Days 3 & 4 - Sea Day and Ketchikan

After spending just about 24 hours in Vancouver, we headed over to the cruise ship terminal so we could board the boat, the Statendam by Holland America Line. Here is our boat, the Stately Statendam, as the lady on the intercom would call it daily.

The line to go through customs and security was very long. After that, we were able to get on the boat and take our bags to our stateroom. Luckily, the rest of our bags had already arrived ahead of us. We dropped everything off and went about the ship to explore a little bit before we had to go to the lifeboat practice. We grabbed a quick snack at the Lido Restaurant; the ship's Golden Corral-like buffet. The food there was just OK (we much preferred to eat in the nicer dining room). After eating a snack, we had to go to the lifeboat practice. That took awhile because people had to find their correct lifeboat station and then we had to learn how to put on our life jackets.

After that, we went around the ship a bit more to explore and see what was there. We found the shops, the casino, the dining room, the gym, the showroom (where all of the nightly entertainment shows are), the movie theater, the art gallery and the pool to name just a few places. I even found the laundry room. After looking around for an hour or two, we decided to get ready for supper. The boat was still in Vancouver and was not able to leave at its scheduled time because someone on the boat was sick and they had to send another boat out to take this person off and take them to the hospital. So, we headed to eat while enjoying a view of the Vancouver bay. The dining room was nice, although the service was pretty slow. It took about 2 hours to be served and eat our meal. After we ate, we headed to the show. Once we sat down in our seats, someone asked if we wanted to be a part of the show. We said sure, not really sure of what we were getting ourselves into. It turned out to be a really fun contest in which we raced another couple in making a bed and also creating a towel animal (a cruise ship staple). We ended up making a snake! We tied the other couple and we each won a book about how to make different kinds of animals out of towels. You might be the lucky recipient of one next time you visit us.




After the show we went and got some sleep because we hadn't gotten too much the past few nights due to our travel schedule. The next day, which was a sea day, we participated in many on board activities including a tour of the main ship kitchen. Below is just a small part of the kitchen.

We also got to "sea" many cool animals and shapes made out of bread, such as this lobster.



We also got to attend a cooking show where the chef cooked up some salmon. There were also some seminars relating to shopping in the ports, which were not that helpful. Although the speaker did give us some coupons so we could get some free earrings and necklaces from some of the jewelry stores.

Then we prepared for our first port stop in Ketchikan, Alaska, which was the following day (new entry #102 on the list).


We had an exciting excursion booked on the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour.



It was a boat that used to be on Deadliest Catch, named the Aleutian Ballad, but was then converted to a boat for passengers (i.e. tourists). They took us out on the boat and showed us how to catch bait fish for the crab pots. They also showed us how to pull up a crab pot on to the boat. This first pot had king crab (part of #86) in it. Here you can check out a nice Wikipedia article relating to fishing for king crab in Alaska.

The fishermen held up the crab and we all got to "pose" with it. It's pinchers were a little too strong for us to be trusted to hold it ourselves. ;)

After the king crab, they pulled up another pot with Opilio crab (part of #86). These crabs do not have the same bumpy and rough shells that the king crab do. They also do not have such large pinchers, so we were able to hold these ourselves.

After looking at and learning about the crabs, we also got to see octopus, sea stars and various kinds of fish that live in Alaskan waters. Then, we got to our favorite part of the tour. There is a small island off of the coast of Ketchikan that is owned by Natives. The waters around this island are also owned by the Natives as well, so in this area, Alaskan state regulations do not apply. Usually, in Alaska, feeding eagles is illegal. However, the fishing boat company has entered into a joint venture with the Natives and we were able to throw pieces of fish from the boat and feed the eagles. It was pretty impressive; there were about 30 eagles flying around our boat picking up the fish out of the water.

After we saw the eagles and all of the other animals, we headed back in to shore. The tour was great and we were planning to walk around Ketchikan for the rest of the day and explore Alaska's first canning city. We went to the museum that was attached to the local library and we got to learn about the city's history. Ketchikan has a rich Native Alaskan history too. Members of the Tlingit tribe lived here. There were also many great totem poles which were restored to their original condition.
After a long and busy day, we headed back to the boat to get cleaned up for supper. We took one last picture of our boat in the port of Ketchikan, Alaska's First City and the Salmon Capital of the World.

Rebekah

Vancouver - Day 1 & 2

We left Anchorage on a 1 AM red-eye flight to Vancouver (through Seattle). After a long night, and little sleep, we arrived at around 8:30 am. Surprisingly, customs only took a few minutes and we hopped on the Sky Train (Vancouver's Metro System) to meet with our friends. We recovered, ate lunch, and headed towards the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

The bridge was originally built in 1889 and is 450 feet long and 230 feet high.


While it is somewhat expensive ($5 parking and around $30 per person), they do try and make it interesting by also adding treetop bridges...


and fish ponds.


The bridge itself is very impressive.


It does sway as people walk on and off, but it is safe.


It was also the first time Tyler and Jenny had visited the bridge, and since they are British Columbia residents they got a year pass for the same price as our one-day passes.


Next we drove down to Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver. The park is gorgeous and has a seawall with a path that runs along the outside of the whole park. If the weather had been nicer we could have gone for a hike or a bike ride!


Finally we went out to dinner at Steamworks. It was excellent, and I tried Ginger Beer and a Lamb Burger (both firsts for me). That was the end of a long day and we went back to get some sleep and start another early day.

Day 2 began with us taking the Sky Train back downtown and walking along the shore exploring the area.


We found the Olympic torch...

And a strange group of statues...


And what Rebekah thought was a Maple Leaf.


We headed down to Gastown and saw the cobbled streets and steam-powered clock.


It was finally time to get on our Cruise ship, so we said our good-byes and headed away from downtown Vancouver.


And as we were pulling away from Canada Place we got someone to take our picture with downtown Vancouver in the background!

We will be posting the remainder of our trip in the next week or so including the Cruise, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, and College Fjord so stay tuned!


Steven

Camping in Kenai

This past weekend, we headed down south about 2 hours with some good friends for a weekend of camping. We went to the Upper Skilak Lake campground. We planned on camping and then doing a hike the following morning on the Skilak Lake Lookout Trail. We got to the campground around 3pm and picked a nice site within about 10 steps of the lake and the rocky shore. It was a beautiful, sunny day.
After we unpacked the car and set up camp, we began making the supper. We had teriyaki stir fry with veggies and chicken. It was tasty. For dessert, the boys had hot dogs. Then we all went down to the beach to play horseshoes. It was pretty rocky as you can see, so we cleared some rocks away so we could have a little landing spot for each little pole needed for our game.
After a few hours of our game, it was time for relaxing around the fire. Some little sparks burned a tiny hole in the knee of Steven's pants. By then, it was time for bed, although it was still very bright and sunny outside. We locked all of our food in these brown metal bear proof containers at the campsite, so we wouldn't have to carry it back to the car. Nice! Here is a picture of Melissa and I in the morning. We were warming up by the fire. Although my eyes are closed!
The boys however, did not want to warm up by the fire. Instead, they wanted to wake themselves up by running in to the frigid lake.Here is Steven. He was just a little cold, but insisted that 30 seconds after exiting the lake, it was much better and he was not cold at all!

After the swimming adventure, we did a little fishing. More like learning how to reel my line in and let it out. It was nice to practice, although we didn't catch anything. This picture is of Steven untangling my line for the 5th time. Ha.Once we were done fishing and packing up our campsite, there was no time to do the hike. :( Instead we spent a few minutes going down to the Russian River campground and fishing spots. Melissa and Dan fished here a lot last summer, so they were able to show us where to go and what to do while there. Apparently, there are tons of bear encounters at this river. Cleaning of fish had to be limited to certain areas, so as not to attract hungry bears. Mel said that last year she saw 2 bears cubs that would fish at the river. She saw them almost every weekend that she came fishing here.

This weekend, we will be in Vancouver, BC, Canada and on Sunday our 7-day cruise departs for Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and Glacier Bay National Park. Stay tuned for pictures next week!!!


Rebekah