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Alas, all vacations must come to an end. We’re back in Seattle on our way home to St. Louis. We had been in Vancouver since Monday, spending time with Kristin’s cousin, Gordon Strachan and his family. This was the first time we had met them, having only corresponded online.

Needless to say, we had a wonderul time. What wonderful hosts! I don’t think we’ve ever felt as welcome as we did with them in Vancouver. Hopefully we ca reciprocate some day. We’ve now added Kelowna as a future vacation destination as well.

So now we’re eating lunch and then off to catch our plane home.

I’ve sent a few posts from our port stops, but they seem to have disappeared into the ether. So I’m just going to post without a photo. Today we are in Ketchikan, our last port stop on our cruise. We have been in Skagway, Juneau, and now Ketchikan. In Skagway we went to a dog sled training facility. In Juneau we toured the old AJ Gastineau gold mine and ate at a salmon bake. Today we didn’t do any organized tours and instead went on a self guided walking tour.

Tomorrow is our last day at sea, and then we arrive in Vancouver.

Glacier Bay National Park
Originally uploaded by Ladewig.

We’re on our way out of Glacier Bay National Park after a day of cruising. Today we saw several glaciers, whales, seals, eagles, Dall sheep, and sea otters. The weather started out quite cold and damp. I was wearing four layers trying to keep warm. But by the the time we reached the first glaciers, the sun came out and really warmed things up.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Skagway where we will be going on a shore excursion to see sled dogs. Can’t wait to play with the puppies!

WiFi costs extra on the ship, so hopefully I can find some free access while in port so I can upload this post.

Quick note to let folks know that we’re on the ship now. We boarded Island Princess last night, and this morning we cruised College Fjord. Perfect weather, perfectly calm water. Lots of sea otters all around the ship.

Off to Denai

Originally uploaded by Ladewig.

This morning we’re heading up to the Denali Princess Lodge. Here we are waiting for our motorcoach. The ride is about three hours. Once we get there we have time for lunch, then we go on a five hour bus ride in the park.