Where did the time go?

Mount Rainier

Two weeks turned into three before we knew it...and all our good intentions to post were set aside as we took a road trip, a cruise, and settled into our latest house sit in Richmond, British Columbia.  In our defense, we didn't have internet on the cruise - well, we could have but we refused to pay .65 cents a minute for it!  

Mount Rainier certainly lived up to its reputation - massive, deceptively dangerous and mesmerizing.  We were lucky to have the most beautiful day to enjoy the park and a clear view of the mountain as you can see.  Wildflowers bloomed in abundance, clear rivers sparkled and we lost count of the waterfalls.  Glorious.

The Alaska cruise with its stops in Skagway, Juneau and Victoria was so much more enjoyable than our first try at cruising Alaska a few years ago when it rained buckets every single day.  Sawyer Glacier was worth the 5:00 a.m. wake-up call and rivaled Mount Rainier in sheer natural beauty.  We cruised along on milky green glacial water while watching blue ice bergs float by...dreamy really.

Cruising into Sawyer Glacier

The blue of the berg has NOT been enhanced by our  photo software

One of the many ferry's that sail into landlocked Juneau

Our other ports of call in Alaska were Skagway, the gateway to the Klondike gold rush and Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Did you know that you can't drive to Alaska's capital city because there are no roads to Juneau? 

Alaska's gold rush history comes to life with a steam train trip up the famed White's Pass which had
to be traversed by each miner with 2000 pounds of supplies to reach the Klondike.

Our last stop of the cruise was Victoria, British Columbia, a city that defines charm. Parliament, sublimely gold and blue inside, filled with stained glass, murals and mosaics is one of the most beautiful government buildings we've ever seen. Victoria's other monumental architectural wonder is the Empress Hotel.  We only had a day in Victoria, but we'll be house sitting in nearby Saanich in a few weeks and looking forward to spending a lot more time enjoying and exploring the city.  Maybe we'll even take in high tea...

B.C.'s Parliament building with architectural details and the famous Empress Hotel