This year’s birthday trip is quite a bit unusual in terms of who is joining us.
Back in June of last year (annual birthday vacation), Karen and I went on our first cruise and loved it. I’m sorry that we didn’t discover cruising earlier. I noticed that it was very easy to get around the ship for someone in a wheelchair. For those of you who don’t know my parents, here is some background information. You may want to go and grab a Kleenex. Ok .. you’re back .. now on to the story. In November of 1995, my dad suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed on his right side and he lost his ability to speak. My mom has been his primary caregiver since then. But my mom has had her own health issues. In December of 2003 (actually it was 2 days before Christmas), she suffered a heart attack but she did have double bypass surgery a year later and all is well with her.
When we got back from the cruise, I remarked to my parents that I think that they would like it. My mom then said that she has always wanted to do an Alaskan cruise. I decided that if the doctor gave them the ok, that I would take them on an Alaskan cruise. It was only a few days later and we got the ok that they were good to travel. We then immediately booked the cruise and that was in July 2010.
We are flying into Vancouver where we have a day on each end of the cruise. Our itinerary has us visiting Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan mixed in with three days at sea.
It’s going to be very interesting travelling with my parents. Before my dad’s stroke, my parents would travel to Europe every couple of years to see family. I think the last time my parents flew on a plane, you could
still smoke on them. Things have sure changed since then.
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