Thursday, September 25, 2014

Alaska: Part Three - Oh Canada... Briefly

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentelmen,
 
Day 9 – May 31st - Day at Sea
 
This last day in May was a pretty relaxing day at sea… there was some Reindeer Chili & Rockfish Chowder for lunch… another Basketball Shootout where I took home another gold medal… and we watched Comedian Rollin Jay Moore who was pretty funny… but yeah, nothing really out of the ordinary.
 
Day 10 – June 1st - Victoria, Canada
 
Our morning in Victoria was spent out on a fully-packed boat for some Orca watching. The first hour or so was… frankly pretty cold, boring & uneventful… but that all changed once we got to where we found the family of ORCAS!!! Behold…
 





Then on the way back, we saw a few Harbor Seals… or Sea Sausages if you will…
 



Once we got back to the port, we only had about two hours until the ship’s last call (real quick teaser stop in Victoria on this cruise) so we hailed a cabbie named Doug, who was everything that you would want in a nice Canadian cabbie (short of wearing a mountie outfit) and we headed out to Vancouver Brewing Company to try some brews… but alas, it was a Sunday & they were closed. What to do? No problem, Doug suggested another place that was two blocks away called Moon Under Water Brewing… and the three of us enjoyed lunch and a few beverages there… and it was all pretty fantastic. After lunch, Doug then drove us back to the ship & we got there JUST as they were closing up the port… seriously, like we were probably the last two people to make it.
 
Back on the boat, there was Adult Basketball... which was basically another game of H-O-R-S-E and it turned into a nice 45-minute competition between me & one other guy who'd obviously been playing more recently than the past two years... like in the last week or so... but yeah, JUST missed on winning, so took home the silver.
 
There was also a "British Invasion" production show... and it was eh... that's all I've really got to say about that.
 
Day 11 – June 2nd - Day at Sea
 
The real highlight of this day was the final race of the Star Downs Horse Racing where our beautiful Robo-Pegasus named Harry Seaward was to compete against the other “owner” horses for a shot at the final pot. BEHOLD THE GLORY THAT IS HARRY SEAWARD!!!
 

So then it was time for the race… and we basically SMOKED everybody… like it wasn’t even close… and we walked away with about $250 in winnings, so that basically covered what I bid on the horse originally and most of the gratuities for the cruise. Not a bad chunk of change honestly. I wish that I could tell you that we burned the midnight oil our last day at sea but… really about the most exciting thing that we did was enjoy a nice warm Remy Martin before bedtime… and the hot tub… and that was about it. Boom!
 
Day 12 – June 3rd - Back to San Francisco
 
This Tuesday morning was our return to San Francisco… and essentially reality… but it was a fantastic vacation & I can’t thank my mom, stepdad & lovely ladyfriend enough for going with me. It was truly an incredible experience… that frankly, I can’t wait to experience again. I’d love to spend more time up in Alaska & Canada to get to hang out with the locals, see new incredible sights that I couldn’t manage in a scant few hours, and see how things happen on a regular basis. I know with cruise ships there’s a lot of fun activity for a few hours a few times a week for a few months & then the vendors disappear… but it really peaked my interest in these places& there’s really so much to see in the area. Heck, this was just the southeastern shoreline too… there’s literally about a MILLION TIMES what we say left to see in Alaska… and Canada? Please! Probably BILLIONS times more to see. Anyway, incredible experience… I highly recommend it… hope you enjoyed reading this little thing… and it was worth the wait to all of us. Have a great day everybody!!!

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