It's Almost Cruisin' Time Again

In a couple of days we leave here and start our journey towards Alaska.
We will be heading to a hotel that is near the Norfolk Airport.
It is just under 100 miles from here.
We decided to stay at this hotel because we did not want to have to get up any earlier to make our 5:45AM flight on Friday morning.
Friday is going to be a long enough day without adding in a 100 mile drive at 1:30 in the morning.
Those extra couple of hours sleep will come in handy as Friday drags on.
After making a stop in Atlanta, we arrive in Seattle around 10:55AM PST.
Once we land, we have a hurry and get our luggage and head to a specific meeting spot, so that we can catch our shuttle bus at 12:30.
This shuttle bus takes us from Sea-Tak(Seattle Airport) to the Vancouver Airport.
This ride takes approximately 4 hours because they make a couple of stops to let people off and pick people up.
If we miss this shuttle bus, the next shuttle bus isn't until sometime after 4PM.
Once at the Vancouver Airport, we call the hotel that we are spending the night at, and they will come pick us up from the airport and bring us to the hotel.
We will be trying to get some sleep on both the flights and on the bus ride to Vancouver.
In many ways, it would have been better to fly straight into Vancouver but the flights from our location to there are very expensive.
Around 11AM on Saturday morning, we will be taking a shuttle that takes us directly to the pier.
The first 2 full days of cruising, we will be doing just that...cruising. There will be no ports of call on those 2 days.
That will be a good thing. It gives us a chance to relax and catch our breath from Fridays running around.
Veronica will find her favorite chair in the observation lounge, while I run in and out taking photos of the Inside Passage and Sawyer Glacier.
We will be spending most of our days actually exploring our ports of call rather than taking a lot of excursions.
We only have one excursion booked and that is a train ride. They call it the White Pass Scenic Railway.
This is how this excursion is described on the NCL web site:

No trip to Alaska is complete without a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route narrow-gauge railroad that served the mad rush to the Klondike in 1898. You'll board an old-fashioned parlor car for a 40-mile round trip. A panorama of wilderness unfolds, as you leave Skagway and pass through two tunnels, sky-high trestles, and remote valleys. Outside your large picture window, view Bridal Veil Falls, Inspiration Point and Dead Horse Gulch. Your guide will announce all points of interest and tell the unique story of this railway. After reaching White Pass Summit, the international boundary between Canada and the U.S., you'll begin your return journey down the White Pass & Yukon Route.
After returning to Skagway, we will still have plenty of time to explore the town.
I am sure that I will be able to take some great photos.
I will be posting tales of our adventures and photos galore upon our return home.