Family Adventures in Alaska, Canadian Rockies in Harvey the RV and Legoland

TraceyK90 · Jan 5, 2017

So about 18 months ago we sat down as a family to decide on where our next big trip was going to be. We try and take the kidlets on a trip that gets them out of their comfort zone and expands their world a little. Though we do mix it up with the odd trip to a beach resort to chill out together. We are happy to listen to their input and this time they all put forward a return to Canada and another cruise to Alaska. In 2012 we had lived in Montreal for some time and while we explored the eastern side we had not seen much more than Vancouver on the west. The eldest Mr11 has mild Asperger’s and does not like change but if he could swing a few days at LEGOLAND on the way back then he was in. Fair deal.

I had a stack of AA points thanks to the US Airways merger and a few challenges in the past, so that was the plan on how to get us there. No we all know that getting 5 seats in J isn’t easy and I was happy enough to get two and the other three in the extra leg room rows. The two boys shared the time up front with Dad (don’t worry they only switched once).

The plan was for a few days in Vancouver to settle in before our 7 day cruise. We used points for the hotels. We had decided to try a different cruise line to Holland just because. In the end we went with NCL for two reasons, I am looking at a cruise with them next year and someone liked the paint jobs on the ones we had previously seen.

The most exciting part was the self driving through the Canadian Rockies. We hired a 5 berth rv from Cruise Canada for almost three weeks. The route took us from Vancouver-Whistler-Kamloops-Jasper-Banff-Lethbridge-Drumheller-Calgary. I prebooked the campgrounds as it was very late in the season and some had closed already. But it fitted in with work, school holidays etc. I cant say how much we loved Harvey the RV, best idea and we are looking at heading to NZ for another campervan trip.

Last part was 4 nights at LEGOLAND before flying home. We stayed at the Sheraton on points. The LEGOLAND hotel looked great but $600 per night – no way.
We did this Sept-Oct and its taken me a little time to get around to writing this up. It will be photo heavy.

LadyC · Jan 5, 2017

Would love to read more about the camper van bits. I would like to do this sort of trip with my son when he is a bit older.

RooFlyer · Jan 5, 2017

As a regular Canada visitor (BC/Calgary), I'm looking forward to this. Commentary between the pics is always appreciated.

Hope everyone got amazed by the dinosaurs at Drumheller!

TraceyK90 · Jan 5, 2017

We flew from MKY to SYD on a paid VA ticket so I could make use of the family pooling.

First night was at Central Station Hotels - Central Railway Hotel. Hmmmm on a positive note there was a great pub nearby that we had dinner at, on the other side, no elevator or luggage storage if you had an early check out and to top it off, when we were waiting for the transfer, at 6am, we had to tell the kids to wait inside and not inhale. The two ladies their for a CWA event thought it was hilarious. They may have been waiting for longer than us

Off for our flights. We did SYD to LAX and then up to YVR.

I booked the Radisson at the airport (https://www.radisson.com/richmond-hotel-bc-v6x3x9/bcvanair) on points. It was nice and close with the shuttle pick up. I cant say how great it is to be travelling with no car seats!! This was only for the first night to let us settle in, sleep and ease into it. we've worked out what works for our family and its lots of compromise, low expectations and recovery time....mixed in with going hard.

Dinner was at the hotel, of course I had salmon. The kids were really well behaved and we had enjoyed a glass of wine and nibbles in the lounge before, the staff noticed and surprised them with a warm cookie.

Next morning we headed across the rad to Tim Horton's for a breaky sandwich, doughnut and coffee. Aaaahhh not so coughpy coffee.

That's my large coffee, should have gone a small hot chocolate. Now meet Brown Bear, he is well loved and well travelled.

Next stop, into downtown for a couple of nights.

TraceyK90 · Jan 5, 2017

Ha ha, you bet. My first degree was geology so I may have engineered this bit. We loved all of it from the museum to the fake dinos everywhere. Plus it snowed, which was fun but cold. We are all going back. I didn't get to book us on a dig as they were all closed so we'll do that next time.

RooFlyer · Jan 6, 2017

Excellent. My first too, and my second, and a career ...

I'll be anticipating the expert commentary on the nature of Mt Rundle at Banff and also down the Icefields parkway.

Justinf · Jan 6, 2017

I'm going to Alaska next month with my sister for Northern lights, light-plane to Arctic Circle, Aurora Winter Train, dog mushing and raindeer walking so I'm subscribed to this.

Denali · Jan 6, 2017

Went to Alaska in '97 - was only talking about going back last night with hubby, who hasnt been there.

Looking forward to your pics!

snabbu · Jan 6, 2017

Checking in for this one looks like a lot of fun!

TraceyK90 · Jan 6, 2017

The next few days was spent at the Holiday Inn (we choose the one on Broadway as it was the only family room we could get, plus its close to the metro/skytrain). There are a couple of Holiday Inns, this was ours https://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/vancouver/yvrbw/hoteldetail. They have a kids stay and eat free deal which we made use of for breakfasts.

As we had previously seen Stanley Park, The Vancouver Aquarium (its worth a look if you go there) and the likes, our time was spent catching up with a mate from Namibia (another geo), a city hop on hop off tour and shopping. We live on a cattle property so its always interesting to take our little rednecks out in the city. It didn't take long and they were stuffing quarters into the machines and planning where the metro was going to take us.

One place we ate at that is worth checking out was a sports bar called Cactus Club Café (Welcome to Cactus Club Cafe | Cactus Restaurants Ltd.). We chose a steak, a couple of serves of chicken tenders (they got a double thumbs up) and I had two small plates, one was a daily special and the other was the ravioli and prawn trio (butternut squash and mascarpone ravioli, truffle butter sauce, sautéed jumbo prawns, pine nuts) plus a couple of craft brews and it was a very enjoyable lunch. Middle child chose the mini burgers.

Since it was in the lead up to Halloween we made sure to check out the decorations and even bring home the odd ghost. There is a Michaels store on this street, which I loved. Their decorations were pretty tame compared to the pop up shop, they had stuff that jumped out at you etc. Think skeletons that swing from trees, zombie babies and tombstones that hands creep out of.

These guys didn't fit in the suitcases.

So next, off to Alaska!

TraceyK90 · Jan 6, 2017

Hang on, forgot the city tour. It was just you typical hop on hop off loop in an open top bus. It does leave from Canada place so check if it is a busy day for cruise liners docking. We waited for about 30 minutes to get on.

Stanley Park

I love the sulphur stockpiles, well the colour of them at least, from a distance.

This is the Lions Gate Bridge, built by the Guinness family (beer and bridges??)

Then the main star for us, the Gastown Steam Punk clock. You can even see the steam!!! I thought it was pretty amazing but would I spend 40k on one, probably not. We grabbed some ice-cream and wandered around, now here's the warning. We saw drug deals in the street, not just one either, people passed out on the side streets and one person being taken away in an ambulance who had od'd. The icecream store told us it is a huge issue and you need to keep it in mind if you are travelling with kids.

RooFlyer · Jan 6, 2017

Cactus Club eh? I reckon Mr TraceyK90 would have enjoyed that!

andy2015 · Jan 7, 2017

RooFlyer said:
Cactus Club eh? I reckon Mr TraceyK90 would have enjoyed that!

Not a bad view at that fine establishment if you know what I mean....

TraceyK90 · Jan 7, 2017

On to the cruise.

Into two taxis and off to Canada Place. This place has gotten so busy and its common to have 3 or 4 ships in the same day. We were sent into a large conference room to wait with lots of other people. Everyone was given a number and groups them called up to the next area for check in. Probably took us an hour.

View attachment 87942

We were on the Norwegian Sun, one of the smaller ships which we were happy with. Somewhere there is a photo of the ship but I cant find it in the cloud! We booked a family room this time. It had a queen bed and a set of bunks, the bottom one was a double. The size was perfect for us but if the kiddos were any bigger we'd go for two cabins again. Last cruise we had a boys cabin and a girls one!

We mostly ate at the buffet area due to the range and everyone could find something they liked. The choices were mixed up so we were not eating the same things each day. Each night after 9pm they had pizzas so we'd often watch a movie, put the kids in their pj's and head down for a late night treat. There was an ice cream bar and the kids made friends very quickly, especially with the man who doubled as the waffle man at breakfast.

Kids club, naturally no photos of this but here are our thoughts. The younger two are pretty social kids and were happy to sign up. The eldest takes a little while to warm up to new experiences and that's fine, so for the first couple of days he hung out with us while the other pair spent a few hours here and there while we were at sea. There was not a lot of kids on the cruise, perhaps 20? They had a range of activities such as games, practicing for a circus show on the last day, trivia, pj party and when we were in Glacier Bay, a special junior ranger presentation. This was the trigger for the eldest as he really wanted to listed to the presentation. They all came back really excited and full of new information and a jnr ranger badge to add to their collection. We found the staff to be really good and the ratios of carers to kids was really low, 3 for 10 kids. They told us the next cruise where they were heading south had over 100 kids on it.

RB · Jan 7, 2017

I am enjoying the read. Loved Alaska when we were there so I am looking forward to your coverage of it.

TraceyK90 · Jan 8, 2017

Day 1 Cruising the Inside Passage.

We spent the day checking out the ship, registering the kids at kids club (only one hung out for a little bit), watching the scenery and world cup hockey. Like most people we ate like kings and all added a few souvenir kgs.

Day 2 Juneau
There was only a few hours here afternoon to evening time frame. We had lunch on board the ship and then went off to explore the downtown area. The kids had saved up their pocket money and negotiated with the bank of mum and dad to exchange it. Some of it was wisely invested in souvenir socks and a bear claw back scratcher. Then it was off to the Red Dog Saloon for a Alaskan Ale (Red Dog Saloon, Juneau Alaska). Its a typical touristy bar with loads of old sleds, snow shoes, bear skins and other stuffed dead animals on the walls. Service is pretty slow and according to a local gets belter after tourist season!!!! The walls and tables are covered in graffiti, kept the kids busy reading it, and the floor is covered in saw dust. They actually found a ladies diamond ring in it and handed it in. I hope it made its way home.

Now across to the Alaskan Brewing Company. There was a shop front with heaps of souvenirs and you can also visit the brewery for a tour and tasting. They make a nice ale and the seasonal ones were a mix of good, bad and ugly. There might be a theme here. Back onto the ship for some more hockey and dinner.

Day 3 Skagway
I loved Skagway last time we visited. Its pretty small and cute with timber sidewalks and set in the most beautiful location. We did one shore excursion, the White Pass Rail and it was well worth the money.

This time it was cold and raining so while middle child and Dad stayed on board, the other two and I made a miserable trip over to the trains (a large snow blower is on display), find a lolly store and check out the Alaska Christmas Store. One of our highlights was a store that was selling woolly mammoth tusks, very cool. It really was unpleasant and we didn't spend too much time ashore.

TraceyK90 · Jan 8, 2017

Glacier Bay

I'll let the next couple of posts say it all. We spent most of the day here. Early in the morning three rangers boarded the ship and stayed for the day. One gave com.mentary all day on the glaciers and ecology. The other two wandered around talking to people and also doing the junior ranger presentation, which was a huge hit with the kids