Announcing the Winner of our Great 2019 Photo Hunt!

For the month of November we invited our online community to vote on their favorite images for our “Great 2019 Photo Hunt.” Thank you to all participants who submitted or voted! With more than 130 “likes” as of the polls closing, Ann M.’s image of a sleigh ride in the Canadian Rockies has won our Great 2019 Photo Hunt! We had 176 images submitted from about 100 Holiday Vacations guests and more than a thousand votes cast.

We met with Ann to learn more about her and the story behind the photo. As it turns out, the photo was taken in 2006 in the Canadian Rockies – her first tour with Holiday Vacations. The subject of her photo is Georgia, a fellow Holiday Vacations guest, who she became friends with during the tour.

“It was really cold, and the trip took place over Christmas. As we were riding the train through the mountains, I remember seeing Santa Claus standing out in the fresh snow and he gave us all a red scarf,” Ann said. “And then of course we ended up in Lake Louise which is where the picture was taken. It was just one of those things where I turned around and took a picture, and by luck it turned out!”

Ann and Georgia live in different states, but that didn’t keep Ann and her husband Larry from paying them a visit some years later.

Ann departs for her next Holiday Vacations tour in May of 2020, where she and Larry will set off on our Alaska & Inside Passage Cruise. This will be their first Holiday Vacations tour since 2006, although they have done plenty of traveling on their own since then. For example, Ann and Larry aspire to go bike riding in in every state, typically riding 25-30 miles at a time. In Alaska, they plan to rent bicycles during their time at leisure in Anchorage and check another state off their list. As of December 2019 they have gone on bike riding excursions in more than 40 states! They have also been on a cruise of the Caribbean Sea, and traveled to Hawaii to participate in a Lion’s Club convention.

Ann’s bucket list destinations include Ireland, Germany, Quebec City, and other destinations in Canada. “We winter in Texas, and a lot of Canadians do too,” Ann said. “We have made a lot of Canadian friends in different provinces. They know so much about our country that we thought it would be nice to do some traveling in Canada and see their country too.” Holiday Vacations is pleased to offer itineraries to all of Ann’s bucket list destinations.

We wish Ann and Larry M. the very best, and a memorable Alaska getaway.