Celebration of Life: September 2009

Elizabeth turns 5!

Elizabeth turns 5 this week so we had her birthday party, Saturday. There was a lot of people and out of town guests. Lizzy was excited.

Cousin Makayla and Lizzy.

Melissa of M&M family modeling her new purse. (we traded)

Opening presents.

Daddy helping Lizzy.

Excitement reigns!

Monte & Melissa of M&M family.

Lizzy's fairy cake. (Tinkerbell is on top.)

Eating cake.

Lolly eating cake.

Grandma Brenda and Neen, eating cake.

Brooklyn eating cake.

A fun time was had by all!

What did you do this weekend?

Tweety Bird turns 60!

"I TAWT I TAW A PU..........A PUT.......OH I DON'T KNOW WAT DA HECK I TAW!!"

Day 6... Victoria B.C.

Harbor view of Victoria, B.C. from the ship:

We decided to take a walking tour of Victoria; it lasted about 2 hours.

This is our tour guide, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was born and raised in Victoria and is a college student. I remember her name because she had big blue eyes just like my grand daughter, Elizabeth!

This is a condo building that was built in the 1970s. Because it is on the harbor, the units are over a million dollars each. I thought it was interesting enough to post because of what we discovered about the details as we got closer.

There were carved marble heads of animals and gargoyles placed strategically around the building.

We were told that the heads serve as dryer vent covers so in the winter when the residents dry their clothes, steam come out of the mouths of the carvings. :o)

Harbor view.

This is something that a Wyoming girl doesn't see very often, houseboats! The owners live in these houses year around. On the left side of the house, in the picture, you can see a water hose, the water source for the house. :o)

Some more houseboats. I was amazed that some were two-story and had balconies.

Some were very fancy!

A harbor taxi.

Continuing our walking tour and looking back, here is a good view of the houseboats.

The next few frames are some of the flowers we saw on our tour. The camera does not capture the intensity and brilliance of the flowers. I don't remember the name of the flowers but I do remember how much in awe I was.

It was starting to get dark so we had to hurry......

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. This is a picture of the Parliament Building.

Another totem pole.

Downtown Victoria.

I call this statue Prince Albert (not in a can) but Gary said it was Captain James Cook.

That concludes the tour of Victoria and the cruise. The next day, we disembarked at Seattle, was transported to the airport. It was a very memorable trip!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Jo

Day 5... Ketchikan the totem pole capital!

The continuing tail...

Ketchikan harbor:

Ketchikan's economy is based upon tourism and fishing, and the city is known as the "Salmon Capital of the World."

Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town. Ketchikan comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin, the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean "the river belonging to Kitschk"; other accounts claim it means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle." Ketchikan's secondary post office zip code, 99950, is the highest zip code ever assigned in the United States. Ketchikan also has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles, located at three major locations: Saxman Village, Totem Bight and the Totem Heritage Center.

In Ketchikan we did not participate in any planned excursions but walked the streets, took pictures and shopped. We wanted to have freedom to roam at will, take pictures and take in the ambiance of the town.

Here I am trying to take the miner's sack of gold.

Here's Gary shaking hands with a polar bear.

One of many totem poles we found while exploring.

The tallest totem pole we saw!

One of the more notorious streets in Ketchikan. I wanted my picture taken here because of my maiden name. Creek Street is an unusual street because the buildings were built over the creek on stilts; it was also the "red light" district in the 1890s. Today the buildings are shops, art galleries and a museum.

We were told to watch for bears feeding on the salmon; we didn't see any bears but the water was black with salmon.. These pictures were taken from the bridge to Creek Street.

Looking down and across the creek we spotted Dolly's place. Dolly was a notorious Madam.

It is now a museum:

Another totem pole on the way back to the ship:

The dock was just across the road from main street. Needless to say, there was parallel parking only on the dock side! :o)

Next stop: Victoria, Canada!

I hope you are having as much fun as I am remembering our trip!

Jo

Day 4... Tracy Arm Fjord - Sawyer Glacier

We traveled all night to get to the Tracy Arm Fjord. It is named after a Civil War general named Benjamin Franklin Tracy. It is located about 45 miles south of Juneau.