Once again we head north

Not sure if it's the great exchange rate or a foolish sense of spontaneity, but we decided mid-morning to go to Canada.

On our way home to change clothes before we got on the road, we decided to pack some clothes and spend the night up north. Hubby got a great price on a room in the outskirts of Vancouver.

We grabbed some clothes etc, filled up the tank and headed north. Before we knew it we were crossing the border and the hotel was just a bit beyond that.

Our wait at the border

We checked in, threw our bag on the bed and headed back out.... Time to see them fishes! Vancouver Aquarium here we come!

Our cool room

more room pics

Even had a nice water feature outside

Parking was much much easier today than the last time we popped by. We did observe some protesters outside the aquarium. Three to be exact. They had signs and were yelling a bit. Not fans of aquariums apparently.

We were able to catch the tail end (no pun intended) of the beluga talk. Love the belugas! Then caught the talk about the porpoises. Really cute. Speaking of cute we also heard the sea otter talk.... Sooooo cute.

We haven't caught a keeper talk in forever and we all enjoyed the info a lot.

Now for the inside exhibits.

Jellyfish and octopus were highlights for me. No sea turtle today :(

With closing time around the corner and dinner starting to call we headed out.

Since we have room, we ordered spaghetti factory to go. Which allowed us to relax a bit more than dining at the restaurant.

After dinner we had some ipad time and got ready for bed.

Morning brought breakfast downstairs in the Holiday Inn Express breakfast area... they had a reasonable assortment of things, including a very interesting pancake machine... cool.

ipad time

We were hoping to hit the pool before checkout time... so we took a little time for our food to settle, then headed down to the pool. We weren't the only guests to have this idea. But it wasn't too crowded.

After the fun we cleaned up and checked out. We made two stops on our way out.
First to the Real Canadian Superstore....reminded me of a Super Target or the like. But they had some Joe Fresh branded things that I had been curious about, so mission accomplished.
Plus a few cadbury items... that we couldn't pass up.

Last stop before the border.... Tim Horton's, did you guess? It was surprising that I went this long without my beloved Honey Cruller... my willpower must be growing. But Yummm!!! Thank you Mr. Horton, I enjoyed that.

The border crossing was a little longer going than coming, but that isn't too surprising. It was apparently a holiday weekend up in British Columbia. We didn't notice to much in the way of crowds, but the aquarium was open longer, which worked out great for us.

Welcome home

Welcome Home - Day 9

Another amazing trip comes to an end.

I tried to get up early enough to watch us go under Lions Gate Bridge and take pictures, but sleepiness was weighing me down... Luckily hubby was a bit more awake than I... and he took pictures.

Good Morning Vancouver

It was an early morning, but that is kind of the deal with disembarkation day.
Our Head Server gave us a tip last night, and told us to leave our carry off luggage in the room when we came to breakfast. The room is ours until 8, so this was his way of trying to relieve the luggage congestion in the dining rooms.
I don't think other head servers were sharing this info, but our section was fairly easy to walk through :)

We had breakfast and went back to the room to pick up our gear and head down to the lobby to wait for our group to be called. We could have lingered longer in the room, I suppose, but we didn't want to hold up our stateroom host too much.
We found some chairs on the 4th floor by the windows, but we could still see and hear the calls for unloading groups. And of course it wasn't long until we (reluctantly) left the ship.

In the end, we made good use of our internet package

Setting Sail - Day 2

Our ship has come in ;)

Coming around the edge of Stanley Park! 

Turning around at the dock of Canada Place

All settled into its parking spot! 

I was restless last night.. I think it was excitement!
I was up early enough to see the Disney Wonder pull into port... and took a lot of pictures, I will spare you the bulk of them.
We all seemed to rise early today and with very little on our agenda it allowed us to be relaxed in our getting ready and packed. Hubby ran out and got some breakfast for the family and we dined on a yummy assortment of breakfastables when he returned.
We planned to see/ride the new Fly Over Canada experience at Canada Place this morning and we were in the second group.

Blue skies at Canada Place 

Ready for our ride! 

I highly recommend this experience. The pre-show was unique, but a bit outside my taste, and I had a very nervous young man so I was just wanting to get on with the ride.
If you have ridden Soarin' or Soarin' over California at a Disney park, this ride will feel very, very familiar. Its the same concept (even the same seats) but over Canada. And it's about 3 minutes longer than Soarin' - Canada vs California... seems like 3 minutes isn't enough to cover the difference. But it was great. Even the nervous young man said it was good by the end.
Going on this also allowed us to see the Wonder from the dockside and get that much more excited about boarding time.

Enjoying the displays out on the pier

Aww, Mom... put the camera away, already!

The proximity of all that we needed for this first night was amazing. Kudos to hubby for getting that planned - the hotel, parking, Fly Over Canada and the ship, all in the same place -- perfect.
We finished up in the room and it was time to check in for the cruise. Our room check out was at noon and our ship check in time was 11:30 to Noon... perfect!
Having only sailed on Disney out of Port Canaveral, this was a bit different. A lot more looking around to see where to go next, but it went smoothly. And not too long after our little lady had her picture taken with Minnie, we were boarding the Wonder!

With Minnie!

So Excited... well, most of us :) 

We had lunch in Beach Blanket Buffet and then popped down to Studio Sea to pick up tickets to meet Elsa and Anna (princesses from Frozen), in a few days. This is new and they are soooo popular, they are doing it as a ticketed event... tickets are free, so it's just crowd control. Fine by me.
We also took a few minutes to register the kiddos for the kid's clubs and to check those out.
So the Wonder is the second ship built by Disney (younger sister to the Magic if you ask our young man) and smaller than the Fantasy that we sailed on last summer.  Hubby and I have sailed on her once, before we had kids, for a 3 day cruise. But we have been on the Magic 3 times (one - 14 day cruise and two - 7 day cruises; nearly a month). So in some ways we feel right at home on the Wonder and in other ways nothing is where I expect it to be, if that makes sense :)  Give me a day or two and I will have it all down.
Staterooms are open by 1:30 and we were ready to get to ours. And the stateroom was exactly as exepected. Our luggage began arriving shortly after we did and I was able to unpack one bag at a time, then check the front door and grab the next one... good timing. Hubby ran out and grabbed some passes, along with confirming a shore excurion and getting our internet package all squared away. The kids enjoyed the room and balcony, and watched some Mickey cartoons.
The muster drill (lifevest drill) was at 4 and all went as planned, then we split up... Little lady and Dad hit the sail away party and the young man and I went to the front of the ship to watch our departure.
I have sailed out of Port Canaveral five times in my life; out of Seattle once and today out of Vancouver BC - I have to say sailing out of a port you know is more fun! I LOVED sailing past Stanley park and under the Lions Gate Bridge... It was soo much fun.  It also seems that the speed/wake limits aren't as strong up here in Canada... once we past the bridge we really took off!

Sights and sounds of our departure......

.... hmmm, y'all can't hear anything...  

... but it's a bit loud for some of us :) 

Stanley Park with Canada Place in the background

Lions Gate Bridge

The other side of Lions Gate Bridge!

Dinner was next up and we dined in Triton's tonight. Triton being the father of the little mermaid (in Disney lore). We have a table for four, and we met our serving team: Sam from the Philippines and Allwyn from India. They will get to know our crazy food preferences quickly, I can tell.

Ready to eat! 

Following dinner, our little lady hit the kids club for an hour and I hit the shops. Hubby and the young man explored a bit. The show tonight was the Welcome Aboard Variety show, the staged part, involving the talented cast is fairly standard from what we have seen in the past. The guest variety act was great, and we look forward to seeing him again in a few evenings.
The little lady had a solid argument for why she should go back to the kids club after the show - "Science". They were going to make a volcano and really, who can resist that? It was going to be a late night for some of us.. but tomorrow we can sleep in.
Tomorrow we have a sea day!

The first of 7 amazing towel animals from our stateroom host. 

North to Alaska! - Day 1

North bound!

Today we set forth, like great adventurers of old.... well, we were enthusiastic anyway.
Leaving home and heading north for a cruise to Alaska.
Last summer while cruising to the Caribbean, we "rebooked" for this summer. Disney Cruise out of Vancouver, BC to the Last Frontier.

In Canada! 

We grabbed a bite on the road and arrived in Vancouver about 3:00 this afternoon. Our plan was to go to the Vancouver Aquarium and see the newly-opened expansion.
We were all excited and full of anticipation, but four laps around the parking lot really took a toll. It took about a half hour to secure parking. It was all luck and finally it was our turn.

What is the picture of?  

Who cares, let's just go check it out! 

The new expansion was really nice. We still aren't sure what -- beyond a big loverly lobby, a new ticket area and a coffee spot/cafe -- they added. We can't confirm any new exhibit areas - a few new small display tanks, but that's it.
Anyway, we cruised the Aquarium and saw all our old favorites, and enjoyed our visit.
Oh and the gift shop is new.... again :)
By the time we left, our hotel for the night was ready for check-in. We splurged and booked a room at the Pan Pacific at Canada Place; which is more or less at the cruise terminal and is also where we leave our car for the week. The room is lovely and the views are AWESOME. We buzzed down to the Gastown for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which was very comfortable. Then back to the hotel.
The boy and I stayed in the room and had some quite time and the little lady and Dad went out to explore Canada Place and scope out breakfast possibilities.
I hope to wake up early enough to see the Disney Wonder come in tomorrow!

View of the pool from our room

View toward Stanley Park and the dock

The Room..... Very Cool

Weekend getaway continued....

We woke up this morning feeling slightly more refreshed than yesterday morning.

Breakfast was right downstairs. Yummy pancakes and french toast was enjoyed by all. 

After eating our fill, we were off to Stanley Park to hit the Aquarium and ride the miniature train. We didn't know there was a big festival thing happening in the park and that parking was going to be hard to find. 

But we found our way and found a parking spot and soon we were enjoying the wonders of the Aquarium.

We rode the train on our way out and before we knew it, we were heading home. 

the little lady with a backdrop of jellyfish

Our big kid with a dolphin in the tank behind him

the much anticipated train ride

My camera was low on batteries so I didn't take many pictures.
It was a good trip. 

Weekend getaway

To Canada

Morning came way too early...4:45 or so, for the grown ups. We got ready for our day and packed up the car. Kids woke up (more or less) at 5:30, we piled into the car and were off. Our destination for the day...Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island. 

To get there, we decided on ferry boat. We caught the Anacortes ferry that goes to Sidney on Vancouver Island, with a short stop in Friday Harbor.

Lined up waiting to get on Ferry

Our ride to Canada

checking out the view on board

pulling away from Anacortes

watching us pull away 

sharing a snack on board

Friday Harbor

Washington state ferries are.... Shall we say, basic, functional... Not luxurious. But fun all the same. This is a route we have never taken before and it was beautiful. Going in between the little islands made for great scenery.  The travel time on this ferry is about 3 hours.... Which is a lot for the size of the ship (or is it a boat? Not sure at what size you make the change). We spent our time on board exploring, eating and watching the scenery go by. Which was more entertaining for some of us than others.

The Elwha

GPS in the car, while we were on the ferry... blue line is our general course, red line is the Canadian boarder

On Canadian soil. Waiting to go through customs

We arrived in Sidney BC and found our way to the Butchart Gardens. It's been well over ten years since we last visited and this visit was far more memorable. We began by having lunch at the Blue Poppy, the cafeteria style restaurant on site. It was fine.. nothing amazing, but we were hungry and eager to start our touring of the gardens. So the location couldn't be beat.

Line to pay and park 

They suggest a basic direction to tour in and we followed along....

A few things to note at this point: the forecast said “chance of rain” and listed it at 30% and the Gardens provide clear plastic umbrellas for use while you are there.

Ok, back to the story.... We picked up two umbrellas, just in case and started down to the path to see the Sunken Garden. Bee U tea ful! No seriously, beautiful. As we ventured down into the garden and started to wander a drop or two began to fall. Nothing really for us folk from rain country. But by the time we finished that garden it was coming down.. I mean really huge drops of water falling fast and furious. Only one member of our clan had a hood... which is standard Pacific NW attire. But we had switched into spring/summer coats due to an 8 day period of really really great weather a few weeks back, and have been holding on the illusion that the sun would return. So we came out of the garden sharing our umbrellas and trying to stay a little dry. Did I mention the umbrellas are really only sized for one person?

view from above the Sunken Garden

Our tour guide

the kids and dad are up there somewhere

Our next stop was found quickly.. the carousel! The kids were thrilled, I was rather wet, so it was a good chance to dry off a bit. And I have to say it was the fastest carousel I have ever been on. Hold on to you hats, folks... this thing isn't joking around!

The ride was over but the rain wasn't... but we ventured on. After a quick restroom break we hit the rose garden and the rain was beginning to lighten up. So we hunted for roses... apparently it isn't rose season :) But we found a few.

through our see through umbrellas

one of very few roses blooming in the rose garden 

rose garden.... soon to be full of color

The rest of our touring around was fun. Overall we enjoyed it quite a bit. I look forward to returning in the summer sometime, when there is more color and less rain :) As a parting treat I got a macaroon and a O Canada Latte.... Ymmmm.

best macaroon ever and an O Canada Latte

Well, that was fun, let's go ride another ferry boat.... ok, lets!

We had reservation on the Tsawwassen ferry from Schwartz Bay to Vancouver. We arrived just a bit earlier than was needed, but lined up and waited. Our youngest adventurer was out cold.. the early morning had caught up with her, so she got a good hour nap in. While the rest relaxed or explored the waiting area.

boarding next ferry

checking out the view

Its been a long day already. Me and my boy.

The BC Ferries are nicer than WA... it's just true. Not that WA's are bad... but BC's are nicer. We explored, snacked, took pictures etc. They had a store, an arcade, two restaurant areas and a snack bar. This crossing went a bit faster than the last... although none of us were quite as patient by this point in the day.

Arriving back on land meant it was time for dinner... and the unending question of where to eat. Well we ended up eating at a Canadian chain that we have seen all over... White Spot. I was pleasantly surprised by the place and my pot pie was very yummy. The kids meals were served in paper pirate ships, which was a huge hit. And I fell in love with the cartoon chicken mermaid - awesome! Not a lot of vegetarian options for hubby, but he found something and we all ate our fill.

A Mer-chicken! Love it! 

Now it's late.. not really, but we got up at 5, and we have 30 min drive to our hotel.. or so we think. (insert ominous music here) We navigated through Vancouver and were just a few mins from Lions Gate bridge when we see police activity ahead....

Another point of interest.. our hotel is in North Vancouver, just over Lions Gate Bridge.

…. As we get closer it becomes clear they are closing the road. What is unclear is why and if the bridge is closed. So we double back and try to get to the bridge through Stanley Park. It is unclear if this approach would have worked had our timing been better, but needless to say... the bridge was closed... so we couldn't go across the bridge - despite our mad navigating skills. With two exhausted kids and two tired parents we called our hotel. “How do we get to you?” Well, it all worked out, it was a wee bit complicated to get our GPS to take us the route we wanted... no one told it the bridge was closed :)

And what went from don’t worry kids, we should be at the hotel in 15, 20 mins max... ended up being an hour! Eeeks.
After we settled into the hotel we did a bit of searching online to see what was up with the bridge closures. And the sad story of a bike vs bus, makes our extra time in the car not feel like that big of a deal.

Sorry to end on a sad note.
We are wiped from a long day and the beds are calling.
Tomorrow DeDutch, a little train and some fishes.