Canada, eh!

Dave and I had a fun escape this weekend on a cruise with the Utah Dental Assoc. It was so much fun! We started in Seattle and then went on to Victoria, Canada and then to Nanaimo, Canada.

As we were flying into Seattle we flew right by Mt. Rainier. Dave, as you may or may not know, is a big fan of Mt. Rainier- he's climbed it a couple of times. It was fun to see it so close up from high in the sky. You can't tell from the pic but we were REALLY close to it.

Dave had a dental meeting right after we boarded the ship. I went with a friend, who spent her summer's growing up in Seattle, to see some sights in Seattle before we left port- We checked out this big outdoor market and watched a fish throwing show (which we somehow got suckered into being in the middle of), spotted a few crazy pigs, and had ourselves a good ole time.

Here's Dave standing on the ship right before we left port- We were rather disappointed as we disembarked that there was no confetti to throw and no 'Love Boat' theme wafting through the air. Ahhh, what a shame. There were a couple people who waved to us from an apartment building. Oh yeah...

We spent the first day meeting a bunch of new people. I was so tired after dinner that we just crashed in our room and fell asleep. Boring, I know BUT I am a mother of 3 who was just so happy to be on vacation- Go me!

The next day we woke up in Victoria, Canada. We were up bright and early and off the ship by 8:00. Totem poles are a big thing in this area of Canada- something about being on Indian territory.

We walked around the town and checked things out- caught a bus out to Butchart Gardens. This place was awesome! We had a great time walking around. It's always hard when we go on vacation with just the two of us because we are rarely in pictures together. We had a very nice lady offer to take a picture for us at the gardens. We posed- it was lovely. She hands the camera back to me, we go on our merry way, I check the picture- it's not there. I tell ya, do not hand a digital camera to anyone over the age of 60- there will be no guarantees. I do have a picture of the two of us that I took with my arm outstretched. However, it was much too up and in my face for me to share it with all of you. And so, here is one of each of us- you know, just to prove we were both there and all.

The sun was shining so darn bright it was hard for us to get good pictures. Isn't this supposed to be the land of overcast and dreary? It was such a good weather weekend. We only saw rain once and it lasted for about 20 minutes.

The next day we stopped in Nanaimo. The port was so small that we weren't even able to dock. The ship anchored way out in the water and then we "tendered" in, which means they took us on boats to the dock. It was such a cute dock- all the little boats and everything.

We rented a couple mini vans with some friends and headed to Cathedral Grove, which is an area with huge trees and beautiful forests. Here is Dave sitting in the roots of a fallen tree.

Here we are with some of our dental friends at what was labeled "the biggest tree".

After tree looking, we stopped at a cute little market.

It gets better...

Watch out below! Seriously, there were goats living on the roof. It's one of those things that you definetly have to do a double take. You drive by and then it's like "what the...?"

We had such a happy weekend exlporing the ship, eating, getting spa treatments, dressing up, eating, recreating, meeting new friends, eating, and sleeping. Did I mention eating? Dave even went on stage one night at a show and was a hit. Apparently he has a side job as a lawyer. Any questions, ask Dave. We had a great time! I loved every second of it. Well, except looking at that escargot on my plate... wink, wink!