or reverse global warming! Nurse back to health Mother Earth--for our children's children's generation. Let me leave this meanwhile to the scientists even as we ordinary mortals do our teeny-weeny bit to lessen greenhouse emissions that cause global warming.
The ship entered Glacier Bay National Park passing the icefields of Juneau, the first of the three Alaska cities we visited. It was here where we had a close view of the flowing sea of ice down from the Mendenhall Glacier said to be 12 miles long and 1 ½ miles wide. Tourists who view the glacier by helicopter have to fly over vast rain forests and rock sentinels that soar over 7,000 feet.
Binoculars came in handy for a close-up of the bald eagle, America's national mascot, but it didn't help much with the humpback whale that was too shy we only saw its caudal fin and spouts that spring fountain-like from the surface of the water. In one shore area, a gathering of sea lions was a photo op.
A trip to Alaska would be incomplete without a taste of its famous salmon--fresh catch grilled before us sightseers. Yum-yum. Like any tourist destination, Juneau has the usual enticing souvenir items. In the shop aptly named Caribou Crossings, Rudy bought a hooded thick jacket cum raincoat, the better to be adequately bundled up for native weather. We're glad to meet a Filipina, Tina Andes, working at Caribou Crossings. Tina said there's a big Filipino community in Juneau. When we asked whether they're organized into an association, Tina said there are even two existing Fil-Am associations in Juneau, and she doesn't understand why the two can't fuse. And be one strong organization, we added. Oh, well…
Next on schedule was Sitka, reputed to have plentiful wildlife: "whales, sea otters, sea lions, porpoise, seals, brown bears, and bald eagles." Too bad, we didn't see any of these because we stayed close to shore. One could take a Wildlife Quest Tour that would entail long hours which was not possible since MS Noordam was docked at Sitka for a limited time.
Highlight of our Sitka sojourn was a visit to the St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral that was full of 16th century icons and religious artifacts. Sitka was the capital of Russian Alaska for 63 years until the US bought Alaska for $7.2 million--all of 586,000 square miles, its vast expanse of pristine land mass earning for it the title America's Last Frontier. Russian influence was apparent in the authentic Russian folk dance performed for tourists by the New Archangel Russian Dancers.
Ketchikan was MS Noordam's next port-of-call. We joined a group for a crab feeding expedition via a catamaran into Alaska's inside passage. Pulling up the crab pot or trap was fun. It was nice to note that gravid crabs are thrown back to the waters to multiply. (Indeed what Pinoy fishers, or any fisher for that matter, must practice for sustainability sake.) A delicious meal of Dungeness crabs, which teem in the area, topped the tour.
Last in the cruise itinerary was Victoria, British Columbia of Canada. It was the briefest stopover we had, swiftly done nighttime. At 5:30 p.m., MS Noordam docked at Victoria to commence sea voyage at midnight back to Seattle where the cruise started and where it would end. Thus, sightseeing meant making use of the long daylight time. The Greyhound tour bus brought us to Victoria's Butchart Gardens, a world-famous horticultural attraction covering more than 55 acres. Truly a wonderland of flowers, blooms of hundreds of varieties. Cascading fountains and footbridges connect themed gardens--the Sunken Garden, the Japanese Garden, and the Rose Garden. Did I hear somebody exclaim: if this be heaven, this is it? Let me just say that we did take time out to smell the flowers. Next week: The "United Nations" in MS Noordam
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