NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN

 

Ben and Rachel invited us to join them on a cruise along the coast of Alaska – an adventure that has been on our bucket list for some time. After the record-breaking heat in Europe and continued hot days in Texas, this sounded like a great idea.

My love/hate relationship with airport security continues. (I love security because it makes traveling more secure. But I hate my inability to make it through the scanners without that very personal pat down.) This trip included a walk down a barricaded drug dog gauntlet where I was identified as a possible problem passenger. We were escorted to the “suspicious characters” area and I was treated to my usual x-ray, request to move out of the line of passengers, touching of personal body parts, and an additional scanning process for all my belongings.

Then we were cleared for Canada.

In my head I heard Disney’s “It’s a Small World,” when we said “Tomball, Texas” and strangers introduced themselves. They were friends of Robert Marrs (who lives 8 blocks from us.) I also met two men wearing Houston Methodist Hospital jackets. We talked about our favorite doctors.

Vancouver, Canada was everything I anticipated. The people are friendly. There is a conscious effort to be environmentally careful. And the food is fun. We ate poutine (smothered French fries), Tim Horton’s Donuts (famous in Canada and coming to Katy soon), and beaver balls (a round pancake with a side of Canadian maple syrup.) We visited Capilano Suspension Bridge Park and crossed the swaying bridge – holding tight.

On the Royal Princess we ate and played. We even won the Disney Trivia contest! I discovered that my European taste for gelato transferred well to the on-ship gelato shop. I recommend the butter pecan.

But, as I return from the voyage, I realize that the best souvenir I bring home is a desire for knowledge.

I listened to a presentation by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race.  I want to know why anyone would attempt this 938-mile race!

We sailed through Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord as park rangers described the history of the glaciers and we watched calving (the breaking off of icebergs.) I want to know how global warming has impacted that.

I sat with Martin in a clan house built by Tlingit craftsmen in Ketchikan and want to learn about the First Nation peoples who lived there.

At Totem Bight State Park, I heard about the customs and traditions associated with those cultural monuments and am now reading a book of Alaskan folk tales.

I heard about the Klondike Gold Rush in Skagway and learned that it isn’t always easy to identify good guys and bad guys in history.

In a seminar I was introduced to the concept of SONDER, the realization that each passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as my own and I want to be more aware of how my actions influence those around me.

And I saw whales. Real whales.

As I stood on my balcony and saw a rainbow over the ocean, I was reminded of the magnificence of God’s creation. And how much I still have to learn.

 

 

EPILOGUE

As our year-long adventure draws to a close, we will finish with a family weekend at Lakeview Methodist Conference Center where we have spent much time on family trips, camp ministries and church retreats.

Last week, my friend Lamar and I were discussing all my adventures over the last 12 months. He reminded me that he has been to all the places I visited – he just spread it out over 20 years.

It’s been an amazing year, and now we will stay home for a while.

…Except for possible trips to Mackinac Island in Michigan, Disneyland in California and family visits in East Texas and Arkansas.

 Maybe we won’t be staying home.