Vancouver

Canada has fun ginger ales! This mango peach flavor was delicious! as was that slice of orange, lemon poppy seed cheesecake in the bowl to the right. Matt enjoyed his butterscotch cashew cookie. Breakfast of champions!

Once fed, we wandered around, checking out the shops:

I appreciate them specifying that this was Canada:

Fun cement trucks!

Matt grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch, but we heeded this sign:

and ate indoors:

I grabbed this tiny potpie, which was quite savory!

We made a loop of the whole island and were happily fed, our room isn’t ready (they said they’d call), but Matt was done walking, so we hopped the ferry back to the mainland and hoped our room would be ready by the time we got to the hotel:

It wasn’t, so I left Matt in the lobby and went out wandering again- I though it would be cool to see what the island looked like from the bridge above:

I had just made it over the bridge and was checking out the marina (where I spotted an otter! but didn’t have the big camera… one day, I’ll learn) when I got the call that our room was ready, so I grabbed another fun soda:

(definitely not as good as the first- this one tasted like when you’re eating a strawberry but accidentally bite into the leaves)

I hopped the ferry and got us checked into the room:

I appreciate the safe/microwave combo:

Our bathroom was strangely long and deep:

Which didn’t make sense until I saw this map:

this building must have been renovated at least a few times over its lifetime.

Matt settled into our room to catch up on work and I headed back out to see if I could find that otter again!

I appreciate this excited fish!

I like the patterns those beams make:

There were a TON of people down at the marina- turns out there was a festival going on!

I appreciate shrimp-hat man:

The birds appreciated the prawns too:

Some serious fights broke out among the birds:

a peaceful goose:

Blue heron:

Duck:

Starling:

I made another loop of the island, watching the ferries come and go:

another ferry line:

Dueling cranes?

Grabbed a few snacks:

I wasn’t quite willing to give up on my otter, so I headed back to the marina where the festival had ended and, now that people were clearing out, I was able to get onto one of the public docks where the heron was still hanging out:

Some lady tried to get close and take a picture, and scared him away right after I took this 🙁

But, look what was in the water next to the dock!!!

isn’t he adorable!?

Then a second one appeared!!!

his eyes are kinda creepy in the lights…

hiding in the shade:

The fisherman who owns this boat says the seals always appear when he gets back with a haul of prawn:

This absolutely makes up for the otter. Now I can go back to our room, where Matt is waiting so we can get some Tim Hortons for dinner:

Before hopping the train that will take us to the airport:

Matt: I didn’t know they still floated logs:

Me: Yup, physics hasn’t changed.

If looks could kill.

Matt, apparently, does not appreciate a good dad joke.

Customs here was very low key- we smiled at a camera and they directed us to a room that said “Welcome to the United States” (I wanted to take a picture but didn’t want to get in trouble), then through a set of doors that dumped us into the airport. Never seen that set up before.

We once again gained a middle-seater, so no picture of us 🙁

I managed to doze off just long enough to miss snacks 🙁 when they came around with drinks, I asked if I was too late for a stroopwafel and they brought me 3!

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1 Jun 2026

We landed just as the sun was waking up:

We found our next gate, which was on the other side of the airport, and I took a nap while Matt watched stuff on his phone. When I woke up, we discovered they had moved our gate. We were now departing just across from where we deplaned. Ugh, so back across the airport we went, and I grabbed some caffeine to get me through the day:

One last flight:

We’re almost home!!!

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So would we cruise again? Yes, but we’d be selective on the route. Alaska works well as a cruise because there are a lot of places you can’t get to by car, but we aren’t into any of the entertainment or activities onboard the boat. I’d try to find a smaller ship even if it meant fewer amenities. But that does come at a cost.

Alaska though, is absolutely beautiful! If you get the chance, absolutely go!