September 1st found us heading out of the Port of Vancouver on our way to a 7 day, one-way Alaska cruise. (courtesy of my Mom) . As with the Panama cruise she took us on in 2014, the same group of 9 of us went. My Mom, sisters, Susann, Julie myself and brother Mark, along with our spouses and my niece. A big party type of group. Look out......LOTS of pictures. I'll break up the cruise into a few posts to give you time to go to the bathroom!!
It started out with a lovely breakfast right across the street from our apartment at the
Hillside Bakery. Our friends, Bob & Danna, graciously offered to drive us from
White Rock to the dock in downtown Vancouver.
Good grief these ships are huge when you get beside them.....
Early walk around the ship waiting for everyone to board.
What a beautiful city Vancouver is!!
Just about to go under the Lions Gate bridge. Always a highlight for me!
Gliding past the edge of Stanley Park....
Getting ready for one of the formal night dinners on the first night.
Doug, Nadyne (but you can all call her Mom) and myself.
Really, I know she is short but she really is my Mom!!!
INTRODUCING "THE FAMILY"...
Nadyne (a.k.a. Mom)
The lovely duo of my niece, Lacey & my sister (her Mom) Susann
Sister Julie and hubby Martin
My sister-in-law Carmen and my brother Mark (we let him come along cuz
we love her so much)....Just kidding Mark!! (sort of....)
And us two scaly-wags....
We were overnight up to Ketchikan which was our first stop. Doug, my brother Mark and my Mom went salmon fishing. They never caught anything. That's okay cuz there is lots of food on the ship. My brother says that's why it's called "fishing" not necessarily "catching". Ha ha. These pictures following were all from Ketchikan. While Doug fished some of us walked around town.
Notice the green sticker on the bottom right? It's Mile 0. that's from Key West FL. Most southerly point in the USA. We have one from our big US trip in 2014. You can only get them in Key West so it was cool to see one here in Alaska.
Remember these?? This one still works!!
This one is for my Uncle Alan who served as a doctor in Vietnam.
Creek Street is an interesting area that was, in the old days, strictly full of brothels. Super cool little houses that were basically surrounded by walkways above the small tidal area......
All us tourists converge on this little town and there are actually people just going about their own business. It must be strange to live in these towns, especially this one as it is not accessible by road. Only barge. The roads go about 30 miles out on
either side of the town and then that is it.
Imagine 4 or 5 of these behemoths arriving virtually at the same time!!!
This was our ship, the Star Princess.
We all had balconies (thanks again, Mom).
Relaxing out waiting to "cast-off" from Ketchikan.
Nancy, Julie, Mom, Susann & Carmen
Notice the weather???
It would be like this for virtually EVERY day of this cruise.
A totally unheard of occurrence.
This is from our balcony. This way, I can keep an eye on the bridge.
Doug and Mark....not sure where Martin was!
We all trudged up to the upper rear of the ship to play shuffleboard,
which was a family tradition on our Panama cruise.
Can you believe the water?????
Spectacular....
Looking out our dining room window. No photo shopping done.
I am not nearly smart enough to know how to do that. Just a beautiful sunset.
Okay, that's the end of the first "port-o-call"
See you in Juneau.....
Peace.....
Thought for the day: Good grief we are lucky......
