Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The North Star

On Sept. 5th we boarded the Tote Ship: The North Star. It is a cargo roll on roll off ship that sails between the Port of Tacoma and the Port of Anchorage. We were on board by 6pm and sailed around 1am. Nancy and I forced ourselves to stay awake in order to go on deck through confetti and streamers, drink champagne and say goodbye to all the people that came so say farewell.... NOT!!!!! We were on deck but it was to admire the beautiful coastal lines in the darkness and the outline of Seattle in all it's glory, mini lights of every colors. The water was like glass very smooth. In bed I was in the Ocean's big Mother's arms and it was cradling me, rocking me back in forth. So secure in my bunk I fell asleep. The challenge in the next few days was: Do not feel guilty because there is nothing to do and you can relax all your want.... At one point I was about to ask the cooks if they needed any help. That was just for a second. I did found things to do. I read but very little. I drew and painted a little bit. I took a long nap once. I took few pictures. I meditated. Then of course there was breakfast lunch and diner. The highlights of the day!!! The chefs took good care of the Crew and ourselves and I totally indulged in their varied and fresh cuisine. The fresh fruits all cut up for us in the morning, the shell fish steamed in a white wine broth, the prime rib, the cheese cake, the aspic, the peanut butter cookies.... oh and the oriental plum sauce pork tenderloin.... just lovely. We also got treated to two fabulous tours on board. One was of the ship decks and the other one was of the machinery.... Dante's inferno with all the details on how it works. Loved it! At night we selected few movies and had a rude awakening with "Borat" and Nancy agreed to watch "Perfume: the story of a Murderer". We got to watch one of my favorite Pride and Prejudice ( the most recent one). So all has been the most relaxing experience that I have had in a long time. That is until we disembarked...!!!

My car being ready as early as we were of the ship we decided to take it home. When Nancy opened the door she immediately saw that our wine was missing. All of it. The car had been looked over very well and everything in a bottle was gone. So that dampened the end of our trip quite a bit. There has been no news about it and we will never know how and where it was taken for sure. Our guess is that it was taken before the car was put on the ship in Tacoma but nothing is certain. One good think is that we got home safe and sound and I can say for myself that I had a wonderful time so that counts for something.


There are few pictures of the ship. The water stayed pretty calm and with a half Dramamine once in a while I did really well. The last day got rougher but I did well again. I would do that again someday if having the opportunity again.


2 comments:

emverbiage said...

I always love to read your blog, Roxanne because you see beauty everywhere you go! I am glad to see Emily is in such a good place, and hope you are doing very well. (This is Emily B!)

roxanestoner said...

Hi Emily B. So nice to get a comment from you on my blog, thank you for that. My Emily said that you are staying around until you hit Spain. I am very excited for you. That is going to be a wonderful experience for you. Will you be keeping a blog so we can follow your footsteps? I hope so.
Talk to you soon.