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Bloggings, Travel

Heading Home

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Today we had to disembark so we were up early again. We are trying out the port valet that the Seattle port offers. I really hope it works out! Our bags are being delivered from our ship to the airport and onto our destination in Chicago.

Kelsey, Jared, and Adeline had a 12:30 flight so they headed to the airport. We went to the Museum of Flight with my parents and Estelle. It was pretty cool; there was a lot to look at. Lucas loved it. We left for airport around 12 because Estelle had a flight at 2:30. Ours was supposed to be at 3 but it was delayed until 6:45 pm. We had lunch at the airport and just hung out. We got some good seats while my dad and Don finished paying the bill at the restaurant. Lucas kept checking on them and at one time he came to me and said this: “now they are just playing with credit cards. You won’t believe this. This has never happened here or at home, but Dia just busted out the receipt”.  Later I found out that the paper from the receipt thing popped open. Lucas napped a lot at the airport. I saw my director, Zeh, at the airport! We finally got home to our place around 3 am. My parents spent the night because it was so late. It was a fantastic vacation. I can’t wait to go again.

Also the port valet from Seattle to Chicago was awesome—highly recommend!!

Bloggings, Travel

Victoria, British Columbia

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We woke up early again and got coffee in room. Then we had breakfast at the buffet. Lucas decided to go to the kid’s club. We went back and packed because we have to be packed before dinner.

I got Lucas around 11 from the kid’s club and took him to the pool. Everett and his parents, Jessica and Travis, were there. There was a Dance Party, and they brought hula hoops for the kids to play with in pool. Kelsey, Jared, my dad and I went to the hot tub. Then we all decided to go to the pool in back of ship. Lucas and Everett held hands on the way. Lucas told him, “be careful there’s a lot a smokers”, when we walked past the smoking section.

We were so glad we went because there were tons of orcas and humpbacks. It was crazy and amazing! We stayed at this pool all afternoon. The kids ate pizza and we all talked.

Then we went to dinner at 4:30 because we could disembark at Victoria at 7. We got off and walked to Fisherman Wharf Park. Then we took a water taxi to see the downtown buildings. After walking around for a bit and taking pictures we took a bus back to the port.  It had gotten really cold! Lucas was exhausted from all the swimming and staying out late. He fell asleep around 9:45.

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Second Day At Sea

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Today I had to wake up at 3 am to request time off for December from work. I went back to bed but still woke up early. We have woken up early every day this trip. I don’t know if it’s the time change or just the excitement of not wanting to miss anything. We had coffee sent to the room again and then we went for breakfast.

After breakfast Lucas and I went to mini golf and basketball. I tried to get him to go to the kids club but he said he didn’t want to. We had the kitchen tour at 10. It was a bit disappointing to see another family were on the tour with us. The chef had made it seem it was just us. The tour was good but with the large group it was hard to hear what was being said most of the time. There were a few little desserts we could try. It was a cool experience.

Afterwards we went to the pool and hot tub with Kelsey and Jared.  It was chilly outside. At 1:15 Don, Lucas and I went to scavenger hunt. It was pretty fun. Then we went to the pool again. Don and I didn’t even get in, we just sat and relaxed while Lucas made friends with another boy named Everett. They said they usually go to kid’s club then pool. So hopefully that’s the plan for tomorrow.

During dinner we had the celebration that the chef had planned. He had made us a cake that said happy birthday and happy anniversary. It was good and we were all stuffed. This past week Adeline had been getting blueberries and Lucas had been getting raspberries before dinner. They would bring them whole bowls of these fruits, until tonight. They told Lucas they needed raspberries for the desserts tonight. So Lucas got cut off from raspberries!

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Skagway

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Today we woke up at 5 am to get ready for our Skagway train ride. We had breakfast and then left the boat at 6:45. There’s still a lot of construction in Skagway from the 2022 rock slides so people cannot walk on the pier. Shuttle busses for the cruise ships take you to different bus pick up spots or town. We got on a bus to go to the white pass train. Our bus driver’s name was Elias. The ride to the train was pretty short. The train ride was about 1.5 hours. The view on the left side of the train was mostly cliffside and beautiful views. The view from the right side was close up rocks, scenery and waterfalls. You could walk outside and stand between the train cars. The views were incredible.

Once we made it to that end of the railway we met back with Elias and the bus. He said we were going to see some sights before lunch. Not long after starting the ride my dad spotted a bear and Elias slowed down and backed up the bus. We drove thru British Columbia to Yukon, stopping for pictures every once in a while. On our bus ride we saw a total of 4 bears, a few eagles, and mountain goats. We stopped for a BBQ chicken lunch in Yukon. Here we did a dog sled ride. They used a 4 wheeler to help the dogs pull us because it’s summer and they are basically just training. It was really cool. We got to take pictures with the dogs and pet them. There was a petting zoo and a small museum.

After lunch we got back on the bus, and we had a stop at a native village for 20 minutes. Lucas played on the playground here. After this stop Lucas and Adeline fell asleep. There were a couple picture stops but we just stayed in our seats to keep the kids asleep. We got back to the port and had to get back on the ship. We all had dinner together. Then Don and Lucas went to the pool for a bit.

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Mendenhall Glacier

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Today we woke up a little bit before 5. We had left our balcony curtain open and there was a giant mountain with snow right outside. I went out onto our balcony and it was very cold! I tried to be quiet to not wake Lucas, but he was up. The views of the mountains, water, little icebergs, and waterfalls were amazing. We had ordered room service, but it never got here so we went to the buffet for breakfast.

After breakfast we went to the “secret deck” Don found on the back of deck 7. It was pretty awesome. We took my parents there and took pictures.

Then we went back to the room to get ready for our excursion. Lucas started watching a movie and I wanted to see the naturalist talk about Alaskan wildlife. The talk was really good. I learned some stuff about orca. After the talk I went back to the room to get ready. Lucas looked very tired. I got him some pizza for a snack.

We got off the ship at Juneau and walked around a bit. We had to meet for our Mendenhall Glacier salmon bake excursion. First, we took our bus to a salmon hatchery. There were so many salmon it was crazy! There were a couple of tanks that had starfish, crabs, sea anemones, etc. that you could touch. Lucas loved watching the salmon in the salmon ladder. We then got back on the bus to go to Mendenhall Glacier. On the ride I heard Lucas and Don say, “there’s a bear!”. I looked out the window to see a small brown bear running through a field.

Once we got to Mendenhall Glacier we did the 20 minute photo loop. It was a small, easy hike to take pictures along the way. The Glacier looked really awesome. Lucas was climbing rocks all over, it was making me nervous. Inside the visitor center Lucas quickly did a junior ranger activity. He got 2 patches. Then we had to get back on the bus to go to the salmon bake. We saw a bald eagle on the way.

The salmon bake place was so cute. There were picnic tables with cute lights. There was a buffet and unlimited salmon. The food was good. After we ate, we took a short walk to see a waterfall. We saw a couple of salmon in the water. Lucas had his boots on so he was pushing the limits of how far he could go into the river. There was a station where you could pan for gold. Lucas did that for a bit. Then we made our way to the waterfall. Lucas took a fall but was luckily OK. Then he had the biggest meltdown I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe his biggest ever. He hit me, screamed, cried, and drug his feet on the ground. Honestly at this time I’m unsure of what triggered this. It was terrible. We walked back in a tantrum the whole way and then we got the bus back to the port. We even missed out on marshmallow roasting. Lucas was a terror for pretty much the rest of the night. The rest of the group rode the tram in Juneau. We went inside to bed.