Our Nautical Summer, pt 2
Lucky loves cruises and Lexan loves boats, so clearly our major vacation this year had to be a cruise. Our first ever family vacation after our wedding had been a Princess cruise, which we generally liked. Lucky liked it so much, he's dragged his mother on 4 more Princess cruises, but I was disappointed with the kids club, so last time (which I somehow never wrote about???) we tried a Norwegian cruise. Lexan wasn't with us and Lucky hated the kids club so much, he never went back after the first time, so this time we tried Royal Caribbean.
Because I was trying to get pregnant, we couldn't go to the Caribbean, so we decided to go to Canada, except once I'd booked it, I discovered our cruise stopped in Halifax, where Anne of Green Gables was born, but not in Charlottetown, which is where all the tourist stuff about her is located. Oops.
It seemed like a nice gesture to bring my mom, but it made things more complicated because 5 person cabins are uncommon (read: expensive) so we got two cabins. Which turned out to be the first of many blessings in disguise: I'd never tried a balcony before - my mother always told me when I was younger that anything but the cheapest cabin was for suckers, because everyone uses (mostly) the same facilities and you only go to your room to sleep. The balcony was a 3 person cabin, a queen bed with a pullout couch, so my mom suggested, "Why don't you and Jon take the interior cabin?" Lucky agreed, so Jon and I got our own den of iniquity not close to the kids. SCORE!
I'd never been on a 9 day cruise before, but nothing succeeds like excess. The scheduling wasn't quite optimal - we had a day at sea, 4 days in a row of shore excursions, a day at sea, a port day, and another day at sea - which mean we had 4 unrelaxed days in a row, because G-d forbid we miss out on something in port. I think we all needed a slightly different itinerary and I'm sure Jon will scrutinize my itineraries more closely in the future or maybe a shorter cruise so he can rest afterward?
First stop was Boston, where we got to spend the day with TRQ and her consort at the New England Aquarium. This was Lexan's fourth aquarium of the summer and in some ways my favorite: I liked how they lit the fish for good photos, the educational stuff was fine. Mom thinks Legal Seafood is overrated and Jon's tempura and Mom's gumbo were only okay, but it's such a strong memory of my college years.
I'd never been to Portland, Maine before, even though this was my fourth trip to Maine. I'd tweaked my impinged shoulder right before we left, so I wasn't sure kayaking would work, but it did and we heard a little local history, saw cormorants and ospreys, and visited a mostly unused 19th century fort. Portland is a foodie town, so I insisted we have lunch there: we went to the Eventide Oyster House and had 5 innovative tapas. Jon commented the brown butter lobster roll was such an elaborate preparation, it detracted from the brilliance of the lobster. It was sadly the best lobster roll I had on the trip, because I didn't make enough effort to eat another high quality one :(
This was my third trip to Bar Harbor: both times I've been with my husband, I've been injured and pregnant :-P I'm concerned about ever returning, except that lobster bisque was magnifique. I planned it as Jon and Lucky's day together, so they hiked Cadillac Mountain. My mother and I took Lexan to the nature center, where he participated in a slew of activities and we walked to a pond looking for a beaver den. The video of him reciting the junior ranger pledge is adorable. Then we went to the Thunder Hole, which a volunteer described to the toddler as the Burp Hole, so guess what he talked about for days after. Then we had lunch at Jordan Pond. My mom told me it was overrated when I made the reservation, but I wanted that lobster bisque with sherry and even she conceded the crumble and the sorbet were incredible. Best meal of the trip.
Saint John, NB has the most unprepossessing approach I've ever seen from a boat - you pass a garbage dump coming into town! - and there's so little to do in town, I commented to Jon that if we'd ever been there before, we'd stay on the boat for 1pm movie musical trivia. We hadn't, though, and the town is famous for their 50' tides, so we visited the Reversing Rapids, watching a little movie about their geology and history, and my hero drove 2.5 hours each way to Hopewell Rocks, where you can walk along the sea floor amid rock forms carved by these extreme tides. I've started thinking about how the places I visit are transient, that in my lifetime climate change will probably destroy somewhere I've been, and I wonder what Hopewell Rocks will look like when I'm in Saint John again.
Thank goodness I never got around to booking scuba diving in Halifax, because pregnant ladies can't go diving and we would have missed the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It's a local museum somewhere that has Titanic artifacts, spectacular shipwrecks, and lots of British naval history. The shipwreck exhibit was really cool: I'd never thought about how boats break up, even though I loved Robinson Crusoe (logistics!!), or the archeology of shipwrecks. Halifax's waterfront area was neat to walk around - the statue of local boy Samuel Cunard led to some interesting conversations with my well-traveled mother.
The second half of our day in Halifax was particularly poorly planned, so we were standing in the lobby of the museum, searching our phones for nearby places to eat when I pointed out the back door and asked Jon, "What's the rating on THAT place?" McKelvie's was across the street and the #24 of 619 restaurants on TripAdvisor. It lived up to the rating and the half lobster my mother off-handedly got on her salad was amazing. I wish I could remember all the other delicious things we ate.
I was intent that at some point on our trip, we'd go sailing, but I failed at planning and the Tall Ship Silva has mostly decorational sails. Jon helped hoist them anyhow and it was nice to get on the water?
2018 is the year where I want do-over on every vacation, but with this one, it's at least in part because I enjoyed it so much.
This post was made on Dreamwidth & crossposted to LJ.
The dreamwidth post is here: https://katestine.dreamwidth.org/1380613.html and has
comments.
Because I was trying to get pregnant, we couldn't go to the Caribbean, so we decided to go to Canada, except once I'd booked it, I discovered our cruise stopped in Halifax, where Anne of Green Gables was born, but not in Charlottetown, which is where all the tourist stuff about her is located. Oops.
It seemed like a nice gesture to bring my mom, but it made things more complicated because 5 person cabins are uncommon (read: expensive) so we got two cabins. Which turned out to be the first of many blessings in disguise: I'd never tried a balcony before - my mother always told me when I was younger that anything but the cheapest cabin was for suckers, because everyone uses (mostly) the same facilities and you only go to your room to sleep. The balcony was a 3 person cabin, a queen bed with a pullout couch, so my mom suggested, "Why don't you and Jon take the interior cabin?" Lucky agreed, so Jon and I got our own den of iniquity not close to the kids. SCORE!
I'd never been on a 9 day cruise before, but nothing succeeds like excess. The scheduling wasn't quite optimal - we had a day at sea, 4 days in a row of shore excursions, a day at sea, a port day, and another day at sea - which mean we had 4 unrelaxed days in a row, because G-d forbid we miss out on something in port. I think we all needed a slightly different itinerary and I'm sure Jon will scrutinize my itineraries more closely in the future or maybe a shorter cruise so he can rest afterward?
First stop was Boston, where we got to spend the day with TRQ and her consort at the New England Aquarium. This was Lexan's fourth aquarium of the summer and in some ways my favorite: I liked how they lit the fish for good photos, the educational stuff was fine. Mom thinks Legal Seafood is overrated and Jon's tempura and Mom's gumbo were only okay, but it's such a strong memory of my college years.
I'd never been to Portland, Maine before, even though this was my fourth trip to Maine. I'd tweaked my impinged shoulder right before we left, so I wasn't sure kayaking would work, but it did and we heard a little local history, saw cormorants and ospreys, and visited a mostly unused 19th century fort. Portland is a foodie town, so I insisted we have lunch there: we went to the Eventide Oyster House and had 5 innovative tapas. Jon commented the brown butter lobster roll was such an elaborate preparation, it detracted from the brilliance of the lobster. It was sadly the best lobster roll I had on the trip, because I didn't make enough effort to eat another high quality one :(
This was my third trip to Bar Harbor: both times I've been with my husband, I've been injured and pregnant :-P I'm concerned about ever returning, except that lobster bisque was magnifique. I planned it as Jon and Lucky's day together, so they hiked Cadillac Mountain. My mother and I took Lexan to the nature center, where he participated in a slew of activities and we walked to a pond looking for a beaver den. The video of him reciting the junior ranger pledge is adorable. Then we went to the Thunder Hole, which a volunteer described to the toddler as the Burp Hole, so guess what he talked about for days after. Then we had lunch at Jordan Pond. My mom told me it was overrated when I made the reservation, but I wanted that lobster bisque with sherry and even she conceded the crumble and the sorbet were incredible. Best meal of the trip.
Saint John, NB has the most unprepossessing approach I've ever seen from a boat - you pass a garbage dump coming into town! - and there's so little to do in town, I commented to Jon that if we'd ever been there before, we'd stay on the boat for 1pm movie musical trivia. We hadn't, though, and the town is famous for their 50' tides, so we visited the Reversing Rapids, watching a little movie about their geology and history, and my hero drove 2.5 hours each way to Hopewell Rocks, where you can walk along the sea floor amid rock forms carved by these extreme tides. I've started thinking about how the places I visit are transient, that in my lifetime climate change will probably destroy somewhere I've been, and I wonder what Hopewell Rocks will look like when I'm in Saint John again.
Thank goodness I never got around to booking scuba diving in Halifax, because pregnant ladies can't go diving and we would have missed the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It's a local museum somewhere that has Titanic artifacts, spectacular shipwrecks, and lots of British naval history. The shipwreck exhibit was really cool: I'd never thought about how boats break up, even though I loved Robinson Crusoe (logistics!!), or the archeology of shipwrecks. Halifax's waterfront area was neat to walk around - the statue of local boy Samuel Cunard led to some interesting conversations with my well-traveled mother.
The second half of our day in Halifax was particularly poorly planned, so we were standing in the lobby of the museum, searching our phones for nearby places to eat when I pointed out the back door and asked Jon, "What's the rating on THAT place?" McKelvie's was across the street and the #24 of 619 restaurants on TripAdvisor. It lived up to the rating and the half lobster my mother off-handedly got on her salad was amazing. I wish I could remember all the other delicious things we ate.
I was intent that at some point on our trip, we'd go sailing, but I failed at planning and the Tall Ship Silva has mostly decorational sails. Jon helped hoist them anyhow and it was nice to get on the water?
2018 is the year where I want do-over on every vacation, but with this one, it's at least in part because I enjoyed it so much.
This post was made on Dreamwidth & crossposted to LJ.
The dreamwidth post is here: https://katestine.dreamwidth.org/1380613.html and has
comments.