Trip up the coast with stops in Santa Barbara and Carmel

April 20

Sad to say goodbye to our dear friend, but it's time to move on and moving on we are with a stop in Santa Barbara. Taking Rte 101 was the best way to explore California with the Pacific Ocean to our left and desert and rolling hills on our right. We even went through a mountain pass. Loving it. In Santa Barbara we found cute little wine store and relaxed in our room having our daily happy hour.

April 21

Next stop is Carmel By The Sea. Luckily our hotel is on the corner of Junipero Road and Ocean Avenue which is the main drag. Carmel is hilly and filled with boutique shops, restaurants, pubs and Ocean Avenue leads to the ocean. It's dreamy here.

Days At Sea

4 Days At Sea and visiting a dear friend in San Diego

Oh the luxury of it all. For 4 days we relax by the pool, are entertained by comedians, lecturers, classical music, ukulele musicians, etc. We are free to roam around, to eat (we do try to eat healthy), and to count our blessings for all that we have. I'm reading the book Hawaii by James Michener which I bought in Lahaina, Oahu in a Used book store. What a find! As I am learning more and more about the paradise islands of Hawaii, how they were formed (by volcanos), and the lovely Hawaiian language and beautiful, warm people I find that this book parallels what I am learning.

April 17

We arrive in Ensenada, Mexico at 8:30pm due to windy weather at sea. This does not give us a lot of time for exploring, but we do decide to take a bus into town. The stores are closed on Main St., but we located an outdoor bar where we can enjoy a bottle of Tecate. While enjoying our refreshing beer a couple little girls came around to our table selling jewelry and candy. They were cute and insistent. It's 10pm, don't they have school tomorrow? Anyway, we bought a bracelet. 

After a little shopping by the dock we're back on board looking forward to San Diego.

April 18

Our good friend Tim Hurt picked us up at the port and drove us directly to lunch with Heather at Maira Callandras restaurant (the chicken pot pie lady). So good to be with old friends and do a lot of catching up.

See The USA Part 3

See The USA Part 3

We have just returned from a 24 day trip to Hawaii on a Celebrity cruise from San Diego and on our return a visit with a dear friend in San Diego and a road trip to San Franciso. This was a wonderful way to get to know Hawaii, its culture, its people, its language and to get a beautiful visual slice of the gorgeous state of California.

April 3, 2013

We barely made it to the ship. Our plane from Fort Lauderdale was delayed. We missed our connecting flight in Houston. Phew!! Thank God our luggage was the first off the plane in baggage claim. Hurry! Catch a cab to the port. Ahhhhh! a half hour before cutoff time.
Yes a glass of wine poolside is just what the doctor ordered.

April 4

Day at Sea. Checking our the itinerary for the day we find hula lessons for me and ukulelee lessons for Eddie. Yes!!!! June is our teacher, the Hawaiian Ambassador for Celebrity. She is pretty, funny, talented and passionately loves her state. I know I'll learn a lot from her. The Hawaiian music, e.g. Little Grass Shack, are all familiar tunes.

Two new friends on board smelled Eddie's cigar and because they love the scent came to join us on the back deck. They were from Salt Lake City, Utah and told stories of Mormons and polygamy they knew about. It was very interesting.

April 5

Not only Hula but I also took a Flash Mob dance lesson today. However, sickness came upon me. Enough said.

April 6

A lecture given by a Music Historian of the Smithsonian Museum was all about The Phantom of the Opera. Did you know that there have been 100 movies made, the first one made was in German.

A seat by the pool; a wine in the cafe while listening to a 3 string classical group called Beacon Street, life doesn't get much better than that. In the evening we were entertained by the most talented violinist I've ever seen. She was from the Ukraine and played everything from classical to Irish jig to Orange Blossom Special.

April 7

Hula lessons, although I know I'm not as together as the other dancers I am having a ball and learning so much about the Hawaiian body language in the meantime.

April 8

Last day at sea before we dock in Honolulu in Oahu. Eddie and I have a recital today on stage in front of an audience. It's our graduation day. We performed marvelously and each received a Master in Ukulelee and a Master in Hula dance certificates. I am so proud of us.

Tallahassee/New Orleans

Our first stop was Tallahassee, FL, the state capitol. Hurricane Isaac is following us, but we are beating him by a day. Sunday morning breakfast was a delicioius find thanks to Yelp. We ate sweet potatoe pancakes at Canopy Road Cafe. They were delicious.

Next stop is New Orleans, LA with Isaac following behind. We drive on I 10 for miles and miles and it's pleasant. New Orleans is sunny and pleasant. Our Bed & Breakfast, the Green House Inn, is an old historic home, built in 1840. It has survived many hurricanes. It's cozy and we were upgraded to a room which opens onto the tropical pool area. Loving it. Our innkeeper does not seem overly concerned about the hurricane. And we learn later that no locals we run into, taxi cab driver, bartenders are not worried, so we will enjoy New Orleans to the fullest. First night, after a delicious cajun meal at Landry's - Fried Green Tomatoes Acadienne, served in a crawfish sauce for our appetizer. My entree was Grilled Shrimp on dirty rice, the best I've ever eaten. Eddie had Ettouffee and loved it. This all served with Louisiana's own Abita beer. Oh my how yummy. Now we're ready for entertainment and there's plenty of it on Bourbon Street. We found zydeco music in one bar. It is alive, people are dancing, laughing, partying, the music is amazing. Once the band stopped we went out for more music and found another bar with more jazzy and 60s songs. The band members were young, but they could play so well.
More to come. Loving New Orleans a lot. I will  post pictures when I get home on my PC. I am finding it difficult to post pictures here on my ipad.
On our second day in this vibrant city we visited the WWII National Museum just down the street from our Inn. It gives the history and personal stories of that war and that time. The best part was the 4D Imax movie. We received a complete understanding of the war, why it started, and why we had to fight.
From here we walked to the French Quarter (13 blocks) to Johnny's Po Boy for a shrimp Po Boy, oh so yummy.
We would have liked to spend a few more hours in New Orleans before heading to Shreveport, but, alas Hurricane Isaac is all over the news and heading right at us. After a heart warming discussion of what to do next with our innkeeper (He was not too concerned about the hurricane, but said we should do what we felt comfortable with) and a mojito at the bar across the street we made the decision to leave early. We left at 6am.
 "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?" I do and we will return.

Part 2 of our See the USA trip

We leave at the end of August, driving to Aurora, CO to see our daughter and her family. We will make many stops along the way- Tallahassee, FL, 2 nights in a B&B in New Orleans, Shrevesport, LA, Oklahoma City, Salina, KS. From Aurora we will be driving with our daughter, her husband and our 3 grandchildren to Yellowstone National Park.
One week later we are heading home and going to take our time getting there. First stop will be Santa Fe, NM for 2 nights in a B&B. From there to El Paso, TX to visit some favorite spots we liked when we lived there many years ago. Next, San Angelo, TX and then a weekend visit
with our niece's family in Austin, TX. From there to Lafayette, LA for 2 nights, going to enjoy some zydeco music and take a Cajun tour, then onto Pensacola, FL and to Gainsville, FL and then home again.
We do love to travel and are looking forward to this trip. I hope I'll be able to upload images on my ipad. I wasn't able to in June. Here's hoping.

We have figured out our destinations on the way to New England and back to Florida.
We are traveling to St. Augustine, Charleston, SC, Hopewell, VA, Atlantic City, NJ, Westboro, MA, York Beach, ME, Fitchburg, MA, Brewster, MA, Edgartown, MA on Martha's Vineyard, Great Barrington, MA, Strasburg, PA, Staunton, VA, Charlotte, NC, Boiling Springs, SC, Amelia Island, FL. Whew! That's a lot of places as we drive and discover our beautiful country. We just love the driving trip as much as we love the destination. I will post a picture per place we arrive at.

Driving Trip to New England

We have planned a 3 week driving trip to New England to visit family and friends. Oh, the luxury of having time to do and see all that we want. We will take our sweet time getting there, driving no longer than 5 hours a day tops and staying in small towns at bed and breakfasts along the way. I look forward to blogging our trip along the way using my ipad. More to come.