Recap
Our 2024 Cardon family and friends tour was an Alaskan cruise. It wasn’t a destination that had any significance pertaining to our Cardon heritage, but it was a great opportunity to see the beauties of Alaska and spend quality time with our extended family members. Our weather was incredible, the food was delicious, and our many excursions were thrilling. But the cherry on top was the opportunity we had to get to know so many of our extended family. We had such a great time!
About 50 members of our travel group did a three-day pre-tour in Vancouver. We went to Grouse Mountain, where we took a gondola ride up to the top. There we had amazing views of Vancouver, watched a lumberjack show, watched a presentation starring birds of prey, and enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings. The next day we took a ferry to Victoria where we marveled at the beauty of Butchart Gardens and spent some time in Victoria’s inner harbour. Before boarding our cruise ship the following day, we had a few hours to visit Stanley Park and take our pictures next to some of the totem poles. We also had a chance to stroll and do some shopping at Granville Island Market.
On the afternoon of June 14, we all boarded our Royal Caribbean ship, Radiance of the Seas. That evening, there were almost 130 Cardon family and friends enjoying their first dining experience together. We were spoiled by our waiters and even had a dance performance from them on a later evening. Our next day was a cruising day through the Inside Passage. That morning we had a “get to know you” family and friends meeting where we enjoyed a presentation about our Waldensian family history and played a game with many prize winners. It was such a fun opportunity to spend quality time with each other. On another evening, we learned more about our Cardon ancestors as we played a Cardon bingo game with more fun prizes.
Other ports on our cruise included Juneau, Icy Strait Point, Sitka, Skagway, and Hubbard Glacier. There were endless excursion options at each of these ports and many of us saw whales breaching, got up close to glaciers, panned for gold, saw sled dogs in action, saw bears and other wildlife, took a scenic train ride, enjoyed taking a hike, and all took endless pictures of this beautiful region. Our weather was unseasonably warm and even more amazing was that we had no rain during the entire cruise!
As we transferred to Anchorage for our flight home, we were able to make a few stops along the way, including visiting an animal reserve, taking a gondola ride up to another glacier, and a quick photo stop to see the Anchorage Temple. We were sad to say goodbye to everyone, but we are already looking forward to our next Cardon extravaganza. It will be in 2026, and current plans are to make this a trip to Norway and the Scandinavia region. Stay tuned for more information.
-Extracted from The Cardon Families Organization Newsletter emailed 8/22/2024