Alaskan Cruise: Part deux

Are you ready for more pictures? I've got lots.

For the rest of the cruise, we made two stops: Ketchikan and Victoria.

For our visit in Ketchikan, we went on another hike through the Tongass Rainforest, which was really cool. Did you know this rainforest covers 17 million acres of Alaska??? Yup, there's a little fun fact about Alaska for you there. It felt like I was in the movie Ferngully because it was so green.

 There were giant slugs too.

Ward Lake 

After our hike, we went and hit the shops in town. Our hike guide told us to go to a chocolate store and get their chocolate covered oreos... 

So we did. And they were so good that I had to take a picture. Chocolate covered oreos, why didn't I ever think of that??

We also saw saw some totem poles and pretty flowers....

Ketchikan was great... and very wet. They get over 200 inches of rain every year (I could be an Alaskan tour guide now with all of these fun facts). It actually seemed busier than Juneau, which surprised me. So, if you ever go to Ketchikan, go to the rainforest and grab yourself some chocolate covered oreos. I suppose you could make some at home, but that just wouldn't be the same as Ketchikan oreos, right?

The next day, we stopped in Victoria, BC for a few hours that night. Everyone told us that Butchart Gardens was the place to go in Victoria, so that's where we went. We're really good at doing what people tell us to on vacation. It's a good thing too, Butchart Gardens was probably my other favorite excursion. I also took the most pictures here.

 You walk in, and see some stuff like this...

And then you walk some more and you look over a ledge where you suddenly see this:

Gorgeous, right? This is just the beginning. 

 All of this was part of "The Sunken Garden"

And then we went through the Rose Garden (do you see that great new Alaska jacket I have on? Got that in Ketchikan)

And then we went through the Japanese Garden

I didn't get a ton of great pictures here because my camera kept taking blurry shots... as seen above. 

Anyways, after all this, we were at the end of Butchart Gardens.

I loved it there, I would love to go back someday. 

After Butchart Gardens, we went and walked around Victoria for a bit... although I'll be honest we were there later in the evening so there wasn't a whole lot to do. But, it is a cute city that was fun to see!

 The Empress Hotel, very popular place

 The Legislature Building at night

 We got some mini donuts that melted in your mouth.. they were so good that I had to post a picture of the stand we got them at. 

I would love to go back to Victoria one day when we have more time to enjoy the city since we didn't get to very much while we were there.

On our last day, we just walked around Seattle for a bit until it was time for us to go to the airport. I didn't take many pictures there just because I took so many pictures from Butchart. :)

So there you have it, that was our Alaskan cruise! I totally recommend going on one someday. This was my first cruise, and I loved the experience. If you are thinking about a cruise, here are my tips:

- If you want to sleep great and save some money, get an interior room with no windows. We slept great at night because it was so dark.

- That being said about the interior rooms... If you get claustrophobic easily and want to see sunlight in your room every now and then, it's worth the extra money to pay for a room with a window or a balcony (which is what my parents had) 

- we went through Norwegian Cruise Line, where there is freestyle dining. You can eat when you want and where you want and you don't have to dress up super nice. This was nice because we didn't feel like getting cute after going hiking and stuff. 

- take motion sickness medicine with you. 

-eat all the food you want (don't tell weight watchers I said that..)

We loved our trip, like I said, we may have to go live there now. We probably won't, but I'll at least go visit again someday. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!