Terri had a fun little get-a-way with her mom at the end of September. Monday, Sept. 29th, Terri and her mom, Sis, headed off on a four day cruise to Canada with Sis' investment group from Spokane. They boarded Century's Mercury that morning and started exploring the ship before it left that afternoon. There were 12 others traveling with them, so there was a good size group. That afternoon when we left the port of Seattle, it was a beautiful day with clear skies and temperatures close to 70, perfect departure weather which left some great views of the Seattle skyline. 
The first port we visited was Nanaimo on Tuesday morning (another beautiful day). It is called the gateway to Vancouver Island and boasts to have one of the prettiest waterfronts in Canada. It is the third oldest city in British Columbia. There are many historic buildings in Nanaimo, art galleries, a museum, some great parks, and an area called Old City Quarter which has a variety of restaurants, boutiques, antique stores which all have lots of character. There is a wonderful harbour side walkway which has a beautiful view. We "tendered" when we arrived and had to take the boats (tenders) into town during our visit. We walked around the town, enjoying the perfect weather and the neat little community. There was a cannon fired at noon the day of our visit (a daily happening) which was fun to watch. This was a great port to visit!
Wednesday morning we arrived in Victoria and were docked, so we didn't have to take a tender into town. Victoria is located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island and has one of the mildest climates in Canada...making it a great place to visit any time of the year. Oh, I can't say enough about Victoria...and the first thing I knew was that I wanted to return to spend more time exploring. We took a city bus tour to see the highlights and then walked around a bit in the area of the Empress Hotel and the waterfront in that area. It was just spectacular. Victoria is full of history and lots of character which has had lots of British influence. Unfortunately, I didn't get out to Butchart Gardens, but plan to return and take lots of time there in the near future! 
Terri and Linda Barnes, ready to get back on the ship in Victoria.
Our time on the ship was nice...other than the fact that we had a few "difficulties" with our room. The toilet didn't flush a lot of the time so we were frequently calling our room steward to report that. And, we had the back room on the bottom floor for guest rooms and it was quite noisy about 2-3 hours before arriving at each port...which was always EARLY in the morning...so needless to say that was not the best part of the cruise. The group we were with were SO much fun and made me feel very comfortable and part of the group. I traveled with them four years ago on another cruise (out of LA), so knew most of them from that trip. Our evenings included dinner, the show (always a great presentation of talented dancers, singer, comedians, or acrobats) and then a visit to the piano bar where a talented man from Vancouver, BC was the evenings entertainment. One night we had QUITE the show while in the piano bar from a couple of gals who our guess was, they'd had a bit too much to drink and were quite shocking in their behavior, but for us, it was more free entertainment! The meals were great and the ship was a nice size for the four day cruise...and if it hadn't been for our last day...at sea...where the waters were rather rough, it would have been even better. Unfortunately, I was a bit sea sick (out of 29 days of cruising, this was my first time of feeling like this) and spent most of the day in bed, but as the waters calmed at the end of the day, I got out and made it to dinner and our usual evenings entertainment! Sadly we had to leave the ship on Friday morning...and came home to a cool and wet day...I guess we couldn't complain, though, as the weather was pretty nice for the trip.
Our group on formal night...gathered for a photo after dinner.
The "extra entertainment" we had in the piano bar was from the gal on the right and the one on the left with the long dress...the other couple were quite fun to watch, they really enjoyed dancing and were very good.
Sis spent the weekend with us after the cruise and we enjoyed a few more days together before she left to head home, with a stop in The Dalles, to visit Terri's brother, Scott, and his family, on the way home.
