2017 May S Florida

2017 May South Florida 10 night trip:

Since we had airfare credit with Southwest to use before June 9th, we decided to use it to go to South Florida for 10 days.  I was able to pick up 2 nights at the Wyndham Royal Vista and 9 (one overlapping Royal Vista) at the Palm Aire.  It was great going back and playing tourist in the area we lived for a year.

 Day 1 -- travel day : May 13, 2017

Wyndham Royal Vista---2 bedroom deluxe, rm 8814

Day 2---Mother's Day at Butterfly World and the beach  :  May 14, 2017

Wyndham Palm Aire---2 bedroom deluxe, rm 975

Day 3---move to Palm Aire and birding at Wakodahatchee  :  May 15, 2017

Day 4---Happy Birthday to me in Naples  :  May 16, 2017

Day 5----birding at Green Cay Wetlands  : May 17, 2017

Day 6---Flamingo Gardens  : May 18, 2017

Day 7---Loxahatchee wetlands : May 19, 2017

Day 8---the beach, Wakodahatchee, and Green Cay--Yea! :  May 20, 2017

Day 9---the Everglades

Day 10---The beach and Wakodahatchee one last time! 

Day 11-time to go home 

It was another great "vacation"---almost felt like a "stayvacation"!  Went to our favorite spots---the beach, birding parks, restaurants...  .    Only problem was that time went by too quickly.

2017 Feb. 4-11 Orlando trip:

What do you do in Orlando if you don't go to the theme parks????

Feb. 4---the drive down to Orlando from Atlanta, by way of Silver Springs State Park in Florida.
             

Orange Lake Resort --- Where we stayed while on vacation:
         

Feb. 5 --- finding the birds:
              

Feb. 6 --- hanging around the resort:
 

Feb. 7th ---   Harry P Leu Gardens:

            and  Part 2, on to Disney Springs:


Feb. 8th --- to Merritt Island and the Cape Canaveral Sea Shore:


Feb. 9th --- the ever popular Lakefront Park!


Feb. 10th --- Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens

             and (part 2) Apopka Lake wildlife area:


Feb. 11th --- back to Atlanta by way of Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia:


Would I have liked to have gone to some of the theme parks---yes, but Ken isn't a fan.  So it's nice to know we can still go to Orlando and have a great time!
         

2016 Dec. 4-14 Koningsdam 10 nt cruise (Half moon cay, Grand Turk, Amber Cove, Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba):

On our last cruise (2015 Nov. cruise) we signed up for the future cruise bonus.  The Koningsdam is the newest ship in the HAL fleet and was going on a route we wanted to do.  Didn't know if we'd like being on such a big ship, but it turned out to be great.  We met a lot of interesting people, ate a lot of great food, visited several interesting ports, enjoyed the entertainment; everything would have been perfect----if it hadn't stormed all day in Bonaire.  Oh well, there's always next time!

We tend to base most of our cruises (and most of our land vacations) around beaches and snorkeling.  This one was no exception.  In fact I chose this specific itinerary because it went to Bonaire and Curacao again, plus a couple new ports for us---Amber Cove and Aruba.

Instead of making a ridiculously long blog, I'm supplying links to the ship, ports, and sea days individually---and the 4 days pre-cruise mini S. Florida vacation.  

11-30-16  back to our old stomping grounds in South Florida!
12-1-16  back to the beach!!!
12-2-16 Mounts gardens in West Palm Beach:
12-3-16  Wakodahatchee and Green Cay! 

Now---on to the cruise!

The Koningsdam

Dec. 4---embarkation day

Dec. 5---Half Moon Cay

Dec. 6---Grand Turk

Dec. 7---Amber Cove

Dec. 8---1st sea day

Dec. 9---Bonaire

Dec. 10---Curacao

Dec. 11---Aruba

Dec. 12-14---sea days and disembarkation

I'd read a lot of complaints about the Koningsdam---no library, walking was hard on the promenade deck, lines were bad in Lido, not enough elevators,  more places to nickel and dime you, and more that I can't think of right now, but none of that bothered us.  We loved the Koningsdam.  But then, we've loved every ship we've been on.  This one was different from the other HAL ships, but I kind of liked that.  Shows they're trying to grow with the times.  I especially loved the digital daily Navigators, the Lido movies, the New York Deli, and the World Stage.  I wouldn't hesitate to cruise on the Koningsdam again.

2016 Sept. 20-23 quickie trip to Margaritaville, St. Thomas!

What do you do after 4 weeks in Hawaii and about 18 hours of travel to get home?  Rest for a couple days then fly to St. Thomas for 3 nights!!! 

Click on the links to see our fun!

Where we stayed--- Wyndham Margaritaville

Sept. 20th--- travel day and settling in to our 3 bedroom Presidential Reserve unit!

Sept. 21st--- ferry to St. John for some fantastic snorkeling, then back to St Thomas for some more!

Sept. 22nd--- snorkeling Cowpet bay and Secret Beach

Sept. 23rd--- snorkeling Bolongo bay and time to go home--- again!

What a great time I had!!!  May have to do more of these little short trips, too!!!

2016---Aug. 18 - Sept. 14 Maui and Kauai trip

This was our 3rd time to Maui (my 5th, but Ken's and my 3rd together); followed by our 15th trip to Kauai.  Originally I booked award travel for the usual time we go to Hawaii---Feb.  It's a nice escape from the St. Louis winters.  But little did I know when I made the reservations that in Feb. 2016 we'd be living in South Florida!  No need to escape that weather!!!  So I paid the exchange fee and changed it to Aug/Sept out of Miami.  Again, little did I know that when Aug. 2016 rolled around, we would be living in Atlanta!  Another exchange fee and rebooking (loosing a day of our Maui vacation in order to get the award travel again)!  This time we left from Atlanta.  And this time we spent 2 weeks on Maui, then another 2 weeks on Kauai!

2015 Oregon 3 week Christmas trip with the "kids"

 For awhile now the "kids" (son who's 37 and his wife, and our daughter who's 35 and her husband) have been talking about us all going somewhere for Christmas.  So on Thanksgiving of 2014, we decided in 2015 we would do it.   All we had to do was decide where and wait for over a year for the time to come.  After suggesting places like Grand Cayman, Grand Bahamas, Key West, and other assorted warm weather beach places, I mentioned the Oregon coast.  That was it, they didn't even hesitate!  That's where they wanted to go!  No warm beaches, no snorkeling, no t-shirts and shorts!  I've lived in Oregon many years ago and know that in winter it rains A LOT!  But I don't remember being in Oregon for Christmas since I was a kid, so I said, "Why not!?"  So at 13 months out  I went onto the Worldmark site and booked a 3 bedroom condo at Gleneden for 2 weeks. When it got closer to Christmas 2015, I refined our reservations by booking 3 nights at Depoe Bay before the Gleneden stay since Angie, Josh and we flew out earlier to get better airfare and cancelled the 2nd week of Gleneden when the kids had all flown home.  Ken and  I stayed an extra week to get the better airfare back, but my brother and sister-in-law offered us their empty house in nearby Dallas since they wouldn't be making it back for Christmas.  

Dec. 16, 2015---flying out of Ft. Lauderdale

Dec. 17, 2015 --- up to rainy Cannon Beach

Dec. 18, 2015---down the Oregon Coast to Cape Perpetua

Dec. 19, 2015---move to Gleneden Beach and Tim and Faith arrive

Dec. 20, 2015---walk along the beach and Mo's

Dec. 21, 2015---to Rogue distillery and brewery

Dec. 22, 2015---Tim's 37th birthday!

Dec. 23, 2015---heading south towards Newport and Seal Beach

Dec. 24, 2015---more sea foam and White Elephant gift exchange

Dec. 25, 2015---Christmas!

Dec. 26, 2015---sad day, the kids leave :(, but first--Multinomah Falls and Mcmenamins Kennedy school for dinner

Dec. 27, 2015---move inland to Dallas

Dec. 28, 2015---apparently there was nothing I wanted to remember about this day?!


Dec. 29, 2015---Silver Falls and Oregon Gardens

Dec. 30, 2015---riding around in the valley and search for Northern Lights

Dec. 31, 2015---Playing with my new lens, Rogue Farms, and into the coastal range by Falls City

Jan. 1, 2016---hanging around Dallas

Jan. 2, 2016---Senior pictures of my great nephew

Jan. 3, 2016---snow and ice storm and time to leave

After living 3 places in Oregon as a kid (Klamath Falls, Corvalis, and Dallas) for a total of 7 years and spending many years vacationing to Dallas as an adult after my parents retired and moved back there, it was nice going back to a place that felt like home.  A lot happened in the year from Thanksgiving 2014 and Christmas 2015---such as Tim and Faith moved to Knoxville and we moved to South Florida.  But we all still managed to come up with the time and money to make the trip.  Even with the cold and rain, it turned out to be a fun trip!

2015 Nov. 8-15 Western Caribbean Cruise on the Eurodam: Key West; Grand Cayman; Jamaica; HMC

When we "temporarily" moved to South Florida (as my husband likes to put it), I figured this might be a good time to try and get some good deals on last minute cruises.  Don't know how good of a deal we really ended up getting, but I managed to keep from accepting the up sell offer to a suite.  I had already upgraded us for $100@ to a balcony from the $499 OV room I had originally booked.  The first up sell offer arrived about 3 weeks before our trip and was $499 for a signature suite and $699 for a Neptune suite.  About a week later I got another up sell offer for the same super high price.  When we finally got our Verandah guarantee room assignment, I noticed we were in a less desirable room near the front of the ship with metal half walls on the veranda and no tub.  I called and requested a different room.
About 4 days before our cruise, we got an email with a new cabin number---mid ship, tub, and with a super deep veranda with Plexiglas walls and even 2 lounge chairs on the deck as well as the 2 other chairs, ottoman, and little side table.   About a day or 2 before the cruise, I called again because I noticed a couple suites opened up and I wanted to see if I could get an up sell for really cheap, like we did a couple years ago.  This time they quoted me $250 for a signature suite and $350 for the Neptune.  I was tempted, but also curious about the VA room we were reassigned.   Apparently there are 4 of these rooms---1 on either side of the lifeboats, so they're a little deeper then the boats are wide (about 14').  I read a lot of mixed reviews about those rooms.  Some people liked the extra space, others didn't because most of the veranda wasn't covered and, therefore, didn't have privacy.   I wonder if that's how we ended up with it.   I don't know for sure, just that there were no veranda rooms showing available for the last week or so before the cruise.
I'd say the actual covered area of our veranda was about what the regular verandas have.  We were on the sunrise side of the ship most of the time, so only got to watch sunset from our veranda 2 nights.  But I did spend a lot of time out there enjoying just gazing at the water.

This was my 2nd time on a Western Caribbean cruise.  Our ports were Key West, Grand Cayman, Jamaica (Falmouth), and HAL's private island in the Bahamas---Half Moon Cay. 

 2015-11-8 Embarkation day!

 

2015-11-9 Key West:

 

2015-11-10 Sea Day

 

2015-11-11 Grand Cayman:

 

2015-11-12 Falmouth, Jamaica:

 

2015-11-13 another sea day:

 

2015-11-14 Half Moon Cay:

 

2015-11-15 disembarkation day:

 

This was my 16th cruise.  Considering how my 1st one was, being evacuated back to Ft. Lauderdale with my Dad, I'm happy to say they've all been great since then.