Day 17 – Ketichan

The Salmon capital of the world they say.  Graham and I went on the same excursion this time, to the Wildlife Sanctuary and Eagle Centre. I got some amazing Eagle photos, and one of a salmon jumping out of the water and also an owl in captivity, as well as one eagle. Both are injured and unable to fly. We also met an Indian woodcarver who makes Totem Poles.

There was this unusual street built along a creek called… wait for it… Creek Street.  It was originally a street of bordellos shifted to the other side of the creek so it was separated from the town. Today it’s a street lined with souvenir shops and galleries.

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Day 16 – Glacier Bay National Park

What a beautiful place to visit. So tranquil and peaceful.  We witnessed several calving tidewater glaciers where chunks fell away from the glaciers.  I managed to get many photos and am sharing some of them here with you. There were a couple of national park rangers that boarded the ship too, to teach us about the animal life in this area.

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Day 15 – Skagway

Well, we’ve been on the cruise ship 3 days now.  Internet connection working (and pricey) but very slow and intermittent so won’t try to load any new pics for now.  The first day was entirely at sea and we’ve seen the most amazing blue icebergs in the water and lots of glaciers and some sea lions that were spotted and saw one whale in the distance.

Today we’re in Skagway and I’ve just returned from a train trip that takes you 3,000 feet up high, some amazing scenery, with commentary on the history of the area.  Graham’s just left to go kayaking so I can’t wait to hear how that went for him.  The mountain bike ride got cancelled so he chose to go kayaking instead.  It is very cold here so hope he doesn’t get too wet but apparently they provide suitable gear.  Not sure if he’ll manage any pics this time round though.

Click on the image to see what I saw that day. Graham was unable to take photos – too difficult to manage a kayak and the camera he said.

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Day 14 – Juneau

We arrived in Juneau early afternoon and then disembarked to go on excursions.

Graham and I elected to do separate excursions.  He chose more adventurous ones than I did and while he went Glacier trekking I went on a Whale Watch and got to see a mum and baby whale, several sea lions, some porpoises and eagles.

Click on each image below to see some of what Graham and I saw on our respective excursions.

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Day 13 – The Inside Passage

Loved the scenery along the way. We had a stateroom with a verandah and I was able to take snaps along the way.  It was a big ship to us, but later found it small compared to some others we saw.  We settled in quite quickly to this life on the sea and enjoyed it.

One special thing did happen.  There is an S bend and another ship was making its way through so we couldn’t. We had to wait. We were told by the Tour Guide on the ship that this was a very special occasion to witness and she’d never seen it before.  She’d only heard of it happening once or twice. So I was able to take pictures of the other ship as it passed by us.

The scenery was quite beautiful and I hope you like what you see here.

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Day Twelve – On the boat!

We left the Waterfront Hotel today to join the Volendam to go on our cruise.  So I’ve snapped a number of images from the port and out on the bay as we left Vancouver.  There’s even a bit of silliness where I got Graham to pose in a familiar stance.

We had a wonderful time exploring all the decks – never having been on a cruise ship before.  Click on the image below.  Enjoy!

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Off on a cruise tomorrow!

We leave on the cruise ship tomorrow for Glacier Bay and Alaska and are looking forward to all the sights we’ve been promised we’ll see.  This coming week should be more relaxing – we get to unpack and settle into our state room for 7 days, instead of having to repack and move off to the next destination each morning. Means we might get a sleep in now and then too.

Mixed feelings really. I am missing home and this will be our longest holiday in a long time.  But also am enjoying our trip so much and this next leg of our tour is the last leg.  Although I’ve been looking forward to the cruise because it will also mean being able to totally relax it also means we’ll be heading back home soon too.

We have friends meeting us on the day we dock back into Vancouver and we’ll spend 2 days and 1 night with them before boarding the plane to come back home.

Today we went on a tour of Stanley Park and Granville Island and then were free to wander at leisure in the afternoon so Graham and I walked along the marina and shore of Vancouver to Stanley Park, and then back again. Watched heaps of seaplanes land and take off (every 60 seconds or so it seemed) and saw a couple of blue herons, many Canadian Geese, lots of inter sting looking boats, a team of row boats practicing in the waters and so on.

This might be the last post for a week – depending on what internet access is like on the ship.  I’ve been told it is quite expensive so will have to wait and see.  Otherwise I’ll catch up with you all probably on our return home.

In the meantime, enjoy these pics by clicking on the image below.  I expect this one will play with your head a bit. Can you figure out how it was done?  And yes, the water was running from the tap to the can. We saw it at Granville Island in a store dedicated to gardening ornaments.

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Days Ten & Eleven – Now in Vancouver

After a gorgeous 2 days on the Rocky Mountaineer, we have arrived back in Vancouver for a 2 night stay.  We’ll then board a Holland America ship to cruise up Glacier Bay and back.

I’ve taken tons of photos (so, what else is new?) but haven’t had time to go through them all yet.  I have to resize them before uploading them.  But here’s a few for you to see (click on the images below).

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Addendum:  Now had time at home so have added to the group above.

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Day Nine – Kamloops

I noticed in many of the towns we passed that hanging flower pots were common – both to towns themselves and to private homes.

The images below are from Jaspert Park Lodge and on the journey to Kamloops.

The area we passed through near Kamloops seemed rather arid, although it had the large Thompson River nearby.  It was mainly a town for the railway with heaps of yards. We passed amazing scenery on the way here in the coach.

It was here we joined the Rocky Mountaineer for a two-day journey by train. The train had a carriage with a dome top – it was a double decker. The bottom was the dining carriage and the upper deck for viewing the scenery.

Some of these photos were taken through the train windows so may have a bit of glare or reflection on them.

The Rocky Mountaineer

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Day Eight – Jasper

More beautiful scenery.  And we saw some mountain goats and big-horned sheep.  We also stopped at the Columbia icefield and took a ride on a huge bus with large wheels called the Ice Explorer.  We walked on the Glacier. We visited Falls in the afternoon and then arrived at The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge which had cabins and a large lake.  Some of the water bird photos are from that lake.  We also saw the amazing blue dragonfly while walking around that lake.

Click on the image for more photos.

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