LA to San Francisco

April 27, 2008 Sunday, Los Angeles

AAhh..back on USA soil! We are at the Cruise Terminal in San Pedro, CA. I watched while we pulled in and I was amazed at that we did. This ship came up the “canal”, just under the Thomas Vincent bridge in San Pedro and then the captain turned the behemoth beast around in the canal!!!! It was a little like trying to parallel park it! WOW! I WAS IMPRESSED.

After a quick breakfast we were ready to go ashore…however, before we could do this we had to clear US Immigrations and Customs. We were in Group 3 to clear and we finally got through about 10:45. Billie and Dan were waiting for us in the parking lot of the Cruise Terminal. Hey—it’s hot here in LA. I saw one thermometer register 93 degrees! WOW…and this is only April..if this keeps up Al Gore is right! (and not about inventing the internet either..but his global warming theory…you know the one he spouts every time he opens his mouth)

They borrowed Dan’s sisters SUV, so there was plenty of room for all of us. Off we went…and they made me drive since I was the most familiar with the area. Oh really? So where do we want to go? NO ONE could make a suggestion, so I headed for the only place I could remember…South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa! The four of us cruisers wanted to go to a grocery store (don’t ask) to get some “mix” and Al needed a new book, etc. In other words, we wanted to do something normal. I am sure Billie and Dan thought we were crazy! After finding a Target and deciding it really isn’t what we wanted we found a good ole Von’s and got our needed supplies for “mix” and some “snacks”…as if there isn’t enough food on the ship! But actually, we all wanted some normal food…you know, junk food! And all four of us are growing tired of the food on board. It is getting boring. I can only relate that it is like being in the service and all you get is mess hall food….well, yes it is probably much better than mess hall food, but it is still THE SAME. The menus are starting to repeat and the ship hasn’t re-stocked yet, so there are a few things they are out of. Also, as Jack said, every day the orange juice is getting weaker and weaker…watered down just a bit more.

Back to today. After Von’s we were all beginning to get hungry and we spotted a Red Robin and that’s where we had lunch. I voted for the In n Out across the street, but I heard groans from everyone, so I agreed that Red Robin was fine. Of course, for those who don’t know me well, I LOVE IN’N’OUT burgers. We had a great lunch however, and our next stop was the mall…namely, Barnes and Nobles. Al was out of reading material and of course I can never pass up a book store.

Then we headed back towards the ship, taking Pacific Coast Highway through Huntington Beach (my old stomping grounds) and Seal Beach and through not the best part of Long Beach back to the Norwegian Pearl. We bid Billie and Dan farewell, thanking them for coming to see us. We had a good, but too short visit with the kids!
Back on board, we watched as we sailed away….the US Coast Guard keeping small boats out of our way (what??? Don’t the people who are in these small boats see how BIG we are???) Finally back to the Pacific Ocean…we watched Palos Verdes peninsula slip away behind us. The Pacific was VERY calm…almost unbelievable…the sea conditions were titled as “Wavelets…. .3- 1.5 feet!

Dinner tonight was in the “Garden Café”—aka as the buffet. None of us were very hungry! The entertainment on board tonight wasn’t much of an interest to us either. After dinner Al went back to the cabin to read and Jack, Sue and I went to listen to the piano player for a while. I decided to go back to the cabin after a while and Jack and Sue wandered off.

It was getting windy outside, and a little on the cooler side. However, the sea conditions were still “wavelets” .3-1.5 feet. Hmmmm

April 28, 2008 Monday

Off the California coast heading towards San Francisco -- right now (noon) off the shore of Santa Maria, CA and no, we aren’t traveling very fast today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRY!

Well, another day at sea. The sea is a little rougher today…”moderate” conditions, and wind speed across the bow is 25 knots. Ahhh……. This is the Pacific Ocean we know!!! We have sailed 4883 Nautical Miles from Miami and we are 207 nautical miles from San Francisco.

I am beginning to feel like I have been on this ship forever…I think a 19 day cruise is about 7 days to long for me! However, I am glad we did this cruise…it has been fun and interesting…but I would never make a good sailor!

Later in the day…

It is gray, cold, foggy and ugly outside. Needless to say, not many people (none) are at the pool today! Jack did go to the Jacuzzi after he worked out at the gym…and the Jacuzzi is outside. BRRRRRRR when you get out!

We pretty much rested today. This afternoon Suzi and I went to the Crew Talent Show, which was great. There is a lot of talent on board. One man from the galley sang and had a GREAT voice; another man was part of the printing office and he was an artist and did a quick sketch…amazing. The Cruise Director and his crew did one of the funniest skits I have seen in a long time and we laughed until our sides hurt!


April 29, 2008 Tuesday San Francisco

We were up very early this morning as we went under the Golden Gate Bridge at 6:40 a.m. and I wanted pictures. What an amazing site, very pretty site with the sun just rising. We are docked at Pier 35 and that is very close to Fisherman’s Wharf. I also got some good pictures of Alcatraz. I have already decided that the girls (Bev, Jenn and who ever else wants to come) should come back to San Francisco while the guys are hunting this fall. I need more time here.

A few facts about the Golden Gate Bridge for you….the main span is 4200 feet; length of one cable is 7650 feet; diameter of 1 cable is 36 3/8 inches; wires in each cable is 27.572; weight of each cable is 24,500 tons. There is enough cable to span the world 3 times in the bridge. That’s a lot of cable folks!

We took the City Highlights tour today and fortunately for us we were on a small bus. We probably saw more than if we had been on a big bus. We started out at Golden Gate Park, more pictures of the bridge. I probably have 400 pictures of the bridge already! From there we passed Ghirardelli Square; drove down Geary to the beach…can’t remember which district it is called. From there we drove to the highest point in town, the view of the city was remarkable. We drove through “Castro” part of town (gay section) and past the “8 painted ladies” (8 Victorian houses…all beautiful) and many more wonderful Victorian houses…many which are registered as national heritage houses. To qualify you must have at least 3 different colors of paint on the outside, marble or granite steps, all wood windows and maintain the house as to when it was built; which our tour guide said is very expensive to do. On to downtown, past the new City Center; into China town and through Little Italy. A few years ago (actually, probably over 10) I was here for a convention while I still worked at Boeing. Nancy W, John, Eva and Donna were along (at least I think Eva and Donna were) and we all took a streetcar ride…..I can never look at a streetcar again with out thinking of Nancy! Do you remember that Nancy? And of course we saw plenty of streetcars today.

Our tour dropped us off at Pier 39 where we were to meet Jack’s sister and husband for lunch. Jack and Suzi did just that. Unfortunately, Al was having a hard time with his knees and legs and couldn’t walk as far as we needed to --- so Al and I decided to just have lunch at a restaurant close by and then make our way back to the ship. I think the time he spent on the bus (no leg room) really did him in. We took our time and stopped several times for him to rest and we finally made it back to the ship. In the mean time while we were hobbling back to the ship, I was looking for a wheel chair for him. Yeah, right, as if I could push him up the ramp to the ship! NOT! He is laying down resting now; both of his legs are pretty swollen.

Our weather has been nice today….a little chilly and a wind blowing, but no fog or clouds so far. Of course like the tour guide said; at the beach it could be cloudy and cold and just a few miles inland in downtown it could be clear and warm! At least it isn’t like yesterday!

Tomorrow is our last sea day. We will be in Astoria on Thursday and Friday we will be in Seattle and our cruise will be over. It seems like a long time since we got on the ship on one hand, and on the other, it seems like we just started! At any rate we will have plenty of pictures to share and lots of memories.