We had enough left over for lunch the next day. It was good. Our 7:30 table reservation at the Sky View Observatory was already due when we finished eating so we skipped it. The sunset was already happening.

Thursday, September 4^th

I pre-purchased tickets to Chihuly Garden and Glass. The tickets I bought gave an earliest reservation of 11:00 am, but their web page said they open at 9:00, so we headed there right after the breakfast included in the Wyndham reservation. We got there a little after 9:00, but they didn't actually open until 9:30 and we were admitted then.

The displays were even more spectacular than I imagined. Unfortunately, my photos for the first several days including this day disappeared from my camera. I don't think I deleted them, but they are gone, hopefully some of the phone pictures Marilou took survived. You can see some of the displays on their web site link below.

When Marilou got back, I was able to get a few of the pictures she took from her phone.

We headed back to the hotel in time to eat our leftovers and check out before the 1pm deadline. I got the front desk girl to call us a taxi to take us to Pier 91 for our Carnival Cruise departure. At the taxi drop off I had some help stapling the Carnival Luggage tags on. They then took our luggage from there to our cabin while we were directed to go through passport control and the boarding check-in process.

At our cabin we could see the port crew moving thousands of pieces of luggage from the dock onto the ship. We met the head attendant Nyoman and several others (Dwight, Luise, and Nikki) who would take care of our room during the week.

The ship set sail at 3:30 and we got to view the safety material on the tv. Marilou tried out the life vest to make sure she knew how to get it on. After our luggage was delivered to the room, we set out to figure out the lay of the ship. The information they provided wasn't that useful, so we had to wait in line at customer service to find out how meals worked, etc. In spite of reqesting the early dinner seating, we got scheduled for the 7:30 seatings. I ordered the lamb chops which is a cut I normally don't order because of lack of fat, but it was pretty good, just a little too much. It may have been a bit overcooked, but still not too tough.

Friday, September 5^th

Sunday, September 7^th

Today we docked at Skagway. It was short walk from the ship to the town, but we had purchased a minibus ride to the Klondike Summit. The bus followed a route parallel to a train track in the distance. I think we were following the way the earlier gold rushers took.

The border of Alaska with Canada is determined by the highest peaks as claimed by the Russian Explorers before they sold it to the USA. So, this trip ended up just crossing into Canada. A border crossing going out and coming back was therefore part of the trip. We also stopped for a waterfall and a couple other view stops. The guide pointed out a field of Alaska Firebush Flowers which he said was the state flower of Alaska. Wikipedia disagrees with that designation.

We were brought back to the ship where we ate a quick lunch, then headed back out toward the town of Skagway. St. Therese of the Child Jesus Christ Catholic Church was a little further of a walk than I thought. We saw some mountain ash trees along the way that were covered in orange berries. We eventually got to the church in plenty of time for the 3:00 pm Mass. The church is a bit small. The priest who said the Mass didn't have any help setting up for the Mass, so he was scrambling around a bit. He asked for a volunteer to do the readings and forgot to take up a collection, so he asked us to make a donation into the poor box on the way out.

Afterwards we walked through the tourist/old part of town. There is a historical park at the one end of the town that has an interesting looking snowplow to clear railroad tracks. There is also a centennial statue and other mementos there.

Monday, September 8^th

Today's stop was in the Tracy Arm Fjord. The ship didn't actually dock but just got close to the Sawyer Glacier. There were several cruise ships already near the glacier so ours wasn't able to get that close to it. The day trip offered there was a 3 hour ride on a smaller boat to get a closer view of the glacier's "calving". The $270 for a 3-hour boat ride seemed excessive so we didn't do that part. The couple who we eat dinner with us did the trip and had a video of the ice breaking away. We were content to watch the icebergs float by. Some of them had seals hitching a ride. The cruise line left before all the tour boats had returned so they had to connect with the ship on the move.

About 3 hours along the trip to Ketchikan we saw a lot of whales following us.

Tuesday, September 9^th

Today's excursion from Ketchikan was to Totem Bight Park followed by a canoe trip across the lake and a short hike in a rainforest. The trip to Totem Bight State Historical Park got off to a bumpy start. The driver was going a bit fast down a bumpy road. The van lost power and drifted to a stop. He opened the hood and started checking the oil level. I went out and reconnected the battery to get us going again.

We arrived at Totem Bight State Historical Park when another group was starting the rounds so, we skipped the start and came back to it at the end. The 11-acre park featuring ancient totem poles and informational signs explaining the ancient art displayed there. At the start/end I got a copy of the Guide that includes descriptions of the various totem poles and their meaning.

We then entered a restoration building where you could see various totems under repair. Apparently, there is some controversy within the tribes for restoring totems since that reduces the need for artists to create new ones.

From there we viewed and entered a clan house. Clan houses typically kept 30 to 50 people of one lineage. The entrance was through an opening in a totem pole. According to our guide the doorways were made intentionally short to aid in defending against attacks. Those trying to enter are forced to stoop down to enter.

We then passed by several other totems on the way to the viewing area of the Tongass Narrows. The colors of the vegetation were unusual.

The second part of this day trip is a 15-passenger canoe trip across Lake Harriet. I think we had 10 of us rowing the boat to a stopping off point where we did a short walk through the rain forest with our guide pointing out various characteristics of the rain forest.

We then were treated to a snack of clam chowder, smoked salmon, rolls and wild berry jam.

Wednesday, September 10^th

The next stop was a short stay in Victoria after dark. Apparently, there is some rules that a foreign built ship visit a foreign port as part of the trip. Anyway, most of the Victoria Day trips required being there during the day instead of a few hours at night. I wasn't going to do a day trip there but decided to add the "Canada Night Lights City Tour."

The tour started out with a snack stop at Tim Horton's which apparently is a famous Canadian stop for Timbits (bite sized donuts). We got to pick up our preorder of coffee or tea plus 4 timbits in a to go bag.

I won a pair of gloves by answering his question of the National Sport of Canada. Hockey, Curling, Ice fishing etc. were already wrongly guessed so my answer of La Crosse was about the only sport not guessed.

Thursday, September 11^th

The ship returned to Seattle in the early morning. Carnival was real concerned that we be out of our rooms by 8:25am so that the crew could start getting ready for the next passengers. We went to breakfast then quickly completed securing our luggage to put it out. Marilou then searched out our caretakers: Louise, Kasie, and Hazel to give an extra gift in addition to the Carnival charged tip.

We had a 4 pm flight schedule, so we didn't get into the exit line right away. I probably could have scheduled an earlier flight if I knew they would be so precise on their arrival schedule. Eventually we joined the long exit line and proceeded through the checkout process of checking out of the ship and going through customs to then get a taxi.

Since we had a lot of time before our flight, I researched some botanical gardens we could visit along the way. I settled on the Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden since it was on the way to the airport and seemed interesting. I had the port taxi service take us there and leave a card in case we needed him to do the final trip to the airport.

We spent several hours there viewing all the blooms.

When we had seen enough, we went into a senior center that was part of the Park's and Recreation Department. They had finished serving lunch and we had to be a resident of the area to buy their discounted lunch anyway. I got the volunteer lady there to call us a local cab to get us to the airport. It was a short ride.

We paid $50 for 2 Quesadillas and waters at the Mi Casa Cantina near the at the Concourse B, Gate B9 where we were waiting for our flight. They were huge. We ate half for lunch and half for dinner.

Got to Reno just before midnight and had to wait in a Hertz line for about an hour to get our Thrifty car. A guy who had waited in the line got a car but was told to pick it up in the morning. I guess he didn't have a reservation. I had to take a larger car than I reserved, a forester. It's a very small SUV so it was easier to manipulate and park than I thought it would be. I was halfway to Carson City before I figured out how keep the lights on. We found Super 8 by Wyndham Carson City/Lake Tahoe with no problem since it was right past the Railroad Museum.

Friday, September 12^th

There wasn't much selection for breakfast included. I think I had the oatmeal. Marilou heated the Bagel, but there wasn't any cream cheese to put on it.

My plan for the day was to follow the Kit Carson Trail, visit museums and view famous houses in Carson City before we drove up the mountain to Lake Tahoe.

Our first stop was the Nevada State Museum Carson City. There's a bell outside that was a gift from France for the becoming a State and a statue of Judge Clark J. Guild who was instrumental in the changing of the old mint into a museum. We toured the first floor that had various Nevada stories and stuffed wildlife samples.

We saw signs to the Mine Exhibit that took us underground. Here we found numerous reproductions of situations that could be found in the mines in Nevada's past.

When we returned to the first floor, we encountered a volunteer giving a tour description of the mint section and silver displays. He invited us to join the group which we did. He went through things quickly, so I went back afterwards to get pictures and record the descriptions.

We went to the second floor and toured the second floor Nevada History section then Marilou had enough museum, so we exited and walked to see the Historical Churches on the Kit Carson trail. We saw the churches but they weren't open to viewing so all we got was an outside view. We ended up at an arts center area where Marilou found a gallery where she could purchase more Christmas present jewelry.

Leaving Carson City, we stopped at a Save Mart right before Hwy 50 branches off S. Carson Street where we stocked up on groceries for the week.

We then proceeded to The Ridge Tahoe, checked in and unpacked in our 2-bedroom room for the 2 of us. Marilou's friends had to cancel the trip.

Saturday, September 13^th

I got up in time to get some photos of the sunrise out my bedroom window. We pretty much stayed at the resort recovering from all the running around the prior week. We spent some time at the hot tub. Apparently, they have decided to close the tub on the inside and the tub on the opposite side of the building. This tub was at a pretty good temperature unlike last time we were here.

Sunday, September 14^th

I got some photos of the rising sun again today.

Later we headed to Zaphyr Cove to attend Mass at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church. I missed the Exultation of the Cross celebration at St. Helena today. After the Mass I took some photos of the Padre Pio display and other decorations in the rear.

Later we headed to Zephyr Cove to attend Mass at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church. I missed the Exulation of the Cross celebration at St. Helena today. After the Mass I took some photos of the Padre Pio display and other decorations in the rear of the church.

After Mass we went to the IHOP on South Lake Tahoe for a quick lunch. I got the Country Fried Steak with plenty of gravy and had to get a "to go" for about half of it. Marilou did the shrimp. We had to hurry back because I had agreed to a "Member Review" meeting.

I'm not sure I understand the Holiday Inn Club Vacations relationship to my current ownership and the agent wasn't that good at explaining it to me, but I convinced him I didn't need to buy additional time which the meeting seemed to be mainly aimed at. For my hour or so of trying to understand what they were selling I got some certificates for charges at the Ridge Restaurants and a combo gift card for entrance to David Walley's hot springs resort and dinner certificate to eat there.

That evening we used some of the resort card for dinner at the Ridge Tahoe Bistro. We both got fish and chips. The fish was a deep fat fried cod filet. I'm not keen on frying, but the cod was good. I think it was a corn meal breading which doesn't hold so much grease.

Monday, September 15^th

Got some more photos of the sunrise. After breakfast we headed to Genoa to use our pass to David Walleys Resort to try their hot tubs out. We found it ok and entered the hot springs area. It wasn't too crowded there. We got in and out of the water several times. I'm not sure the mineral waters made my rheumatism and other afflictions disappear, but the water was quite warm.

The restaurant was closed on Monday and Tuesdays, so we didn't get to use the food dollars.

Since we were going to spend the day in Genoa area, I had researched some historical things to look at. Our next stop was the Mormon Station Trading Post which was now a museum. For 1$ a volunteer would tour us and describe the numerous objects within. I took him up on it and paid my dollar. There were a lot of interesting items inside. My favorite is the sausage stuffer. He told a story of the life and accomplishments of Snowshoe Thompson.

Our next stop was to be the Courthouse Museum, but when we got there it was obvious Marilou had seen enough and was ready for lunch. I took some pictures outside the museum before we headed to the "Pink House". There was a statue of a cowboy/alien outside the gallery, but no description of it's meaning.

The "Pink House" was recommended to us by the volunteer at the Mormon Station Museum. I think the story he told was that the Station manager didn't want to move his family when the Mormons were concerned about the politics of the area, so he stayed in his house that is now the "Pink House". I ordered the Minifuletta chips and dips and we had a glass of Chardonnay. We both needed "To Go" boxes for the extra food.

After eating we went to find the "Hanging Tree". We tried using the google maps direction on Marilou's phone in order to know when we were at the tree site. She took us in circles again, but eventually we found it just down the road from the Pink House.

Tuesday, September 16^th

I again started the day with taking pictures of the sun rising. I also had a sinus headache, so I took a tablet of Benadryl which knocked me out for the day.

Wednesday, September 17^th

I again took pictures of the sunrise with time delays before breakfast.

After breakfast we went to Anderson's Bicycle Rental near the lake. Marilou had a bucket list item of riding a bicycle built for two, so we were able to check it off. I had them take a picture of us on the bike before the ride. A two-person bike is definitely tougher than a normal bike. You need to use the handlebar more for direction control instead of leaning. Maintaining balance when the speed is reduced at intersections is more difficult. We lost balance at one stop sign and Marilou scrapped a knee.

We made a stop at the Taylor Creek Visitor center and walked the trail to search for trout running. I didn't see any trout running but saw some frogs and other wildlife.

When we returned the bike to the Rental, the girl commented that we hadn't killed each other.

Thursday, September 18^th

I again took pictures of the sunrise before breakfast.

After breakfast we did the normal drive around the lake with the intent of pulling over at the normal viewpoints. We started on the California side. Since our last trip here California implemented some no stopping rules on most of the normal pullovers and parking fees on the other pull-over spots. We tried to pull over in the Emerald Bay parking area for our biannual picture source. I guess since there is a parking fee people stay longer in the parking spots instead of doing a short view and move on. We weren't able to find a spot to park after several cruises through the parking lot, so we moved along.

We had a better experience on the Nevada side where the normal pullover points still worked.

Friday, September 19^th

Today we packed up and checked out before our trip to Reno. I gassed up at the exit close to the airport. We returned the car and checked in at our respective airline flights. My flight took me from Reno to Austin before heading to Houston then on to Corpus Christi. There was some computer issues in Dallas which upset the flights. We were slightly delayed going to Austin, but in Austin they kept delaying our flight to Houston. We wouldn't be able to make our flight to Corpus Christi. Southwest offered to rebook me on the morning flight from Houston to Corpus Christi and there was another passenger with the same dilemma who was a bit more aggravated by their response. I talked to him about sharing a rental to Corpus which we did and cancelled our return flights. I didn't think to get the directions to highway 37 before we left the airport. We used his I-phone routing which took us through areas I never saw before, but we got there eventually. I had to call Southwest to get a total refund for the flight instead of the $15 they originally sent.

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