Chuck Cook

After a good night’s sleep at the Spruce Lodge, we all got up and packed our luggage for a transfer to Celebrity Summit to occur later in the day. The Spruce Lodge Shuttle took us a quarter mile down the road to the beautiful Resurrection Road House for a hearty breakfast. We were their first customers in the new season. On the way to the restaurant we passed a moose grazing on the side of the road. When breakfast was over we returned to the Spruce Lodge to load our luggage into the shuttle. The staff agreed to allow it to remain locked in the van until our pickup after lunch to take us to the ship. The shuttle dropped us into town around 10 am for our glacier and whale watching adventure starting at 11:15.

As we were waiting to board the boat on which Major Marine Tours would take us on a fascinating tour of Resurrection Bay, Angela and I grabbed a delicious cup of espresso from a railroad car converted into a coffee shop. We climbed aboard the Spirit of Matushka and had good luck to start with as we encountered several pods of orcas. The so-called killer whales are not whales at all, but actually dolphins—the largest of the porpoises. They are extremely intelligent, hunting in packs and devising elaborate and inescapable strategies for securing food. Orcas are the alpha predators over a greater part of the surface of the earth than any other species. They are such good hunters that cetologists have documented several instances of animals of different species bonding temporarily to prevent orcas from attacking their young. The killers were out in force today guarding their own babies and teaching them orca ways. We also passed seals, sea otters and several bald eagles.

The high point of our trip today came when we reached the beautiful Holgate glacier. This gleaming white tidewater glacier was showing off its iridescent blue crevices on this overcast day. Our thoughtful skipper turned off the boat’s motor for more than 5 minutes as we floated silently in front of the timeless behemoth. Soon we tourists stopped our chatter and we simply basked in the wordless glory of the artistry of the glacier and its Creator.

After returning to Seward we scoped out several restaurants and decided to go back to Ray’s. I had sable fish in a Japanese miso sauce, and Glenda had a macadamia encrusted halibut garnished with a Thai red curry sauce. When dessert came, we all enjoyed a part of a piece of macadamia and coconut chocolate torte served with vanilla ice cream. Glenda insisted on paying for the meal. So did Angela. I suggested we settle it by a game of rock-paper-scissors. After our laughter about the childish game, I suggested that tomorrow night we could decide by a round of thumb wrestling. It turned out that Angela had never played the game before. I told her that Randy and I would show her how it was done. Only then did I glance at Glenda’s brother’s hands and discovered that they are huge. I swallowed hard, we locked fingers, and he had my thumb pinned in less than 5 seconds. Angela laughed hysterically.

Miffed at my defeat, I told our waiter how we had decided about the bill, and he said, “Oh yeah, I know how to play that.”

“Put out your hand,” I said as I grabbed his. He started this long litany about thumb wrestling as long as the Preamble to the Constitution. I had never heard it before. We sure didn’t use it when I was a kid on the west side of Charlotte. I didn’t know when the recitation would end, but as I sat there listening to him, the chant suddenly ended, and he instantly pinned my thumb.

Oh, well. Dessert was delicious.Baca selengkapnya