2006 July trip to Oregon and the Olympic Peninsula in Washington

This was a somewhat difficult trip.  In June, my Dad had gone to the Dr. because of extreme fatigue after returning from a trip to the Holyland.  After a series of tests, he found out he had stage 4 prostate cancer.  He was still waiting for any treatments when we were there, so it was really hard seeing him in pain, even though he did a good job of trying to hide how he was feeling.  It probably didn't help that I had scheduled a few nights at Depoe Bay Worldmark and then a 3 or 4 night trip to the Olympic Peninsula.   I knew he had always wanted to go to the Olympic Peninsula, so he insisted that we still go. 
From our 3 bedroom condo at Worldmark Depoe Bay looking towards the heated pool and big jacuzzi.

 Looking towards the little bay on the other side of our unit.

 My sister and sister-in-law even came out for a day and the 3 of us went shopping and sightseeing.

 Nice to see Dad smiling and enjoying a beautiful sunset by our condo.

2006 Jan 30-Feb 12 - Our 5th Kauai vacation, Tim and Faith's 2nd, Dad's 3rd: Kauai Museum; Queen's Bath; Limahuli Garden; Sleeping Giant hike; Smith's luau; Kukuiolono Golf Course; Napali cruise;

We usually go to Kauai the end of Feb./beginning of March, but this time, we went the end of Jan. 29-Feb. 12.   As I recall, this was the year they had really devastating rains in March. But while we were there the weather was really beautiful for our 2 weeks.

We had visitors most of these 2 weeks. Part of the time they were even overlapping. Since we had the 2 bedroom unit at our Kauai Beach Villas resort that my dad went in on with us, he stayed with us and Tim and Faith stayed at the Kauai Coast Resort at the Beachboy in Kapaa for the first 5 nights until Dad left, then they joined us for a couple more days.


Jan. 30---sticking around the East side waiting for Dad's arrival:

Jan. 31---Queen's Bath, Limahuli Garden, and tunnels:

Feb. 1---Kauai Museum:

Feb. 2---East side, Lydgate, Tim and Faith arrive:

Feb. 3---Smith's luau:

Feb. 4---Sleeping Giant hike, Lydgate snorkel:

Feb. 5---Dad to the airport; then off to the South side:

Feb. 6---kayak tour and snorkeling Lawai: 

Feb. 7---Kilauea and north shore:

Feb. 8---Kukuiolono golf course:

Feb. 9---time for the kids to leave :(

Feb. 10---Snorkeling Poipu:

Feb. 11---sunset cruise:

Feb. 12---snorkel, snorkel, snorkel:

Thus ended another great vacation in Kauai. Instead of getting tired of vacations here, I'm looking more and more foreward to them.  It's feeling more like a home then just a vacation spot!

2006-Jan. Cruisin' to Baja California-4 nt Carnival Paradise: Catalina Island, Ensenada

Carnival Paradise 4 night cruise:

After the winter meetings for the company I work for (Prestige Portraits), my sister joined me and we headed off on a 4 night Carnival cruise. She had never cruised before, so we did a short one to see if she could handle life on a boat.

Our journey actually started the day before our cruise. We had to make our way from San Diego to Los Angeles. That didn't turn out to be much of a problem, though. My sister flew into San Diego and I rented a car from the hotel I was staying in in San Diego and we drove on up to Los Angeles the day before our cruise. We tried to pull off at some of the beaches along the way, but were surprised to see most of them charged a day use fee, so we continued on to LA. We did take the slower Hwy 101 instead of Hwy 5 and enjoyed going through the little towns and catching glimpses of the ocean. We ended up actually in Anaheim and spent the night in the Worldmark resort, Dolphins Cove, there. It was a really nice condo---too bad we were just there for 1 night.

The next morning we headed to the car return place in Long Beach, returned the car, and were quickly on our way to the port by taxi. 

1-9-2006-Embarkation day


1-10-2006 - Catalina Island


1-11-2006 - Encinada


1-12-2006 Sea day

Our first sisters' cruise left us wanting to go on more. So we have made it on another one (Holland America 7 night Mexican Riviera in 2008) and plan to do many more.

2005 Oregon July trip with Barb (Crater Lake)

I was always threatening to take my best friend from childhood on a trip with me.  We finally did that trip.  Turned out to be a lot more stressful for her then we ever anticipated!  Anyway---

We started the trip with a couple night on the beautiful Oregon coast.  By now my husband and I were Worldmark owners, so I had gotten a couple nights at the Worldmark Depoe Bay in a 3 bedroom unit.  My DAd joined us and was pretty much our driver for most of the week we were in Oregon.  My friend started showing signs that something was wrong, but we chalked it up to the chilly Oregon coast breezes, even though it was July.

Worldmark Depoe Bay

view from livingroom window

more of our condo at Depoe Bay

the gounds of the resort

 Of course we headed down the coast to show Barb the scenic coastline.  She had never been to the west coast.  We stopped in the little town of Depoe Bay and watched for some of the resident whales there.

 Then we continued on .

 Dad even found a tree stump on one of the coastal pathways that doubled as a chair.

2005 Feb --- Our 4th Kauai visit, alone this time: Queen's Bath; Napali/Niihau snorkel tour; Waimea Canyon; Kipu falls;

2005 Kauai---Our 4th Kauai visit, alone this time: Queen's Bath; Napali/Niihau snorkel tour; Waimea Canyon; Kipu falls

Another year passed and February finally rolled around again. At the end of the month we were heading back to Kauai for our 4th time there. Instead of renting another week, we picked up another 1 bedroom/1 bath unit at Pahio KBV off Ebay for about $1200 for another EOY ownership. We were again upgraded to a 1 bedroom/2 bath unit and were able to stay in the same unit for both weeks. It seemed a little odd being there all by ourselves for both weeks, but we had a great time none-the-less.

Our daily routine is usually to check the forecast for the north shore in the morning. If it looks like it's going to be sunny there, we head north. Sometimes we luck out and have lots of nice days there, other times hardly any. Being the rainy season when we're there, the north shore gets a lot more rain then the south side.


2005-2-7---north to Anahola and Tunnels

2005-2-8---Lihue:

2005-2-9---South, Glass Beach, Saltpond:

2005-2-10---north, queens bath, hanalei, kee

2005-2-11---Kipu, Maha'ulepu Beach:

2005-2-12---Shipwreck beach, sunset at Poipu:

 2005-2-13---Waimea Canyon:

 2005-2-14---Portifino's on Kalapaki bay:

2005-2-15---moloaa, Kilauea Bay, anini:

2005-2-16---Napali cruise:

  An end to another great vacation and start of another long year until the next Kauai vacation.

2005 Feb.---Disney Wonder Cruise (7 nt), Let's try again!--St. Maarten; St. Thomas; Castaway Cay

Feb. 2005- Disney Wonder 7 night Eastern Caribbean Cruise:

Disney Wonder!

After the disastrous Disney Magic cruise the year before (where Dad attempted drowning, as he called it), I emailed Disney Cruise lines to see if they were aware of what happened on one of their sanctioned excursions. One of the things cruise lines boost about using their excursions is the "safety checks" they make on the providers.  I figured they needed to "check" this group again.  About a month later, I received a coupon in the mail for Buy One, Get One Free on another Disney Cruise. They certainly weren't obliged to do that, but we appreciated it and took them up on their offer to cruise with them again. This time, we elected to go on a 7 night cruise of the Eastern Caribbean and enjoyed an ocean view room.  (To check out that disastrous cruise, click here: Disastrous 1st cruise  )

2-5-2005 embarkation day:
  
2-6,7-2005 Sea Days:

2-8-2005 St. Maarten:

2-9-2005 St. Thomas; St. John USVI

2-10-2005 Sea day:

2-11-2005 Castaway Cay:

 Our week ended too soon and soon we were getting off our cruise.

I wouldn't mind cruising on Disney cruiselines again, but I think the price will probably keep me from doing so. But this was a very good vacation. Thanks, Disney! Thanks, Dad! Thanks, God, for keeping us safe this time!

2005 Orlando with Dad followed by a do-over Disney Cruise

After our disastrous trip last year, Dad and I decided we needed a do-over this year.  Although we didn't go for the 5th week of the year that his timeshare is.  Ken and I had a trip to Hawaii then, so we banked the Orange Lake week and trading into Sheraton Vistana Villages with RCI.  We weren't disappointed.  It was very nice, too.  And our whole trip ended up being very nice.

 

Sheraton Vistana Villages:

love their pools

 and they were open until about 1 am!

Yes, we closed out the pool and jacuzzi a few times---all by ourselves.

our 2 bedroom unit was comfy and nicely done

Epcot:

If we went to Disney, this was the park Dad wanted to go to.  I did't mind, it is very pretty.

especially decorated for xmas

the moving mime

We even ate at the German buffet this time.  Very good!

complete with German music for entertainment

Dad liked trying on hats

This was back when they decorated for xmas.  We were there in early Jan., so got to see the decoration.  I understand they don't do that anymore

still light up the regular exhibits around Epcot

I love the ocean---and love this cute little Nemo ride.

Holyland:

An interesting place for history buffs.  Not that I'm one, but we did go here 3 different years and by the 3rd time I really did appreciate all the history here.

like the model of Jeruselum

Capones Dinner Theatre:

Corny but fun.  As you would expect, the dinner was an Italian buffet.

P Lew Gardens:

 I love gardens and will go to reciprocol gardens to our Missouri Botanical Gardens every chance I get.  They all are fascinating to me.

even got to tour the house at this one.

large grounds with lots of flowers.

After our week in Orlando we did our redo of our Disney cruise.   Last year Dad almost drowned so Disney gave us a free cruise.  Nice of them to do that!

2005 Feb.---Disney Wonder Cruise (7 nt), Let's try again!--St. Maarten; St. Thomas; Castaway Cay