Journeying with Jan

 We were able to sleep in today, and I would have slept longer, but I wanted to attend the Protestant devotions and meet the minister and see what was meant by “devotions.”  Pastor Dan is Baptist and this is his second cruise as a pastor. He was kind enough to tell me how to get signed up for these gigs.  There is a long list of volunteers, so we’ll see. I have made contact with the appropriate person and will forward my resume once I get home.  We had a short Bible study on 1 Kings 5 and then prayer time. Afterwards, I picked up Paul in our stateroom and we had breakfast on Lido deck.  At 11am we attended Navy career officer, Mike West’s, presentation on the Wonder of Ships. He is knowledgeable and entertaining! We learned: Battleships are named for states. Cruisers are named for cities. When the bow of a ship comes to a point, it creates scallop waves, which create resistance. When there is a bulbous bow, like Holland America’s dam ships have, it cuts resistan...

 We had no time to dilly-dally this morning. We had to be out on the dock at 8:15 to catch our bus to the National Park. Up at 5:45, shower, to the Lido deck for a leisurely buffet breakfast, and then out to the dock. We were on bus #1.   It was about a 2-1/2 hour drive to the park.  Our driver is also a school bus driver, so we figured he could handle 49 adults. Our tour guide was a retired school principal, and he did an excellent job — the most professional guide we have ever had. The park consists mainly of evergreen and deciduous forests and very steep mountains.  A bud worm is doing its damage to the evergreen forest, so no wonder the forests in Canada are ablaze this summer. 😢 We stopped first at the Jenniex House, a typical square two story house along the lake. The builder/owner moved this particular house three times over the ice! We were ahead of schedule so we stopped at another photo opportunity to see a lovely 3 mast ship and scenery. We stopped at a l...

 Sydney, Nova Scotia and Sydney, Australia were named by the same man after one guy ( go ahead, google it!) 3 years apart, with Nova Scotia being named first. We arrived about 8 this morning and had breakfast on Lido deck overlooking the starboard side.  Our shore excursion wasn’t until 2:30, so we went to town and looked around. Our shore excursion was an historic haunted walking tour.  Our tour guide was a first time tour leader named Journey.  She told quite a few stories of hauntings around the original town.  Two churches were prominent.  The first was the Anglican Church, St. George, where the Queen of England, her husband and her mother have worshipped.  I sat where the Queen sat, but Paul has that picture. King William has yet to worship here.    The other church is St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic.  RCs were definitely in the minority here in the early days, and they had to buried in their own cemeteries, presumably so the Lord woul...

 Bar Harbor is named for a famous bar, I am told.  But not the kind you’re thinking of.   The land mass in the foreground is connected to the land in the background by a sand bar at low tide. While Paul took a stroll through town and found a drugstore with some items we both thought we had packed, but didn’t, I took a shore excursion to Acadia National Park. It was a lovely day for the park.  The ship approached the town through thick fog but it mostly cleared off quickly.  From Cadillac Mountain we could see remnants of fog over nearby islands. Out in the water there are hundreds of lobster traps marked by small white buoys.  Paul overheard someone exclaiming how much “litter” was in the water here, mistaking the buoys for plastic bottles. 😂.  More pictures from Acadia. Zuiderdam is the only ship in port. I saw a pink flower called rose hips.  When the petals drop off it forms a little green fruit, which when ripe turns purple.

 Hello, one and all!  Here we are aboard the Zuiderdam (the first syllable is pronounced with a long I).  We have an ocean view stateroom in an ideal central location on the main deck.  It is small, however. We were very fortunate to have an uneventful trip to Boston on Friday.  The connection in St. Louis was delayed an hour, but that allowed us a breather between flights and a chance to grab a snack. Let me get to some pictures. Walking up the ramp to board the ship in Boston  Thank you so much to our travel agent Martha Powell for the lovely flowers and Holland vase!  We love you!  She also gave us a bottle of Gambino Sparkling Wine. Here we are toasting Martha and Keith Powell.  Thanks for the wine! Small room and not the greatest way to look outside.  But it will do. Paul back in his favorite place, the Lido Polar bear statue by one of the pools. Beacon Hill in Boston.  We are saving our tour for disembarkation day. This little...

Voyage of the Vikings - July 22 - August 26, 2023 - Holland America Line This is going to be our most ambitious cruise ever - 35 days! But I am UP for it!  In the past, the day of disembarkation is a sad day that comes way too soon.  Our longest cruise to date was 12 days, I believe.  Will 35 days be long enough?  We'll see! Let me say first that we love our home in Fredericksburg, Texas!  It is a town of about 12,000, a tourist destination, lots of festivals, many churches, German culture and history. What's not to love? (with the possible exception of too many tourists on some weekends, but that's the price we pay.) But I was born with wanderlust!  I can't help myself!  My father moved us every year or two for my first 13 years.  I got into a pattern.  When I was grown and married, we still moved every year or two!  I was actually worried when I took my first real job, as a pastor to a small Lutheran congregation, that I would feel com...