Skagway, Alaska

This old steam engine was on the dock right across from the ship when we woke up in port.Skagway reminded us of an old mining town. It only had a few blocks in town and we had to walk a ways from the pier to get there.
This is one of the main streets in Skagway. They had all the usual jewelry shops as in the other ports but they also had some local shopping that was fun.
Hey they even had a brothel! Limo Man is pointing up to some of the "ladies". No Limo Man you can't go upstairs.....
Skagway's idea of a limousine.
Wow look at the totems! Oh wait, is that Limo Man in there?
A shot of the ship on the way into town.
We took a bus ride about 30 miles out of town to a mushing camp. It was really warm that day and the poor dogs had their tongues a waggin'. We took a ride on one of these sleds. It was pretty fun.
The next iditarod champion!
Limo Man and Homer, new BFF's.
These dogs were so bored that they were just hanging out. Some on top of their huts and some not. It was so funny to see.
This is the meadow below the mushing camp. It was beautiful and there were streams running through it. The wildflowers were really beautiful and Limo Man even brought home some Alaskan rocks.
This skull was pretty eerie. The names on the rocks were all cruise line captains and the dates of their retirements. Okay, there were some other names tagged that weren't captains too. It's amazing how someone could get up there!
The steam engine coming in to port and the tagged rocks. This shot was taken from our balcony.

Juneau, Alaska

One of these days I'll be able to blog like a pro but until then here's a little hint to getting the picture of what our day was like in Juneau. Scroll down to the bottom of this post and then read up. Hopefully it will make more sense to you.
We walked down to a local hangout called the Hanger and had a few drinks and a late lunch. It was starting to get overcast so we got a shot of the 3 ships in port and made our way back to the ship. It was a grand day in Juneau!
SPREAD 'EM MISTER!!!!! That Limo Man loves to kid around.....
This is one of the trams and a shot of the ship (The Carnival Spirit).
There was a nature center at the top of Mount Roberts and Limo Man wanted to get a picture with the Alaskan flag.
Going back down the trail Limo Man found a little hidey hole. Isn't he the cutest?
Going up the hiking trail there came a point where I didn't want to go any further or any higher. I just decided that I'd had enough so I gave the camera to Limo Man.
Lady Baltimore is a bald eagle that was shot in the eye (you're looking at her good eye. Her other one is gone) and she is being cared for by a bald eagle rescue center. She was having a little salmon for lunch when we got this shot.
Here's another shot from the top of Mount Roberts to show just how beautiful Alaska is.
Up at the top of Mount Roberts was a really cool hiking trail. You could actually hike up or hike all the way down to town. We didn't opt for the hike down and decided to go up a little further. This is a carving that we found along the trail. I'm not sure if it was indians that carved it or eskimos.
After our helicopter adventure we decided to take the tram up to Mount Roberts. Limo Man took this shot of the ship from the tram. I couldn't get up from my seat in the tram to look down for some reason.
Check out the lovely moon boots that we had to wear over our hiking boots. These damn things had absolutely no traction whatsoever to them. That's one of the reasons why Limo Man took a spill (other than the fact that the ice was really slick).
This is what I have to look forward to as we get older. Limo Man took a spill on the glacier and cut up his face, hands and shins. He slid down towards one of the crevices in the glacier and I swear I thought he was headed for disaster. Thank God that he finally stopped!
Whoever said that Limo Man doesn't walk on water lied! Here's proof that he does!
Just another shot to show the beautiful blues that can be found in the glaciers.
Here's a glacier that has experienced "calving" which is when huge chunks of the glacier falls away into the water. The color blue is so vivid and beautiful in these glaciers.
This is a shot of one of the glaciers. If you think it looks a little dirty you're right! When the ice moves it takes a whole lot of dirt with it (and pretty much anything that is in it's way).
I was lucky enough to get to sit in one of the front seats on the trip out to the glaciers. It was pretty scary but neat at the same time. There were 3 helicopters that took off one after the other and here's a shot of the other two in front of us.
Today was the day that we got to take the helicopter ride to 4 different glaciers. We took a bus ride out to ERA Helicopter Tours and had to "gear up".
Yep, Limo Man was up at the break of dawn again as we pulled into port in Juneau. That's a Princess Cruise Lines ship in port ahead of us.

Ketchikan Alaska and the Zipline Experience

You can just barely make out the dorsal fin of an orca whale in the middle of the picture. Hey the bus driver wouldn't let us out. She just stopped so that we could get a picture or two.
Oh, there's my cutie now in his "Race for Mace" shirt!
The totem poles in Alaska were so cool. Limo Man is not very tall standing next to them.
Yeah baby, I did it!!! (punch, punch). Hey, we BOTH faced our fears and got 'er done! That cute couple behind me were just married the weekend before in Sacramento. They were so cute!
Since Limo Man's group finished before us he was waiting for us when we were done. This is my group of "zippers" with our guide Maverick in the lead.
We took a 30 minute bus ride up into the forest outside of Ketchikan to the Canopy Zipline Experience. They then put us on this Mercedes rock climbing vehicle that took us up a really steep muddy road to the hut where they gear you up for your experience. And let me tell you it was definitely an experience! Limo Man and I are both afraid of heights and since this excursion was MY idea I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Needless the say I had to make a deal with God the night before. We got separated into 2 different groups when we got there because no one in any of the other groups was willing to be separated. Limo Man was the first to go and he was cursing me the first couple of times he "zipped" but after that he faced his fears and was okay. Me, I was hugging the trees. Hey, we were up really high!
If you look just above the lifeboat on the right and count in to the second and third set of windows that was our balcony. We had 2 chairs and a small table and 2 large lounge chairs. It was so much fun to snoop on the balcony!
This is the main street of Ketchikan. If you can't read the sign it says Welcome to Alaska's first city. "Ketchikan the Salmon capitol of the world". Funny because we found that all they sold was jackets and jewelry, jewelry and jackets. Hmmmm....
Of course I missed pulling into port because I was sleeping but Mr. Night Owl, Limo Man, was up with the dawn. Did he ever go to sleep?

The Race for Mace and a Day at Sea

The sunset on the second night of the cruise was at 10:47pm. Limo Man had a hell of a time sleeping on our journey. Me, not so much of a problem....
We saw all kinds of beautiful waterfalls jutting out of the blue. This is on the way into the inside passage.
The ship actually went through this passage. It looks tiny. Oh, and it was!
What a cute cute smile!
Here's Limo Man out on the balcony with the basket.
On Saturday, June 13th (which was my birthday) Limo Man drove for the Race for Mace. Macy Walker is an adorable little girl who is challenged with Rhett's Syndrome. Her family has the Race for Mace every June to raise money for research for the disease. Limo Man donated his pay for that day to the cause and the Walker's surprised us on our first day of the cruise with a beautiful fruit basket (which included a really nice bottle of wine!), and cheese and crackers. Then later that evening when we went to dinner the waiter surprised us with 4 free drink coupons from the Walker's as well. We took the pictures of the fruit basket and the t-shirt that Bruce got at the event so that we could send them to the Walkers to thank them for their kindness. There's just one catch though, we can't find their address. Hmmmmm....I'll have to get on that so that they know just how much we appreciated their kindness!

Setting Sail on the Carnival Spirit June 24th

We had a great time in Vancouver and Keith our bellman was kind enough to take us over to the cruise terminal in the pouring rain and get us hooked up. Thanks Keith!
I have always wanted to get a picture of the sails at the port of Vancouver from the water. Wow.
Ahhhhhhh.....Does it get any better than this?
It was raining all morning in Vancouver Wednesday morning. After we waited forever in line at customs and security we finally got on the boat and found our suite. This picture is off the balcony at the port of Vancouver.
Of course Limo Man had to get up before the break of dawn to see the Spirit sail into port. It must have been about 6:00am when the ship finally pulled in and Limo man got the first shot!

Vancouver B.C. (June 22-24)

Floatplanes were a big tourist attraction in Vancouver. We took a lot of shots of them taking off, landing and flying around.The building below is part of the new convention center in Vancouver. That's real grass growing on it.
On just about every city corner were these eagle statues. They were all painted differently. They were really cool!
Here's Limo Man in relaxation mode. We were on a walkabout and ended up down at a park just above the marina.We couldn't resist taking a picture of the "chickenhead" down at the marina. She was so funny! Here's a few shots of the local architecture. This hotel was right across the street from the cruise center. This picture was taken from our room at the Terminal City Club.