Thursday, August 4, 10:15pm

Kids sometimes say the funniest things. Several years ago, when we were on the first cruise we took with our daughters, we ported out of New Orleans. The trip in and out of port to and from the ocean takes about 8 hours. Most people miss it because, frankly there seem to be a lot of really drunk people on the New Orleans’ cruises.

We like that part of the cruise, though, and we’re also don’t fall into the drunken category. We may have a few drinks during the whole week, but never more than one or two a day. We’re just too old for that sort of thing anymore! Coming up the mouth of the Mississippi is just really nice, as you see the beginnings of civilization rise from the water along the way. On a clear day, when sailing in or out, if the sun is up enough you can actually see the muddy brown river water mixing with the ocean water where the two meet. It’s a pretty cool sight.

The night we were coming back into port on this particular cruise, we were standing out on our balcony with our youngest daughter. It was pretty foggy that evening. The ship was sounding its foghorn to let other vessels know it was headed upriver. Our daughter asked what the noise was. She was 11 at the time. We told her it was the foghorn.

Before I could explain what it was used for, she yelled out, into a totally silent night, “Duh. We know it’s foggy!” In her youth, she thought the ship was telling her passengers that it was foggy.

We laughed for an hour, and we’ve laughed about it so many times since. This morning, on our current New England/Canada cruise, the ship was in heavy fog off the coast of Boston. The foghorn was sounding again, reminding us of the hilarious nature of an 11-year-old.