West Coast Cruise (May 14-22)

We took a cruise up the West Coast from San Diego to Vancouver, BC, recently.  And, no, that's not our cruise ship.  We flew to San Diego a day early and spent the afternoon visiting the USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier docked just down the street from our hotel.

Now, THIS is our cruise ship.  Less history but much more comfort!  It's the Century.  Built in 1995, it's the oldest ship in the Celebrity cruise line.  It was refurbished a few years ago and still looks great.  Its capacity is 1,814 passengers, making it one of the smaller ships in the Celebrity line.

After a very nice day at sea (with better-than-expected weather), we sailed into under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Monday morning for a two-day stay.  San Francisco is known for its foggy weather, but we had very nice weather that morning (though that would change). 

After disembarking, we took one of those "hop-on/hop off" buses that take you around the city. One of our stops was at the Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park.  Our one-hour walk through the arboretum was very enjoyable.  When our bus ride ended a short time later, the rain had started, and it stayed with us for much of the remainder of our two days in San Francisco.

On the second day, we took a ferry boat over to Alcatraz Island.  Alcatraz closed as a prison in 1963 and is now designated as national landmark and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Here you can see the three levels of prison cells.

This is a typical prison cell.

Alcatraz was considered a prison for the worst-of-the worst.  And if you were the worst of the worst-of-the-worst, you would likely find yourself in solitary confinement in one of these cells.  Not a place for somone who doesn't like small, dark places.

There were many attempts to escape from Alcatraz.  The most famous occurred on June 11, 1962.  This photo shows one of two cells in which holes were carved to escape.  Those holes led to an unguarded utility corridor.  It is still not known whether the two inmates survived their attempt to reach the mainland.

That night, we left San Francisco and had another very nice day at sea.  This photo is taken above the pool deck at the top of the ship.  The pool didn't get much use on the cruise as the temperature was generally in the 50's.

Our next stop was Astoria, Oregon.  We're told it was a very pleasant stop with great weather.  However, because Steph wasn't feeling very well that day, we spent much of the day in our cabin.

But she was better the next day as we headed toward Naniamo, BC.  That's us with our feet up, enjoying the beautiful scenery. 

Naniamo is a very lovely city of about 80,000 on Vancouver Island.  It's the home of the Naniamo bar, a dessert bar that is native to the area.  Naturally, we had to buy one.  You'd think that if you bought a Naniamo bar in Naniamo, it would be really good.  But it wasn't nearly as good as the ones we used to get at Swilly's in Pullman.

One of the aspects of cruising we enjoy is that you get to meet so many wonderful people.  And so it was with this cruise.  Our dinner companions were two couples who made our cruise even more enjoyable than it would otherwise have been.  Don and Mary from Kaufman, Texas, are standing behind us.  On the left are Jon and Debbi from Boulder, Colorado.

Our last stop on the cruise was Victoria, BC, where we took a bus to The Butchart Gardens.  Click here for additional information about the place.  We'll let the remaining photos speak for themselves.  Be sure to click on the photo on the left to see a larger version.  It's quite spectacular.

Trip to Oahu (March 7-14)

Sometimes, good deals on airfare and a hotel room are too much to resist.  Which is how we ended up in Honolulu for a week in early March. 

This quickly became our photographically-challenged trip.  When we got to the airport, we discovered when had left our camera at home.  So we decided to buy a replacement, which we got at a Walmart about a mile from our hotel.  The camera worked fine and took all the photos you'll see here.  However, we did discover that it has one major flaw -- it doesn't work if you leave the battery in the charger back at the hotel.  Which is what happened on the day of our bus trip around the island...the day that offered the most photo opportunities.

Still, there is much to show.  A highlight of any trip to Honolulu is Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial.  Our only other visit to Honolulu was in the 70's.  We weren't able to go on the Arizona Memorial then, so the closest we got was in a tourist boat that cruised by it.

This time, however, we were able to witness the memorial first-hand.

When you're on the floating memorial, you can see quite a bit of the Arizona below.  Some parts of the ship are above the surface of the water.  This is the base of a gun turret.

Even though it's about 70 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor took place, fuel still leaks from the Arizona.  Each day, about nine quarts of fuel comes to the surface. 

Near the Arizona Memorial is the USS Missouri.  The Missouri was launched on January 29, 1944 and was last used in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.  This photo was taken from the Arizona Memorial.

The Missouri is probably best known as the location of the Japanese surrender to the Allies at the end of World War II.  This photo shows the location where that ceremony took place.

Another interesting discovery on the Missouri was this dent on the side of the ship.  It's from a Kamikaze attack on April 11, 1945.

We also decided to hike up to the top of Diamond Head.  It wasn't quite as difficult as we had feared, though it definitely gives you a good work-out.  But the view at the top makes it worthwhile.  This photo is an example of "panoramic" shots that our new camera can take.  Click on the photo, and a larger version should open up.  Waikiki is on the left, and the interior of the Diamond Head crater is on the right.

Near the end of our trip, the Honolulu Festival was taking place.  There were several stages set up.  We were at a stage that featured performers from Japan.  This was just a couple of days after the earthquake and tsunami hit their country.

As you may recall, there was some concern in Hawaii about a tsunami.  We were told that it could be as high as 6 feet.  Since were on the 10th floor of our hotel, we were in no immediate danger.  To be on the safe side, we did go to a nearby grocery store and stocked up on some food.  Fortunately, it turned out to be unnecessary.  There was some minor damage in other parts of the islands but not in Waikiki.