Sunday, July 30, 2017

Alaskan Cruise 2017 - Day 2

July 7, 2017

Morning broke in Seattle and put on my walking shoes for a 4 mile walk around the area.  I didn't have an agenda in mind when I left the room, but by the time I hit the street I had decided to head to the Space Needle (about a mile and a half from the hotel).

The early morning empty lobby of the W
Made it.  I took a couple of photos then continued on my way.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Alaskan Cruise 2017 - Day 1: North To Alaska!

Earlier this month we returned from an Alaskan cruise with my in-laws John and Norma.  Neither Todd nor his parents had ever been on a cruise before.  I had been on a cruise to the Bahamas in high school, but that was so long ago that this was like a first cruise for all of us.  Alaska turned out to be the perfect destination since it was much needed break from the Texas heat.

We sailed with Royal Caribbean on the Explorer of the Seas.  The cruise departed from and returned to Seattle, Washington, so to ease travel fatigue and stress we bookended the trip with an overnight stay there at each end of the trip.  We'll definitely be going back for a dedicated Seattle vacation in the future - what a fun place!

We flew out on July 6th, so John and Norma drove up to spend the night with us on the 5th.  We got up the morning of the 6th and they went to breakfast while Todd and I took the cats to be boarded - so hard to leave them!  All of us met back at the house then made our way to the airport.

We made it through security and down to the gate with plenty of time to spare so we grabbed a bite at Einstein Bros. Bagels.  I had a turkey sausage, egg and cheese bagel.  As we were finishing we received alerts that our gate had changed to another terminal.  Pressed for time now, we made our way to the Skyline train that connects the terminals and had just boarded when...it broke down.  Luckily, it was up and running again within 10 minutes and we made it to our new terminal and gate with just enough time to stop at the restroom before boarding.  Whew.

The flight was uneventful.  We received a meal on this flight so I had a veggie enchilada, corn salad, romaine lettuce, wheat roll and glass of red mystery wine.  Dessert was a really good lemon coconut cake and a cup of coffee.

Love taking photos of clouds from above

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Disneyland Trip 2017 - Day 5

Well, we had a really good time and this trip totally satisfied the "got to get away" urge.

We checked out and waited out in front of the hotel for about 40 minutes for our Disney bus to come to take us to LAX.  The ride back was uneventful and we still had time to kill so we hung out in the new international terminal for a bit.  Then it was back to home and hearth, rested and relaxed!

I'm ready to go...where's that damn bus?
We saw this ginormous British Airways double decker plane getting prepped for takeoff
This thing was just massive
Getting close to home.  From up here civilization just looks like a bioluminescent splotch on the Earth.

That's it for this report.  Thanks for sticking around and waiting for the finish!

Now, let me tell you about Alaska...

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Disneyland 2017 Trip - Day 4

Up early again for another power walk through California Adventure.  This time the lead instructor (I guess) joined us and we stopped near the end in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area where she led us through several stretching exercises.  Bonus!  I know I said it before, but it's worth repeating:  These walks were really the highlights of the trip for me.

Afterwards we went back to the room.  Todd went back to sleep and after resting for a while I got cleaned up and went to Disneyland.  It was the "Extra Magic Hour" day for resort guests so I was able to get in before the 9am official park opening time.  First stop: Splash Mountain.  Or maybe not.

Todd's corpse-like post-walk repose

I was going to ride Splash Mountain but there was a rope blocking access to that side of the park.  Then I remembered from last time that during early morning access only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open.  Bummer.  I switched gears and got in line for the Matterhorn Bobsleds instead.

Matterhorn waterfall
Boarding area

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Got To Catch Up

I've gotten behind - we just returned from a(n amazing) cruise to Alaska with the in-laws and I haven't finished posting about Disneyland.  I'll try to wrap that up quickly so I can move on to "Seward's folly".