It's about time to blog...I am embarrassed that it has been since December 2012 since my last post...where does the time go?! There has been so much happening in the Johnson household, but this post will be all about our fabulous 2013 summer vacation with the Toomers and Sorensens! (Beware...it's a long post because it was an awesomely LONG vacation!)
THE START: Day 1 May 30 - Cokeville to Boise
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| Jordan Justice |
Here we are, all 8 of us ready to go on vacation in the GMC Yukon XL which we lovingly refer to as Yukie or Yukon Gold! Me(Jen), Jordan, Kysa, Grandma Barb, John F., Grandma Shirley, Jared (the chauffeur) and Kirina!
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| Me - Jennie |
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| Our handsome driver for the entire 3500+ miles - Jared |
We started out on May 30th ~4 p.m. from Cokevillle
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| Kysa Christine |
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| Barb (my mom) & John Failoni |
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| Kirina Lee |
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| Grams- Shirley |
The first day we drove to Boise, Idaho and checked into our luxurious Best Western Lodge at 9 p.m. and met up with the Brian Toomer Clan.
DAY 2: Boise to Seattle
On Friday, May 31st, we headed to Seattle, WA.
We got to see Mt. Rainier in Washington on the way to Seattle.
Arriving at the Hotel Nexus Seattle ~3 p.m. Pacific Time
- Priority #1: SWIMMING
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| Enjoying a dip at the Hotel Nexus pool |
After dinner at the mall, we ventured on a trip to the Space Needle. Those present for this excursion were: Jared, Jennie, Kirina, Kysa, Jordan, Barbara, John F, Tiffany, Michelle, Brian Thornock, Andy, Hailey & Maddie
DAY 3 -June 1: Hotel Nexus to the Norwegian Jewel from Seattle's Port
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| Space Needle view from the ship on June 1, 2013 |
The Norwegian Jewel was a Nickelodean ship. We didn't see the characters very often, but it was fun when we did! These were taken on the first day before we left Seattle Port.
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| Jordan dancing Psy's "Gangnam Style" on deck! Jen, Karla, Ashley & Ariel line dancing on deck! |
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| Deck fun on the Norwegian Jewel |
DAY 4: Sunday, June 2 - Day at Sea
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Group Photo in the Java Meeting room
Back Row Left to Right: Gwen, Seth, Tyrel, Ellis, Travis, Jared, John F
Middle Row Left to Right: Don, Kirina, Andrew, Tiffany, Jennie, Barbara, Michelle, Brian Thornock
Front Row Left to Right: Karla, Brian Toomer, Grandma Shirley, Hailey, Jordan, Madilyn, Kysa, KalliAnne |
We had a little Sunday program planned for Grandma Toomer.
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| Tiffany performing the Red Solo Cup song...It was FABULOUS! She is my amazingly talented cousin. |
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| Tyrel performing "How many pens/pencils can one person stick in their nose." Again, talented?...hahaha |
Sunday, June 2nd we enjoyed some "Toomer Together Time" and got to honor the Matriarch of our family, Grandma Shirley. I love her so much and it was so fun to be able to go on this adventure with her and people that I love so much.
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| Brian & Karla at Cagney's Steakhouse |
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| John & Mom |
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| Grandma & Tiffany |
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| Me & the hubster-Jared |
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| Michelle & Brian |
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| Gwen & Don |
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| The couples at our special Steak Dinner night...the kids enjoyed hanging out at the buffet. |
DAY 5: Monday, June 3 - Ketchikan, AK
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| Some Highlights from Ketchikan Scenery & Places |
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The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show! We had a great time here.
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| Exploring Ketchikan, AK |
We were able to look around Ketchikan quite a bit. Karla headed up our tour after the Lumberjack show and we walked to a nearby bus stop and drove the town of Ketchikan. It was a great experience and Ketchikan was probably my favorite port.
DAY 6: Tuesday, June 4 - Juneau, AK
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| Juneau was our 2nd Port in AK...there were fun things on and off the ship. |
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| We caught some wildlife on "film", some purely by accident, while others posed. |
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| Mt. Roberts Tramway and amazing entertainment at the top of Mt. Roberts by the Alaskan String Band. |
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| Tracy Arm Fjord and Sawyer Glacier right after our stop in Juneau. FABULOUS, but Cold! Jared's Favorite part of the trip! |
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| Brian & Karla on deck to view the glacier. |
DAY 7: Wednesday, June 5 - Skagway, AK
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| Photo shoot by Karla...featuring models, KalliAnne Mildred, Kysa Christine, Barbara Jean & Jennie Lee |
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| ...and Grams, the real star! |
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| A taste of Skagway, AK. We had fun explorations in this small port town. |
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| Then back on the ship, more memories were made. |
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| Jordan enjoyed the kids program. They could choose to go as they wanted and pick the activities that interested them. |
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| Ice Cream was plentiful on the ship. |
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| Pizza delivery to the staterooms was fantastic. |
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| Overall, Skagway day was very enjoyable. |
The entertainment on the ship was awesome. The show for Wednesday night was the Cirque de BiJou. It was a fantastic acrobatic show where the trapeze artists came out of the ceiling in the large Stardust Theatre.
DAY 8: Thursday, June 6 - Day at Sea
This was the rough day at sea. We stayed in our staterooms most of the day and had room service delivered. In my opinion, it was the least enjoyable day of the entire vacation! and it was still pretty darn fun!
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| We were able to muster some fun on this sea sick day! |
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| Most of the day was in the cabin or braving the café. |
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| Look at the waves in the POOL! |
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| The waters calmed enough by night time that we were able to PARTAY! We enjoyed the famous NCL White Hot Party. Kirina won iPod speakers for karaoke & dancing sing along. It was Fun! |
DAY 9: Friday, June 7 - Victoria, BC
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| Before we disembarked, the kids were in a circus in the Stardust Theatre. Kirina was a baton thrower, Kysa did the Chinese yo-yo & Jordan/Hailey were the cutest clowns in town! The ship was amazing with our kids. |
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| Mom, John, our family & Michelle's family took a horse drawn trolley on a tour of beautiful Victoria, B.C. |
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| The Toomers explored Canada as well & stocked up on bottled Pepsi! |
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| When we got back from the Victoria outing, John & Mom and Jared & I ate at one of the "cover charge" restaurants. It was called CHIN CHIN. It was amazing. Then we caught the last show of the ship honoring all those workers who served us so diligently for 7 days. It was fun. We were sad to be almost back to port. |
DAY 10: Saturday, June 8 - Seattle to Ocean Shores, WA
DAY 12: Tuesday, June 10 - Yachats to Eureka to Arcata, CA
The 10th of June found us in Californ-i-a. It was so fun to see elk ALL OVER in the wild and also to visit the Trees of Mystery with Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox. We reached Eureka, CA about 7 p.m. and checked into our very, very sketchy Motel 6. Went to dinner at Applebee's and come back to find our motel all lit up with police officers, we immediately checked out and searched out somewhere safer to stay. We ended up in Arcata at a fantastic Howard Johnson hotel with much needed laundry service!
DAY 13: Wednesday, June 11 - Redwoods, CA to Redmond, OR
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| Enjoying the MASSIVE redwoods! |
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| We were amazed at the SIZE of the GIANT ancient redwoods. We got to spend a lot of time in the old growth. |
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| Kysa & Jordan playing in POISON OAK...YIKES...they were fine. This picture reminds me of Phil and I when we were about their age in the redwoods. |
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| We got to Crater Lake, OR late and the fog was rolling in. It was eery and cold. We decided to back track the next day to see the sight in the day. WE ARE SO GLAD WE DID, but the drive off that mountain was not fun in the fog. |
DAY 14: Thursday, June 12 - Crater Lake to Boise
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| Crater Lake was very beautiful the next day. |
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| Flowers & Snow...a funny combination, but we thought it was fun. |
