OCD Planner's ~ Jewel ~ 8 Night Pacific NW Vancouver to LA w/San Francisco Overnight

[ace1zoe2]

Our hike through Cathedral Trail was wonderful. It was cool with a light breeze. The trees were beautiful. Everything was so green. We really enjoyed getting some exercise and breathing in the fresh air. We passed one couple coming up on our way down and a couple of ladies on our way back. It was very solemn and peaceful but that trip back up the hill was definitely a workout.

 

 

 

The hole in this tree is large enough to get inside of:

 

 

There were several bridges along the trail:

 

 

A good portion of the trail was covered with tree roots which provided a good way to help climb back up. However, you did have to be very careful and watch your step to keep from stumbling across the roots. Some areas were very smooth and with the rain is was pretty slippery.

 

 

There was also lots of vegetation, ferns, mushrooms, moss, etc. along the path.

 

Edited October 7, 2015 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Cindy, your photos never cease to amaze me. They are so beautiful and colorful. I especially loved the castle. How pretty was that, inside and out!? I also love those float homes. I would love to rent one of those for a month or two.

 

I am really enjoying your review. You have some of the best reviews I've read.

 

Thanks again!

 

Gwen :)

 

Thanks again Gwen for being my cheerleader and keeping me going! I appreciate the compliments.

 

Cindy

[mauimary]

Loved seeing your photos from Astoria. Fun seeing your pics of the Astoria bridge. We have never driven across it and we live two hours away! It used to be a toll bridge until it was paid off. Funny how you have a way of hitting the renovations!

[lah66]

Yeah!!! So excited for another Cindy review! Loving all your great pictures, all the little details to help future cruisers plan our day! The gardens were absolutely gorgeous! You need to give yourself more credit for your photographs! Yes, you have a nice camera, but your eye is amazing! All your photos are like postcards! Good to catch up with you and Charlie with every review!

 

We are leaving in 14 days for our 25th Anniversary cruise to Bermuda, San Juan, st Martin and St Thomas out of Bayonne, NJ. After that our cruises will be put on hold for a while! DS is graduating from University of Glasgow in June so we will tour the UK. Wasn't one of your daughters in the UK?

 

Thanks again for the wonderful review! Your time is so appreciated!

Lauri

[The Big Booper]

To repeat, your pictures are great. I keep saying - why we didn't we do this..or that. At least we have your pictures.

[ace1zoe2]

Loved seeing your photos from Astoria. Fun seeing your pics of the Astoria bridge. We have never driven across it and we live two hours away! It used to be a toll bridge until it was paid off. Funny how you have a way of hitting the renovations!

 

Mary,

 

I figured since we were there we might as well do it. There were several RV parks just on the other side of the bridge. We also ran into some folks in line at Bow Pickers who were camped out in Astoria who were from Washington.

 

Maybe some day when we hit the road in retirement we might make it back to camp at that area.

 

I had read that it was a toll bridge when it was built. We were in the eastern part of Canada where there was another really long bridge (I think 7 miles or more) that I wanted to drive across but it did have a toll each way of around $14 or more so we skipped that one :)

 

Yes, my luck has it that wherever we travel something is always behind scaffolding.

 

Have a great day.

Cindy

[ace1zoe2]

Yeah!!! So excited for another Cindy review! Loving all your great pictures, all the little details to help future cruisers plan our day! The gardens were absolutely gorgeous! You need to give yourself more credit for your photographs! Yes, you have a nice camera, but your eye is amazing! All your photos are like postcards! Good to catch up with you and Charlie with every review!

 

We are leaving in 14 days for our 25th Anniversary cruise to Bermuda, San Juan, st Martin and St Thomas out of Bayonne, NJ. After that our cruises will be put on hold for a while! DS is graduating from University of Glasgow in June so we will tour the UK. Wasn't one of your daughters in the UK?

 

Thanks again for the wonderful review! Your time is so appreciated!

Lauri

 

Hi Lauri (and Mike)!

 

So glad to hear from you. Thanks for all your kind words regarding my photos and trip review "style".

 

Congratulations on your 25th Anniversary, we just celebrated our 35th on this cruise :)

 

Wow - I didn't realize you son went to school overseas. Sounds like a fun trip to celebrate and do some sight-seeing. Yes our younger daughter worked for the British Government doing CPS-type work for 4.5 years living in London. We were able to visit 2 different times once spending a week in London with a 2 day side trip to Paris and the second time a week in London with a 2 day side trip to Edinborough, Scotland. We had a great time both trips.

 

Looks like after your time off you'll have an awesome cruise doing a B2B on Harmony! We've still never been on a "big" ship. Liberty is coming to Galveston so we have booked a trip in 2017 on her with 5 couples who have never cruised. We can drive down the day of without having to fly or pay for hotels and introduce our friends to the fun of cruising while checking out a great ship that will have just gone thru dry-dock.

 

Thanks so much for saying hi. I still have fond memories of our private tours we did together on the Southern Caribbean cruise. That was the first time I had ever asked anyone from a roll call to join us. I'm glad we were lucky and got a fun couple like you & Mike.

 

Happy Sails,

Cindy

[ace1zoe2]

To repeat, your pictures are great. I keep saying - why we didn't we do this..or that. At least we have your pictures.

 

Thanks Big Booper!

 

I really appreciate the compliment.

 

I still have lots more pictures to post. I hope that you will continue to follow along and enjoy the views.

 

Cindy

[emilygrace]

Mary,

 

 

I had read that it was a toll bridge when it was built. We were in the eastern part of Canada where there was another really long bridge (I think 7 miles or more) that I wanted to drive across but it did have a toll each way of around $14 or more so we skipped that one :)

 

Have a great day.

Cindy

 

Are you talking about the bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick? We did a ship tour (2012) that included crossing that bridge. It is spectacular from both sides, and quite a story about how it was built. And yes, it is a hefty toll to cross it.

Edited October 8, 2015 by emilygrace

[ace1zoe2]

Are you talking about the bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick? We did a ship tour (2012) that included crossing that bridge. It is spectacular from both sides, and quite a story about how it was built. And yes, it is a hefty toll to cross it.

 

Yes emilygrace that was the one. Here's a picture that I took of it... you could not see the other end it is so long! I would have loved to drive it but it was too much $ just to go over & come back.

 

It is the Confederation Bridge and it is over 8 miles long. You actually only pay going one way from PEI (not coming in to PEI) but the cost is $45.50CAN for a two axle car! It is the longest bridge in the world cover ice-covered waters.

 

[ace1zoe2]

As we headed down from the Column we met this little guy:

 

 

Then we happened upon this very tall, very steep stairway. I did not have the stamina to try that after the hike we just finished.

 

 

A view from the other end:

 

 

We went by the Flavel House to take pictures but did not tour the inside. We went inside the Visitor's Center in the Carriage House where we watched a short film on the history of the home which was built by a ship captain.

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

 

The old county jail which is now home to the Oregon Film Museum is located just across the street.

 

 

This is another one of the massive trees we saw. I'm not quite the dork I appear to be. I had rolled up my pants legs to keep from getting mud on them while we were hiking the Cathedral Tree trail earlier. I usually don't post pics of myself but I wanted you to see the size of the tree in comparison.

 

 

On the way to return the car we to another drive thru town. This is a retired Pilot boat:

 

 

And here's the line now waiting to eat at Bow Pickers:

 

 

I missed posting this picture earlier of the hiking trail we did. Notice the grade of the hill going down... now imagine coming back up after hiking a mile down, and it's wet... It was a great hike even though it was strenuous for me, being on the other side of 50 and having a desk job throughout the week.

 

[ace1zoe2]

After turning in our rental car we still had a few hours left before all-aboard time so we decided to do the little Riverfront Trolley. The cost was only $2 each for a round-trip that lasted about 1 hour.

 

The trolley did get crowded at times with people standing in the aisle but it was worth $2 each to hear the commentary and history of the riverfront.

 

 

 

The trolley is operated solely by volunteers, most of whom have lived in Astoria their entire lives.

 

 

In my next post I'll show the sites we saw on the trolley. I'm hoping to post more tonight but for now I have to get back to work :)

[ace1zoe2]

The Cannery Pier Hotel was originally built by the Finnish (immigrants from Finland) in an area know as Finntown or Uniontown. It was built to represent the Union Cooperative Packing Company that the Finns formed in 1897. There were 38 canneries on the waterfront at the time, none of who could agree on price. The Finnish created their own company with 200 people who fished & canned & then split the money based on the number of hours they put in. The Finnish people also developed the adhesive seal that is used on cans. The architect who designed the hotel once worked at the cannery, as did his father. He designed it to look like the original cannery.

 

 

The Red Building, as it's known to locals, was once part of a cannery. Today is houses dining establishments.

 

 

The Astoria-Megler bridge:

 

 

This building belongs to an Artist. The building was damaged in the last storm and the walkway was torn off. He lost most of his work in the building during the storm. Rumor has that it has been sold and will likely become condos.

 

 

A few of the sea lions that we saw and heard barking:

 

 

This area is known locally as the beach. The only sand beach in Astoria. There were a few chairs and a fire pit on it.

 

 

All of the stumps you see were at one time buildings out over the river. The pilings are still good and someone owns each of them. People come in, buy them, add on good pilings to the top and build new structures for shopping, commercial purposes, restaurants, etc.

[karen1821]

Cindy, did you here anyone talk about if they went to the Goonies museum and got to purchase Goonies merchandise?

[ace1zoe2]

Here's a really good link to an audio-tour that is available for the historical sights in Astoria. It sounds like the lady who was our trolley driver narrating it.

 

http://www.travelastoria.com/about/audio-files-for-tours.html

 

The Maritime Memorial was built to pay tribute to those who served in the Maritime industry, many who were lost at sea never returning home.

 

 

Jewel of the Seas overshadows all of the boats in the harbor area:

 

 

As we headed back to the ship you could see the forest products waiting to ship out.

 

 

Another location that was in view on our way out of port.

 

 

Watching the wake as we head out to sea.

 

 

We had a great day in Astoria! From what I had read we had about a 50/50 chance of the pilot boats allowing us to get across the Columbia River Bar. We were so glad that we were able to port here.

[ace1zoe2]

Cindy, did you here anyone talk about if they went to the Goonies museum and got to purchase Goonies merchandise?

 

Karen,

 

I did not. The only thing that I heard about the Goonies was that the owners of the house had asked the city to stop promoting it in their advertising. Someone said they drove by the house & it was covered in a tarp trying to keep people away.

 

I bet they did get tired of strangers coming on to their property, people taking pictures all of the time, etc.

 

Cindy

[NOSaints1]

Will they offer this intenary again?

[reallyitsmema]

Cindy, you are far from a dork!;):p You did so much more than us in Astoria. It is nice to relive the cruise again through your pictures. It was nice meeting both you and your husband.:)

[ace1zoe2]

We had one single sea day on this 8 night cruise which was fine by me! We attended the Meet & Mingle which was held on Deck 13 in the Vortex. The cruise director Dennis hosted the event.

 

Dennis said that there were 94 signed up to attend so he wasn't going to ask all of us to stand and introduce ourselves. There was really no meeting or mingling. He did however take questions and answer them as best he could.

 

RCI provided non-alcoholic drinks and some cookies/snacks and provided some giveaways. Charlie won the final prize which was a bottle of "champagne".

 

 

As soon as that event was over we headed to the Coral Theater for Captain's Corner with Captain Thor and a couple of officers. I have to say that this Captain's Corner was the best one that we have attended. The captain was very talkative and animated. He took questions at the end and you could tell that he was actually enjoying being there.

 

Next we had lunch and then just lazed around the rest of the day. I spent some time out on the balcony in my happy place.

 

 

After dinner and a enjoying a drink on the balcony watching the sun set we attended the Slot Pull that was organized on our Roll Call by Tony & Vic.

 

 

I believe there were a total of 29 people who attended. We each brought $21 to play on the Wheel of Fortune machine. Each person feed in their own money, played the maximum $3 bet and took 7 turns while the rest cheered them on. All of the money remained in the machine until the end. Kathy (Tony's wife) kept track of the amount each participant won during their turn. At the end the money was divided equally among the 29 of us rounded down to the nearest dollar. The left over $ went to the winner who contributed the most to us winning during their turn.

 

We all received $25 back from our $21 investment. Hey, at least we won!!! The first place person received $42. Tony & Vic also talked to the Casino Manager ahead of time and he had donated 3 polo shirts (not T-shirts) as give aways. These were awarded to the top 3 finishers. Today was Charlie's lucky day. He came in 3rd place and got a polo shirt.

 

The Casino Manager was very nice to us. He also provided each participant with a card good for one free drink in the casino bar to use anytime during the rest of the cruise and he hung out with us and cheered us on during the slot pull.

 

 

We really had a great group of people on our Roll Call and we enjoyed hanging out with several of them throughout the trip.

 

Here is an example of what I referred to as some of the "tired" pieces of furniture in the centrum. This sofa has seen its better day.

 

 

The Centrum was usually hopping when there was a band playing.

 

 

We had a fun Sea Day and we were looking forward to arriving in San Francisco in the morning. We went to bed fairly early as I planned to be up and on deck when we went under the Golden Gate Bridge!

[ace1zoe2]

Will they offer this intenary again?

 

Checking Royal Caribbean's website I do not see this exact itinerary. There is an 8 night voyage but it has 3 sea days & only one day in San Francisco.

 

Then there is a 7 night that has 2 sea days with an overnight in San Francisco.

 

I really liked this itinerary but I think this was the first after the Alaska season & they were just getting the ship down to LA to start the coastal tours over the next few weeks.

 

Cindy

[ace1zoe2]

Cindy, you are far from a dork!;):p You did so much more than us in Astoria. It is nice to relive the cruise again through your pictures. It was nice meeting both you and your husband.:)

 

Thank you! I really don't think I'm a dork, I just think in this picture I looked like one with my pants legs rolled up :)

 

We enjoyed meeting you as well. Hope to see you on a future sailing.

 

Cindy

[ace1zoe2]

After spending Monday at Sea, we arrived in at the Port of San Francisco just about sunrise on Tuesday morning. Since I knew that we would be arriving early I made sure that I was up and outside for when we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

It was still dark when I went outside on deck but you could just make out the bridge in the distance.

 

 

 

These pictures are not the best quality since I had to use a long exposure due to the darkness. It was pretty much impossible to hold the camera completely still on a moving ship, which is what is required to get good pictures.

 

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

The day slowly dawned and both the Golden Gate and Bay bridges were in full view. It was quite the experience being so close to the bridge as we sailed under. It looked like there was just inches of clearance, however I am sure that from below it looked much closer than it actually was.

 

 

 

 

 

A view of Alcatraz at a distance:

 

 

and then a close up zoom shot:

 

[ace1zoe2]

A few pictures of the bay area as we arrived in port:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tall building at the top of this hill is the Coit Tower. We would later walk all the way there from Pier 39!

 

 

This will be my final post for today. I'm headed out to Midland for the weekend to see my daughter for her birthday when I get off work at 5pm. Monday is a bank holiday so I'm hoping to post quite a bit then.

 

Until then, everyone have a great weekend!