Clear Waters of Canmore

Today we spent the day exploring Canmore, the small town we are staying by. We ate breakfast at Chez François. Mom and I got different varieties of french toast and Joe ordered eggs benedict and crepes. It was all delicious, but I think my favorite thing was my strawberry banana smoothie. Mom and I had an educational conversation about the difference between jam and jelly (spoiler alert: one has pectin in it and the other does not). After breakfast, we visited the local Canmore museum (a requirement for road trips).

We walked over to the Canmore Museum which was in the town’s civic center. Its main exhibit was the mining history of Canmore. I enjoyed the VR experience of walking through a mine, though I had some trouble navigating the mine at first. While the exhibit was pretty small (basically two rooms), there were some neat artifacts to look at. There was a minecart, mining gear, and a fire safety lamp. The other exhibit was composed of items collected from the children of Canmore throughout the years. There was also a video of current children talking about their experiences in the town. After leaving the museum, we set out to find the Bow River which runs through Canmore. 

After traversing for a bit, we found the Bow River and walked around the intersecting trail for a while. The river was beautiful and so clear, its reflection looked like a mirror to the sky. We crossed the Canmore Engine Bridge which used to be part of the railway to and from the coal mine. It is now part of the many trails in the town and apparently was featured in an episode of HBO’s The Last of Us series (I’ve never watched the show). As we kept walking down the trail, we passed by a Hydro Plant. On the bridge going across the front of the plant was a sign stating “Warning: Private Bridge, Use at Your Own Risk”. Despite the signs warning, we crossed the bridge with no problems. Eventually, we made it back to downtown Canmore to look through the local shops.

I have a tradition where I buy my friend DeRon a souvenir on every road trip I go on. We looked through a couple different gift shops and mom purchased a Canmore license plate and I purchased a few gifts for some of my friends. I did not find a gift for DeRon yet, but will keep looking for the perfect souvenir. Joe and I got some ice cream from the Scoopin’ Moose and Old School Bus Ice Cream, respectively. I got toasted s'mores ice cream, but considered ordering their tiger flavor until I was told it contained black licorice. I prefer my ice cream without the taste of school bus tires in it. We made a brief stop at Savon foods to buy some breakfast foods and then headed back to the lodge.

For dinner, we ate at the Miner’s Lamp Pub at the Georgetown Inn. Joe ordered shepherd’s pie and mom got a chicken pot pie. I ordered their award winning nachos and was unfortunately underwhelmed. Apparently nachos in Canada do not come with nacho cheese or a variant. There was a decent amount of melted colby jack cheese to be fair and the jalapenos and bell peppers were plentiful. Needless to say, I would not get them again and I’m not sure what award these nachos won. After dinner, we drove back to the lodge for the night.

 

Tomorrow, we are taking a day tour of the Columbia Icefields. Should be cool. If you want to read a different perspective of our trip, you can read my mom’s blog here.

Coming Back to Canada

It’s time for another road trip and we are once again visiting our Neighbor to the North, Canada. My Mom, my brother Joe, and myself are spending about a week in Canmore, Banff, and Calgary in the Canadian Rockies. 

Our journey began yesterday as Dad dropped us off at the airport around 11:30 am. We boarded our plane around 1:30 pm and waited on tarmac for about 30 minutes before we took off. I don’t know why there was such a delay, but I was glad when we were finally in the air. The flight was uneventful and after about 2.5 hours, we landed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We got through customs, waited for mom to grab her suitcase, and headed to pick up the rental car. According to the rental agent, we were the first ones to drive this new rental car, a 2025 Hyundai Elantra. 

Honk for Joe!

We drove the hour to Canmore where we will be staying for most of the trip. We are staying at a lodge just outside of the nearby town. After unpacking, we ate dinner at A&W restaurant, known for having the best brand of root beer, in my opinion. Joe and I both ordered burgers with a side of sweet potato fries and regular fries, respectively. My double cheeseburger was decent, but I was surprised to find only one slice of cheese in between the two patties instead of the traditional two. I guess in Canada when you add cheese to a burger, you should specify how many slices you want. After eating, we drove back to our lodge and went to bed.

If you want to read a different perspective of our trip, you can read my mom’s blog here.

A Wondrous Time

 Our last morning on the Disney Wonder was bittersweet. After a fun-filled, memorable week of Disney at sea, it was hard to say goodbye to an experience like that. We were up and ready to head to our last breakfast on the ship at 8:00 AM. We ate breakfast at Tiana's with french toast as the final meal. We said farewell to our waiters, Anthony and Galang, once again and headed to the atrium. Mom had an earlier flight than Joe and me because she was headed to a conference for work. So she disembarked the ship while Joe and I waited for our group to be called so we could grab our luggage. We were called around 10:00 or 10:30 AM and officially said goodbye to the Disney Wonder as walked down the gang plank into Vancouver. 

 

We ordered an uber and headed to the airport for our flight back to San Diego. After checking in our luggage, going through security, and customs, we were surprised to find Mom still at the airport. She tells the full story on her blog, so I won't repeat it here. All I can say, is I'm glad I don't have travel curse she seems to possess. We flew on Air Canada and despite sitting next to a gentleman who was oblivious to personal space on an airplane, the flight was smooth and uneventful. We landed in San Diego with no problems and Dad graciously picked us up. Besides being exhausted from the twelve day adventure (I slept for 11 hours that night), I thought back to all the highlights of the trip. 

My Favorite Activity in Vancouver: Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was fun to walk across such a long bridge and the views were stunning. Also getting to walk across smaller bridges on the trees was pretty cool too. 

My Favorite Activity on the Disney Wonder: Disney Trivia. I was honestly surprised how much I enjoyed doing trivia. I think a big part of it was the crew members were so engaging and funny. Also, it was fun to see my Disney knowledge compete against others who loved Disney as much (or even more) as I did.

My Favorite Excursion in Alaska: Skagway's White Pass & Yukon Historical Train Route. This tour experience was so immersive. With Max Glacier being our energetic guide and the fascinating stories of Soapy Smith, how could this not be my favorite tour of the trip?

Favorite Food I ate: French Toast at the Cabanas buffet. Hey, I said beforehand that I'm not an elegant eater. Just give me my favorite breakfast food and I'm satisfied. Also, the chicken tenders and burgers from the grab n go station were pretty delicious too.

Favorite Family Moments: Eating dinner together every night. It was lovely to share a meal each nice in fabulously themed restaurants. While we did a lot activities together, there were always days where we'd split up to do different things. So it was nice to catch up every night at our table. 

All in all, this vacation was extraordinary. Vancouver is a great city, but unsurprisingly the star of the trip is the Disney Wonder. There was so much fun to be had on this ship. Games, shows, food, I could go on and on. But it wasn't just the wealth of fun on the Disney Wonder, it was that everything seemed to go the extra mile. It wasn't just trivia. It was Disney trivia with a hilarious host. It wasn't just a show. It was Disney show that praised there most iconic moments. It wasn't just a fancy dinner. It was a fancy dinner in a restaurant in which your own artistic creations were brought to life. Every crew member was friendly and just seemed to enjoy what they did. Our room host, Ebit, always greeted us and asked about our day. Plus he kept our room spotless every second we were on the ship. It was a delightful week spent on the magical ship and all credit to the incredible crew members who strive to make every guest's day magical. Thanks Mom for letting me come and paying a lot of money for the trip.

If I had to describe the trip with one word it'd be Wondrous.

If you'd like to read the trip's events from my Mom's perspective, you can read her blog here.

Slides, SEA, & Celebrations

Today was our last day on the Disney Wonder before we disembark tomorrow morning. I began the day at sea by sleeping in. As much fun as I was having on the cruise, i was not getting a lot of sleep, so I tried to catch up on it this morning. Once I awakened, I joined Mom and Joe at Bingo in one of the ship's lounges. Everyone was playing for $10,000 prize, but smaller cash prizes were awarded for other rounds. While we did do a traditional bingo round, I thought the extra rounds were more fun because you'd have to get a certain pattern (e.g. an X), or get a bingo on a certain color card. For the grand prize round, we had to fill the entire bingo card in 46 moves or under. Unfortunately, no player achieved this, but the first person to complete their card afterwards did earn a $500 reward. 

 

 

Following Bingo, Mom and I went to the Cabanas to eat some lunch and then I joined Joe for Toy Story Trivia. I felt fairly confident during this round of trivia since I've seen the films quite a few times. I did pretty well except for one question that stumped me and everyone else playing (excluding one other team who managed to get it right). What is Woody's last name? As far as I could remember, it's never mentioned in movies. The answer: Woody Pride. After trivia ended, I participated in a few rounds of Spirits & Spirits, but then returned to our cabin to put on my bathing suit. Did I forget to mention the Disney Wonder has a water slide? 

I walked up to the top deck with Mom and waited my turn slide down the Twist n' Spout. The staircase up to the water slide is actually heated which was nice because it was a little chilly outside. After sliding down once, I had go down the exhilarating slide again, so I climbed up the stairs once more for round two. Though the crew member tried to persuade me to ride a third time, I decided there was other activities to be done on our last day, so I headed backed to the cabin to change clothes.

The Disney Wonder has different areas on the ship reserved for different age groups. Two of these places are play areas for children 3-12 years old called the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab. Today both offered open house hours where anyone could explore the areas. I went to the Oceaneer Club first with Joe and Mom. This play area had couple different zones. There was an Andy's room zone complete with slide from Toy Story. There was a Marvel Avenger's zone in which kids could get different missions to engage in. There was general play area where a crew member would lead various games for kids to play. Finally, there was a Frozen area which recreated the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna from the film. Kids could make crafts here and occasionally you'd hear Oaken himself speak to you through the door to the sauna with a "hoo hoo." Honestly, I could have spent all day in the Oceaneer Club, it was so well themed and a delight.

After packing up my suitcase for tomorrow and eating some pizza, I went to the Oceaneer Lab's open house that Joe had told me about earlier this morning. Geared toward the older age range, this area may have been my favorite of the entire ship. The Oceaneer Lab was part of Disney's Society of Explorers and Adventurers, or SEA. This is a fictional organization you can find in many of the Disney park attractions (the Jungle Cruise in DisneyLand for example). In the Oceaneer Lab, there was a portraits of Mary Oceaneer, one the members of SEA as well as several artifacts she had collected over the years of adventuring. For giant Disney nerds, like myself, this was an absolute treat to see. Similar to the Oceaneer Club, this area was split into different zones. There was a craft area, an area used for cooking and science activities, and a gaming area. The latter had some video games including Mario Kart and Mario Party. I would have been thrilled to play Mario Party (my favorite video game), but I wanted to try out the boat simulator they had. 

 

This game let you pilot the Disney Wonder in a couple different scenarios. I chose to sail the ship out of port on the highest difficulty, but quickly found out it was a lot harder than it looked. After ten minutes of crashing I did finally leave the dock into open water. Next, I tried navigating the ship through icebergs on an easier level, but still crashed a lot. Lesson learned, I am not meant to pilot a cruise ship. Overall, I could have spent the entire cruise in the Oceaneer Lab, it was so much fun!

I met Mom and Joe to watch a Broadway style show called Disney Dreams. The show was about a young girl who dreams of flying, but must discover her own magic to do so. With the help of Peter Pan, many other Disney characters, and a lot of singing and dancing, she achieves flight. It was a heartwarming show, but i think I liked the Golden Mickeys the best. After Disney Dreams, Mom and I went to the last half of Disney Tunes Trivia. I knew the majority of the songs and a lady sitting a couple seats over obviously knew them too. She'd joyfully sing every word of the song when it was played.

It was time for our final dinner at Tiana's where Mardi Gras was being celebrated. We were give beaded necklaces at our table and a band was playing music again. I ordered my traditional chicken dish, but this time with cajun spices. Near the end of our meal, all the staff grabbed tambourines and a dance line was started with Tiana and Louis the Alligator. I joined the dance right near the end and even did the limbo. After taking a photo with our wonderful waiters, Anthony and Galang, we left the restaurant to finish our last night on the ship.

I watched a quick farewell ceremony from the captain of the Disney Wonder, featuring almost every character aboard the ship. It was nice to say goodbye to some of the crew that made the cruise so memorable and wonderful. Later, I joined Joe in one of the lounges to watch part of a game called Intuition. It reminded me a little bit of the board game Loaded Questions. Different questions were asked beforehand by the crew and the audience wrote down their answers on paper which were then handed to the host, Lewis, to read off. They were some funny answers, but Lewis' reaction reading them was probably the funniest part. I closed out my night by watching a little bit of Family Superstar Karaoke. Tomorrow, we say goodbye to the Disney Wonder and head home.

If you'd like to read today's events from my mom's perspective, you can read her blog here.