After years of telling myself that I wanted to try a cruise vacation someday, I have finally done it.  Needing an excuse/occasion as a prompt, I chose my 60th birthday as the good reason to finally take the leap.  It was delightful.  It has been years since I have had a whole week of relaxation.  Usually my vacations are very busy with lots of running around to see and do things.  Well, when you are on a ship, there is no place to run.

Life is a completely different experience when you are traveling at 15 miles per hour.  Yes, that is the average speed the ship travels.  At that speed it is unbelievable how much coastline there is.  Every 5 minutes there is a whole new piece of coastline to see - over and over and over, all day and all night.  I am used to seeing the countryside at 65 miles per hour in the car or 250 - 300 miles per hour in a plane.  And most of this tree-covered coastline is empty - no houses anywhere.

The gentle rumble of the ship's engines lulls you into a mellow state of relaxation as you move from one meal to the next.  It seemed that we hardly had time to get back to our room after one meal, when it was time for the next meal.  Part of this was because we were so relaxed we went to bed around 9:30 and did not get up until around the same time the next morning.  There was no stimulation from phones or computers or televisions or any other electronic media.  It was a blessed break from our electronically driven lives at home.

Speaking of meals, these are a major health hazard.  There is no way around it; you eat too much on a cruise.  The food is very good looking and tasting.  The greater danger is due to the fact that the food is different every day and there are multiple selections of that difference every day.  There were different appetizers, different salads, different soups, different entrées, and different desserts at every lunch and dinner.  Curiosity alone is enough to make you eat at least twice as much as you would at home.  At home it is the same three or four foods for the entire week, not five course meals several times a day, all different each day.  Each week of cruising the ship uses 13,750 lbs. of fresh vegetables, 11,830 lbs. of meats, 23,000 eggs, 1675 lbs. of butter, and 2500 lbs. of sugar.  That is for only 1200 passengers.

 We won't even discuss the Lido deck with the massive buffet that seems to be always open, along with other little grills, ice cream stations, fancy gourmet restaurants, and several bars and coffee stations with goodies at them.  If I had not remained committed to not eating any grains, I would not have had any clothes that I could fit into to leave the ship after the week of indulgence.

The ship itself was beautiful inside.  There was art and sculpture everywhere and the architecture was gorgeous.  I understand from talking with several seasoned cruise travelers that the cabins on our ship were exceptionally large and nice compared to most cruise ships.  We were traveling on Holland America's M.S. Oosterdam.  This cruise line attracts an older crowd so there were very few 20 - 40 year olds on board.  We only saw two children and one baby.  This added to the quiet, relaxing atmosphere.

An interesting thing about being on a cruise ship is how nice everyone is.  The staff are all super friendly, but so are all the passengers.  I think that since everyone is out of their normal environment, they are on their best behavior.  Everyone is eager to talk and to share their previous cruise experiences and wisdom gained from those experiences.  The relaxed atmosphere makes connection with complete strangers very easy.

There were many different activities going on at all times on the ship. We could have participated in such things as dance classes, computer classes, cooking demonstrations, gambling, meetings, movie screenings, and lectures.  Every evening we would go to the big stage in the front of the ship for one of their shows.  We saw two big song and dance Las Vegas style productions, a great stage magician, and a comedian.  

We had three stops for shore excursions.  We were supposed to have four stops, but a big storm came in from the Gulf of Alaska bringing in 25 foot swells. The captain wisely elected to change our itinerary and cut out the stop at Sitka to keep us in the Inside Passage and away from the storm.

We stopped at Ketchikan and went on a tour of a rain forest. There we saw lots of dead salmon scattered all over the landscape.  Apparently the bears drag the fish up the hill and then only eat a couple bites out of the fish, the head and the ovaries, and leave the rest to rot and feed the trees.  The tour also included spotting a mama bear and her cub, hundreds of salmon making their way up the shallow streams, a saw mill, a reindeer, an eagle, and a fellow carving a totem pole.

Our second stop was Juneau, the capitol of Alaska.  The whole town was only a few blocks long.  Our bus tour of the town covered the whole town, including the governor's mansion, in a just few minutes.  The bus then took us out to the Mendenhall Glacier.  Back when the visitor center was built, the glacier was right next to it.  At this point the glacier has receded so much that it was a long ways away, so we could only really see it through the telescopes in the center.

Our last stop was in Victoria, Canada.  We had been having pretty good weather up to this point, but at Victoria it was pouring down rain all day.  We took a bus out to the Butchart Gardens anyway since I really wanted to see them. The last time I had seen them was when I was a child.  At the gardens they provided us with clear umbrellas to keep us dry and still provide a good view of the flowers.  In spite of the weather the gardens were beautiful.

We had three other delights on the journey.  The day we left we were graced with a double rainbow as a leaving gift.  The next morning we were greeted by a huge pod of dolphins that jumped and played all around the ship.  And on the cruise between Juneau and Victoria, the captain took us into a fjord at Tracy Arm and brought us up close to a glacier with about a hundred harbor seals hanging out on the floating ice at the base of the glacier.

The end of the trip brought us back to Seattle, where as fortune would have it, my son lives.  This gave me the last joy of the trip, connecting with him and his wife Halbe and especially my new granddaughter Eliza.  We had a delightful time and then hopped a plane back to Sacramento and a stopped up septic tank at the office.  Life continues.

David

Health kick reverses cell aging

The combination of diet, exercise, and meditation makes your cells younger.  Cell age is measures by the length of the telomere protective caps on the genes.  As cells get older the telomeres get shorter.  Research by Dr. Dean Ornish is showing that a strict regime of exercise, diet, and meditation significantly lengthens patients telomeres.  This translates to younger cells.

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Statin use linked to cataracts

Recent research has shown that people who take cholesterol lowering drugs like Lipitor and Zocor are 27% more likely to develop cataracts on the eyes.  The longer you use these drugs the greater your chances of a cataract.  The body needs high levels of cholesterol to maintain a clear lens and statins may interfere with the cells that control that process.

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TomTato

 "If some people didn't tell you, you'd never know they'd been away on a vacation.."

~ Kin Hubbard  

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How to find us -

 

 

Our address is  9725 Fair Oaks Blvd.

Finding the new location is very easy.  Coming from highway 50 up Sunrise Blvd, you turn left and go up a block.  We are on the right hand side - the building just past the Subway Sandwich shop.  If you are coming down Sunrise from the Mall area then just turn right on Fair Oaks Blvd and up a block on the right.

 

If you are coming from the Roseville area you could come down Sunrise Blvd, but that is a long trek.  It is probably shorter time wise to come down Auburn Blvd - San Juan Ave like you have been for the Sunset office, but instead of turning left at Sunset, keep going straight 3 more lights to Fair Oaks Blvd and turn left.  Go down 2 lights to New York Ave, go through the intersection, and immediately turn into the turn lane once the center divider ends.  We are on the left.

 

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visit http://www.fairoakshealth.com"

About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
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