Enough Already

I kind of feel like this fox lately, but at least I have been able to get in out of the rain on most occasions.  For those of you up north with all the snow, I know you are thinking, enough already, when it comes to snow fall.  Here in Fairfield Glade, it is the rain that is getting old and causing all of us to say "Enough already."  

During our long drive home last Friday, I got a text asking about whether I was planning to come into work.  What?  I don't even work on Fridays.  But, unbeknownst to me, the schedule had been changed while on our cruise.  Thankfully Gwen was able and willing to fill in for me.

After picking Maggie up at Terry's I took a much needed one hour walk.  I have been wanting some kind of metal art of a horse or horse head for the wall above the bench at the front of our house.  This caught my eye, but isn't quite what I am looking for.

Maggie and I had hit the roads around the Lake Pomeroy dam.  The sun setting to the west made for a pretty sky and an attempt at some photos.





Taking Maggie down to the dock, I tried some photos there to capture her and the sky in the back ground.
Depending on where I set the focus, I got different exposures of light.

This last photo is my favorite of the sky and sun, with Maggie silhouetted against the water. 



Below you can see a walking bridge over the spillway, next to the road that the water is running over.  My experience with most of the spillways over the roads, is that I have had to walk through the water, getting my feet wet, or go down stream to find a narrower part to jump over.  With all the rain lately, the spillways, and creeks, and streams are running full.






Settling in for the evening, I got a fire going to take the damp chill out of the air since it had started raining again.




The cat and dog seemed so happy to be back together again.  I worked, until bedtime, on last week's Blog about our cruise.

Saturday morning Stevie escaped outside when the porch door blew open while I was putting out bird feeders.  It was drizzling and still fairly dark out so I couldn't see her when she ran into the woods.  But, I heard her meowing.  Thankfully, when I got her can of cat treats, she came running to the sound of me shaking it.  

I worked on my blog all day, interspersed with unpacking and three loads of laundry.  It was cloudy and we had a few pop-up sprinkles during the day, which I tried to work around when walking the dog.  Periodically golfers came through on the course.  Maggie got upset about this guy coming so close to our yard to hit a ball.

In the afternoon I couldn't find Stevie.  The last I had seen her, she was on the back porch.
 

I looked again.  The door couldn't have possibly blown open because it was latched with the hook.

And then I noticed this...
  
in the bucket... 

Phew.  




Rain was descending in a hard down pour all Sunday morning, so I opted to stay put in the dry house and work on my Blog.  It was taking me forever.  I also did some reading for my Bible study and got this photo of the geese on the pond just before noon.  I think they are stopping in to rest as they migrate through.
I worked at the Conference Center from noon to five, which luckily was slow, because that was about my speed as I tried to get back into the swing of things.  It was also nice that there were two of us at the front desk.
There was nothing notable about the evening, except Joe made dinner using hamburger helper.  Blogging was taking me extra long due to all the photos to go through and I was also researching some of the bands and music we had heard on the ship... I got so distracted singing the songs.

Monday Maggie was still being stand-offish.  She has many moments when she will not come to me when I call her over for a treat or some lovin'.  I think I try too hard.  And I'm still not sure how to comfort her and help her relax around me when she gets scared of me.  

Well, when I came over to her, trying to get her to let me pet her, she peed on her bed.  She could tell I got frustrated.  I didn't yell, but had to rush away to get a towel and the carpet cleaner.  I ended up doing another load of laundry.  I threw all the wet dog towels (used for clean-up and to dry Maggie off after our walks) in with the bed.






It was a very cloudy day so I spent most of it working on my blog, until I finally got up and took Maggie on a 112 minute (almost 2 hour) walk.  This time we were on the dam at Lake Dartmoor and many of the roads near it.  The spillway here is much larger than any of our other lakes, and it goes under the road.

As of now, I have finished walking every single Fairfield Glade road that is north of Pevine Road!  It felt good to reach that landmark.  After the walk I went to the gym to lift weights.  My arms and abs were still quite sore from the rope swing in the Caribbean.  I had leftovers for dinner because Joe was off to his Wednesday poker game that has been moved to Monday evenings. 

It was again a rainy day on Tuesday... not bad, but damp and no sun.  I left at 9 am for Bible Study.  Esther has many attributes I aspire to achieve.  Since I was on the east side of Crossville, I went into town and did some shopping, at my three regular stores (Tractor Supply, Lowe's and Wal-Mart).  I didn't get home until 3 pm.  I ate a late lunch, and got a fire going and finally finished and posted my Blog!  

Joe and I watched the first night of Survivor (Kaoh Rong) in this new spring episode which he had taped while we were gone.  It kind of feels like the same old, same old, but I'll give it a few weeks to see.  Usually by then we have our favorite(s) picked out so need to watch to see how they do.




It poured overnight and I was woken up several times.  Then the cat came in and started making lots of noise and being very obnoxious.  It was 6:30 when I finally got up Wednesday.  I took Maggie for her first wake-up walk in a drizzle.  I headed down to Turtle pond to see just how full (flooded) it was.  The geese were still hanging around. 

The spillway from the pond was really running fast and full.

My morning was spent catching up on all my e-mails and on Facebook.  There were many rain showers and high winds during the day, all of which helped me not feel guilty about not going to the barn.

Stevie escaped again (enough already) when I had come back in from opening the screen door for Joe who had just headed out to chop fire wood.  Just after she took off down the deck stairs, and I went out in my slippers to catch her, it started pouring.  I came back in, put on shoes, and got my raincoat and the cat treats.  By the time I went back out, a wet Stevie came right to me and was ready to come in out of the rain.

I went to work from 1:20 - 7:15.  It had started snowing around 5 pm, and was beginning to stick to the roads in the country, so Abby sent Sabrina home early.  I moved to the front desk and closed up on my own while our houseman (Josh) took care of the pool where I had been.  I didn't wear a jacket to work, thinking I didn't mind getting wet.  But, I hadn't planned to do snow removal from car windows.  So, I was cold when I got home.  I got a fire going, settled in by it and watched the second episode of Survivor with Joe.

The snow hadn't amounted to much over night, and just lightly covered some surfaces when I got up Thursday morning.  But schools in Cumberland County had still closed for the day.

Below, Maggie intently watching an obedience demonstration at a dog training session.




I didn't have time to go workout and shower because Jeremy was coming to do tile work and some other odd jobs.  So I showered here and then got everything moved off the kitchen counters so Jeremy would be able to add the new cap tile.  About the time I was ready for him to arrive, he called and said he couldn't make it because he couldn't find a sitter for his girl who was home because of the snow day.  I wished he had called an hour earlier, then I would have gone to the gym.

I had signed up for a 90 minute doggy manners class that was going to be held at the Conference Center. 
Because I was worried about Maggie getting nervous and peeing on the floor, I walked her (30 minutes) there.  Joe then came, to also participate.  

Maggie did great.  No barking or peeing and always appropriate behavior while meeting other dogie friends.








The class was more of a demonstration, with the trainer using her Border Collie to show us all the things that can be done... and how to do them.  We really didn't get to do anything with our dogs until the very end.  There were 12 dogs total.

Maggie watched intently on Billy and his trainer.  But after about an hour, she got pretty bored with it and nearly fell asleep.  Joe and I did get some pointers, a clicker, and the names of places where we could go to do obedience training.






Joe walked Maggie home while I drove back.  And it wasn't long before it started snowing, hard.  At least it wasn't rain.

I decided I was done for the day.  I again skipped a trip out to the barn.  I got a fire going, put on my PJ's, and worked on this blog post.






To end the evening, Joe and I watched the movie Bridge of Spies.  I always love the acting Tom Hanks does.


Hanks portrayed the insurance lawyer, James Donovan, who became known as “the negotiator” for secretly arranging the famous Cold War prisoner swap of Soviet spy Col. Rudolf Abel for the American U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers... with the addition of an American student jailed in Germany.  At the end of the movie, it said Donovan's great success as a political negotiator later led him to negotiating the 1962 release and return of 1,113 prisoners held by Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.  He had done this through numerous meetings with Fidel Castro, as they developed trust and friendship.

It was cold and gloomy Friday morning, but at least it wasn't snowing or raining.  I spent several hours on the computer and am beginning to think I am addicted.  Enough already!  (According to Addictions.com, "If you regularly spend more time on the computer than you intend to, experience distress because of the computer, or if your computer use interferes with your obligations, daily routines, relationships, activities, and overall well-being, then you could be suffering from an addiction to the computer.")

Actually, my compulsive behavior is more in regards to blogging.  When writing my blogs, I need to quit trying to tell about everything, not show so many photos, and not worry about making it read well and look perfect.  I sound like a broken record.  Enough already!

I went to the gym for a few hours and had a great workout before going into work.


 My first 40 minutes at work was training on NorthStar, our new "register" (POS) computer program.  But as things seem to go, the system was not letting my supervisor get into all the windows she needed to show me.  Our new system looks, feels, and works a lot different than the old one, but once we get used to it will be much easier.

My new Friday work shift has me on pool duty till 8 pm.  Thankfully, Gwen was willing to switched in and out with me.  It was not real busy, and by 6:00 the pool was empty.  I got all the chairs wiped down and re-aligned and a few other end of night duties done.  But then at 7 pm, we had 3 large groups, 21 people total come in to swim.  A group of nine junior high boys were there for a party.  All I could think during the last hour of work is, enough already.  

Cruising

It was snowing when I got up pre-dawn Friday morning.  I finished and posted last week's blog and then finished up last minute packing.  I was concerned about driving Maggie to Terry's and wanted to "get out of Dodge" early so we changed our game plan.  We got the SUV loaded, including the dog, and left for Terry's a little after 7 am.  We had troubles getting out of our drive and took it slow.  Maggie was excited to see Terry.  (This photo was sent during our cruise.  Terry said that Maggie really bonded with Billy.)  Leaving their subdivision, we got stuck trying to get up the hill.  Thank goodness for 4 wheel drive.

When we picked up Shirley we couldn't get the SUV to stay parked on her dive.  It kept starting to slide down the hill.  Soon we had things loaded and were on our way to Judy's, and then before long, we were headed to Florida.  About 20 miles south, there was no snow, so Joe picked up the pace.

The drive went fairly quickly and without any difficulties.  It helps having lively conversation.  We had to figure out how many miles we could drive and still be able to walk when we got out of the car.  We had a rest stop midmorning and later filled with gas when we stopped for lunch at Sub-way.  These photos were taken at a rest area just inside the Florida border.

We got to our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, south of Jacksonville, after 6:30 (8 hours in the car plus over an hour of stop time and losing an hour with the time change).  We had dinner at Cracker-Barrel and then it was fairly early to bed.


Saturday morning we were on the road at 6:30 and grabbed a bite of McDonnald's breakfast at 8:30 for a road break.  We stopped for gas when we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, and then we went to the port.  Excitement was palpable when we saw our ship (in the background of this photo, with Joe and Judy in front.) 

Joe dropped us off at the docks right at boarding time (noon).  It was fairly easy getting our luggage into these carts (seen right) that would be loaded onto the ship.  



However, it was a bit chaotic getting through the lines and checked in.  

With our carry on luggage, we went straight to the Windjammer (the main dining room that has tons of buffet lines) and we had lunch.
   

Judy began with desserts, a great way to start.
Basically we hung out at the restaurant until our state room was ready (about 1:30). We also met our first new friend,  Wanda, who was looking for female companion(s) to go to the shows with because her husband didn't care to go out.

Finally we were able to get in to our state room.  I am sitting on Judy's bed and my bed (a top bunk) folded down from the ceiling.  

It was nice to off-load our carry on bags, freshen up, and get organized.  We had troubles with the safe but finally figured out the trick to it.  Also, our suitcases hadn't arrived yet, so we couldn't change.  Note to self, put swimsuit in carry on next time.

We did a little walking tour of the 4th and 5th floors of the boat, going down the Royal Promenade and checking out the amenities, bars, shops, restaurants, etc. 


In the upper left photo, the reggae band "One Love" was playing up on a bridge going over the street.  It was such a festive feeling with the music playing.



Then we headed up to the top decks.







Deck # 11 is were the Windjammer was, and all the pools and hot tubs.  #12 was the main top deck where there was a bar, tons of lounge chairs and an almost 1/4 mike walking or jogging track.  The right photo was taken from #13, a small sun deck.

We could look out a long ways, all around the boat.  We were docked in a channel but you can see the ocean wasn't far off.  

We had to go to the mandatory muster drill, (seen below) required to be done before we could get our suitcases and could leave the port.





The drill took extra long because we had to wait for 90% of the 4000 passengers to get to their stations.  Ugh.




Back up on the top deck, we watched harbor boats come and go, and finally got to observe our ship (Independence of the Sea) set sail.

Seen left, Judy is watching the small boat which came to pick up the harbor pilot who steers the ship out away from the dock.  Then the boat captain does the driving and off we went.  

We were now "at sea" and it was time to celebrate.  The bar was hopping, as seen in the lower photo, six bartenders.  

We started enjoying our first drinks of the trip.




The reggae band, One Love, struck up the music and I soon started dancing.  Can't help myself.  (All trip videos are on Facebook because I can't get this Blog site to let me post or link to them.)

The photo on the right was taken from Jeremy's spot.  He (18 years of age) and his parents always sat here.  They were our next friends to meet.  Kenny, the dad, would save seats for his group and watch my stuff when I was up walking in the early morning. 




As the sun went down, we went to get unpacked and dressed for dinner. 
And what to our wondering eyes did appear?  A delivery of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne.  A deal Shirley got.  We couldn't get the bottle open (shows what we know) but ate all the strawberries and stowed the bubbly in our room fridge for another time.  


We had time to kill before our 8:30 dinner seating, so wandered around and found a free taste of champagne at the art studio.  We kind of pretended to be shopping for a painting.
  







Then it was to our dining room on the 4th floor, where we ate four different nights in the more formal (business casual) dining.  I think we were about the first to get there for our seating.  This photo was taken from where our table was.

We met our two waiters and soon our three lovely, lady tablemates, (the girls- Sarah, Lindsey, and Amy) who taught together in an elementary school in MA.  We enjoyed a great dinner, of which I can't specifically remember what it was, but all our meals were good.

After dinner, we went to the Boleros (a Latino bar) where we listened to some lively music and then headed to the theater for the adult comedy show.  Wanda met us and we all enjoyed a very funny show.

It was back to the Boleros to finish our evening (and where we ended up concluding each of our five nights).  Seen left, four couples we met who were from one of the Latin American countries, but I forget where.  I loved the Latin music, with the lively beat and fast, fun dancing.  We all did some dancing (especially me).  Videos on FB.

We knew it was after midnight when we went back to our room because the section of carpet in the elevator was now reading Sunday.

I got up early Sunday and hit the top deck to walk, after first getting my hot water and tea bag steeping.  It had rained, so the deck was wet and it was still quite cloudy.

  

I watched the sun rise and also the people as they slowly came out of the woodwork.
Seen right, is one of two adult only hot tubs that cantilevered over the side of the ship and gave you fantastic views.  You entered them from deck 11, which we did regularly when sitting out on deck 12.  

This is the morning fuzzy greeter just outside the Windjammer buffet.  Each morning a different critter greeted us, and I usually gave them their daily hug.



Judy and Shirley went to a jewelry buying seminar which turned out being longer than expected and was more of a sales pitch.  But they were happy to get some tips and coupons.  I had gone up to the top deck to sit in the sun and watch the people and festivities.  The belly flop contest (seen right) was hilarious, and the island music so festive.

After a buffet lunch at the Windjammer, we all went back up by the pools to sun and swim.  The pool water was too cold for our liking, but the hot tubs were great.

I showered quickly and then while the girls got cleaned up for our earlier, informal buffet dinner, I went up to the sports center on deck's 13 and 14.



This is the wave simulator that the young and daring played on.




This is the mini golf course.  There was also an out door basketball/soccer court and a climbing wall.

Then I went down to decks 4 and 5 to take a little walking tour of the outside of them.  The ice skating rink was down here somewhere also. 

Seen right, a view while looking straight off the front of the boat.  I was able to go right up to the railing and do the classic "I'm King Of The World!" thing from Titanic.  Then, when I turned around, photo below, you are looking towards the back of the ship, and have a view of the navigational bridge and all the forward-facing cabins.  Only a few passengers were down here, and some crew members.



Below is a view looking straight off the back of the boat.







I wasn't able to watch the rest of this pretty sunset because I needed to get back up to the room where the girls were about ready to go to dinner. 





The ladies made a small contribution to the casino and then we went on to dinner.  We ate earlier than usual, going to the buffet, because the formal dining room attire was very dressy for Valentine's Day.

We went to a fast moving and enjoyable dance show at 9:00, where Wanda joined us once again (seen below).  But this was to be her last night with us, I think we were a little too wild and crazy for her.



 


The three ladies stayed for an audience participation marriage game show that they reported was quite hilarious, but I chose to go back up to the Boleros lounge for more dancing.




The four fun couples (ladies in red) were back and dancing up a storm as usual.  I sat with them.







We headed back to our room sometime after midnight, as the elevator carpet reminded us it was now Monday.  Fredrick, who kept our stateroom clean, had folded us this cute towel.  It was sometime after 1 am when we finally went to bed.





We were anchored near Belize when I woke up at 6 am.  My walk was shorter than usual because it was raining lightly so I went out on deck 4.  The girls were up early since we had a shore excursion to get to.  With the rain coming down (seen right on windows of windjammer during breakfast) and forecasted to do so all day, some  people were canceling their excursions.

We boarded the tender and took a 20 minute boat ride to Belize.  As you can see, it was still raining lightly.

After some shuffling around, waiting in line while it sprinkled, we then caught the tour bus.  Our tablemates were also on this tour, and Lindsey made it into this photo.  We had a great (and funny) tour guide (seen in green below) who pointed out landmarks, buildings, and told us the history of Belize as we drove through the city.

We arrived at Old Belize Museum, Restaurant, and Cucumber Beach, located some four miles west of Belize City.  








We had a very informative tour, learning about the colonization of Belize.


This was a neat old pack saddle for transporting goods.

At one point, I volunteered to dance the Punta, a native dance where you basically just shake your booty... one of my signature moves.

After the museum, it was time to hit the beach and mini water park.  And guess what, the sun had come out!
 

 
We enjoyed the two hours (far too short) of fun in the sun.  There were all sorts of "toys" including the giant floating trampoline, water slide, rope swing (my favorite), and inner tubes.
  





For some reason, Judy and I had great difficulties getting in the inner tubes.  We cracked ourselves up.
  



The trampoline was not tight enough for me to get the needed height to do a flip, but was fun and a great leg workout.  The water slide was thrilling to say the least.

  


We bought lunch at the beach side restaurant.  I enhanced my meal with a local beer, Belikin. 



We took our food back to a covered beach table, where we shared a giant bowl of nachos, while taking a break from the sun.  Island music was playing and once again a little dancing occurred. 

This is a view of our ship from the beach.

Our unBelizeable stay at the beach ended much too soon and we boarded the bus to go back to town.  The tour guide did a lot more joking around with the fellow passengers, some who were rather inebriated.



It had ended up being a beautiful afternoon of sunshine, for which we were so thankful.  We sat on the top deck of the tender for a much more pleasant ride back to the ship.
Once back on the ship we went pool side and enjoyed soaking in the hot tub.  My arms and abs were sore from all the rope swinging I had done and my legs from the trampoline and stairs up to the top of the waterslide. 


After lounging in the sun, where we also took a good nap, we got ready for another formal dinner.  Our waiter Raymond took our picture.

From dinner we went to the Boleros, again, where we spent the bulk of the evening dancing to the band, One Love, from Kingston Jamaica.  They sang reggae and were tons of fun.  The lead singer, Peter Carter, was very good.

Tuesday morning I woke up still feeling quite sore.  It had rained overnight and our boat had been moved from Belize to Cozumel.  It was a drizzly, gloomy morning so my walk was short, and again on deck four.  After a somewhat leisurely morning, we headed ashore.
 




We were docked right next to another Royal Caribean ship.  In fact, once we got on shore, we could see four ships "parked" here in Cozumel.













We started out shopping just at the port.  This life size iron donkey caught the eye of all three of us.
 



Judy was brave enough to get her photo taken with these guys, dressed like native warriors.


















It was nice to see the Humane Society at work down here and made us think of Terry.  Judy made a donation on her behalf.

After I did a little shopping I bought one artifact, a small, native, wood wall hanging... which I will show you once I have it hung somewhere here around the house.

Judy & Shirley caught a cab to go downtown shopping.

I went back to the Senior Frog (that we had walked by earlier) to get on the Internet.  To sit there, I needed to be eating (or drinking) so I had a beer, since I was full from breakfast and you can't drink the water.

A waiter had to help me get connected to the
Wi-Fi.  I still had issues so really only did stuff on Facebook after sending a few e-mails.
This was a neat bar and grill.  They served free popcorn in plastic dog dishes and made guacamole for people right at their tables.  






It was such a happening place that I was pretty distracted by all the craziness.  A conga line went by, you could get a free shot of To-Kill-Ya if you joined in.
  

In this second photo, the waitress is standing on a table and pouring shots into each mouth as the person dances by.

Each waiter and waitress had a drinking slogan on the back of their t-shirt.  This one pretty well sums up the state of affairs.  




After two hours and a second beer, I was ready to get up and dance and join in the festivities.  I had also lost my internet connection so gave up on that and just enjoyed the music and fun.  I did stand at the bar and dance there a little bit, and chatted with a man whose wife was shopping.

Fearing my cabin mates would get back before me, and seeing the clouds moving in, I left the fun and got back on the boat.  No girls, so I went to get a late lunch.  This was the view of Cozumel from my table.

The back of the boat was tied to this dock thing. 

I headed up deck 14, but there was no rock climbing happening.  In the left photo, it looks like the boat has two walking paths, but the lower one is really on the shorter boat next to us.  The two lower photos almost show a panorama of the water play area for kids.  You can also see a boat docked on each side of ours.

I went down to deck 3 to check on ice skating, but that was closed also.  I did run across the audio/visual tech support area for the whole boat.  I though it quite amazing.  You can see reflections of painting's in the window.

Below is a little diagram, provided by Royal Caribbean, that gives you a general overview of the layout of our ship.

Deciding to lie in the sun and read, I settled in, but soon had to move down a deck when the drizzle started.  It wasn't long before the skies opened up and it poured.  I read a bit longer as all the swimmers and sunners went back to their cabins.

Eventually I went back to cabin #6361 where two "drowned rats" had just returned from getting caught in the rain while shopping.  
This photo, taken earlier, shows a whimsical dog.  It was on deck six by the elevator and helped us remember which way to turn to get to our state room.  
We all got cleaned up for dinner as the ship headed out to sea, for home.

The evening ended as usual, having a drink and dancing at the Boleros.  
I don't have any photos from the night, so have included this one taken at the simulated rain forest on Belize that I forgot to include earlier.

Wednesday we were at sea all day, sailing towards Ft. Lauderdale.  It was very breezy out, but also sunny, so I went up to the deck party at about 10 am.  Shirley and Judy were doing some more shopping so I saved them lounge chairs in an out of the wind place.  The sexiest man contest occurred sometime before noon.  It was quite the crowd pleaser.  And the winner was Bree.  The photo seen left I got from the Royal Caribbean Sexiest Man archive.  I am not sure if it is Bree, but looks just like him.



The grills were going on deck 11, so we had barbecue for lunch.  After naps in the lounge chairs, we moved to seats overlooking the dance floor.  The One Love band was playing and the crowd was feeling quite festive.  There was a guy down with the band, dancing by himself, who was from the group right next to us.  They were from Wisconsin and his shirt read "Drink Wisconsibly."  He was having a great time and I later joined him so he wasn't by himself, and others also joined in, including Bree. 


During a band break, there was a line dance lesson.  I got up for that, and never sat down until One Love did their last song at 5:00. 

Shirley and Judy went back to our cabin early so they could start packing and get ready for dinner.  


I squeezed in a shower at some point, and then it was back to the Boleros bar and lounge.  I had a cocktail and danced until the band took a break.  I went to our room, got all my stuff packed up, and then we went to dinner, taking our champagne for Raymond (our waiter) to open.  We shared it with the girls and had a lovely last dinner together.

Lobster was on the menu, but I opted for leg of lamb.  Raymond took this photo of the six of us.  It was so nice to have met Sarah, Lindsey, and Amy.  Conversation was never lacking at our table.

After our fine dining, we went to the Royal Promenade where they were having a Dancing In The Street party.  

 

It was crowded, but fun. We all hated to see the cruise come to an end.


Once the street party was over we went back to our room.  Shirley and Judy changed, we set our large suitcases in the hallway, and then were off to the Boleros.  We danced till the band, Latin Waves played their last song. 


This is Jenny with me.  We met her the first night and saw her almost every night.  She was a great dancer,  had been a dance instructor, and was very willing to help us learn some Latin moves (more videos on Facebook).  I was not the easiest to instruct, but it was fun (for me) trying.





This other good dancer guy (with Jenny below) was also at the Boleros nightly and danced with many of the ladies.  When we danced, I stepped on his toes twice.  Ugh. 

I also danced with Bree during part of a song.  He sat with our group for awhile and was very nice.  Such a lovely smile... no wonder he won the Sexiest Man contest.  We met so many fun and wonderful people.  Taking a cruise is definitely an experience I will want to repeat.

Judy and I awoke Thursday morning before the alarm went off.  I don't know if it was travel jitters or what.  We dressed and went up for coffee and tea.  This photo was taken from our table, of the ocean side of our boat, at port in Ft. Lauderdale.  


While my tea was steeping, I went back to our cabin to tell Shirley where we were seated, and to get my backpack.

Things were already bustling on the dock and the mass exodus lines of self carry luggage people was already blocking stairways.

Can you imagine the groceries needed for 4000 people for a week?  Look at all the containers of fruits and vegetables.  And where's the beef ?  Ha ha ha.

I jumped the gun on going to our holding area, thinking we needed to be there at 8:30 (but it wasn't until 9:30), so we got down there a little after 8 am.  I guess I was a little anxious to get off the ship ASAP and to Joe who was waiting for us in the SUV.  

To prevent long lines, each cabin was assigned a departure number.  We were 34.  I knew it was going to be awhile, so went up to deck 4 and walked around up there.  By 9:30, they hadn't even called the 8:15 group yet.  I tried to convince Shirley and Judy to join me out in the sun, but they wanted to stay put.




Getting myself another breakfast, I found a seat, and continued to wait.  Sometime before 11:00 I went down to the holding area.  The photo below is the two lines, going half the length of the boat, that were still in the progress of shuffling off.  It is uncertain as to the exact cause of the hold up, but we were assured that this was highly unusual.  


It became apparent that groups were "skipping line" so to speak, and getting in line before their number was called.  I told the girls I had gotten in line behind a #44, and to come join me.  Eventually they made their way and caught up with me on deck 2.


Once off the boat, the line continued down the dock and then a whole series of zig/zags had to be done in the building till we picked up our suitcases and went through customs!







We finally got to where Joe was parked at noon.  We were so glad to see him.  He had been communicating with Mom, who was expecting us for lunch around 1 pm.  Needless to say, with a three hour drive, we were going to be very late.    

Mom put lunch on hold, and when we got there, stuck the chicken Alfredo back in the oven.  She had also made a beautiful seven layer salad that I especially enjoyed.

We couldn't stay long, because we were also late getting to Jim and Carmina's.  They were so nice to put us up for the night, amidst their very busy schedules.   

Friday's final seven hour trek home went pretty fast, but still seemed to take forever.  We talked about the cruise as I tried to make notes for this blog post.  I should have been writing stuff down all along.  With all said and done, I want to add that I have definitely taken a liking to Latino and Reggae music... or a combination of the two.
Latino and (Reggae) Songs I recognized:
Macarena, Guantanamera, La Bamba, Livin la Vida Loca, Me Odio, quiero salsa, and Conga. 
(Jammin', Don't Worry Be Happy, and Red Red Wine)
And some new ones I picked up on:
Danza Kuduro, La Gota Fria, La Rebelion, Bailando, Oye Como Va, and Cali Pachanguero. 
(Get Up Stand Up, Buffalo Soldier, and One Love)
I really miss the festivities, sun, food and people.  But I especially miss the music and the dancing.