Day 40 Tuesday 4 July 2017

We arrive in Skagway which was established in 1897 as part of the Klondike gold rush. The buildings are well preserved and the little township has a lot of atmosphere.  We are here as part of the 4 July celebrations.  Their street parade was excellent for a little place.  Lots of floats, vintage cars, except the one that did break down during the parade.  They were throwing lollies at the kids although a woman near us was thrown a T-shirt (she was probably a local).  We did a history walk and photographed some really interesting buildings and plaques where gunfights occurred and we finished up at the visitor centre, where we watched a really interesting gold rush documentary.

My favourite one was for the karaoke group whose mission statement was “Making Karaoke Great Again”.

We returned to the ship at 12.30 PM and just as many people were leaving the ship as getting on.  We had a fabulous lunch on deck of Pizza and hot chocolate.  One of the best pizzas I have eaten and it was a winning recipe from 2015.  Fabulous!!  Antonia would have been impressed – no pineapple. Although I must ask why we were having the 2015 winner and not the 2016 winner.

Day 39 Monday 3 July

This morning we arrived in Juneau which is the capital of Alaska. A population of 35000 and we added a third of the population with four cruise ships in town. From our veranda we took photos of a Bald Eagle and we saw a Golden Eagle but it was too far away for a photo opportunity.

We visited the Alaskan State Museum which helped us escape the rain and the museum was very good. They covered all history of Alaska. The traditional cultures of Athabascan, Alutiiq and Unangan.

From here we took the Mount Roberts Tramway for the view and the chance to see all the Bald Eagles – there was a chance…but it was a fat chance.  Thank goodness we saw the other Bald Eagle earlier otherwise it would have been very disappointing.

Heavily overcast and raining it made the view from the top difficult but it wasn’t too bad.  At the top they had a rehabilitated Bald Eagle, Lady Baltimore but we didn’t see any others. We watched a video on Alaska and there was a musical presentation from an excellent family group who perform their music against a backdrop of wonderful landscape and animal photography of the Alaskan area. An Alaskan version of the Von Trapp family.  The mother in travelling to Australia had been bitten by a kangaroo.

As our ship was leaving at 10.30 PM they had the 4 July fireworks that were pretty but rather underwhelming but they did their best and they had them in several positions so people could see them.

Day 39 Sunday 2 July 2017

A cruising day with a special lunch pairing of wine with courses of food.  I should have had three glasses of wine with my three courses but because Elizabeth doesn’t drink wine I wound up with 5.  I didn’t remember too much and spent most of the afternoon asleep - it was my bear hibernation impersonation. I think…I had a good time – a really good time.

Day 38 Saturday 1 July 2017

Today is Canada Day and it’s their 150^th anniversary. The dock was absolutely packed.  We wished they were more apathetic. We are celebrating by leaving their country. It would be great if we could see fireworks but it doesn’t get dark until 11 PM.

Day 37 Friday 30 June 2017

Today we left at 7.40 AM to go to the Capilano Bridge and forest.  It was lovely. Elizabeth was a real trooper going across the suspension bridge and the elevated platforms.  It's a lovely place. Tomorrow is Canada Day and it’s their 150^th anniversary.  We got into the park before opening which is just as well as it was crowded but we are certain it gets a lot more crowded. 

There was also a Treetop Adventure to give a squirrel's eye-view of the forest.

We went to Stanley Park and Prospect Point gives us a view of the one of their major bridge - the Lions Gate Bridge. We saw the totem poles which really should be called story poles. We then finished off had a lunch stop at the Granville Island markets.  This was an industrial area that has been converted into a market and dining precinct. Afterwards, returning to our hotel we had a bus tour of Chinatown and Gastown.

Tonight was our tour dinner as we really won’t see much of our tour buddies once we are on the cruise ship. At the trivia quiz Elizabeth knew that Queen Maxima, christened our ship the New Amsterdam. She won a map of the inside passage. (Alaska - just for clarification).

The Fairmont chain of hotels has been lovely but the bathrooms have been very small.  So small they have to put the light switch on the outside and you have to close the toilet lid to ensure nothing falls into the toilet.

We will not have internet access until we return to Vancouver from the Alaskan Cruise (8 July). 

We might be able to post from onshore but unsure about photos.

Day 36 Thursday 29 June 2017

Another day on the Rocky Mountaineer. We trave; from Kamloops to Vancouver through what is called Canada’s desert as it is a rain shadow. We saw Mountain Sheep and Bald Eagles. One had made a giant nest on a bridge.

When we arrive in Vancouver the staff were outside to greet us.

The Skyline of Vancouver.

Day 35 Wednesday 28 June 2017

This morning it was bags out at 5.30 AM as we need to be loaded on the Rocky Mountaineer at 8.00 AM. Here our tour guide Martin us trying to control the group of excitable children.

The weather held off with being cloudy but fined up by the time we got to our destination.  We arrived at about 5.30 PM. We could have arrived much later as our train has to pull over for the incredibly long freight trains. 

 It was a wonderfully pampered experience…I can say that after 5 Baileys and 2 glasses of red wine and they are the ones that I can remember.  They fed us all day.  Perhaps it makes us more docile. The trip was a wonderful experience, the food and beverage staff were lovely and worked so hard.  Unfortunately, because we are early summer most of the snow has melted, that’s the only thing that could have been better. Another highlight was seeing one more Grizzly Bear.

Day 34 Tuesday 27 June 2017

Today we did different activities in the morning. I went on Bow River float where I saw an elk (possibly), two Harlequin ducks and an osprey.  Elizabeth went on a nature walk which was both peaceful and informative, during which she saw a ground squirrel, a robin and lots of mosquitoes.

 This is out hotel. Not too shabby.

 An elk?

After returning to the hotel we went into Banff and visited the Parks information Centre. It was restored in the original design of local architecture meets Victorian taxidermy. For a small space they did a remarkable job to fit in as many exhibits as possible.

Next on our list was the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum. This is presented as a stockaded fort. It was a suprisingly interesting place which informative exhibits and it had excellent virtual reality technology where it seemed like you were amongst a herd of bison and it seemed like you just reach out and touch them.

Elizabeth bought a cashew Log from the Fudgery.  An amazing store and you put on weight on by just walking in.

Tonight we went to the Waldhaus restaurant. Both Elizabeth and I had a Cornish game hen that was emu sized – too big but cooked to perfection.