Today marked the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime, the chance to experience something possible nowhere else. The adventure began with a muster at the Canberra airport, parents and children alike scrambling for information and reassurances of the trip to come. Through the chaos we were able to assemble briefly to take a couple pictures before heading off to the bag drop and praying … Continue reading Day Zero – There’s a world to see!
After months of planning the school trip to San Francisco finally commenced today. Matthew packed and repacked his bags numerous times over the past 24 hours and we were are the airport in time for all the final formalities. Continue reading And He’s Off
And just like that it’s the final day of our holidays. The morning was spent making sure everything was packed across both the rooms. One of the advantages in the US is that normal checkout at hotels is quite late in the morning, and in this case we didn’t need to leave till nearly 11. We decided to spend the day at the Vancouver Aquarium … Continue reading Goodbye Vancouver
We had one last food tour organised for Vancouver which was going to be focussed on the Asian food in the city. It wasn’t an early start so the kids had an opportunity to do their journals after breakfast. As part of the tour we went to 4 different restaurants and sampled different Asian foods. We started at a Chinese “fine dining” restaurant and sampled … Continue reading Final Food Tour
We had a lazy start this morning and didn’t need to be out the door till 10.30. We have a tour booked called the “North Shore Discovery Tour” which takes us out of the city of Vancouver and up to the north shore. We started the day at a Salmon Hatchery where we learnt about the life and migratory habits of the Pacific Salmon. A … Continue reading Vancouver Tour
Given we didn’t end up in our hotel rooms till well after midnight it was a lazy start for everyone. I went by across the street and got some milk for breakfast and slowly everyone dragged themselves out of bed. We had 2 rooms with 2 bedrooms each, so there is ample space, however the rooms are on different floors which makes communications a bit … Continue reading Food, food and more food
We spent 2 days on the Rocky Mountaineer travelling from Banff to Vancouver via Kamloops. We arrived at the “station” by 8 and were greeted on board by the crew. I use the term “station” very loosely as it appears most of the stations we went through don’t actually have platforms. Our bus brought us right next to the carriage and we boarded from ground … Continue reading Rocky Mountaineer
I woke up early today because I wanted to take some photos of the sunrise from our hotel window and I wasn’t disappointed. Over the course of the hour the sky blossomed and the mountain ranges changed shades. We started the day with a Gondola ride up Sulphur. It was a 10 minute ride up the top and we had a pretty spectacular view of … Continue reading Picturesque Banff
We end the US part of our trip today as we depart Seattle for Calgary in Canada. The morning was a Hove of activity as we did our final packing and headed to the airport. The lines for check-in were quite long but we were there with enough time to still have time for lunch before we boarded. We were on a brand new Boeing … Continue reading Goodbye Seattle, Hello Canada
Today we had two tours booked that I have been looking forward to the most on this trip. In the morning we visited the Boeing Factory for a tour. Unfortunately they didn’t allow any cameras on the tour so we don’t have any photos of the actual workshop. The factory/assembly line floor is the largest single building in the world. Once inside you can see … Continue reading High Above and Down Below
We had organised a private walking tour of Seattle and met our guide at 9 in the morning. Right next to our hotel is the first train station built in Seattle and it was reminiscent of an old colonial library or bank. Seattle has a complex history which includes a gold rush in the 19th century, native american settlements, Spanish and British influence as well … Continue reading Walking around Seattle
The one place Matthew really wanted to visit was IHOP for pancakes. There was one close to our hotel in San Francisco so we decided to go there for breakfast today. They had pancakes served every which way with multiple toppings and additions. Emily and Thomas got chocolate pancakes while the boys and I both had buttermilk pancakes with eggs and sausages. It was an … Continue reading Hello Seattle
We try and do a walking food tour in most places and had one booked to cover Chinatown and Little Italy. We took a couple of Waymos to get us to our destination, mainly because we wanted to experience a driverless car. Matthew, Thomas and I took one Waymo which dropped us off directly where we wanted to go. The other car, with Bron, Ben … Continue reading Food Tour
I had bought tickets for a half day San Francisco group tour which departed from Fishermans Wharf, quite close to our hotel. The tour took us to some of the notable landmarks, however it was incredibly foggy today which limited our views. We started with a visit to the Palace of Fine Arts which was only built a 100 years ago but made to look … Continue reading San Francisco tour
We all had a bit of a sleep in today as we didn’t need to leave till 9.30. It was a short 20 minute walk to Pier 33 where we were to board a ferry to Alcatraz. There was a queue to get the tickets and then a queue to board the ferry and then another queue to disembark. By the end of these holidays … Continue reading The Rock
We took off from San Luis Obispo today for the rest of the drive to San Francisco. Along the way we say quite a change in the vegetation. This reached from green vines and plantations to mines and oil drilling through to stark arid landscapes. We stopped at Monterey Bay for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. We are getting to realise that due to a … Continue reading More driving
We check out of LA today and Ben and I went up to Avis this morning to rent a car. While we were away Bron and the kids went down for a couple of games of bowling. Emily got her stride and was leading till the last frame when Matthew got 3 strikes in a row to just pip her to the post. We are … Continue reading Happy July 4th
For once we didn’t have an early start and everyone slept in. I went to a local shop to get more milk for breakfast and even snuck in a gym session. Ben and I then had a cup of coffee at the hotel foyer while the rest of the family roused. It’s the first time this holiday that Emily and Thomas have had time to … Continue reading Down in the Pits
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