Cody and I were lucky enough to go on a vacation with his family this past week, first to California for a few days and then on a cruise from LA to San Francisco, Victoria (in British Colombia, Canada--w00t!!), Seattle, then back to LA.

Our boat, the Royal Caribbean Mariner. I heard it was the biggest cruise ship on the ocean, with an ice skating rink, 14 decks, a rock climbing wall, inline skating rink, miniature golf...blah blah blah...but I'm not sure and I'm too lazy to factcheck.
Our stateroom, which was small but very well planned. It seemed a lot bigger than it was and had places for everything, although I'm not sure how we survived the 2003 cruise with the Higbees with 5 of us in one stateroom.
The promenade deck, with all the shops. This is deck 5, 9 decks below the top deck.
Our first stop was San Francisco. Cody and I opted out of all the planned cruise tours because none of them sounded that interesting, and we wanted to explore the cities on our own terms. The first thing we did once we got to port--besides text like mad--was to check on E3 (video game convention in LA) news for Cody, then we dropped off the laptop and headed out to play.

Smartcar, parked smartly.

Cody in front of Viz Media's building in San Francisco. Viz Media's in charge of a few anime's English dubs, so although we mostly watch the Japanese dub with English subtitles, it was still cool to see something we could be nerdy about.
I thought this building was interesting.
I got some rose gelato and snarfed it down without a picture, although it tasted delicious and was very interesting. Then, we found this awesome little candy store that had metal lunchboxes, strange video game candy, and practical joke stuff.
I totally bought some awesome bandaids there. Oh, and the dude that worked the counter (I think he might've been gay, but my gaydar's so off I don't trust it) asked me what designer my shirt was, and I told him it was a very exclusive place called the Gap Outlet. XD
The dining room was amazing, with three full floors and crystal chandeliers everywhere. Our waiter and waitress were fabulous, telling us all about their lives before cruising, and seeming to dislike waiting tables immensely while taking excellent care of us. It was rather ironic, but they definitely earned their keep. I hope they get to live some of the life they were talking about.
The food was pretty good, although I missed our home cooking...but my favorite was when the chef would make a jaunty statement with a bunch of herbs.
Us'ns
Richard was in love with the buffet for breakfast, and below is a picture of his favorite things there. The formal dining room always takes so much longer that it was hard to justify going there for every meal, especially when the food wasn't that much better, but the portion control the dining room offered was much more convenient than having to wait an hour for food. ^_^
Waiting for food was always better when I brought along my top.
My homey away from home.
Cody got inked! Fake inked! With glow-in-the-darkness stuff!

Dragon's Lair...there were so many hidden little bars, clubs, restaurants, theaters, etc. on our boat that I don't think I saw it all completely.
CANADA! Here are some Canadian superheroes, Brave Beaver:
and Mighty Moose:
Cheesecake on a steeeek in Victoria.
The red lights were ginormous in Victoria. I'm not sure why. It was worth me taking a picture, apparently.
The public works building had an interesting sculpture outside the library.
The library in Victoria. Cody's obsessed with libraries, just in case you didn't know.

SEATTLE! This was maybe my favorite city to see, least favorite city to walk around in. The hills were worse than in San Fran! It was probably just the path we chose to take, but still. >_> onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTudoV003fn9dQp2d65eELwEPF2OJs4LWr8D93gHIEEfnSOS5tRHpN3Hz4zF1tLjNDSqYMYcqFmeUXyPErO27dHkPEJxGjflhkrM9ZbXe94uaQ0xvKBmpxdKmc5fclGTPdCPeiIHPUWtt/s1600-h/Cody's+Phone+%289%29.jpg">Richard imitating the statue:
While we were in Seattle, we met another friend from the anime forums named Thomas (SsriTelQuessir or ST'Q to anyone familiar with the tv.com Bleach Forum.) We had a load of fun hanging out with him, seeing MUPPETS! and eating delicious curry. I was glad he took time out of his busy schedule to come and meet us. Here's Cody and Thomas at the Seattle SciFi museum:
Me playing with Animal on the drums:
Some dude was playing a flute! He was pretty good, too.

Cody and I attempting to look like nerds. I was disappointed when I saw that we didn't look much different from normal...
Rawrs! Kids attacked him with chalk, so he wasn't so fierce.


Nevermore?
Random Batman tattoo sighting on the Seattle monorail.
Seattle public library, main branch.



Us! In Seattle! We're happy!!
I thought this was intriguing. A whole park just for 1st Amendment rights! w00t!
Back on the ship, we played games. Tycee totally owned at Monopoly, despite her niceness and attempts to help people out.
Our bed had curtains, and Cody is always wont to be silly around unusual things...
The cruise ship had artwork/sculptures on every single landing on both sets of stairs. This was my favorite, kitchen utensils made entirely of aluminum wire:

Cody winning a medal for beating little girls at Wii Tennis in a family tournament. XD

Dragon! On ice! It's the new Disney ice show, y'all.
I played Bananagrams by myself a lot...I think some of those words are wrong, too. I wasn't too hard on myself when judging.
And...well, that's all. We had a lot of fun, and I'm so glad we got to go...but it's SO GOOD to be home!