Re: 2011 Alaska Reunion Cruise Who's Going

Arrived home last evening (6/18) from Seattle via DELTA ...the past 16 days have been fantastic!
Unpacking will take days!

Time to spend with my Dad for Father's Day!

More later!

Starting this new thread for those who were lucky enough to be able to take the 2011 Alaska Reunion Cruise. Please share your experiences, memories, highs and lows (if any) of the experience.

Don't know how I got everything into my suitcases to return home. Absolutely know they weighted more than 50 lbs each! Glad I opted into the Valet service on the ship, they took my bags I did not have to deal with them until I arrived in Denver Friday evening - they had checked them in with the airline and even printed by boarding pass for me.

The pre-cruise trip with Derith was so very very excellent - saw at least 23 lights (2 Canadian) and the weather could not have been better. Only rained while visiting one light - Marrowstone.

Enjoyed the cruise as well - visiting with Bill, Nancy, Harry, Tori Dawn and Tony. Old Forums friends that have not been online for a while like BobO(tt). We saw many many eagles, some ocras, Harbor Seals and Steller Seals/Sea Lions and at least one humpback whale, 2 glaciers (Sawyer and Mendenhall) lots of ice bergs. Weather was cloudy and overcast a good deal of the time, but only a few rain sprinkles.

Goodies - 3 Thumbnails Guard Island, Sentinel, and Pt Retreat.

Other goodies included 2 wooden felt lined boxes, one with Guard Island engraved and the other with Sentinel engraved; Harbour Lights commemorative coin; a key fob; two painted glass ornaments; a tote bag (no reunion logo, but a very nice bag!) and a tack pin of the reunion logo. Goodies were for the most part determined if the receiptant was male/female. For example for the first give away the men got the tack pin and the women received a green tote bag. Another time the women received one of the painted ornaments and the men got one of the carved box and so on. The next time the women received a different carved box and the men received a painted ornament. So only couples got the entire set of goodies. At the last give away, people were able to purchase the items they were missing. Pro - couples did not get duplicates. Con - if a single wanted the missing items they had to be purchased. We also received pins to commemorate each excursion we went on.

The Christmas light was shown and another future release both very very nice - but right now for the life of me I can not remember what they are - sorry folks you will have to wait for someone else to post.

Some rare and extremely rare items were donated by HL and auctioned with the $$ raised being donated to the Coast Guard Aux fund (I think that is right). There were several pieces that were made but never went into production as originally designed. Top piece went for $4500.00. Two spare gold pieces from past events were sold, a foam board poster with the reunion logo, and some artist proofs.

Have to sort through pictures before I can post anything. Won't be able to do that until probably this weekend.

I had a great time also. Melody you left out the Buffalo. I am so tired and happy. I want to go back to Alaska to see more. It was great to see everyone again.
Derith did a fantastic job on the pre Alaska trip. I am going through my pictures and it will take a month. I cant wait to see pictures posted, there should be many. Have to go back to doing my pics.
Fran

Fran....So happy to see you this trip, and to know that you finally got to photograph your whale!!

Thanks. It was very exciting to see them. From now on when I go on vacation and there is a chance for a whale watch I am going.

You are right Fran, I did forget to mention the buffalo that you and I saw on Whidbey Island. We were driving back over to Admiralty Head light hoping to catch some sunset shots when I saw what I thought was a buffalo's hump. Fran was driving, but when I told her what I thought I had seen, she immediately found a road to turn on so we could go back and take a closer luck.

We found four buffalo in a pen, so they are being ranch-raised. Got some good pictures of them with a great old red barn as the background.

The Christmas light for 2011 that was show on the cruise is Squaw Island, Michigan, a privately owned lighthouse that is very difficult to see.

I really enjoyed meeting so many people from here on the forum. I met too many at the very beginning and the faces started to run together, but I got to spend more time with some of you and got to know you a bit. The cruise would not have been nearly as great if we had gone without the Harbour Lights group. Paul's class on photos was excellent and already has already helped me out. I have adjusted levels before, but had never done each color separately. It really makes a difference.
Some of my favorite things:
1. It was great to not be the only crazy person up at 4am hoping to see a lighthouse. It is so nice to share an interest with other obsessed people.
2. Tracy Arm Fjord - so beautiful. I have tried to describe it and just can't.
3. Humpback whale jumping completely out of the water. One early morning I was the only in the viewing area on 11. I had just sat down, hadn't gotten my camera out yet. I see a spout, so I am watching..then it just jumps! I stood up, forgot about the camera and just watched as it jumped 3 more times. I felt bad that there was no one else to see it.
4. The walk out the Cape Flattery trail on Saturday after the cruise. Definitely a place where you slow down and just enjoy.
A wonderful trip. I saw things I never thought I would get to see. I hope we all get together again...soon!

Was any other future lights shown during the Alaska cruise besides the new 2011 Christmas piece?

Word of the other pieces should be announced soon!!!!!

There was one other future release piece shown. Cape Ann, MA also known as Thacher Island. Both towers displayed on the piece. Very beautiful piece IMHO.

AH HA! ....Thatcher Island in a Gorton's Fishmans box! Yippie! Woo Hoo!

okay, some pictures from the auction. Not very good, but hopefully they will do until others can post better ones.

The first picture is Nancy relating her version to of who proposed to whom...in answer to questions from the audience. Bill had provided his version before Nancy entered the theatre.

The second picture - Bill begins the auction with Alligator Reef.
Third picture is Bill talking about W. Quoddy before bidding begins.

Rats pictures are not posting. Will have to try again later. Sorry!!

Only the Cape Anne and the Christmas piece were previewed.

Good Thursday Afternoon!

I am putting together the editorial for the July edition of The Lighthouse Legacy!

I would very much like our Readers, who went on the Harbour Lights 20th Anniversary Reunion Alaska Cruise to share their memories, thoughts and as always pictures with other Collectors!

The deadline for your contribution is Friday July 20th! Email to; tconstantino@harbourlights.com

Thank you!

Seen from a passenger car on a narrow guage railroad ;-)

Great photo!!
Rick

I am posting this for Tony, back on June 30th Tony posted the following..



Some of you may have gotten the following message when your email came back..


"MAILER-DAEMON"
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up.

The Lighthouse Marketing email has been down all this week and it probably would be best to resend your messages to Tony on next Monday. Tony really wants input from those who went on the Cruise. He asks that you please resend your emails if they didn't go through the 1st time, but wait until Monday to be safe..

Paul

The Lighthouse Marketing email is still down as of this morning, I will update when it is back up..

Looking foward to seeing peoples experiences! Hope I'm still on the mailing list!
Rick

The Lighthouse Marketing (Harbour Lights) email is working, so please send your thoughts and pictures to Tony, especially those whose email got returned as undeliverable..

tconstantino@harbourlights.com