September 29th, 2015 - Tuesday - Sea Day

Well today was a sea day – which means we did not hit land at any point.  As a matter of fact, we didn’t even see land most of the day, therefore there are no pictures of our exciting on-land adventures.  Instead – only the view that we saw most of the day from our window.

Barb did awake around 6:30 and after posting yesterday’s blog (couldn’t do it last night as the internet was way too slow), went for a walk around the Promenade deck.  It was foggy and windy and her knee hurt so she did only 4 circuits and then went to our room for breakfast with Harry.  After breakfast we journeyed to Deck 3 where we checked out the stores and Barb attended a digital workshop on photo editing and later in the day on movie making.  Both were really interesting and helpful in preparing for photos after the trip. 

The rest of the day was spent either relaxing in one of the several bars, or in our room reading, playing computer games or just dozing off to sleep. 

Supper was again with our delightful companions – great conversations and a plan to get together for happy hour in the next few days.  All 6 of us are planning on going all the way to Ft Lauderdale, so are very happy to have such a congenial group. 

This evening we went to the Piano Bar to hear Barry from Boston playing music from Elvis and the Beatles. He is an amazing piano player, but none of us were particularly taken with his version of famous Elvis or Beatles tunes, but did enjoy the music and the ambiance.  Later this evening the three women from our dinner table and Doug danced the night away to the tunes of ABBA.  Harry enjoyed a quiet evening in our state room.

September 28th, 2015 Astoria

We slept well through the night as the ship made its way south along the Washington Coast toward Oregon.  We arose to a beautiful day with a gorgeous blue sky and warm temperature.  Upon rising at about 7:15 Barb headed out to the Promenade Deck for her morning walk, twelve times around the deck – or about 4 miles or 6.4 Km. After that we headed to the Lido deck for breakfast then a Windows 10 class for Barb.

Lunch was an absolute delight, we were joined at our table by a delightful couple from Pitt Meadows.  After a bit of conversation I asked if they knew Peggy and Jack – they said they knew them well, then asked my last name.  When I revealed my name they asked if I was any relation to Rene and Jim Gregg who they knew well from their involvement at Pitt Meadows UC.  They also of course know our current minister very well. 

After lunch we  returned to our room to watch the approach to Astoria Oregon.  It is a small pier, actually shorter than our ship, so it took a bit of time to get tied up and ready for us to disembark.  It was also high tide, so the descent from the second deck was really quite steep.

Once on land we decided to walk along the River Trail – that is, Barb pushed Harry in his rented chair.  The trail is about 3 km each way, so we took our time and enjoyed the scenery along the way.  This included an amazingly long bridge, thousands of birds and many sea lions including these two that were playing out in the open water.  Other sea lions were making their presence know by their rather loud calling under several of the buildings. 

As the weather was warm and the path anything but smooth there arose a great need for a beer – and amazingly there was a brewery just in time. We enjoyed one of their 8 special brews, then completed the walk and headed back to the ship – just in time for our 5:30 supper.  Tonight we were joined by two others at our table for 6 – Wendy and Grant from Penticton.  Great conversation followed, then we returned to our room to review photos, write the blog,

Sunday September 27, 2015

At 9:30 this morning, after laundry, packing and getting the dishes cleaned and put away we loaded onto Jay’s Vanride Van to head to the Cruise ship Terminal in down town Vancouver.  Jay had a very interesting and effective way of arriving at the terminal (don’t ask us to repeat the route), but we arrived in plenty of time. 

After some initial confusion we found the check in counter, then waited for Harry’s wheelchair to arrive to take us to our state room.  That involved up one elevator, through security, onto passport control, down an elevator, then walking down the ramp then up another elevator to our room.  We are on the port side of the ship which means that we will always be on the side that look out over land.  I do believe we will spend a fair amount of time on our deck.

After settling into our room we went to the Lido deck for a lovely lunch, and then returned to our room to complete putting clothing in cupboards and storing our luggage.  At 4:15 we made our way down to the Promenade deck to take part in the compulsory safety drill.  By then it was time to return to our room, make a few clothing adjustments and head down for supper.  Here we met our two delightful table mates – Doug and Janet from Pemberton.  The food was great, wine was wonderful and the conversation delightful. 

After dinner Barb headed up to the Observation deck to watch the lunar eclipse, but the deck was cold and she soon realised that she could see as much from the stateroom balcony – just without the lecture. Here both of us enjoyed the sunset and marveled at the very red moon.  The only picture we could get was on the very unsophisticated smart phone, the fancy camera refused to click and take any picture.

By now we were both pretty tired, so took a pass on the opening show, taking the time to read the newspaper and relax – preparing for a busy tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Departure Day for our Next Adventure

Tomorrow we leave for our next adventure - this will be a Panama Cruise, a very important adventure on Harry's Bucket List.
We leave the Port of Vancouver tomorrow afternoon and head from Vancouver - through the Panama Canal to Ft Lauderdale Florida.  The trip will take 19 days and include such stops as San Francisco, Cabo San Lucas, Huatulco Mexico, Puerto Chiapas Mexico, Costa Rica, then through the Panama Canal  to Colombia, the Bahamas then to Fort Lauderdale.  Once there we will fly to Freeport for a relaxing week in a condo at the Island Seas Resort.
While we are away our Granddaughter Kayla will be guarding our home and our caretaker Wade will be caring for Chloe.
Tonight to avoid cooking dinner we attended a Pot Luck Social at the Club House here at Chelsea.  Many well wishes and thoughts are going with us.  We will be posting to this blog as we have wifi on the ship.  I hope to get lots of wonderful photos.