Wednesday, August 17th, 2016 Day 15: Vancouver, British Columbia – Learning to ride a bike again! Today marked the end of our Alaskan cruise. Since our flight was not till the late evening, we still had a full day to explore Vancouver. Renata and I decided to check out Stanley Park. Stanley Park, is an enormous park in the middle of downtown Vancouver. Since it is a large park, we decided to rent some bikes to travel around the seawall. We had not ridden bicycles in years, so it took a while to get accustomed to riding them. The Vancouver seawall, is the world’s longest uninterrupted waterfront path. Along the way we passed a bunch of totem poles, Brockton Point lighthouse, the ‘girl in a wetsuit’ sculpture, the Lions Gate Bridge, and Siwash Rock. The whole ... read more

Monday, August 15th, 2016 Day 13: Ketchikan, Alaska - the salmon capital of the world! Ketchikan, is our last official stop in Alaska. It rains frequently in Ketchikan and today was no exception. Renata and I decided to spend the day at the nearby Saxman village. Ketchikan has the world’s largest collection of standing totem poles and many of them are found at Saxman Village. Some of the interesting facts we learned about totem poles is that inanimate objects are forbidden on totem poles and all of the figures must represent living beings. There are many different types of totem poles. There are clan crests, mortuary poles, story poles, memorial poles and house posts. There are even shame or ridicule poles. Some of the interesting totem poles that we saw were the Lincoln pole and Seward ... read more

Saturday, August 13th, 2016 Day 11: Skagway, Alaska – Who let the Dogs Out and Just Deserts! Today we stopped in Skagway, Alaska the gateway to the Yukon. Skagway, sprang to life in 1897 during the Klondike gold rush. The famous White Pass and Yukon route railway was built in 1900 to move gold and supplies between Skagway and Whitehorse, Yukon and beyond. The train today is used as a seasonal attraction for visitors providing the history of the gold rush between Skagway, Alaska and Bennet, British Columbia. Since the train ride is quite expensive, Renata and I decided to take a coach tour instead. We traveled along the scenic Klondike Highway to the Yukon, passing several waterfalls, the White Pass summit, and picturesque lakes. In the Yukon at Caribou Crossing, we had a delicious BBQ ... read more

Thursday. August 11th, 2016 Day 9: Inside Passage, Alaska – Shipping away! On this day at sea, we took advantage of the many activities on board the ship. We witnessed a culinary show in the Culinary Arts Center, experienced our first live art auction, and watched Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for movie night. At the culinary show with Chef Estovas, we learned to make salmon tartar and salmon with shimp scampi. That’s a lot of Salmon! During the Art Auction, Renata won a painting and Spa treatment. Lucky her! To end off the night we watched the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. We heard bad reviews for the film and we would have to agree. The film was all over the place with no real reason for Batman to despise Superman. Oh ... read more

Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 Day 7: Vancouver, British Columbia - This Bridge is making me dizzy! Today, my sister, Renata and I decided to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a 140 meter long suspension bridge that crosses the Capilano River. Definitely, not for those afraid of heights! When we first arrived at Capilano we were greeting by a large collection of totem poles including a longhouse and a welcome totem pole. We learned about its unique history by taking a history tour. Did you know that Capilano is the anglicized name of Kai’palano, which means “beautiful river”? Kia’palano, was also the name of a great Squamish Chief who lived in the area during the early 1800s. After the history tour it was time to cross the bridge. As the bridge ... read more