Monday 18th May
Forgot to say that yesterday we went on the "beneath the Streets" tour of old town Seattle. Very interesting as they take you through some of the areas where the town of Seattle used to be, they have built a town on top of a town. Put my piece of gum on the wall in Ghost Alley.
This morning we decided to catch the ferry across to Bainsbridge Island to the town of Winslow. It is a lovely little town, stopped at the Harbour Pub and had a couple of Coronas. Had  a great day, spent the whole time over the and caught the ferry back about 3pm. Stopped again at Pikes Market and had a crepe, salmon and bechamel sauce, delicious!
Got back to our motel about 5pm and finally managed to get on to my emails, wished I hadn't. I couldn't believe when I read that Aunty Barb had passed away, I only spoke to her a couple of days before we left and we made arrangements to have dinner and show photos when we got back. I am glad that we will be home in time for her funeral. I will really miss her, she was our last link with Mum. Now I just want to come home.
My last blog tonight, have actually really enjoyed writing about our travels and what we have seen and done. I have really enjoyed reading all comments as well. Brings back great memories, I can't believe our trip is over already, had the best time and will remember it always, going to bore everybody shitless when we get home about where we have been and what we have done! Soooo many photos to show! Now when all my lovely sisters start talking about when they were overseas, I am more than happy to listen as I can now do the same. Xxx

Friday 15th May, Saturday 16th May
Spent all day, both days at sea. Had really lazy days, not doing much at all. Went for a walk around the ship a few times just so we could say we were active! Went to a wine tasting and were seated next to a couple from Redbank Plains of all places! Went up later that evening to watch Princess Bride on the Movie under the stars screen, I just love this, reminds me of the old drive in days. On Friday night we went to the Crab Shack for tea, amazing! Four course meal for $20 a head and the main meal with Alaskan King Crab, a bucket of it. Could not do it justice and had to leave some behind. Thought we were going to burst, so walked around the ship a bit to try and feel more comfortable. The staff there were just lovely, couldn't do enough for you!
On Saturday evening we arrived in Victoria on Vancouver Island for a 4 hr stop over. We hopped off ship and just wandered around as we had already seen Victoria previously.
We have enjoyed the cruise, I was pleased that Gary liked it but we would have liked more time on shore and less time at sea. Unfortunately being at sea quite a bit is just part of cruising.
Back in Seattle now until we fly out Tuesday evening for home. We are hoping to head off to the Crab Pot for lunch or tea tomorrow, hope it will be as good as the crab we have had so far! Looking forward to seeing everyone but not looking forward to trip ending. We have enjoyed ourselves so much and had such a great time it will be hard to settle back in to normal life!

Thursday 14th May
Arrived in Skagway about 630am. Met on pier at 730am to catch the train up through White Pass into Canada and then a coach back down the Klondike Highway into Skagway. Scary, scary, scary! We travelled on the side of a mountain with about a million foot drop on the other side! Well that's what it looked like to me! I spent a fair bit of the trip with my back to the window but what I did see was just amazing! The train follows the path of the stampeders who came in1898 for the Klondike gold rush. About 40,000 Made it and when you see the terrain they had to get through, it was amazing that anyone got to the gold fields! The scenery was unbelievable and when we got to the top, we travelled through the most amazing snow, pristine  and untouched, beautiful! There was this place called Black Cross Rock where this massive, and I mean massive, boulder fell on to two guys crushing them to death. They couldn't lift the rock to recover their bodies so they put a black cross on top with their names on it and their bodies are still there today. We went through tunnels, over bridges and finally got to the top where we saw Lake Bennett. We had to sit on the train until Canadian customs came and checked our passports and then we hopped off and caught the coach back.great trip. When we got back to Skagway, we walked about 2kms back to the Gold Rush  Cemetery. Thought of Mum here and how much she would have loved reading the gravestones. The majority of them were from 1898 and 1899.   From there we walked up to Reid Falls and then back into Skagway where the ship left port about 5pm. That night we were sitting in the cabin when we heard an aircraft, it was unbelievable, we were in the middle of nowhere And suddenly there is this Defence Force cargo plane circling the ship! Quite close too! Obviously not a lot to do, at one stage it looked like it was going to come right in to the cabin! Veered off at the last minute. It was quite exciting