Today was spent just sailing around the coast of Panama, then turning WNW toward Costa Rica, our next stop.
Since we’re far from land, except for small islands in the distance off our starboard side. We have no information about names, or if they even have names.
After Lunch on the Lido Deck, we attended a briefing at what they call Mainstage. It’s an auditorium that will easily seat 1000 people, maybe more, where all the entertainment takes place. The briefing was about our next two port calls; Costa Rica, and El Salvador.
We have off ship activities in both countries that Diane arranged when she booked the cruise.
We will arrive in Costa Rica tomorrow morning at 1100. We have an excursion that starts at 1030 so the arrival time will make that difficult.
We’re wondering … OK, I’m wondering … if they might send a helicopter out for those of us attending the 1030 event. Probably not.
At 1500 we went to the theater to see “Panama”, a 2022 Mel Gibson movie. I got 2 bags of popcorn on the way in and ate them while waiting for the movie to start. Once it started, it was immediately evident that we wouldn’t be staying because the language was bad, and the voices weren’t in sync with the actors’ lips. Kind of weird
So, we went shopping on the 3rd deck and bought two water bottles to keep us hydrated when we leave the ship tomorrow. And many times thereafter, wherever we go.
If it was a little cooler outside, we’d be in our deck chairs, but the humidity is still stifling, and the sky is muggy looking. So, we’re just hanging out in our cabin until it’s time to decide about where to eat. We both agree that we like the Lido Marketplace better than the formal dining room. At the Lido, you can look at the food and decide whereas the dining room requires one to choose from a menu. I have a hard time with menus for some reason.
Went to the Dive In for hamburgers and fries. Way better than Burgerville.
Considered waiting for a couple of hours to see the stand-up comic, again. Went to the crow’s nest and played dominos instead. I tried to lose but won a couple anyway. I’m pretty sure the set we were using was a mixture of two sets because we had 38 pieces in a 28 piece box. Still fun.
Then Diane pulled down one of the puzzles to fiddle with. Very complicated. We got all the pieces turned over, found all the edge pieces, put a lot of the edge together, then retired to our room to roost for the remainder of the night.
Our arrival time for tomorrow is 1130, an hour later than originally planned.
Here’s a fun photo of the passageway that goes past our cabin. It’s pretty long.
Day 5 – April 13, 2023 – Thursday – Panama Canal Transit
At 0530 we got in line for entering the Gatun Locks, a series of three, that will raise the ship almost 100 feet for access to Gatun Lake. It’s a freshwater lake stretching approximately 45 miles across central Panama where we will transit locks to the Pacific Ocean. It’s a very slow process. We began with the first lock at 0700 and exited the third lock at approximately 0930.
The pointy end of the ship was opened to all passengers for the transit so everyone could have a good look at the process. Normally, this part of the ship is inaccessible while underway. I’m sure that has something to do with free flowing alcohol and the penchant of those who imbibe to not be careful. It’s a pretty fair drop from the main deck to the water and should one fall, it would definitely leave a mark. I speak from experience.
The ship ahead of us was a car carrier, bound for Portland, no doubt. Seems like there’s always one parked near the St. Johns Bridge when we go by there. From the looks of the way it fit in the lock, one might think it’s a perfect fit. You can see the masts of two sail boats tagging along behind it as they navigate the locks.
We finally hit the third lock and were turned loose on Lake Gatun. In the above photo you can see the railroad tracks on which the locomotives ride. There are one on each side of the ship, fore and aft. The ship propels itself through the locks and the locomotives job is to maintain the ship in the center of each lock as the water level is changed, up and down. It’s quite a ballet of machines because our ship had 2.5 feet to spare on each side making those little locomotives an important piece of the puzzle. They did a good job.
Diane lounged while I ran all over the place, trying to see it all. Hard to do.
Just had to throw this one in so everyone could see my pale little chicken legs.
Judging from the way the islands are moving past us, we’re going about as fast as a relaxed jogger. A guess, of course, like most of the judgements I make.
This is Tama, one of the cabin boys on our deck. He’s from Java.
About halfway across the lake we passed the Zandam, the ship Diane and I rode on our first cruise to Alaska. Interesting. We thought it was a big ship, and it really is, but just not as big as the Eurodam.
After a leisurely 4 hours cruise we entered the first of two locks known as the Pedro Miguel Locks at 1300. These two locks lowered us about 30.5 feet. The Miraflores Locks has 3 chambers that are separated from Pedro Miguel Locks due to a tectonic fault beneath Miraflores Lake. Miraflores lowers the ship an additional 54 feet allowing the ship to enter the Pacific Ocean on an even keel.
Looking at the above photo you can see the new channel added for larger ships and it appears that they have to go uphill a little to reach their locks. An interesting illusion
Here’s a better look at the locomotives that keep things centered.
A tight fit.
We exited the Miraflores at 1630. Upon leaving the last lock I saw, and photographed, either an alligator or a crocodile whimsically swimming in the lock exit next to us. He appeared to be right at home.
We entered the Gulf of Panama, on our way to Costa Rica, at 1700. Ahead of us were approximately 45 large vessels parked just north of the sea lanes. They seem to be waiting to transit the canal, but that’s a guess. Makes me wonder why they don’t just go get in line and move along.
Glad we’re through. From here we move north to Costa Rica.
Day 4 – April 12, 2023 – Wednesday – Cartagena, Colombia
The crew eased the Eurodam quietly into port and had us tied up at 0600 before most normal people wake up.
We decided to NOT join the group to cruise around town for a few hours. Instead, we choose to stay closer to the ship and visit the welcome center nearby. We’d heard it had kind of a petting zoo with parrots and various other birds so decided to visit that. It was virtually at the end of the pier, before having to go through customs to officially enter the country. It didn’t dissapoint.
First off, there were flamingos.
A little further in was this peacock with a posse of some sort. They followed his everywhere.
When he spread his tail, I swear I heard a collective sigh from the wannabes.
This guy let me pet him for a bit, but I wasn’t gonna let him wrap his feet around any part of my body, They’re pretty scary.
A little further back in the facility, we found this guy living in an enclosure with a bunch of pigs. It was pretty sad and we figured the pigs beat him up every night, trying to get him to leave.
Apparently he likes the attention, and stayed. Even with his disability, we had to applaud his willingness to strut his stuff and show the world what he had.
Or, maybe it was one of these guys …
Around a couple more corners and we found the open air atrium. There’s no enclosure. These guys just live here, flying all over the place.
… except for this guy. We learned later that he’s a Hermit Parrot…
We caught the shuttle bus back to the ship and prepared to get underway.
We departed Cartagena at 1300 or so. Backed away from the pier and into the turning basin on the port side, then accelerated away at warp speed.
A plumber showed up to fix the shower that Diane broke yesterday. Yup. She ripped the holder for the shower wand right off the wall. In her defense, it wasn’t the first time it had been ripped off the wall.
We lounged on a chaise lounge on our veranda and watched Cartagena fade away.
Got a brief tutorial from the skipper about how we’re going to transit the Panama Canal tomorrow. We get in line at 0530 and began entering the locks at 0700. If we want to watch what’s going on it’s going to be an early morning. The distance between the entrance locks and the exit locks is about 45 miles. Rumor has it that we’ll be passing the Zandam which is coming from the west. That was the first cruise ship we were on.
Ate dinner with Tommy Lee (girl), Mike, and Helen. Tommy Lee is from Texas and Mike & Helen are from Vancouver Island. Lots of Canadians and Washingtonians on this trip.
Went to the Mainstage and got entertained by a pretty funny guy, Steve Soelberg.
Back in our room by 2030.
Ship is rocking and rolling a little bit. I think the reason is because the ship speed is increased. During dinner and most of the day, the speed is slowed to take it easy on the passengers. At night, they crank it up a couple of notches.
Day 3 – April 11, 2023 – Tuesday – Jeran’s birthday – At Sea
Th time change messed up our inner clocks. Sleeping in isn’t an option until we get caught up with PST. I normally wake up between 0430 and 0600 on the west coast, so here in eastern waters it’s worse. Getting that time back is something I’m looking forward to.
We went to breakfast in the main dining room, for some reason, and sat with Robert and Tracey from Saskatchewan. They own a farm and are, no doubt, very hard working people. They were very nice and it was fun talking with them.
At 1000 we attended a presentation by Stephanie about something. It was very informative but I have no idea what it was about. Maybe Diane can fill in those blanks.
At 1100 we attended another presentation about future cruises and how their star system works. Hey! I remembered that one. We are 2 star cruisers which means we’ve obtained 40 stars on this 20 day trip because we upgraded to a suite instead of a lowly cabin. In total we’ll have 47 stars after this cruise. Once we get to 5 stars (500 nights at sea) we get our laundry done for free. That’s a huge perk and keeps your cabin bathrooms from looking like this …
As you can see, our suite had a jetted tube that works almost better than an agitator. Rinses everything pretty good, too. Sadly, although the air circulation is really good, it’s not enough to dry things like this. It took a couple of days. As you can see, most of the clothes are mine. That’s only because she insists that I change my underwear every day. I keep telling her that I have a method that makes wearing a pair of underwear for four days. She’s not a fan, however, so I swapped them out daily. I brought 20 pair and she still found a reason to wash the old ones anyway.
At 1230 we had lunch on the Lido Deck. Sat with a couple who live on Hayden Island. Go figure. They live on an island right off I-5 between Oregon and Washington. Their boat was one of many that burned up about 6 years ago. It was 45 feet long. That’ all I know. Maybe their names will come to me in a vision later today. Nice folks and seasoned travelers.
At 1400 I joined a group of 19 other people in the Crow’s Nest on deck 11 forward for a painting class. I enjoy those and have attended many with our daughter, Jennifer, and her daughter, Lydia. This time we painted a beach scene with beach umbrellas and a couple of people.
My umbrellas look a lot like festive sand dollars. It was fun. Now all Diane has to do is figure out how to get it home. I suggested that we just leave it for the crew to hang on a wall somewhere but she vetoed that. For some reason, when I paint something she keeps it no matter what it is. So, we’re stuck with it.
I have to add that before we put any paint on the canvas we had to load a paint brush with a bunch of paint. Everyone was wearing an apron, provided by the ship, which proved to be very fortunate to the lady sitting next to me.
I don’t know how it happened, but my fully loaded paint brush landed squarely in her lap. She was very understanding and gleefully handed me the brush without fear. Quite an ice-breaker, huh?
After that mishap the day was lost to me. I’m sure we went to dinner, probably on Lido Deck, then went to bed. Tomorrow we’ll be pulling in to Cartagena for a few hours.
Our cabin boys knocked on the door about 0830 and told us we had to vacate the place so they could clean up our mess. It really wasn’t much of a mess because we only took up residence yesterday. We were just about ready to leave to search for a couple cups of coffee so their timing was impeccable. Actually, they didn’t make us leave. They’re really nice fellows.
We chose the main dining room for breakfast where we were paired with a couple from Wenatchee, Washington. It’s a pretty fancy place and those who seat people always ask those who are being seated if they would like to sit with strangers. We said “yes”, both times. So far.
We had a nice visit while eating. I had a breakfast bowl with two poached eggs over potatoes and vegetables. Diane had oatmeal and Greek Yogurt. She eats a lot of yogurt. So much, in fact, that I’m sure she’s picking up an accent. I was totally OK with Tillamook yogurt for a long time until they got a conscious and dropped their sugar content to an undesirable level. Raspberry was my favorite. I can still eat it if I add sugar, but Diane frowns on that.
After eating, we went to a presentation in the main theater of upcoming ports of call. it was hosted by the Cruise Director, Stephanie. I think it was Stephanie. Yup. I checked. It was Stephanie.
After listening to Stephanie extol the wonders to come, we wandered off and were drawn in by an art history presentation that proved to be extremely interesting. The paintings on the ship are amazing. Actually, all the artwork is amazing. It’s everywhere.
We wandered back to the Lido Deck for sandwiches because it was time to eat something. It’s always time to eat something on a cruise ship.
On the way I stopped at one of the public restrooms and learned that they don’t have paper towels. Interesting. No, they roll real, little towels up instead. Nifty.
While seeking a table a nice lady pointed at the seats next to her and her husband. We took them and learned they were Peggy & Ken from a village between Corvallis and Albany. Again, very nice folks.
I ate my ham and cheese in addition to Diane’s mystery meat. Should have taken a photo. Neither of us could figure out what it was, but it was on an entire miniature baguette roll so I didn’t care. I love baguettes. Even the little ones.
Then, we spent the afternoon lounging on our balcony watching the coast of Cuba sail past us. It was miles way, but I knew it was Cuba because, oddly enough, Google Maps works at sea. What fun.
At 1700 it was time for dinner and we chose the formal dining room again. We sat with a couple from Canada, a lady from Mississippi, and a lady from California. We all shared our names, but I can’t remember any of them. I just know the guy from Canada was a truck driver and his wife is a nurse. As always, it was a fun group. The lady from Mississippi is a professional cruiser, it seems. She’s been everywhere.
We finished our transit along the northern coast of Cuba and turned right before we hit Haiti. Next stop is Cartagena, Colombia. It will take us another day at sea to get there. The ship is moving along at 19 knots. A nice clip.
A few miles off our starboard side is a Carnival cruise ship going the same direction. Being on our starboard side meant they were closer to Cuba than us. It was good to have a buffer should someone on Cuba take offense for getting too close. They left Fort Lauderdale just ahead of us so had plenty of opportunities to choose the east most position, but they didn’t.
Tonight, we get back one of the 3 hours we lost on the airplane ride from SEA to FLL.
We are currently sitting in SEA-TAC airport waiting for our flight to Portland. The trip is done, but I was unable to post anything while underway. Instead, I kept a running diary and will now cut and paste all that stuff to get you up to date.
Here goes …
April 9, 2023, Easter Sunday – Fort Lauderdale, FL
We loaded up our luggage and checked out of the condo we inhabited for a week in Fort Lauderdale, Florida prior to boarding Holland America’s Eurodam for a Panama Canal cruise.
We dropped our car off at the FLL airport rental car return facility and worked hard to find a ride to the Eurodam. The tickets didn’t come with instructions. I finally located a little counter inside the terminal that checked cruise people in and gave them cards to get a ride to the ship. They didn’t have any cards left when I found it, but they let us pay $38 for two seats anyway.
It was a long walk to the bus, but we made it and I didn’t fall down even one time. There were lots of people around us at all times so I probably wouldn’t have actually hit the ground had I fallen.
We finally embarked aboard Holland America Eurodam at 1030 after parting with our luggage in the parking lot. We were assured it would all be delivered to our cabin. It was an act of faith to walk away.
Once on board, we went to the Lido deck where I had a hamburger, from the Dive In grill, and part of a chicken sandwich Diane couldn’t finish. Both were pretty good. We had to wait for the crew to determine that our cabin was ready for us to move in.
The ship was scheduled to leave at 1500, was moved to 1530, and was still tethered to the pier at 1630. We finally got underway at 1645 in the rain. We went to the Lido deck to watch the world go by and stake out a seat for supper that was supposed to start at 1730, but they opened at 1715. I had NY steak, salmon, fruit, and a very large salad. I need to find out where they serve pasta as least once on this trip. Two of the windows, next to the table we selected, had huge cracks in them. Apparently, there was no danger in sitting there because there were no warning signs. Still, the danger lurked in the back of my head that the window would fracture and we would be sucked outside and into the sea. After thinking about that for a minute, I suspect that’s only a danger on an airplane.
Bobbie Lee and Doug, people we didn’t know, sat at the table next to us. He’s an old Navy guy from the Korean era. We had a nice visit.
After our meal we wandered around the ship for a while then went looking for our stateroom. The ship is massive, right at 1000 feet long. Finally found #6097 around 1830. It’s a very spacious cabin with a nice size TV, which was very important. We have a balcony, too, where we can while away the hours on nice days.
Diane christened the shower immediately as we were very sweaty from all the hullabaloo getting to the ship and checking in. I showered later. We were both very tired but the next couple of days are at sea so there’s nothing to do but eat so we’ll have plenty of time to rest up.
All of our luggage appeared outside our cabin door before the afternoon was gone.
Our first port visit will be Cartagena, Colombia. We’ll only be there about 5 hours.
Today we didn’t do anything that involved tourism except tag our bags for the ship.
I cooked the remaining eggs, and bacon, ate it all with two pieces or wheat toast. Diane had two pieces of toast. That pretty much cleaned out any plans for another breakfast but that’s OK. Tomorrow I’ll eat a banana then wait to eat after we board the Eurodam. After that I’ll no doubt eat way more than I should. Unless I restrain myself. Which I will.
After breakfast we took a road trip to one of the 26 Walmart*’s in the area to return a really nice water pik Diane got me. I really liked it but I managed to break it within the first 30 minutes of taking it out of the box. Yup. I’m that good. It still worked OK. There was just no way I was ever going to release the water tank from the motor unit for cleaning. So, we took it back to Walmart* and gave it back. I explained what I’d done and they totally understood. Then we picked out a different one that looked like it may be harder to destroy right away.
I think there were a few more odds and ends Diane wanted to ensure all the nooks and crannies in our luggage were fully engaged.
Back ‘home’ at the ranch we took laundry to the guest laundry room where I used my cell phone to access, and pay for, the use of the two washers that were available. Pretty tricky stuff. Each machine has a unique QR code that is controlled through a laundry app you can easily download from the App store.
Then I made supper. We had street tacos using the meat I cooked yesterday. They were really good. Diane ate 4 and I ate 7. They were really little. Honest. All that was missing was a little salsa but we used some Avocado Ranch dressing which is even better.
The only other thingi did today was relax. Once the laundry is done, Diane can relax, too.
Today we travelled south to Miami to take a peak at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden on Old Cutler Road. Diane drove us there like she’d done it a hundred times. She’s attuned to listening to the GPS on my phone, or the car, in order to find her way when we travel together. But, she’s a natural navigator who gets around exquisitely on her own. This is true. She has this innate ability to reverse engineer her trips even in hostile environments. No matter where she goes she can easily find her way home. With me, no matter where I go, there I am. Sometimes for a long time. Unlike Diane, I get to see a lot more foreign territory as I drive in circles looking for something familiar. Diane, on the other hand, just knows the way, like a Ninja.
This Florida trip was planned a long time ago and Diane had high expectations about seeing wonderful things. Today was a trip to one of them.
Getting to Old Cutler Road was a great journey down enormous freeways and through pretty classy neighborhoods that don’t have sidewalks. We followed all the signs and wound up in the employee’s parking lot for a little while before taking another stab at the proper location. We found it quickly as it was only about 20-30 yards down the street from where we were. Piece of cake.
Once in the parking lot we, well … we parked. Actually, ‘we’ didn’t park, Diane did. I was just along for the ride, like normal.
After leaving our assigned vehicle we followed signs to the registration office. Once there we showed the nice man the tickets we’d printed at our temporary domicile in Weston. Apparently they were authentic because he accepted them and let us pass, giving us stickers to put on our shirts so everyone in the park knew we were legit.
Our objective was to get to the tram stop before everyone else did. We were told to head down one of the many incredible brick paths to a spot where the tram would stop. Sad to say I did not take one photo of the bricks.
Shortly after sitting down for the wait, a gentleman drove up in a 10-seat golf cart and explained that the tram ride wouldn’t be back until noon so we had 45 minutes to go check out the butterfly display. He said he’d be happy to drive us there.
Not having any idea where the butterflies lived, the only obvious choice was to accept his offer. So, we did and he drove us right to their front door. His name was Dan.
Upon entering the enclosed display that looked a lot like many bird aviaries we seen, our eyes were immediately engaged with the antics of about 30-40,000 butterflies flitting everywhere. Seriously, it was non-stop motion and It was quite astounding. What I immediately noticed was that they fly either alone or in groups of their own kind. They don’t mix. If you’re blue with black stripes in this world, that’s who you flitter around with. If you’re not with your group, you flitter around alone while you look for them. It’s quite stunning to see a flock of bright blue butterflies coming at you, flying around you, and never touching you. They are really good pilots. I took lots of photos, of course, but I wasn’t able to catch them standing still. They seemed to always be in motion, even when they were standing still. So, I took a few videos and took a shot at editing and came out with this. Just a brief glimpse, at the right moment.
Inside this enclosure we met a few new people and a lot of volunteers, all of which were very friendly. We also saw a ton of orchids. We detected a theme with the appearance of the orchids. Interestingly, the ones made available for the butterfly playground didn’t reside in pots. They lived freely without boundaries by clinging to trees, and walls, or just by hanging on a string tied to a branch. Apparently they survive nicely by absorbing moisture from the atmosphere. I don’t know if that’s true or not because I never really heard anyone in authority actually say that. It just made sense.
We got back to the tram stop at the appointed time and jumped on a 4-wide golf cart that holds 23 people. We sat in the last row that faced forward. Another row behind us was a row that faced back.
If you did a little math you may question my claim that 4-wide works out to 27 seats. The front row only had 3 seats so the driver wasn’t crowded like everyone else. It was important, we were told, so the driver (Dan, again) could properly operate the foot pedals that were located close to his seat. This became immediately evident when we pulled away from for the tour because apparently the only way to move forward was for the Dan to alternately floor the accelerator the let it go. Pretty jerky making Diane, and me, cringe. Once he got up to speed it was OK, but he was forced to stop frequently for the narrator on this journey who gave detailed history about every one of the trees and bushes he pointed out. And, he pointed out all of them.
He even picked some of them up
On this 80 plus acre site there are a bunch of lakes around which Dan had to navigate. Lucky for us we were on a well maintained gravel path that we could have easily walked if we had a mind to. Iguanas were everywhere and, we were told, alligators lived in the lakes so walking really wan’t an option for us. Personally, I bet there were also a bunch of snakes prowling around the area. Again, not walking. We stayed on the tram for the duration of the trip.
Once that was done we wandered around in the gift shop before going outside to look for our car. Surprisingly, for one of us, we found it quickly and were soon on our way. It was pretty warm, 88 or so, and I asked Diane to get in the car and cool it off before I had to get in. She declined, suggesting instead that she’d get in and drive away if I didn’t get in also. So, I did.
We didn’t stick around in Miami to view the sights but instead headed north to the safety of our condo in Weston. For fun, we had both GPS systems engaged (the car and my phone). The car wanted to take us east toward downtown Miami, in the middle of the day, during Spring Break. When we realized what the car was doing, we switched to my phone which was more in line with our thinking and guided us on a more northerly route.
We arrived in good time and Diane opted to drop me off at the condo, suggesting that I get busy cooking while she made a speed run to the nearest Walmart*. I did that. But, I didn’t actually cook because we were having chef salads. No cooking involved. It wasn’t too bad for a meal, but the time was wrong for lunch because it was after 3 pm. This lunch was invading the dinner hour. So, I also fried up the hamburger we had for tacos later in the day.
It didn’t really matter because we’re on vacation and can eat any time we want. Right?
So, now, I leave you some photos to ponder. I will attempt to give descriptions that I remember. The others you’ll just have to enjoy for the fun of it. Cheers.
The above photo is of a bunch of bananas sliced in half and laid out on a lava rock pedestal. Look closely and you’ll see a bunch of butterflies sitting around on them snacking. They like pineapple, too.
Here’s one resting, looking for his family.
The next one is sitting on an orchid and looks like he ran into a wall with his right wing .
Here’s some interesting glass art.
Just us.
Then we went ‘home’. Go right to Miami proper, or left toward Weston? Hmmm.
Today we drove to Fort Lauderdale to tour the Bonnet House Museum & Gardens which is a 35 acre beach front estate located pretty much in the middle of the city. We had a walking tour scheduled at 1400 so we had to get up early. Yes, that’s early because our bodies haven’t really adjusted to the 3-hour difference. About the time things click time-wise, we’ll be back in the PST zone. Knowing that makes it difficult to even try to adjust. Both of us would rather take a nap.
After we returned from the tour that’s just what Diane did. She took a nap. The main reason was because of the horrible traffic coming back to Weston. The Bonnet House is only 23 miles away and going over wasn’t a big deal. It’s like a drive to Portland on roads 8 lanes wide. Coming back it took an hour and a half because they have traffic lights every 1/4 miles or so and we had to stop at most of them. Making it worse, they stayed red for a long time. Kinda like Waimono Home Road in Pearl City. The red light there stays red forever. While waiting at that light one time, Jeff commented that her could probably drag himself around the car with his lips before it turned green. I was curious to see if he could, of course, but Diane didn’t think it was a good idea. So, that will remain one of life’s little secrets we will never be able to verify. Kinda makes me sad. Jeff, too, unless he secretly made that attempt before we left Oahu.
Anyway, the traffic was terrible because everyone was getting off work, the traffic lights were rigged to favor all the cross traffic, and it was somewhere between 93-102 outside the entire time we walked those 4-6 miles around the estate. We made it “home” but we were really tired when we got back.
Then I had to cook! Diane was all pumped up for stir-fry. We purchased all the required items at Walmart* yesterday. She just told me that there are 26 Walmarts* within 15-20 minutes of our location. Guess that tells a story about population density, huh? We feel privileged to live in a town where the only Wallmart* is just a couple of miles away. That would be the one in St. Helens, of course.
The walking tour of the property was interesting but didn’t include the living spaces. The owner was an artist so the parts of the home we did see were well decorated with his artistic endeavors. It was all very interesting. The estate was donated to the city with the stipulation that it must always remain in the same condition it was donated. No changes could be made. So, it’s 35 acres along the beachin downtown Fort Lauderdale that will never be developed. I bet that really upsets those folks who would like to turn it into a condo city.
One fun thing we got to see is the last remaining monkey that lives on the property. I believe our guide said there used to be 90 or so monkeys at one time. The one remaining is purported to be over 100 years old. Here’s the photo I got of him:
Someone said what kind of monkey he is but I wasn’t paying attention.
I have other photos, but they aren’t nearly as good as the ones you can see by checking out the link at the start of this missive.
With that, I’ll bid you all adieu. Tomorrow we’re driving down Miami way for a tram tour of theFairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Gotta leave by 0900 as it opens at 1000 and it’s an hour drive.
It appears that I’m posting on a monthly basis now, not daily when I started this almost 11 years ago. At that time, I had energy. I had an unlimited supply of words that were eager to escape from my brain. Now that I’m older I find that the words don’t come as easily and there are fewer to choose from. You would think that at my advanced age conjuring up coherent sentences would be less complex considering the depleted supply of words available. But, it snot.
Many interesting things have happened in the past month but I’m not going to bore you with a chronological narration to share everything mainly because I can’t remember stuff like I used to. That was the advantage of posting every day – it was fresh news. Easy to remember stuff.
The main event for us, me and my Bride, is our upcoming trip to cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Seattle through the Panama Canal to celebrate our 55th anniversary. I’m pretty sure it’s our 55th. If it’s not I suspect I’m in for a world of hurt. Thankfully, I think the thrill of making that trip will ease the pain of being wrong. If I’m wrong, but I’m not.
I’m sure.
Another exciting bit of news is the progress on Diane’s “new” home. It’s actually in the city limits of St. Helens so we can legally get a library card for nothing. Couldn’t do that previously because our current home is in the county.
The “new” home is Diane’s Mom’s old home with a few updates. To accommodate the updates we totally emptied the house and had a crew install LVP flooring everywhere. No more carpeting except where Diane wants to roll out a throw rug or four. She loves those things. She also had me rip out all the counter tops in the kitchen and both bathrooms so another crew could install the quartz replacements she ordered.
Since that’s all done now the only thing remaining is to paint selected walls/rooms then populate the house with only the things she want to keep, or the new things she wants to buy. That’s what’s going to make it new for her. She’s taking it slow with her decisions, savoring the process and I totally understand.
Another significant event is the addition to our family of two new Grand Sons. Yup. Our daughter, Jennifer, and her first husband, Daniel, after raising three children to adulthood, went out and adopted 3-year-old Jasper and Almost-2-year-old Siah. Everyone is very happy. Even the older siblings. Everyone is extremely happy. These are the ‘guys’ with their new older brother, Jeran, and happy ‘new’ dad, Daniel …
The most recent event is our adventure with airplanes, rental cars, and a cruise ship. At this precise moment in time the airplane portion is mostly complete, we’re working on the rental car piece at this time, and are currently anticipating the cruise ship.
First, the airplane … it involved an early morning ride from PDX to SEA yesterday where we boarded our second flight of the day at 0815 bound for FLL. Our trip started at 0400 and ended at about 1400. At that time we immediately shifted into Rental Car mode.
Getting to FLL was child’s play compared to the interminable wait to obtain a vehicle for getting to Weston, Florida, our final stop of the day. This effort took 2 full hours, standing in a Disneyland-like line in a huge room that didn’t have even one chair to sit in. Diane stood in the line while I did the hard part of guarding the suitcases. This is close to the end of my guard duty. Diane is standing just to the right of the big pole. It took her about 1.5 hours to get that far. Wore me out.
“Ha!” you probably said. “You should have stood in the line and let your lovely bride guard the suitcases!” To that, I retort, “I offered but she declined. At first I thought it was simply to make me look bad but finally decided that she was just tired of sitting after that 5+ hour flight. Since she had the window seat she wasn’t allowed to get up and wander around the plane at all. That’s an old airplane rule that I read somewhere … “Passenger in window seats are not allowed to leave their seat at any time during the flight and will be the last passengers allowed to leave the plane after landing no matter what condition their bladder and/or bowels are in.” That’s on page 17 of the passenger’s rule book. This is true. Honest.
Finally, she got to the counter and obtained our transportation. It was interesting the way we got the vehicle. Once in the garage area, an agent pointed us to the Small SUV row of vehicles and told us to take the one we wanted. After sitting in a few of them, Diane chose a Nissan Rogue Sport. It’s gray. She really likes it.
As we checked out with the gate guard, he noted the vehicle we had, noted our point of origin, then said, “St. Helens, huh? My old rival high school,” he said. “I went to Parkrose!”
Interesting. Here we are, on the opposite of the USA and one of the first people we encounter went to Parkrose High School. Go figure. It really is a small world we inhabit.
By now you surely figured out that FLL is Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Our destination for the night was 1775 Bonaventure Blvd, Weston, Floria. That’s about 20 miles west of FLL and why we needed a vehicle.
Diane drove to our condo like she’d done it a hundred times before. We hurked the overweight suitcases to our abode, went out for some food at a local Publix market, cooked some of it for dinner, then went to bed.
We landed 24 hours ago and already had a meal and a long night of rest.
Now we must go out and see what’s going on in FLL.
Here’s the first place we went …
This was a necessary stop to obtain enough food to survive until Sunday when we board the cruise ship Eurodam and head south through the Bermuda Triangle…
If you haven’t visited the Fort Lauderdale area, I had a photo of Google Maps Diane sent me but I can’t find it. You’ll have tolook it upyourself. Oh, wait! That link is for the place we’re staying. This link is for the water photos. Personally, I’m stunned by the amount of water just laying around in the area. It’s everywhere. Check out Weston, Florida on Google Maps.
Lastly is a photo I took yesterday, on our way from the airport to our condo. My impression is that this one cloud, in all of this huge sky, chose to block the sun from shining on us. Another possibility is that this one cloud chose to keep the sun from shining in our eyes and blinding us.
Either of those choices might lead you to think I’m OK thinking that clouds are sentient. That’s just silly, right?
Temporary Sanity ... 
