America's Historical Triangle and beyond August 2 - 8, 2020

 August 2, 2020

COVID won't stop us.....we're on a mission to travel!  Since David and Lily will begin this school year with virtual learning at our home, we're off on a field trip to explore the birthplace of our country.  So, we load up the car, Meme, and begin our journey to Williamsburg, VA.  Along the way, we noticed several signs for American battlefields, typically, Civil War Battlefields, such as Cowpens National Battlefield in South Carolina.  It was a gloriously sunny day with light traffic, and we were all enjoying the drive until lunchtime when we couldn't find any restaurants that would allow dining in.  Everyone was tired of being in the car, and wanted to eat INSIDE.  After a couple of failed tries, we went to Cracker Barrell, which we were getting tired of (except Zaydie) because we've dined there every time we traveled!  Oh well, the food was good, and we continued our journey to Wyndham Kingsgate Resort.  Our condo is lovely, and we are ready to settle in.  Luckily, guest relations suggested that we order from a great Italian restaurant, Sal's by Victor!  After a delicious dinner, showers for all, we crashed for the night!

August 3, 2020

Jamestown was our first stop! We were the ONLY people in the Visitors' Center theater where we learned about the first permanent English settlement in America, 1607, Jamestown, VA.  After the movie, we began our tour of the Indian Village, and then on to the fort.  It was a typical, sultry Virginia summer day.  Whew!   H - O - T!!!!!

Redington Shores Family Vacation June 13 - 20, 2020

June 13, 2020

Well, we were supposed to be traveling to Cape Canaveral, FL for a family reunion cruise; however, due to Covid-19, the cruise was cancelled.  Lily was devastated, she cried, Zaydie caved, and so a condo was booked at the beach for a week! Short version, we selected Redington Shores so that Meme could spend time with Aunt Sharon in Pinellas Park, FL and the rest of us could stay on the beach.  We left Marietta at 0855 hours on Saturday, January 13th in three cars - Meme, Rob, David and I in one car, Robin, Nancy, and Lily in another, and Ari and Robert on his truck.  The ride was easy, but we did need to do a bit of preplanning since most of the drive thru fast food restaurants were closed.  We found a Cracker Barrel in Valdosta, GA that was open, so we made our lunch stop there. Afterwards, we continued our journey on to Angler's Cove Condominiums in Redington Shores.  After a quick unload to until #302, , Robin and I took Meme to Aunt Sharon's, then dashed to Publix before it closed since all the grocery stores had limited hours.

Robert surprised David, Lily, and Ari with new beach towels, so they all dashed to the beach, until the typical Florida afternoon thunderstorm drove them back into the house.  We ordered pizza for a late dinner, and then everyone collapsed into bed.

June 14, 2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, U.S. ARMY!!!!  HAPPY FLAG DAY!  I woke up early, so I enjoyed the quiet and beauty of another typical Florida treat - sunrise. Shortly, Robert Hicks also awake far too early, joined me for coffee on the balcony.  We saw dolphins feeding, people walking, biking, and enjoying the early morning coolness and quiet.  Before too long, it was time for Robin and I to drive over to Largo Golf Course for a round of golf. 

We decided to walk the course, and that proved to be an awesome decision as we enjoyed all the beautiful foliage and creatures unique to Florida.  We save what looked like the Loch Ness Monster moving across the pond with a small sun fish in its mouth. Later, we saw a red beaked bird, that I later identified as a Moorhen. Once back home, we quickly changed into beach attire and headed out to the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico.  The sand was white sugar soft and the water close to bath temperature.  The kids build sand castles, I read, swam, and enjoyed every moment of the glorious day.  Hours later, back at the condo, we spent a quiet afternoon resting. Later, we met my cousin, Steve Gilmore and Maria for a delicious dinner at GiGi's Italian Restaurant.  It was wonderful catching up.  Back at the condo, Robin, Lily, Robert and I hit the beach for pictures at the end of a magnificent sunset.

And another perfect day at the beach ends!

June 15, 2010

Robin and Nancy made a fabulous breakfast this morning - sausage gravy with biscuits, bacon, and eggs.  Delish!

Today, my cousin, Nicole O'Donnell and her family bought tickets to join us at the Clearwater Aquarium.  We all met for the 1330 hours tour.  The kids were so excited to see Winter, the star of Dolphin Tales. Everyone was mesmerized by the dolphins, turtles, and other sea life. 

Once back at the condo, we all  changed into swimsuits and headed to the beach.  Going to the beach at the end of the day is my absolute favorite time to be on a beach.

Finally, it was time to so back to the condo, and have dinner. We ate snacks, leftovers, salads, etc. Another great day!

June 16, 2020

Today, we went back to Clearwater for Encourters with the Dolphins.  Nicole and her family joined us again.  We had the best guides - Alyssa and Brian - who were knowledgeable with a great sense of humor.  We saw several dolphins, spent some time on a cute little island where Nancy found a star fish. On the way back to the dock, we saw two male dolphins trying to get to a baby dolphin.  Alyssa immediately navigated the boat to separate the males from the baby. It was truly amazing.

Back at the condo, it was time to get ready for our mini-family reunion dinner. We all met at BJs in Pinellas Park - Mom, Aunt Sharon, Paula, David, Nicole, Tommy, Nicole, Greg, Nick, Shawn, Gavin, Tarryn, Ari, Robert, Nancy, Robin, David, Lily, Rob and me.  It was so awesome to have everyone assembled  The kids had a great time together. 

We took lots of pictures!

June 17, 2020

Robin and I headed back to Largo Golf Course for our 0800 tee time.  We saw more wild life today - a mama duck with her nine babies, lots of cool birds, and a snake. 

Rob and I then went to meet Pete Dabrowski at the Columbia Cuban Restaurant in Clearwater for lunch.  It was so great to see Pete and get caught up. 

Tonight we had dinner at Seabreeze, a local restaurant, with THE BEST seafood.  Everyone loved his/her meal.  My coconut shrimp was fabulous! 

Afterwards, we all went to Smugglers Cove for miniature golf.

June 18, 2020

Happy Birthday, Ari!  Today, we went to Nancy and Robin's for waffles, bacon, fruit, eggs, and mimosas.  Everyone spent the day enjoying the beach until it was time to get ready to go out to the American Legion to celebrate Ari's 38th birthday. Rob and I went to pick up Mom and Aunt Sharon to take out to dinner to celebrate.  We dined out on the boat dock as the sun was setting.  The temperature was perfect and we all had a lovely evening. 

We went back to the condo for cake.

Ari opened his gifts, and then Rob and I took Mom and Aunt Sharon back to Pinellas Park.

June 19, 2020

Wow, our last full day at the beach. Robin and I played golf one last time at Largo, then back to our places to gather everyone for breakfast at Robin and Nancy's.  This time, they created the most delicious French toast.

  It was a wonderful breakfast. Back at the condo, I helped Ari with his Political Science quiz until 4:00 PM when I  wanted to head to the beach for a final "beach" fix.  Eventually,  Ari and Robert came out to spend the last few hours on the beach. 

Reluctantly, we all finally went back to the condo for pizza and leftovers.  Then, it it was time pack for our return trip home.  Sad.

June 20, 2020

On the road again, after picking up Meme from Aunt Sharon's, we started our drive back to Atlanta. Luckily, the road wasn't too crowded and we made good time to the same Cracker Barrel in Valdosta that we had stopped at on the way home.  Lily rode with us on the first half of the way home, but then she rode the remainder of the trip with her mom, because she and David were spending the night at Dan's.  We arrived back home at 1800 hours, smiling after an awesome week at the beach, visiting with family, and simply enjoying "normal" during this crazy pandemic.  Life is good!

Caribbean Cruise HAL Koningsdam 22 January - 2 February 2020

January 21, 2020 - Time to head to warmer climates and sunshine as we left at Atlanta with 34 degrees temps!  Brrrrrrr! We arrive safely in Fort Lauderdale, only to find the temps in the LOW 60s, but at least sunny.  We headed to our Comfort Suites and settled in for a short rest. We walked a short distance to Dockers, a favored local restaurant on the marina for dinner.  We enjoyed a delicious, reasonably priced seafood dinner.

January 22, 2020 - After breakfast and a late check out, we headed over to Port Everglades.  Without any hassles, we checked in, located our home for the next 12 days, Stateroom 6057, and met up with the Stewarts for lunch.  We unpacked and settled in before meeting up for Happy Hour at the Ocean Bar before dinner.  We LOVE our new dining room wait staff, Djoko, Ferries, and Ronaldo, the Wine Steward.  Afterwards, we went to the Rolling Stone lounge to listen to the Rock -n- Roll Band for a while.

January 23, 2020 - After breakfast in the Lido, Teri, Alan, and I went to hear the Future Cruise presentation.  We gathered the literature, and then went back to the Stewarts' balcony to discuss future cruises.

In no time, we identified two cruises, one back to the Caribbean next January and another one back to Canada, Greenland, etc.  Sooooo, after lunch, we went back down to the Future Cruise desks to book our cruises with Natalia!  Sooooooooooooo excited!

January 24, 2020 - Another fabulous sea day!  Today, Rob read and I worked out at the gym.  I have to try to minimize the damage from the delicious food.  We also spent some time on our gorgeous balcony reading and relaxing.  After dinner we attended the incredible performance of the six HAL very talented dancers.

January 25, 2020 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROBIN!!!! Today, we spend the day at St. Maarten.  Sadly, there is still LOTS of damage from the hurricane two years ago.

Of course, Rob found a couple of great photo opportunities!

 I only made one small purchase, lipstick, and we were returning to the ship.  We did stop by an Internet Café to call Robin and Ari/Mom.

January 26, 2020 - Today, we visited Port-de-France, Martinque, Lesser Antilles, the furthest west island of the Caribbean.

It was Sunday, so most shops were closed.  We did visit the Bibliotech Schoelcher, originally built in Paris, but they disassembled and shipped to Martinque, then reassembled.

We also saw the statue of Josephine, Napoleon's wife, who was born and raised on the island. Her family was heavily involved in slave trading, so she wasn't very respected.  When her head fell (or most likely, knocked off) during riots in 1991, the government did not bother, not has yet, to put her head back on.

Her great, great, great grandfather brought coffee to the island in 1726 which eventually caused coffee to flourish in the Caribbean.

January 27, 2020 - Bridgetown, Barbados.  Today, we had a Viator/Trip Advisor tour booked with a private driver/car.  Our first destination was the Harrison Cave.

This was a unique cave tour in that we rode on a tram instead of walking!  Along the way, the driver stopped and we were able to get out for pictures.  Great tour!  We then rode up to Highland Point for a fabulous view of the ocean.  We traveled to Bathseba Rocks but didn't actually get to visit them.  Not sure was happened, perhaps miscommunication, and traveled on to the Mount Gay Rum Distillery Visitor's Center where Teri and Alan made a few purchases. Alan and Teri treated us to a fabulous dinner at the Pinnacle Grill.  The food was absolutely amazing!  Thanks, Teri and Alan!

January 28, 2020  - St. Lucia - a great place to spend my 66th birthday - sunny and GREEN!  Best of all, our tour guide, Neil, through Viator/Trip Advisor was the VERY BEST tour guide I've ever experienced.  He listened carefully to all our requests, and made sure that we got to see everyting on our list.  We drove to Soultries and Ceneries,  lovely seafood/beach destinations.

  Along the way, we stopped at a roadside stand to learn about the Calabash gourd used by the islanders.  We also tasted cassava bread, made from a plant, and absolutely delicious. We visited the Botanical Gardens to see the Diamond Falls.  We stopped for a photo op of the beautiful Pitons!

Best of all, was our roadside stop for a rum/sauce/jam tasting.  The owner was extremely entertaining and we purchased rum, banana ketchup and creole sauce! Finally, on our way back to the ship we drove thru the University, which were previously French and British historical buildings. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED our day in St. Lucia!!!!!!

January 29, 2020 - St Kitts and another Viator/Trip Advisor tour.  We drove around the entire island, stopping at the Batik factory, views of the gorgeous beaches, the Brimstone Fortress, lava rocks from the volcano and an amazing view of the point where the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean comes together.

January 30, 2020 - And of course, my favorite port of all, St.  Thomas! We headed straight to my favorite jewelry store - Alpha's!  AND, in his usual fashion, Rob spent WAY TOO MUCH money on several pieces of jewelry for me. While we were waiting for my jewelry to be cleaned, etc. and Teri's jewelry to be completed, the owner, Sonny, sent us to lunch at Gladys!  This is a "can't not" type of place that should never be missed while visiting St Thomas.  They have the world's best ginger beer!  The fish sandwiches are large enough to share.  So after a fabulous lunch, we strolled around until the beautiful new jewelry was finished.

February 1, 2020  - HAL's private island, Half Moon Cay.  My traveling partners didn't want to visit the island, so I ventured off by myself.  It was a gloriously sunny day, so I walked the entire length of the island and back for over 90 minutes.  Along the way, I took the time to write:

Yes, grateful for so much - travel, beautiful destinations, cruises, friends, family, retirement, good health, and a life full of blessings.

February 2, 2020 - Time to return to our home, sweet home.   While it is wonderful to travel, it is always awesome to come back home, rested and relaxed!