Our last stop before we got back to Seattle was Victoria, Canada. We didn't dock until 8:00 that night, so we had another whole day on the ship. The kids' favorite part of the trip was definitely being on the boat, so they were happy campers. It helps that they had hot fudge sundaes on demand.

We spent a lot of that day playing Mafia with all fourteen of us. That was a blast! 

Braden made an excellent narrator.

Dinner before Victoria. 

Finally we were able to get off and explore. We walked quite a ways to the "inner harbor."

It was a beautiful evening to walk around. After being in Alaska for several days, it was nice having some warmer weather. 

The kids were all excited to be in a different country. I think this was the first time any of them had been to Canada.

Victoria was very beautiful.

The girls and I really loved all of the amazing flowers around the city.

Victoria is home to The Butchart Gardens, but we didn't have time to see them, so we were happy that there were so many flowers by the harbor.

The historic Empress Hotel is also right by the harbor.

There were a few street performers that we walked by. This fire eating lady was pretty fascinating to watch! After that we headed back to the ship because we had a long day coming up...

Ketchikan was our next port.

We didn't do an excursion at this stop

Instead, Amanda led us on a self-guided walking tour around the town.

It was such a cute town with some neat things to see.

My favorite was Creek Street. 

We saw seals, salmon and jellyfish in the creek.

There were a lot of cute little shops along the creek. We had to catch the shuttle back to the boat by 11:00, so we left after we finished our walking tour. I think Ketchikan was my favorite city that we visited.

Tell me you've been on the boat too long without telling me that you've been on the boat...two words: Cat Trivia. While being on the boat was wonderful, we were on it a LOT. Our time on land was more limited than we realized it would be. So that's how we found ourselves playing "Cat Trivia" and being told to "meow" when we were done with each answer. It may have been a low point of the trip, but it was pretty funny.

That evening, we found a family friendly karaoke bar that the kids LOVED!  The girls made Braden and me sing "Cotton Eye Joe" so that they could line dance.

 

Then the girls sang "We are Never Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift.

Joey and Cade sang "American Pie" and then Joey and Braden sang "You Give Love a Bad Name."

Paul and Cade sang "Call Me Al" by Paul Simon.

It was fun watching the kids get up and perform, but it was even more fun just singing along with our favorite songs that other people performed.

With the kids' unlimited drink card, it was funny to see them go up to bars around the ship and order virgin strawberry daiquiris and other fun drinks. They loved it!

The next day we were on the ship all day because we went through Glacier Bay. 

This was the day we were extra glad to have a room with a balcony.

Thankfully it was a beautiful, clear day.

The views were amazing.

These guys happened to be on the deck below us enjoying the views.

At one point I found all seven of these yahoos crammed into our kids' room next door. 

They enjoyed their balcony as well.

We ate with the kids that night for dinner and made them split up into a girls' table and boys' table. 

We really didn't see them much on the ship after Glacier Bay so it was fun to hear about what they had been up to.

After dinner, most of us wanted to go hear one of the comedians.

We got there early, and we were so excited to be right up front. Well, the guy was terrible. So bad. Just not funny. I was really wishing I had gone with Andy and his parents to the Beatles concert instead. Oh well, at least we tried!

Our next stop on the cruise was Skagway. That was our rainiest day by far.

We went on an "Adventure Hike," again through the Tongass National Forest. We only had to wear helmets in the area where the zip-liners were overhead.

The hike was definitely an adventure as there were some parts that were so steep and rocky you needed to use ropes to help you climb up.

It was also extra slippery from all of the rain.

We loved it!

Unfortunately it was so rainy and cloudy that day, that our view of the surrounding mountains was pretty nonexistent.

But it was still a great hike!

We were SO wet afterwards. We briefly thought about going back to the boat to change our clothes before we explored downtown Skagway, but we knew we would just get soaked again so we continued on.

Skagway was a cute little town, but it was little! We walked around the shops for a while.

Amanda and Abigail had seen a place in Skagway on Instagram that sold Alaskan Fry Bread. The line was long, but it was so worth it. The fry bread was hot, fresh and delicious. Perfect when you're cold and wet!

We all huddled under little overhangs enjoying our sweet treat.

After the fry bread, most of us were ready to head back to the ship and get dry while Amanda, Abigail, Paul and Brenda went on in search of a crab lunch.

It was always great being back on the ship!

That night, the adults had reservations at one of the specialty dining rooms. We ate at the steak house, and it was SO good. We had a lot of great food that week, but that dinner was probably my favorite meal. We hung out at the mojito bar before dinner. Their raspberry guava mojitos were delightful.

Meanwhile, the kids had dinner at the Manhattan Room, which was one of the nicer sit down places. They loved their waiter, David, who was from Jamaica.