July 15--Zipping through Ketchikan

We passed over another time zone during the night into “Alaska” Time, so we gained an hour! After a quick breakfast, Jon, Sandi, Paul, Sydney, Alan and Joyce were off to their first big adventure.

We all began the zip line adventure with the tour company reminding us of all that could go wrong and asking us to sign the "you might die" waivers. The guides and bus drivers kept things light with humor and we were underway.

We drove along the coast and immediately began spotting eagles and eagle’s nests. After a 15 minute bus ride we arrived at Alaska Canopy Adventures. Due to reduced numbers of people signing up, the Schaeffer’s and Welch’s were a group by themselves. Our two guides, Andy and Karah, all of us, and the ATV driver climbed in the monster truck and started up the very steep hill on a narrow dirt road with a steep drop off on each side. Joyce was very glad it wasn’t raining as she couldn’t imagine the vehicle having enough traction to get up the hill if the gravel road had been slick.

We reached the top without incident and began putting on the leg and chest harnesses, assorted lines and clips, helmet and gloves. The guides were diligent to make sure all the equipment was properly secured on each of us (even though Andy joked that this was his first time leading a group---though he had read the book!).

We walked up many steps and reached the zip instruction area. We were instructed in the proper zipping technique and we were ready to practice on a short zip that was close to the ground. One of the guides went first. The other guide secured us to the two zip lines, gave final instructions and off we went. The first guide then helped us onto the platform at the other end. The practice went well and we were ready to go.

There were a series of 7 zips, each on a little longer and higher then the last. On the first zip, Joyce begin to turn sideways and wasn’t sure how to right herself. She was shaking pretty hard when she got to the platform. With further instruction to straighten her left arm and cross her legs at the ankles, the second zip went better. On the second zip, Sydney didn’t make the platform and slid backward to the lowest point in the middle of the zip. Andy, the forward guide, went to get her and pulled her to the platform. On the third zip, Joyce braked a little too much (by putting her right hand on the bottom cable) and didn’t make it to the platform. She started to move backward on the cable. Andy was quick to remind her to grab the cable with both hands, turn with her back to the platform and use her hands on the cable in a hand over hand motion to pull herself to the platform until he could grabbed her lines that were attached to the cable. Joyce had some trouble letting go of the cable so Andy could pull her in as she was pretty scared at that point. It was hard for her to remember the harness around her chest and legs and its ability to hold her and keep her from falling.

The rest of the zips were without incident. At the end of the last zip, we rappelled from the platform to the ground. Joyce was surprised at how easy it was to control the speed of her decent with her hand on the rope at her hip. She and Paul raced to the ground with Joyce winning by barely a foot touch. In Joyce’s opinion the best part of the tour was a 600-ft mountain slide at the end of the tour after rappelling and getting out of our gear. We each sat in a burlap bag and one at a time enjoyed a truly exhilarating ride. After a visit to the gift shop with hot chocolate, crackers and cookies, we boarded our bus back to Ketchikan.

Mom and Dad visited a Saxson Village, viewed Totem Poles and attended a Lumberjack show. Hopefully they will write or dictate the highlights to us so we can record them here.

After returning to the ship for lunch in the Horizon Court, Alan and Joyce spend the remainder of their time in Ketchikan shopping, being sure to get as many free items as they could find in their coupon book. We had to be back on the boat in the early afternoon for departure from Ketchikan to Juneau

Believe it or not, the Welchs and Schaeffers went back to the ballroom after lunch for Cha-cha lessons. The steps seemed to come a bit easier than the day before, but it still is a bit out of our comfort zone. Jon deserves credit for actually getting to the lesson before Sandi!

Forst, true to his word, returned to the fitness center to exercise. He increased the number of repetitions he was able to complete on the machines and was pleased with his progress and that he worked up a sweat. And of course there was an ice cream reward!

Alan and Joyce stopped by Forst and Louise's stateroom and chatted about the trip so far and answered some questions about the upcoming intinerary. While we were on the way to Juneau, there were some whales that were surfacing off in the distance, so we took advantage to see some of these huge, amazing creatures.

Dress for dinner was smart casual, so there wasn't much primping required tonight. The kids elected to skip the formal dinner and take on some of the youth activities, including a Dance, Dance Revolution tournament. The rest enjoyed a meal that was dominated by special Italian dishes.

After dinner, the Welchs and Schaeffer adults stopped and looked over the pictures taken the night before. There were some good ones and some not-so-good ones, but there are lots of opportunities for pictures on this ship!

Alan and Joyce went on to the Adrian Zmed show in the Universe Theatre. While his name and face were familiar, it finally clicked when they popped up images of him from his "TJ Hooker" TV show days. It was a light, pleasant evening's entertainment.

Alan and Joyce stopped by the piano bar again to hear some more familiar music from our past and then called it a day!