Sunday, November 7, 2010

Alaska Part Four

I had a friend (ahemm...Tara) tell me she was sick of Alaska and that I need to blog about something else. Well, I have to finish Alaska and then I'll blog about something else. This is the last post I promise!

Thursday our ship headed to Skagway. We planned to rent cars and drive into Canada which is a good thing because Skagway itself didn't have too much to offer. On our way to Canada we stopped at this overlook. It was beautiful. You could see all the way back to Skagway and then there was a huge waterfall and bridge you drive over.




We hit customs on the Canadian border and turns out Julie forgot her drivers license. She had her birth certificate but they wouldn't take just that. The Costco card wouldn't do. I guess she looked pretty dangerous because they wouldn't let her in the country...um okay. Her and Greg turned around and on we went. We saw a black bear not too far into Canada. Unfortunately for Brad this is the only bear we saw the whole trip. At least we saw one!
When we rented our cars, the man there told us about this "amazing" lake that was about an hour and a half into Canada. We decided to find it. There were beautiful views the whole way but after too long we realized we must have passed it. Come to find out we drove right by it. I guess we were all thinking of something a little more spectacular. It was pretty, just not-three hours with half of that spent riding backwards in a van-pretty. We headed back down because Brad was intent on seeing a Grizzly...no luck. Oh well!

The only bear



Lori and I stuck it out taking turns riding backwards in the van...we're troopers!



The amazing lake we couldn't miss...but did.



The gorgeous view the whole time...lakes and glaciers. This was a different lake we passed on the way.




Friday we were at sea again. We spent time relaxing and hanging out with the fam.
Saturday morning we had a program for Bill and Carol. It was so fun to celebrate their fifty years of marriage. Everyone wrote a little something for them and they were so fun to hear. We also watched a slide show of their marriage. I'm hiding a little in the pictures because of course I grabbed Ryker's shirt instead of mine and there was no way that thing was going to fit me!





That evening we pulled into Vancouver and headed off the boat to Butchart Gardens. I wish we had more time here. It was beautiful but we had to hustle because the fireworks show was starting soon and it was getting dark. We made it to the fireworks show just in time. The fireworks show was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The colors were beautiful and the displays were so cool. Everything was coordinated to music. I would definitely recommend this to anyone!





The coolest tree. It was some ancient pine tree.



Sunday morning we pulled into port and took off. Rob and Aki along with Mike and Em had later flights so we decided to stay together and share a car. Well, the rental company had no bigger cars available so we were crammed in along with our suitcases. We decided to hit the airport to drop off our luggage only to be told we couldn't because we were to early. Well, after a lot of haggling, Mike was the only one successful which helped lighten our load in the car. Emily and I met Robert Pattinson...well almost. Mike called Em and told her a Twilight guy was in line in front of him. We freaked out a little bit and I spotted him. There he was. We walked up to him only to realize from about four feet away it wasn't him. He could have been his double I swear! There were even people taking pictures with him.
After that we headed out to see a waterfall, went to see the temple, went to Pike Market Place, had lunch, maybe went to H&M (it was a Sunday).. and finally headed back to the airport to go home.






This trip was so much fun! I was on an emotional rollercoaster the whole time but I had so many wonderful experiences that I'll never forgot. I love Brad's family and am so grateful we can spend a week together and get along so great. Let's start planning the next one!

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