We were up and ready to go before we arrived in Vancouver and were able to watch us come back under the Lion's Gate Bridge and dock at Canada Place.
Having no love loss with our serving team and wanting a quick and easy breakfast we went up to Beach Blanket Buffet for one last breakfast before disembarkation. Unfortunately they didn't have omelets at the Buffet and the only way to get them was down in our dining room.
Grandpa was very kind and took his littlest granddaughter down to Animator's for an omelet
Mom and I stopped at shutters to pick out a family picture to purchase.
Yes this is a bad picture of a picture but I don't have the scanner hooked up right now
Speaking of bad pictures of pictures - here are the pictures the girls had taken in the lab with Corporal Green after Toy Story Boot Camp
Pictures purchased we went back up to the room one last time to get our carry off bags and make sure we didn't leave anything behind and then we went downstairs to the Promenade Lounge to find a place to sit until our boarding group was called.
This was what they thought about getting off the ship.
It seemed like it took forever before they called Tinker Bell (our group) to disembark, but I'm sure it wasn't as long as it felt, but knowing how slow the process was to get luggage on the ship, it doesn't surprise me it was a slow process getting it off the ship. We weren't in a hurry and dealing with our luggage, 2 kids and a wheel chair didn't sound like a fun thing to do with crowded morning elevators so we didn't do express disembarkation (where you carry off your own luggage).
Once Tinker Bell was called it was a very smooth process. We grabbed a luggage cart, found our bags, made sure they were really ours this time and that we didn't leave one behind and made our way through customs (just as easy a process as it is in the US which surprised me a little since we aren't Canadian Citizens ).
Once on the other side of security we found the Avis counter with little difficulty and checked in. They found our reservation and sent us off to the shuttle. The shuttle driver decided to upgrade us from our rented mini van to a 12 passenger van for free since they needed to get one back to Seattle and we had a bunch of people and stuff. This was greatly appreciated.
After a bathroom stop, we finally got everything and everyone loaded and rushed out of there as the meterman was coming to give a parking ticket shortly. In our rush we didn't notice that the gas tank was not full until we were about 5 minute away. Instead of trying to go back we just took a picture and decided to deal with it later.
We headed south back to Seattle. Due to the low gas tank we had to stop for gas before we left Canada. Its a good thing we stopped because we had a 30 minute wait at the border before we could cross back into the US. After the border crossing we stopped for lunch and another bathroom break.
Here is the Space Needle from the car
It was a long drive to Seattle. Apparently there was some idiot who decided to try to spray paint a circle on the highway and would not surrender and was shot by the police. This caused quite the back up on I-5.
We got to our hotel the Hampton Inn & Suites by the SEATAC airport and checked in without any problems. We decided to return the van tonight instead of in the morning and that we would just take the shuttle in the morning to simplify things as we had a very early flight on Tuesday. So Dad and I took the van back to the airport and James and the girls went down to the pool while mom relaxed and read a book in the room.
When we got back to the hotel the girls had just gotten out of the shower. The hotel offered free shuttle service to some area restaurants so we took the shuttle to Denny's for dinner. It was very easy to take the shuttle to and from the hotel.
After dinner we came back to the room and just relaxed and went to bed early as we had to get up very early for our flight in the morning. The good news is the early flight helped put us back on central time.
We took the 4:30 am shuttle from the hotel and got to the airport without any problems. The baggage and check in line was exceptionally long. Fortunately I was able to use my A-list status to skip the line again and we were through security without too much difficulty (other than a tantrum by my 4 year old, but that is neither here nor there.
Mom and Dad's flight left about 30 minutes after ours, so they saw us to the gate and then went to their gate. We had a direct flight home, but they had a stop in Chicago.
Our flight home was uneventful. We had no problems boarding or getting seats. The girls slept for most of the first half of the flight and then woke up and played with playdoh. We made an alligator family.
We finally landed, got our luggage and made it outside to wait for the shuttle to the car parking lot. As soon as we stepped off the plane I knew we weren't in Alaska anymore. It was HOT and humid (to be expected it was June 17th in Houston, TX). We had a small delay getting on the shuttle but finally made it to our van.
We stopped for lunch on the way home and then picked up Shadow who was very happy to see us.
All in all it was a wonderful vacation.
Coming Soon - NC, DC and VA
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