Alaska, Day 1

May 4, 2026 at 4:11 pm | No Comments »

My father, who turned 90 earlier in the year, now lives with us. After we got a tenant for his house, I pointed out he would have extra money each month and asked what he wanted to do with it. His response was visit Alaska and Hawaii because they’re two states he hasn’t been too yet. And he thought we should start with Alaska since he “wants to see the glaciers before they’re gone.”

Don’t know about you but the idea of taking a mobility-challenged nonagenarian into the wilderness struck me as foolish so we started considering cruises. A cruise has never appealed to me but I have said that if I did one, it would be to Alaska. Once I discovered that a couple of ships make the roundtrip from SF, the die was cast. We made our reservations last summer and set sail yesterday.

So far, the experience has exceeded our expectations. We’ll see how I feel in 10 days but at this point, I can’t help wondering what took me so long.

Traveling with mobility limitations has its perks. We got to skip the massive line outside the terminal so found ourselves in the dining room less than half an hour after the car dropped us at curbside.

I’m admittedly biased by the city does look fabulous.

Still not sure how we were lucky enough to have chocolate-dipped strawberries waiting in our room. Anyone who knows my dad knows he has an insatiable sweet tooth. Foolish of me to step back into the room after taking the shot. When I came back 5 minutes laters, all had mysteriously disappeared.

Play spot our first SF apartment building.

Mandatory shot moments after sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Approaching the Farallons.

Of course, I’d heard about cruise food. But had my doubts. When they have to feed thousands could the quality rise above a wedding banquet? Preliminary answer is yes. I loved the salmon in a lemon-dill sauce at lunch while an innovative curry roasted cabbage wedge with chickpeas and tomatoes for dinner ranks among the best vegetarian/vegan dishes I’ve ever had. Would fit right in on the menu at Greens in SF or Cookies Cream in Berlin.

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