Zenaida Arroyo

You can read about my last day at sea HERE.

We woke up in Vancouver.  Our last stop.  We got our last cup of coffee using our coffee card.  <<If you like coffee as much as I do, I suggest you get this card.  The coffee on the ship is NOT good.  With this card you get 15 different coffees (americano, latte, cappuccino, hot chocolate) throughout the week.  Definitely best purchase ever!

I’ve never been to Vancouver so I was excited about being there.  We were able to get off the ship around 8:30am.  Then we took a cab to the hotel.  Our room wasn’t ready so we left our luggage and went out to explore.  

First we went to Stanley Park.  

Then we took a ferry to Granville Island.  We did more sightseeing and got something to eat.  So many choices to eat at The Public Market but we ended up at a brewery.  🙂

We walked on the Granville Island Bridge to get back to our hotel.  We got tired.  Once in our room we took a nap.

Have you heard of the Happy Pace Program?  If I would have stayed longer in Vancouver, for sure I would have shown up at 7:30 am.

After our nap we went to Gastown.  It is Vancouver’s most historic neighborhood with cobblestone walkways.

The following morning I flew back to Chicago.  But first another bear picture.  I posted this in our private Facebook page and everyone got a kick out of it.  Anybody home?

Remember my snafu on my flight from Seattle to Anchorage regarding the app to watch TV shows?  Same thing happened.  I had access to free movies and TV shows but I needed the United app in order to watch them.  And I needed wifi to download the app.  

You can read about my day in Ketchikan HERE.

The next day was a Rise and Shine Run/Walk with Coach Jenny (we skipped it) followed by a Flexibility Session and Ask Coach Jenny Q&A.

The rest of the day we just relaxed on the boat.  More gorgeous views!  We also packed. Somewhere around 2:30 pm we made it into Canada.  

That evening after dinner was a GARC Award Ceremony & Farewell Reception.  There were various drinks on hand but we chose champagne.

It a celebration of everyone’s accomplishments!

Then more walking around the boat.  Sad that our cruise was almost over and saying goodbye to our home for the week.

Cute painting but I didn’t want to find out the cost.

Love these daily reminders on the elevator.  It was easy to forget what day it was.

Very important card.  We needed this not only to open our room door but to get off the ship and to get back in.  It was like a credit card that anytime you wanted to buy something, you used that card for your purchase.

You can read about my day in Icy Strait Point HERE.

Our last race of the running cruise!  We had the option of either the 5K or 10K.  Meghann and I chose the 5K.

Thank goodness it only rained on our last race day.

Another hot breakfast and pep talk from Jenny.

Amazing views before the race!  Happy it had stopped raining.

Final instructions before heading out.

Time to run!  The 10k runners went first followed by the 5k runners.

Done!  Isn’t that a beautiful medal?  

At the finish line there was beer and a “salmon bake” with salmon wraps.  I had the beer but no wrap.  This race wasn’t timed so there was no “official” winner.  However, the two winners were those that drew an ace card from a deck of cards.  I did not win.

We didn’t stay too long because we wanted to be on the first bus heading back to the ship to shower and get ready, eat, and be reading for our excursion (Historic Ketchikan Trolley).

Meghann and I could never understood this.  I mean I understand the whole custom regulations part, but why coffee?

Anyway, time to explore Ketchikan.  It started to rain toward the end of our tour.

We saw Nathan Jackson working on a totem pole.

And we saw a few more totem poles at the Saxman Native Village Totem Pole Park.

That evening after dinner I enjoyed a glass of champagne.

You can read about my day in Skagway HERE.

The next day we were in Icy Strait Point.  The main event of the day was to kayak.  I’ve never done that.  I remember when I signed up, there was only one spot available and I took it as a sign that that spot was for ME.  🙂

I was TERRIFIED.  The thing I was most scared of what of the kayak tipping over.  I did ask how deep the water was and the guide told me about 600 feet.  Yikes!

I am happy to say that I am glad I did this excursion.  The kayak did not tip over.  🙂  We had an OK time.  Don’t think I’ll do it again but never say never, right?

The water was calm.  That helped me feel at ease.  The whole excursion was 2 hours.  We would paddle to an area, listen to the guide tell a story of the area, and then move on to another spot.  However, Meghann and I were doing something wrong because we could not paddle fast enough (I know it isn’t hard to do but we just couldn’t do it right).  No matter what we did, we could never catch up to the group. By the end we just decided not to rush anymore.

Back on the ship for lunch and we saw some whales!  Another highlight of the day!

Dinner was lobster tail.

We had designated seating areas in the dining room.  I enjoyed this because every night we sat at a different table to meet and chat with other group members.  And also because the food was delicious!