kt6453

Golden Princess northbound 6/30, 4 nights Kenai peninsula,

Trip report Vancouver, Golden Princess northbound 6/30, Kenai Peninsula DIY

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2655871

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Last day- packing up, Summit Lake canoe trip, Alaska Heritage Center and time to fly home!!

I know I’ve mentioned before but Summit Lake Lodge was amazing. Beautiful scenery, yummy food. Our last morning i packed while boys used canoes to explore Summit Lake. I also enjoyed tome in their coffee shop!!

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Drive up Turnagain Arm was enjoyable every time we did it. Arrived at Alaska Heritage Center with about 2 hours until it closed. That was enough time to see things but artisans were definitely packing up. It was a really neat place and we learned a ton!!

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Moose Tooth Pizza was fine. Root beer was excellent. We were tired and ready to head for airport and our midnight departure!!

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Rental car return was easy, actually found a number of great items shopping at Anchorage airport. Pleasantly surprised by their unique items in the stores. Finally, watched the sunset at 11:45 pm from the airplane. Both boys cried real tears leaving Alaska and i understood. We will be back!!

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I hope this review has helped someone. I had a hard time finding kid info in my research so hopefully this helps someone!! Happy to answer questions!!

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Day 4 on Kenai, last full day!! Fishing, moose sighting, hike, saw a BEAR!! And horseback riding!!

We started with half day fishing with Kenai fish n float. Cannot day enough good things about them, our time fishing flew by and all of us had a great time, even the boys. I don’t have the pics because i didn’t take my phone with me- too afraid of losing it. But absolutely recommend them, professional and fun and had absolutely everything we needed!!

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After fishing, really yummy lunch at Gwins lodge!

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After lunch we headed toRussian River Falls hike. On our way to the parking lot we saw a moose!!

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Hike was beautiful, it was raining but we didn’t care. About two miles in to the waterfall. When we got there we got to watch salmon jumping upstream. Absolutely amazing. No pics because salmon are harder to capture than whales!! Anyway, bald eagles circling overhead, salmon jumping up a waterfall... and a BEAR cane out of the woods, caught a salmon and headed back up into the forest. One of the most incredible things i have ever seen.

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My eldest son had asked if we could go horseback riding and we thought we would be too late but we called Alaska Horsemen and they were able to fit us in for a short ride. So much fun, amazing horses, perfect “gear” so we were warm and dry. Their saddles were so comfortable none of us were even sore after the 1.5 hr ride!!

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Time for some dinner and the end of one of the most incredible days we have ever experienced!!

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Hoping you'll finish this - I've loved this review!

Thanks for the reminder- i forgot i wasn’t done!!

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Day 3 on Kenai peninsula- ididaride dog sled, exit glacier, Sealife

Day 3 was another cold and rainy day. Once again, lots of layers!!

Easy and beautiful drive down to Seward and we saw a Mom and Baby moose on side of the road!!

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Ididaride sled dogs was INCREDIBLE. I am not a dog person. I don’t like dogs. But this whole place was amazing, interesting, fun, I learned a ton and walked away with real appreciation for Ididarod athletes- human and dogs! Can not recommend the experience enough, and it really was raining the whole time!!

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After our time with sled dogs we headed to Exit glacier which is easy hike. It was still cold and rainy but we were glad we went. Of note, glacier is pretty far away from where the hike takes you... i think i had seen pictures from a few years ago when it was more accessible. Still an enjoyable hike and pretty views.

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We also did the junior ranger program and learned you can “check out” a backpack and do science experiments and make observations to get patches. We are measuring temps and adding to a log book other kids had also written in- so neat!

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Finally, after lunch with a “bucket of ‘nut” which was yummy! We headed to Sealife. We really enjoyed Sealife much more than Vancouver aquarium. (Still can’t put my finger on what was wrong with Vancouver!). Interesting exhibits and there was a 4week old sea otter that was SO CUTE!!

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We did the package in Alaska and loved it. We ended up with 12 pictures of our family with different glacier views behind us. We were pleasantly surprised by some of the formal pictures and loved the more casual ones. We walked away with 77 pictures!!

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Got off July 7th and really had no problems. Saw one small leak one day being managed, no smells. Absolutely loved all the open spaces, especially Glacier Bay and College Fjord and it was easy to find open spaces to see even for our kids.

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Day 2 on Kenai peninsula- Portage Glacier visitors center, Crow Creek mine and Double Musky!

Second day was cold and rainy but we didn’t let it slow us down. We had the Aleyska tram on our tentative plans but scratched it due to visibility. We didn’t miss it in the least!!

After yummy included, made to order breakfast at Summit Lake Lodge we headed towards Portage Glacier. We had decided not to do boat ride as boys felt like they had seen enough glaciers :). We actually really enjoyed the visitors center which had a great movie and lots of interesting exhibits. The glacier has receded so you cannot see from visitors center but there was a huge iceberg right outside.

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After that we headed to Aleyska and Crow Creek Mine. This place was so much neater than we expected!! It literally rained the entire time we were there and we still loved it!! We got practice pans where we each found gold and put it in our glass vials. We then hiked down to creek where we could really look for gold. Not a lot of success but so much fun!! There were lots of interesting buildings and mining history. We really walked away with a clear understanding of just how hard this was!! It was so good for the boys to do more than just the “practice”. It was also a beautiful setting- even more I’m sure if there was visablity!!

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Finally we followed recommendations to one of the most amazing meals ever. We were told there is often a line but we were early enough to get a table. Funny story, owners are from small town in Louisiana where my dad was born and raised. Small world! Anyway, incredible steaks... the boys SPLIT one and had full plates. Highly recommend if you are in the area. Coffee was also excellent.

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Then it was back to cabin. Just a comment, it really does stay light really late and we found ourselves going to bed much later than anticipated! In planning a future trip i would plan later mornings just due to that phenomenon. We are usually early morning get up and go people but you just naturally stay up late even when you don’t mean to because it is so light!!!

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We were on this exact cruise and also had an absolutely wonderful time. The weather on the cruise portion was fantastic! I agree with your assessment of the food (we did anytime dining) - I thought it was great and the service very good.

 

 

 

We did our excursions through the ship. We had not cruised before; if I went again I probably would book through private tour companies on the longer port days. The Glacier Bay day was one of my favorites - I really liked that they were pushing little carts of mimosas around on the decks. :)

I’m glad you enjoyed as much as we did. The weather was so amazing it was crazy!!

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Thank you for doing your review! This is perfect for planning our trip next year with my kids! I was seriously debating the train in Skagway, this may have just convinced us to do it! Did you have the table the whole time on the train? If so, did all the seats have the table? Having a table might be a game changer.

We did have the tables the whole way but when we did the same train two years ago it was only bench- type seats. I wouldn’t depend on the tables but you might be able to call and ask. The train ride actually went quickly, the boys also commented there was so much to look at it went quickly.

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I’m still finishing up the post cruise DIY report we just finished with my 6 and 9yo boys but we did some of those you list with kids and they were great!!

Trip report Vancouver, Golden Princess northbound 6/30, Kenai Peninsula DIY

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2655871

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Disembarkation/ first day on Kenai Peninsula- Alaska Cruise Transportation, Wildlife Conservation Center

Disembarkation was incredibly simple. We were in first group to walk off and luggage was all ready. We loaded it on cart and walked out to bus. It was pouring rain but really didn’t phase anyone, they were used to this!! We used Alaska Cruise Transportation to Anchorage airport to pick up our rental car. We chose the narrated tour with a stop at the wildlife center with plan to likely stop there again on way back down Turnagain Arm. Would definitely do that again. Tour driver was excellent and shared a lot of interesting and useful information. Tunnel was interesting. Quick stop for pic near Portage glacier- couldn’t se it but there were big icebergs!

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And the approx 1 hr at AWCC. The time went quickly as there was so much to see and we knew we wanted to come back that afternoon to see even more.

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Made our way to Anchorage where we were dropped off at airport and easily picked up Hertz. We had a great mini van that easily held all our stuff and let everyone see!

Upon leaving airport we followed recommendations to Fancy Moose Lounge, a little place right on the float plane lake. It was amazing to sit and watch them take off!

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Back down Turnagain Arm which is spectacular. These statues were the closest we got to seeing belugas. :). This was also our last clear day but of course we didn’t know that at the time!!

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Back to the AWCC to explore some more (wolves, moose, bison were amazing!!). and visit the gift shop.

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Finally it was time to head to our home for the next four nights. Summit Lake Lodge- beautiful setting, central location for our explorations, neat cabin and really yummy breakfasts included.

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Goodnight for now. Hope this is helpful for someone!!

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Day at sea/ College Fjord

Before the trip i had a really hard time finding much info on College Fjord. We had absolutely spectacular weather which is not normal and we actually enjoyed this time even more than Glacier Bay. The weather was so warm the calving was spectacular and very frequent. Again we spent the whole time moving around on upper decks and photographers took 4 or 5 pics of us with different backgrounds.

First- some ship pics. Clearly lots of fun being had!! I’m going to repost the pic of younger kids area, they were serious about not taking pics of other kids were around but one day we were first!!

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And College Fjord

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I feel like this pic sums up boys cruise. :)

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Finally ended our cruise with balloon drop!!

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Glacier bay

Beautiful weather meant everyone was up on the upper decks. We kept moving around and it was absolutely beautiful. Another plug for photo package- we got a total of 9 pictures with glaciers behind us of our whole family!!

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You can see the little cruise ship in this picture- this shows just how big the glacier is!!

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Also, FYI you can get kid hot chocolate at ice cream bar. Kids did junior ranger program which they enjoyed.

Seafood lunch buffet was excellent!

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Yummy dinner and celebrated my younger sons birthday!!

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@ski glad it’s helpful!! I may not finish before you leave so i should mention first half of trip was sunny and warm, second half 50s, cold and rainy. I know everyone says it but it really is all about layers! We wore just about everything we brought and one of the most helpful things was a little backpack that folds up to nothing. We would start out in mornings with it in another bag and by the afternoon it would be full of coats/ heavier tops and then often empty again when we got back. :)

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Next day Skagway and some of the most amazing views of trip. We were scheduled for Chilkoot Charters Yukon trip with dogsled- train up then bus the rest of the way. I was a little nervous about this day and the boys but they LOVED IT. Our guide was amazing, to the point that at the end of the trip, 8 hrs later, he realized he hadn’t even done anything in his backpack because he was “too interested learning so much!” I’ll call that a WIN!!

Anyway, met them right off the ship and took bus to train where we got on train to ride up to Fraser. Ride was beautiful and relaxing. I had downloaded and printed at our local office store the junior ranger booklets for skagway so the boys worked on that as we rode. Train trip passed quickly!!

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I’m Fraser we were picked up by bus and made our way north. Scenery was breathtaking on this clear warm day.

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Stop in Carcross was short but we had time for quick tour and some pics.

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And it was totally worth it because by taking a shorter stop here we got to see Emerad Lake which was

so much more amazing than i expected. Words and pictures really don’t describe this color!!

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Then it was time for lunch. We had also booked a dog sled tour (mainly in hopes of something for boys if they were bored/miserable- again not an issue at all!!). In any case we got there and it was cancelled due to the heat being too much for dogs to run. It actually ended up being a good thing because we spent all our time looking at museum and petting zoo etc and we knew we had a dog sled excursion scheduled later in trip. By the time we got back to Skagway and internet/WiFi we had already received the refund from Chilkoot Charters for dogsled ride. Anyway- yummy food, nice environment and lots to do! My son also got to eat his first donut as they were made there and safe for him!!

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On way back stopped at Carcross Desert, Yukon sign and my favorite moment of our whole trip, where we all stopped and skipped rocks. Absolutely amazing!!

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A few more stops- interesting area to explore, waterfall. I should also mention our guide was really great about taking pictures of the whole family. When we were skipping rocks he took my phone and took some great pictures and video of all of us. So appreciated!!

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Finally back in Skagway. I did some shopping. Boys brought their junior ranger booklets to rangers to get their badges and we headed back to ship. It had been a long day so we enjoyed dinner in the dining room and my husband and i watched Steve Hites- something i had read about on here- he was GREAT!! So enjoyable!!

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Ok, i know that was long. Again, hope our experience helps someone. It was such a special day!!

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@renee they definitely had some joint activities but i think it depends on numbers. Both rooms were BUSY during this cruise!!

I do not have any other pics. Staff were really serious about not taking pics with other kids around, even if not in the picture.

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I love that they earned an actual PATCH! We did several Junior Ranger things in the Badlands, Black Hills and Yellowstone last summer and my kids always received the same plastic badge thing with a pin-on back. A patch is WAY cooler!

They were really excited! We also learned at Exit glacier later in trip that many/most national parks apparently have a backpack you check out to do a science activity- my son used thermometer to measure water temps- and then do some things in junior ranger booklet and you get both pin and a patch!! It was actually really well done and kept them engaged.

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Oops, those were older kids. Here’s the one for younger kids!!

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@tampa- I’m glad it’s helpful. I had a hard time finding kid info in all my preparation so that’s what I’m really trying to share! Here are the kids patters- sorry they are upside down- tried to fix but didn’t work!!

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Also, on our ship there were over 150 kids in each level so there were lots of kids around on ship, etc.

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Juneau- Juneau Car Rental, Mendenhall, Dipac salmon hatchery, Alaska Galore whale watching and Salmon dinner

When we planned this day we initially booked a couple of tours before realizing that we would rather a rental car and the freedom to spend as much time as we wanted places. We rented from Juneau Car Rental which was easy. Was a little concerned about getting there to pick up car but taxi was waiting when got off ship and dropped us off for around $5. Totally worth it!! Driving was easy, and weather was beautiful which helped. Headed toward Mendenhall and stopped at nearby Safeway for a few necessities (fruit and cheese for lunch) and, of course, Starbucks. :)

Glacier was spectacular, easy hike, thundering waterfall! It was striking how much it has retracted in the past few years since we were last there. After our hike boys did Junior Ranger program and received some neat patches. They were excited!!

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Back in car we drove to dipac salmon hatchery. It wasn’t exactly what i was expecting, you had to kind of figure things out by yourself. Kids working would answer specific questions but really not volunteer much. We were a little early for salmon run but able to see some jumping up the ladder. We also stopped by again after whale watching trip to watch the ladder- that part is accessible even when the hatchery is closed!!

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We met whale watch with Alaska Galore at the harbor. We chose them because they were smaller boats and allowed kids. It was excellent. Nice small boat but sturdy and kids were easily able to see, actually everyone was! We saw lots of humpbacks although i quickly realized whale photography is not my forte!! I am rather proud of the whale tail between the back of their heads!! Plenty of outside viewing areas. Could also see easily from inside area with big clean windows if weather was not cooperating.

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Finally, we left Auke harbor and were pretty tired and hungry. We stopped by dipac and i remembered reading about Gold Creek Salmon Bake. It was excellent food and we just walked up and bought tickets. Beautiful setting and yummy food. Perfect end to our day in Juneau. After dinner my husband dropped us off at ship and had a taxi there follow him to return the rental car and drive him back. Worked great!!

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Ok done with photo overload for now! Will continue review soon. Hope it’s helpful to someone!!

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Ketchikan- Deadliest Catch

This was actually the very first excursion we booked after booking the cruise. My older son and I had done it a few years ago but younger son was too young then. He (and my husband!) were excited to have a chance to go.

Ship was right next to where we docked but did some shopping first and easily walked to Aleutian Ballad. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be as good as i remembered but it definitely was! Highly, highly recommend. Will let the pics describe. :).

One quick note- weather was actually nice and later in the day we were wearing short sleeves but boat was COLD due to wind. They have big jackets you can borrow but dress warmly!!

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Early back on ship for lunch at grill (my 6yo LOVED hot dogs and ate a ton of them on this trip!!) and afternoon/evening of kids club for them and watching scenery pass for us!!

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Sea day- just a few thoughts! Spent the day relaxing, watching scenery, kids LOVED kids club and spent a lot of time there. They were serious about security and would not allow pictures with any other children in them but i captured this one day when my 6yo was first dropped off.

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Boys had great fun in pool- water was warm enough and rocking back and forth with waves!

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A quick comment on pictures- we did the photo package for $200 and it was worth every penny. Got fun pictures from port and formal nights. Actually got some great ones i wasn’t expecting. Photographers were out for both glacier days and took some great ones there too!! This pic is boys showing some of the poses they saw.... kept remembering comment on here about poses from J.C. Penney in the 90s but we actually got some good relaxed ones!!

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Formal dinner was yummy. Funny story that this window was near our table and during dinner someone saw a whale and everyone (kids and adults!) rushed to window and overwhelmed closer table. Whale showed tail and people started going back to their tables and I’m telling the boys to leave the people alone and go back to our table. My 6yo who was looking out the window shrieked, “Look mommy, the whale jumped ALL THE WAY OUT OF THE WATER!” I looked back to see a HUGE splash. This is the picture he drew that night of what he saw. Lesson learned- always watch the water!!! :)

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Ok, going to bed. Will continue tomorrow, hope this helps someone!!

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Last day in Vancouver- very excited it was almost cruise time!!!

Called and arranged taxi mini van 2 hours before we needed it which worked well. Went by Canada place and dropped off our luggage. Taxi driver was gracious and allowed us to stay in taxi and then dropped us off in Stanley park as there was really little traffic or congestion at that time. (Later it was much busier!!

Carriage through Stanley park was enjoyable and interesting, even though it was cold and rainy!! Walked up to aquarium after ride and called taxi which brought us to Cactus Cafe- excellent food!!

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And then it was time to get on the ship!! Took less than an hour with the only wait being for customs and most of that wait with us sitting down.

A few comments on ship- i had read a lot of negatives but we really enjoyed the ship. I saw one leak the whole time, no smells. Kids LOVED kids club and wanted to be there every time it opened. Food was excellent, we had traditional dining due to my son’s allergies and our waiter and head waiter worked to make sure everything was safe. It was early, 5:15 but that worked for us because kids club often didn’t open until 8 anyway. Buffet for breakfast was varied, again head chef worked to have safe pancakes for my son every morning which was appreciated!!

It’s funny, before the trip i had spent time reading patters and planning all these activities/ naturalist presentations but we spent all our time out looking at scenery and wildlife and didn’t go to a single one. Similar with shows although we did go to the comedian both times, he was GREAT!!

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We had inside room on 12 which was just down hall from outside pool. It was great location. Appreciated the darkness for sleeping but could easily walk outside to see weather/scenery/ walk to breakfast!!

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Next day in Vancouver-

Started out at Aquarium after calling for taxi. It was ok but definitely least favorite thing in Vancouver. Jellyfish were neat and we still enjoyed ourselves but even 6yo was asking “is this it?” After that we headed to lunch at Canada place Mahoney and sons pub. Yummy and fun atmosphere.

We then took taxi to Granville island and kids market where the boys had an amazing time in this climbing jungle gym thing while i shopped and my husband watched the exit to make sure boys didn’t leave. Ended up being a highlight of the trip for all as i picked up some of my favorite purchases and boys asked to go back the next day!!

Picked up some fruit and snacks in the market and headed back to our hotel. Aqua is was fun!!

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