An Eclipsing Adventure

While in Cabo San Lucas for an annual visit with my brother and his wife, Chuck brought up the question of whether we (Michael and I and my sister and her husband) would be interested in traveling to Kentucky to see the solar eclipse in August.  After much hemming and hawing (we usually plan trips at least 2 years in advance for scheduling and funding reasons) we agreed.

In the meanwhile my sister-in-law died rather suddenly, so we planned on two trips to the mid-West in the Spring and Fall.

However the best place to see the eclipse wasn't in/near Louisville where my brother lives, but in Tennessee where family lives just over the border in Kentucky.  And having a large family and house (and a 600-acre farm) we all gathered there.

The first full day at their home, they had procured tickets for a Mammoth Cave tour.  Listened to the ranger give an introduction that included some words about the difficult areas of the caverns.  I, with misguided bravero, agreed that the difficult areas weren't too difficult.

And most of the tour was simple.  Over time the Forest Service had paved the pathway through the historical caverns so one didn't need to worry about tripping - just watch one's head on the low parts.

Until we neared the final hurdle - The Fat Man's something-er-other (Delight? Dismay?).  Here one needed to duck for most of the way through as well as walk sideways through an extremely narrow, winding pathway.

Well, the combination of stooping while walking oddly did my legs in.  The muscles up the backs of my legs didn't appreciate the walking position.  Luckily for me, I was with family and they all pitched in to help me through that never-ending portion of the caverns.  [Reminder to self: Take a different tour the next time - if there is a next time!] After much angst, I completed that portion and only faced a few hundred stairs to climb out of the cave and then the inclined walk to the surface!

Also luckily, we had a ranger, Ginger Allen, who stayed with us and shepherded us out of the caverns.  She went slowly, made frequent stops, and at each stop ran through a set of questions as to my current health and how I was doing.  She was wonderful! There were many stops, as leaving the Fat Man portion did not 'fix' my legs!

In fact, it was only upon returning to Mexico, several days later, that the legs recovered their strength.

So it was a fun trip that included back roads to Tennessee for the actual viewing - and only the most general of maps, the trek through the park's nature walk while we waited for the sun to do its thing,  the arrival of about fifty school kids to view the eclipse and the high-schoolers who shepherded them around (this was really educational as we listened to the teacher in charge explain things), the use of a motel room and motel parking lot for the rental camper my sister and brother-in-law had secured, the return on more major roads (lots of traffic and accidents that slowed us down), and, of course, bountiful food and comradeship at the Pierce's farm.

We left the farm a day early so that we could arrive in Nashville the night before our flight home.  Found a nice hotel near the airport, a nearby Mexican restaurant with good food; we sprung for the cheaper Margaritas - should have gone for the better ones!, and weathered a terrific storm on our return to the hotel.  A pox on the fool who drove through a puddle at high speed, showering us under a deluge of water! Wet and tired, we fell into bed.  The return to Nashville did make our return flight simpler the next day.  People at the airport were very helpful and kind, and then we were in Leon, waiting for the shuttle van.

After a two-week break, we sail to Hawai'i, followed by a stay at Disney's Aulani Resort after visiting the islands (the resort looked great when we visited briefly for a show-and-tell on an earlier trip to the Islands), and then another flight home!  We'll catch up with friends who live near Vancouver both upon arrival in B.C. and once at the resort (they're flying in from British Columbia).  Good times will be had by all!

Farewell to an Old Friend

No, this is not another post about losing a friend - it's about our coffeemaker!

Although we hadn't brought our BonaVida coffeemaker to Mexico with us initially, we'd had it a good long time.  Of course, it made 8 cups of coffee at a whack, and we seldom had that many people for dinner. 

So it was time to start looking for a replacement.  We'd keep the BonaVida in the bodega as a back-up.

We had narrowed the choice down to a) a smaller 5-cup BonaVida with a stainless steel pot or b) a 5-cup Zojirushi (the Zutto) glass pot with the grounds funnel inside the pot, a removable water tank, a filter to improve the taste of the coffee, and the 5-cup level which would make enough coffee for 2 12-oz mugs which we use for our breakfast cuppa, et cetera.

We had arranged to use my brother's home for the delivery of whichever coffeemaker we decided upon.  Although he lives in Kentucky, we were going to be visiting in mid-August and thought we could tuck the pachage into our suitcase, saving nearly 20% of it's value that our package delivery service would charge.

Dithered about over whiech coffeemaker to order with a deadline of July 'cuz I'd just get verklempt about the decision if we waited longer.  Once purchased the die would be cast.

So this morning - July 1st - we started the day making coffee - but there was no coffee to drink!  The light on the maker illuminated, but water wasn't heated, nothing came out, blah, blah, blah.

A decision was made that rather than wait 6 weeks by using my brother's address, we'd bite the bullet and order it from Amazon and use our Texas address for delivery. If it costs us more, at least we'd have it sooner and we wouldn't have to rely on an electric kettle to heat the water and pouring it over the grounds every morning.

So the order was placed, a note was sent to my brother, and now we wait.  At least there's a way to make coffee in the meanwhile - and we've already scrubbed the outside of the kettle clean!

Have we told you about our new scrubber???

A Final Farewell

So the date was set and we made our way back to Kentucky for a final service.  It was a whirlwind of activity as the whole family was involved.  My brother's house was the center of activity and my sister, neice and her daughter, Michael and I were housed there.  The neice and daughter slept on the living room couhes, Paula was in the guest room, and Michael and I were in the basement - but we all fit in nicely.  The day of the service we all had our assignments, too.  Paula, Michael, and I collected the various food orders that had been placed. Ruth and another niece were delegated to speak at the service, and the local church's minister led the service.

It was also time to reacquaint each other with the other family members, so out to dinner we went each night.  A wide variety of food - including a Mexican restaurant  that was a bit disappointing  - but the family didn't seem to realize it.

We also had a chance to visit with some Southern California exiles with whom we hadn't visited in years!

Then it was time to make our way back to Central Mexico again.  There's nothing like flying First Class ....

However, we'll be visiting again in August for the total solar eclipse!  This time we'll be sleeping in beds, as my niece has pointed out to her kids that Grampi is in his 80s and Uncle Marc is in his 70s, so they'll both need beds on which to sleep!  Bless her!!!

LATER -
And we're now committed to the trip as we have purchased our airline tickets!  We can actually fly from a more local airport (only an hour away) from San Miguel.  So we'll be traipsing over western Kentucky (and maybe Tennessee) following the sun - or shade. Now to book a car for the Midwest and shuttle rides here in Mexico...both a pay-for-it-when-you-book-it so we have until August to do so.

And further bad news on the puppy front (not our dogs, but my sister's and brother-in-law's):  Elphaba is now under doggie hospice care.  Luckily, this organization of her last days has lessened some of the angst that has affected the sister and her husband recently.

Two Weeks North of Puerto Vallarta

So we recently returned from two overlapping weeks at two different resorts in what is generally known at Nuevo Vallarte.  North of the marina district in Puerto Vallarta, it's composed of newer resorts, some quite large.

Our first resort was part of the Vidarte Group and quite spiffy.  A bit on the spartan side (one picture and one mirror in both the living room and the bedroom (no rugs), it was still quite nice.  Good food, good drinks,  and fine service around the huge pool.  Service could have been better in the restaurant, but the bars were great!

Our second resort was the Vallarta Gardens in Las Cruz - it was psectacular!  It's a private residence club so things are quite nice and units are owned by individuals as part of a fractional-ownership scheme.  Large rooms, 'real' furniture (not couches that double as beds), interesting lights, and decor.  We were placed in The Hamptons, in a one-bedroom again.  But it was different.  'Real' furniture, real kitchen appliances, a huge bedroom, a bathroom with a spiffy shower as well as low-level lighting for nighttime  use, wide hallways, two balconies, et cetera, et cetera.  Oh, yes, and upholstered walls. Quite the unit.

One drawback was that the in-house restaurant was only open from 8AM to 6PM,so no real dinner hour.  We found that we could manage on a late breakfast and a late lunch quite nicely.  The food was well-prepared and tasty; service was attentive.

Of course there was a sales presentation, but it gave us a chance to see what the other homes looked like. All quite nice - though our Hampton unit was our favorite, I think.  About five pools plus the beach which had a breakwater to lessen the effect of the waves from Banderas Bay.

Now to figure out how to return sooner that every 4th year.

We're home for about a week and then off to Kentucky for our sister-in-law's services.  Family are being put up in various homes.  I think their plan for us includes two different homes - and maybe a third.  For a couple that plans things far in advance, this is anathema - we can tell you where we'll be a year-and-a-half from now, where we'll be dining, and what excursions we'll be enjoying that far in advance.  There's even a cruise in the Mediterranean in 2019 on which we've been booked, so you can tell what the free-spirited room assignments are to us.  I suppose it's good training or something....  Flexible is the word!

A Bit of Vacation and a Family Tragedy

Our next vacation is comprised of two overlapping 1-week vacations at timeshares in Nuevo Vallarte (just north of Puerte Vallarte).   The first week is a Saturday - Saturday and the second resort is a Thursday - Thursday.  So we cut one short and we begin the second one after the first day.  But we're trading points so it's not like we're risking a lot of dollers.

However, it's now in a non-cancelable situation.  And while there's not a lot of money involved, there is both money and points that cannot be refunded.

Now for the family tragedy - my brother's wife  - who was not feeling so swift during our vacation with them in Cabo last January, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I shan't go into the details, but her life expectancy is limited to the next couple of weeks.

Non-refundable timeshares mean just that.  We had no idea this might happen, so we didn't obtain the timeshare insurancee - fools that we may be, we never get the insurance unless the occurrence is some time in the future..

So we'll be trying to juggle the need for time to go back to the mid-West for the funeral and actually spending some time at the resorts.   It may seem cold, but we're trying to enjoy both.  If we had obtained the insurance we could have restored the time at the timeshares back, but not having done so,we're hoping to manage both!

This presents several problems: when does each vacation occur; once the sister-in-law passes, when will the services be scheduled; on what days are the cheapest flights available; how do we make this work?

We've already been checking flights; lining  up someone with whom we'll stay while in Kentucky; advising our kennel when to expect the dogs; a rental car; seats on board the flights (I'm getting a bit old for the economy-squished seats); and all those other things to consider.

So we're waiting with baited breath for things to change and then fly into Operation Sister-in-Law and meanwhile keep revising potential changes.

Our First Carnival Cruise

 We're back on terra firma again, having completed our first cruise on Carnival.  Was it a Disney cruise - no, but it was okay.

ACCOMMODATIONS  Our cabin was huge for a balcony - we'd picked a fine location that gave us about 50% more space for the same price as a regular balcony.  However, it took a couple of days to get the bedding arrangements straightened out - though it was what was booked initially over a year ago. [-]  And although assured that we could have bathrobes for use around the cabin, they never showed up. [-]

EXCITEMENT  Add to this that on the last night, our cabin's a/c developed a leak and the ceiling began dripping so we had to be moved to an inside cabin sometime after midnight; however, their response was quick and we were escorted to the new cabin, not left on our own to find our way on a different deck. The ships officer who responded was on his phone pronto to the plumber, joiner, et cetera! [+]

CUISINE  Food was pretty good in all the restaurants except their spiffy Steakhouse where entrees were severely under-cooked.  Michael mostly finished  his; I couldn't eat my entree. [-]  The rest of the food served shipboard was great, including a new BBQ place on Deck 10 [+]; Michael liked his burger from Guy Fieri's place [+]; mine was nothing special and very thin. [-].

SERVICE  Service was great! [+]  In sit-down restaurants they called you by name every time they addressed you, addressed you, et cetera.  And service was prompt without hurrying you along.  Whether they remembered your name after you left their table, who knows, but it was nice while you were there.

THIS 'N' THAT  The safety drill (muster) was a bit disorganized and although they don't use any sort of tracking system like DCL does, it was just plain long. [-]  Secondly, although a cast member tried to be helpful while we were in line at Guest Services, no one pointed out to us that we were entitled to use the one
'no waiting' space reserved for guests with Faster to the Fun stickers on their cards (that would be us), rather than standing in line interminably while 6 foreign students tried to get their cards changed to show that they had been on Carnival before (red rather than blue background).  Unfortunately, ships sailing from Vancouver, BC, don't offer Faster to the Fun or we'd sign up for it!.

We were trying out the Cheers program (pre-paid drinks package). [+]  We like it and we did save money using it -and we're not the big drinkers as that we used to be.  The daily billings showed both the original charge for each drink as well as the null value posted to our account.  Guess we'll be using it on our 10-day voyage from Vancouver to Hawai'i later this year!

SHORE EXCURSIONS  Our purpose in booking this cruise was the attraction of visiting Noel Coward's home on Jamaica.  It wasn't offered by Carnival, but we found an independent tour company that provided the trip from our stop in Ocho Rios.  It was great except for the secondary roads up the hills to the actual home.  Main roads are maintained by the government; secondary roads are not.  Kudos to our driver for navigating all the bumps and crevasses!  The site was turned over to the Jamaican Tourist Board [or Heritage Board?] who must be cash-strapped, as things were neat and tidy but rather plain (read bare).  Hopefully they will be making some improvements....

Still it was good to visit and such a difference it must have been for all the luminaries who would visit him there.  Of course, the visitors would be accommodated in Blue Harbor, his original house down the hill.  Firefly, the home which was built after he bought the property, has only one bedroom.

For the rest of the cruise we didn't disembark the ship, but enjoyed the less-crowded ambiance on port days.  And we're still booked on the Vancouver/Hawai'i cruise later this year followed by a few days at Disney''s Aulani resort!

Cabo and Ocho Rios

We are now in the week between our trip to Cabo to catch up with my brother and sister and our cruise to the western Caribbean to visit Firefly, Noel Coward's home in Jamaica where he is buried.

Cabo was good, though Paula and Tim only had a few days with us as they had to wait until the new show was in place before they left town.  And my sister-in-law was rather ill during most of the two weeks we were there.  As a result, we ate most of our meals - other than those we (Michael) cooked - at the on-site restaurant - all of which were quite tasty!

During the day, we followed our favorite bartender around between the two pool bars and tried a few new drinks..  Yummy!

Michael was supposed to pick up his discount card for the airline we flew to Cabo on - Calafia - but it was a comedy of errors.  They sent the card to their offices in downtown Leon - a large city - and then they offered to send it to the airport in Guadalajara - about a 5-hours trip from San Miguel.  Then they would mail it to our home; then they couldn't mail it anywhere - a pickup in person was required.  After numerous calls and a couple of trips to the office in Los Cabos - luckily not too far from the resort at which we were staying - they decided that they could send it to the airport in Leon (much  more accessible) and we'll be there later tihs week.  Let's hope the card is there!

There were several things that needed adjusting in the Luna, but they finally got them all taken care of just before we left.  Luckily - I guess - my brother and his wife had several more weeks at the resort.

In the very near future, we'll be off to Florida (this Saturday, as a matter of fact) for a Carnival cruise to the western Caribbean.  This will be our first cruise on Carnival - a second one is booked sailing from Vancouver to (and around) the Hawai'ian islands this coming September.  Once there, we'll be staying for five days at Disney's Auluni Resort.  The last time we were in Hawai'i we visited Auluni for a look-see.  They've done a really nice job of the resort!  We'd probably buy into the resort if 1) it was simpler to get there, and, 2) it wasn't so expensive!

We'll have a week there and then we fly home.  Michael managed to score first class seats for us at an affordable price!!!  Haven't flown first class since that time on AirCanada with plenty of champagne and a gift of a bottle of brandy (they didn't have any single malt scotch :( on board).  I think we were flying Economy and talked our way up to some vacant seats in First.

These will be our first two cruises on Carnival.  Hopefully not too raucous!  We have booked both The Steakhouse and The Chef's Table for both cruises.  We heard just last night that we'd scored the Table on this first cruise.  The one later this year had already confirmed our time slot.  The Table includes a tour of the kitchen and the food looks great!  The Steakhouse is very old-school and the dishes should be good, too.  I'm already picking out my meal from the on-line menu!

Disney, after twenty back to back cruises had paled a bit.  So we're branching out.  Besides the two Carnival cruises this year, we have a Disney Westbound Panama Canal cruise (through the new locks) in April 2018 [couldn't really leave Disney high and dry, eh?] and a second cruise on the Crown Princess in November.  The last-named cruise takes us from Rome around the Mediterranean with a few stops (we'll finally get to visit the Sacra Familia on foot and not just from the top of a bus in Barcelona, the Cinque Terre villages, and a few other stops) and across the Atlantic to New York City.  We're celebrating the husband's retirement of our friend and several other people we've sailed with are joining us!   If we can manage it, there might be a Broadway show or two in the itinerary, too, before returning to San Miguel.

So between the cruises and the visits to the timeshares we own at, we'll keep busy!

Traveling Again

Seven more sleeps and we're off to Cabo San Lucas for our annual get-together of the Boyer kids!  While all three of us together is a short period this time (only 4 days), it's always good to see each other in the flesh!  We arrive the same day and within minutes as Chuck and Jane in another terminal and leave the same day as Paula and Tim.

Chuck and Jane (who have many weeks at Club Cascadas de Baja and kindly host us all) put up with our invasion.  Michael and I are spending 2 weeks with them and we're joined by my sister, Paula, and her husband, Tim, for those precious 4 days.  And we appreciate them making the trip.

One of the topics of conversation will be the gathering in Kentucky for the Solar Eclipse in August later this year.  Yes, I suppose that we could arrange it over the internet, but in person will be so much more fun.  Must remember to take our travel details with us or all is lost.  Luckily we've only researched flights, not booked them.

And we need to talk about things beginning next year.  Michael and I will then own three weeks on our own, so do we trek to Cabo early in the year or not?  Of course our three weeks don't match up with any of Chuck's and Jane's weeks.  And they're for sale, but no one has made an offer on any of them, so unless we can rent them out, we'll be there for a week in the spring and for two weeks just before Christmas.

Hmm, four or five weeks in Cabo - won't be enough time and funds to go around so that we can cruise enough....  We'll need to see what the finances turn out to be.

We bought them several years before we could use them as an investment - but now we're thinking, maybe we need to use them a bit ourselves.  At least until they sell!  Once sold, we'll be back sharing with Chuck and Jane (watch out, guys!)

Nine days after we return from Cabo - just long enough for the dogs to be reminded of who we are - we head out to the Western Caribbean to visit Noel Coward's former home and burial site.  He loved Jamaica and I think we will too.  We're experimenting with Carnival Cruise Line as they go to a port on the correct side of the island to visit Noel. Unfortunately our airline that we booked on no longer flies into Ft Lauderdale, so we have a bit of a trek to make from Miami!

Then in March we go to Nuevo Vallarta (north of Puerto Vallarta) for a coupe of weeks.  Then all is quiet for nearly 4 months - can your believe it?  I'm sure we're be writing about the solar eclipse in Kentucky and the cruise from Vancouver, British Columbia to Hawai'i and our stay at Aulani (Disney's resort in Hawai'i) at the end of the cruise, too.  We visited Aulani when we took a cruise on Disney Cruise Line a few years ago, but this will be our first time staying there.

Looking ahead to 2018, we have a Panama Canal cruise on Carnival, again, some more time in Cabo (what are we going to do with all those weeks?), and a TransAtlantic cruise on Princess with friends from Rome through northern Italy, France, Spain, and the Azores with time in NYC, as well as a final two weeks in Cabo, again.  By that time we'll be through saving up for the 2017 trips, so we should have a few more vacations in the offing....

I know it seems that we're always traveling, but what else is there to do after retirement? Sit in one spot and age?  The aging happens all by itself.  We've also got our Las Vegas and Orlando timeshares to find other trades for.  (Sorry for ending that sentence with a preposition!)  Maybe an interesting set of operas in Santa Fe, NM (I hope)?