6/12/13 Heading to the ship

I woke up early this morning and went out to look at the mountain.  The sky was clear and the mountain was magnificent – even better than yesterday!  We went to breakfast, took more pictures of the mountain and then took a walk on one of the property trails.  I did a little checking of email and then we just relaxed until it was time to board the bus for the train station.  The train ride was lovely.  We had a super car host.  Alexander is a retired kindergarten teacher who gave fantastic commentary as we went from Mt. McKinley to Whittier to join the cruise ship.  We saw some moose along the tracks and a couple of eagles.  We passed several small glaciers and at one point had mountains on both sides of the train.  We traveled through Turnagain Flats where a tsunami came roaring through in 1964.  There are still trees standing, but they are dead as the salt water killed them – they call these ghost forests.  We traveled through two tunnels, but the last (over 2 miles long) was the most interesting as the traffic flow alternates every half hour.  The train goes through first and then the automobiles follow behind – a very interesting system.  As we pulled in to Whittier, we could see our ship at dock.  There was an eagle sitting on a light post just waiting to greet us.  We passed through security and then found our rooms.  About 20 minutes later we had a muster drill to explain about life jackets and safely precautions.  We went up to the open top deck and watch while the ship sailed away.  It was all very exciting as none of us has been on a cruise ship before.  We had open dining tonight so we were seated at a table of ten with five ladies from Mississippi.  We enjoyed both the meal (everything I imagined cruise fare would be like) and the company.  We went up to the top deck again to enjoy the views and by the time we got back to our cabin, it was close to 11.  We unpacked and went to sleep being gently rocked by the movement of the ship.