Saturday, May 30, 2009

Back in the Lower 48




We have returned to the lower 48....another day of waiting to get off the ship, waiting to get a shuttle, waiting to go across the border.

Lovely weather - great vacation, but looking forward to the motorcycle adventure!

Friday, May 29, 2009

End of Alaska Voyage




Our last stop before returning to Vancouver was Ketchikan. We opted for a float plane ride to the Fjord National Monument. A definite "E" ride. I'd to it again!

We will be in Vancouver tomorrow a.m. Looking forward to beginning our motorcycle tour.

Over all this has been a lovely experience. Yes the food was good. Yes the staff was excellent. Yes we were treated well. Most of all we will take away a warmth from the people who shared so much of themselves in such as short period of time. It has been a pleasure being with those people.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Alaska Cruise


We sailed to Whittier....and are now making the return trip. Today we are back in Glacier Bay. Lovely ship - Sapphire Princess.

Our cruise specialist, Zoe's Cruises, has done a marvelous job.

We have been humpback whales, minke whales, seals, otter and orcra....not to mention bald eagles.

We have lots of photos....not uploaded yet because the ship's connection is a tad bit slow and VERY expensive.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Vancouver, B.C.






We crossed the Canadian Border around 8 a.m. today. An easy process - no joking, no extra questions.

We checked out the motel where we had reservations and then headed for the Vancouver Aquarium. I had seen a program about the aquarium last month and it looked like a winner.

Unfortunately for us there were far too many school buses for such a small facility. Kids are okay, but it isn't okay to allow loads of kids to run wild anywhere.

We have been spoiled by our trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

After the aquarium we checked out Stanley Park and downtown Vancouver. We finally headed for the motel around 2 p.m. - traffic was already more stop than go.

Opposite the motel is an enormous COSTCO - of course, I had to check that out. One always finds something different. This particular COSTCO has lots of Asian food items, some clothing manufactured in Canada, some seasonal stuff that I've never seen in our COSTCO.

We had something to eat in COSTCO and while we were sitting we visited with a couple from Vancouver - he is Hungarian and her family is from Holland. Nice people.

Looking forward to getting on the ship tomorrow.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Ride to Washington




We departed Roseburg, Oregon on wet roads but no rain.

The rain began just south of Olympia and continued until just north of Seattle.

Larry got pretty far ahead of me but had programmed the GPS for the Famous Dave's in South Everett so I wasn't too worried....except for the rain, wet roads and idiot drivers. Then again I figured if there was a problem I would see time before I got to him....of course that only works if you are both traveling on the same road. Not!

For ONCE I was on the correct road (I-5) and HE kept right and ended up on I-405. No wonder I could never raise him on the CB! As it happened we ended up at the same intersection at the same time. He didn't have stop and go traffic through Seattle - I did.

Lovely late lunch at Famous Dave's - it was as good as the one in Billings. From Everett north the skies cleared and the sun was shining.

We opted to check out Blaine, WA - northwestern corner of the USA. Tiny town - gorgeous view of the ocean. Motel is very, very OLD....reminds us of the cinder block apartment in Texas in 1970.

Tomorrow we will be in Vancouver...the Canadian border is only 5 miles away.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Ride to Oregon


We departed the house at 8:15 with probably more stuff than the average family will use in two months.

Temps. were mild, only annoying rain and the traffic wasn't awful....some people actually drive under the speed limit and they aren't driving hybrids!

We made it as far as Roseburg, Oregon today. Nice Super 8 Motel. The Shari's restaurant was decent too. We feel special!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Count Down!

We leave on Wednesday for Vancouver, B.C. and our cruise to Whittier, Alaska and return to Vancouver.

A few tiny blips on our planned adventure have been Larry's tests to determine why he has been having chest pain. The stress test showed SOMETHING. So today he had a procedure that showed his by-passes working great and his partially blocked artery is no more blocked than it was 5 years ago. That is a relief.

So the motorcycles are maintained, the packing is almost complete and the bikes will be loaded tomorrow.

The blog address for our post-cruise motorcycle tour is: http://schneiderusa4corners.blogspot.com