We had a wonderful vacation! We did an Alaska cruise with Gary's parents, his sister and her husband and some friends of ours here in town. We met Gary's parents in Kansas City and flew with them to Chicago and on to Seattle. Now while, traveling my phone was on silent and part of the time on airplane mode. In Chicago as we are going from one gate to the next I turned my phone on and then glanced at messages. The message I see is from my oldest daughter saying "your silence is kind of disturbing". I promptly wonder what I have missed so start scrolling through her messages. No wonder she found my silence disturbing; she had texted me that she had gotten engaged! I promptly responded with my congratulations and also informed her that information like that shouldn't be shared while I am traveling. (In case you are wondering - we are happy for her and her finance'. He is a wonderful person and we already consider him family.)
So we finally make it to our cruise ship and everyone is on board (well most of us - Gary's sister and brother-in-law hadn't made it on board yet. They were behind us in line as they had to turn in the rental vehicle.) Gary's mom had arranged for a scooter for the duration of the cruise; this proved to be amusing for all of us. Picture the mandatory life boat drill. Picture the doorway having a large threshold to be maneuvered across. Instructions for the scooter said not to hesitate or you will end up stuck - just gun it. Vicki gunned it. We are outside at our muster station. We hear screams, hollers and laughter and turn around to see Vicki popping a wheelie coming through the door frame! At least she didn't get stuck! And that was just the beginning of the fun for our trip.
If you have ever cruised you know that there is pretty much unlimited food and an open buffet all day long. We tended to eat our evening meal in the dining room but would meet for breakfast every morning on the back deck of the ship. Picture us sitting on deck enjoying our breakfast. Gary's dad, Red, puts what he thinks is ham in his mouth. He starts choking, coughing, sputtering, gagging. He finally manages to swallow the bite only to say 'I have put some bad things in my mouth but nothing as bad as that!' It wasn't ham - it was raw salmon!
And oh how that food on the buffet can be misleading. Afternoon snack because - well it's afternoon - we haven't eaten for a couple of hours and there are still a couple of hours until we meet for dinner. Let's have a snack. Red takes a big piece of what he thinks is custard pie. What a surprise for his mouth when he bit into it to find out he was eating quiche. He said it wasn't to bad just not what he was expecting.
And one more food laughter from the cruise. Every evening our waiter would give us our menus then tell us what the specialty was for the evening. Keep in mind the waiters are all from other countries and speak with accents. One evening he says 'and the chef's specialty this evening is duck confit'. What Red heard was 'duck feet'. He wanted to know why anyone would want to eat duck feet. Also, what did they do with the rest of the duck? No one ordered the 'duck feet' but our waiter was kind enough to bring us an entree' for our table to share and try.
Back to Vicki's scooter. She had quite the time with it. Backing out of elevators could be a challenge. We learned to warn her that people were standing outside the elevator so she wouldn't run into them. She lost the bumper on her scooter more than once. Fortunately, it just velcroed back on. And there was one time when we were going through the Sports Bar. She zooms through the door and chooses to go left. Now the path between the tables there was not very wide. She had lost her bumper going through the door. I stooped to pick up the bumper and as I raise up I see that her scooter has caught the edge of the first table and she is starting to drag the table along behind her. The people at the table are trying to hold the table back. After being advised to stop we righted the table and people moved out of the way so we could proceed on through.
Also, the spa is a place of luxury onboard a cruise ship. Pamper yourself. And yes, you usually do 'get naked' for a full body massage. Let's say that four of the eight of us took advantage of the spa at some point on the cruise. We all enjoyed it.
Yes, it was a vacation full of fun, family, friends and laughter. We saw amazing sights of whales, glaciers, and waterfalls. It was truly an experience I'm glad we were all able to enjoy together. So keep watching for my pictures. I promise to have them up by this weekend.
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