YORKTOWN--JAMESTOWN!

Saturday, February 25 / Yorktown—Jamestown!

Today was definitely cooler (50F) and we had to wear jeans, regular shoes, sweater, and jacket. We finished shopping in all of the stores in the Premium Outlet Mall J and met the salesman at Colonial Heritage by Lennar Homes for a look at the clubhouses and swimming pools as well as some home sites.  In reality the cost is more than we are willing to pay, but the homes are beautiful and very well constructed. We will look everything over again when we return home and see where we are in terms of moving to warmer climes. The brand new, furnished home in Zephyr Hills, Florida was more in our price range, but we just aren’t ready yet. Personally, I like what we are doing now—45 days away from home and our family is plenty for me.

Tim drove along the Colonial Parkway, a scenic 23-mile roadway that links communities of the colonial era, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. This area is part of the National Park Service’s Colonial National Historic Park. We love this drive---along the York River, the James River, other waterways, ponds, wetlands, the Jamestowne Settlement (a re-creation of the first English settlement in the New World in 1607), the Yorktown Victory Center (the British defeat at Yorktown effectively ended the Revolutionary War), Civil War sites, shorebirds. Quiet unmarred vistas make this one of our very favorite roads.  We were amazed at the Riverwalk in Yorktown—apparently Hurricane Isabel greatly affected the area in 2003 and a decision was made to rebuild and improve the area. We will return!!! After this leisurely drive we headed to Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que. This little restaurant this amazing. (http://www.pierces.com/) Tim had the Combo:  pulled BBQ chicken, pulled pork BBQ covered with Pierce's Original Bar-B-Que Sauce, a side of ribs, French fries, coleslaw and hushpuppies. I had a half rack of pork ribs “marinated and slow-cooked in Pierce's Original Honey Bar-B-Que Sauce.”

I am so glad that we were able to have a mini-vacation at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg with our family two years ago---we took them to Pierce’s, Capt. George’s, and Colonial Williamsburg as well as the wonderful swim park, GWL.  Now when we come here we will always remember that vacation. And speaking of family, we will see them soon!!! We are leaving Williamsburg early tomorrow and will arrive in Erie by late afternoon. We have a wonderful getaway, but it’s time to go home!

COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG!!!

Friday, February 24 / Williamsburg, Virginia

Since it was 80F+ with possible storms later and cool weather tomorrow, we thought we would take a stroll on the Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg. (http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/)

Tim has been a good trooper and has done a lot of walking despite his pending knee surgery in March.  The Great Hopes Plantation in Colonial Williamsburg is closed AGAIN until summer and that was a huge disappointment to me. We have never seen the “farm” open, even though we watched it being built by hand through several years.  However, we can find plenty to do along the streets---eating our ginger cookies and cider at the Raleigh Bakery, tasting peanuts at The Peanut Shoppe, smelling the southern ham at Smithfield’s Shoppe, walking through the gardens at various colonial homes.  Blue, yellow, and white pansies are everywhere in Williamsburg. I found a bargain at the Colonial Williamsburg gift shop that made it possible to get another little gift for my favorite 4^th graders at Grover Cleveland.

a familiar sight in Williamsburg!

nurturing seedlings



those yellow daffodils!!

After a lot of walking, we decided to take a ride to the Williamsburg Pottery, another all-time favorite stop.  We soon found out that the Pottery is undergoing a $30 million makeover and it is closed until March. I was in shock.  Actually, this was a favorite stop because it had a huge series of warehouses----home décor items, salt glaze pottery (made right here), more silk flowers than anyone has ever seen in one place, in ROWS by color, ribbon, every kind of basket imaginable, outdoor garden pottery and statuary, spices, china dinnerware, a Christmas store, and so much more all at discounted prices. The new façade is beautiful and we were told that there would still be warehouses, only new and better arranged. I can sense another trip to Williamsburg in the near future.

Across the street from the Pottery, we spotted a new retirement community, Colonial Heritage, with open houses. We looked at several one-level homes with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, obligatory gourmet granite countered kitchen, about 2000 sq. ft. that were very nice---I could live in Williamsburg! But, the homes we looked at were in the $289,000-$300,000 range. The taxes (school, county) were $1500 on such a home and the monthly fee was $250. That fee included everything—access to pools, fitness rooms, all exercise classes, clubs.  There are two restaurants and a 170-acre golf course designed Arthur Hills.  We made another appointment for tomorrow to see more of the community. Tim said if he were going to pay that kind of money, he would opt for Florida. On the other hand, I see a one-day trip from Erie. We certainly are becoming more knowledgeable about retirement communities!

Tim drove me to New Town, a “village” of shops, but we didn’t spend much time there. We are happy to see that Williamsburg is undergoing many improvements and new growth, a sign that this great area is doing well. I told Tim there are probably women all over the world wishing he was their husband for his willingness to go to shopping areas.

For dinner we headed to Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant, Tim’s all time favorite restaurant/buffet. (http://www.captaingeorges.com/)  The new décor is fabulous---colonial theme, new carpets, fireplaces, and colonial style oil paintings. Tim loves the snow crab legs. The fried scallops, the shrimp, prime rib, hush puppies, corn bread, and oysters Rockefeller are favorites, too. Desserts are especially spectacular---German chocolate cake, carrot cake, peach cobbler, baklava, bread pudding, etc. In the early 90s, the price was $18/per person. Today it was $32/per person. The restaurant is always full despite the cost, a testament to the good food!

 Tonight Williamsburg is experiencing a tornado watch. It is rainy and windy, signaling cooler weather tomorrow. This morning we took the time to find our winter clothes in the back of the truck’s bed that we have not seen since January 13. By tomorrow there may be no more capris, sandals, and short sleeved tops until June. Oh no!!

WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA--HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Thursday, February 23 / Williamsburg, Virginia Hampton Inn and Suites-Central, 718 Bypass Road

Another 7 ½ hour driving day.  The weather was low 80s and sunny and Tim drove expertly all the way. My calculations show that Tim has driven about 3400 miles and we have spent about $800 on gasoline. Tonight’s fill up was $3.44/gallon in Williamsburg. 

This is the first hotel we have paid for during the entire trip because of Tim’s skillful use of our Hilton and Marriott points. Tonight’s room is huge, an entryway, sofa, comfy chair, desk and chair, kitchenette, and bath with separate mirror and sink area.

After checking in, we headed for dinner. Williamsburg has some of our favorite restaurants, including Captain George’s Seafood, Pierce’s Pitt Bar-B-Que, and Shields Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg, but we opted for Uno’s Chicago Grille for a quick bite—we haven’t had any pizza in almost two months! Tim was willing to hit another outlet so we spent about an hour there. Tomorrow may be cooler, but we will make the best of the day!

Aside to DMG: Tim got his truck washed at Buggy Bathe--this has to be the most careful carwash ever!

Aside to B1 and B2: We passed Great Wolf Lodge on the way in to Williamsburg---how we wish you were here!!

MAGNOLIA PLANTATION / ASHLEY RIVER /LOVE SC!

Wednesday, February 22 /Magnolia Plantation and Gardens on Ashley River / Charleston, South Carolina

We decided to visit Magnolia Plantation and Gardens on Ashley River (http://www.magnoliaplantation.com ) today for several reasons. Basically we wanted to see a plantation home and gardens. The benefit at Magnolia was a tram tour of the grounds, including gardens, the former rice cultivation area, and the swamp garden. On the tram we saw daffodils and jasmine, as well as magnolias, camellias, azaleas, and more in bloom, beautiful reds and whites throughout the grounds.  It’s February!!!!!!!!!!!! Along the way we also saw at least 12 alligators, the biggest was 8 ft. long. We saw turtles, a snake, wood ducks, coots, blue heron, teal ducks, white ibis, yellow butterflies, and guinea hens.  Huge live oaks lined the trail, Spanish moss blowing in the breeze.

The home itself is the 3^rd one on the grounds. The first one was destroyed by fire and the 2^nd was destroyed during the Civil War. The current home was built in 1865. The property has been in the same family since 1679. I especially liked the wraparound porch, the set of china dating from the early 1700s, the quilt with palmettos and 12 stitches per inch, the Audubon paintings, the large windows with views of the gardens and Ashley River.  We also visited the four slave dwellings that date back to 1850, which were very interesting and important, too.  There was a conservatory with many varieties of orchids and lush tropical vegetation. Granddaughters B1 and B2 would love this area because they love to play in the tropical gardens at the Erie Zoo.

On our next visit to Charleston, we hope to visit more plantations and Charles Towne Landing, a living history area depicting the first European settlement in the Carolina province in 1670.

After Magnolia, we drove to the North Charleston and American LaFrance Fire Museum and Educational Center houses the antique collection of fire fighting vehicles belonging to American LaFrance, LLC. (http://www.charlestoncvb.com/visitors/events_news/charleston-news/north_charleston_fire_museum_to_educate_locals_and_visitors-698) . This museum was amazing and any young person would love to visit, too.  There were eighteen antique fire trucks, including a hand-operated fire pump and horse drawn steam engines. Tim recognized the 1969 pumper, the fire truck he started with on the Erie Fire Department.  I loved the cinema/robotic representation of a firefighter explaining the history of different firefighting tools.  There was also an interactive exhibit to explain fire hazards in the home and garage.  I wish I dared try sliding down the fire pole, but there were too many children doing that.   Finally, the museum had a fire engine where I could simulate driving a fire truck through city streets, pushing the pedals to turn on the lights and the siren.  Tim got a kick out of my driving the fire truck—of course he did that for a living!  The museum staff said that 3 and 4 year olds love “pretend” driving. Well, so did I!!

By this time it was 5 p.m. and we had not eaten since 8:30 a.m. That is something I should not do. Instead of enjoying the fine cuisine of Charleston, we ate at Chili’s. Tim treated me to a stop at Chico’s at the Tanger Mall near our hotel!! It was a great day—temperatures in the high 70s, sunny, and grand sight-seeing!
 

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 / Charleston, South Carolina

Homewood Suites / Charleston Airport
Today’s nine hour drive seemed very slow—twice we came upon "stop and go" traffic because of auto/semi tractor-trailer accidents on I-95. The delays meant we would not be able to meet our friends Jennifer and Richard for late lunch in Charleston. Jennifer is leaving early tomorrow morning for the Reagan Library in California for a Medal of Honor Gala Event with our Erie friend Heather. Jennifer made restaurant and plantation recommendations for us and we will have a full day tomorrow exploring Charleston. Tim needs the rest.
By the way, the temperatures are getting cooler. It was in the high 60s in Charleston today. Goodbye 90s and 80s. Soon enough we will be enjoying snow and cold weather in Erie. :) No more evening swims. Today was mostly sunny and we are trying to soak the sun in!!

MELBOURNE, FLORIDA

February 20, 2012 Melbourne, Florida

We left the Doubletree-Key West at 9 a.m. to begin the long journey home.  It took 2 hours to go 90 miles, 2 ½ hours to return to the mainland, 115 miles. Traffic was moving along, but there are only two lanes and no passing. I can’t imagine what it would be like in a hurricane evacuation.

Key West was a great place to visit. Some additional comments:

§         There are chickens wandering all over Key West. The story is that in the late 1800s cockfighting was outlawed and everyone let their chickens go wild. It is against the law to kill these descendant chickens, so they meander and hunt and peck to their heart’s content throughout the whole area. Apparently they can be trapped and then released in Homestead, Florida. The things one learns on a tour.

§         Fresh drinking water has to be piped into Key West. It is a very precious commodity.

§         We saw two key deer grazing along the road as we drove back to the mainland, a doe and a buck. The buck had about 4 points.

§         Florida takes a photo of your license plate and then sends you a toll bill instead of having tollbooths. Most Floridians have a SunPass and pay in advance. We sure hope they give us some leeway in paying our bills since we have been in Florida over a month. Toll roads are COMMON.

§         Florida also takes a photo of your license plate if you run a yellow or red light.  Oh well.

 Today’s drive was about 7 hours. We stopped briefly at a nice outlet mall in Vero Beach for a diversion.  About 4 p.m. we arrived at the Marriott in Melbourne, Florida. The desk clerk recommended Meg O’Malley’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. We had not eaten since breakfast, something we should not do.  We headed straight to the restaurant. The food was very very good—Tim had meatloaf and colcannon and I had St. Patty’s Pot Pie.  By the time we were leaving there was a long line of people waiting to be seated. Meg O’Malley’s is definitely a winner!

WE REALLY LOVE KEY WEST

February 19

After a stellar breakfast at the hotel, we took the shuttle to Old Town Key West at 9 a.m.  We decided to book the Orange Trolley Town Tours so we could get off and on the bus easily where we wanted to stop.

§         We headed to the Ernest Hemingway house at 907 Whitehead Street. He lived and wrote there for ten years. The house is the only house in the Keys with a basement (14 ft. high) and his wife had the first swimming pool in Florida built there.  Polydactyl cats abound and all are descended from Hemingway’s cats. A full time staff cares for the 40-50 cats that live there and a veterinarian visits the cats once a week.

§         We met Tim’s cousin Joe, his wife Sarah, and six year old son for lunch at Fogarty’s---another culinary delight of shrimp po’ boy sandwich for Tim and a Cobb salad for me. Joe and Sarah shared some Key West insight.  Joe’s Bait Shop and Restaurant on Margaret Street keeps him quite busy (http://www.keywestbaitandtackle.com/) and the laid back atmosphere is only for tourists. Sarah is a 3^rd grade teacher at a Key West public school and told us  of the stringent requirements for teachers and students and there is no slacking there. Tenure is being eliminated as well as some retirement benefits.

§         Joe walked with us to the end and beginning of U.S. Highway 1, and then on to the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum (http://www.melfisher.org/). I waited 28 years to see the treasure of that Fisher recovered from Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a ship that wrecked in the Florida Straits in 1622 carrying 24 tons of silver bullion, silver coins, gold bars, copper ingots, and jewels (emeralds), and more. I particularly liked the emerald cross that is presumed to have been a gift for the Catholic pope of the time (http://www.insideflorida.com/detail/mel-fisher-museum/ ) and the thick gold linked chain about 36 inches in length.

§         We finished our visit in Old Town with soda, arepas (corn bread sort of like pancake filled with mozzarella cheese), and hot pretzels at Sloppy Joe’s.  A band was playing and the atmosphere was certainly party-like! We walked to the Key Lime pie factory and had a slice of pie and back to the hotel by shuttle.  I can add Key West to my all time favorite cities, New Orleans and New York City!

KEY WEST--ENCORE!

Today we disembarked from the Liberty and drove to Key West. Another beautiful sunny day in paradise. The drive is spectacular, over the bridges and through the Keys, Atlantic and Gulf in view--- very special in terms of vista, palm trees, birds, temperature, and sun. We even saw monarch butterflies.
We checked into the Doubletree Hilton by 2 p.m. I keep wondering if Tim is trying to outdo himself with every segment of this trip--another great room that leads right to the outdoor pool. We took a shuttle ride to Old Town, Key West to see Tim's cousin and make arrangements for tomorrow. Then we walked around a bit and had a tasty lunch at Caroline's Cafe at 310 Duval Street. The burger was one of the very best I've ever had. Tim had a shrimp po' boy that he really enjoyed. We shared key lime pie.  When we returned to the hotel about 6 p.m., we even took a swim--very very unusual for me, especially in February!!!!!!! The pool and air were about 85 F. I don't think anyone we know swam outdoors in Erie today.

CARNIVAL LIBERTY---FEBRUARY 4-18, 2012

February 4-18, 2012 / Carnival Liberty

Saturday, February 4:                

§         Our aft balcony stateroom is absolutely fabulous.  The 12 x 5ft. balcony has 2 chairs, 2 chaise lounges, and a table.  It did not take long for us to find our friends from California and Wisconsin-two lively couples we truly enjoy cruising with.  We explored the ship—since we were on the Liberty in 2009 (when the Steelers won the Super Bowl!), much was familiar. Liberty was just completely refurbished about three months ago.

§         The safety drill was much more stringent than on the Imagination---it lasted much longer with more details.  Before we knew it, we were leaving Miami again and the view from our aft balcony was glorious. The weather is warm and the sea is not too rough.

§         We had dinner at 8 p.m. in the Golden Olympian Dining Room with Donna, Lawrence, Nancy, Brian, and their friends from California, Tammy and Del.

§         Dewa our room steward;

§         Dalibor from Serbia, Cathy from Peru, and Pande from Indonesia are our wait staff.

§         Lawrence looks like Guy Fieri, the Food Network star of Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives, who oversaw the creation of Carnival Cruise Line’s hamburger grills by the pools. This is causing quite a sensation wherever he goes on the ship.

 Sunday, February 5/Nassau:

We were in Nassau a very short time (7 a.m.-1:30 p.m.), so we disembarked early. The downtown area is close to the port. From our balcony we could see Atlantis, a resort we visited the first time we cruised into Nassau.

Sailaway

I read on balcony

TK swims

Dinner

Very raunchy comedy club

Hair cut

Monday, February 6/ At Sea

Meet and Greet---pirate theme; New Cruise Critic friends from Minnesota; Wisconsin; Maryland; Ohio; Pittsburgh; California; one is a priest; We receceived chocolate covered strawberries in our stateroom from Senior Cruise Director at Carnival Cruise Lines. This happened because we are four couples cruising back to back (B2B)

Cabin Crawl—poker game—we saw a suite, inside stateroom, an ocean view stateroom, and our three balconies that connect.
Shopping show --- again!
Formal Dinner—lobster surf and turf; chilled strawberry soup
Show

Tuesday, February 7/St.Thomas

Shopping--Cariloha
Green House--lunch
Dinner-steak pork jerk

Wednesday, February 8 / San Juan

We toured San Juan by bus and visited Fort San Cristobal is a Spanish fort built by Spain to protect against land-based attacks on the city of San Juan. It is part of San Juan National Historic Site and is a U.S. National Park. The streets of San Juan are irregular and narrow. We stopped for appetizers at Restaurant Barrachine (http://barrachina.com/indexb.php), a lovely tropical courtyard restaurant which is the birthplace and home of the pina colada. We had turnovers, corn fritters, and croquettes and pina coladas without the rum.

Thursday, February 9 / Grand Turk
One of my favorite islands—beaches as one disembarks the ship, sun; plaza, Margaritaville—music—swim up bar; Del Sol deal; burgers not as good as Guy Fieri’s; beautiful green beach glass-a handful in 20 minutes; group photo by the parrot;
Sting ray towel animal in our stateroom tonight
Comic club-not as raunchy, not quite as funny
Finished reading “Last Full Measure” by Jeff Shaara; Tim reading his Kindle Fire;

Friday, February 10 / At Sea
Future cruise presentation
Scrapbooking
Burgers and fries with Tim; chocolate buffet—chocolate fountain, cakes, fudge, mousse, etc.
Dinners: We have been eating at 8 p.m. in the Golden Olympian Dining Room; We have such a wonderful wait staff, Dalibor, Cathy, and Pande, and we usually finish dining at 10 p.m.  This is not our usual dining time and we hope that in future cruises we eat just a little earlier.

February 11 / Miami
All eight of us went to the Fontainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach for the day before we rejoined our cruise. James Bond’s Goldfinger, Costner and Houston’s The Bodyguard, a segment of Sopranos, and many other movies have been filmed there. It is a fabulous hotel with beach access on the Atlantic Ocean and multiple swimming pools on multiple levels.

Quote of the day: “Where’s my stupid husband?” When we went to the Fontainbleau, one of the four women asked this question (not me, not Tammy, not Nancy) and as it turned out, her husband was right behind her. Poor Donna. Poor Lawrence. To the rest of this, it was quite funny. Usually Lawrence is nowhere to be found.

 February 12 / At Sea

We had the Cruise Critic meet and greet. Many of the ship’s officers attended. We met people from Virginia, Alaska, Canada, California, Minnesota, New York City, Maryland, Ohio, and more.

After the M&G, we had a Cabin Crawl. That means that each couple pays $5 and we visit various staterooms, inside, ocean view, balcony, and suite. Each couple gets a playing card at each stateroom. At the end of the “tour,” the couple with the best poker hand wins the kitty.  I spent the rest of the day reading on our balcony. In fact, reading and lounging on our balcony was my favorite activity. Tim enjoys the pool.

We had lobster again for dinner.

February 13 / Cozumel

Tim decided to stay on the ship today. His knee has been bothering him and now he is even more anxious for his knee replacement surgery in March. I went ashore alone and hitched a taxi downtown. I made my way through many shops and made my required pure vanilla purchases at Los Cincos Soles, one of my favorite stops. Walking alone is a somewhat challenging feat in this area (not dangerous, the vendors are aggressive), but I did well and only made the purchases I truly wanted. I was back on the ship in plenty of time to enjoy the balcony.

Brian K.’s birthday

February 14-15 / Valentine’s Day
Belize
When cruise ships visit Belize, passengers have to take tenders to the island, a process that takes 25 to 30 minutes one way.  It’s a process. We walked through many small shops but settled at the MOHO chocolate factory (http://mohococoa.com) and watched the people make bars of chocolate. This was Tim’s favorite thing to do!  We returned to the ship about 2 p.m.

Valentine’s night my stomach was not happy. Symptoms mimicked norovirus. I had to see a nurse and was quarantined. Fortunately I was better 24 hours later and I was released from quarantine. The stop in Roatan was cancelled anyway on February 15 because of sea conditions and I just stayed in bed all day.
Donna’s birthday

February 16 / Grand Cayman
Since I was released from quarantine I could go ashore. Grand Cayman is another port where passengers must be tendered, but the ride is only about 5 minutes long. We really like to go to the Guy Harvey store. Guy Harvey is an artist, photographer, and diver with a Ph.D. in Fisheries Management who is a leading conservationist and advocate for the protection of our environment. (http://www.guyharveyinc.com/home.php). His artwork is beautiful and we have collected several examples. We enjoyed lunch in the Guy Harvey restaurant.

Tonight was a formal evening. We do not go all out anymore for formal night and neither do our friends. In fact, not many people seem to “dress to the nines” as one of my friends says.  This suits us fine.
All of us went to the comedy club tonight, but the comedian was lightly humourous.

February 17 / At sea

We spent another day poolside or on the balcony. We decided to pack about 6 p.m., our least favorite part of a cruise. We counted and recounted the luggage we put outside our door for the porters to take away (2 for me and 3 for Tim). A new idea was to put yellow stripes of tape on our luggage so the bags would be easily identifiable.

We will miss our wait staff in Golden Olympian Dining Room: Dalibor (Serbia), Catherine (Peru), and Pande (Indonesia). These young people were superb--we dined with them 13 out of 14 days and they were fabulous, attentive, friendly, helpful, entertaining, and truly wonderful. They were so skillful at their job and accommodated us adeptly. It almost seemed like we were their only guests when actually they were waiting on several other tables at the same time. They should be treasured as valued employees by Carnival.

Tonight’s towel animal was a darling monkey swinging from the ceiling.

We enjoyed the two cruises on the Liberty. I think we will try to do longer cruises rather than two one-week cruises together. The weather was fabulous—sunny with temperatures in the 80s every day and quite tolerable.

CARNIVAL IMAGINATION! IMAGINE THAT!

January 30-February 3, 2012
Carnival Imagination

Tim’s skillful driving took us to the Port of Miami. After the truck was safely parked, we began the boarding process for the Carnival Imagination. The process was speedier than ever and we were in our Empress Deck Stateroom #73 by noon. The ship’s layout is similar to other Carnival ships we have been on, so it did not take long to acclimate ourselves. The safety drill was done before we left port. Our Muster Station A met in the main lounge (Dynasty) then proceeded to the Promenade Deck where one would board the lifeboats in case the ship needed to be evacuated. Passengers did not need to take their life preservers, but there was a demonstration on how to put them on. The safety drill was no different than we have experienced before.

Monday, January 30:            We had dinner with a young couple from Cocoa Beach. They told us how much the area changed since the NASA Space Program was discontinued. We had an interesting conversation about how it would be to grow up so near Kennedy Space Center and the impact on their lives.  I went to the shopping show about Key West and Cozumel—honestly, one would think I could do the shopping show myself!

Tuesday, January 31:    
Key West, Florida/ mid 80s F/ sunny

We disembarked the ship at Key West at 8 a.m. I had not been there since 1983 when I took a cruise with Aunt Bernice. We easily found Tim’s cousin Joe Garr and his Key West Bait and Tackle on Margaret Street in a prime spot on the water. We made arrangements to spend more time with him when we return in a few weeks.

§         Another top priority was key lime pie. We tried a piece at Kermit’s Key West Lime Shoppe and another at Key West Key Lime Pie Co (our choice for #1).  Next time we will visit the home of Ernest Hemingway, the trolley tour, Harry S. Truman’s Little White House, and more shopping!

§         Back on the ship, we played a “phone in the answer” trivia game. We were quick on the redial and won a bottle of champagne, a ship on a stick trophy, and a photo of the Imagination!

Wednesday, February 1:    
Cozumel, Mexico/mid 80s F/ humid/ quick shower
After spending the morning by the pool, we disembarked shortly after the ship arrived at Cozumel--about 2 p.m. We had lunch at Pancho’s Backyard, a tradition we started many cruises ago. This is a very nice Mexican restaurant with live music and great cheese enchiladas! Very comparable to our favorite in Erie, Torero’s.

We opted to play the Gender Battle in the Dynasty Lounge. Unusual for us, we got highly involved. Tim was on stage guiding the men to succeed in the number shuffle—5 men, including Tim, each had a number, 5 women had the same numbers. The announcer would call a sequence and each team had to reorganize themselves in that sequence. The men won that round, for sure, with Tim’s help. Then I was on stage for another round. My male opponent had to bounce a ping-pong ball on a paddle for 30 seconds, and then I had to do the same. He never dropped the ball. For me it was hopeless. I sure did my best though and I did get a ribbon. The women won the game anyway! After that, we were back to couple teams for a scavenger hunt and Tim was Team Leader.  Our team came in 2^nd, with dentures, nail polish, a roll of toilet paper, and a few unmentionables as some of the items to look for from our team.

TK’s Takes:  The ship’s pool was probably 78 F, no problem for him.

Thursday, February 02 / Groundhog Day:
At Sea
We spent most of the day at the pool. I did meet up with some scrap bookers and worked on my Smash Book. The men’s hairy chest contest was entertaining. Tim made it into the 2^nd round of the Slots contest.  The pool deck was warm enough, but very windy.
               
After dinner (vegetable spring rolls, veal parmesan, tomato & mozzarella salad, and baked Alaska), we went to the comedy show.  If Happy Cole and Dwight Slade ever come to Erie/Jrs. Last Laugh, we will certainly go.

TK’s Takes: Our stateroom was in a great location. If it had a balcony, it would probably be the best location ever.

Friday, February 3:
Miami, Florida / Hampton Inn—Miami Airport South/Blue Lagoon
Customs and disembarking were no problem for us! We were off the Carnival Imagination by 8:49 a.m. and in our truck driving to our hotel by 9:05.  Because we needed a few things, we asked for a nearby mall and by 10 a.m. we were at the Dolphin Mall on NW 12 Street, 6 miles away.  Speedy!

We checked into our room at 1 p.m. and then did laundry for about an hour. We took a short walk to Publix to buy Diet Pepsi for the next cruise.

JK’s Takes:  First, I can’t imagine better planning than Tim has done for this trip. Every hotel has been great. He signed up for OnStar, so all we have to do is call the “Trip Advisor” and the operator downloads the directions to any site we want to our GPS navigation system. Tim had already emailed many of our stops to OnStar but if we want to go to a mall*** or a restaurant, or any other place, we just call OnStar. Tim planned the cruises, too, as well as all the other stops on this trip.

We decided that we will probably not take any more 4 day cruises. We enjoyed the first cruise, but it is a different atmosphere—not bad, but different.

February 4-18, 2012

Carnival Liberty