***Warning…LONG post, so much to talk about!***
So I’m a beach girl, I’ve already said this, but this cruise opened my eyes to a whole new world. We started in Seattle, which my son loved, and went north to Junea, then Skagway, and, lastly, Victoria, BC, Canada. Let’s just say, I am in awe of all God’s creation. It was a very satisfying cruise, vacation, trip, experience, whatever you want to call it, it was FABULOUS!
We started by leaving a day earlier than we normally would for a cruise so we could spend a whole day wandering around Seattle. My in-laws went with us and our son and about 26 people total. We invited my in-laws, of course, Chris and Julie, and then as word started getting around about our trip, it snowballed and we ended up with a huge group, some of them, we didn’t even know. It was great! We drove to OKC to fly to Seattle, it was about a $400 savings for 5 people, so we decided it was worth the extra effort. We parked and got to Seattle in the late afternoon. We took a limo/town car from the airport (for our group of five it cost the same) to our hotel. We checked in and went out to see the Spaceneedle.
We went up to the top and went through it, then we walked across the street to eat dinner at a sports bar. We had about 8 of our group together by then, we had met up with them at the Spaceneedle. We ordered dinner and, on TV, the basketball playoffs were on. Let’s just say, we’re big Thunder basketball fans. This was 2012 and the Thunder were doing very well in the playoffs. BUT we’re in Seattle, that’s where the team came from…and the people there aren’t happy about that. We watched the game in relative silence until our food came and we were ready to leave. We knew better…
We spent all the next day wandering around Seattle, mostly at Pike’s Place market. What a great place to spend a day. We saw beautiful flowers, fish tossers, I bought some great gluten free pasta! For lunch I had gluten free seafood soup, bread, etc. they had so much I could eat here, I was really in heaven. We went to the first ever Starbucks…tiny. Of course, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. We met up with Julie’s cousin Beverly then, she’s a sweetheart! Later that afternoon, we took an “Underground Seattle” tour. Super cool, we had about 15-20 booked for the tour, so it was pretty much a private tour for our group. There’s a whole city down below what you see on the surface, and quite an interesting history to go with it. One of the guys in our group, not being very discerning, like us, wore a Thunder basketball shirt, needless to say he got a lecture from our tour guide! Really?
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That night almost our entire group went to dinner at Elliott’s Oyster House. That was so nice to have everyone together. Since the trip was technically Dave’s birthday trip, someone started a coaster around and everyone signed it for him. We still have it and it still makes me smile to see all the names. The dinner was absolutely outstanding, except for the guy in the Thunder shirt, he had such a spicy plate, he couldn’t eat it…again, really?
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The next day, we hired a shuttle, actually, two shuttles to get us all to the cruise port. We all boarded and got our rooms without much incident. Alex was sharing a room with two other teenage boys, we had about 7 or 8 rooms down one hall and then there were others scattered in balconies. We decided not to pay the extra for the balcony, because it was so cold we likely wouldn’t use it. Since we were sailing in early June the average temperature was around 40/40 degrees F, a little chillier than balcony weather.
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Our first stop was Juneau, Alaska. We had a afternoon excursion of whale watching and seeing the Mendenhall Glacier, so we started with a walk around town. It’s a pretty small town, especially being the capital. We ended up asking a police officer where the best place for lunch was, they know their stuff. It was a crab shack, appropriately name “Tracy’s Crab Shack.” It was soooo good! I had a crab bisque and it was quite delightful. Dave, being Dave, bought a t-shirt that says “Tracy gave me crabs.” Ummm, yeah, she thought it was hilarious when we told her my name was Tracy also. I just wonder how many women named Tracy have husbands that buy those t-shirts?
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After lunch, we got on board a bus to take us to the Mendenhall Glacier. It’s huge so impressive to see. Truly awe inspiring.
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We got back on the bus and head to the whale watching boat. When we got on there were about 30 or so people, including a couple of small kids. We went up to the outdoor deck to watch for “wildlife.” It was pretty chilly, but so crisp and the views were spectacular. There was a really heavy door that went out to the deck and a small child got her finger smashed in the door. Oh, it looked awful! So the boat turned around and headed back to shore to let them go to the ER. We lost a little time but we got back out and we saw bald eagles, whales and had a fabulous time. (We did see the girl later on the cruise and she was bandaged up. She actually lost part of that finger!)
We get back on the ship and have a great time bumping into all our friends. Since there were so many of us, we were always seeing someone and that was nice and made it feel more like being around home. Here are some pictures from the ship, with some of our friends.
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Our next stop was Skagway, Alaska. We had a very adventurous excursion planned here. We took a train halfway up the mountain, got off and hiked four miles up to the Loughton Glacier and four miles back down. We had lunch/snacks at the top. This was a very strenuous and fun excursion. It took all day and was absolutely one of the best days. My son still says it’s his favorite excursion/day of any vacation. We started off in jeans and t-shirts, but the closer we got to the glacier, the weather began to change and we ended up with coats on in the snow! The outhouse halfway up has an interesting story. They airlift the containment drum located inside, up and out with a helicopter when it’s full. The entire cover is hinged to allow the drum to be removed!
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When we got back into town our son began to feel ill so we didn’t get a chance to walk through town. Even so we had quite a full day and enjoyed it more than we ever imagined. The next day was our on ship port of Tracy’s Arm, meaning we didn’t get off the ship, but we weren’t really moving. The icebergs were too overwhelming for the ship to get into Tracy’s Arm, so we ended up seeing Dawes Glacier. The ship sat in the cove and did a 360 degree turn very slowly so everyone got a chance to see. There were many waterfalls and some sea lions. We went to cousin Beverly’s room, since she had a balcony, and we watched from there. Fabulous and eye-opening to all the wonders of the world. Again, this cruise was an awakening to the great big world outside of the beautiful beaches.
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Our last stop, before heading back to Seattle, was Victoria, BC, Canada. I really wasn’t all that enthused about this stop, but one of the pastors at our church told us to go to the Butchart Gardens, that they were really pretty. So, okay, we booked a gardens and mansion tour. Let’s just say the Gardens without the mansions would have been great. It was the most gorgeous place! We loved it. The gardens are an old quarry that was ugly and looked horrible, so the owner’s wife wanted to plant some things to make it look better. I think she might have gotten carried away, but I’m, oh, so glad, that she did! We were very impressed with Victoria and thought it would be a lovely place to return.
After the gardens we went to the Craigdarroch Castle. It was okay, we have a museum in Tulsa in an old mansion that is much more impressive. So we were a little disappointed that we didn’t stay at the gardens longer and skip the “castle.”
We wandered around downtown Victoria for a while before we had to be back on board. The city is lovely and picturesque. There were some street artists that were very talented. I loved the illusion that was on the sidewalk, it felt like you were balancing and going to fall over when you stood on it looking down.
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I have to say, that if you like maple syrup this is your place to be. Every shop you entered sold it with a Canadian flag on it. Oh, and anything with a Canadian flag, yep, you name it. The people were all quite friendly and easy to talk to and very proud of their maple leaf.
Canada was our last stop and we were headed back to Seattle. We decided to book the hop on and hop off trolley tour in Seattle since our plane didn’t leave until late afternoon. My in-laws did the same. Our luggage was to be sent to the airport but you had to pick it up and check it back in through security. Well, we had split up with my in-laws when we decided to get off and see some things and they wanted to continue on. We told them to follow the instructions when they got to the airport. Needless to say, I had a bad feeling.
When we finally got to the airport, running late, the trolleys seemed to be a little overcrowded and hard to come by, we saw their luggage sitting there. Knowing them, I knew they were sitting up at the gate assuming their bags were already in queue to be loaded. Uh-oh! We tried our best to hurry to the gate, but the security line was endless. I’ve never seen one that long before or since. We rushed up there, explained it to them and they rushed downstairs to take care of it. They came back all flustered and confused, actual tears in my mother-in-laws eyes. They couldn’t find their luggage. They were boarding our plane, not good.
We went to the counter and explained to the nice Southwest Airlines ticket agent the situation. I have never been more impressed with a customer service person. What could have been a complete nightmare, was handled very politely and efficiently by the lady at the counter. She not only rebooked them, but booked them into Tulsa, since we would be driving our car from Oklahoma City and they wouldn’t have anyone there to pick them up. She also gave them vouchers! Really? WOW! Southwest Airlines, I am now a very loyal customer, you did what almost no one does, took care of the customer.
Bottom line, Alaska was magnificent to see and I highly recommend the cruise. Seattle was fun. Canada was beautiful. And Southwest Airlines, you rock!