On August 28, we flew to Vancouver. We spent the night in a wonderful hotel, Blue Horizon, and ate a great noodle dinner down the street at Hon's. The next day, after Ruth's exploration of Stanley Park and Howard's shopping foray along Robson Street, we boarded the Pacific Princess for a 7 day journey through Alaskan and British Columbian waters. The scenery was awesome and the adventures many. On Sept. 5, we got off the ship and started to make our way back to Maryland. If you have not visited our 49th state, we highly recommend doing so. However, you'll now have to wait until "the season" rolls around again, since the ships are making their last runs....Which reminds me of a popular bumper sticker in Alaska: "If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them?"