Monday, June 9, 2008

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures


Marjorie Glacier













Dall's Porposie

Bald Eagles
Bear in Pursuit of the goat in the next photo. (He didn't get him.)

Mountain Goat on a cliff
Orca Whales

Mendenhall Glacier














Us in front of Mendenhall Glacier



Winter Wonderland from the White Pass Railroad Train

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Ketchikan -- Monday, May 11





The Rain Forest

We finally hit land today and had a little scare -- yesterday we got a message from the tour desk that our shore excursion had been cancelled. We were the only ones to sign up for that particular tour, but luckily, there were other ones to choose from and we still got to go ZIP LINING. I had been looking forward to this since we picked it out in January.

It was cold and rainy all day, but we were prepared! We brought all the right warm rain gear to have a great time. The only thing we didn't have were good waterproof gloves, so we stopped at one of the stores right at the docks and picked up a really good pair for each of us -- they were great! And we were glad to have them.

Then, we were off. We travelled to the location where we got all geared up and then had a little test of the braking system (our hands) we were off. We had a great time, got soaking wet and left with smiles on our faces.

Probably the worst part of the day was the fact that we had to wait in a HUGE line, in the rain to get back on the ship. Luckily, we were ready for it. We had our rain gear on and had an umbrella to hover under. I felt a little sorry for some of the people who were definitely not prepared for the rain.

When we got back on board, we went to the room to dry out and get ready to have some fun that evening. We went to a lecture by the ship's Naturalist about whales and then got dinner and went to another show in the theater. This show was not quite as good as the night before. Oh well.






Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Sailing -- Sunday, May 10



Happy Mother's Day!

We both felt so bad that we had no way of reaching our Moms today. We sent off a quick email and promised ourselves we'd call as soon as we hit land. Today was spent cruising as well. We did a lot more exploring of the ship today, and also had fun doing a few of the things the ship's crew had planned. We went to an Art Auction and actually bought something. We purchased a small Tigger & Pooh piece that we hope use in a future nursery. It was our first formal night of the cruise, and we got all dressed up and enjoyed dinner in the Savoy Dining Room, then went to the ship's show -- Do You Wanna Dance?

Boarding -- Saturday, May 9


Saturday, May 9, 2008
Today, we got up and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We had wanted to go to a crepe place we saw around the corner the day before, but they were closed on the weekends. We both had french toast, and boy was it good! Then we went and packed up our bags, put them in storage and headed over to the cruise ship docks to see what we were getting ourselves into. It was still too early to board. We found our ship and saw that people were starting to board, so we decided to head back, grab the bags and a taxi and get in line. We sure were glad we did, because it was a long wait. (2-1/2 hours) Luckily, only two ships were leaving that day. They can have up to five leaving at the same time! And everyone goes through the same processing line. Talk about hearding cattle. Customs was the hold-up from what we could tell. We were happy we were US citizens. Some of the non-US and non-Canadian citizens were waiting for HOURS and HOURS. You know, we sure were glad we brought our passports. We had heard that we wouldn't need them because the date for needing them to enter Canada and Mexico had changed, but we did need them. Thank goodness.
Once we got on board, we decided that we needed to figure out where to eat. Our luggage had not been delivered yet, so why not? We couldn't really unpack without our luggage. We found the infamous buffet and had a bite -- we had skipped lunch, thinking we'd eat soon enough. It wouldn't take too long in line. HA! In our ship exploring, we found the pizza station, so we had some pizza too. Then, we decided that we needed to go back to the buffet again. As we were finishing up our 3rd "meal" between 2:30 and 7:30, we agreed that we would do better to stay on a normal schedule for eating. But, that doesn't mean we stayed on a normal calorie count. That night was just cruising and settling in.

Vancouver -- Friday, May 9, 2008

Our trip started out very early (left the house at 6:15 AM) on Friday, May 9. We were picked up by a limo and taken to the airport. That was pretty cool -- yes quite the extravagance, but you only go on a honeymoon once, right? Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures of Chris' first time in a limo.

We flew from Denver to Vancouver. On the way from the airport to the hotel, it was very evident that Vancouver gets a lot more rain than we do in Denver. Everything was in bloom, and it was all very beautiful. We stopped by our hotel to get checked in and then we headed out to explore. We walked all around. We went to Stanley Park for most of the afternoon. We walked through the garden areas and then along the waterfront. We also walked through the center of the park, which was mostly natural -- with lots of tall trees.

Chris found this gas station in the middle of the harbor quite interesting. It was mainly for the float planes and tug boats, from what we could tell. This photo was taken from our hotel window. We stayed at the Marriott on the 28th floor. We had a great view, and luckily, we had some good days to enjoy it. Friday was a beautiful day to walk around.

Photos -- Finally

Well, since I can't figure out how to post photos from beginning to end (new photos post at the top of each entry), I'm going to work on this little by little -- day by day of our trip. Check back often. I hope to get a few days done each day.