We were able to sleep a little later this morning since we did not arrive in Ketchikan until 10:00. While coming into Ketchikan we saw many float planes coming and going.
Once we debarked we walked around town. It is larger than Skagway and Juneau. Well, the shopping area around the pier is larger. About three blocks from the ship is Creek Street.
It was the red light district when the town was first settled. All the 'buildings' are still standing, but are used for a different purpose now. One building is a museum honoring "Dolly's Home".
In each of the towns we visited there were jewelry stores EVERYWHERE. I have never seen so many. We did a lot of looking, but no buying.
When we returned to the ship we decided to eat in the Horizon Room. As we walked in we were told to sanitize our hands. We always do that anyway, but this time we were handed our plates. At each food section, a server was standing to place the food on our plates. We knew something different was going on. Later in the afternon the Captain came on the intercom and said we were having a problem with Novovirus. It seems there is a rash of gastro problems. He asked everyone to wash their hands often. So far, Linwood and I have not had any symtoms.
Day 11, Sunday, May 30
We slept in this morning and when we got up we could not see land anywhere. the Pacific Ocean was somewhat rough. Today was the first day the ship was rocking. It was also raining when we went to eat lunch. After lunch we walked around and looked at two photos that were taken when we left the ship in Juneau and Ketchikan. We decided not to purchase those photos. We also went to see the library on the ship. It is a pretty panelled room. Activities were still going on all day but we did not attend any today. Our luggage has to be outside the door of our stateroom by 10:00 tonight. We are packed and ready for our steward to come and get them.
Day 12, Monday, May 31
Today when we woke up it was raining hard. All we had to do was get dressed and put all the left over items into the backpack. We did go up and eat breakfast.
We left the ship around 8:45 a.m. The cruiseline is so organized. It did not take us long to go through security and customs. We got a cab to take us to our hotel in Vancouver. After checking in we went across the street to a small diner. We had hamburgers and they were great. We are tired of "fancy food."
We took a tour of Vancouver. It is a pretty city and very clean. It is a very busy city with lots tall buildings. It is also a very diverse city. On the corner across from our hotel is a 'Peep Show" for $0.25. Starbucks are everywhere even across the corner from each other. I guess they want to get your business coming and going. There are food markets on every block. It reminds me of the neighborhood stores I have seen in the movies about New York. It seems there are flower shops everywhere with flowers on the curbs. I thought about Ashley when I saw them. All of our Vancouver pictures will be in the Shutterfly album.
Day 13, Tuesday, June 1
This morning we started with a tour bus ride at 8:00 a.m. The tour took us to Victoria Island. The ride to the BC Ferry was about 45 minutes. The ferry was huge. Our bus was parked on deck 2. There was food on Deck 5 and Deck 6 so of course we went to that level. The trip across took 1.5 hours. We saw a pod of Orca whales, they were not very large. Victoria Island is the capitol of British Columbia and very pretty. We were each given a pass to one of four museums. We knew we were going to be there for only three hours so we decided to go to the Miniature Museum. It was okay but I am glad we had not paid extra for it. We did see a beautiful lawn where about 50 women were dressed all in white. They were playing lawn bowling. We enjoyed watching them. They were so serious about it.
At 3:30 we left the harbour to go to The Butchart Gardens. It is 55 acres of the most beautiful flowers.
I never saw a weed anywhere. I wish Mother and Daddy could have seen this because they would have loved it. Please see the rest of the flowers on our Shutterfly email. We did not get back to our hotel until 9:30 pm.Tomorrow we will be leaving here for home. We have enjoyed every tour, every adventure, every person we met and most of the food. I tried several things that were new to me. Linwood was much better at that than I was. We are ready for home!!!!
Wednesday, June 2
Today we were supposed to get home, but our plane was late getting leaving Vancouver due to mechanical problems. We missed our plane in Minnapolis so we ended up staying at the Mall of America without any luggage except our medicine. We finally got to b'ham on Thursday around 11:30 and Bobby was waiting for us.. The only problem was that one of our pieces of luggage had gone to Atlanta. It arrived at 1:00 and after we stopped for a quick fix at my dentist in b'ham we were on our way home. Please take the time to look at our pictures. This is the last update until our next trip.
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