Alright! Apparently I started a full-blown trip report over on the Cruise board. I just can't say anything briefly!
Here's the link.
A Cruise To Be (Or Not To Be) Eclipsed, Carnival Legend to Alaska, August 15-22, 2017
I'm probably not going to post the report here, or at least not until I have finished this one. But I do have to give you the answers to the guessing game.
"When the car service arrived to bring us to the airport, what item was Ben missing that delayed us for a few minutes?"
and
"What mixed drink did Nate order as his first legal adult beverage in Victoria Canada?"
(the bottle in the foreground is mine, so don't let that throw you off)
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Nate's drink is an old fashioned: bourbon whiskey, Angostura® bitters, water, sugar, maraschino cherry and orange.
According to Esquire magazine: A mighty fine drink it is: strong, square-jawed, with just enough civilization to keep you from hollerin' like a mountain-jack.
I'll give a point (that counts for nothing) for anyone who said "whiskey", 2 points for Canadian whiskey,
@Mopedmom1 since that is what he SHOULD have ordered and 3 points for Manhattan because I think that is the closest guess,
@pbb&j
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And here is the part of the trip report that answers the question about Ben's missing item:
Monday August 14- Travel to Seattle
We had a 7 am flight from Boston’s Logan Airport, which meant a 3:30 wakeup call and 4:30 pickup from the car service we have used more than 4 dozen times for business and vacation travel for over 20 years.
As I have mentioned in past trip reports, I get nervous that they are not going to show up. Every.Single.Time. Even though they have never failed to be there. Usually early.
But just like for other trips, we saw the headlights of the van pulling into our driveway and we gathered our things.
Ben announced “I can’t find my shoes”
What?!?
My son Nate is a shoe guy and had the pair he was wearing a pair of boots hanging from his carryon and two additional pairs packed.
Ben owns just one pair of black sneakers that he wears, always, and he can’t find them.
He looks on the porch. Not there.
He looks in the passenger seat in my van. Nope!
A couple of weeks ago I had bought Ben a new pair of bargain sneakers ($10) from Walmart, and we were running out of time, so he cut the tags and put them on. Not ideal to be breaking in a brand new pair of shoes for the first time on a trip where we would be walking all over Seattle and exploring in Alaska.
We found his shoes when we returned home. And the location and circumstances do not reflect well on me as a parent or Ben’s activity level.
The week before our trip we had my annual family reunion. Ben did some tidepooling while there and changed from his sneakers into flip flops. He tucked his shoes into the bag with the camp chairs which I had not taken out of the back of my van yet.
That means Ben had not worn shoes (hence, had not left the house) in about a week.