Tacoma, Washington

There wern't many excursions today, which worked out fine since it gave us a chance to meet my sister Carol and Steve for a while. We toured the Tacoma Zoo, which had a lot of marine life exhibits, walked a nearby beach park with lots of seals and birds and then had lunch at Anthony's on the waterfront. No rain today and a bit of sun, which was a nice change from the last two weeks. We knew we were visiting over 500 miles of temperate rain forest, but this trip we saw more of Alaska, and last trip more of the Inside Passage of British Columbia on the David B. Constellation is a US ship with US crew and US safety standards affected by the passenger version of the Jones Act, so it couldn't stop in Canada. However, there was a LOT of daytime cruising down dozens of fjords cutting through vertical snow topped mountains. Approaching the San Juan Islands, the mountains became hills and the weather less cloudy and Rainey.

tonight the ship sails to Seattle for disembarkation by 7:30 and a coach ride to the gigantic SEA TAC airport. Dinner was the best of the trip...filet mignon with a large lobster tail stuffed with Dungeness Crab: superb! When we get back home we're prepared to get back to less expensive food and wine, but it sure has been a great cruise!Read more