"All my bags are packed...."

 "All my bags are packed,
I'm ready to go....." NOT!!!!!

It's midnight or actually the wee hours of Thursday morning and I am NOT packed.  Not even close.  At 5:45 am Friday morning I will drive away from the house in Eureka and on to Seattle (hoping to miss rush hour traffic in Portland, OR).  According to Google maps it will take 10 hours and 56 minutes.  Since I will be traveling with three others (and one is a seven year old) I expect it will take a tad longer.  I guess I should get to it soon!

Saturday  we will be sailing on the Norwegian Jewel up the Alaskan Inside Passage with a passel of quilters (or is that a "gaggle" of quilters???).  Our store, Scottie Dog Quilts/Redwood Sewing Center sponsors quilting cruises.  Sound fun?  It certainly is!  Who comes on a quilting cruise?  If you said "Quilters," you would only be half right.  We are joined by quilter's husbands, mothers, daughters, children, grandparents and grandchildren.  We are joined by friends and friends of friends.  You see, joining a group is a great way to get a discounted price on a cruise.

What do you do on a quilting cruise? "Quilt," you say?  Again, only partially right.....you can swim in a pool, go down the water slide, play a game of chance in the casino, see a show, or join a sing-a-long.  You can read a book, jog around the deck, play basketball or tennis.  You might even play miniature golf!  You can climb a rock wall, see a movie, get a massage or facial, eat sumptuous meals (even pizza and ice cream at midnight).  You can stay up late and sleep in.  You can go shopping right on the ship!  You don't spend all your time quilting (well, I guess you could if you wanted!) so if you bring your family there are plenty of things to keep them happy as a clam while you get to do what you want to do (and you KNOW you want to quilt!).

On ship you can also see a glacier, hear a naturalist talk about the wild life of Alaska and eat some sushi. On this ship there are fancy restaurants as well as the formal dining room and the buffets.  There's a chocolate buffet at midnight.  Remember to take the stairs and avoid the elevators to help work off the lobsters you ate for dinner last night.  How about breakfast in bed?

We now come to the fact that when you cruise to Alaska you have wonderful stops in several ports!  This trip we are going to Skagway, Ketchikan and Juneau.  It will be so much fun!  The last day we'll be in Victoria, British Columbia.  Sydney told me she still had her pearls and hoped we could go to tea at the Empress Hotel...I've packed my pearls and a hat so we'll be sure to do that.  Now to get the rest of my things in the suitcase............

Our next cruise will be to the Caribbean...want to come?????