My mom had two dreams in her life for travelling - she wanted to see Hawaii, and Alaska. Being a good daughter with a head for common sense (of hot weather vs cold weather), I tackled her dream of Hawaii first. In 1992 we surprised her, along with my step-dad with a cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii for their 25th anniversdary. They literally didn't know where they were going, or how, until the day we boarded the ship to set sail from Vancouver. It was a wonderful trip, and certainly a dream-come-true for my mom.

Over the years though, she would remind me that she wanted to see Alaska too. Last year, when she asked me if we would meet them up there this year, my first thought was 'what else can you say to your 83 yr. old mom other than "YES"?'

So, Jim and I booked a one week cruise from Vancouver to Alaska on the Island Princess. Funny, as that was the same ship that we went to Hawaii on 16 years ago! Well, OK, it was the new updated 3x larger version, but, still, it was the Island Princess! And, I bought mom (she's the navigator) a Milepost book and marked a route for her and Peter (my stepdad) to drive their 35 ft RV from Manitoba up to Alaska.