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.

Pompeii



Mt Vesuvias overlooking Pompeii



Entrance to Pompeii



Victim of Mt. Vesuvias



Pompeii was a rich city, a place to visit for vacation in 79 AD.

But then Mt. Vesuvias erupted and 20 feet of ash covered the

entire city suffocating all living beings immediately. It was discovered in the 1800s



 We walked the entire city and even visited one of it's Brothels. It was small with three rooms and a bed in each one. There were pornographic images on the walls.

A rich man's home was very well preserved - murals on walls, and many bedrooms. The people seemed to live very well, but it was all destroyed in an instant.

Jerusalem & Bethlehem



Praying at the Western Wall



Dome of the Rock



Church of the Nativity



<>

Garden of Gethsemane



Church of the Holy Sepulchre


We began our day at the Garden of Gethsemane, Mount of Olives. The big olive tree in the picture is 2000 years old. It was there when Jesus prayed the night before His crucifixion. The size of the Garden is now 10% of its original size. The Church of Nations built on the Mount of Olives is beautifully designed inside and out. The inside is designed to look like what the Garden looked like when Jesus was arrested. The ceiling looks like a starry night. There are also murals depicting the Apostles sleeping while Jesus prayed and another mural showing Judas betrayal of Jesus.
  From here we were taken to Old Jerusalem. Inside the ancient gate we walk to the Western Wall where, because today is Thursday, we are told that Bar Mitvahs are occurring. On the right side the women are praying. On the left side are the men and their thirteen year old sons reciting from the Bible. It's a beautiful scene. The mothers, aunts, sisters stand on benches to look onto the left side to watch their boys. The Western Wall is what remains of the second temple which existed in Jesus time.
  Walking distance from the Western Wall is the Via De La Rosa (Stations of the Cross) where Jesus carried His cross to His crucifixion. The street is narrow and cobblestoned. There are shops all along the way leading up to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It's quite an experience to walk the same street as Jesus did  2000 years ago. The Church is shared by 8 Christian denominations.  A Muslim family holds the key to the church. They open and close it every day. That way there is no disputes between the 8 denominations. On the Greek Orthodox side ithe altar has a large silver crucifix on the exact spot of Jesus Crucifixion. 
  Bethlehem was our afternoon excursion. The town of Bethlehem is owned by the Palestinians. We saw the Church of the Nativity, site of where Jesus was born. There are many Christian Palestinians with some restrictions in Bethlehem. We were happy to be able to shop in one of their Bethlehem shops where we found some beautiful olive wood creations of nativity scenes and the Jerusalem Cross.