are we on vacation again?

We started our yearly pilgrimage to Universal's Halloween event yesterday by getting out of bed at 3:30.  Now, remember I work nights, but I did get out of work early and managed to get about 4 hours of sleep.  So, as all good plans go, we couldn't get on the nonstop out of Boston to Orlando, so we went to Detroit.  There we couldn't get on the flight to Orlando either, so we ended up in Jaxsonville and drove 2 hours to the park. Along the way, we stopped in St Augustine for the 5 cent tour.  We saw the fort, the down town, drove over the Lion's bridge and stopped for about 15 minutes at the light house.  Quick tour, but then we headed back to the highway for the rest of our drive. We managed to get to Orlando without too much hassle, although we did drive through a rain storm that slowed us down to a crawl. The Universal Halloween was great as usual.  Bubba and Brian managed to see all 8 houses, while Jimmy and I saw just 3.  We saw the tribute to the...

Today was our last day on the oasis.  All I have to say is that it is a huge ship and has too many people, but in Royal Caribbean fashion, it was still fun.  I rode the zip line today! Bubba's back hurt, so that was his excuse for not riding.  It is very short, only 82 feet, but it is high! It's about 10 stories up, and it was fun.  We also ate at one of the specialty restaurants. It was the Japanese one and it was decent.  I probably would have thought it was great if I liked sushi or fish, but we had a chicken and steak hot rock, which means, we paid someone so that we could cook our own food... Needless to say, Bubba did the cooking.

We spent the day in Cozumel... not diving.  Yes, I'm disappointed, but it did keep Bubba from drowning.  When we got here, the sun was out and it was beautiful.  Now it is raining and very steamy.  Although we did not get a text from the diving company, I can guess they went out.  Which of course that means that we donated $160 to her shop... Oh well, I guess it would have been worse had he drowned.  I did buy a beautiful earring and necklace set for myself that I wouldn't have bought if we were on a boat, so all is not lost.  What do you think? I really liked Cozumel, and I'm looking forward to coming back.  The plan right now is next summer/ fall for the whale sharks.  The taxi driver said to stay on the north side of the island, so we'll have to look into it.  He also said there is an all inclusive place right on the beach, I think it was called something scuba diving club.  That sounds like fun since we didn't get in the water t...

Today was another day at sea.  I think I like port days better than floating around in the ocean.  To top it off, it rained for part of the day.  It's ok though because neither of us ever goes in the pool during the day... I don't like the sun, so for the most part I slept today.  We also cancelled our diving trip. $160 wasted isn't worth watching Bubba drown when his back gives out.  I don't understand how it is getting worse.  He did something to it before we left Boston, and you would think with all the sleep he's getting that it would make it feel better, but no such luck.  He even went to the doctor on board who gave him two shots and some higher strength pain pills.  The fees weren't even that bad.  The sign says they charge the current US Medicare rates.  His doctor's visit, the shots and the meds came to $187.70, and it included a urinalysis to rule out a kidney problem... maybe we should be sick on board more often!  Tomorr...

Fried bammy at Taste of Jamaica

Well, we haven't actually left the ship yet.  Bubba went to the nurse's office and I haven't seen him since.  I feel like when we were in school and we were sent in with the sniffles.  Hopefully he is ok, he doesn't seem to be getting any better.  It looks to me like his sciatic nerve.  The pain runs from his back down his leg.  We're supposed to go diving on Thursday in Cozumel, that may not come to fruition if he can't carry his oxygen tank.  Oh we'll, live and learn.  I keep telling jim he can't go on vacation with me anymore... too many hospital visits... remember the one in Arizona last spring?  I thought I was supposed to be the sick one... The ship is pulling in right now to Jamaica, so we haven't missed anything yet.  I hope they have wifi someplace so I can finally post these.  This is the view from our room as we dock...

Today we spent the day at RCCL's resort on Haiti.  It's about a 15 minute walk from the ship to the beach.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was out and the water was warm and clear.  All in all it was a great day even though all 5000 people from the ship were in the same place at the same time.. not really my idea of fun.  Bubba's back has been hurting him since before we left, but now it seems to be getting worse.  He's even thinking of going to the nurse tomorrow.  We'll see what happens, hopefully there will be some miracle pill that will make home feel better.  Ok, off to bed again.  We're going to Jamaica tomorrow.  I almost forgot, we saw an American Idol singer... his name is Jerome Bell.  What a great voice!

Yes, we are on vacation again.   This is day 2 of a week long cruise around the Caribbean.  Today was an "at sea" day, so for me that meant a lot of sleeping.  There are a lot of pools on this ship, but we couldn't find any shade, I can't spend more than a few minutes in the sun without hearing my skin start to sizzle.  We went to a midnight comedy show, and it was extremely funny..... The first headliner's luggage got lost, and of course he was on the big D..... His favorite line.... What does delta stand for? Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive.  You have to admit, it is kind of catchy.  Tomorrow we go to Haiti, that could be interesting.  They say there is a very large fence between RC's property and the island itself...... Hmmmmm.  Time to go to sleep 1:34am......

So, this time around I didn't have to be involved, but we did pack a bag and fly for hours and make it to my niece's wedding.  She lives near Dallas, TX and on Delta it takes about 6 hours to get there.  We made it though... that's always the important part.  It was a great day of seeing some family (my sister, 2 nieces and a lot of great nieces and nephews and even a great-great niece and nephew.) All in all, it was a good day!  I met my sister's first husband for the first time since I was a toddler... no I didn't remember him.  Most of the younger kids I never met before.  There are a lot of kids. It was a good day

Yesterday we went on a mini speed boat tour of Boston harbor.  It was a lot of fun.  The tour starts at the dock to the right of the New England Aquarium.  They were two person speed boats and we followed a tour guide around.  We had two way radios in the boat and that was how the tour guide communicated with us.  After the tour of the inner harbor, we went past the "no wake" zone and got to open up the little boats.  It was a lot of fun!  It's hard to see out the front if you are like me and a bit vertically challenged, but thanks to my niece who became my eyes, we managed to not hit anything.  That was one of my goals, the other being "don't fall out."  It was really a lot of fun and despite the bruises and my aching butt today, I would do it again.  Maybe next time I'll bring a cushion!

We spent Monday at SeaWorld in Orlando.  It was HOT HOT HOT!  I don't think that kind of weather is for me.  My guess is that the people who live in Florida aren't crazy enough to go to an amusement park on a day when the "feels like" temperature is about 100... YUCK!  We did find one very cool or cold spot.  The new Antarctica ride ends in a room that is 32 degrees Yikes!  Now, on a normal day that is cold, but after standing in the sun and heat and practically melting for over an hour, it is now DAMN COLD!  The penguins were cute, especially the fuzzy baby one. That's one big baby! We had a lot of fun at the Shamu show, again it was too hot.  I can't wait to go back in the fall. 

Today one of my brothers turned 50.  That puts us at one in his 70's, two in their 60's, one in his 50's and me still in my 40's.  Boy are we getting old!  We spent the day at Universal, and we got to see our nephew again.... 21 This growing old doesn't seem to slow down at all.  Universal was fun and we went on the new transformer ride.  We stood in line twice, the ride was broken the first time and after waiting about 45 minutes we left.  We went on the mummy, and that broke too.  Oh, and we went on ET and that broke down too... Were we just having a bad day?  The second time in line we waited about 90 minutes.  It was a good ride, but not worth all that time!  

We got up this morning and headed off to the San Diego Mission.  It was very peaceful and beautiful.  It was founded in1769 then relocated to its current location in 1774.  The gardens are colorful and diverse.  We were there at noon so we got to hear the peeling of the bells.  The bells ranged in weight from 800 pounds to 1200 pounds.  They were LOUD! We went to lunch back in Old Town at O'Hungry's.  it was ok.  Kind of like diner food, but it was cheap and right across the street from the church.  After lunch, Dennis left.  He had to go to a work event Monday night.  It was great seeing him again. Bubba and I went out in search of the seals that were supposed to hang out on La Jolla beach.  It took us a really long time to find them, but eventually we did see them and it was pretty cool.  They remind me of my lazy greyhounds, just lounging in the sun.  After the Bruins lost the Stanley Cup, we went out for another d...

We spent the day with Dennis in Old Town, San Diego.  There are tons and tons of restaurants and stores, lots of walking.  We went to a store that has olive oil tastings and another one that had beer tastings.  It was a fun day and now I'm exhausted!  I need some sleep soon... I guess I require more than 3 hours of sleep.  Off to bed and up early again tomorrow.... I forgot to mention, we got stuck in the elevator in the hotel for about 15 minutes! What a way to start our trip!

Once again we had to get up way too early to catch a flight to JFK and then on to SAN.  So, how did this one come about?  My thoughts exactly... Once again, we tried to plan a trip to Iceland, and once again that fell through.  I wish there were more airlines that flew there, maybe it would be easier.  Anyway, I digress...  The flights to Iceland filled up again this time around and being somewhat cheap, I didn't want to loose all the money I prepaid on hotels just in case we didn't get there.  It would have been a very expensive couple of days... Oh about $800 between hotels and a car rental, and that didn't even include eating, so we started looking elsewhere.  We've run the gambit.  Paris, Amsterdam, The Hague, Yosemite, Montreal, Vermont, The Bay of Fundy... It was an extensive list.  I always think that is one of the hard parts of my job, deciding where to fly, you're right, I wouldn't trade it.  Ok, so San Diego came on the radar. ...

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So let's see, where did I leave off... Wednesday we got up all set to see the sights in the town of Narita, we got ready, had breakfast, checked out, left our luggage at the front desk and proceeded out the front door. We made it about a block and realized we were crazy. It was raining so hard it felt like a monsoon. In less than five minutes, we were soaked through from head to toe. We ran back to the hotel and waited for the bus the the airport. Our flight wasn't leaving until 6:30 pm, so we had a lot of time to kill. There are tons of stores and restaurants, and even an origami museum/ store. We roamed around and ate, then we went downstairs from our gate, under 23 through 26 and hung out.. While down there we saw on the news a story about how bad the weather had been that day in Tokyo and Narita and how some places had even lost power, so I didn't feel so bad about wimping out of our walk. We got into Taipei about 10:00 pm and a friend of Judy's picked us up...

Today we took the train from Narita to Tokyo. The train station is about a block from the hotel, we are staying in the Mecure Narita Airport hotel. It took about an hour and it was about $25 each round trip. The train ride was uneventful. When we got off the train, it was drizzling, but we are on vacation and we are having fun no matter what! So we started walking towards the Imperial Gardens. I guess the emperor actually lives on the property, so we were only allowed to walk through the gardens. Even in the rain, it was beautiful. There were still a lot of cherry trees in bloom, and the colors were wonderful. From there we went to Kokyogaien national gardens. This was also beautiful with more blooming cherry trees, and even some rhododendrons and plum trees. We had lunch in the basement of the science museum, it was good with lots of noodles. Then we walked up to the Yasukuni Shrine. It was very peaceful. We wimped out and took a taxi back to the train station, then an h...