I am on this ship today. See ya when I get back.
Live long and prosper. \\//
Live long and prosper. \\//
Showing posts with label cruise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cruise. Show all posts
9/9/17
2/4/17
Mukluks for Susie
In the last few years of my fathers life, my cousin Susie took care of him like he was her own father. She did it because I lived so far away and she loved my father (and me) so very much, and he loved her. I will forever be grateful for all the love she gave him.
In one of my trips back (northern Michigan) during the last few months of his life she and I went shopping together and she pointed out some Mukluks and told me that our grandmother used to make them when she was a kid and how much she loved them. I didn't know about this. It surprised me. She talked about how she wished she had a pair of them now.
Mukluks are a type of slipper. They're basically knit thick long socks with leather soles sewn to the bottom. They usually feature Native American stitch patterns in them because they are a Native American invention. After daddy passed away, I wanted to make her a pair to thank her, in a very small and inadequate way, for all she did for daddy and me. I found a cool pattern on Ravelry and for the last 2 years I've been struggling to make them. They looked like crap and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. This fall, though, when I was working on the funky socks for the son-in-law, I finally learned what my problem was and how to fix it. Of course, right after I got the Christmas knitting done, I got back to those Mukluks and I've finished them. They are finally the quality of workmanship I expect from myself.
Pattern: Kamchatka: Knitted Mukluk Slipper Socks by Erssie
Yarns: Berroco Vintage
Content: 50% Wool/40% Acrylic/10% Nylon
Colors: Indigo, Black Current, Red, Cracked Pepper, Mocha, Butter Cream
Needles: Circular size 7
Started: December 9, 2017
Finished: January 29, 2017
Comments: This is an advanced skill pattern. So knit accordingly. I should note that the original pattern has a lizard under the eagle. I substituted a traditional snowflake because I didn't think Susie would like lizards on her slippers. This is the chart I used for the snowflake.
I have been asked several times where I got the slipper soles. I ordered them from Paradise Fibers. Here's a tip for sewing the soles to the slippers: stuff the foot part with something (I used paper towels). It's a lot easier to sew them on that way.
The antibiotics I'm taking are working. I am SO relieved! I feel so much better. The coughing has almost stopped completely, the fever is finally gone, my nose has stopped running, and my plugged ears have opened up some. I'm starting to feel normal again.
Yesterday morning it started snowing here and it's not stopped yet. We've got about 10 inches of new snow so far. The wind blew all day yesterday too, so it's been drifting.
Here is a pic from the cruise that I took with the new camera.
John DeLancie ("Q" in TNG and Voyager) was taking questions from everyone and answering them. (He was just a few feet from me.) It was the evening of the big costume ball. It was supposed to be out by the pool, but it was raining and cold out so they moved us into Thirteen Forward. He answered questions while we waited for the band to get set up inside. The room was so full no one could have danced if they wanted to.
By the way, Mr. DeLancie is an incredibly nice man. Not anything like the character he played in Star Trek. He really showed his appreciation to the fans too. I frequently saw him on deck walking around taking selfies with folks.
Well, I need to figure out what knitting project I'm going to start next. Of course, it will be stranded mittens. It's just picking a pattern. I've got so many of them. If you are into stranded colorwork, especially in mittens, I would highly recommend these books.
Mittens of Latvia: 178 Traditional Designs to Knit by Maruta Grasmane
In one of my trips back (northern Michigan) during the last few months of his life she and I went shopping together and she pointed out some Mukluks and told me that our grandmother used to make them when she was a kid and how much she loved them. I didn't know about this. It surprised me. She talked about how she wished she had a pair of them now.
Mukluks are a type of slipper. They're basically knit thick long socks with leather soles sewn to the bottom. They usually feature Native American stitch patterns in them because they are a Native American invention. After daddy passed away, I wanted to make her a pair to thank her, in a very small and inadequate way, for all she did for daddy and me. I found a cool pattern on Ravelry and for the last 2 years I've been struggling to make them. They looked like crap and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. This fall, though, when I was working on the funky socks for the son-in-law, I finally learned what my problem was and how to fix it. Of course, right after I got the Christmas knitting done, I got back to those Mukluks and I've finished them. They are finally the quality of workmanship I expect from myself.
Pattern: Kamchatka: Knitted Mukluk Slipper Socks by Erssie
Size: Medium
Yarns: Berroco Vintage
Content: 50% Wool/40% Acrylic/10% Nylon
Colors: Indigo, Black Current, Red, Cracked Pepper, Mocha, Butter Cream
Needles: Circular size 7
Started: December 9, 2017
Finished: January 29, 2017
Comments: This is an advanced skill pattern. So knit accordingly. I should note that the original pattern has a lizard under the eagle. I substituted a traditional snowflake because I didn't think Susie would like lizards on her slippers. This is the chart I used for the snowflake.
I have been asked several times where I got the slipper soles. I ordered them from Paradise Fibers. Here's a tip for sewing the soles to the slippers: stuff the foot part with something (I used paper towels). It's a lot easier to sew them on that way.
The antibiotics I'm taking are working. I am SO relieved! I feel so much better. The coughing has almost stopped completely, the fever is finally gone, my nose has stopped running, and my plugged ears have opened up some. I'm starting to feel normal again.
Yesterday morning it started snowing here and it's not stopped yet. We've got about 10 inches of new snow so far. The wind blew all day yesterday too, so it's been drifting.
Here is a pic from the cruise that I took with the new camera.
John DeLancie ("Q" in TNG and Voyager) was taking questions from everyone and answering them. (He was just a few feet from me.) It was the evening of the big costume ball. It was supposed to be out by the pool, but it was raining and cold out so they moved us into Thirteen Forward. He answered questions while we waited for the band to get set up inside. The room was so full no one could have danced if they wanted to.
By the way, Mr. DeLancie is an incredibly nice man. Not anything like the character he played in Star Trek. He really showed his appreciation to the fans too. I frequently saw him on deck walking around taking selfies with folks.
Well, I need to figure out what knitting project I'm going to start next. Of course, it will be stranded mittens. It's just picking a pattern. I've got so many of them. If you are into stranded colorwork, especially in mittens, I would highly recommend these books.
Mittens of Latvia: 178 Traditional Designs to Knit by Maruta Grasmane
and Selbuvotter by Anne Bårdsgård
I bought both of these before the cruise.
Thankfully, Mittens of Latvia is now available in English (I have the Latvian version too. It was available a couple years or so ago.). It's chock full of the most amazing mitten patterns. The book is about the history and traditions of mitten knitting in Latvia. All the mittens in the book are charts of actual mittens from a museum. The book is divided into chapters featuring mittens from each area of Latvia. They each had unique aspects incorporated into their mittens. It's very interesting. They are an important part of the Latvian culture.
Selbuvotter is in Norwegian, so I can't read it. However, it is still useful to me because it has literally hundreds of pattern charts. Like the Latvian book, it is about the mitten knitting traditions of Norway and all the patterns have been charted from mittens in a museum. There are some very cool pictures in the book too. I love the cover pic of all those beautiful black and white mittens. I am hoping that eventually they will publish it in English so I can read it.
Selbuvotter is difficult to obtain. It's available at Schoolhouse Press right now. When I was looking to buy mine, they were out of them and didn't know when they'd be getting more, so I ordered it direct from the museum in Norway. That turned out to be an expensive way of doing it because they didn't accept credit cards so I had to do a very pricey wire transfer, but I'm so happy with the book I'm just glad to have it. Even at the price I ended up paying, it is worth every penny to me.
Well, that is it for today.
Live long and prosper. \\//
1/3/17
It's a Hat!
Oh my goodness but I've been so busy! I had a great Christmas and New Years. We spent time celebrating with family. I got some great presents too. My husband got me a new laptop. It's a Lenovo. I was totally surprised. It's kind of cool. I can fold the screen backward and it turns into a tablet with a touch screen. It is also a lot faster and lighter weight than my purple Dell. I love my Dell but it has become obsolete. Most of the new software, including Windows 10, won't run on it, so it's time to let it go.
We got lots of new snow. Saturday night dumped a foot of it on us. It's bitterly cold too.
Single digits at night. Brrr..it's definitely winter.
In my last post I mentioned I'd broken my camera. It was not repairable, so I bought a new one. It's a Nikon Cool Pix B500. It's quite a bit larger than my old one. It is pretty cool too, though I seem to have a problem with keeping the shots from being blurry. It's supposed to have that hand shaking prevention technology, but it's not as good as my old Sony was. I think in time I'll figure out how to work around it though.
I've been getting things ready for the trip, moving vast quantities of snow, working on getting moved in to my new laptop (I'm using it to do this post), and learning how my new camera works. Yet, somehow, I got my Guinan costume done. Yes! It's finished! Here's the hat.
I worked on it all day yesterday. I used THIS pattern that I found with a Google search. It was a very challenging sewing project. Using a slippery stretchy knit fabric made for some frustrating problems that I finally solved with some iron-on interfacing. I'm extremely happy to have it done, and I'm quite pleased with it.
My fur kids wanted their pics taken with the new camera, so here they are. First, we have Chenille, who is 14 years old now. She yowls at me a lot since bringing Zoey home. She's not happy about it, but there's nothing I can do about that. Zoey stays.
Zoey is hard to get good pics cuz she can't sit still so I'm pretty happy with these.
Last week I took her to the vet to get her toe nails cut because the groomers was unexpectedly closed. I had them weigh Zoey for me. She's 27 pounds and almost 6 months old.
The cruise is just a few days away. We're leaving on Saturday, and I have so much to do yet. So I probably am not going to post much.
I wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Live long and prosper. \\//
We got lots of new snow. Saturday night dumped a foot of it on us. It's bitterly cold too.
Single digits at night. Brrr..it's definitely winter.
In my last post I mentioned I'd broken my camera. It was not repairable, so I bought a new one. It's a Nikon Cool Pix B500. It's quite a bit larger than my old one. It is pretty cool too, though I seem to have a problem with keeping the shots from being blurry. It's supposed to have that hand shaking prevention technology, but it's not as good as my old Sony was. I think in time I'll figure out how to work around it though.
I've been getting things ready for the trip, moving vast quantities of snow, working on getting moved in to my new laptop (I'm using it to do this post), and learning how my new camera works. Yet, somehow, I got my Guinan costume done. Yes! It's finished! Here's the hat.
I worked on it all day yesterday. I used THIS pattern that I found with a Google search. It was a very challenging sewing project. Using a slippery stretchy knit fabric made for some frustrating problems that I finally solved with some iron-on interfacing. I'm extremely happy to have it done, and I'm quite pleased with it.
My fur kids wanted their pics taken with the new camera, so here they are. First, we have Chenille, who is 14 years old now. She yowls at me a lot since bringing Zoey home. She's not happy about it, but there's nothing I can do about that. Zoey stays.
Zoey is hard to get good pics cuz she can't sit still so I'm pretty happy with these.
Last week I took her to the vet to get her toe nails cut because the groomers was unexpectedly closed. I had them weigh Zoey for me. She's 27 pounds and almost 6 months old.
The cruise is just a few days away. We're leaving on Saturday, and I have so much to do yet. So I probably am not going to post much.
I wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Live long and prosper. \\//
8/27/15
Porcupine
It's been a very busy time since my last post. Never a dull moment these days. Must be August.
Last weekend was adventurous, if nothing else. The biggest excitement happened on Saturday night. We went to Dan and Sues for dinner. While relaxing and enjoying ourselves I suddenly noticed the dogs-Cable and Tripper- were not in the room with us. They were, in fact, outside. Ruth and I went out to call them in. After some time, Cable came running up the steps ------ covered in porcupine quills!
Tripper followed somewhat later, also porcupined. Oh what a nightmare! Thankfully, Cable cooperated while Doug and I removed them with a pair of pliers. She had a lot of them in her face, nose, chest, paws, and even inside her mouth imbedded in her soft pallet and under her lips. It was so painful for her and she bled quite a bit but she stuck it through as we pulled each one out.
Tripper was another matter. He did not cooperate at all! It took quite some time to get them out of his face even though he had less of them in him because he squirmed and jumped and tried to escape the whole time. He is an amazingly strong and slippery dog and he's much more afraid of pain. It took as many as four of us to hold him down while Dan pulled them out. Poor little guy.
I bet neither dog takes on a porcupine again.
Sweet hubby and I spent the daytime hours of the weekend shopping for a new pickup truck. Our Toyota Tundra is 12 years old and showing it's age. So we made the decision to replace it. We looked for something that will handle pulling our camping trailer better than the current vehicle and had a comfy back seat with plenty of leg room for all. We found what we want and 'bought' it. We have signed all the paperwork to purchase a Ford F150 XLT crew cab with towing package in Ruby Red Metallic. It will look somewhat like this (the front grill may be different.)
However, the actual truck we bought is at another dealership. You see, we found the perfect model on our local lot except it had one flaw. It had regular side mirrors instead of the bigger ones for pulling trailers. Sweet hubby insists it must have the larger mirrors. The dealership claims that to install the larger mirrors on the one in stock will cost more than for them to go get one from another Ford dealer, so they did some research and found one about 800 miles away. They are currently trying to arrange an exchange and trip to that dealership to bring it here for us. It was supposed to be here tomorrow, but there's been a problem. So maybe next week. It's frustrating to go through all that hassle and take nothing home. Urg. And when did pickup trucks get so darn expensive?
I went to the fair yesterday. I'm working the North Idaho Secular Society booth for 3 shifts. I took the very first one on Wednesday morning. Of course, I dashed off to see how my four entries did. I got 2 blue ribbons, one red, and one white ribbon. I will have more details after I get good pics, which I'll be doing tomorrow cuz I've got my second shift in the afternoon. I took my camera with me yesterday, but I forgot to bring it home. Left it on the floor under a chair in the booth. Can't pull the pics off it and put them on the laptop if it's there instead of here at home.
We are still having blistering hot dry weather with thick smoky air. We've had some days of nasty wind too. The visibility has been between 1 and 5 miles for the whole week, with unhealthy air warnings. It's miserable right now. I almost want winter to come, but not quite. Rain would be good. Rain would be really really good. I could go for a whole week of rain! They are predicting some rain for the weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Some other news. Doug and I are registered to go on the Star Trek Cruise in 2017! I mean, we are going! Really going! (Barring any unforeseen circumstances between now and then) An email came telling about this cruise. William Shatner is going to host it. Jonathon Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), Mirina Sirkis (Deanna Troy), Robert Picardo (The doctor from Voyager), James Darren (Holodeck character from Deep Space 9), and Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar in Next Generation) are scheduled to go too-so far. They are working to add more.
I have wanted, my whole life, to go to a Star Trek convention but have never been able to. It's on my bucket list. William Shatner is the last of the 'big three' stars of the original series. Deforest Kelly passed away some years ago, and then Leonard Nimoy passed away earlier this year. Time is running out. William Shatner is getting old and I don't want to miss seeing him. When Doug got home from work I told him about the cruise and how much I wanted to go. We discussed it and decided to do it. I am so excited! It will be the trip of a lifetime!
Live long and prosper. \\//
Last weekend was adventurous, if nothing else. The biggest excitement happened on Saturday night. We went to Dan and Sues for dinner. While relaxing and enjoying ourselves I suddenly noticed the dogs-Cable and Tripper- were not in the room with us. They were, in fact, outside. Ruth and I went out to call them in. After some time, Cable came running up the steps ------ covered in porcupine quills!
Tripper followed somewhat later, also porcupined. Oh what a nightmare! Thankfully, Cable cooperated while Doug and I removed them with a pair of pliers. She had a lot of them in her face, nose, chest, paws, and even inside her mouth imbedded in her soft pallet and under her lips. It was so painful for her and she bled quite a bit but she stuck it through as we pulled each one out.
Tripper was another matter. He did not cooperate at all! It took quite some time to get them out of his face even though he had less of them in him because he squirmed and jumped and tried to escape the whole time. He is an amazingly strong and slippery dog and he's much more afraid of pain. It took as many as four of us to hold him down while Dan pulled them out. Poor little guy.
I bet neither dog takes on a porcupine again.
Sweet hubby and I spent the daytime hours of the weekend shopping for a new pickup truck. Our Toyota Tundra is 12 years old and showing it's age. So we made the decision to replace it. We looked for something that will handle pulling our camping trailer better than the current vehicle and had a comfy back seat with plenty of leg room for all. We found what we want and 'bought' it. We have signed all the paperwork to purchase a Ford F150 XLT crew cab with towing package in Ruby Red Metallic. It will look somewhat like this (the front grill may be different.)
 |
| 2015 Ford F150 XLT |
However, the actual truck we bought is at another dealership. You see, we found the perfect model on our local lot except it had one flaw. It had regular side mirrors instead of the bigger ones for pulling trailers. Sweet hubby insists it must have the larger mirrors. The dealership claims that to install the larger mirrors on the one in stock will cost more than for them to go get one from another Ford dealer, so they did some research and found one about 800 miles away. They are currently trying to arrange an exchange and trip to that dealership to bring it here for us. It was supposed to be here tomorrow, but there's been a problem. So maybe next week. It's frustrating to go through all that hassle and take nothing home. Urg. And when did pickup trucks get so darn expensive?
I went to the fair yesterday. I'm working the North Idaho Secular Society booth for 3 shifts. I took the very first one on Wednesday morning. Of course, I dashed off to see how my four entries did. I got 2 blue ribbons, one red, and one white ribbon. I will have more details after I get good pics, which I'll be doing tomorrow cuz I've got my second shift in the afternoon. I took my camera with me yesterday, but I forgot to bring it home. Left it on the floor under a chair in the booth. Can't pull the pics off it and put them on the laptop if it's there instead of here at home.
We are still having blistering hot dry weather with thick smoky air. We've had some days of nasty wind too. The visibility has been between 1 and 5 miles for the whole week, with unhealthy air warnings. It's miserable right now. I almost want winter to come, but not quite. Rain would be good. Rain would be really really good. I could go for a whole week of rain! They are predicting some rain for the weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Some other news. Doug and I are registered to go on the Star Trek Cruise in 2017! I mean, we are going! Really going! (Barring any unforeseen circumstances between now and then) An email came telling about this cruise. William Shatner is going to host it. Jonathon Frakes (Commander William T. Riker), Mirina Sirkis (Deanna Troy), Robert Picardo (The doctor from Voyager), James Darren (Holodeck character from Deep Space 9), and Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar in Next Generation) are scheduled to go too-so far. They are working to add more.
I have wanted, my whole life, to go to a Star Trek convention but have never been able to. It's on my bucket list. William Shatner is the last of the 'big three' stars of the original series. Deforest Kelly passed away some years ago, and then Leonard Nimoy passed away earlier this year. Time is running out. William Shatner is getting old and I don't want to miss seeing him. When Doug got home from work I told him about the cruise and how much I wanted to go. We discussed it and decided to do it. I am so excited! It will be the trip of a lifetime!
Live long and prosper. \\//
2/12/13
I Have Returned
I'm back! You may have been wondering where I've been since I got home a week ago. Well, we came home to broken internet. The modem said we had online access, and even told us we were online, but it lied. It wasn't until Thursday that we could get someone out to fix it. Turned out when, a couple weeks before we left, a car wreck had knocked down a pole down the road from us, they didn't attach the phone lines correctly and managed to cross lines. The technician thinks that may have caused a power surge in the modem which burnt something out. He rewired the lines and gave us a new modem.
In addition, since arriving home I've been extremely busy! I didn't have a single day where I got to stay home until yesterday! This is the first chance I've had to sit down and blog.
I had a wonderful vacation. Our flights went without a hitch. The weather was perfect. Everything went so smoothly. It was so nice and warm and colorful in the east Caribbean and the ship was great! We took the Carnival Dream cruise to Nassau, Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.
We boarded the ship in Cape Canaveral. We headed straight for Nassau in the Bahamas. We spent the day exploring the ship. It is HUGE. About a 5th of a mile long. I got lots of exercise while living on it. There was lots to do with pools, bars, shows, and whatnot, and the food! The food was awesome! The best I've had on a cruise ship. Plenty of fresh veggies and fruits and healthy food. I am quite pleased with it. Everything we were served was outstanding in quality, flavor, and presentation. The buffet had a wonderful variation to choose from and the dining room meals were awesome! I was in food heaven. I got cheesecake for dessert every single day too. And it was awesome cheesecake! I enjoyed every single bite I ate on that ship. I also enjoyed not having to cook a single thing for over a week! It has been very very hard for me to go back to cooking meals again.
Our ship (with the red and blue smoke stack) from the highest point in Nassau.
In Nassau we took a ride in a horse drawn carriage. Our driver gave us a little tour of the town. He was very informative and quite a character.
After that we walked up the hill to the highest place on the island where there's a fort and a water tower. We stopped at a little museum on the way and got some history of the place.
Of everything we saw in Nassau, though, this had the biggest impact on me. It's called the Queen's Staircase.
It's a canyon carved out of the solid stone by slaves, with a fountain and staircase at the end. Hundreds of slaves were worked to death to make this canyon for a governor who was afraid of being invaded. He ordered the canyon made to provide a means of escape should that ever happen. It never did. You can still see the chisel marks in the walls. It was very humbling to walk the length of this place and climb the stairs. Slavery is a horrible horrible thing.
When Britain took ownership of the Bahamas, Queen Victoria freed the slaves. In honor of her, they built a fountain and a staircase at the end. Thus, the name.
After Nassau we went to St. Thomas, which is one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We didn't stay long for we boarded a boat to go to the island of St. John for our shore excursion. St. John has one of the US National parks on it- The Virgin Islands National Park. One I never thought I'd ever actually get to visit, so this was awesome!
Our tour took us through the park to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world where we snorkeled and enjoyed the sun for awhile. The water is absolutely gorgeous. My sister-in-law, Sue, took this panorama picture of the beach. Yes, I got to swim in that water and it was wonderful.
The small island you see there is protected. We aren't even allowed to touch it. I snorkeled for about an hour around it though. I saw so many beautiful fish of every color and shape you can imagine.
After St. Thomas, we went to St. Maarten which is an island divided in two. Two separate countries. One side owned by the Dutch, the other side owned by the French. We didn't have a shore excursion reserved for this island. We thought we'd try winging it. Worked out great. Right off the ship we found a taxi that took us on a very very nice tour of the island. We stopped at a few different places along the way. One of those places was a beach that hubby and his brother wanted to visit in the worst way, so I was glad we got to go there.
On the Dutch side of St. Maarten, there is an airport right off the beach. Planes fly over this beach regularly. It's St. Maartens biggest tourist attraction. You can stand on the beach and get knocked down by the jet wash as a plane flies over to land on the runway if you want. Planes land about every 15 minutes or so. In this picture, we're standing in front of the schedule.
A few minutes later, I decided I wasn't in the mood to get knocked down, so I stayed a safe distance away as a jet came over us.
Sue took this pic. I love the sign.
There's a bar on the beach. We sat and had a beer while we watched the planes land too.
I took this picture when we visited another beach briefly on the tour. It is on the French side of the island. The water is so pretty!
Then our tour guide took us to an open market where we shopped for awhile. Then we headed back to the ship. As we pulled out of the harbor, some clouds had moved in and a beautiful rainbow appeared. It was a great way to end our visit to St. Maarten.
We had two days at sea on our return home. It was very relaxing and fun. I did take knitting with me. I worked on the sweater I've decided to make for my son-in-law. I put aside time every day to work on it. I really enjoyed sitting on the deck knitting. I got a goodly amount done too. Here's the project at it's current level of doneness.
I am at the point where I start the main fairisle part. It has a problem. I got gauge on my swatch, but I'm not getting it in the sweater. It's supposed to be 47 inches around at this point. It's 42. Sigh. I hate it when that happens. So I stopped work on it while I waited for daughter to measure Franks chest. Turns out, it's gonna fit him just fine as is. If it was 47 inches, it would be way too big, so I shall continue on. I'm going to go up a needle size because I tend to knit a little tighter in fairisle.
You may notice I'm doing this in the round. It's one of those patterns with steeks. Yeeks! I have never actually knit a sweater this way. Thought I'd give it a try. You never know, I might like it.
We spent 3 days in Cape Canaveral after returning to port. We went to Sea World first where we saw shows performed by dolphins, whales and sea lions, and all kinds of wonderful sea animals. Enjoyed it very much.
On the second day we went to Disney Epcot center. I didn't take my camera with me and it's just as well because I was very disappointed in it. I've been there before, when the girls were little and it has changed quite a bit since then. It used to be very educational but now it's just a bunch of gift shops and restaurants. There are a few rides, but they were horribly lame. I will probably never go back and I wouldn't recommend it. The one highlight was lunch. We ate at an English pub. I had the cottage pie and a pint of ale. Both were very very good.
On the third day we went to Kennedy Space Center. We'd made reservations for a tour of one of the launch pads. What an amazing place. It was very very educational. We met one of the astronauts, J.O. Crieghton, who flew one of the space shuttle 3 times (I think it was the Discovery?).
He gave a fascinating presentation on his experiences and the process he went through to board the shuttle craft. He is such a nice man. He shook my hand and I didn't wanna wash it after that. I felt like a fan girl. I shook hands with a real life astronaut who flew in one of the space shuttles! Wow!
After that we boarded the bus for our tour. They took us out to Launch Pad 38.
We got to get out of the bus and walk up close to it. This is underneath where all that steam and smoke comes out. The bricks are holding up pretty good despite the heat they are subjected to.
These bricks show signs of melting.
One of the things we heard over and over while we were there was that NASA is not done and over with. I guess, with the ending of the Shuttle program, people have acquired the idea that NASA is ended too. Not true! They are busily working on their next projects. They are building new heavy payload rockets for both passengers and cargo.
They are making plans to send astronauts to Mars. They are also making money helping out the private sector and other countries working on space projects. I was quite surprised to find out they are renting out their launch pads to those who have stuff to launch. The pads are already built and perfected so why not use them? I think that is a fantastic idea!
All in all, it was a fascinating tour. I highly recommend it!
I hope you've enjoyed this essay on my vacation.
Live long and prosper. \\//
In addition, since arriving home I've been extremely busy! I didn't have a single day where I got to stay home until yesterday! This is the first chance I've had to sit down and blog.
I had a wonderful vacation. Our flights went without a hitch. The weather was perfect. Everything went so smoothly. It was so nice and warm and colorful in the east Caribbean and the ship was great! We took the Carnival Dream cruise to Nassau, Bahamas, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.
We boarded the ship in Cape Canaveral. We headed straight for Nassau in the Bahamas. We spent the day exploring the ship. It is HUGE. About a 5th of a mile long. I got lots of exercise while living on it. There was lots to do with pools, bars, shows, and whatnot, and the food! The food was awesome! The best I've had on a cruise ship. Plenty of fresh veggies and fruits and healthy food. I am quite pleased with it. Everything we were served was outstanding in quality, flavor, and presentation. The buffet had a wonderful variation to choose from and the dining room meals were awesome! I was in food heaven. I got cheesecake for dessert every single day too. And it was awesome cheesecake! I enjoyed every single bite I ate on that ship. I also enjoyed not having to cook a single thing for over a week! It has been very very hard for me to go back to cooking meals again.
Our ship (with the red and blue smoke stack) from the highest point in Nassau.
In Nassau we took a ride in a horse drawn carriage. Our driver gave us a little tour of the town. He was very informative and quite a character.
After that we walked up the hill to the highest place on the island where there's a fort and a water tower. We stopped at a little museum on the way and got some history of the place.
Of everything we saw in Nassau, though, this had the biggest impact on me. It's called the Queen's Staircase.
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| Doug, me, Sue, and Dan in The Queens Staircase |
It's a canyon carved out of the solid stone by slaves, with a fountain and staircase at the end. Hundreds of slaves were worked to death to make this canyon for a governor who was afraid of being invaded. He ordered the canyon made to provide a means of escape should that ever happen. It never did. You can still see the chisel marks in the walls. It was very humbling to walk the length of this place and climb the stairs. Slavery is a horrible horrible thing.
When Britain took ownership of the Bahamas, Queen Victoria freed the slaves. In honor of her, they built a fountain and a staircase at the end. Thus, the name.
After Nassau we went to St. Thomas, which is one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We didn't stay long for we boarded a boat to go to the island of St. John for our shore excursion. St. John has one of the US National parks on it- The Virgin Islands National Park. One I never thought I'd ever actually get to visit, so this was awesome!
Our tour took us through the park to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world where we snorkeled and enjoyed the sun for awhile. The water is absolutely gorgeous. My sister-in-law, Sue, took this panorama picture of the beach. Yes, I got to swim in that water and it was wonderful.
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| Click on me to enlarge. |
The small island you see there is protected. We aren't even allowed to touch it. I snorkeled for about an hour around it though. I saw so many beautiful fish of every color and shape you can imagine.
After St. Thomas, we went to St. Maarten which is an island divided in two. Two separate countries. One side owned by the Dutch, the other side owned by the French. We didn't have a shore excursion reserved for this island. We thought we'd try winging it. Worked out great. Right off the ship we found a taxi that took us on a very very nice tour of the island. We stopped at a few different places along the way. One of those places was a beach that hubby and his brother wanted to visit in the worst way, so I was glad we got to go there.
On the Dutch side of St. Maarten, there is an airport right off the beach. Planes fly over this beach regularly. It's St. Maartens biggest tourist attraction. You can stand on the beach and get knocked down by the jet wash as a plane flies over to land on the runway if you want. Planes land about every 15 minutes or so. In this picture, we're standing in front of the schedule.
A few minutes later, I decided I wasn't in the mood to get knocked down, so I stayed a safe distance away as a jet came over us.
Sue took this pic. I love the sign.
There's a bar on the beach. We sat and had a beer while we watched the planes land too.
I took this picture when we visited another beach briefly on the tour. It is on the French side of the island. The water is so pretty!
Then our tour guide took us to an open market where we shopped for awhile. Then we headed back to the ship. As we pulled out of the harbor, some clouds had moved in and a beautiful rainbow appeared. It was a great way to end our visit to St. Maarten.
We had two days at sea on our return home. It was very relaxing and fun. I did take knitting with me. I worked on the sweater I've decided to make for my son-in-law. I put aside time every day to work on it. I really enjoyed sitting on the deck knitting. I got a goodly amount done too. Here's the project at it's current level of doneness.
I am at the point where I start the main fairisle part. It has a problem. I got gauge on my swatch, but I'm not getting it in the sweater. It's supposed to be 47 inches around at this point. It's 42. Sigh. I hate it when that happens. So I stopped work on it while I waited for daughter to measure Franks chest. Turns out, it's gonna fit him just fine as is. If it was 47 inches, it would be way too big, so I shall continue on. I'm going to go up a needle size because I tend to knit a little tighter in fairisle.
You may notice I'm doing this in the round. It's one of those patterns with steeks. Yeeks! I have never actually knit a sweater this way. Thought I'd give it a try. You never know, I might like it.
We spent 3 days in Cape Canaveral after returning to port. We went to Sea World first where we saw shows performed by dolphins, whales and sea lions, and all kinds of wonderful sea animals. Enjoyed it very much.
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| This dolphin posed for my camera. |
On the second day we went to Disney Epcot center. I didn't take my camera with me and it's just as well because I was very disappointed in it. I've been there before, when the girls were little and it has changed quite a bit since then. It used to be very educational but now it's just a bunch of gift shops and restaurants. There are a few rides, but they were horribly lame. I will probably never go back and I wouldn't recommend it. The one highlight was lunch. We ate at an English pub. I had the cottage pie and a pint of ale. Both were very very good.
On the third day we went to Kennedy Space Center. We'd made reservations for a tour of one of the launch pads. What an amazing place. It was very very educational. We met one of the astronauts, J.O. Crieghton, who flew one of the space shuttle 3 times (I think it was the Discovery?).
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| Copyright 2013 Linda Jo Park, all rights reserved. |
He gave a fascinating presentation on his experiences and the process he went through to board the shuttle craft. He is such a nice man. He shook my hand and I didn't wanna wash it after that. I felt like a fan girl. I shook hands with a real life astronaut who flew in one of the space shuttles! Wow!
After that we boarded the bus for our tour. They took us out to Launch Pad 38.
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| Launch pad 38 |
We got to get out of the bus and walk up close to it. This is underneath where all that steam and smoke comes out. The bricks are holding up pretty good despite the heat they are subjected to.
These bricks show signs of melting.
One of the things we heard over and over while we were there was that NASA is not done and over with. I guess, with the ending of the Shuttle program, people have acquired the idea that NASA is ended too. Not true! They are busily working on their next projects. They are building new heavy payload rockets for both passengers and cargo.
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| Used rocket lot. ;-) |
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| Fire Star orchids blooming at the Kennedy Center. |
All in all, it was a fascinating tour. I highly recommend it!
I hope you've enjoyed this essay on my vacation.
Live long and prosper. \\//
10/8/12
A Toggle Clasp
This is what I worked on yesterday, and this morning. I've decided I prefer making toggle clasps as opposed to using pre-made ones.
I am getting closer to completing the necklace I've been working on. All that's left to do is finish the spiral rope part and attach this clasp. I looked it up and I started this necklace in the fall of 2007. I got this far before I quit working on it.
I wanted to sit out on the deck in the sunshine today but it was too darn cold, even in the sun. Not looking forward to winter. However, in the end of January I will get a brief respite from the winter weather for we have booked a cruise in the Caribbean. We'll be on a Carnival ship this time called The Dream. My husband and I, his twin brother Dan, and Dan's wife are going together, just the 4 of us. We're leaving the kids home. I can hardly wait!
I'm gonna go knit now. Gotta get that scarf done! I leave you with this.
Live long and prosper. \\//
I am getting closer to completing the necklace I've been working on. All that's left to do is finish the spiral rope part and attach this clasp. I looked it up and I started this necklace in the fall of 2007. I got this far before I quit working on it.
I wanted to sit out on the deck in the sunshine today but it was too darn cold, even in the sun. Not looking forward to winter. However, in the end of January I will get a brief respite from the winter weather for we have booked a cruise in the Caribbean. We'll be on a Carnival ship this time called The Dream. My husband and I, his twin brother Dan, and Dan's wife are going together, just the 4 of us. We're leaving the kids home. I can hardly wait!
I'm gonna go knit now. Gotta get that scarf done! I leave you with this.
Live long and prosper. \\//
1/20/08
Cruise Report Part Deux
There are a couple things I'd like to mention regarding the first part of our cruise.
1) We were not charged for my visit to the ship doctor. The cruise line takes Noravirus very seriously because it is so contagious. So, in order to encourage folks to visit the doctor for gastrointestinal problems, the visit is free. If medication is required, you have to pay for that. But the meds for this virus are darn cheap, and I'd have paid 1000 times more for them.
2) Regarding the kayak excursion disaster. Everyone in our tour group filed a complaint upon returning to the ship. So we were refunded half the cost of the excursion. I would have liked it all back, but half was better than nothing.
Now, on to better things. On New Years Eve Day morning (try saying that 3 times fast) we docked in Puerto Vallarta. Upon stepping out onto the balcony to see what PV looked like, I saw this. Yup! That's a Walmart behind that Pirate Ship.
We got off the ship and waited around on the dock for our shore excursion call. We were scheduled to go on the Las Calitas Hideaway Trip, but it was gonna be an hour before we were needed. There was a nice little park with a large cage full of parrots. We walked along a path behind the cage and found Jack. Ruth is talking to Jack.
Jack was extremely friendly. He even let us scratch his back and got on my hand for a minute. His owner told us he was 14 years old.
Eventually, they were asking for our tour group. The Las Calitas Hideaway was a trip on a party boat, with an open bar, to a little jungle hideaway south of PV where we were promised food, an open bar, snorkeling, a gorgeous beach, and fun fun fun in the sun. They delivered! In fact, we had a blast!
As soon as the boat got under way they were handing out Margueritas and Mexican Beer like it was free! Well, in a way it was, cos it was drink all you want. Not only that, but cute Mexican fellows were delivering it. I drank!
I don't usually drink regular Marguerita's because they are thick with lime juice. As a rule, I've been allergic to citrus fruit all my life. Severely allergic. Especially oranges and lemons. I just have assumed limes were included. So I usually opt for Strawberry Marguerita's. However, Strawberry was not available, so I took a chance. Lo and behold, I am NOT allergic to limes! No one is more surprised than me!
Sue and I did our part to lighten the Tequila load on the boat. We also talked daughter Ruth into trying one. Technically, she's underage in the US, but not in Mexico. She soon discovered she likes Marguerita's too, so she joined our efforts.
On the way to Las Calitas, our boat captain took a side trip. It wasn't on the program, he just decided to do it because he'd been told Hump Back Whales had been spotted in the area. He drove us out to the rumored spot, and there they were. Two parents and a baby! They were the most awesome animals I've ever seen. So huge, and yet so graceful! I was so engrossed in watching them I forgot my camera-until Sweet Hubby said something to me. I took several pics. These two are my favorite.
Las Calitas was gorgeous. Golden sands and lush jungle. We started with a buffet lunch that was fantastic! Barbecued Chicken, Mexican style, and all kinds of delicious salads and side dishes. Our table was right on the beach, as you can see. It was probably one of the most beautiful spots I've ever eaten lunch at a table.
After lunch, I went snorkeling. I had my prescription snorkel mask with me and I was dying to try it out. It was great! The water was just thick with beautiful fish of every shape, size, and color. I enjoyed it so much that's all I did while we were there. By the time the horn sounded for us to return to the boat I was exhausted. So I didn't drink any Martguerita's on the way back cos I was afraid I'd fall asleep.
Soon we returned to the ship and got underway for Cabo San Lucas. We had a beautiful view of the sunset from the balcony of our stateroom. Sweet Hubby took this pic.
New Years Eve ended up being kind of a bummer. We got all dressed up for dinner, went to dinner, caught a show after dinner (the comedians on the ship were wonderful), and then everyone crashed and burned. Sweet Hubby collapsed on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. He had no energy left for a party. Dan and Sue went to bed. They were a pathetic bunch.
A few minutes later I noticed Ruth was out on the balcony. She was crying. She had been looking forward to cheering in the New Year on the ship and we were copping out on her. I felt really bad about it, so I grabbed her hand and asked her where she wanted to celebrate.
There were two main parties. One on the top deck by the pool. One down on deck 4 in the main atrium. This one was the official Captains party. My question was "Do you wanna go up to the one on deck so when the wave comes we can jump off? Or do you wanna go down in the Atrium with the captain and plan on climbing our way out?" (Reference to the movie Poseidon) This made her laugh.
We decided to go to our favorite bar on the ship. It's called the Spinnaker Lounge and it's on deck 12. When we arrived, they were handing out party hats, and noise makers. Up on stage were 5 guys in their underwear wearing bras on their heads. The cruise director was MC-ing some kind of what looked like a weird contest.
Now, most mothers accompanying their 20 year old daughter to a bar and seeing 5 guys with nothing on but underwear and bra-ish head wear up on a stage prancing around would have turned and run screaming from the place. But this was a very special New Years Eve for said daughter, so I decided to brave the elements and found a table up near the stage. I ordered a couple Apple martini's for us, and we began our celebration. The guys had to put their clothes back on (whew!), and then dancing started. Ruth and I just sat watching everyone and drinking Apple Martinis. We both love to sit and watch people. In a bar it can be entertaining. It was very entertaining, and we laughed a lot. We toasted 2008 in with Apple martinis, and then we called it a night and went to bed. It wasn't the celebration we had hoped for, but it sufficed.
The morning of January 1, 2008 we found ourselves coming into Cabo San Lucas. This is a pic of the famous 'arch' as you come into port. Cabo was a beautiful place.
We had no shore excursion planned for this one. We decided to hit the shore on our feet and shop til' we drop. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't take my camera with me. I wanted to SHOP, and shop we did!
We found a place that was sort of an artists market with dozens and dozens of booths filled with items made by the locals. I found a beautiful hand made silver bracelet with swarovski crystals on it that I just had to have. Sweet Hubby glommed onto a hand carved domino's set made of wood that he suddenly couldn't live without (even though we already own 2 domino sets which he has never played with). We found gifts to take home to friends and family. I would say we spent at least 3 hours in that place looking at everything. It was fascinating.
At lunch time we found a nice cafe with tables along the water where we ate a very tasty lunch of fajitas and chicken enchiladas (except for Ruth, who insisted on tacos-there's gotta be one in every crowd). Oh yes, and Marguerita's and beer. Then we headed back to the ship.
The next two days we were at sea headed back to L.A. I finally got to enjoy some of the good stuff on the ship, like the swimming pool, and the jacuzzi. I laid out on a lounger in the sun on the Promenade deck and read a good mystery novel. I knitted a little bit (4 whole rows!) on my I Love Gansey sock. I attended the shows. I saw dancers and singers and professional comedians, and I ate.
There is no shortage of good food on a cruise ship. It's everywhere. It's available 24 hours a day. If you can't go get it, there's a phone in your room so you can get someone to bring it to you. I made up for lost time on those two days I was so sick! And I found something better than cheesecake. A little concoction called Mocha Creme Brulee. There are no words to describe the ecstasy this concoction produces in the human mouth.
Eventually we docked and found ourselves back on United States soil. It's a funny thing about that. When you get on a cruise ship, you spend the first two days reeling and swaying along the hallways and decks like a drunkard, even though you may not be drunk. That's cos the ship rocks on the water and throws you off your balance. But after awhile, you adjust to the rocking and you don't even notice it. Everyone stops listing (except the drunkards, of course) and life is grand. But, when you step on land, suddenly everything is rocking.
In the brain you know the ground could not possibly be rocking cos it's ground! But it sure feels like it's moving. So for the next day or two you reel back and forth like a drunkard until you adjust to not moving anymore.
We reeled and swayed our way through customs. The customs agent took our passports, asked us if we were all related, and then stared at us intently. Finally, he said to me "When's his birthday?" pointing at my husband. I totally didn't expect that. Usually what you hear is 'What's your mothers maiden name?" I couldn't quite believe I'd heard him right so I asked him to repeat the question. He repeated it, and I gave him the answer. Then I thought "Oh no! What if he asks Sweet Hubby when my birthday is?" Yikes! We'll end up in prison and eventually deported for sure cos he never can remember when my birthday is!" Instead, he turned to Ruth and asked her what hospital/city she was born in and if I was her mother. Whew! What a relief! We were then told we could enter the country.
We headed straight for the car rental agency, picked up our van, packed 17 pieces of luggage and 6 people into said van and headed for Disneyland.
We spent 3 glorious days there. They were glorious because it rained just enough. Californians are afraid of rain. I should know. I lived there for 10 years. I was born and raised in the Seattle, WA area though. If we were afraid of rain there, we'd never have left our homes.
It wasn't even really rain. More like a constant drizzle. You know, the rain that gets everything wet, except you if you keep moving about. It was just enough to keep the crowds away and the temperatures perfect. We didn't have to wait in lines for much of anything. We rode just about every ride in the two parks-Disneyland and California Experience. It was a great deal of fun.
This is a pic of the train station just inside the Disneyland entrance. Mickey mouse is made of purple and white Sweet Allysum. The red flourishes on each side are Red Poinsettias. Real ones, actually planted in the ground. You wouldn't dare do that here in north Idaho!
All in all, even though I got horribly sick and Acapulco was such a sucky place, I had a good time on my vacation. Las Calitas was my favorite shore excursion. Seeing real live Humpbacks was the thrill of a lifetime. And I've found a dessert better than cheesecake.
Now, I have been beading and knitting since I got home, despite being sick. We'll get caught up on that in the next day or two.
In the meantime, have a great day!
1) We were not charged for my visit to the ship doctor. The cruise line takes Noravirus very seriously because it is so contagious. So, in order to encourage folks to visit the doctor for gastrointestinal problems, the visit is free. If medication is required, you have to pay for that. But the meds for this virus are darn cheap, and I'd have paid 1000 times more for them.
2) Regarding the kayak excursion disaster. Everyone in our tour group filed a complaint upon returning to the ship. So we were refunded half the cost of the excursion. I would have liked it all back, but half was better than nothing.
Now, on to better things. On New Years Eve Day morning (try saying that 3 times fast) we docked in Puerto Vallarta. Upon stepping out onto the balcony to see what PV looked like, I saw this. Yup! That's a Walmart behind that Pirate Ship.
We got off the ship and waited around on the dock for our shore excursion call. We were scheduled to go on the Las Calitas Hideaway Trip, but it was gonna be an hour before we were needed. There was a nice little park with a large cage full of parrots. We walked along a path behind the cage and found Jack. Ruth is talking to Jack.
Jack was extremely friendly. He even let us scratch his back and got on my hand for a minute. His owner told us he was 14 years old.
Eventually, they were asking for our tour group. The Las Calitas Hideaway was a trip on a party boat, with an open bar, to a little jungle hideaway south of PV where we were promised food, an open bar, snorkeling, a gorgeous beach, and fun fun fun in the sun. They delivered! In fact, we had a blast!
As soon as the boat got under way they were handing out Margueritas and Mexican Beer like it was free! Well, in a way it was, cos it was drink all you want. Not only that, but cute Mexican fellows were delivering it. I drank!
I don't usually drink regular Marguerita's because they are thick with lime juice. As a rule, I've been allergic to citrus fruit all my life. Severely allergic. Especially oranges and lemons. I just have assumed limes were included. So I usually opt for Strawberry Marguerita's. However, Strawberry was not available, so I took a chance. Lo and behold, I am NOT allergic to limes! No one is more surprised than me!
Sue and I did our part to lighten the Tequila load on the boat. We also talked daughter Ruth into trying one. Technically, she's underage in the US, but not in Mexico. She soon discovered she likes Marguerita's too, so she joined our efforts.
On the way to Las Calitas, our boat captain took a side trip. It wasn't on the program, he just decided to do it because he'd been told Hump Back Whales had been spotted in the area. He drove us out to the rumored spot, and there they were. Two parents and a baby! They were the most awesome animals I've ever seen. So huge, and yet so graceful! I was so engrossed in watching them I forgot my camera-until Sweet Hubby said something to me. I took several pics. These two are my favorite.
Mom on the left. Baby is the small dark grey spot just on the right of Mom.
Daddy waving his fluke. (Sorry this pic is a little bit blurry.)
Las Calitas was gorgeous. Golden sands and lush jungle. We started with a buffet lunch that was fantastic! Barbecued Chicken, Mexican style, and all kinds of delicious salads and side dishes. Our table was right on the beach, as you can see. It was probably one of the most beautiful spots I've ever eaten lunch at a table.
After lunch, I went snorkeling. I had my prescription snorkel mask with me and I was dying to try it out. It was great! The water was just thick with beautiful fish of every shape, size, and color. I enjoyed it so much that's all I did while we were there. By the time the horn sounded for us to return to the boat I was exhausted. So I didn't drink any Martguerita's on the way back cos I was afraid I'd fall asleep.
Soon we returned to the ship and got underway for Cabo San Lucas. We had a beautiful view of the sunset from the balcony of our stateroom. Sweet Hubby took this pic.
New Years Eve ended up being kind of a bummer. We got all dressed up for dinner, went to dinner, caught a show after dinner (the comedians on the ship were wonderful), and then everyone crashed and burned. Sweet Hubby collapsed on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. He had no energy left for a party. Dan and Sue went to bed. They were a pathetic bunch.
A few minutes later I noticed Ruth was out on the balcony. She was crying. She had been looking forward to cheering in the New Year on the ship and we were copping out on her. I felt really bad about it, so I grabbed her hand and asked her where she wanted to celebrate.
There were two main parties. One on the top deck by the pool. One down on deck 4 in the main atrium. This one was the official Captains party. My question was "Do you wanna go up to the one on deck so when the wave comes we can jump off? Or do you wanna go down in the Atrium with the captain and plan on climbing our way out?" (Reference to the movie Poseidon) This made her laugh.
We decided to go to our favorite bar on the ship. It's called the Spinnaker Lounge and it's on deck 12. When we arrived, they were handing out party hats, and noise makers. Up on stage were 5 guys in their underwear wearing bras on their heads. The cruise director was MC-ing some kind of what looked like a weird contest.
Now, most mothers accompanying their 20 year old daughter to a bar and seeing 5 guys with nothing on but underwear and bra-ish head wear up on a stage prancing around would have turned and run screaming from the place. But this was a very special New Years Eve for said daughter, so I decided to brave the elements and found a table up near the stage. I ordered a couple Apple martini's for us, and we began our celebration. The guys had to put their clothes back on (whew!), and then dancing started. Ruth and I just sat watching everyone and drinking Apple Martinis. We both love to sit and watch people. In a bar it can be entertaining. It was very entertaining, and we laughed a lot. We toasted 2008 in with Apple martinis, and then we called it a night and went to bed. It wasn't the celebration we had hoped for, but it sufficed.
The morning of January 1, 2008 we found ourselves coming into Cabo San Lucas. This is a pic of the famous 'arch' as you come into port. Cabo was a beautiful place.
We had no shore excursion planned for this one. We decided to hit the shore on our feet and shop til' we drop. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't take my camera with me. I wanted to SHOP, and shop we did!
We found a place that was sort of an artists market with dozens and dozens of booths filled with items made by the locals. I found a beautiful hand made silver bracelet with swarovski crystals on it that I just had to have. Sweet Hubby glommed onto a hand carved domino's set made of wood that he suddenly couldn't live without (even though we already own 2 domino sets which he has never played with). We found gifts to take home to friends and family. I would say we spent at least 3 hours in that place looking at everything. It was fascinating.
At lunch time we found a nice cafe with tables along the water where we ate a very tasty lunch of fajitas and chicken enchiladas (except for Ruth, who insisted on tacos-there's gotta be one in every crowd). Oh yes, and Marguerita's and beer. Then we headed back to the ship.
The next two days we were at sea headed back to L.A. I finally got to enjoy some of the good stuff on the ship, like the swimming pool, and the jacuzzi. I laid out on a lounger in the sun on the Promenade deck and read a good mystery novel. I knitted a little bit (4 whole rows!) on my I Love Gansey sock. I attended the shows. I saw dancers and singers and professional comedians, and I ate.
There is no shortage of good food on a cruise ship. It's everywhere. It's available 24 hours a day. If you can't go get it, there's a phone in your room so you can get someone to bring it to you. I made up for lost time on those two days I was so sick! And I found something better than cheesecake. A little concoction called Mocha Creme Brulee. There are no words to describe the ecstasy this concoction produces in the human mouth.
Eventually we docked and found ourselves back on United States soil. It's a funny thing about that. When you get on a cruise ship, you spend the first two days reeling and swaying along the hallways and decks like a drunkard, even though you may not be drunk. That's cos the ship rocks on the water and throws you off your balance. But after awhile, you adjust to the rocking and you don't even notice it. Everyone stops listing (except the drunkards, of course) and life is grand. But, when you step on land, suddenly everything is rocking.
In the brain you know the ground could not possibly be rocking cos it's ground! But it sure feels like it's moving. So for the next day or two you reel back and forth like a drunkard until you adjust to not moving anymore.
We reeled and swayed our way through customs. The customs agent took our passports, asked us if we were all related, and then stared at us intently. Finally, he said to me "When's his birthday?" pointing at my husband. I totally didn't expect that. Usually what you hear is 'What's your mothers maiden name?" I couldn't quite believe I'd heard him right so I asked him to repeat the question. He repeated it, and I gave him the answer. Then I thought "Oh no! What if he asks Sweet Hubby when my birthday is?" Yikes! We'll end up in prison and eventually deported for sure cos he never can remember when my birthday is!" Instead, he turned to Ruth and asked her what hospital/city she was born in and if I was her mother. Whew! What a relief! We were then told we could enter the country.
We headed straight for the car rental agency, picked up our van, packed 17 pieces of luggage and 6 people into said van and headed for Disneyland.
We spent 3 glorious days there. They were glorious because it rained just enough. Californians are afraid of rain. I should know. I lived there for 10 years. I was born and raised in the Seattle, WA area though. If we were afraid of rain there, we'd never have left our homes.
It wasn't even really rain. More like a constant drizzle. You know, the rain that gets everything wet, except you if you keep moving about. It was just enough to keep the crowds away and the temperatures perfect. We didn't have to wait in lines for much of anything. We rode just about every ride in the two parks-Disneyland and California Experience. It was a great deal of fun.
This is a pic of the train station just inside the Disneyland entrance. Mickey mouse is made of purple and white Sweet Allysum. The red flourishes on each side are Red Poinsettias. Real ones, actually planted in the ground. You wouldn't dare do that here in north Idaho!
This is me, Ruth, and my favorite employee of Monsters, Inc, Sully.
All in all, even though I got horribly sick and Acapulco was such a sucky place, I had a good time on my vacation. Las Calitas was my favorite shore excursion. Seeing real live Humpbacks was the thrill of a lifetime. And I've found a dessert better than cheesecake.
Now, I have been beading and knitting since I got home, despite being sick. We'll get caught up on that in the next day or two.
In the meantime, have a great day!
1/16/08
The Cruise-Part 1
I have finally beaten off the bugs and viruses lurking around here. It's nice to feel human again. I thought I'd do my little report on the cruise. I didn't take a lot of pictures cos I found myself wanting to do rather than taking pictures of others doing. But here's a few of what I've got.
We left Christmas Day, flying down to LAX. The flight went very smoothly (unlike the return home). We spent the night in a hotel across the street from the Pier. The next morning I opened the curtains and the ship was there. We got pretty excited.
We couldn't board until 1pm, so we had to kill some time. There was a Mariners museum across the street too, so we visited it. It was pretty interesting. This is a large propeller from a ship. Doug, Ruth, and nephew Nathan posed.
After we boarded the ship, we went straight to the buffet and had lunch. Then we hung out on the deck until we shipped out.
We ate our first dinner in the main dining room. I had the best roast leg of lamb ever. It was so delicious. I can't describe the pleasure I had in eating my Bavarian Chocolate Cream for dessert either. Yum.....However, one hour later I started to feel sick. By the next morning I was very very sick. I haven't been that sick in a long long long time. I was so sick I wanted to die. Sweet Hubby finally insisted I see the doctor. I was so weak though that I couldn't walk all the way to the infirmary (other end of ship and 4 decks down), so they sent someone with a wheelchair.
The doctor confirmed my worst fear. I had the dreaded virus often caught on cruise ships, Norovirus. I caught it in less than 8 hours too. It's pretty contagious stuff. I found it hard to believe cos I washed my hands all the time, and everywhere we went on the ship nice young poeple in NCL uniforms were spraying our hands with antibacterial lotion (yech!). The good news, though, was that I would live to tell about it. I was actually relieved to hear that. I worried that Doug and Ruth would get sick too, but they didn't.
I spent the two days at sea in bed in our stateroom, missing out on all the fun and food. Sigh. The illness really knocked the spit out of me. I was so weak it took several days for me to get my strength back, so I had a hard time enjoying myself when I felt so crappy. However, as the days went by, I continually improved, and the cruise got more fun.
Our first stop was Acapulco. Didn't like it. Acapulco smelled bad-from the balcony of our stateroom. It stunk like a garbage dump. It's got almost 3 million people living there, crowded, poor, and living in garbage. We had a shore excursion that required a bus trip to our destination--a freshwater lake for kayaking and lunch. We got a real good look at what Mexican poverty is like on that bus ride. People living in tiny hovels, filth everywhere, and the garbage. Every spare spot that didn't have a building or a car on it was piled high with vile stinking garbage. It was a filthy stinky city.
Our shore excursion was a disaster. Our ship was 2 hours late getting to port, so they decided to combine our group with another group. Poor decision. This was supposed to be a quick trip by bus to a quiet little jungle lagoon where we would kayak around and be fed lunch. 3 hours max. HA!
First, it was a large lake with power boats and jet ski's all over the place. Very noisy.
There were not enough kayaks. So we had to divide up into groups. Our group waited 2 hours before it was our turn. We sat at tables in a really charming open air restaurant right on the lake.
After awhile we got thirsty. It was a hot day, and we'd been waiting a long time, so Sweet Hubby and Dan started taking turns buying stuff from the bar. I had a very tasty mexican beer.
When it was our turn, we approached the waters edge. Someone handed me a child sized life jacket. I protested. He said "It's okay. Just for government, safety." He then handed me a paddle that was broken and held together with duct tape, and told me to get in the kayak. I complied. I could hardly paddle cos the life jacket was so tight around my shoulders I couldn't put my arms down. There was no back on the seat of the kayak either, so I had to lean forward with my knees up in the air. Really uncomfortable with my arms up. After about 2 minutes my back seized up into agonizing pain. I told our esteemed guide there was no way in heck I was going anywhere in that kayak with that equipment, and I got back on shore. They left without me.
I waited about half an hour for the group to return. They got back just after the sunset. Then the last group got to go--in the dark. I was glad we weren't them. After that group returned we were finally served our lunch. It was 6pm. It consisted of a couple chicken enchiladas. That was it. Good, but 3 hours past when we were supposed to have it, it wasn't enough.
We then boarded the bus back. Traffic was INSANE! It took 2 hours to get back to the ship. By then I was very unhappy. Our 3 hour little kayak trip (on the non-existent jungle lagoon) turned into a 6 hour misery. We got back on board the ship, and couldn't leave Acapulco fast enough.
The next day we arrived in Zihuatenejo. Oh what a wonderful little place. It's very clean, smells wonderful, and had the most delightful little shops along the beach. It was beautiful, too, with palm trees, white sand, jungle, and the water was so blue. The guys (Doug and Dan) were scheduled to go deep sea fishing. Ruth and I had decided to go with them. Big mistake.
I don't know what I thought I'd be doing , but it wasn't what we did. Deep sea fishing consists of 5 hours of tourists, in this case me, Ruth, Doug, Dan, and a fellow from Arizona named George, sitting on seats in the fishing boat while the cute Mexican guy loads bait on all the hooks, sets up all the poles, and gets everyone beer. Five hours of just sitting, drinking beer (or water-like me and Ruth did. I can't drink beer at 8 in the morning) while he did all the work and the captain steers back and forth, back and forth-hoping to snag a fish. Ruth and I were bored out of our minds. I kept asking myself "Why didn't I bring my knitting?"
Lest you think we were skunked, we weren't. One of the poles had a silver fish on it for bait. As we trolled across the water, it bounced on the surface, flashing it's silveriness in the sunshine. A sea gull flew by. It saw the bouncing fish. I thought "Uh oh---naaaaaa, it wouldn't do that" just a nano second before the gull dived for the bait and got its wings all tangled up in the line. Cute Mexican fellow reeled it in, untangled it, and it flew away-hopefully a little smarter.
We got no bites from fish. As we were returning back to the dock, the cute little Mexican fellow passed out comment forms. I said what I felt. I was bored to death (I would have liked to learn how to bait the hooks, and hold a pole once in awhile. There were pole holders on the boat. Pole holders ! No human had to hold them. It was depressing). Eventually I found myself holding all the filled out forms. I couldn't resist. I read what the guys wrote. "Excellent, excellent, great fun, loved it!"
Huh????????
It's gotta be a guy thing.
I will tell more tomorrow.
Have a nice evening.
We left Christmas Day, flying down to LAX. The flight went very smoothly (unlike the return home). We spent the night in a hotel across the street from the Pier. The next morning I opened the curtains and the ship was there. We got pretty excited.
The view outside our hotel window
We couldn't board until 1pm, so we had to kill some time. There was a Mariners museum across the street too, so we visited it. It was pretty interesting. This is a large propeller from a ship. Doug, Ruth, and nephew Nathan posed.
After we boarded the ship, we went straight to the buffet and had lunch. Then we hung out on the deck until we shipped out.
We ate our first dinner in the main dining room. I had the best roast leg of lamb ever. It was so delicious. I can't describe the pleasure I had in eating my Bavarian Chocolate Cream for dessert either. Yum.....However, one hour later I started to feel sick. By the next morning I was very very sick. I haven't been that sick in a long long long time. I was so sick I wanted to die. Sweet Hubby finally insisted I see the doctor. I was so weak though that I couldn't walk all the way to the infirmary (other end of ship and 4 decks down), so they sent someone with a wheelchair.
The doctor confirmed my worst fear. I had the dreaded virus often caught on cruise ships, Norovirus. I caught it in less than 8 hours too. It's pretty contagious stuff. I found it hard to believe cos I washed my hands all the time, and everywhere we went on the ship nice young poeple in NCL uniforms were spraying our hands with antibacterial lotion (yech!). The good news, though, was that I would live to tell about it. I was actually relieved to hear that. I worried that Doug and Ruth would get sick too, but they didn't.
I spent the two days at sea in bed in our stateroom, missing out on all the fun and food. Sigh. The illness really knocked the spit out of me. I was so weak it took several days for me to get my strength back, so I had a hard time enjoying myself when I felt so crappy. However, as the days went by, I continually improved, and the cruise got more fun.
Our first stop was Acapulco. Didn't like it. Acapulco smelled bad-from the balcony of our stateroom. It stunk like a garbage dump. It's got almost 3 million people living there, crowded, poor, and living in garbage. We had a shore excursion that required a bus trip to our destination--a freshwater lake for kayaking and lunch. We got a real good look at what Mexican poverty is like on that bus ride. People living in tiny hovels, filth everywhere, and the garbage. Every spare spot that didn't have a building or a car on it was piled high with vile stinking garbage. It was a filthy stinky city.
Our shore excursion was a disaster. Our ship was 2 hours late getting to port, so they decided to combine our group with another group. Poor decision. This was supposed to be a quick trip by bus to a quiet little jungle lagoon where we would kayak around and be fed lunch. 3 hours max. HA!
First, it was a large lake with power boats and jet ski's all over the place. Very noisy.
There were not enough kayaks. So we had to divide up into groups. Our group waited 2 hours before it was our turn. We sat at tables in a really charming open air restaurant right on the lake.
Sweet hubby chatting.
After awhile we got thirsty. It was a hot day, and we'd been waiting a long time, so Sweet Hubby and Dan started taking turns buying stuff from the bar. I had a very tasty mexican beer.
When it was our turn, we approached the waters edge. Someone handed me a child sized life jacket. I protested. He said "It's okay. Just for government, safety." He then handed me a paddle that was broken and held together with duct tape, and told me to get in the kayak. I complied. I could hardly paddle cos the life jacket was so tight around my shoulders I couldn't put my arms down. There was no back on the seat of the kayak either, so I had to lean forward with my knees up in the air. Really uncomfortable with my arms up. After about 2 minutes my back seized up into agonizing pain. I told our esteemed guide there was no way in heck I was going anywhere in that kayak with that equipment, and I got back on shore. They left without me.
I waited about half an hour for the group to return. They got back just after the sunset. Then the last group got to go--in the dark. I was glad we weren't them. After that group returned we were finally served our lunch. It was 6pm. It consisted of a couple chicken enchiladas. That was it. Good, but 3 hours past when we were supposed to have it, it wasn't enough.
We then boarded the bus back. Traffic was INSANE! It took 2 hours to get back to the ship. By then I was very unhappy. Our 3 hour little kayak trip (on the non-existent jungle lagoon) turned into a 6 hour misery. We got back on board the ship, and couldn't leave Acapulco fast enough.
The next day we arrived in Zihuatenejo. Oh what a wonderful little place. It's very clean, smells wonderful, and had the most delightful little shops along the beach. It was beautiful, too, with palm trees, white sand, jungle, and the water was so blue. The guys (Doug and Dan) were scheduled to go deep sea fishing. Ruth and I had decided to go with them. Big mistake.
Leaving Zihuatenejo on the fishing boat.
I don't know what I thought I'd be doing , but it wasn't what we did. Deep sea fishing consists of 5 hours of tourists, in this case me, Ruth, Doug, Dan, and a fellow from Arizona named George, sitting on seats in the fishing boat while the cute Mexican guy loads bait on all the hooks, sets up all the poles, and gets everyone beer. Five hours of just sitting, drinking beer (or water-like me and Ruth did. I can't drink beer at 8 in the morning) while he did all the work and the captain steers back and forth, back and forth-hoping to snag a fish. Ruth and I were bored out of our minds. I kept asking myself "Why didn't I bring my knitting?"
Sweet hubby says "Ahhh, this is the life"
Lest you think we were skunked, we weren't. One of the poles had a silver fish on it for bait. As we trolled across the water, it bounced on the surface, flashing it's silveriness in the sunshine. A sea gull flew by. It saw the bouncing fish. I thought "Uh oh---naaaaaa, it wouldn't do that" just a nano second before the gull dived for the bait and got its wings all tangled up in the line. Cute Mexican fellow reeled it in, untangled it, and it flew away-hopefully a little smarter.
We got no bites from fish. As we were returning back to the dock, the cute little Mexican fellow passed out comment forms. I said what I felt. I was bored to death (I would have liked to learn how to bait the hooks, and hold a pole once in awhile. There were pole holders on the boat. Pole holders ! No human had to hold them. It was depressing). Eventually I found myself holding all the filled out forms. I couldn't resist. I read what the guys wrote. "Excellent, excellent, great fun, loved it!"
Huh????????
It's gotta be a guy thing.
I will tell more tomorrow.
Have a nice evening.
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