2014 Dec. 6 night Carnival Freedom cruise: Key West; Grand Cayman; Cozumel

Out of the blue one day, my sister-in-law, Jane, told me that my brother said she could go on a cruise with me.  He pretty much had to say that since he was going to Vegas with "the guys".  So I didn't hesitate to start checking on cruises.  I looked for the best deal I could find with the most interesting itinerary leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale.  So after some searching, I came up with this 6 night cruise on Carnival Freedom going to Key West, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.   The rate was  something like $700 for the 2 of us for the beginning of Dec.  It wasn't too long before my sister heard about our cruise and wanted to join us.  At that point I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of sleeping on a bunk, so found an inside category with fold down couch (it even had portholes) for just a bit more.  Then I started working on talking my daughter into going.  Even took a Halloween special that let me book an inside room for myself for something like $580---with the hopes of talking Angie into joining us.  I even caught another special to upgrade to an ocean view room for about $50 more and it included a $100 obc, so I took it.  Then I was able to get $50 obc for owning CCL stock.  My sister had sent in for the credit for her room, so this way we both got our stock obc.  Wasn't until after Thanksgiving that I finally talked Angie into going and added her to my room.  With all that settled, all we had to do was wait until Dec. 3rd to roll around and meet up with Angie in Ft. Lauderdale.  The cruise wasn't until the 7th, but airfare was cheaper going in the middle of the week and Angie lives there so we figured we could freeload off of them for a few days.  That almost worked out.  Unfortunately, or fortunately considering who's looking at it, Josh got really sick right before we arrived, so Carolyn, Jane and I stayed the first 4 nights at the Wyndham Palm Aire.

2014-Dec. 3-7  pre-cruise S. Florida stay:

2014-12-7 embarkation day:

2014-12-8 Key West:

2014-12-9 Sea Day:

2014-12-10 Grand Cayman: 

2014-12-11 Cozumel:

2014-12-12 Sea Day: 

Our time went rather quickly.  We also went to a few art auctions.  Carolyn even bought a painting---which she actually paid for, then later went and rescinded her payment.  But we had a good time visiting.  I live in St. Louis, Jane in Illinois, Carolyn in Oregon, and Angie in Florida; so it was nice having a chance to catch up.  It looked like it was going to end wonderfully and we would go back to our merry little lives.  ----Until Ken tried to check Carolyn and Jane in for their flights.  Jane's went ok, but Carolyn's said call the airlines.  She first called it from the ship.  That's when she found out her flight was changed --- to a 7am flight---obviously she missed that flight!  Josh picked us up and we went back to their house.  Carolyn spent the next 2 or 3 hours on the phone yelling at Cheap O air, USAir, AAmerican air, the whole state of Florida?!, and us.  I was happy to have the break to drive Jane to the airport for her early evening flight.  Carolyn had to buy a new flight for the next morning leaving at 7am for about $280 more dollars.  Sounds like they actually used her fare for the flight she missed and waved the change fee, but she was still demanding she shouldn't have to pay since she wasn't notified.  At this point, I was astounded that she hadn't actually checked her flights before the trip!  I assumed everyone who's flown more then once knows to do that now!  She was still on the phone when I got back.  Fortunately Angie and Josh had a Christmas party to go to so they got to escape a lot of the turmoil.   I was staying there for a few more days, so I got up at 5am and took Carolyn to the airport.   Then I needed those extra days to decompress!   

2014 Oregon Sept. (continuation from Utah), Crater Lake, Clear Lake, waterfalls, Coast

After our busy, but wonderful week in Utah, we were off to Oregon for another 2 weeks.  This was a trip to show some friends as much of Oregon as we could in the 10 days they were with us.  Although day 1 for them was a travel day to Las Vegas where they met up with us.  Having lived in Oregon as a kid and vacationed there for over 40 years as an adult, I put together a pretty intensive itinerary for them: Kennedy School Restaurant; Voodoo doughnuts; Columbia River Gorge; Mt. Hood; Cascade Lakes byway; Crater Lake; row boating on Clear Lake; Silver Falls; Oregon Gardens; Frank Loyd Wright's Gordon House; Ugo's in Dallas (my nephew's pizza place); 2 days on the coast (lots of whales!); Garibaldi scenic train ride; Tillamook Cheese Factory; Rogue Brewery; Portland Rose Garden; Portland Japanese Garden---then our company went home and we spent 5 more nights on the coast in Lincoln City.

Aug. 30, 2014 --- to Portland:

Aug. 31, 2014 --- Columbia River Gorge; Mt. Hood; Bend:

Sept. 1, 2014 (Labor Day) --- lava tube; Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway:

Sept. 2, 2014 --- Crater Lake:

Sept. 3, 2014 -- Dee Wright Observatory; Clear Lake:

Sept. 4, 2014 --- Silver Falls; Oregon Gardens; Gordon House; Depoe Bay Worldmark:

Sept. 5, 2014 --- heading south along the coast:

Sept. 6, 2014 --- heading north to Tillamook and Garibaldi train ride:

Sept. 7, 2014 --- Portland Rose Garden, Portland Japanese Garden, good bye to our friends:

Sept. 8, 2014 --- north to Seaside for the night:

Sept. 9, 2014  --- Seaside to Dallas:

Sept. 10, 2014 --- South along the beach to Newport:

Sept. 11, 2014 --- South from Newport Bay:

Sept. 12, 2014 --- Dallas and Portland:

When asked if I was ready to go home, I had to admit---not really! 
Link to my UTAH BLOG:

2014 August Southern Utah vacation: Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, Snow Canyon

For a very long time I've been wanting to go to Southern Utah and check out some of our National Parks around there.  So in the winter of 2013,  when we were talking about where to go in the summer of 2014 and I saw that an RCI exchange into the  St. George Worldmark resort was available for the last week of August, we decided to book it.  Shortly after booking it, some friends asked if we were still going to show them around Oregon in 2014.  So, our Southern Utah trip turned out to be the beginning of a fantastic 3 week long trip, with a night in Las Vegas and 2 weeks in Oregon to follow our 6 nights in Utah.  I've included a link to our Oregon trip at the end of this post.

Unfortunately, shortly after making our plans, I started having pulled and torn calf muscles.  After about 5 months and about 50 torn calf muscles, I finally went for physical therapy (something I've never done before).  It seemed to help, for awhile.  Didn't pull or tear any calf muscles for about 2 months, but then noticed some pretty severe knee pain.  Went to the Dr. and was told I needed surgery to remove some torn cartilage, but by then it was too close to our trip, so surgery was scheduled for the week I got back.  So, although I had a great 3 week trip!, I also suffered a lot while walking.  Ken was probably happy, though, since I didn't insist on many of the hikes in the canyon.  The torn calf muscles (in both legs) occurred again, as well as the  knee pain, so I hobbled a lot.  Really felt like an old lady!!!!

Aug.23, 2014:

Aug. 24, 2014 -- Bryce Canyon National Park:

Aug. 25, 2014 --- Snow Canyon:

Aug. 26, 2014 --- Zion:

Aug. 27, 2014 --- another day around the St. George area:

Aug. 28, 2014 --- North Rim of the Grand Canyon:

Aug. 29, 2014 --- leaving St. George:

This was a big bucket list trip!  In fact, it remains on my bucket list to see again!

Tomorrow----on to OREGON

2014 Just a little cross country drive to Florida in June/July

What do you do  to stay alert on long distance car rides?---I like to take pictures from the car as we wisk by at highway speeds!
Knowing this was going to be a LONG ride, we got an early start---about 6:30am.  After about 20 minutes, we were heading across the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial bridge in  St. Louis, much to the dismay of non updated Garmonia (our name for our Garmin).  She kept yelling at us to "go to the highlighted route!"

 We had a nice view of the Martin Luther King Bridge with the old historic Eades Bridge behing it.

 One of my favorite thing to capture with my camera from the road are barns and farms---one of the many in Illinois.

 Even had some morning sunrise color in the sky.

 Half way through Illinois along I-57 we passed Rend Lake.   Driving past there always reminds of my childhood when the lake was built and I use to go there with friends to swim and boat.  Haven't been there in probably 40 years!

 Just past Rend Lake is West Frankfort where I lived for about a year back in 1967-68.  This is my Mom's home town and she brought us here to be by our Grandparents and Uncle when my dad was sent on an isolated tour with the Air Force to Saudi Arabia.

Wild flowers lined the highway throughout Illinois.   Took this picture just before we had to exit the highway and detour around an accident---add about 30 minutes to our already long trip!

 In the far south eastern Illinois are the Shawnee Mountains. 

And Superman's home!  We even went to see his statue a couple years ago when we were traveling this route to Atlanta.  I was surprised to find it was several miles off the highway---no time to waste doing that again!

More construction!  Seems there was construction almost the whole way ---at least our first day!  This is heading into Kentucky on I-24.

 Now we have Garmonia, but I remember as a child being excited to get AAA Trip Tix and "turning the page".  But now it's neat seeing the miles count down on Garmonia and having her yell at us every time we take a little detour.

King Kong selling fireworks in Kentucky!

Another interesting barn.

I guess Kentucky wasn't too interesting---on to Tennessee!

 Heading into Nashville.

 Of course, just as we get near the city and into a lot of traffic and construction, the skies open up on us.

After spending about an hour trying to get around Nashville in the pouring rain, we're back to the farmlands.

Finally heading into the mountains of Eastern Tennessee---one of my favorite parts of the drive.

In winter we often see frozen waterfalls along the rock walls.

Fortunately we didn't see anyone using any of the "runaway ramps".

It was a rather hazy cloudy day today.

Lakes!

Leaving Tennessee

Back in tennessee---stupid highway likes to tease you and make you think you're done with a state just to bring you right back into it.

Our rest stop near Chattanooga where we literally waited out some tornados a couple years ago---although the surrounding storm pounded our brand new car with hail---reshaping our new car.  Note when driving through the midwest during hail storms---there are few overpasses to stop under! 

 Out of Tennessee again!

Picturesque Georgia

Ordinarily we've driven straight to Atlanta and then on to Florida or Alpharetta (when our daughter and son-in-law lived in Alpharetta.)  This time i booked us a night at the Wyndham Fairfield Plantation Resort in Villa Rica.  It's not far from Atlanta, but the last 50 miles are on country roads --- lots of stop lights!  But it was a nice change of pace from our previous 8 hours or so of highway driving.  Even saw more barns.

Dallas!!!  This reminded me of my former home of Dallas, Oregon, in --- Oregon!  I'm easily amused and got a big kick out of driving through another countrified Dallas.  (Even more amusing---in 2019 we actually move here to Dallas, Ga!!!)

They even have happy cows there.

 Where else can you be at the corner of Punkintown and Dallas?

Finally, our home away from home for the night---our 2 bedroom deluxe Plus Villa (373).

I wasn't sure the extra time to get here was worth it until we got here.  This place is pretty nice!  With our Wyndham points it was "free" or a big discounted use of our points.

Love all the little details

 2nd bedroom.

 the "plus" part of the unit---the lofted twin beds

the livingroom from the loft.  Master bedroom to the far left, dining room to the far right.

 living room fireplace and spiral stairway to the loft

 the dining room---love the chandelier.

 The bedrooms even have little screened in patios attached to them.

 Another nice little detail

there's even a great little restauant at the marina about a mile from our villa.  we were certainly ready for dinner by the time we got there (about 6:30---about 11 hours after leaving home.)  i had fish and chips which were very good and Ken had a grilled chicken sandwich which he enjoyed, too.

 After eating we chilled out around the lake for a little while.

One last picture from the marina before heading back to the villa and calling it a day---a long but enjoyable one. 

Tomorrow---on to Coral Springs, Florida!  Bring on the toll roads!!!

Next day we were up bright and early again and on the road by 7:30.  One last view from our resort----you can almost see the lake through all the trees.

Garmonia led us quickly through forestland to 285 on the southwest side of Atlanta.

 Once we hit 285, we also hit lots of roads and traffic.

We knew we were getting closer to our destination when we saw a surfboard on a car.  That's not something we've ever seen in St.Louis!

Why didn't we have school buses like this when I was in school?!

Finally found a place to pull off and get some fresh tree ripened Georgia peaches and pecans!  Yummmm!!!

 Even some of the trees in south Georgia had palm tree envy.

Finally we reached the border.  only about 500 more miles to go!

Finally, palm trees!!!

Even some ranch lands in northern /Florida.

and lots of bodies of water.

Even a couple barns.  I hadn't seen too many of them since we left Illinois or Kentucky.

Finally reached Orlando where we hopped onto the toll road.  First time using our mini Sunpass!  Hope it works!

Love the way they decorate the sound barriers.

By now it was about 2pm and the temps had risen.

Our trip was slowed down a bit with the passing of the Florida afternoon monsoons.

Temps went down a bit, too.

Someone needs to tell these guys there are no mountains in Florida.

Good 'ole Jupiter----land of the St. Louis Cardinals Spring training games.  I finally got to go to one of them a little over a year ago.

You know you're in Florida when fruit trucks share the road with you.

Finally reached our daughter's neighborhood in Coral Springs at about 6pm.

Great dinner followed at Miller's Ale house in Coral Springs.   Great as always.
Next day was low key with going to church with Angie and Josh, then out to brunch on the intercoastal.  This was a new restaurant to most of us--Old Key Lime House.  It did not disappoint!

 interesting decor

 even a marina for guests arriving by boat.

 my mahi mahi sandwich.

 Hubby's fried egg BLT.  And I forgot to take a picture of the key lime pie, but it was also very good.

Early to bed and early to rise the next day.  The "kids" had to be at the airport by 4:45am, which meant we were on the road by 4:15am.  Now to take over our duties as Pool sitter----uhhh, I mean dog sitter.

I even enjoyed sitting on their covered patio during the daily afternoon downpour and watching the rain.

One day Ken and I bought Subway sandwiches and went to the beach for a pic nic dinner.  

 Love Deerfield Beach!

 We rather enjoyed playing Florida homeowners for the week!  At least I did!  (so much so that we ended up moving to a 1 bedroom "vacation apartment" about a mile from the kids in 2015.  Loved it so much we were going to renew our lease, when the kids said they were moving back to Atlanta---so we ended up following them there).   I did end up getting a doozie of an upper respiratory infection and ended up going to the local MDNow clinic.  Once the "kids" got back, we helped them work on the yard.  Ken cut down a tree in the back yard and Angie and I hauled it to the street for yard waste pick up.  Sure looked bigger in the back yard!!!

Looked like the clouds may have gotten too thick for a good sunset, but it turned out perfect!

  One night it looked like we'd have a nice sunset, so Ken and I headed to the berm by Sawgrass Mills Turnpike and Atlantic Boulevard to watch the sun set over the Everglades.  Happened to be a full moon night and later I heard it was a Super Moon night.  Looked pretty Super to me.

Even saw this guy enjoying the sunset.

Another view of the sunset looking East.

 Now West over the Everglades.

 The berm is a great place for walking and biking.  It reminds me of the Katy Trail in Missouri.

 Another sunset while driving around another evening.

 We even went to an auction with the kids one night---although I ended up coughing so badly that Ken and I ended up leaving early and heading to dinner.

 The kids are art collectors and stayed to try and win the bids of a few art works.  This is one of the ones they won and it might be a Walker painting. 

Another day we went to an estate sale with them and I wish I had my camera then!  It was through an Equestrian neighborhood and into an Aeronautical neighborhood.  The sale was held in one of the homes' private hanger!  The kids go to quite a few estate sales and know many of the people running them.  They gave us quite a deal on several items.
 
 Our 2 1/2 weeks there went by pretty quickly.  Soon it was time to start our long trek back.  I was able to pick up another night at the Wyndham in Villa Rica, so we used that as our heading home day.  We got another very early start (about 6:30am).  Seemed odd taking the Sawgrass Expressway to the Florida turnpike then Garmin telling us to go 550 miles to our next turn!!!

Was odd here with the Turnpike and I-95 right next to each other, too.

Ever wonder what they do with their trash in Florida?  They make mounds with it!

 A farm near Orlando

 admiring the clouds.  We ended up having great weather!

 Another old barn

 Now that's a pizza delivery!

 Look at those clouds!!!!

A farm in north Florida

 A high spot in north Florida.

 some of the burnt trees from previous lightening started fires.

 The scenery changes pretty abruptly once you reach Georgia---very few palm trees anymore and lots of pines.

Georgia Peanuts! 

More fascinating clouds.

I love photographing churches, too, but you don't see many of them by the highway.

 Go Airforce!!!!  And , "Hi" to an Airforce buddy of ours in Warner Robbins.  (close to where we lived in 2018!!!!----Perry, Ga.)

 Love their Buckle Up signs in Georgia

 Nearing Atlanta!  Time to head west and make our way to Villa Rica.

 Love all the pines in Georgia!

11 hours of traveling and we were finally at the resort.  Too bad they didn't have a reservation for us!!!  AFter much anguish and several calls --- some to Wyndham, some to different managers at the resort from the guards gate at the entrance of the community, we finally got it straightened out---sort of.  At least we got a room, although it wasn't the one Wyndham said we were suppose to have.  But after 2 hours of bantering back and forth, I was happy to have a place to stay.  We were put in a 2 bedroom unit in the Terra building.  It had a great view of the lake.

 Our 2 bedroom unit to the far left.

 The master bedroom in the lower level.

 The giant jacuzzi in the master bathroom!

 From the doorway of the split level villa.

Dining room, living room, and kitchen on the upper level.

living room with view out to the lake.

 another view of the lake.

View toward the unit we were suppose to have.

One of the 2 decks.

 Lofted roof.  The 2nd bedroom  and 2nd bath were on the entry level.  It was an interesting configured condo.

Next morning we were up and out early again.  Got to witness another beautiful sunrise.

 The sun still rising.

Throughout Georgia they have a problem with the Kudzu (sp) growing over everything.  Looks pretty, but I'm sure the trees don't like it.

 Near Chattanooga.

 Here's where we go in and out of Georgia and Tennessee a couple times each.

And the clouds rolled in.

Then the rain.  Fortunately it didn't last too long.  Seems like Chattanooga always has some kind of bad weather whenever we're near.

I kept telling Ken we needed to stop at Stuckey's so I could relive my childhood!  Being a military brat, I spent a lot of time on the road as a kid moving from one state to another.  I still have fond memories of our Stuckey's breaks.  Unfortunately, Ken didn't have the same desire, so we kept on going.

 As an adult maybe we should start a new tradition for our travel stops?!

 Nashville.

Fortunately the weather had cleared up nicely by the time we got to Nashville.  

out of the mountains and into the rolling hills of Tennessee.

 On to Kentucky

 Really cool old barn!

And another

Finally a horse!  I expect to see lots of horses in Kentucky, but this is the only one!

Only 172 more miles! 

 the Ohio River.

 and into Illinois.

The rolling Shawnee hills.

Good 'ole I-57; you can be sure there will be plenty of construction on it!!!!

Illinois countryside

?????

Illinois penitentiary.  I wouldn't pick up any hitch hikers around here! 

You talk'in to me???!!!!!!

More beautiful clouds.   This is about when we took a lunch/dinner break and met up with my brother and sister in law in Mt. Vernon for a nice visit. 

See quite a few of these around Illinois, too.

More Illinois scenery.

The clouds kept me entertained for hours!

 Definitely back in farmland.

 Love the shapes of barns people come up with.

Build it and they will come---unless it's the Mid America Airport!

Gotta love being so close to home and hitting more construction!

an out of car experience!---Oh wait, that's not our car, just looks like it.

Yep,we're almost home.

 And back to where we started.