The Other Five Years

Five years ago, a beautiful soul left her body that never learned to work right.  She was a fighter... but it was never fair she had to fight.

May you never feel what I then felt.

May your eyes never shed such 

stormy, scalding, heart wrung tears 

as poured from mine.  

May you never appeal to Heaven 

in prayers so hopeless and so

agised as in that hour

 left my lips. 

Chorlette Bronte

Jane Eyre

Back to Vancouver

We were off the boat early Monday morning, and had time to spare since our flight home wasn't until 5:40 that evening.

So, we stored our luggage at the Fairmont, hopped on a city bus to Stanley Island to visit the Vancouver Aquarium.

jellyfish

tropical water tank

looking for frogs

two rescued dolphins

beluga whale

tide pools
touching a starfish

sea otters

African penguins

Then it was back on the bus to gather our luggage, take the skytrain to the airport, and get through customs.  With Aaron's femur rod, Emily and I are used to him setting off the alarms and having to wait for him to be wanded by TSA.  This time, I was "randomly" selected to be tested for explosives, and then we were all "randomly" selected to be searched for agriculture goods... and it took us forever to get through customs.  But we made it, had smooth flights home to Hailey, and this time all of our luggage arrived!

Ketchikan

Saturday was our last port of call.  Sunday was just a day at sea to return us back to Vancouver early Monday morning.  Our only plan for Ketchikan was a Lumberjack Show in the afternoon.  Once again, it was rainy, so in order to avoid being wet all day we took a bus tour of the town, some totem poles, and a waterfall.

We also learned something new, according to our bus driver who had lived there for 24 years.  Most of the stores near the docks are owned, and staffed, by the cruise lines.  He said they bring in their own crew starting in May, and every September 28th, the stores get boarded up and the crew goes home.  Because of changes to the government's policy on fishing and logging, tourism is now what supports this town which is now half the size of what it used to be, and most of the locals who stay through the winter live off of unemployment, fishing, and hunting.

A bald eagle sitting in a tree, there were a lot to see throughout
the entire cruise. 

Birthdays, the Disney Way

Aaron had arranged for the room to be decorated for Emily's birthday.

And when Cho, our room host, was told it was her birthday, he put special princess sheets on her bed that she thought was way cool.

And at our dinner seating that night, Animator's Palette, she was presented with a Mickey cake and serenaded by wait staff. 

Juneau

We were in Juneau on Friday, the big birthday day!  The day did not go as planned.  It was pouring rain, and the glacier tour by float plane we had arranged was cancelled due to the bad weather.  We were in town briefly that morning, but cold and wet we headed back to the ship for lunch and some swimming.  We did manage to take a tram to the top of the mountain where they had a rescued bald eagle, and Emily got filmed by a crew looking around and playing in the gift shop that they wanted to use for advertisement.  They said they picked her because she was adorable, but I'm pretty sure they felt like they had to after Emily announced to all that she was five now.

riding the tram up

This eagle had been shot and rescued.  Her
wing was injured and she was blind in one eye. 

comparing her hand to the paw print of a brown bear

the view of our ship from the top

 This gentleman was the controller of the tram car.  Both ways he used the drum and sang native songs, he also sang to Emily because she told him it was her birthday, too!

Skagway

Thursday we were in Skagway, the most northern point of our trip.  We didn't have any excursions planned for the day.  We walked around town for a bit, luckily it was a dry day.  Then on a whim we signed up to go dog mushing for the afternoon.

Many of the dogs were true Iditarod dogs, and you could see the special tags indicating so on their collars.  They were friendly, and the musher let us pet them all once our ride in our wheeled sled was over.

At the end of the dog mushing experience they let you love on the puppies.  This puppy slept the whole time Emily carried it around!