Days 10 & 11 & 12
Hard to believe but Ketchikan was our last stop in Alaska. We had a day at sea and then our final port in Vancouver BC. Since we weren't ready to call our vacation over, we decided to stay overnight in Vancouver before traveling home. This also allowed us a chance to rest before the long flights home and to absorb some Canadian culture evaluate what makes us different from our northern neighbors.
Last shot of Alaska:
All the traveling, change in temperature (it finally felt like summer again) and dealing with customs (two of our crew were pre-selected for a random extra customs screening, the rest of us had to go through the extra x-rays cause my dad had backed pepper spray -- in case of bears, he said -- which apparently is a controlled substance in Canada and a big no-no to bring in) meant that grandpa Tony was worn out. So the older generations stayed close to the hotel for lunch then rested while us young'ins took a self-guided tour through the city to the local pier/beach-walk.
Vancouver is a port city, which means lots of boats!!
We got to see Canadian geese, not so uncommon here in the US but it was funny to think we were seeing Canadian geese
in Canada for the first time
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| Rah |
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| posing with the whole city behind me! |
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| Some secret-ish guarded house |
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| The couple, this was our last day traveling with them, as they would stay in Canada an extra week as a delayed honey-moon |
They had a part of the park which displayed examples of the various totem designs by different native tribes, so us being us we had a quick totem photo-shoot.
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| Thunderbird Totem impression |
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| 3 Ladies Totem |
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| The Bridge! |
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| Now everyone don't pose but look like you're looking at something... |
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| THE OLYMPIC TORCH! |
We re-grouped, showered (cause again, it was summer-hot, something we weren't used to after so many days in Alaska), and changed for dinner, where we ate at a really delicious pizza place. We set our schedule for the next day, since they were renting a car to drive to Banff and Tony;s flight was later, we coordinated K & Pat driving Tony to the airport, said our goodbyes and set our alarms way early with the comforting knowledge that the next day we'd be back sleeping in our own beds...
... or so we thought!
Unexpected Day 13
Our connecting flight went through Ottowa, Ontario. Little did we know a large storm was tracking across the mid-Atlantic and mid-west. After going through customs and waiting at the airport for more than two hours, we heard the announcement that our flight was cancelled. My dad immediately went into crisis management mode and had our hotel booked before we were (rather unceremoniously, if you ask me) led back to the ticket counter to try to get on a flight the next day, fortunately there was an early flight the next morning. Surprisingly, no vouchers for food, hotels, or anything were offered by the airline, i guess because it was a weather delay and not based off any fault of theirs. I felt bad for the young single traveler a few spots ahead of us in line who seemed pretty distraught about having to find and pay for a hotel. Luckily my boss was very understanding that I would be late the next day.
So in the early hours of Day 13, we lugged ourselves out of the final hotel room, back to the airport, through customs, grabbed a Tim Horton's breakfast, and boarded our final plane home.
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| Like Dunkin Donuts but with more maple-y goodness |
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| Back in the U-S-of-A! |
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