Get ready for a long post.... :)
We went on a 9-night New England & Canada cruise with the whole Gunnink side of the family July 3-12. The trip started out on July 2 with the 7 of us in our immediate family packing into my parents' minivan and driving to New Jersey. Fun times! There were 2 days where we were at sea all day long and fun laying out, playing mini golf, playing cards, etc. We had six days where we were at a port. The evenings were fun and filled with nice dinners, karaoke, trivia games, hanging out a various bars/lounges around the ship (our favorite was a piano man that we sung along with), and going to a show that the ship puts on every night. There definitely wasn't a shortage of things to do! The cruise left July 3 from New Jersey, but with a great view of New York City and the Statue of Liberty.
At the first of many amazing dinners (above). Below is the 5 of us siblings the first night of the cruise in the karaoke lounge. We had fun! This included Justin and Reuben doing another duet of "Under the Bridge" which they won a Kareoke Idol competition with on the last cruise we all went on.
4th of July: New London, Connecticut
This town welcomed us like a Prinsburg on the ocean. There were a ton of volunteers and the mayor of the city himself greeting us as we all swarmed their town. It was very cute and quaint.
We went to the aquarium just outside of New London. Here I am with a beluga whale!
Below is us with our home for 10 days: Explorer of the seas. This ship carries approx. 4500 people (passengers & crew combined).
July 6: Halifax, Nova Scotia
What a beautiful city! We had fun simply walking around taking in the sights. We walked along the waterfront, went up to the citadel and toured it, and walked through the Halifax Public Gardens.
At the citadel that we visited, Reuben was fascinated by the cannons. We watched a demonstration firing too (with a blank inside- still very loud).
Above is Reuben in our state room getting ready for our first formal dinner. Below is after dinner with our champagne at the Captain's Welcome Reception.
July 7: Saint John, New Brunswick
The coolest thing we did here was drive out to see the Reversing Falls. This is where the Bay of Fundy - ocean waters- and a large river meet and every day the bay pushes the river back as the tide rises so that basically the stream reverses. The effects are seen almost 40 miles upstream! It was very cool to be there and see all of the cool lines, whirlpools, and rapids in the water.
The scenery was gorgeous despite the cool, foggy day. Below is supposedly the oldest farmer's market in Canada which was a lot of fun to walk through. We bought some local wine- a dry blueberry wine- we'll let you know how it is. :)
July 8: Bar Harbor, Maine
This was most definitely our favorite stop! Bar Harbor is on Mt. Desert Island which is also home to Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor is a beautiful, quaint town. It gets its name from a sand bar that you can walk or drive across to another island at low tide, but that is completely covered at high tide (2 pics below is my fam walking on it).
The majority of our day in Bar Harbor was in Acadia hiking. We first did the Beehive with my family which was a short, but intense climb. Below is my brother waving, ahead of us on the trail. The pictures below are from this trail.
Everyone at the top of the Beehive, very sweaty. It was a hot, beautiful day!
Reuben and I went on another more leisurely hike on our own, Jordan's Pond Trail. This was over 3 miles, but nice and flat that went around this whole lake. The view were beautiful and we really enjoyed it. The five pics below are from that hike.
The Bar Harbor water was filled with fishing and lobster boats. It was very scenic. This is the one port where we were tendered to and from our ship, so we took a ferry and had this view.
This picture of us is from the "Smart Casual" dinner evening.
July 9: Portland, Maine
Portland is another pretty city. There are a lot of cute shops and beautiful old buildings. We went on a guided walking tour which was informative, interesting, and something different to do.
Above is our stop at a Portland brewery, Sebago. We tried a few flights of their beers and cooled off on the a/c after our hot walking tour! Below is a picture from the top of the cruise ship of the Portland harbor in the evening as it was threatening to rain.
July 10: Boston, Massachusetts
We loved Boston! We had never been there and it's such a cool, historic, beautiful city. We walked the Freedom Trail and saw many historical sites. We also did our most touristy thing of the trip where we took the "Duck Tour." This is in an old WWII amphibious vehicle that drives on land as well as goes in the water. Our driver/guide was hilarious and we were able to see a lot of the city in a short amount of time.
Above is the cemetary where Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and the 5 men who died in the Boston Massacre are buried. Below is the one of the old, historic buildings in front of which the Boston Massacre took place.
What would a cruise be without all of the food! My "Fisherman's Dinner" below was very good. Below that is the record night for number of deserts ordered. Out of the six of us that were at our table, we had 11 deserts that night!
My family on the 2nd formal dinner night towards the end of the cruise.
Bon Voyage!
It was one of my first extended experiences with Brooke, Kirk's girlfriend from AZ. Mosquitoes love to bite her. I wasn't bit all weekend, and I didn't wear any bugspray. I think that is because she attracted all the flies to her. There were many new sights for her to see, including Dad's garden. (She had never seen a garden before and was quite amazed by it)
