We had to put our bags out, the bags we did not want to carry with us on the airplane, before we went to bed Saturday night. They were picked up and taken to the airport. We picked them up at the Vancouver airport Sunday morning.
We had breakfast about 6:15 AM, while still on board, made a final stop back in our room to pick up our carry-on luggage and then met in one of the large rooms on the ship about 7:10. We received vouchers for the bus ride to the airport and were moved out onto the pier in bus load size groups. I think there were 6 busloads of us going to the airport that morning. The bus ride to the airport took about an hour. By the time we collected our luggage that had been delivered to the airport it was nearly 10AM. Our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 2:10PM and we found out we could not check-in for the flight until 11:10AM, so we sat in the main terminal area for an hour.
While on the bus ride to the airport the bus driver talked non-stop. A couple of points he made were interesting. In the 1980's the population of Vancouver was around 150,000, today it is over 600,000. We saw MANY condos being constructed. The driver told us that every one of the high rise condo units was sold before construction was even started. In some places, not the condos we saw under construction, people are buying 125 square foot units to live in, a 10'x12' room. (It seems like I have told you this before. If I am repeating myself I apologize.) Many of the condos are being purchased by people from China. They are used for vacation homes and sit empty most of the year. Gasoline in Vancouver is almost $7/gallon, a Big Mac meal is about $11, a gallon of milk is about $13, a pound of local cheese costs $15, a dozen eggs cost about $6. (Just across the border in Bellingham, Washington a gallon of gas costs $2.50, a gallon of milk costs less than $3) He said the prices are this high because of taxes. His family lives about a 5 minute drive from the US border. Most weekends they drive across the border to fill up their car, and a couple of gas cans he carries in the trunk. They also stock up on certain groceries. I would have liked to ask him about his views of socialism and all the "free stuff' provided by the Canadian government. He never complained about all the "free stuff", just about the high taxes. I guess he liked the free stuff as long as someone else was paying for it, just like in America. He bought stuff in the US to avoid paying the high taxes.
When we did start the airport check-in procedure it seemed like we stood in lines a long time but it only took an hour to check-in for our flight, check our baggage, go through Canadian security and go through American Homeland Security screening. Once through that we found our flight was delayed for a half hour.
The landing in San Francisco was BUMPY. I think we bounced twice before finally settling on the ground. I guess it was very windy. We landed over 40 minutes late but that was no problem because our flight to Kansas City was also late. (It is interesting that both our Alaska Airline flights to Fairbanks were on time. We flew United from Vancouver to San Francisco to Kansas City, and both flights were late.) It was after midnight, local time, when we finally got off the plane in Kansas City, about 15 hours of travel time.
Kathy had made hotel reservations for us in Kansas City, before we left Centertown. We were able to leave our van in their parking lot while we were on vacation, at no cost, and they provided us with free shuttle service to and from the airport. Airport parking fess would have cost us more than the cost of the room. Monday we (Kathy) drove back to Centertown.
Nolan was here Tuesday, Wednesday & this morning. Lydia gets off the school bus at the top of the our driveway. She gets off the bus around 4:30. We have been driving up to and waiting for her, the temperatures are in the 90's every day. It HOT, especially after 2 weeks with highs in the 60's.
I mowed the lawn Tuesday. It wasn't to bad considering it had not been mowed for 2 weeks.
After school snack time.
God is good, may He bless you and yours.
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