Delights 1

1. The route from Vancouver, BC, to Seattle is all inside passage -- no open ocean -- but still sometimes, as I lay in the soft bed between the crisp, smooth sheets, there were enough waves to provide a gentle rocking motion, very soothing. There was almost no noise from the ship itself. The rocking came and went, gently, unexpectedly, and was so pleasant it seemed a shame to sleep through it.
2. The moon was half full and spread a silver path across the water to our balcony. Very beautiful.
3. One of the things I love about the high desert of eastern Montana where I grew up is the Big Sky -- you feel you are in the center of a huge, pure, spiritual world when you stand under a Montana sky. To my surprise, the sky over the ocean is similarly huge and pure and spiritual.
4. The agenda for the day we boarded included not one but two tai chi sessions. All the exercise machines in the gym face outward so that exercisers can watch the ocean go by as they work. My stateroom is near a door out onto the outdoor promenade deck, a walkway that goes all the way around the whole huge ship. I may indeed gain back a lot of the weight I've lost over the last year or so, but it won't be because what's available on the ship makes it inevitable.
5. Even when my phone can't reach Verizon's services, it still seems able to tell me latitude and longitude.