12/19/14 - Crisis Averted

Today is the day we leave for vacation.  Are we packed? No.  Do we both have to work?  Yes. We should have plenty of time to pack since our flight isn't until 7:30. So we both head off to work and we both get home about 1:30.  We were not home 5 minutes when I get a call from the automated caller for American Airlines saying that our flight is delayed.  Well that delay is going to put us into LAX after our connecting flight is scheduled to leave. Yep you guessed it major panic set in.  Is there enough time to drive to LAX?  There could be if we leave right this minute.  I know that I have to contact the airline because if you don't fly the first leg the will cancel the second and if we don't make that flight we will miss the cruise.  So I get on the computer and try to find a phone number, which of course they have a list of departments to call and end up calling reservations.  After what seems like forever, about 10 min uses I get a real live person on the phone.  After telling her our situation she tells me there is a 2:15 flight, well as it is now almost 2:00 there is no way we can make that flight.  She let's me know that there is a 4:30 flight. YAY!  But before I get to excited I asked her can we get confirmed seats, because the last thing I want to do is wait around and find that we can't get on the flight because it is overbooked.  She said she was able to get us seats but she had to put us on hold so that she could get it authorized. Needless to say during this whole time on the phone we are scrambling to throw things into the suitcases.  I also was trying to get a hold of Amanda to try to get her home ASAP because she was either driving us to the Fresno airport or to LAX.  Well the wonderful woman on the phone finally came back and said all would be good that now they just needed to get us ticketed.  They were still working on that when I finally asked if we should just head to the airport which she responded yes everything should be fine.  That didn't really put me at ease, but I thanked her considerably and I think I made her day, I KNOW she made mine but she was laughing as we hung up.

I then ran the luggage out to the driveway to await Amanda's arrival as she had called and said she was on her way home.  She pulled in just as I took out the last bag so I threw everything in the back of her car.  Grabbed some salads that I had brought home and threw them in the car. Of course as I sat in the car it was oh no I forgot the luggage tags so I had to run back in and get those so I found some other papers I forgot.  Finally we are on the way to the airport.

In the car I did check my American Airlines app and it showed the new flight. Again my heart was glad, but I would not be truly  comfortable until I had tickets in my hand that had seat numbers on them.

Amanda pulled up to the curb of the airport and made sure we got all of our stuff out of the car. The best part of leaving is that your guaranteed a hug.  We entered the airport to find only a few people in line to check in so we didn't do the kiosk check in.  Little did we know that they were flying out of the country and taking what seemed like all of their belongings with them.  So when we get up to the counter one bag (the last minute packed bag) was.......you guessed it over weight.  The bag that had been packed the day before was under weight.  I quickly tried to open the heavy bag, which meant I put the wrong combo in.  I hate being under pressure, but finally got it open and I reached in and pulled Roger's toiletry bag out and closed it up again. It was still overweight but he let it go, thank goodness.

So we head to security and I notice that they do not have the fast pass working for those that have the TBA pre-checked people.  Oh crap!  I had not bagged up my liquids.  We'll when I get to the TSA agent she tells us we can leave our shoes on but we need to take our liquids out... my reply to her is I didn't bring a bag so what do I do....just take them out and out them in a bin... I can do that.  So we made it through security just fine with salads and all.  We arrived at our gate with what should have been a little less than an hour to spare till boarding.  I have to say it took my heart a few minutes to finally go back to normal.  I knew everything was going to be OK when I saw our plane pull up and we boarded soon after.  We are on our way to a great vacation.

August 4, 2014 - Victoria B.C. (Fresh Air Tours & Butchart Gardens)

We did not know what we were getting ourselves into this morning with the craft.

It was a quilling card project.  So you wrap skinny strips of paper around this tool and then place them in the quilling template to unroll to a certain size.

Judy, Elaine and Lynn joined Corinne and I for the craft.  It was a good thing Jenna decided she didn't want to come to craft.

Lynn completed her card.

Elaine finished hers, which she will be sending to Judy.

Corinne also completed her card.

But not me I didn't even come close to finishing before it was time to leave.

Fred sat in the window looking out at the ocean as Elaine booked their future cruises.

We were picked up at the port by Fresh Air Tours when we arrived in Victoria.  We made a few stops to see the scenery.

We stopped at the Lt. Governor's mansion.

Some of us went to use the restroom and snooped around their garage.  It doesn't look like they have used this carriage in a while.

But they keep these cars nice and shiny.

It was hard to see the ship through the haze.

My favorite part of this tour was the Butchart Gardens.

We decided on a time to meet back at the main square and then we headed out to view the gardens.

Michael, where is the Japanese Garden?

There was going to be a ballet performance in the garden tonight and we got a glimpse of one of the performers practicing.

Amongst the garden they had some whimsical topiaries.

They also had some not so whimsical creatures in the garden.

My battery died so I was not able to take any pictures in the Japanese Garden.

We hit the gift shop for some souvenirs before leaving.  We then headed back towards town and she drove us through China Town and past the Empress Hotel and the Parliament Building. At this point everyone just wanted to get back to the ship some of us didn't want to miss our last meal with our fantastic dinning room waiters.  There was supposed to be a firework show this evening before we set sail, to celebrate British Columbia Day, but it never happened.  So we ended up sitting out by the pool bantering with some teenagers until it was time to go to bed.

August 2, 2014 - Juneau

Roger and I had to walk to the rental car port pick up location for Juneau Car Rental Co..  It had moved since the last time we were here so I had to call them to find out where they were otherwise we would have been walking around in circles.  But we finally found it and then went to pick up the rest of the party downtown.  We headed to Mendenhall Glacier National Park.

We only have our coats on because we carried them all the way out to the glacier because really it was quite nice out by the falls.

2014

We were amazed at how much the glacier had receded from the last time we were here.

2010

We drove around the lake to get a different perspective of the glacier.

We then headed out to the Shrine of St. Therese.

It is definitely worth the drive.

It really is a beautiful area.

We were fascinated watching the salmon trying to swim upstream.  It was kind of gross to see all the dead fish on the rocks.

We could look out and see them jumping at the entrance of where the stream met the ocean.

The girls and I walked the Merciful Love Labyrinth.

We headed back to town and stopped at Macaulay Salmon Hatchery.

Roger and I dropped everyone off at the dock area and then we took the van back.  We walked back to the ship and met everyone else in the Lido buffet area before heading back out.  Some went shopping but some of us headed to the Red Dog Saloon.

We got a round of Duck Farts in honor of Captain Phil Harris

We stopped by Tracy's King Crab Shack.  Dennis and Roger wanted to get a crab leg until they found out it would be $24 for one leg.  So they did a photo op instead.

We met everyone else back on the ship.

August 1, 2014 - Skagway (Dyea Dave Tour & My Birthday)

When I opened the door this morning I had a birthday card from Carnival in my mail box.

Because there was 15 people in our group doing the tour we had a bus all to ourselves for our Emerald Lake tour with Dyea Dave Tours.

Our tour guide warned everyone that when the Canadian Immigration boarded our bus at the border they do not want to see fruit on board especially bananas.  Elaine & Fred quickly ate the evidence.

We stopped to take pictures

of the Sawtooth Mountains

& the Captain William Moore Bridge.

There used to be stores and places to stay out on the island for the miners who traveled by boat could stop and be safe for the night.

I walked away from the group and found a couple and their dog getting ready to head out on Tutshi Lake in their kayak.

We entered the Yukon.

Michael was always out to get a good picture.

We stopped for a restroom & snack break in Carcross.











We left there and headed further into the Yukon to the Carcross Desert.

Emerald Lake was beautiful with the different colors that others say reminds them of the Northern Lights.

We then headed back to Carcross which we just walked around town and got our passports stamped.

We also stopped after passing through the border to take pictures of the steam train.

The train has to wait to head back to Skagway until the new train clears the tracks for the way back.  We chose not to wait to see the two trains together.

One last scenic stop before dropping everyone but Jenna & I off in town.

Jenna & I went back to the ship because I had a headache.  I took some medicine, we grabbed some lunch and then went out to admire the view from the ship.

Then we played a couple of rounds of miniature golf before everyone else came back on board.

We got up and danced to Apple Bottom Jeans.  Dennis got a little carried away and thought he was supposed to pole dance.

Ken the "singing Maitre d'", our head waiter Damir & the rest of our group sang Happy Birthday to me.