Land Ho: Days 9-12

I have now officially set foot in Alaska!  For while we’re still rehearsing this week (to get our third and last main production show up and running tomorrow night), we’ve had time off to go into port in three Alaskan towns: Ketchikan, Juneau, and today Skagway.

This being my first time in port, I didn’t try to do anything particularly exciting.  Just walking around and getting a feel for the town seemed like my best bet, so that’s what I did, along with my fellow singer, Candace, and a singer named Lauren from the Golden Princess, which was docked next to us.  We strolled up and down the rustic streets, drooling over the gorgeous forests and a river which the salmon run in late August (pictured right, with Lauren).  Provided our schedule cooperates, next week I’ll go hiking in the hills of Ketchikan.  Nothing like a good sweat in a lush, cool forest to compensate for all that cheesecake!

Later on we stopped in a cute bookstore, as I’m thinking about getting a book to help me learn to identify the various plants and trees in nature (too many historical/adventure books in my blood!).  I didn’t find one, but then I had to exercise considerable restraint not to buy everything in sight.  Belle and I have a lot in common, I tell you what.  Then we grabbed fresh fruit smoothies at the sweetest café, appropriately called Sweet Mermaids.  This was their major wall decoration, which I thought a beautiful encapsulation of The Little Mermaid tale.

I confess, I panicked when asked what jazz songs I knew!  I couldn’t think of any of them (my dad, brother, and husband are all shaking their heads sadly at this, I know), and so I was more than happy just to listen to and cheer on Candace and the quartet.  Don’t worry, when I got back to my room that night, I reminded myself what songs I know and their respective key signatures, so next time, maybe I’ll stand up and sing.  It’s funny how much fear I have of singing in uncontrollable situations like those.  Give me a cabaret and a musical theatre ballad I know, and I laugh at the notion of stage fright, but toss a jazz tune and improvisation into the mix, and I freeze up like a deer in headlights.

Anyway, today after rehearsal, I stepped outside to see what Skagway looked like.  I didn’t really have enough time to go exploring, so I contented myself with walking around the promenade and sky decks, drooling over the gorgeous Alaskan scenery.  I mean, really:

Though I am an employee of Princess Cruises, all opinions are mine only and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

#outdoors #tourism #Alaska #cruiseship #exploring #rain #rehearsal #jazz #AmericatheBeautiful #PrincessCruises #mountains #RubyPrincess #touristattractions