Canada Day 2020 Goes Virtual

The 153rd anniversary of Canada, July 1st, will be quite different than other celebrations.  Due to the pandemic, virtual celebrations will be held across the country.  Some public celebrations are still scheduled at this time - please visit the official websites for any specific venue.  See websites below for some of the virtual activities taking place from coast to coast.

Canada Day, frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday", commemorates the joining of the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867.

Canada Day is very similar to the  July 4th holiday in the United States.  Most communities across the country normally host organized celebrations for Canada Day, usually outdoor public events, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues, air and maritime shows, fireworks, and free musical concerts.

Canada Day Websites

• Official Website for Canada Day
• Canada Day at Home Calgary
• Canada Day City of Charlottetown
• Canada Day in Halifax Region
• Canada Day in Downtown Kingston
• Canada Day Celebration | Niagara Falls
• Canada Day | Ottawa Tourism
• Canada Day City of Pelham
• Canada Day Quebec
• Canada Day Vaughan
• Canada Day Victoria
• Canada Day Whiterock
• Canada Day at the Forks (Winnipeg)

We have had the pleasure of visiting several Canadian cities during our cruise vacations.  These included ports of call on multiple Alaskan cruises,  Canada and New England cruises, and even Transatlantic cruises.  One of the highlights was when we extended our Alaskan cruise with a pre-cruise exploration of the Canadian Rockies.

Have you ever ridden on a glacier?  You can while visiting the Columbia Icefield Glacier in the Canadian Rockies. Specially designed vehicles, Massive Brewster Ice Explorers, take passengers on a remarkable excursion onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier.

Have you smelled flowers or gotten up close to thousands of unique flowers in bloom?  You can at one of Canada's botanical gardens such as the fifty acre Butchart Gardens located near Victoria, British Columbia. You'll see stunning floral show gardens and a National Historic Site of Canada.

British Columbia is known for floral gardens.  Minter Gardens, which has since closed, thrilled us with thousands of flowers and gardens.

Would you like to visit a fishing village, have some fresh lobster, or visit a lighthouse?  Nova Scotia has much to offer including the Bay of Fundy and many beaches where you can build sandcastles, fly kites, take a surf lesson, or just walk barefoot in the sand.

For the maritime lover, visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, where you can visit the Titanic ~ The Unsinkable Ship and Halifax, Nova Scotia exhibit and learn about the role the people of Halifax played that fateful day.

Would you like to walk where birds fly and squirrels hang out?  You can in Vancouver, Canada, at Capilano Suspension Bridge and Treetops Adventure.  I'm afraid of bridges, but I had a great time crossing a series of elevated suspension bridges, some reaching as high as 100 feet (30m) above the forest floor.

Capilano Suspension Bridge is one of Vancouver, British Columbia's most popular tourist attractions.  Odds are that unless you extended your cruise vacation in Vancouver, you probably didn't visit this attraction during your cruise vacation.

There is so much to see and do in Canada, I hope that you'll plan a visit in the near future and get to know more about this North American country.   We have only scratched the surface in this article.   There are other Canadian destinations featured in past blog posts and also on our Facebook Fan Page.

To help you plan your day, we are posting this early.  

To all our Canadian friends .... Happy Canada Day 2020.

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Happy Canada Day 2019

Canada Day, frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday", commemorates the joining of the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867.

Canada Day is very similar to the  July 4th holiday in the United States.  Most communities across the country will host organized celebrations for Canada Day, usually outdoor public events, such as parades, carnivals, festivals, barbecues, air and maritime shows, fireworks, and free musical concerts.

Learn more:  Official Website for Canada Day

We have had the pleasure of visiting several Canadian cities during our cruise vacations.  These included ports of call on multiple Alaskan cruises,  Canada and New England cruises, and even Transatlantic cruises.  One of the highlights was when we extended our Alaskan cruise with a pre-cruise exploration of the Canadian Rockies.

Have you ever ridden on a glacier?  You can while visiting the Columbia Icefield Glacier in the Canadian Rockies. Specially designed vehicles, Massive Brewster Ice Explorers, take passengers on a remarkable excursion onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier.

Have you smelled flowers or gotten up close to thousands of unique flowers in bloom?  You can at one of Canada's botanical gardens such as the fifty acre Butchart Gardens located near Victoria, British Columbia. You'll see stunning floral show gardens and a National Historic Site of Canada.

British Columbia is known for floral gardens.  Minter Gardens, which has since closed, thrilled us with thousands of flowers and gardens.

Would you like to visit a fishing village, have some fresh lobster, or visit a lighthouse?  Nova Scotia has much to offer including the Bay of Fundy and many beaches where you can build sandcastles, fly kites, take a surf lesson, or just walk barefoot in the sand.

For the maritime lover, visit the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, where you can visit the Titanic ~ The Unsinkable Ship and Halifax, Nova Scotia exhibit and learn about the role the people of Halifax played that fateful day.

Would you like to walk where birds fly and squirrels hang out?  You can in Vancouver, Canada, at Capilano Suspension Bridge and Treetops Adventure.  I'm afraid of bridges, but I had a great time crossing a series of elevated suspension bridges, some reaching as high as 100 feet (30m) above the forest floor.

Capilano Suspension Bridge is one of Vancouver, British Columbia's most popular tourist attractions.  Odds are that unless you extended your cruise vacation in Vancouver, you probably didn't visit this attraction during your cruise vacation.

There is so much to see and do in Canada, I hope that you'll plan a visit in the near future and get to know more about this North American country.   We have only scratched the surface in this article.   There are other Canadian destinations featured in past blog posts and also on our Facebook Fan Page.

To all our Canadian friends .... Happy Canada Day 2019.

Time to Explore Alaska by Land and Sea

Experience first-hand the majesty of Alaska and meet the people. Alaska comprises 591,004 square miles of some of the most diverse and spectacular landscapes in the world. It is a vast territory, almost a fifth the size of mainland USA, or to put it in a worldly perspective, it is as large as the combined areas of England, France, Spain, and Italy. Nature has painted this landscape with broad strokes, majestic mountains, awe inspiring fjords, massive glaciers, dense forests, and open tundra. Here you will find 17 of the 20 highest peaks in North America, with Denali (Mt. McKinley) towering to 20,306 feet. Over 100,000 glaciers cover 28,000 miles of territory. Alaska is home to the largest population of brown and black bears in the United States. It is also home to moose, caribou, musk ox, Dall sheep, black tail deer, wolves, and fox as well as a variety of small mammals. Over 90% of all bald eagles in the United States call Alaska their home. Welcome to Alaska - the last frontier

Alaska Cruise Season 

May - September

There are four types of Alaska Cruise Vacations:

Alaska - Roundtrip: These are cruises that begin and end in the same port city. They are very popular because they are often 7 days long and leave from either Seattle or Vancouver which both offer a number of affordable flight schedules for the cruise passenger.

Alaska - Northbound: These are one-way Glacier Intensive cruises. They begin in Seattle or Vancouver and cruise North to Anchorage/Seward.

Alaska - Southbound: These are also one-way Glacier Intensive cruises. They begin in Anchorage/Seward and cruise South to Vancouver or Seattle.

Alaska - Cruise and Land: This is the most popular way to see Alaska. These cruise/tours give you the opportunity to combine an Alaska Cruise with a scenic land tour that takes you into the Interior of Alaska. These are the packages that often include the domed cars of the Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley. Click for Featured Alaska Cruises

Alaska Cruise Season May - September Click to Enlarge Vancouver Vancouver Photo Album Alaska cruises often begin / end in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The largest metropolitan center in western Canada and the country's third largest city, Vancouver is the Canadian jewel of Puget Sound.  It was the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympic games. Allow some time before or after your cruise to see the bustling center of Vancouver, Chinatown, Gastown, Stanley Park, and experience the treetop adventure at the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  Seattle Click to Enlarge Many Alaskan cruises begin and / or end in Seattle, Washington. Visitors to the Emerald City find a fusion of American, Asian and Native American cultures, set against a backdrop of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. Sample the freshest seafood to be found along the Pacific Rim, as well as a cup of Seattle's famous coffee. Also tour Seattle's famous Underground, including the world famous Pike Place Market, and ascend to the top of the Space Needle to view the entire city. Ketchikan Ketchikan Album Near the southernmost tip of Alaska's panhandle sits a sleepy little town with a very dramatic title. Squeezed between mountain and sea, it is hard to imagine how the town got the Tlingit Indian name which means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle". Ketchikan is the salmon capital of the world and home to the world's largest collections of totem poles. This small town's main street skirts a waterfront built on pilings over the seas. A few blocks from the downtown area you will find Creek Street, a former red-light district popular during the mining days.

Hubbard Glacier  Cruising Hubbard Glacier Stretching over 90 miles from the core of the 12 million acre Wrangell-St. Elias National Park to the head of the Yakutat Bay, the mighty Hubbard is one of Alaska's largest and most unpredictable glaciers. This is one of the highlights of your cruise as the ship enters Disenchantment Bay and carefully navigates through icebergs to get as close to the glacier as possible. Those who purchased balcony cabins will be glad that they did during this part of the cruise. Millions of tons of ice, gravel, and broken rock slide down the mountain carving a path to the sea. Juneau Juneau Photos Nestled deep within the norther reaches of the Inside Passage is Alaska's first truly American city. Founded 13 years after the purchase of Alaska, it was Juneau, and more importantly its gold, that captured the imagination of the American public. Here we highly recommend Orca Enterprises Whale Watching boat tour. Captain Larry guarantees you will see whales, eagles, and other sea mammals during this tour. Sitka Sitka Photo Album Almost every city or town in the United States can trace its formation back to an European immigration or conquest. English, Spanish, French, and German are common heritages, but few can claim Russian roots. However, Sitka is one of those rare exceptions, with Russians first arriving in 1741. This town can easily be explored on foot. It will be your last chance for Alaskan souvenirs and your only chance for Russian souvenirs during the cruise. Victoria Butchart Gardens Album Situated on the sunny southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria basks in one of Canada's mildest climates. This intimate, sophisticated seaside city with its English charm, gentle weather, and dramatic scenery draws close to two million visitors every year - earning it the title of the most visited vacation spot in Western Canada. Victoria is known as the "City of Gardens". A short drive north of the city will bring you to the 130 acre Butchart Gardens where you can walk among some of the most gorgeous flower gardens in the world.

 

National Plan A Cruise Month Promotions 

Cruise lines are offering special promotions and pricing on popular cruises to encourage consumers to plan their next cruise vacation now. We'll be featuring promotions on our website and social media.

Choose Cruise Month (click for mini-series)

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Wobbly Capilano Suspension Bridge

click image to enlarge

Memories of Canada 

As Canada celebrates their 150th anniversary, promoted by the Canadian government as Canada 150, we take a look back at some of our memorable moments from cruises and tours to Canada.

This would be an excellent time for you to visit Canada, as there will be year long celebrations throughout the land


Vancouver, British Columbia

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. British Columbia (BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than four million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. Once again we are highlighting one of the attractions in BC that is worth visiting.

We've visited Vancouver on many occasions, usually in conjunction with a cruise.   Alaska cruises often start or end there.  We suggest adding some extra time to your vacation, so that you can take full advantage of everything that Vancouver and surrounding area has to offer.

View the Entire Capilano Suspension Bridge Photo Album

Take a Walk on the Wild Side

The 450 ft (137m) long, 230 ft (70m) high Capilano Suspension Bridge has thrilled visitors since 1889. While the wobbly bridge and stunning location is a Vancouver landmark, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park offers an all-encompassing BC experience. One of the highlights for me was Treetops Adventure which takes guests 100 feet into the mid-story of a coastal rain-forest on seven suspension bridges attached to old-growth trees. It is accessible to guests of all ages. Nature guides provide hourly tours, explaining the importance of a West Coast temperate rain-forest to the ecosystem.  If you are afraid of height, this might not be the attraction for you.

Capilano Suspension Bridge is an attraction that was named  the 7th best attraction in Canada by USA Today.  10Best travel guide ranked the top 20 nominees, and the public decided the final 10. View the entire list here: the top ten attractions in Canada.

Do you have favorite memories from visits to Canada?  We'd love to hear about them.

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