Another summary post is due following the addition of six new travel write-ups on the site since the last of these blogs. I wouldn’t want to swamp you with more paragraph-sized versions of longer accounts and lead you to believe this was in itself anything more substantial than more internal site-linking just for the hell of it, after all.
Because this website is very heavy on the cruise travelogues – You’ve never noticed!? You surprise me! – I’ll start with those. The accounts of our 2023 cruise to Alaska on Holland America Line’s Koningsdam continue to trickle through and all the recent ones cover what we got up to on our day at the northern end of the Inside Passage (oo-er missus!) in the city of Skagway. This day involved an excursion and some free time in Skagway with our friends and occasional cruise partners, Paul and Carole.
The first thing we did in Skagway was get out of Skagway as far as possible. Really. Like, not just outside the city, or outside the state, but outside the country! We started with a bus ride over the border into Canada where we boarded a train to enjoy the views along the White Pass Scenic Railway on our way back to America.
Upon our return to Alaskan soil we got to enjoy a bit of acted and musical entertainment, a chance to pan for gold, and a salmon bake meal all at the intriguingly-named Liarsville. Quite fun, but it would have been more fun without the flies. Fliersville would have been an equally apt name for the place on the day.
There was one more organised section to this day in Skagway and that involved a short tour of the upstairs rooms of the Red Onion Saloon Brothel. A very entertaining guide gave us some of the history and led us through the small rooms pointing out items left behind by previous employees.
We still had plenty of time to explore the city ourselves, and the historical part with its century-old houses and wooden boardwalks enchanted us all. Paul and Carole took us on a search for some camera hardware and we subjected them to the delights of two breweries in Skagway in return. We very much enjoyed this day in Skagway a lot.
And that brings us to the “overlooked sites” mentioned in this post’s title. Overlooked, how? I imagine you asking during one of my fever dreams where people care about things like this. Overlooked by some high monument or natural feature? Nope, not that. Overlooked by visitors for some reason? Nope, they’re pretty popular. Overlooked by the guy who writes all this stuff on the site because he got distracted by shiny new things and left some travel accounts only partly-finished? Bingo!
First up is Stowe Gardens from a weekend break we took in 2022. Articles covering the other parts of this trip, including inside the stately home in the gardens, and various museums and other interesting spots around Oxford have been on the site for a while, but now there are finally some pictures from the gorgeous landscape gardens and its many sculptures and temples.
Photos from an even older trip are also now on the site. In 2015 we split a UK break between seaside stays in Essex and Kent, and while at the latter we took a trip to Leeds Castle because we are fond of a castle. Again, other accounts from that break have been on the site for a long time but that one was overlooked for some reason.
That’s all the new travel content since the last of these summaries and there’s not a lot else to say for a change. No new travel plans, no recent trips to describe, no notable changes to the site.
Four weeks today – at time of publishing (of course) – we should be boarding Ambassador Ambience for the start of a 17-day cruise up into the Arctic Circle. A lot of firsts there to get excited about: first time with Ambassador Cruise Line, first time crossing the circle, six new ports of call. We’ve got a few excursions booked and rough plans for what to do elsewhere, but it’s good to be flexible with these things because anything can happen.
I will likely try to get at least one more blog update out before we head off on that first cruise of the year (of only two in the pipeline!) If you want to make sure you don’t miss it and you’re not already subscribed to the newsletter – which is usually just this summary-style blog sent out by email – then there are links on the page somewhere for you to do that.