Day 5--Olympia

This morning we woke up and had the breakfast buffet on the ship.  The breakfast was really starting to get old because there wasn’t much to eat and the food was just not good.  We ate and then waited for them to tell us that the boat had ported and we were able to enter the city.  We ported and then a tour bus took us in groups into the center of Olympia.  We were headed to the Olympic ruins in Olympia.  When we arrived we were dropped off at the top of the hill and then rocked down into the area of the ruins.  There were a couple of groups of tours and we were all standing outside the entrance waiting in the heat while our tour guides tried to figure out the tickets.  We continued to stand there and our tour guide was handing out tickets and was just handing them out to anyone standing there.  In the end, we were missing tickets and the tour guide kept saying that some of us must have moved groups after they told us not to and that was why we were short a ticket.  Once she got over that we were short a ticket and we weren’t getting in without them she got us the extra ticket and we were able to enter.  Again, the tour guide had a very thick accent and it was very hard to understand her and she talked a lot!  She took us around the ruins and explained what some of the pieces were prior to being ruins.  It was really neat to see the ruins and hear the stories.  After a little while, we took our own tour around the ruins because we couldn’t understand our tour guide anymore!  On the outside of the ruins was the Olympic track.  As you entered in, there were pedestals just outside the entrance.  These were where the cheaters had to stand and people would see these cheaters as they entered into the track. 

Once we were done with the tour they gave us some time to wander in the shops and then it was time to head back to the ship.  After we did some shopping in Olympia we boarded our bus and headed back to our docking area.  We decided that we wanted to do some looking around where we were docked.  We looked through some of the shops and then Caleb decided that he wanted to get himself a gyro.  He wandered off and I decided to sit on a bench and wait for him.  We were to be boarded at 5:00 and this was around 4:30.  I sat for about 20 min. and then worried that I had maybe missed seeing Caleb come back around and so I started going up and down the street looking for him.  We were needing to be on the boat in less than 10 min. and I was starting to get really worried.  I kept thinking about what we tell the kids when they get lost and wondered what Caleb would do if he was lost or looking for me.  I tried to stay in the open and was thinking that maybe I should just start heading to the ship.  As I was headed that way, Caleb spots me ( he is close to the entrance for the ship) and he is yelling my name to hurry.  You could tell he was panicked as much as I was that we were going to miss our boat!  All in all, we made it on time and learned our lesson about sticking together.

That evening we had our usual 5-course dinner and then went to the show on the ship that evening.

The Cheaters!

The Olympic Track