Vancouver

They started disembarking the boat at 7:30, so we were up bright and early. We did not actually disembark until after 10. One fantastic thing about Canada (and the Bahamas, in fact) is that U.S. customs is actually located on the Canadian side. This is just one of the reasons I love Canada.

So, once we'd gotten our bags and were leaving the cruise terminal, we saw that the taxi line was like 2 hours long, so we walked over to the tourism desk and signed up for a city tour. These people know what they're doing - they loaded our bags into a van along with another couple, drove us around the city for about three hours, then dropped us off at our hotel. It was great! Unfortunately, our guide Raphael was not that great. He was from Argentina, and he said he had been living in Vancouver for 18 years, but his accent was so strong he was very difficult to understand, and he didn't seem to know all that much about the city.

In any case, he drove us through Chinatown where we saw the Guiness Book of World Records holder for "Narrowest Office Building" at a little more than three feet deep. He took us to Gastown which is the old downtown Vancouver where there is a large clock that runs on steam. It wasn't working the day we were there - Raphael said they have to send someone to fix it all the time because the steam works are not very efficient.

Next, he took us to Stanley Park which was really nice and named after Lord Stanley, the guy the Stanley Cup is named after.

Next we went to Granville Island which is kind of a boardwalk on the pier with a huge market and tons of artisan's workshops. He drove us through the main shopping district and also the really fancy part of town with all the 5 million dollar homes, then dropped us off at our hotel.

All in all I have a great impression of Vancouver. It was pretty and clean and seemed like there was tons of stuff to do. I'd love to go back! We tried to get a tour of the Battlestar Galactica set - Jon called the Vancouver Film Studio, and asked if they filmed the show there, and the girl on the other line said something like, "I'm not at liberty to disclose that information." So Jon said, "Well, I'm not trying to expose any big secrets; I'd just like a tour of the set." The girl said the studio did not offer public tours. So, I'm guess that is where the show is filmed since she acted like that. Too bad!

That night, as is our tradition when we visit Canada, we went to the movies. We saw "Sex and the City." I liked it more than I thought I would. It was funny! Although I thought they either needed to integrate Jennifer Hudson's character more into the movie or they needed to cut her out. I couldn't figure out why she was even in it, and she never interacted with anyone but Carrie which made her plotline kind of stick out instead of being part of the main plotline. Maybe it was written differently, and they had to edit a bunch out. I don't know. But that was my biggest problem with the movie. 3 out of 5 stars - no need to see on the big screen, but worth watching if you're a fan of the show.

The Inside Passage

The last day on the cruise, we sailed the Inside Passage all the way down the Canadian Coast to Vancouver. It was rainy pretty much all day, but that didn't keep the wildlife from surfacing! We saw a humpback whale and her calf, and we actually saw killer whales jumping out of the water! They were too quick for me to get a photo - you'll just have to take my word for it that we saw them. It was pretty neat.

To pass the time, Jon and I watched "Lars and the Real Girl" in our room. I had heard that it was funny from several people, and it was advertised as a sort of off-the-wall romantic comedy. Except it was neither funny nor romantic. It was about a guy with mental illness. The only way the movie could be funny is if you were laughing AT him, which I was not inclined to do. I just felt sad for him. The best part of the movie is a speech Lars' sister-in-law makes about how they all accept his delusions and go along with them because they love him. I think that's really what the movie was about - how this community accepted Lars even though he was not like them, and they did everything they could to make him feel loved despite his mental illness. AND, another point in its favor is that it is one of the very few movies in recent history that portrays the clergyman as a pretty good guy. No pedophilia or excessive greed. He was just an all around nice person. So, I give "Lars and the Real Girl" 2 out of 5 stars mostly because of its faulty advertising.

Ketchikan, Alaska

Once again, we had no organized excursions at this port. We did step off the ship, but little did we know we were wandering into the biggest tourist trap I have ever seen! We only walked around for about 30 minutes, then went back to our ship. My dad went to the lumberjack show which had a really cheesy description in the excursion book, but he said it was great. They did a bunch of carvings and log rolling, and he said it was really entertaining. So, a word to the wise for you guys who may take a cruise to Alaska in the future - I would sign up for the lumberjack show in Ketchikan if I were you. Apparently it's worth it.

We only took one picture of the town which is too bad because on the way into town, it was float plane central. It was pretty cool to watch the planes taking off and landing, then rolling up onto the land runway. I had never seen anything like that before. It was cool! But no pictures. Boo.

Caulifower Zucchini Soup Followed By Salmon with Spinach Salad and Corn

Skagway, Alaska

Dog Sledding Day! We got up super early for our helicopter/dog sled excursion only to discover it had been cancelled due to bad weather up on the glacier. Luckily for us, they rescheduled us for later in the day. In the meantime, we wandered around Skagway which only exists because of the Yukon Gold Rush and is probably the town which has most preserved its historical look. Of course, it only exists today to cater to tourists, so it was pretty chatchka, but done in a much more charming way.

Later that morning, we caught our helicopter. I was really scared of it, but as soon as we lifted off, I decided I like helicopters waaaaay better than airplanes. You can barely feel any movement at all in the helicopter - if I couldn't see out the window that we were off the ground, I would never have known that we had taken off. Same with landing. Plus you can see EVERYTHING! There were 6 people in the helicopter plus the pilot, and Jonathan and I somehow scored the shotgun seats, so we got a great view! No pictures, though. I didn't want to be obnoxious and elbow the pilot or something while I was taking a shot.

When we got to the dog camp, there were about 280 dogs who all started barking madly when they saw us. Apparently they recognize the stylish orange safety vests we all had to wear, and they know when people in vests come, they get to run! They were so cute and excited!

They had two sleds hooked together, so the dogs were pulling three people plus the musher. Our musher was named Joe, and he was from Missouri. The person on the back sled got to stand up like they were driving and work the brake. Joe stood on the front sled and yelled commands at the dogs. I "drove" first. It was soooo fun! The dogs couldn't wait to get started and they did not want to stop! When we stopped, I had to stand on the brake with both feet to keep them from running away again!

Once we had gone around the trail, Joe took us over to the puppy pen. This is Chuck Norris. Chuck's a girl. But I bet she could still kick someone's ass.

Baked Eggplant and Chicken with Green Beans and Artichoke Salad

Juneau, Alaska

Juneau was really pretty. Of course, the place where we ported was super touristy, but you could totally tell there was a real city in there if you only had the stamina to walk to it - which we didn't. The most beautiful mountain was right next to the city, and it had a waterfall all the way from the snow-capped part to the lowest part you could see. I took a ton of pictures of it, and I actually said, "Good-bye, beautiful mountain!" when we were leaving.

We also saw a bald eagle that landed on this green building. He would fly away for a while, but he always came back!

An interesting fact about Juneau is that it is inaccessible by road from other cities in Alaska. If you want to go to Juneau, you have to either fly or sail. So weird! And it's the capital of Alaska! And you can't even drive there!

That evening, my whole family went on a whale-watching tour.

We saw several humpback whales, and that's another thing I can cross off my "List of Things To Do Before I Die." I loved it!

Homemade Pate (From Scratch!)

Sitka, Alaska

On the cruise's 2nd day, we ported in Sitka which doesn't have a deep enough harbor for the cruise ships, so we all had to pile into the lifeboats and tender to shore. I was excited about this port because Sitka was a Russian colony, not a US colony, and I figured I would learn a little something something while I was there. I was pretty wrong. It was full of jewelry and chatchki shops (hey - is that a Russian word?). I wanted to go to the Orthodox Cathedral, but they CHARGED YOU TO GO TO CHURCH! It was $2 just to get in the door. Considering I am morally and religiously opposed to charging people for walking in church doors, I skipped it. My brother made a comment about how I should have gone and overturned all the tables. I should have. I could have brought a whip and screamed, "You vipers' brood!" That would have been awesome. The Russian Orthodox church in Nice also charges. What's the deal, Russian Orthodoxy? Why so greedy?

Anyway, I was pretty disappointed in the town. I only took two pictures: one of our boat from the shore, and one of Jonathan in front of the "Pioneer's Home." I don't really even know what that is, but it's on all the postcards. Ha! It might have been better if we had signed up for an organized excursion at this port. Ah, well. We did see like 20 bald eagles just flying around, though, which was very cool.