This day was another Alaskan gray day with light sprinkles, clouds and temperatures ranging from 49 to 58 degrees. The good news was it did not rain more and it wasn’t too cold. In comparison to other busy ports in Alaska, today we are the only ship in port, which is nice. Wrangell only receives about 75,000 visitors a year as the channel to get into town cannot accommodate newer larger ships and they only have one pier.

Wrangell is what they consider a borough in Alaska with a population of about 2,000 inhabitants with a median income of less than $65,000. It is located on the northern tip of Wrangell Island in the Alaska Panhandle. It is 155 miles south of the capital of Juneau and about 750 miles north of Seattle.

The Tlingit people and their ancestors have inhabited this island for thousands of years. The Stikine River flows into the Wrangell Harbor, which in the Tlingit language means “little lake.” Prior to the harbor being dredged in the 19th century, the river’s inlet would go dry at low tide, leading to it being called a lake. The Russians started trading furs with the Tlingit in 1811 in what was one of the oldest non-Native settlements in Alaska.

In the late 1800’s fish traps were built at the mouth of the Stikine River and in the nearby Zimovia strait. While the fishing and canning business brought economic life to the town, it also caused harm to the salmon spawning, which reduced the number of fish in the area. After statehood, all fish traps were decommissioned and the fishing industry continues to be the primary occupation of many residents. Salmon is the main catch here, but they also catch halibut, shrimp and crab which processors freeze and pack for markets nationwide. In recent years they have built a marine service center which has given more jobs to the local people and is greatly needed in the area. The marine service center works on both commercial and recreational vessels with a boat lift providing haul-out capabilities for repairs.

In the early 1950’s a fire destroyed much of this historic downtown waterfront for the second time (first time was in 1906) changing the face of Wrangell forever. This time the community was able to dredge local channels and land fill the downtown area rather than re-building on timber posts and a decking system raised above the water.

We took a shore excursion from the ship where we learned more about their totem poles at the Kiks Adi Totem Park. The native people believe that totems should be left standing until they disintegrate into the soil, but recently they have been attempting to restore and preserve more totems because of the cost to replace them. Master carvers of totems are difficult to find and when you do, a new totem can cost $10,000 a foot to build.

We visited Petroglyph Beach where we saw the rock carvings dating back possibly more than 8,000 years before the Tlingit tribes settled in the area, but their age is not actually known. They have built an easy handicap ramp and staircase down to the beach to see the rock carvings. Along the way they have built replicas of the rock carvings where people can touch them and see them more easily. Locals believe their ancestors carved them in this spot for a reason and do not think they should move them to a museum or safe place to preserve them.

Our next stop was at the Wrangell Museum where we saw many Tlingit artifacts, historical photographs and displays of Wrangell’s fishing, mining and logging industries. The museum was smaller than the museum in Juneau yesterday but it was packed with all sorts of historical items from the area. Taxidermy animals, basketry, animal pelts, local school teams awards, and much more.

After lunch on the ship, Kent rested in the cabin and worked on his emails, while Mark took a meander through the small town. In different cities around the world, they have animal statues in fiberglass that have been uniquely painted by different local artists. Here in Wrangell, they have bears which are scattered around town and festively painted in unique ways.

This evening’s entertainment was by our cruise director, Carson Turner, with a show called Broadway Dreams. He used a variety of Broadway show tunes to tell his life story from growing up in North Carolina, to moving to New York City, being a cast member on cruise ships and eventually a cruise director. He started dance classes at a young age, was in musical theater as a child, worked at Disneyland in a cast show, was in the Broadway traveling show of Oklahoma and more. He has an excellent voice and a wonderful sense of humor.

The weather on this day was cool and gray again with temperatures between 48 and 53 degrees. Mostly cloudy but not much liquid sunshine so that was good.

Juneau is the capital city of Alaska, the second largest city in the United States by area and a population of approximately 32,000. No roads connect the city to the state or North America so all goods and services need to be brought in by ship or by air. Juneau has experienced tremendous cruise ship tourism with nearly 1,700,000 visitors in 2025.

The Gastineau Channel, where Juneau is located, was a fishing place for the Auke and Taku tribes who had inhabited the area for thousands of years. The Auke had a village and a burying ground in the area. To this day they gather clams, gumboot chitons, grass and sea urchins, as well as tree bark, for medicinal purposes. The native cultures have rich traditions expressed through their carvings, weavings, singing, dancing and oral lore.

In 1911, the United States Congress authorized funds for the construction of a capitol building for the District of Alaska. Delayed by World War I and difficulty in securing necessary land, it was not completed until February 14, 1931.

The Alaska Governor’s Mansion was commissioned under a Public Building Act in 1910. The mansion built in the colonial revival style was completed in 1912. The 14,400 square foot home has six bedrooms, ten bathrooms, and eight fireplaces. When Sarah Palin was governor, she didn’t like the mansion so she found her own home to live in and this has been the case ever since. The mansion is used only for public events but the governor no longer lives here. Alaska achieved statehood in 1959, increasing the population of Juneau as the state government grew.

On our shore excursion we visited the Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure where we took a covered shuttle through the botanical garden to explore a surprising variety of flora given the harsh climate. They have upside-down flower towers, or inverted fallen tree stumps adorned with moss and crowned with dozens of indigenous flowers. The ride up the hillside was quite bumpy but the flora were very beautiful. When we reached the top of the hillside there were beautiful views out over Juneau. They also have a large greenhouse style building, elaborately decorated with hanging baskets of flowers and greenery where they can hold private events.

Our next stop was at the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, comprising 5,815 acres of land is located about 12 miles from Juneau. We visited the visitor center where you have a great view of the glacier as it reaches the water. We also took a short walking trail to another lookout where there were both the glacier and an enormous waterfall created from the snow melt in the mountains. This past winter had a tremendous amount of snow, particularly the week of Christmas when they had record breaking snow fall.

Our next stop was the Alaska State Museum which presents Alaska’s history through a collection of rare artifacts, including ones from the gold rush era and from the land’s first inhabitants. Military history, Russian history, basketry, carvings and so much more were on display. They also have an interesting whaling exhibit on the so-called Golden Age of Whaling in the early 19th century. The museum is fairly new and is beautifully arranged and displayed telling the history of Alaska from ancient time to present day.

A special fashion exhibit by a local Alaskan named Dorothy Grant who had a forty-year career in high fashion was on display. Many of her past clients loaned her fashions to create this large collection of her work.

When we arrived at the museum, Kent missed a step getting off the bus and ended up on the concrete sidewalk. He didn’t appear to break anything but will be black and blue.

We dined in the fourth specialty dining room onboard the Riviera called The Polo Grill for dinner. It is their steak house featuring all sorts of steaks, lobster, lamb chops, salads and other items. We enjoyed a beet and goat cheese layered starter, Waldorf salad, onion soup, filet mignon, lamb chops, potatoes au gratin, onion rings and key lime pie.

Tonight’s entertainment was a show by the Riviera singers and dancers titled Our World. It was a trip around the world in song and dance. The costumes were beautifully elaborate, the dancers danced all sorts of international dances, while the singers sang in multiple languages. Excellent.

Skagway has a year-round population of approximately 1,050 inhabitants, which triples in summer months to accommodate the million or more visitors each year. Today’s temperature ranged between 44 and 49 degrees so it was a bit chillier than the last few days. The weather on this day was extraordinarily gray with low clouds, fog and some afternoon light rain. The locals were even complaining that it was foggier than they could ever remember.

Skagway was a part of the Klondike gold rush frenzy when, in 1896, gold was found in the Klondike region of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Ships began bringing thousands of hopeful miners to Skagway and they prepared to make the 500-mile journey to the Canadian gold fields. The town population soon grew to 30,000, mostly American gold prospectors. Within weeks the town was filled with trading posts, guest houses, stores, and saloons; offices lined the streets of Skagway and it was the largest city in Alaska. Along with its fast growth came fights, prostitutes, liquor and con-men, all taking advantage of the hopeful prospectors. Canada began imposing new restrictions on the prospectors and by 1899 the town’s economy began to collapse as the stream of gold seekers dried up.

Much of the town has been preserved as part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and rangers offer free walking tours around the historic district. The National Parks office has several store fronts in the small town set up as museums showing the times of the goldrush including a saloon. There was very nice historical information about the town and easy to understand.

The main street of town is called Broadway and it began just at the bow of the ships in port. A few years ago, there was a landslide which closed access to one of the piers so we had to take a very short tender boat to get from our ship to shore. The main street is very wide and filled with shops on both sides of the street. Many of the buildings are from the goldrush days and most are filled with jewelry and souvenir shops for the summer tourists. Most of the merchandise was similar to what we had seen in other shops along the way in other ports on our tour.

Our excursion on this day was a ride on a vintage train that once carried miners into the gold fields of the Canadian wilderness. The White Pass and Yukon Route Railway is an historic narrow-gauge railroad built during the Gold Rush in 1898 and is now a scenic excursion. We were on the White Pass Summit Excursion that climbs 3,000 feet over a 20-mile span to the summit. They have a narrator who highlights the iconic landmarks like the Bridal Veil Falls (a dramatic waterfall cascading from Carmack Glacier), Inspiration Point (panoramic views of Lynn Canal and surrounding mountains), Dead Horse Gulch (an historic site named for the pack animals lost during the Gold Rush), Cantilever Bridge (an historic site named for other pack animals lost during the Gold Rush) and the Trail of 1898 (remnants of the original Klondike Gold Rush Trail).

We took a 40-minute motorcoach ride from the port to the town of Fraser, in Canada, where we caught the train for the ride back to Skagway. We thought we might see more scenery taking the bus one direction and the train in the other direction, but the clouds and fog were so bad there was little for us to see. We had to take our passports with us as we had to cross the border into Canada and then upon our return to the U.S., we had to show our passports again for customs officials.

The evening’s entertainment was another performance by Paulette Ivory titled Divas Unleashed. This was a celebration of the musical hits of the world’s biggest divas from Barbra to Tina. The audience was quite small, so I’m not sure if people didn’t like her first show or if they were tired and went to bed early.

Holkham Bay sits about 45 miles south of Juneau, Alaska on the east side of Stephens Passage. The bay connects Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm on its east to Stephens Passage on its west. These arms are Fjords or long, narrow, deep inlets of the sea with steep cliffs, formed by glacial activity and later flooded by seawater.

The weather was beautiful with sunshine and a few hovering clouds throughout the day, but no rain. You could easily enjoy the outdoor decks with a light sweater or sweatshirt. The entire day was spent exploring the narrow passage ways and waterways of the area on the ship. Midday we saw a large glacier and late in the day we cruised by Mendenhall Glacier. The Mendenhall Glacier is about 14 miles in length although not that much was visible from our ship. The glacier has been retreating due to a generally warming climate in Southeast Alaska, linked to global warming.

We enjoyed afternoon tea where they served all varieties of tea and a rolling cart of both savory and sweet treats. The strings quartet played classical music during tea. Way too easy to overeat with food everywhere.

The art onboard our ship has been created by a variety of artists including Miro and some Picasso sketches and paintings. Most of the art is very interpretive and less clear as to what the artist was trying to portray. There are paintings of pieces of white fabric displayed in a variety of different situations but left for you to interpret what you see in them. The art collection onboard is quite extensive and ranges from small pieces to some very large pieces. The main elevator and staircase were created in collaboration with Lalique, the renowned French luxury glass and crystal manufacturer.

In lieu of traditional entertainment on this night, they had a blue party in the bar located on the top deck. The Riviera band played dance music and guests were encouraged to wear blue. The cruise staff and the Riviera cast of singers and dancers sang songs and danced with guests. Even the cruise director Carson joined in on the singing. He has a very nice voice which is not surprising since he started out in the cruise business as a cast member.

Today would have been my late mother’s 86th birthday and I’m thinking of her today.

Sitka is the only Inside Passage community that fronts on the Pacific Ocean. It is located on Sitka Sound, Baranof Island, and has a population of about 8,500. It is known for its Tlingit culture and remnants of its Russian heritage, including the onion-shaped domes of the beloved Saint Michael’s Russian Orthodox Church. Sitka was originally inhabited by the Tlingit people who called the area Sheet Ka, which means “people on the outside of Shee” with “Shee” being the Tlingit name for Baranof Island. When the Russians arrived, they named the area New Archangel and it became the capital of Russian Alaska in 1808. Russia sold Alaska to the United States on October 18, 1867, with a transfer ceremony held in Sitka.

We took a ten-minute shuttle bus from the ship’s terminal into town where we arrived at the Heritage Centennial Hall. The hall is a very modern building with a visitor center, a museum, meeting rooms, a performance hall. From there we walked the very small three-block long town filled with shops, food establishments, a few churches and hotels.

The 50-degree weather was a bit chillier than the beautiful day we had in Ketchikan the day before. Not only was it cold, but it was wet and drizzly. In the center of town, we visited St. Michael’s Cathedral which was the first Orthodox church in the Americas. The church is a replica of the original from the 19th century as it was destroyed by fire in 1966. The church has an active congregation and is filled with detailed artifacts and icons believed to date back to the 17th century.

We visited Totem Square, a small park with a 40-foot totem pole that displays the double-headed eagle of Sitka’s Russian Heritage. Across from the square is the Sitka Pioneer Home built in the 1930’s on the site of wooden Russian barracks. The building is an assisted living facility for 75 elderly Alaskans. In the front of the building stands a 13-foot-tall bronze statue titled “The Prospector.”

The town was packed with tourists as there were four or five cruise ships in town again today including the Anthem of the Seas which holds 4,200 passengers plus a huge crew. This small town is filled with all types of art shops, fur shops and souvenir shops.

For dinner, we dined in Jacque’s restaurant which is the French inspired specialty dining room. The menu once again was very extensive making it difficult to select just a few items to try. Fresh French bread and creamy butter to begin. Next came a warm cheese ball and a mini tartlet of creamy eggplant. We enjoyed a thinly sliced scallop starter, a crab salad, escargot, rack of lamb, a scallop dish and crepe suzette. All very nice.

The evening entertainment was a Neil Diamond tribute show by the Riviera cast of singers and dancers. They had a radio announcer who announced the songs as if you were listening to a radio show as the cast performed the songs accompanied by the dancers in outfits from the years when the songs were popular.

We arrived in Ketchikan about 9:00am this morning to partly cloudy skies and temperatures ranging from a low of 48 to a high of 62 degrees. We had anticipated docking in the heart of town but instead were docked at Ward Cove West located at 7559 N. Tangass Highway. This made it difficult to run into town and explore a few points of interest before or after our tour. They provided both double decker and school busses to transport us from the ship to town. The bus ride into town with road construction took about twenty minutes each way.

Located on Revillagigedo Island, Ketchikan is 90 miles north of Prince Rupert, British Columbia and is the first Alaskan city you reach when cruising north. The town is approximately 30 miles in length and not more than 10 blocks in width as it hugs the steep bluffs of the forested landscape. Incorporated in 1900, Ketchikan has a population of about 8,500 residents and is the sixth largest city in Alaska.

Ketchikan has the world’s largest collection of totem poles located throughout the city, as well as at several parks and heritage centers. If you enjoy the rain this may be the spot for you. The annual rainfall is 197.8 inches and they recorded 42.69 inches of rain in October of 1974. Their economy is based around commercial fishing, canneries, government services, and tourism. In 2018 the city saw more than 40 cruise ships making over 500 stops in the harbor and bringing more than one million visitors to town.

There were five ships in port on this day and two of them appeared to be mega ships. This meant that everywhere you went there were a ton of people in town. One of the ships featured a lift on the back of the ship with a glass pod that you could ride up above the ship on. There was a giant giraffe character on top of one ship dressed in a bathing suit with a pool tube around it.

We took a shore excursion to the Saxman Native Village located about 2.5 miles south of downtown. We had a great guide who was a young man, 19 years old, and belonged to one of the local tribes. The village is a center for Tlingit culture and traditions, emphasizing family, clan and community values. The village is governed by a tribal council which provides services to the tribal citizens and preserves cultural heritage. We saw demonstrations of cultural dances, songs and the village carving center. Saxman is famous for having the world’s largest collection of standing Native American totem poles. They have about 25 totems displayed, mostly replicas from abandoned villages, carved from single cedar logs to withstand the heavy annual rainfall. Each pole tells a unique story through its intricate carving and vibrant color, representing animals, clan history and Tlingit legends. Inside the village’s Beaver Clan House, we saw a traditional music and dance performance. At the Carving Center they explained about the types of tools, paints, and techniques used to create the totemic art forms. Of course, they offer a gift shop for your retail therapy.

Our next stop was the Great Alaska Lumber Jack Show where lumber jacks compete in such skills as chopping, sawing, tree climbing, log rolling and more. The show lasted about an hour and the huge stadium was packed, not an empty seat in the place. When the seats were full, they would roll out more portable grandstand seating to accommodate everyone. They created two teams of lumberjacks for the audience to cheer on. When you leave, they funnel you through the gift shop.

Dinner on this night was in the Toscana Italian Restaurant on deck 14 with walls of glass looking out over the sea and surrounding hills. The sky was filled with spectacular cloud formations and the sun would shine through adding to the ambiance. As usual we ate much more than we needed. We indulged in eggplant rolls, carpaccio, fried baby calamari, spinach salad, pasta and risotto prepared three ways, veal scallopini with a lemon butter sauce, six types of bread with roasted garlic and a variety of olive oils and vinegars, chunks of cheese, three flavors of thinly sliced biscotti and tiramisu. Oh, my how we over ate. My favorites were the pasta dishes, but most everything was good.

The evenings entertainment was a magician and mentalist from New York by the name of TJ Tana. TJ became fascinated with magic at the age of five when a close friend made a rubber ball vanish and reappear right before his eyes. That one single trick turned his fascination into a hobby, which soon became his passion. He immersed himself in magic books and videos before going on to study with masters like Criss Angel, Lance Burton and David Blaine. By 19 years of age TJ was headlining in Las Vegas the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. TJ had a great show and was very engaging with the audience. Many of his tricks we had seen before but he did a great job with them.

On this day we cruised the inside passage. The Alaskan portion of the inside passage is approximately 500 miles from north to south and approximately100 miles from west to east. There are some 1,000 islands and thousands of bays and coves making it a popular tourist destination. There are wildlife viewing opportunities from land and sea, whether you are exploring the rugged coastal mountain ranges or exploring by boat, cruise ship or kayak on the water. Over 2 two million visitors a year cruise this region in a variety of cruise ships. In addition to the cruise ships, more than 35,000 recreation boats transit the inside passage annually.

We enjoyed breakfast in the main dining room which is elegantly appointed. Crisp white tablecloths drape to the floor, large leather upholstered chairs at the tables and vintage style silver accessories grace the tables. The friendly staff was all too happy to chat as they provided stellar service. The extensive breakfast menu included most anything you could imagine from eggs, to pancakes and muesli to lamb chops and everything in between. The staff is excellent at remembering your names and will call you by name every time they come to the table.

Onboard all week long was a naturalist by the name of Dr. Gloeta Nickole Massie who gave a morning talk on what type of wildlife we might expect to see in each port of call. She was quite enthusiastic with a great sense of humor. In the afternoon Gloeta gave a talk on Whales, Bears and Glaciers explaining differences and similarities in different varieties of each.

Being a sea day, it seemed as though all we did was eat. We dined in the Grand Dining Room for lunch. They had a wide variety of dishes from salads, to sandwiches and fish to soups. They list some as healthy options showing the calorie content but we made selections on what looked good or that we had not tried before. Kent had empanadas for a starter and a salad niçoise for his main. Mark had a mushroom soup for a starter, a croque monsieur for his main and a coconut creme sweet with a raisin rum topping for dessert.

Late afternoon brought the Captain’s Welcome Cocktail Celebration where he introduced his senior officers. The Riviera Showband performed for guests listening and dancing pleasure. The drinks were complimentary although it doesn’t make much difference when the majority of people have drink packages allowing them unlimited drinks.

We continued to eat more as we dined in the Grand Dining Room for dinner. Kent restrained himself by only having a shrimp cocktail and a salad. On the other hand, Mark had the lobster bisque, the spinach salad with bacon dressing, the duck l’orange followed by the pistachio souffle.

The evening’s entertainment was a showcase of dynamic pop hits and career highlights by Paulette Ivory. Paulette sang hits of Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Shirley Bassey. Paulette starred in Aida, and The Lion King and other shows in London and on Broadway. She has acted in the Young and the Restless for TV and performed for King Charles.

We enjoyed breakfast in our hotel again. Mark walked for about an hour into Stanley Park and along the sea wall. About 10:00am we checked out of our hotel and took a Lyft to our home for the next ten days, the Oceania Riviera cruise ship. The ride to the ship was only about 15 minutes and it took us about 45 minutes to get through security, customs and checked in. Once onboard we enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch in the Terrace Café. There were way too many things to choose from like a large salad bar, a pumpkin and carrot soup, burgers, roasted turkey, pasta, roasted pork, sandwiches, pizza, roast beef and more.

The 15-deck vessel accommodates 1,250 passengers when full and is an adult only cruise ship. They have 800 crew members from 52 nationalities to serve the guests. The ship blends elegance with contemporary design, including a Lalique Grand Staircase. The ship includes four specialty dining venues in addition to its main dining rooms, all day buffet, poolside grill and pizzeria. There is the Red Ginger Asian, Jacques French, the Polo Grill steak house and the Toscana Italian eatery.

The ship has a total of 15 decks, a pool, spa, fitness center, coffee bar, library and poolside ice cream bar. Our cabin was on deck 9 and featured about 300 square feet of space, a teak veranda, seating area, oversized bathroom and walk-in shower. The color scheme was very neutral shades of beige, brown, white and navy blue. The luxurious Tranquility beds feature beautiful linens.

Our cabin features a queen size bed, small sofa, a large bath with shower and tons of storage. There is also a balcony with two arm chairs and a coffee or cocktail table. We had a bottle of champagne and red wine in our cabin when we arrived to get us started on our adventure to Alaska.

Our dinner on our first night aboard was in the Red Ginger specialty dining room. The dining room is elegantly decorated in red and black and features an Asian themed menu. For a starter I had the tempura sweet potato, avocado and mushrooms. Then there was the watermelon and duck salad followed by the entrée I selected, the seven spice lamb chops. Dessert brought a coconut mousse surrounded by lady fingers. They offered many dishes and you were encouraged to order as many items as you could eat. Some larger tables ordered lots of items and sampled a large variety.

The evenings show in the main theater was a Broadway themed show featuring six vocalists from the ships show cast. They performed a variety of Broadway shows, both vintage and current.

Happy Father’s Day!

After breakfast in our hotel, we ventured out in a Lyft to China Town to visit the Dr. Sun Yai-Sen Chinese Park and Garden which our neighbor and friend Lois had told us about. Built in 1986, the Ming Dynasty-style garden-home is the first of its kind to be built outside of China. A collaborative effort of community members, the Canadian Government, and the People’s Republic of China, made this park and garden possible. They strive to bring together Chinese arts and culture through educational and public programs.

The grounds of the Chinese Garden encompass many walled garden spaces with ponds,
volcanic rocks, meandering paths and several rooms. Each room has a special purpose, like a study for brush painting, a tea room, an art studio gallery, gift shop and decorative arts. Many of the buildings and rocks were brought in from China to make the experience as authentic as possible. Next to the Chinese Garden is a free public park with gravel paths, beautiful landscaping, a pond and several shade structures.

After visiting the garden and park Mark decided to take a little walk around the neighboring streets while Kent rested in a chair on the street corner. Mark got more than he bargained for and was suddenly transported back to his college days passing skid row in Los Angeles on his way to school. In one short block there were homeless people, drug deals taking place, people urinating on the sidewalk, people drugged out in the alley while others rifled through their belongings looking for money, bone thin elderly people sleeping in wheelchairs and more. Definitely not the China Town I expected to find in Vancouver.

There was a World Cup soccer match taking place a few blocks away so many of the streets were already closed off for the day creating traffic problems. We headed back to our hotel for a rest.

In the afternoon, we took a 60-minute harbor cruise on a paddlewheel boat called the Constitution with our friend Bryan. We enjoyed the afternoon sunshine as we passed Stanley Park, the downtown skyline, the historic Gastown, North Vancouver and the North Shore Mountains.

As we walked back to our hotel from the harbor cruise, we stopped at one of Bryan’s favorite bakeries called Breka Bakery and Cafe for a sweet pick-me-up treat. Bryan enjoyed a White Chocolate scone; Kent had a cheesecake brownie crunch and Mark enjoyed a pistachio brownie crunch. All delicious!!

We enjoyed dinner in our hotel.

This morning we had breakfast at our hotel overlooking the beautiful English Bay. The hotel serves everything from a simple muffin to oatmeal, pancakes to eggs benedict and more. It was a beautiful morning with daily temperatures ranging from a low of 56 to a high of 68.

After breakfast Mark took an hour long walk along the English Bay. The paved boardwalks were filled with walkers, joggers, people exercising, walking dogs and just enjoying a summer Saturday morning. The sand and grassy hillsides were busy with young Canadian Geese looking after their chicks. Beautiful spring flowers like hydrangea are blooming all around town.

At 10:45am our friend Eugene walked over to the hotel to escort us to his and Bob’s apartment a few blocks away. Bob is a dear friend that Kent met while living in Montreal in the 1970’s and they have been friends ever since. Bob moved to Vancouver about 20 years ago from Toronto for a better client. Bob met Eugene in Hawaii in 2003.

Bob has been undergoing some chemotherapy and radiation treatments which he will complete on Monday. Eugene has been a wonderful caregiver to him and we wish him a speedy recovery.

This afternoon took Mark on another walking tour around one of the shopping streets while Kent worked on his long list of emails. The beach in front of our hotel was packed with people all afternoon and evening. Lots of people riding scooters and bicycles. Here in the west end residents can adopt parkway planters and create beautiful flower gardens where grass may once have been. Some of the gardens are just beautiful with an array of colorful flowers.

This evening our long-term friend Bryan took us to a local Italian restaurant called Robba Da Matti. Bryan is another transplant that Kent met while living in Montreal and they have remained friends for the better part of fifty years. Bryan taught accounting here at the local university but has since retired.

After returning to our hotel from dinner we walked across the street and found a bench to people watch along the edge of English Bay. The long days of June mean that the sun does not set until after 9:00pm and it is still light until nearly 10:00pm. Even at 9:00pm the waterfront is busy will all types of people enjoying the summer nights.