Mom once again blessed her daughters and son-in-laws with a great vacation!! We cruised out of Boston, MA on Sept. 28th on the Norwegian Dawn Ship. It was a smaller ship than we have cruised on, but still very nice.
These next 3 pictures were taken before we even got on the cruise ship and then backdrops added and sold for a pretty penny 😉:
Peggy Ferrell (Don's mother) joined us and was Mom's roommate
Our room (with a balcony on the other side of that curtain!)
I sure do love cruising and I love the water!
We docked the next morning (Saturday) in Bar Harbor, Maine. A very pretty coastal town. We had visited there several years ago when we did a Fall Foliage trip by vehicle. The forecast for the first 4 days was cloudy, cool and chances of rain. We were so very thankful, it was wrong!! We had beautiful sunshiny, crisp fall days! They were perfect!
Kaye and Mom had to get their lobster
After lunch, we boarded this bus for the "Best of Both Worlds" tour of the area. This is what we saw: Encompassing the best that Bar
Harbor has to offer, this tour included the beautiful scenery of Acadia
National Park. We also learned about the fascinating world of the lobster
fishermen with a visit to the Lobster Oceanarium and journey back in time to
experience a remaining example of Bar Harbor’s Golden Age architecture. Our scenic drive took us along the ocean’s edge passing Otter Cliff and
Thunder Hole, where the ocean swells converge against the granite cliffs to
create a thunderous roar. We then continued to the Oceanarium and
Museum where we had the opportunity to learn about Maine’s lobster
industry. A licensed Maine lobsterman explained the life cycle of the
lobster, and demonstrate how lobsters are caught, making their way from the
ocean to our dinner table. Continuing back to Bar Harbor, we enjoyed the unique ambiance
of Cleftstone Inn, an excellent example of Bar Harbor’s Golden Age and then traveled back in time to a
gilded-age mansion.
So pretty
Thunder Hole, Acadia National Park
The hole that when the waves hit just right sounds like thunder! Happens every few minutes.
Pictures don't do this area justice. It was majestic and beautiful!
Bev, Don and Peggy in the distance (Mom stayed in the bus)
At another stop....
A grandfather and his granddaughter explained the art of lobster fishing. It was very interesting.
Beautiful sight along the way
Nightime as we are leaving Bar Harbor. We left our balcony door open a little bit each night so we could hear the waves. I love, love being rocked to sleep as well!!
We woke up Sunday morning in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada
(This is Bev's picture and her cranberry juice 😊)
(This is Bev's picture and her cranberry juice 😊)
Pretty little island not far from our ship
As we were getting off the ship....they caught us for another picture
Mom decided to stay on the ship this day as some of the terrain was a little rough
We didn't book a ship excursion but instead used a hop on/hop off bus to tour the city. The only disappointment here was that we didn't get to go to Peggy's Cove (as you had to go by boat). We were told it was beautiful.
We saw several things that day but the most interesting was this Cemetery
Over 300 bodies from the Titanic were recovered from the icy waters near Halifax. Some were claimed by their families and buried in their homeland. One hundred and twenty-one victims of the RMS Titanic sinking are interred at Fairview, more than any other cemetery in the world. Most of them are memorialized with small gray granite markers with the name and date of death. Some families paid for larger markers with more inscriptions. The occupants of a third of the graves, however, have never been identified and their markers contain just the date of death and marker number. Surveyor E. W. Christie laid out three long lines of graves in gentle curves following the contours of the sloping site. By co-incidence, the curved shape suggests the outline of the bow of a ship
This baby's name was unknown for many years until DNA was available to identify her. Then the picture and information was added.
A very sobering experience as many of these tombstones do not have names
This guide did a great job telling about it all
Twenty-nine other Titanic victims are buried elsewhere in Halifax; nineteen in the Catholic cemetery and ten in the Jewish cemetery.
Each night, we had a new creation on our bed 💓
Monday was our first full day at sea. One of my favorite days on a cruise ship!
We slept in, had time for Bible study and prayer, played games, enjoyed the sunshine and warmth on our balconies, napped and that evening took a few professional pictures.
Mom and her girls
With the hubbies included...
This one was with my phone and includes Peggy
The next morning, we docked in Charlottetown, Canada, Prince Edward Island
A beautiful island!!
We took a big tour that day....the Ultimate Anne of Green Gables Experience. It was my favorite day!
This was the description of the tour:
View rolling farmland, stunning seascapes, tiny villages and bustling harbors along the Central Coastal Drive as you get ready to meet Anne of Green Gables and authentic descendants of author Lucy Maud Montgomery.
The first stop is at Silver Bush, the home of the Anne of Green Gables Museum. While here you'll have a chance to tour the museum, explore the beautiful grounds featuring many flower beds and gardens, and even share some raspberry cordial with Anne herself!
Stop to see the beautiful French River Lookout before arriving at the Green Gables Heritage Place, the old farm site that inspired Montgomery's first novel, Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908. Highlighting some of the finest attractions on Prince Edward Island's breathtaking North Shore, this is the ultimate "Anne" experience.
Anne's bedroom
💖💖
Beautiful country and the roadways, homes, yards are kept immaculate.
Wednesday was another sea day. The forecast was unfortunately right for this day. It was a rather chilly dreary day, so not one that we could enjoy our balconies. But we still had a relaxing day, playing games and enjoying ourselves.
Jeff and I had a few professional pictures taken that night. Here is one of them.
Thursday, was our last full cruise day. We docked at Saguenay, La Baie, Quebec
It was forecast to be our coldest day with a chance of rain, so Mom once again chose to stay on the ship. The rest of us braved the weather and saw some pretty sights
We once again did a "hop on/hop off" bus. Our first stop was a huge cathedral. Pretty but so devoid of warmth!
Yep, it did rain on us that day....
Very pretty stop
We finally saw some Fall Foliage!!
Bev was supposed to be running with me 😄
Pretty picture of Peggy
And of the six of us
We got back to the ship about 2 and Mom joined us for some games
We got some candid shots for our last afternoon on board
Wish we could have seen color like this the whole week, but they said it had been too dry and hot that summer and delayed the changing of the leaves.
We got off the ship Friday morning in Quebec City and got 3 taxi's to take us about 10-12 miles to Hotel Quebec Inn where we would spend the night. It was beautiful hotel! A frustrating glitch when we got to the hotel--I didn't have my large suitcase but someone else's! Yikes!! It looked just like mine and was sitting by Jeff's under the tent as we got off boat. I was helping locate Mom's luggage, etc., and did not look at the tag. Big blunder!! So Jeff took the luggage and jumped back in the taxi to return to dock. He was able to locate my suitcase and hopefully the people were still there to retrieve their's. $90.00 cost for that mistake (taxi fare and big tip) 😥😥
We had intentions of hiring more taxi's and touring downtown Quebec City. But it was really chilly so we decided we would just stay put and enjoy the pretty hotel.
That evening, we had a very relaxing and delicious meal there at the hotel.
Even had a man and woman sing some pretty "oldies" while we ate. Very enjoyable!
We all were up the next morning between 3-3:30 a.m. to head to the airport. Jeff, Mom and I had 3 different plane connections to get us from Quebec City to Tulsa (via Montreal and Chicago).
Mom survived the trip....for an almost 90 year old lady, she was able to keep up with us pretty well.
We were able to watch the sunrise from our airplane windows
Everyone arrived safely home....Jeff, Mom and I didn't get any of our luggage or her walker. The walker was in Montreal and our luggage in Chicago. But it was OK! It was all delivered to us in Galena on Sunday.
God blessed us with quite a bit of rain and a beautiful rainbow (at times it was a double rainbow) all the way home from Tulsa.
So thankful for the opportunity to go, but always good to be home after a trip.....good to sleep in our own bed! Although I did miss someone else making my bed; cleaning my room twice a day, being rocked to sleep and having all my meals cooked, served and cleaned up by others.
I do love the cruise life!
THANK YOU AGAIN, MOM, SO VERY MUCH!!!
