The 7-day Alaskan JazzSea cruise proved to be an adventure, as a tourist and as a musician. The "Banjos Aweigh" band, which I conducted, was smaller than usual, but still entertained a packed "Hudson Room" venue. The "Buck Creek" jazz band was making its penultimate appearance on this cruise, with its final appearance on the Jan.3/09 Caribbean JazzSea cruise. They were missing their banjo player, so I happily sat in on a few occasions.
One of our Alaskan stops took us humpback whale watching (see photo I took) and another stop allowed us to see a calving glacier, The Marjerie Glacier, in Glacier Bay. You can see a video I took of the calving glacier on YouTube, by searching "timallanstrings". Our final port, before Seattle, was Victoria, B.C., where some of us musicians skipped over to "Hermann's" jazz club for a few songs.(See top photo). It was lots of fun!
