We are lucky this year. We have been on two great vacations and we're not even half-way through the year!On June 1st we flew to Seattle where we then rented a car and drove to Vancouver, BC- Canada. We had a not-so-great experience right at the border. Once we had been "granted access" to the country, Travis pulled the car forward and a cop stopped him and asked him to roll down the window. He then proceeded to ask how many of us weren't wearing our seat belts. Well - me, Trav's mom, and his dad had all "unclicked" when we were getting all our paperwork together to hand over to the border-dude. We were starting to get situated when the crusty cop decided to inspect our seat belt status. Long story short- he gave each of us a $127 ticket. LAME! No worries- they will never see a dime-- well I don't know if that's what they're called in Canadian money- but nonetheless....
So moving on-- we ported out of Vancouver and sailed on a big old ship called the "Mercury" (Celebrity Cruiseline). We first went to Juneau where we took a tram ride and had a great view from the summit. We then sailed to Skagway where we took a train ride and saw more beautiful scenery. Then we traveled up to Hubbard Glacier where it was -- cold-- and very pretty. We couldn't get too close to the glacier- but with the telephoto lens we could get a better look at the beautiful aqua color of the surface. Heading back down to Vancouver we made another stop in Ketchikan- which was a way cool little town. It reminded me of a Disneyland- land.
Once we docked and the cruise came to an end- we stayed in Vancouver for a night. We drove around the town- and took another tram ride. It was fun- much higher and steeper than the one in Juneau - and we enjoyed the scenery up there for a while. The next day we drove back down to Seattle and hung out at the Fish Market for a bit. It was super busy- and Pike's Fish Market of course was fun to see. Trav even asked a dude how much a fish weighed and the guy chucked it to another who weighed it and shouted that the fish weighed 50 pounds! Hmm... wait- I might have made up that weight- but it was pretty heavy.
I compiled a "Highs and Lows" list- so here it is (along with some pics):
Highs:
- Yummy ice cream (homemade on the ship every day)
- Waterfalls in Skagway
- Tram Rides
- Seeing whales from the ship (even though it was from a long distance)
- BINGO!! We won the jackpot- 2000 BIG ONES!! We split it 3-ways between us, Trav's parents, and his brother and sis-in-law
- Train ride in Skagway
- Creek Street in Ketchikan
- Roldan and Jacob- our servers- they were the BEST!
- Great views, sunsets, and weather!
- Lots of yummy food- glorious food!
- Seeing bald eagles all over the place! (too bad we couldn't get a really good picture of one)
- Hearing Afton randomly say "I want fies and a cheesebugah"- it was hilarious (you probably had to be there!)
Lows:
- Rocking of the ship (I wonder if I hated being rocked to sleep as a child- I certainly didn't like it on the ship. But luckily I didn't get seasick- I wore a wondrous patch that only had a few minor side effects...)
- Side effects from the patch (blurry vision, dry mouth, scratchy throat, itchy skin- yup- good times for me! )
- That dang ticket- even though I'm not paying it- it's lame that it happened
- The second to last day our stroller broke down (at least it wasn't earlier in the trip)
- Afton tantrums (not many- but they weren't pretty....)
OK- now that I've blabbed on- here are some more pictures (we only took around 600 - I'm not sure we took enough- hee hee!) :
Trav took this picture at dusk one night- so pretty huh!?
Afton LOVES her cousins!
Afton's camera work. Shaun was an excellent subject.
Hubbard Glacier Bay
You can't really see her shirt- but we bought a t-shirt for Afton in Ketchikan that says "Moose on the Loose"- I'm not sure if she loved it before she saw this moose on the ship- or if it was seeing the moose that made her love her shirt so much. When we had to take it off her that night she freaked out! And now that we are home she insisted on sleeping in it last night, and wearing it all day today.
Brandon, Trav, and Afton got some use out of the (indoor) pool (this one time only)
