Oh Canada!

Apparently I loaded part of the pics for this post a long time ago but them never got to posting them. Well here they are, our trip from last summer. We had a big family party/reunion to celebrate my Baba's 90th birthday! Best time ever!

Cruise-- Last day!

Last day on the ship! I took a few pictures of around the ship, since I hadn't really done that. The pool above was on the aft deck, and never used. They did hold a polar bear plunge there, but I'm pretty sure the water is heated, so I don't really see the point! And yes, those are cows. Below is our room. Little but very comfortable.
The middle of the ship had this big organ that would play a couple times a day. In fact, the whole ship had a music theme for decor and such.
We didn't do a whole lost with our day other than eat eat eat, and relax and read some more. That evening was our final port call in Victoria, BC. We decided to hire a rickshaw to take us in to town.
Then we just walked the streets and saw what there was to see. It really wasn't a great time for a port call (7pm to 12am) because many things were closed. But hey, we saw this fabulous violin-playing darth vader. Ah, the sights of Victoria.
Then the spectacular whale-shaped bush.
The capitol building was beautifully lit. I kind of like the handsome guy in the picture, too.
Unicycling fire juggler. Enough said.
Then this-- I just don't know what to think about our last towel animal. Did they want to leave us guessing? Did they run out of time to make a real animal (I know they could make a lot more-- we went to a demonstration on how to make them.) Any guesses on what it is supposed to be??
And that's all folks. Who am I kidding. That's all????? It was the BEST vacation ever. What a way to celebrate 10 years of a fabulous marriage. I am so grateful to Russell's mom for coming out to watch the kids. Already thinking about what cruise to take for our 15th.

Cruise Day 6

Ah, Ketchikan. I didn't really see much of it, actually. We spent nearly the entire time there doing a shore excursion. It was well worth it though. Nothing says "Alaska" like soaring thru the treetops, right? It was so much fun!! A little scary when they tell you that all these tall tall trees are supported by just 3 feet of topsoil though. Here is a view of where we were going to go up to, taken from below (that itty bitty platform you can see just above the treeline.)
There was also a suspension bridge we got to cross. Fun!



Zip zip zip!!

Oh yes, I am happy.
At the end we repelled down from a platform, and then went down this very steep very long slide. Which we were assured by our guides was the most dangerous part of the whole tour.
That night we had the pleasure of wearing silly chef hats, watching the wait staff perform the "napkin ballet," were accompanied by a lady dressed like a salad, and generally just had a silly good time.

Following that we went to the Dessert Extravaganza. It certainly was extra-vaganza. There were at least a hundred different cakes and pies and fruit carvings and ice sculptures. After they allowed some time just for pictures, then we gorged ourselves on all those yummy desserts.



And here's our monkey man. Good night and one more day to go!

Cruise Day 5

Sitka, Alaska!! Such a beautiful place, and my favorite port call by far. There is no pier for the cruise ships, so we had to take a tender in to shore. The first thing we did was rent a couple of bikes and head off for the hills. I loved it, maybe because it felt so.... normal. Like we weren't tourists. The scenery was fantastic, the weather was cool (perfect for biking,) and we pretty much didn't meet anyone else on the trail.
A mountain lake:
We passed by a bear sancuary. We didn't want to pay 20 bucks to get in, so we stopped on the hill above them where we could see them just fine. Sort of.
We also saw this eagle. We think it's an immature bald eagle.


And of course our best wildlife find of the day:
And did I mention that the trail we biked had a LOT of steep hills?? That sign is NOT exaggerating.
Here's a view of our cruise ship from a road we were biking on.


When we were done biking we just had a few minutes to grab a quick lunch, find a Russian doll for Sissy (Sitka is a very Russian city,) return the bikes, and meet up with our group for kayaking! Here I am sporting the fabulous rain gear they outfitted us in:
And here is an orange jellyfish. I really really really didn't want to capsize. Those things were everywhere. It was odd to feel like we were in the mountains, and yet be finding all these sea creatures.



Oh and here's our friend sunstar who we caught and gave a ride on our kayak. He was sssliiiimmmy.



On the way back from kayaking, we saw an eagle pulling his dinner up from the water!
That night was another formal night. I wasn't sure I'd be up to getting all gussied up after our tiring and adventurous day, but it was worth it! If for nothing else, then for this dessert which was fab-u-lous.
I cannot even begin to describe how good the meals were. I'm sure I've never ever eaten so much in a week. My clothes were getting a big snug by this day.
Our nightly guest, this time sporting my sunglasses which I had happened to leave on our bed.