Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I probably blogged about this sometime before but for those who don't know, my daughter and I recently went on a cruise to Alaska. We had a wonderful time (oh, my gosh, who couldn't?) and saw things you can only imagine (and we ate A LOT of food, too).

One of the highlights for me was bingo - just kidding, I didn't win a thing. Actually, if I were pressed to say, the two coolest things were the glacier we visited and the canoe ride and rain forest hike we took on Prince Rupert Island.

Because of too much ice, our ship was diverted from the original glacier we were scheduled to visit. What at first seemed like a disappoint-ment turned into a history making day. Our captain obtained permission to take us to another glacier, one reserved for cruise ships one-tenth our size. He handled our giant ship like it was a VW Bug and got us to within 600 feet of the glacier, the closest a cruise ship our size has ever been. Yes, I took a million pictures.

Prince Rupert was absolutely the greenest and vastest place I have ever seen - remember, I live in the Phoenix area and am a desert rat. About 18 of us boarded a canoe and paddled across the bay to an isolated arm of the island. Besides the amazing lushness of the forest, the wildlife was incredible. I saw (and took a million pictures of) about a dozen eagles, most immature with brown heads but a few "bald". Our Native American guides caught fresh Dungeness crab right off the shore and boiled it for our lunch. I also learned how to survive in the Prince Rupert rain forest by eating local plants, should I ever be lost there (grin).

Here's on picture of my daughter and I getting off the ship at Juno. She's the young, very pretty girl if you couldn't tell. If anyone is going to be at the RWA National convention next week, stop to chat if you want to hear more about our incredible trip.

Warmest wishes,

Cathy McDavid

2 comments:

Megan Kelly said...

Cathy, That trip sounds wonderful. I've always wanted to go. Now you can use your plant knowledge to strand a character on a similar fictional island. What a fun thing to do with your daughter.

Lee McKenzie said...

Sounds like a wonderful time, Cathy! Great photo, too!