Alaskan Wilderness
What a day!! We have reached Skagway - a village of 800 citizens which swells to 1200 in the season and has 2,500 tourists a day from the cruise ships. However when we first set foot on land it was so early we could Lake photos of this frontier town. We had two guide, called appropriately Cowboy and Don, (ours was a small group of 13), who took us to the station to catch the White Pass and Yukon Railway which goes up the mountains to 
Frasier a settlement of 20 people up the mountains for 3000 feet. Fantastic views as we climbed up the sides of mountains, hung over raging gorges, and over wooden trestle bridges, through tunnels all built with great hardship, misery and death of both man and horse in 1898 to serve the Klondike goldrush. After this magnificent ride, Cowboy and Don took us to the kayak spot, and we had a magical hour's kayaking on Lake Bernard, a glacial lake 3000' up. The sun shone, the water was dark and mysterious and still, reflections were stunning, a magic moment on both our lives and one not to be forgotten - we felt like White Cloud and Running Feather. After lunch we went on a supposed Wildlife Tour - the only disappointment in our whole holiday - so I won't go into that. Well, sadly, that's it for this holiday of a lifetime. Just resting on board and preparing to come home.
This will be our last blog as we now have two days cruising before we catch the plane home - boo hoo!!!!
Ashore in Alaska
After a day sailing through the Inside Passage we watched a brilliant dance show called "Jump Jive and Wail" with big band and tremendous dancers and athletes. We saw the sun go down and then went to bed. We woke up to find the port of Ketchican right outside our window and couldn't wait to hit down-town 
and to take our first walk on Alaskan soil. We caught a tour to the Saxman native village and experienced indiginous culture, carvings and dance. When they asked for volunteers for the final dance - who do you think was first on the stage???? This show was follw
ed by a walk through the old red light district and then onto the "Old Lumberjack Show" this was huge fun with half the crowd supporting a US team and our half supporting a dumb Canadian team. Boy were they strong and talented and our"dumb" team eventualy won the contest. We ran back to the ship only to join a 2 mile long queue as everyone else left boarding to the last moment
Embarcation Day
A slow awakening this morning and a casual breakfast on the top (35th) floor of the hotel. We took a cab to the 
Holy Rosary Cathederal for mass, taken by a very dynamic African who was most entertaining but we didn't understand a word he said. We thought it might improve when a Canadian lady did the reading, but no, her accent was just as bad. The church bells were in full swing as there happened to be a visiting bellringers conference and there were plenty of volunteers to try them out. A leisurely work back to the hotel through the shopping areas of 
Vancouver with plenty of eccentrics about for a sunday morning walk. We then had to go through the American Homeland Security measures before we could even think of getting onto the boat. We were finger-printed and photographed but eventually allowed on board the Norwegian Wind. A brilliant buffet lunch was waiting for us and our bags were all in our stateroom. Let the adventure begin.......
Laid-back Victoria
What a lovely day, we woke to the sounds of the Inner Harbour of Victoria and we had no commitments until 6:00 pm, the day was ours, all to ourselves. Again the weather was perfect with a day more like Australia than our impression of Canada, clear blue sky and a max of 29. We walked and crawled all over the centre of the town finishing up with a lovely seafood meal overlooking the harbour. There was a meet of classic wooden boat for the long weekend (Labour Day) and we took lots of photo's for Geoff. We then had a tour of the harbour in a little power boat that ran tours for about 12 people at a time but we were the only couple so we had the tour all to ourselves. It was now time for our 6:00pm appointment with a horse drawn carriage around the old town of Victoria, very lovely and very relaxing. By the way, Isabel, his name was Bud. We finished the day with a swim and hot spa at the hotel. Today was "Back to Vancouver" A drive to the north of Victoria to the ferry terminal and a smooth 11/2 Hr crossing back to the mainland. A short stop at a fish hatchery before we got off the coach (for the last time) for a visit to a suspension bridge and a beautiful walk arround some giant trees. Terry has set herself a personal goal to walk the bridge and she did so with no problems - -well done!!!! We are now exhausted and are heading off to our room before the excitement of tomorrow's cruise on the Norwegian Wind
Sweet Georgia Strait
Sweet Georgia Strait refers to the Straits of Georgia betweenVancouver(the financial centre of BC) and Victoria (the Provincial capital of BC) which is on
Vancouver Island. We drove down from Whistler to put the bus on the ferry for the 90 min sail to Victoria. The weather is still ideal with clear sunny skies and maximums in the low 20's. The ferry ride was wonderful with lots of islands cov
ered in fir trees, the odd sail boat and kayak. We then visited the Butchart Gardens which werre very nice but not really our thing, but all other members of our tour loved it. We are staying at a fabulous hotel adjacent to the inner harbour and as soon as I can master this computer I will post photo's. - done it!! The first one is on the ferry then at the Gardens and finally outside of our bedroom window.
What a day!! We have reached Skagway - a village of 800 citizens which swells to 1200 in the season and has 2,500 tourists a day from the cruise ships. However when we first set foot on land it was so early we could Lake photos of this frontier town. We had two guide, called appropriately Cowboy and Don, (ours was a small group of 13), who took us to the station to catch the White Pass and Yukon Railway which goes up the mountains to 
Frasier a settlement of 20 people up the mountains for 3000 feet. Fantastic views as we climbed up the sides of mountains, hung over raging gorges, and over wooden trestle bridges, through tunnels all built with great hardship, misery and death of both man and horse in 1898 to serve the Klondike goldrush. After this magnificent ride, Cowboy and Don took us to the kayak spot, and we had a magical hour's kayaking on Lake Bernard, a glacial lake 3000' up. The sun shone, the water was dark and mysterious and still, reflections were stunning, a magic moment on both our lives and one not to be forgotten - we felt like White Cloud and Running Feather. After lunch we went on a supposed Wildlife Tour - the only disappointment in our whole holiday - so I won't go into that. Well, sadly, that's it for this holiday of a lifetime. Just resting on board and preparing to come home.
