Phil & Mary Ann Stevens'

Greetings from Cape Cod! We have just returned from a Cruise/Tour To Alaska on the Princess "Diamond". Here are a few of the sights we saw and the things we did in the 20 days we were gone. Hope you like the pictures and I hope there aren't too many of them.

We left Cape Cod early (3AM) on August 29th and flew to Seattle, WA. This was our first stop. It was not part of the "official" 11 day Cruise/Tour. We decided to take a few days on either end to see some sights on our own.

One sight in Seattle is the famous Public Market. Other than a few spots in downtown Seattle where the bums and homeless people hang out, this is the place for the tourists.

Those of you who have been to the Public Market will recall the "flying fish". This happens when one guy behind the fish counter throws a big fish to another guy in front of the counter. This the highlight of any trip to Seattle. Note the expression on Mary Ann's face.

She is in the center of the picture and the flying fish is the blur in mid-air to her right.

One of the real seafood treats we enjoy on Cape Cod is Dungeness crab. Since it comes from the northwest, we thought it would be inexpensive and served everywhere. It was neither! So we never did have a taste of Dungeness crab on our entire trip.

After an evening in Seattle and a night in a dumpy Day's Inn we set sail on the Victoria Clipper for a 3 hour ride to Victoria, BC. It was an expensive but pleasant voyage across the Juan De Fuca Straits.

We dropped our bags at Markeeta's B&B near the center of Victoria and headed out to tour Victoria and the Butchart Gardens.

Our room was next to the driveway by the garden hose. It was small but clean and had it's own bath. The breakfasts were very good, too.

We took a Grey Line bus tour that went about 20 miles outside of downtown Victoria to the famous Butchart Gardens. I was not quite sure what to expect, but I was quite surprised at the scope and quality of the gardens and flowers. The place was quarry for years and, after the quarry owner died, his wife began to reclaim it with flower beds and landscaping.

I took lots of pictures here, but I'll only include a couple. Suffice to say we spent 3 hours walking through all kinds of gardens with all kinds of flowers. Nearby there are huge green houses that are used to raise enough flowers to ensure that there are blooming plants 12 months a year in the gardens.

We had to get a cone near a spectacular fountain. This fountain doesn't just squirt straight up, it swirls and curls and mists and has an almost infinite array of interesting patterns.