Us, December 26, 2017: Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine, John
Us, December 26, 2017: Leo, Shadow, Roy, Ondine, John
ALASKA!
Last week, we returned from a wonderful seven-day family cruise to Alaska thanks to Barbara! We'll be posting more from our travel journals later, we haven't had time to compile the notes and edit the photos.
We went on the Carnival Legend, a sister ship to the Carnival Spirit, which we took to Mexico with Barbara and Bill back in 2010 so the ship layout was familiar to us. The weather was perfect throughout the trip, with sunny, clear days. Barbara had booked an inside stateroom on the first deck for herself, an ocean-view stateroom almost directly across the hall from her for Roy and Leo, and a balcony stateroom on the sixth deck for us - wow! The boys enjoyed their oversized first-deck window looking out over the surface of the sea, and we loved the panoramic view and fresh air of our sixth-deck balcony! We spotted several Humpback Whales and Dall Porpoises cavorting alongside the ship.
We took only two shore excursions. The first was kayaking in Juneau, where we had great views of the Mendenhall Glacier. We paddled two-person kayaks; John paired with Leo and Ondine went with Roy. It was John's first time in a kayak, and we all had a great time! We even saw a curious harbor seal, who bobbed in the water staring at us while we stared back for some time. The second shore excursion was a double-decker bus tour of Victoria at night. It was Roy and Leo's first time in Canada! It really is a beautiful, livable city.
The real highlight of the cruise, though, was cruising Tracy Arm Fjord to Sawyer Glacier. We spent most of the day on deck, watching the snow-sluiced crags glide past under a warm blue sky. Our ship stopped well short of Sawyer Glacier and sent out excursion boats for closer looks, but we still had a great view of it from way forward on the ninth deck, atop the ears of the bridge, where only a railing separated us from the spectacular views around us. From our perch, we saw a whale, seals, and even an otter. We also learned that the blue ice appears blue because it's compressed more densely than regular white-appearing ice.
We generally met up for breakfast and lunch at the "Unicorn Cafe," the buffet, and met up for an early dinner at "Truffles," the restaurant. The boys loved the fries at the poolside Guy Fieri-themed burger station, and Leo loved the fish tacos and shrimp burrito from the poolside Mexican-themed station. The family males all loved the free 24-hour frozen yogurt, especially the strawberry when it was on tap. There was certainly always plenty to eat! One morning, Ondine and John rose early for 4 am pizza and the sunrise; Leo had planned to join but overslept. Then again, he'd had his own very early morning on his own one of the first mornings of the cruise.
Another highlight, was that we all entered shipboard competitions! Leo won the Connect 4 tournament and John won the Match Up tournament, so they each won trophies. John and Roy tried their hands at the sci-fi trivia tournament, and Ondine, Roy, and John tried the one-hit wonders trivia tournament just for fun, but came up well short. John and Leo entered the fact or fiction trivia tournament, and did well but not quite well enough to win.
John, Ondine, and Barbara saw a show with Steve Hite, who told the history of Alaska in songs and stories. It was a great show! John, Leo, and Barbara saw a fun magic performance starring one of the Carnival dining room staff! John attended one of Naturalist Steve's lectures on whales. And we all took in a PG comedy show, with a few of us staying for the 18+ show. Roy especially loved going out to see the comedians, even more now that he turned 18 and can see "explicit" shows, so he was out late on his own most nights! We all spent a lot of time on deck, walking laps, soaking in the cool wind, and savoring the scenery.
Here are a few photos from the hundreds John took.
NEW CAR!
So, back to real life, John's car's transmission died a couple weeks ago on the way home from visiting Grammy. Before we left on our cruise, we'd set Autoland, the credit union car buying service, the task of locating an orange or yellow Honda Fit EX-L. The first one they located was a used yellow 2018 EX-L with just 3,400 miles on it, but a mechanical inspection made us reject it at its asking price despite its desirable extras. (John noticed it later popping up on one of the Honda Fit forums as a recent acquisition!)
Upon our return, they'd arranged for us to get what was apparently the last brand new yellow 2018 Honda Fit EX-L in California (there are no more orange ones left). Friday afternoon we picked it up at the Mission Fed branch at Grossmont Center. It had just 40 miles on it before we drove it around the block! Ondine left work a bit early to be there to sign papers.
It took less than an hour to wrap up the title and loan paperwork. Ondine then went home, and John stayed at the mall to get shorts and shirts for Leo, some groceries, and a sunshade for his new car! He also bought a black storage box to use in the car's cargo compartment, since there's no actual cover. Here is John's new car: a 2018 Honda Fit EX-L in Helios Yellow Pearl with a black leather interior.
He stopped at Smart & Final on the way home to get salad and ice cream, which was really his first actual drive! We started The Hobbit trilogy, and John got home only a few minutes in. We continued the trilogy Saturday evening.
Saturday morning John took the boys to judo in it, and they really loved the Honda Fit's uncanny spaciousness! Roy was wowed by the right-side lane-change camera, which John finds less than useful since he's one of those rare people who has always adjusted his side mirrors correctly. John is slowly moving into his new car, having removed three boxfuls of stuff from his old one.
Sunday we went to Pacific Beach, where Ondine, Leo, and Roy went boogie boarding! John took his metal detector, but the beach was crowded so he didn't do any detecting. He did get stung by a bee, though, so it's not like he had nothing going on. We saw lots of very active sand crabs, perhaps because the water was bath water warm.
Soon John will be turning even older than he is! Ha!
Monday it's back to to work. Ondine is coming down with a cold, sigh. We're in another heatwave too, with temperatures well into the 90s and forecast to get hotter as the week wears on. We miss being on the water in Alaska!
Neighborhood gas prices are about $3.75 per gallon.
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HEY! CHECK THIS OUT! An archived weekly journal from this very day in 2004 - that's exactly 14 years ago! What were we up to???
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