Our Trip Home

We woke up and the ship was already docked at Canada Place in Vancouver.  We were not in a rush, so we got ready and went to the Lido Restaurant for breakfast.  Returning to our cabin we gathered our bags and disembarked about 9:30 a.m.  We found our car in the parking lot, and our cruise was officially over.  It was a short cruise, but we both enjoyed it very much.  We could not have had better weather.

I thought we had plenty of time for our drive to Seattle, and I wanted to do something fun before leaving Vancouver.  We decided to go to Grouse Mountain.  We drove across the Lions Gate Bridge and past the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park where Wendy and I had visited six years ago.  We found a parking area for the aerial tram, but again I failed to find the handicapped parking that would have been right next to it.  We found ourselves walking up a short hill to get to the ticket booth.  We were able to get two tickets for the price of one by using the wheelchair which was still coming in very handy.  It was a little challenging getting on the tram with the wheelchair because the tram kept moving while loading and unloading, but the attendants helped us out.  It was just the two of us riding the tram to the top of the mountain, and we had a wonderful view of Vancouver and the surrounding area.

We took our time exploring the lodge.  They had a theater where we briefly watched a film about the hiking trail they call "The Grouse Grind".  We watched a naturalist talk about a Great Horned Owl that was perched on her arm.  We took in the views from different decks and then decided it was time to go.  We took the tram back to the base of the mountain, and then started our long drive back to Seattle.

We took a different route around the city to get back to the U.S. Border, but the traffic still slowed us down.  We hit our first snag at the border due to the long lines of cars.  It took about 45 minutes for us to get through it, and the highway remained busy all the way to Seattle.  There were a number of times that the traffic came to a stop because it was so heavy.  Our flight was scheduled to depart at 5:10 p.m. and we didn't get to the car rental facility until after 3:30 p.m.  We arrived at the airport at 4:00 p.m. and checked in.  After dropping off a bag we went to security to see a long line.  With Wendy in the wheelchair we were allowed to use the priority lane, but it still took a very long time to get through security.  We had just finished with that when Wendy heard a final boarding call for our flight.  Our gate was at the very end of a long concourse, and I started running while pushing Wendy in the wheelchair.  We must have made quite a sight as I weaved back and forth around other passengers while running almost at a full sprint.  We arrived at the gate as they just finished making their third final boarding call.  We showed our boarding passes and went down the jet bridge.  Had we been ten minutes later we probably would have missed our flight.

We took our seats and we both breathed a sigh of relief.  I think both of us needed a restroom, but we held on until we arrived at Salt Lake City.  The flight seemed much faster than before.  We landed about 8:00 p.m. and took our time using the restroom and getting to our car.  We stopped at Carl's Jr. to pick up a late dinner and drove home to Pocatello.  We got home about 11:30 p.m. tired and ready for bed.  The cruise was very relaxing, but the journey home was a bit stressful.  I've got to do better at planning the travel to and from airports.