Cruise Photos part deux

I did promise to post the rest of the photos from my cruise... last year... heh heh.  So here they are:

Ketchikan

We arrived in Ketchikan very early in the morning and had lovely weather and lovely views of the harbor.

I quite liked Ketchikan.  It was very quaint and charming, the little bit of it we saw.  We had time for multiple excursions but we wanted to do different things, so Gab headed off for a wilderness adventure and I trotted off to the lumberjack show.  I had very strict instructions from the ladies at work not to come back without lots of photos and I did not disappoint.  I took over 400 during that one hour.  I won't toy with your patience by posting all of them, but here are a few.

As well as being extremely easy on the eyes, these guys are actually all real lumberjacks who work for real logging firms and compete in real lumberjack competitions throughout the year.  Working at this cheesy little tourist attraction in Alaska and competing every day gives them much needed practice in the off season, apparently.

After the lumberjack show, I boarded a bus and headed to Totem Bight State Park, where they've made an effort to preserve the abandoned totem poles on the island.

If I had blogged about this right after I got home I could have told you what all the various animals mean and related stories about each pole... but alas, now I can't remember.  If you're really interested I'm sure the park website has information.  Lol.  I do remember our guide telling us about the last pole pictured here. The master carver, when asked why he chose to carve the fish sideways on top of a square pole instead of choosing the more traditional style, replied, "for the halibut".  Yes, I know.  Groan.

Victoria

 

We were only in Victoria for a few hours.  Like 3.  We were delayed arriving, so the amphibious bus tour we had scheduled became unavailable, and there were very few other options, so we ended by going on a horse drawn carriage ride through Victoria in the evening.  I didn't get many photos, nor did we frankly get a very good look at much of anything in the dark, but it was still a lovely night to be out and about in Canada, and our guide was adorable.  It was quite breezy and a bit nippy after the sun went down and there was a group of geriatrics in the rows behind us who were disgruntled about the difficulty seeing anything.  Their comments got snarkier and ruder as the ride wore on and our lovely guide took it all with good humor and grace.  She answered them kindly and ignored their rudeness.  We learned that she was a native of Victoria putting herself through college.  I thought she was a great example for the kids on the ride, who were cuddled up next to her enjoying being close to the horses.  I don't remember her name but she was very impressive.  The horses were also lovely :)

That's the end of my photos.  I suppose I should have some pithy summation of Alaska or cruises or something relevant... but I don't.   I'm ready for another trip!