My First Salmon Bake

Before I begin this post, I think you should know two very random factoids about me.

1. I strongly dislike eating outdoors. When I go to restaurants I only eat out on the patios if I'm out voted by friends. If I know I am entering a situation where I have no choice but to eat outside, then it takes about 15 minutes of mental prep before I start my day to squash my weirded out vibes about being forced to eat outside.

2. I loathe blueberries. I think they taste bitter and rancid all at once. I mean, I'm not crazy about berries as a whole to begin with, but I enjoy different berry flavors in certain specific formats so long as those gross seeds aren't involved. But blueberries? I'd rather go hungry. Of the many foods I disliked as a kid but have since grown up and enjoyed, blueberries are one of the few to stay on the list of DO NOT EAT foods.

Yep. That is pretty much the face I make when presented with them.
Image from http://cheezburger.com/2669553664

So imagine my utter delight when I realized that the salmon bake I had paid $50 to attend was not only outside, but only had one dessert featuring my "favorite" fruit. Yep...this is where you insert my WTF face. However, since I paid for it, I was going to go. Besides. Surely the salmon and other offerings would make up for it, right?

Enter the Gold Creek Salmon Bake in Juneau Alaska. My money got me a round trip ride (on a school bus) from the port, an all you can eat buffet, and musical entertainment. When you first arrive, you are handed a cup of very creamy clam chowder that honestly didn't taste all that different from Progresso clam chowder with some extra herbs thrown in for good measure. Long lines (and I strongly dislike long lines!) wrap around to all the stations, including the general food buffet line and the grill where two guys were basting and flipping salmon on large metal racks. Luckily the eating area was mostly covered by plastic umbrella shaped things over the tables. The buffet included a lot of food that had Alaskan themed names- but weren't much different from what you would eat at home. (For example, the "Miner Baked Beans" were simply pork and beans with grilled hot dog thrown in for good measure.) Warning- do NOT eat the blackish looking pasta salad. It has some sort of balsamic vinegar/soy sauce flavor that is absolutely terrible and no one I saw ate it! I liked the gravy covered chicken, and the salmon, though a teeny bit over cooked, was decent. I enjoyed that even all the way up in Alaska, they had a black man on the grill.

Grilling the salmon

View of the eating area and the plastic umbrella shaped things keeping us dry

I liked that they had no problems telling us what the glaze was on the salmon (brown sugar and pineapple juice), and I DID eat a whole lot of food (after throwing away that terrible pasta salad).

I was also pleasantly surprised that I liked the Alaskan Blueberry Cake. Apparently, blueberries (and huckleberries) are to Alaska what peaches are to Georgia and oranges are to Florida. But remember, I hate blueberries so I got the piece with the least amount of berries in it after my godmother insisted I try it. It was absolutely delicious- very light and delicate tasting and it was enhanced by the lemonade I was drinking. Overall, I'd rate the food as OK. I didn't enjoy being out in the elements- especially while it was raining and in the mid 60s- but I could see how that would be fun for people that like that. They also had marshmallow roasting camp fire areas, and two cute mallard ducks that had no problem walking among the crowd and eating what they pleased.

My plate: Chicken w/gravy, grilled salmon, cornbread, wild rice,
pork and beans, and my lemonade with my blueberry cake

The gift shop on site was woefully under stocked and tiny-- several visitors asked the girl at the register if they had bottles of the sauce used on the salmon. I can't figure out why you would want to buy something as simple as brown sugar and pineapple juice, but nonetheless they lost quite a few sales because all she could do was giggle and say they were out of stock.

And the singer-- man he was terrible. I almost felt sorry for him because only one or two people clapped for his off-key, tone deaf songs that were more depressing than anything else. I would have rather they played a CD or something over the speakers.

I know it sounds like I'm griping a lot about the experience, and while there were things I liked and didn't like, I'm overall glad I had the experience. The Pacific Northwest version of a fish fry is apparently the salmon bake. But as our bus driver put it (whilst he passed around pictures of his children and gave hints that he would appreciate tips), it's obvious they make a LOT of money ($1.5 million annually we were told) and reinvest very little of that back into the dining site.

But hey, there are thousands of cruise ship passengers who will shell out that dough for the Alaskan experience. Who am I to knock their hustle?

Symbol of a City

The last entry I have for my visit to Seattle, Washington is the iconic Space Needle. Built in 1962 for the World's Fair and designated as a Historic Landmark in 1999, the Space Needle has been an important and unique landmark and symbol for the Seattle area for decades. I've already tackled the Sears Tower, so this seemed like an obvious itinerary inclusion.

View of the Space Needle from my hotel

There really isn't a whole lot to say about the visit. I paid $18 plus tax to take the 41 second elevator trip up to the observation deck- but that was a discount price since I got there very early in the morning after debarking from my cruise ship. Just like the Chihuly museum, there are different types of tickets that allow you to come twice in one day to see the view in both day and night. The Needle's website (and several travel web sites) suggested getting there early because wait times can be as long as an hour. Luckily there was no one in front of us as we took the trip up. It was cloudy the day we went, so our view wasn't the greatest, but I did take a video I uploaded to my YouTube page. You can see it below:

I didn't eat at the restaurant (but read other reviews that said it was very expensive) and the gift shop had really cool items that reflected Seattle and the businesses that have decided to call that area home- again very expensive. I just can't fathom spending $80 on an Xbox jersey for a little kid. There is a Starbucks at the top (of course there is!) and my godmother bought a coffee from there, but as we remember, I'm not much of a coffee fan.

Space Needle at night

I'm glad I got to take the trip up, and say I've "done" the Space Needle, but as there isn't much to do there, I don't think I'd pay that much money just to ride to the top again. 

Thank you so much for reading my blog. You can check out the rest of my pictures from Seattle (and my other states) on my Facebook page. I have a few more entries for Alaska to do, and then I am not anticipating any new adventures until next spring, so I'll see you on the next adventure!

Red Light Special

One of my more interesting stops in Alaska was my time at the Red Onion Saloon located in Skagway. A former brothel and bar (among other things), this current restaurant and mini museum tells another side of the Klondike Gold Rush-- that is, what those thousands of (mostly) men did when they weren't prospecting. As you could imagine, they drank. They played games and socialized. And they supported the oldest business in the world- prostitution. There were about 80 different brothels of varying levels at one time in the area, and the Red Onion was considered the best of them all.

Red Onion Saloon

They had quite a few different tour options available, but the one I opted for was the $10 "quickie" tour. For 20 minutes, one of the "working girls" would take you to the upper levels of the building where it has changed very little since the its heyday. There is original wall paper still on the walls, with larger swatches framed and displayed. One of the original red lanterns that advertised the "business" available for patrons is still on the inside (protected form the elements now). Even a beaded gown worn by one of the Saloon's former Madams (the woman who managed the brothel) is on display.

Inside the brother area

The Original Red Light

Beaded gown worn by a former Madam

When they were renovating the building (you know, so they could offer tours and operate a restaurant on the lower levels...) they found all sorts of trinkets left behind over the years. These are displayed in glass cases along the wall. In learning about the renovations, we were told that the dividers that would have separated each woman to give her a "room" had been removed so that groups could come through, but you could still see the staples and nails in the ceiling where they were attached.

Some items found under the floor boards during renovations

That is pretty much the gist of the tour (it was a quickie after all). I learned a few neat factoids (like Skagway had electricity before New York City, and that the ladies would curl their hair with electric curlers- in the dark though because you couldn't have your lights and curlers plugged in at the same time). They talked about the resident ghost names Lydia- but I DO NOT play around with stuff like that, so I was thankful she didn't make an appearance for us. Our tour guide (named Annie Whichway- get it?) was very personable and enthusiastic- even if the corny sex-tinged jokes were laid on rather thickly at times. I get it though, they want to play up the whole brothel thing, and dressing up with red lipstick, bustiers, and telling double innuendo jokes that come across in a family friendly way.

Annie Whichway telling us about the last Madam of the Saloon
as we stood in her former bedroom

I didn't eat at the Red Onion for two reasons. One- there was plenty of already-paid-for food on the cruise ship. (Don't let the excursions desks fool you- downtown Skagway is a ten minute walk away from the port, and there is a $2 shuttle that loops all through town if you can't handle that much walking). Two- the only food I saw on everyone's tables that looked halfway appetizing was a plate of nachos- and I didn't go all the way to Alaska for nachos. I liked that with the tour you get a souvenir garter in red and black. A pretty unique and awesome way to promote your business and create memories for your visitors in my opinion.

My hooker garter

Well, I still have a few entries left to type up for my Washington and Alaska adventures. Thank you so much for reading my blog! You can look at the rest of my pictures on my Facebook page, and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure!

Awesome Museum Alert!

I love going to museums, and you will see lots of them by the time I finish this blog up. As a self-professed history nerd, I love them and get a true thrill and exciting tingly feeling being around the ancient, rare, and beautiful trinkets of time and culture. However, I also know how many of you feel about museums....

Image from doughslam.com

I won't take this post to argue about how awesome museums are...but I WILL take this post to tell you about possibly the most exciting and engaging museum I have EVER been in...the EMP Museum in Seattle. With a focus largely on popular music history (think of it as a younger but cuter sister of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland), the museum also covers major nerd bases with science fiction and fantasy exhibitions too. It's loud, colorful, and a lot more laid back than your typical historical institution...and quite frankly I see it as the direction museums could be slowly inching towards.

Let's start with the building. First off, it's huge (140,000 square feet to be specific). I wasn't able to get a good shot of it from any angle because it's so massive. No ivory towers here folks, this place has steel and aluminum of different finishes and colors sculpted in abstract shapes that make the building seem like a giant flowing sculpture in its own right. It's directly next to the Space Needle, and the Monorail actually travels through an outer swoop of the building.

Space Needle, Monorail, and a piece of EMP

Peeking up to the sky from one of the entrances

image from empmuseum.org

This is the first museum I've been to that features science fiction and fantasy (as in myths and legends- nothing perverted folks!) in a way that makes it accessible to everyone from hardcore, costume sporting geeks to those who have no clue who Bilbo Baggins is. Highlights include original Tolkien books and drawings, the original Lion costume from the 1939 classic 'The Wizard of Oz', plenty of costumes from the many 'Star Trek' series, an original Superman costume, and the silver skull face from Terminator. As a HUGE 'Dr. Who' fan, I loved being so close to a Dalek- even though if I were really in an episode I would be running for my life.

EXTERMINATE! (but not really)

Suit used in Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video

If this doesn't creep you out even a little...

The largest portion of the museum is dedicated to popular music. There's a giant funnel-shaped sculpture made out of musical instruments- that actually play music. A gallery dedicated to Seattle native Jimi Hendrix featured clothes and instruments and tons of video footage of the late guitarist. I gotta admit I knew very little about him before going through the exhibit (and watching footage of him play in the Sky Church allegedly envisioned by Hendrix with a larger than life sized screen that rotated video footage of various music artists as well) but now have a better respect for him as a musician.

Giant instrument sculpture 

Jimi Hendrix poster

Jimi's "Sky Church" room with the best screen I've ever seen

Another great musician from the state of Washington would come years after Hendrix had already died- Kurt Cobain of the group Nirvana. There was a gallery dedicated to them and the grunge movement of the 80s and 90s. Now, as a black girl growing up in the inner city, it wasn't "cool" to listen to rock music the way it is now. So my friends and I would watch MTV and sing along and bang our heads in the privacy of our homes, and only publicly acknowledge liking the rap and R&B everyone else listened to (I mean, we liked that music too...so it wasn't that difficult). Anyway, for me going through that particular gallery reminded me exactly how far I've come in my life- and about how much suicide (an issue I take very seriously) affects people you don't even realize (Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994- I still remember MTV News interrupting some random video with the breaking news). I felt like I was paying respects to this guy and his former band, and I am so happy this was part of the EMP experience.

Entrance to the Nirvana gallery

Clothes, a guitar and an MTV Moon Man
(VMA Award) from  Kurt Cobain/Nirvana

One of the In Utero creepy angels

One of the most historic rooms was dedicated to the advancement of the electric guitar throughout rock and roll history. It was a very dark room, with a video playing discussing the early blues guitar players that were the roots of rock and roll music. While I LOVED the guitars (they have a ton of one of a kind instruments and some really cool electric basses and cellos too) I did NOT love the woman unable to control her too-old-to-be-disruptive son who was running and yelling.

One of the more interesting instruments there

The last major exhibit I saw there was "Women Who Rock", which sadly ends September 22, 2013. While I enjoyed the exhibit, it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. Whereas I thought I would learn more about the struggles of female musicians in a music history context, this was more mini biographies with career highlights jazzed up with famous outfits and pretty pictures. It was also a little misleading- often you would read about the career of the artist pictured, but the outfit wouldn't be from the same era. I took pictures of nearly every outfit there, though, and enjoyed singing along to the music playing throughout the gallery. Some of my favorites (by outfit, singer, or both...) were:

Cher's famous Native American costume next to an outfit worn by Donna Summer

Lady Gaga's meat dress

MY IDOL Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation Hat and Jacket

Well, I could go on and on for quite a few more paragraphs about how much I loved this place. I would recommend you spend AT LEAST two hours there (I spent closer to three and nearly missed my cruise ship because I stayed longer than anticipated). My ONLY gripe is that it's a little confusing trying to find the elevators to move from floor to floor. The highlight of my trip there was the top notch customer service every employee had. The one desk associate even helped me get directions to the (much further than Google Maps led me to believe!) bus stop so I could get on my cruise. Kudos to that magnificent team!

Well, I have a TON more photos from this museum and all of my adventures on my Facebook page. Go on through, "like" it, and I will see you on the next adventure!

I'm a Gold Digger

The land that would eventually become America's 49th state (Alaska) was purchased from Russia in March of 1867. Not even 30 years later gold was discovered, and the Klondike Gold Rush began. 100,000 people from all over the world (but largely America) made the journey towards Alaska. Of those, only about 30,000 actually made it there, and out of that number only 4,000 found any gold. It was a very rough and tedious task to undertake, all on the hopes that one would find a big hunk of yellow metal and become rich.

If only it came out of the ground this way...
Image from www.munknee.com

Let me tell you, that they were much better than I am to have that much hope. I panned for gold for 15 minutes and only found a few dozen flakes. It was tedious and not fun after the novelty of being a city girl gold prospecting wore off. Let me explain...

I did a cruise excursion to the AJ Mine/Gastineau Mill during our (too short) port stop in Juneau, Alaska- the state capital. Early in the morning, myself and about 10 other cruisers hopped onto our mini bus, and took the 10 minute ride up the steep (and scary looking!) wooded mountain side to reach the first part of our experience: the mine entrance.

We had to wear safety helmets to go inside (I mean, we are going inside of a mountain after all) and were escorted by John Hughes. He was really nice and seemed truly interested in not only the entire culture of mining, but in telling us about it and learning about what we did in our non-vacation lives. He told us that he was half Welsh and half Tlingit, and that he also carved masks that were sold in the gift shop we would see later (great self plug, I gotta admit- tell us about the stuff you make before you take us into a mine that could potentially be dangerous).

John and I outside of the mine

What I expected was a ride in an old mine cart on a rickety railway a la every adventure movie involving mines and treasure ever. Instead, there were easily walkable wooden walkways covered in highly textured... stuff... to prevent slipping and falling. John stopped us at various points in the mine to show us different steps on how ore was actually marked, drilled, blasted, and hauled away. I got a few videos of some of the demonstrations, and you can check them out on my YouTube Channel here. All in all we spent about 45 minutes in the mine, which is much colder than the outside, so if you get the chance to go, take a jacket. I had a chill with a heavy cable sweater and corduroy jacket and pants on.

At the mine entrance

John giving us a demonstration of one of the machines

After that, we were bussed back down the mountain (just as scary and steep and bumpy going down as going up!) to an outdoor heated pavilion where we learned this history of the mine and how it used to actually operate and were showed pictures of the mine during its heyday. This was particularly cool, and a little eerie, when you realized the nature-covered structure you are facing is actually the ruins of the pristine looking mine in the photograph.

THEN....

...AND NOW!

After that presentation, which lasted about 10 minutes, we were free to roam the grounds (taking care not to go beyond the rope barriers for safety reasons), and to go to the gold panning station, where everyone is guaranteed to find gold or garnets to take home with them!

Walking around the grounds, there were a ton of old rusty machines and vehicles that were used at some point in the mine's active days. To me, they were beautiful, and the conservationist in me was flabbergasted as to why they were allowed to rust and decay out in the elements without any sort of protection. Why, in a few years most of them will be too rusted out to be recognizable! But perhaps that's part of the "charm" *history nerd shudder* they were going for.

Beautiful and tragic all at once!

So, back to this gold panning. This was done under another awning (no heat this time) in dim light. Two guys showed us how to agitate our gold pans so that the silt and sediment and rocks would eventually filter out to leave us with pretty gold flakes or garnet grains to put inside of our little take home valves. I stood there for fifteen minutes, scooping two pans worth of gunk, and still needed help to get the last few bits of unwanted matter out. It was very slow, and in all that time I only found about $5.00 worth of gold. Now, if I had that much trouble in a touristy fashion, just imagine those poor souls 120 years ago having to do it all on their own without help!

See those light colored flakes to the right of the bottom circle of my pan?
That's my gold!

15 minutes of tedious work for about $5 worth of gold

I really enjoyed my time there. In talking with the two guys who helped us with our gold panning I learned that a lot of college kids from the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest come up to Alaska to work for a year or two, save up their money, and then use it to pay for college. I also learned Alaskan colleges tend to be extra generous with scholarship money. John also told us that with just a high school degree you can start off earning $80K to work in the mines, and that again, a lot of young folks come up and work for a year or two before heading off to college or other locations. While I don't think I personally have what it takes to do such intense manual labor, I applaud them for finding ways to make college more affordable!

The gift shop on site was pretty standard, but the prices were slightly less expensive than the "main" Alaskan tourist shops located in downtown Juneau. The biggest highlight was the lack of a huge confused crowd like in the shops at the port. When we were in Juneau, there were two other ships docked. Now my ship (the Carnival Miracle) holds more than 2000 guests- and we weren't the biggest ship there. So imagine 6000+ people clamoring for t-shirts and ulu knives in a handful of stores---- stressful to say the least! Anyway, at the gold mine shop, I picked up a cute pair of earrings made by a local artist using Alaskan clay and white gold. I love them, even if they are a bit different for me, and was happy to support the local arts scene!

Kinda quirky, but they were calling to me!

Well folks, I still have a TON of things to blog about from Alaska and Washington. I truly appreciate everyone who follows me along my journey via the blog, Facebook, and Twitter, and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure!

Chihuly, Chihuly, Quite Unruly- How Does Your Garden Grow?

With bright glowing colors, and imagery full of wonder, and beauty that makes you gasp "Oh!"

Forgive my punny take on the classic "Mary May Quite Contrary" nursery rhyme. The Chihuly Garden and Glass....museum? exhibition? wonder?... was one of my stops while in Seattle and has easily become one of my favorite places yet. A display of the growth through the years of world renown glass artist Dale Chihuly (say: Cha-who-lee, but smoothly), this place is simply beautiful and magical. I went at night, when the glass pieces are lit up (you can buy a pass that lets you come in once in the day and once in the evening), this was $19 well spent, and easily took up the bulk of my pictures from Washington. Other than being in constant fear I would accidentally bump into a piece and owe someone millions of dollars, I was completely amazed at the shapes, hues, and sizes Mr. Chihuly has been able to draw from his medium. There really isn't much else to say, so I will leave you with some of my many pictures taken of the art (though, they truly don't do it justice).

I have WAY more pictures than this, but you'll have to head to my Facebook page to see them! Thank you so much for following me on here, and as always, we'll see you on the next adventure!