Caribbean Cruisin'

                           BooBoo went on another cruise!

                      She is one lucky little girl monkey!

Instead of our usual Saddlebags gal's cruise, this year I enjoyed some of the gals bringing their husbands along.

                                               Evie and husband Tom

                        Joyce and husband Paul (always the "cut-up"!)

         My friend, Gill, relaxing poolside with the two couples.

As always, my favorite time of the day was the early morning, grab my first cup of coffee and head up to the Walking/Jogging Track on Deck 12, get in a 2-3 mile walk as I watched a glorious sunrise, no better way to greet a new day!

Each morning's sunrise was a little different depending on the low cloud cover which would burn off quickly as the sun rose ever higher in the blue skies of the Caribbean.

The Carnival Breeze was a beautiful ship with something for everyone. 

                                 Plenty of "water fun".......

.....fun to watch as the large yellow bucket suspended overhead continually filled to capacity......

....then dumping its huge amount of water on anyone/anything below.....sending this wall of water down before righting itself and beginning the process over again, all day long!

Due to the hurricane damage on Key West we did not stop there instead we continued on to Freeport in the Bahamas.  In Freeport I participated in a bike excursion.

Riding "no-frills" bicycles we toured Freeport following our knowledgeable guide, stopping at many points of interest, while drinking plenty of the cold bottled water that the Tour Company provided for us.  It was a warm day on the island!

                                                     Fun, fun!

There were ten of us on this excursion along with the guide who mainly kept us off the main roads, following side streets thru neighborhoods and along established bike paths.  I really enjoyed this excursion which ended at a beach grill where we could get in the water (where I saw a small stingray) and I quickly got out of the water!

Cool view of our ship, Carnival Breeze, as we headed back to go on board before leaving Freeport.

Our next port-of-call was Nassau, Bahamas.  Joyce and I went on a city tour excursion, first going to Paradise Island and stopping at Atlantis.  This was an amazing fountain, the flying horses appeared to be jumping out of the water.

                            I strolled around Fort Fincastle.......

.....climbing to the top of the old Fort admiring the distant views......

........we continued on to the small family owned/run rum distillery...

.....in a beautifully restored mansion of a house......

.....rum is a big business in the islands......we also stopped in town at a small rum cake factory.......

......best of all, the tour ended at Fish Fry Central, a long strip of many small cafes who serve any kind of fish you like.....

....all brightly colored facades, and friendly folks beckoning you to come right in.....

The following day at sea I had to try the rope course up on Deck 13.....

.....what a blast that was, with the ocean breeze, and the sea far below, testing my balance, agility, and overcoming my fear of heights to accomplish this feat....

 ....there were 7 or 8 towers and between each tower there were two choices of ways to navigate to the next tower......

 .....and of course the young kids were just running across all the obstacles so carefree but I was pretty terrified at first so I was stepping very carefully......

 ....however once I made it across all the obstacles between all the towers my confidence level had risen considerably, so much so that I went back the next day and did it all over again!  My friend Gill, Evie, and Lanette all accomplished the rope course also!  Woohoo! 

The gorgeous blue waters of the Caribbean never cease to mesmerize me.  So relaxing!

 

 

Spokane, Here We Come!

We found a fairly reasonable price on a flight to Spokane and we said "let's do it"!  Not knowing when Tom may go back to work we thought we should travel while we can! 

It was great to see Tim and Kathy in their home in Spokane.

I admire the closeness that Tom has with his brother Tim.  I know their time together is always special. 

Also Tom's niece Megan, and her husband Austen and their two boys, Nelson and Henry who also live in Spokane.  They all made our time there memorable.

Tim took Tom and me on long walks each morning showing us all the trails that are near to them and along beautiful neighborhood streets and into local parks.

One of our favorites was hiking in the Dishman Hills Conservation Area from the Stevens Creek Trailhead.

 We followed the trail ever higher until we came out on top to a wonderful view of the valley below.  

                                                      What a treat!

 Austen and Megan and their two sons, Nelson and Henry, took us on an awesome bike ride on the Hiawatha Trail.

They went to a lot of trouble to make this day special for us.  The Hiawatha Trail begins just across the Idaho/Montana state border in Montana and travels along the old railroad bed for twenty miles into Idaho.  What a spectacular trail it is with many tunnels, many high trestles across deep canyons, and awesome scenery everywhere you look!

What an organized, detail oriented couple Megan and Austen are to plan this wonderful outing. Each of them pull a child carrier behind their bikes but the boys each have a walking bike (no pedals, foot powered) enabling them to walk their bikes or ride in the carrier. 

Well what a way to start this ride but with a mile long very dark and cold and wet tunnel that we had to utilize our bike lights to be able to navigate through!  I was terrified!  My bike light was shining up in the air, not out in front of me where I needed it to shine and I could hear water dripping and running in the troughs running along each side of the dark tunnel.  I just kept peddling and praying, trying to keep my eyes trained on the bike ahead of me that I could barely see!

 

 
Yay! I made it out the other end and there was this gorgeous waterfall. 

Our fun group pedaled onward. 

Tunnel after tunnel! 

Lots of signs along the path describing the history of the rail line that used to run on this same path that we were riding on. 

Spectacular views around every bend! 

Fun pedaling across these long trestles which crossed the deep canyons. 

 

Nelson and Henry were fearless on their little walking bikes! 

 

 

Lucky kids getting a ride in the carriers later in the day.  

Yay!  We made it to the end.  Almost. 

 
Now our bikes are loaded onto this bus and then we board this bus for the ride back to "almost" where we started. 

Nelson and Henry are enthralled by the chipmonks running on the rocks. 

 

Well the bus took us all the way back to the end of the mile long tunnel, unloaded our bikes and then we had to ride back thru that dark wet cold mile long tunnel to get back to the parking lot where our vehicle was parked.  Believe it or not I enjoyed the trip back through because this time I got my bike light adjusted right and I could see where I was going! 

 

What an enjoyable day this has been with Megan and her family and Tim!

 

The following day Megan and Austen took Tim, Tom, and me on a rafting/canoe trip on the Spokane River.  I have no photos to show since my camera is not waterproof and we were to carry only the bare essentials since we had to walk/carry it all down to the river.  But what an epic trip it was!  Once again Austen and Megan planned a fun time!  This time on the river!  What a fantastic adventure!