On a hot summer day, Karen and I were driven to Newark, NJ airport for a flight to Vancouver, BC. But for the intervention of an airline supervisor, we would have missed the plane, but that is a story in itself. For our second night in Vancouver, a rainbow magically appeared in the harbor water.

After two relaxing nights in Canada, we boarded the cruise ship Norwegian Wind, shown above docked at Haines, AK. The ship had 2,600 passengers and over 500 in crew. It is 15 stories high including stack, had four banks of elevators, nine bars and six dining rooms. We were lost on board much of the trip. http://www.ncl.com/fleet/04/webcam.htm shows a photo taken only minutes ago from the bow of the ship as it cruises around Alaska.

Here's the bottom end of a huge glacier as seen from our ship in Glacier Bay National Park. It was much higher than our 15-story ship. The ice moves down about six feet per day and keeps breaking off into the water with loud booms and splashes.
Forget short sleeves and shorts when glacier watching. The weather was around 50 degrees and breezy throughout the trip. Sweatshirts and sweaters topped by a shell were more appropriate.

We saw rain on most days, but it usually cleared up by the time for sightseeing.

See the train crossing over fast moving river that forks and makes two water falls outside of Skagway. Breath taking scenery like this was everywhere. We hated to miss any of it while sleeping.

What better way to meet the locals and rest tired feet than to go to a bar in Ketchikan. "Tex," the lone entertainer joined us for a brew. The local beer is quite good.
I'm admiring an antique snow blower mounted on the front of a box car displayed in Skagway.

And then there was the Chocolate Buffet. Everything was chocolate including fresh dipped strawberries and bananas, chocolate cakes, chocolate fudge, chocolate clusters, chocolate cookies, chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup, chocolate cheese cake and a hundred other selections I can't think of just now. It was open between 12 midnight and 1 a.m. Can you imagine going to bed and trying to sleep after eating so much chocolate?
The cruise was billed as Freestyle, meaning we could wear casual clothing to most events.

But there were dress up occasions available too. Here we are dancing at the the captain's Champagne reception.

Other vacations: Farm, Hawaii, Europe, Caribbean, Western Caribbean