Our last night.

Our how and tell party.
Here is from one of Laura's classes.

This is the start of my little landscape.  It is hard to see, but there
is more of a drawing on it.  There will be a whale, and a tree,
and shoreline.  Again, this is out of my comfort zone, but
so far is a lot of fun.

This is all I got done on my Lily pad quilt.  She has an interesting way doing the
New York Beauty block.  I am liking what I have done so far.

Look what got done from Joan Shay's class.
Very cool.

Linda Poole's class was about painting on fabric.

A

Another of Linda's classes.
Everyone was doing great work.

We did have to make our last stop, to Victoria, Canada.
We visited a quilt shop, and had a quick tour
of downtown Victoria.

The Empress Hotel was beautiful all lite up at night.

The government building is lite up too.

Can't remember which this building this is.
It is along the harbor.
It was a beautiful night.

One last look at the Empress Hotel.

The next morning we were back in Seattle.
This time you could see Mt. Rainier much better.

The Seattle skyline at 7:00 a.m.
The trip was wonderful. I can't believe all the
wonderful wildlife I got to see this time.
The classes were fun. Met several very nice quilters.
Amy Ross and Cindy Williams did a very good job
of keeping us all together and organized.
Now to fly home and get back into the everyday routines.

Only problem, I didn't. Came home and fell sick.
I am doing so much better.  Still have a lot to
take care of.  Oh well.

Hope you enjoyed seeing pictures of my trip.
Mary

Ketchikan

Another glacier on our way to Ketchikan.
You have to admit they are beautiful and amazing.

To see the mountains and how the clouds form around them is quite
beautiful.

Sometimes the glaciers appear above the clouds.

More of the projects from classes.
This is from Linda Hahn's class. Pretty colors.

Sample of one of Gloria Loungman's class.

Here is one of the student's work.

This is another of Gloria's classes.
They did look interesting.

More Stellar Sea Lions.

Again, a lot of them. Stinky critters.

As we are docking in Ketchian.

Today's adventure is all about the black bear.
Again, we would receive a partial refund if we did not see a bear.

Well, that did not take long.
We were given a lot of instructions about what to do if a bear did cross
our path.  We needed to all stay together.  There was only a dozen
of us on this tour.

So we got to see a lot of bears.
You did not have to look very far.
They seemed to be everywhere!

We walked along a boardwalk in the woods.  There was a stream
coming down from a mountain.  The bears were doing quite
well finding fish to eat.

Maybe a bear could hibernate in this tree base during the winter?

This bear was hiding up on the hill looking for berries.

Our guide wanted to know if any of us were interested in this
boat that was for sale??
She said she had others for sale if we were interested!

Another Mom and baby of this year.
The mom's really were busy teaching their young how to hunt
for food.  The fish were pretty plentiful here.

Mom was showing what the young cub needed to be doing.

The trees were hung with this strange looking moss.
It is so moist in this forest.

There was a fishery right there.
The bears did not need to go far for food.

There was also an area were the natives worked on totem poles.
What interesting stories.

There was a nesting pair of eagles on the grounds.

One was sitting not far away, while the other was at the nest.

Today, they had not had any young. 

Maybe next year.

This was a female that had been hurt when it was young.
It is part of the sanctuary, and cannot be released back to the wild.
It is missing part of one wing.

Here is her trainer. It is still a beautiful bird.

Here is another totem pole.

This was Sarah, our guide.
She had so much information.
There are guides all along the trail that
keep each
other updated about where the bears are.

Sarah was kind enough to show me where they have three Reindeer.
What beautiful creatures.

They antlers were growing in.
I got to touch them.  Soft, she said they are very sensitive
right now  They were friendly and came right up to me.

More totem poles. It would be interesting to know
more of the stories behind them.

Beautiful

Beautiful downtown Ketchikan.

As we were leaving port.
Again, another wonderful day.
Do you understand why I like to travel so much.
There are so many beautiful sights to see, and adventures to
be had.  It is so wonderful to see animals in their nature
habitat. I love it.

Mary

Seattle before Alaska

Hello, I had every intention of writing about my trip when I arrived

back home.  Unfortunately, I ended up sick! Not exactly sure what hit me, but

it did keep me in bed for a week.  I am doing fine now, so more catch up!

Had to visit Pike Place Market.
It is celebrating 100 years.
If you go to Seattle, you must visit the market.
They say there are at least 500 separate stalls, through several buildings and along
a couple streets and alleys.  It is built on a hill along the bay.  It is also a great place
to get your exercise
You never know what you may see.  This Balloon Man was fascinating to just watch.
He seemed to be okay with just watching the world go by. 

For me, I love looking at all the flower stalls.
It is hard to imagine all the fields of flowers that come in daily for the most
gorgeous bouquets..  Trust me, I wanted to purchase one.  

Everyone, or so it seemed was walking around with at least one bouquet in their arms.

Then to see the food.  There is so much fresh seafood, you would like to try
it all.  Did see the "flying fish", but could not get close enough for any pictures.

The fresh produce, amazing.  The vendors were slicing up fresh fruit to try.
So good!  There was things we don't see at home.  "Fresh Truffles"!

The wall of gum!  This is in Post Alley!  Not sure why, you would want to add to it, but
it must hold some interest, as there is a lot of gum on it!

Here is the actual entrance.
There are street performers in several places along the way.
I could have spent hours watching people and taking it all in.

You can never be sure what you will see.
Watching people can be so interesting.

People are different, that is for sure.  Glad I don't have the
same fashion sense.

We stayed at the Hotel Max.  This was the door to our room.
We had a corner room, with lots of light.  I think it might be described
as a boutique hotel.  From 5:30 to 6:30 each evening there was free beer.
They would roll a keg in, tap it, and you could have all you wanted during
that hour.  So good!!

It is is in among the tall building.
It was a very nice hotel.  We found out there were quite a few quilters
staying there as well.
Seattle welcomed us with blue skies and beautiful sunshine.

Mary