Finally, the finished product.

I seriously have been working on this scrapblog for a long time. Please click the link below to follow our journey, in it's entirety. Enjoy!

http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=2145153

Day One, Vancouver

After downing a 20 oz bottle of half tequila and half orange juice at 4AM, and then drinking another 2 rum and cokes, mostly rum, made by a bartender named Meatloaf, Lance was as close to ready as he would get to fly. And, after a non-eventful flight, we touched down in Vancouver around 10:30AM.

(Mount Rainier in the distance from our plane)

Once getting through customs and finding an ATM in which to procure Canadian dollars, we found our way to the taxi line and were quickly whisked into the Vancouver metropolis, for about $30.

We had to wait for our friend, Chris, in order to check into the Marriott Renaissance Harbor Hotel because his name was the only one on the reservation. We checked our bags with the bell hop and went out to explore the city. We wondered down to the water, walked past the cruise port, found a great lunch at the Steamworks Pub and Grill (where Lance says he had the best Halibut fish and chips ever), and then went on over to gastown.

Above- Steph blocking the view of the bay. Top right- a damn good pub and grill with fantastic food and very tasty micro brews. Right- a clock that spews steam at the top of every hour, making hordes of tourists surrounding it cheer with glee.

After all of this, we finally went back to the hotel and met with Chris.

For dinner we went to Aqua Riva, which received a lot of accolades and recommendations, but we didn't find it to be all that spectacular. I had a difficult time ordering because of my aversion to seafood and ended up ordering duck, which I have never had before. They prepared it similarly to a Thanksgiving dinner, with mashed potatoes, etc, and it just wasn't my style.

Day One was a transition day into the vacation. Expect the next few blogs to have a lot more pictures and descriptions!

Trip Overview

Before we detail each specific day of the trip, we thought we'd give a general overview of our vacation, with a couple of pictures sprinkled in. Later, we will detail each day and post the bulk of the pictures.

Vancouver-

Spending a few days in Vancouver before our cruise was a great way to start the vacation. The city is great. The food was perfect, the views spectacular and the people friendly. There wasn't anything about Vancouver we didn't like and we would highly recommend visiting it. We'll definitely go back.

The Cruise-

This was our first cruise with Princess. Our previous two cruises (to Bermuda and the Mexican Riviera) were through Royal Caribbean. We sailed aboard the Island Princess which is a gorgeous ship.The service on Island Princess was top notch. From the waiters to our room steward, everyone was friendly and helpful. The one disappointment we had was the food. The meals in the traditional evening dining were good but not exceptional. We would definitely rank Royal Caribbean's meals as better. That being said, the ship's specialty restaurants were phenomenal.

Alaska-

Our time in Alaska, from the cruise ports to the fishing towns we explored on our own, was both relaxing and adventurous. We hiked, biked, drank, ate, scoured glaciers, and observed all that was wild. Everything we'd heard about the grand adventure that is Alaska was true. They make damn good beer, serve the freshest and heartiest seafood, and do not have an acre in their state that is not breathtaking. Hopefully, someday, we'll get to see it again.

Meet Patron, the Brown Bear. His name really is Patron. And, no, Lance did not name him.

Food Coma

We have finished our cruise and are now in Anchorage. I don't have a lot of time here, but I just wanted to drop in and say that the trip is going great. Steph and I will post detailed blogs as soon as we get back home. Promise.

Today in Anchorage, Chris and I spent most of the day chowing on some seriously great seafood. We had calamari, seafood chowder, salmon, and three kinds of halibut. All phenomenal. We are beyond stuffed.

Tonight Chris flies back to Japan, and Steph and I head out for Seward tomorrow.

See you soon.

30 Second Blog (Alaska Style)

My window of opportunity to post a quick blog is small, so I won't waste any time with complete, coherent sentences.

Whales, eagles, and a naughty bear. King crab legs as big as my...well, big. Lots of hiking. Perfect weather (which for me means foggy and rainy). Brothels, pubs, and lots of booze.

Funny story- when you order room service on a cruise, they first ask for your order, then your room #, and then your name. Yesterday when I called, I ordered my third bottle of crown royal. Upon making the order, the steward asked, "Is this Larry?"

Apparently I'm the only one on this boat ordering mass quantities of whisky.

Skagway

This morning was much the same - which was is not a bad thing. We've been getting up around 7ish to make sure we get in as much of each port as we can. Today we woke up to rain and low clouds. Before our vacation we did a little research and found a great hike on the edge of town to the Dewey Lakes system. So, this morning we got dressed fast, ate fast, and hiked to lower Dewey lake. It is so amazing here! We are in a rain forest and because of that it's beautiful. Also because of that it's, well, raining. So, we hiked in 100% humidity. Luckily the temperature was around 55 degrees, but holy hell we broke a sweat really fast. There's moss on everything and it's so lush! Because of the glacial runoff, a lot of the bodies of water are a light moss greenish. Very pretty. We made to the lake and started doing the lower lake loop when toward the back of the lake the trail got pretty iffy- meaning over big boulders, etc. Also we saw what looked like perfect bear dens. Needless to say we didn't keep going much longer. I really was frightened we'd run into some bears. But, the whole hike was a little over 3 miles so that was good.

Then we went on our excursions. Lance and Chris' helicopter portion of the tour got cancelled, due to weather, much to Lance's excitement. I was initially hoping my rock climbing got cancelled as well because of the rain, but it didn't. Good thing though because I really enjoyed it. The boys are still out and about and I have some laundry in the washer - my clothes and especially my jacket got super dirty rock climbing.

Anyhow, we still haven't really made it into town. Hopefully we will tonight before the shops close up. The salmon are still running strong. I think it's sad to see them try so hard to get up the creeks - mother nature is a cruel woman! Poor fishes!