Cruisin' the Caribbean!

On Saturday, Sept.29th, Tom got off work a little early and we headed east toward Louisiana.  That much needed rain that we've been needing arrived while Tom was driving east; at times it rained so hard, we could barely see the roadway!  We switched drivers at the Tex./La. state line, and thankfully the rain began to let up a little after I began driving south on I-49 toward Baton Rouge, La. where we had hotel reservations and were to meet Tim and Kathy, Tom's brother and his wife.

What a sleepless night we all had at the Holiday Inn South/Baton Rouge!  We were in a ground floor room, and around 2:00 a.m. we heard loud voices outside our room, that did not go away!  Where is the hotel's security personnel??  Just before 4:00 a.m., there was a gal standing just outside our door talking loudly on her cell phone!  Tom opened our door and told her we were trying to sleep and to go away!  Well, we were all awake and just a little giddy about leaving on our cruise on Sunday morning, so Tom and I got up, and each showered and dressed.  Tom and Tim went to the hotel's gym to work out, and I went to the front desk to get more coffee packets for our room, and to report the late-night activity that awakened us.  There was a  female security person there who told me we should have called the front desk at 2:00a.m. when it all started.  I told her she should have been patrolling around the hotel and not allowed this kind of disturbance in the middle of the night!  We will never stay there again!  For $150 per night, I expect a litlle more!

By 6:00 a.m., we were at Cracker Barrel having a wonderful breakfast, excitedly looking forward to getting on the ship and sailing!  The weather was warm and muggy, with some sunshine in between the intermittent rain showers.  However nothing could dampen our spirits, and by afternoon we were all feeling a little "punchy" from the long drive the day before, lack of sleep the night before, and  just happy to be on vacation!

As we sailed out of the Port of New Orleans, going down to the mouth of the Mississippi River where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, which by the way, took an amazing 6 hours to reach, Tom took many photos, and reminisced about the neighborhood of Algiers, where he grew up, and which sits on the west bank of the Mississippi River across from New Orleans.  The Mississippi River is bustling with sea traffic, with many cargo ships and barges plying its waters throughout the day and night.

                            Tim & Kathy on board our ship w/the Mississippi River bridge behind.

                                          Sailing away from the city of New Orleans!

   The suburb of Algiers, which Tom says looks much different from the 1970's, when he lived there!

One of the many ships we went by on our way down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

As you can see, we enjoyed a lazy day at sea on Monday, with lots of sunshine streaming through the windows, playing cards, reading a book, joining in the different trivia contests offered throughout the day on the ship.  There is always something to do, or we could do nothing and nap!  We enjoyed two days at sea before we reached our first port of call,  Roatan's Mahogany Bay, Honduras.

We did not get any photos of Maya Key, where Tom and I went to on our excursion.  We had been getting up every morning, going up to the walking/jogging track on top of the ship, doing our 3-mile walk,  and watching the awesome sunrises.  Since we would be docking at Roatan this morning, we took our camera with us to the walking track so we could get some nice shots of the Island of Roatan, which lies a few miles off the coast of Honduras.  However, it began to rain shortly after we began to walk, but neither Tom nor I even thought to open the camera case and slip the camera into its ziploc bag!  Needless to say, it got very wet, as we continued to walk in the rain for an hour!  Nothing to do but open it up, remove the SD Card and camera batteries and leave it on the window sill in our cabin for the day, and hope for the sun to come out and stream thru our window and dry it out!

We were taken to Maya Key by boat, probably 100 guests on board, where we were dropped off to spend a few hours.  Tom snorkeled at a reef just off the end of the pier, while I relaxed on the beach with my book and enjoyed a short swim.  Lunch was served to us and there was also a nice big swimming pool there; also a replica of a Mayan temple which housed a Mayan museum.  Maya Key is also a sancuary for an assortment of wild animals, including a mangrove covered island which is home to several monkeys that the guides will bring out to allow guests to pet, or hold them for photo ops.  We declined!

What a surprise and a huge relief when we returned to the ship in the afternoon, to find the sun had come out and shined brightly through our cabin's window and dried out our camera!  Tom put the batteries and SD Card back in it, turned it on, and Voila!, it worked!  Yippee!!  This is our older Canon camera which I took on my A.T.Hike, and miraculously kept it dry thru many wet days on the Trail (poor thing lived in its ziploc bag most days on the Trail!), and if you'll remember I lost this same camera momentarily in Ireland when I left it in the restroom of a cafe, on the very first day in Dublin, and luckily for me, it was found and turned in!  We think we are "camera challenged"!

As we sailed away from Roatan, we were able to get some photos (with our now-dry camera) of a nice Carnival-owned, private beach area, which is free to all Carnival Cruise Ship passengers, and can be accessed from the ship's pier, via a nature path and footbridge, or a chairlift which runs continually back and forth while the ship is in port.

The following day, we were in Belize.  Due to the world's second largest reef, which lies just off the coast of Belize, our ship anchored about five miles off the coast, and we were boarded onto "tenders", which took us to the mainland for our Cavetubing excursion.  The tender we were on was a doubledecker one which probably held 250 passengers; it was a 25 minute ride to the pier at Belize City, where we boarded an older model tour bus for the 1 1/2 hour ride into the countryside to the caves and underground river.  Belize is pretty much like a third world country where poverty abounds!  We actually had a police van escort to the Caves!  In Belize City, we observed banks with guards armed with AK47's!  Some schools looked like abandoned buildings rather than classrooms!  Wow! How blessed we are to live in America!

 

This is pretty typical of housing in Belize City.

 

"New construction" next door to pawn shop?

 

Notice the wall studs are small tree limbs, not 2by4's!!

 

We passed this orange grove just before the caves.

 

Here we are with our guide, Vida, just as we exited the first cave which was about a mile and a half long, and just before we entered the second part of our cavetubing adventure, floating on the underground river thru the second cave which was about 3/4 mile long!  What an incredible experience!  Vida, our guide for the day, is of predominantly Mayan ancestry and was very knowledgeable about the medicinal qualities of all the plants and trees that lined our jungle path, along our 25-minute walk, carrying our tubes, to the mouth of the first cave we floated thru.  We placed our feet under the arms of the person in front, thereby creating an 8-person "float train", with each of us wearing life vests, and helmets w/headlamps, that we could turn on if we wished while in side the caves.  Most of us left our headlamps off, since only one or two lit it enough to see, plus, Vida pointed his very bright spotlight periodcally to show and tell us about different features inside the caves.  Once, he had us all to turn off our headlamps to experience some total darkness within the cave.  Eeire!!  Our guide, Vida, really made this excursion memorable for us!  After floating on the underground river in the caves, we were served lunch at an ourdoor pavilion right there in the jungle!  My personal favorite (yesterday and today) was the coconut black bean rice!  (Yesterday's lunch on Maya Key also had fried sea bass and fried banana chips which were excellent!)

 

The older model tour bus which brought us to the caves, would not fit on the primitive, narrow, dirt/rock track, for the final quarter-mile up and over a very steep hill (with rock walls jutting straight up each side), so we were herded off of it and onto a smaller, very old school bus, with a lot of our group standing in the aisle, for the final quarter mile up and over that very steep hill!  The school bus almost raked against the rock walls on the side, the road was so narrow!  I'm telling you, the ride to and from the caves was quite the adventure!  I would not recommend anyone I know to venture out on your own in Belize!  We would probably never hear from you again!!  However, I am so glad we had this oppportunity, and today of all days, since today is the one year anniversary of climbing Mt. Katahdin in Maine and completing my thru-hike!  Tom, Tim, and I really enjoyed being able to have this adventure together, one year after the three of us climbed Katahdin!  Kathy treated herself to a spa-day on the ship today while we were out Cavetubing.

 

Nice bus, huh!

 

This was one of the nicest places we saw in Belize, and you'll notice the wall protecting it, which was pretty typical.  Lots of walls, lots of iron bars on windows.

 

Ahh, there's our ship!  A welcome sight!

 

The next day, we were in Cozumel, such a beautiful sight, following Belize!  All four of us took a powered catamaran to Passion Island, which is located on the northern peninsula of Cozumel, for a relaxing day on a gorgeous beach! 

 

 

I love going on Cruises!  I love being spoiled a little, having someone clean my room, not just once daily, but twice!  Once in the morning while we are out and about, then again in the evening while we are at dinner, always leaving us chocolate candy, and a different "towel animal" each night.  BooBoo loved the towel animals!!  I loved walking each morning, watching the awesome sunrises; and I absolutely loved the food!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brotherly love!

 

Monkeys everywhere!

 

 

Goodbye Ireland, Hello Caribbean!!

It felt so good to be back home after being gone for ten days to Ireland.  There really is "No Place Like Texas"!  I know, I'm biased.  I always look forward to going places I've not been before, seeing new things, meeting new people;  this just makes coming home so much sweeter!  After being gone for almost seven months last year while thru-hiking the A.T., I have come to appreciate home even more!  There is nothing quite like the feeling I have when I wake up and look out our back windows  across the hay meadow, and see a gorgeous sunrise like this, here at home.

However, I sure wish I did not have the allergy issues I'm plagued with!  Before I went to Ireland, I felt like I was getting a sinus infection, although the change in climate across the Atlantic banished it.  As soon as I got home, the high pollen count got to me immediately.  Oh well, it could be so much worse, so I'll count my many blessings and shut up about it!

Once again, my bags are packed!  Tom & I are so excited to be going on a 7-day Caribbean Cruise.  We plan to drive to Baton Rouge, La. as soon as he can sneak out from work today, then board the ship in New Orleans in the morning.  The best part about this vacation is that Tom's brother, Tim and his wife Kathy will be driving from Georgia to meet us in Baton Rouge today and go on this cruise with us!  Such fun to have them along on our vacation!  The four of us cruised together back in 2004, and had such a great time, so we are really looking forward to seeing them again and embarking on yet another adventure together!

The day we get home from our cruise, one of my hiker friends, "Smiley", will be passing thru Edgewood on his way back home to Mississippi, and is planning to stop in to see us!  I haven't seen him since somewhere in Maine last year, since he finished his hike before I did.  He is an R.N. and has been working at a pediatric clinic in Arizona.  Can't wait to see him and reminisce and see what he's been doing since his hike.  I'll bet he looks a little different from when I last saw him!  His Mom FedExed him a full, home cooked meal to Mountain Meadows Lodge in Vermont last year.  By the time I got there, all that was left was some delicious pound cake and some cookies, which he generously shared with me.  The other hikers there had helped him polish off all the rest of his Mom's home-cooked goodness!

I would love to meet his Mom!  She is a good cook!  Yummee pound cake!

That's "Smiley", third from the left, in the turquoise shorts!  We were a scruffy bunch, seasoned hikers!

I don't feel like I am much different, however the hikers I've connected with in the year since I finished my hike definitely look different than they did on the Trail!  Maybe their perception of me is that I look different also? 

While we are on the cruise, I will surely remember where I was one year ago!  This coming Thursday, October 4th is the one year anniversary of the final day of my hike!

My dear sweet friend, "Pigeon" and me on top of the final mountain on the A.T.!  What great memories I will carry with me for a lifetime!

Don't forget that life is an ongoing adventure!

Thursday, September 20th

Today is technically the last day of our tour of Ireland, since tomorrow will be spent traveling home.  Norma and I had a little excitement in our room this morning.  Norma's electrical converter blew up!  Her electric rollers were plugged  in the outlet, and were warmed up, so Norma was curling her hair.  Just as she was about done, we heard a loud pop, and the converter started to smoke!  She immediately unplugged it!  What a smell--burned wiring!  I guess it is a good thing it is our last day here and not the first!

I guess I must have been a little tired at the end of the day yesterday, when I wrote in my journal.  I completely left out about our stop at the Rock of Cashel, after we left the Blarney Castle!  The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years, prior to the Norman invasion.  In 1101, the King of Munster donated his fortress to the church.  The picturesque complex is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and Medieval architecture to be found anywhere in Europe.  The Majority of the buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th Century.

It is currently being extensively restored to it's previous splendor.

Today we will be given a tour of Kilkenney Castle, which has been through many years of careful, painstaking restoration to how it was centuries ago.  We will not be allowed to take any photos once we are inside, however the grounds around Kilkenney Castle are beautiful, situated right along side the river.

While we were waiting for time to go on the Castle Tour, Norma and I decided to board a small tourist train for a  tour of the city.

Part of the fun of going on this city tour was seeing some of fellow guests from our tour while they were strolling about town!

That's Bob Brackeen, the NBC Today Show Host!  Cool sunglasses, Bob!





There's Julene Pike (waving to us) and her daughter Kristina (looking at her IPad)!
They live in Souix Falls, S.Dak.



Here are some photos of the outside and grounds of the Kilkenny Castle.  Noel said "ABC".  Another bloody castle!

 

Ireland has "Tidy Town" competition each year, and this year Kilkenny has won it once again!

  This evening we are back to where we began this tour: the Dunboyne Castle Hotel, for our farewell dinner with all the folks we have had the pleasure of being with on the Ireland tour.

Here is an interesting tree in front of the Dunboyne Castle Hotel.

Wow!  Tomorrow morning we must have our luggage outside our door by 5:30 a.m.; go to breakfast; leave the hotel at 6:30 a.m. for the transfer back to the Dublin airport, for our long flight to Chicago, with a couple of hours layover before the final leg of our journey back home!

Wednesday September 19th

Early start to our day today!  Norma's travel alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., we must have our luggage outside our hotel room's door by 7:00 a.m., go to breakfast, then depart the hotel at 8:00 a.m.  Our breakfast meal each day is included with the tour; our dinner meal is included in all but two evenings (when we are at a hotel for two consecutive nights, the second night's dinner is "on our own").  Except for the day we stopped at the "Thatch Cottage" (for stew/shepherd's pie), our lunch each day is on our own.  Norma and I usually just have a snack from our "stash" (in our daypacks) for our lunch each day.

I slept like a rock last night for 10 hours!  I feel bad that Norma did not. The beds are firmer at this hotel (what I'm used to at home) and Norma woke up with a backache, and took naproxen sodium for her pain.  Therefore she napped a lot on the bus ride this morning.  I feel really bad that I sleep so good, no matter where, when Norma does not.  I feel bad that I wake her up earlier in the morning than she would like, because I am such an early riser and she sleeps so lightly, if she hears me move about in our room, she is awakened.

Sorry, Norma!  BooBoo made me take this photo!
We sat at the very back of the bus today, so we had plenty of room to spread out, what with 5 seats straight across the back.  I liked it!  Great for snapping photos out the side windows or out the very large back window.

 Yes, we went through this tunnel!  The driver had to go slowly, right in the middle of the road, to clear the top of our bus!  Wild!

You are correct!  This Inn was located at one of the many roundabouts we passed today!

Most homes we passed had nice landscaping.  Ireland gets rain and sunshine every day so I guess it's not hard to get plants and flowers to grow profusely.

Heavy sky!

 

We visited the Blarney Castle today, where we climbed the circular stairways all the way to the top, so we could kiss the Blarney Stone.

 

 

Now this is nothing at all like I have had it pictured in my mind all my life!  I always thought that the Blarney Stone was a fairly large hunk of rock situated on a hillside, that we would be required to hike up to it to kiss it.  Well, it is nothing at all like that!  It is quite small and it is encased in the wall of the Blarney Castle!  At the top of the Castle!  Also, once you've climbed all the circular stairways to the top of the Castle, you are required to lay down on your back, grab hold of the upright bars (that have been installed to assist you), then arch your upper body backward and downward, to facilitate the actual act of "kissing the Blarney Stone" (which is quite like all the surrounding stones).  Of course, the Irish have not failed to capitalize on this opportunity, with all these tourists!  As one Irishman holds onto you (as you are arching your body over backwards over the edge of the wall), another Irishman snaps your official photo, while you are kissing the stone!  You're right, after you walk down to the ground floor of the Castle, you pass right in front of the souvenir shop where you can purchase said photo.  They got me, I purchased my photos!  Hey, it's a once in a lifetime moment!

 

BooBoo met two new friends today!  The first was "Big Red", who is a red plastic Mickey Mouse, who we met while in the line at the top of the Castle while waiting our turn to kiss the Blarney Stone.  Then as we were walking around the picturesque Castle grounds, we came upon another Tour Group and the guy who was their Tour Guide had a bear hanging on his daypack named "Teddy"!  He and I stood side by side while another tourist snapped a photo of BooBoo and Teddy.  What fun BooBoo is having in Ireland!

 

 

 

 

Don't drop BooBoo!  She's just trying to kiss the Blarney Stone!

 

As were walking along the winding creek that runs through the Castle grounds, Norma found a place to put her feet in some "Irish water" for a minute!  The creek was crystal clear and very cool.  Here she is on a footbridge, after she got her feet wet.

 

 

As we were traveling the roads today, Noel talked to us about the history of Ireland's struggles over the years, from his humble Irishman's viewpoint.  He said that President Bill Clinton was a crucial figure in negotiating a workable peace between the Republic of Ireland (in the South) and Northern Ireland.  President Clinton talked to the Irish people and sent Senator Mitchell over to Ireland to assist in the talks, and President Clinton told them that he would be available 24/7 by phone to help if needed.  Also, England's Tony Blair was instrumental in this peace process.  I was fascinated by Noel's account of the struggles of his fellow countrymen over the years.  Ireland's current unemployment is at 24% of its population.  Gas averages about $1.69 (euros) per litre; the average yearly income for factory entry level workers is approximately $20,000 (euros).  Ireland is a part of the European Union, so if one country in the Union is struggling, all the others are affected by this.

 

The Irish term for rioting or mayhem is "tuggery"; a pig farm is called a "piggery"; there are more sheep in Ireland than people.

 

After we left the Blarney Castle, we traveled around the northern edge of the city of Cork, which is a sister city to San Francisco.

 

Steeplechase originated in Ireland also!  In the 1700's, two ministers challenged each other to a horse race, from one's church to the other's church, over the hills and thru the valleys near Cork; so steeple to steeple became Steeplechase!

 

Tonight, we are at the luxurious Lyrath Estate Hotel, which is located outside the city of Kilkenney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of our hotels on this tour have exceeded my expectations!  So luxurious!  Oh my goodness, I could get spoiled to this kind of accommodations!  Our room even has a doorbell!

 

This has been such a great experience in Ireland!  I feel blessed and very fortunate for the opportunity to travel here with my sister, Norma.  However, I am ready to go home!