Day 1 And Day 2 of Our 2010 Alaska Cruise Vacation

On the 1st and 2nd full day of our cruise, the days were spent cruising the Inside Passage and Sawyer Glacier. The scenery was beautiful.
Veronica spent some time in her favorite location on the ship...the Spinnaker Lounge which is also an observation area with some really comfortable lounge chairs, couches and even a bed.
She usually tries to get right up front on either side of the observation deck.
They have floor to ceiling windows around the whole observation deck.
In the middle of this deck is a dance floor. They have dance lesson there and utilize the area for other events such as bingo and towel animal making classes...yes I did actually attend one of those classes.

This is the view that I woke up to on one of the sailing mornings. It doesn't get much better than this.

Another smaller ship that was cruising along. I believe that I saw this same ship docked in the marina when we pulled into Juneau.

The scenery in Alaska is absolutely beautiful. Photographs do not do it justice at all.

Fog in the valleys

Here is the bed that was in the Spinnaker Lounge/Observation deck area

I guess that someone could take a nap on this bed but who would want to sleep through all of the beautiful scenery

A fishing boat that was in the area

As we got closer to Sawyer Glacier, we came upon some icebergs. They weren't huge but they were big enough to cause damage to our ship, had we run into one

We saw several waterfalls as we got closer to the glacier

I know that this would not fall into the scenery category but I thought that the "smokestacks" on the Pearl looked really cool

More waterfalls

I will let the next couple of photos speak for themselves. There is nothing that I could say that would add to their natural beauty.

I really liked how the clouds passed over and "through" the mountain tops.

Unfotunately we were not able to get close enough to see Sawyer Glacier. The closer we got, the more icebergs that were floating in the water. There got to be so many that the Captain felt that it would be unsafe to go any further

We saw this bear that was meandering near a beach. From where we were, it was just a little brown dot. I had to really "zoom in" to get close enough to actually see that it was a bear. We were told that they were just waking up from their Winter hibernation.

This is the La Cucina Italian restaurant where Veronica and I ate one night.

Next stop....Juneau

The Beginning Of Our Alaska Vacation 2010

Our vacation started on Thursday night, 5/29.
Veronica and I headed to a hotel near the Norfolk airport.
The following morning, we were up bright and early for a 5:30AM flight.We flew from the Norfolk airport to Atlanta and then onto Seattle. Once in Seattle, we got on to a shuttle bus that took us up to Vancouver, BC.
Unfortunately we got into Vancouver too late to explore the city.
We ended up getting something to eat and then off to bed we went. It had been a rather long day and night.
The following morning, we got up and grabbed a quick breakfast.
Our suitcases were downstairs in the lobby, awaiting the arrival of our transfer shuttle, that would be taking us from the hotel to the pier and onto the ship.
While we were in the lobby awaiting the arrival of a transfer bus, we met a very nice couple that had 2 young adults.
We quickly became friends and spent quite a bit of time with them during our entire cruise. Out of respect for their privacy, I won't be mentioning their names but I do want to give them a shout out and say "Thank you" for the great time and I am sure we will be in touch with each other. And a verey special sout out to my favorite ballerina and pirate....AAAArrrrrggggg!!!!!
During the shuttle ride from the hotel to the pier, we were able to get a glimpse of the Vancouver area.
It sure looked like a nice area and I really wish that we had more time to spend there and explore but we had a ship to catch.
I get a few minutes to take some photos before we stood in line to board the ship.
I found many interesting buildings near the pier.
I really enjoy taking architectural photos.
Please note that I took well over 1000 photos during our vacation. I went through and picked out some of my favorites to put on this blog.
When I am done posting about our vacation and some of the photos, I will put a link on the upper right hand side of my blogs main page. The link will take you to a location where all of the photos from this vacation can be viewed.
I should also mention that just like last years vacation to Alaska, we had fantastic weather...mostly sunny days, with the high temperatures between 50-62 degrees. We could not have asked for better weather.

Here is a photo of what they call Canada Place. Canada Place is a cruise pier, building along with a hotel. It really is a beautiful structure.

Overall view from Canada Place
Some of the architecture around Canada Place

Another photo of Canada Place in Vancouver, BC

The downtown area of Vancouver was beautiful with a lot of diverse architecture

Here is Veronica standing in front of where the Olympic flame was staged. The Olympic flame was different from what you have seen previously..not what I expected to see.

Here is a large Lego Orca whale. Looks pixelated when close up

Another view of the Olympic flame

More of the Vancouver downtown buildings and architecture

I really like the reflective photographic pictures

Not sure if this was part of an apartment or more likely some type of office.

Another view of Canada Place

The backside of Canada Place

Mail box art

View of Canada Place from our stateroom balcony

Additional city views from our stateroom balcony

Here is a filling station that is on a barge that sits in the middle of the river

Here is the view for the Summer Palace Restaurant on the Pearl. This is where we had our fire drill muster before our cruise officially got under way. We also ate a couple of dinners here. This is one of the "non surcharge" restaurants.

Veronica standing by a statue in the Summer Palace Restaurant

Additional views from our stateroom balcony

Some sort of ferry

Vancouver SkylineNot sure who all of the people are on the upper deck

Mountains outside of Vancouver

Another photo of the Ferry

Vancouver skyline and Canada Place as we were sailing out at the beginning of our cruise

As the sun slowly sets and peeks through the clouds on our first night out to sea

Back From Alaska

Veronica and I just got back from our vacation in Alaska.
We had a fantastic time. We are busy doing the usual....laundry piled to the ceiling and going through our mail which stands about the same height as are laundry.
Like I said...the usual upon returning from a vacation.
I have some great stories and even better photos than last year. The weather was beautiful which made taking photos a breeze.
I will start listing and posting my daily journal and photos as soon as I get a few things done around here...shouldn't be more that a day or so...so stay tuned for some good stuff.