Pacific cruising

So leaving Panama City on the 11th day of our cruise we headed north up the coast.  Of course we were quite a ways offshore most of the time but at times you could glimpse mountains.  We had a day at sea then pulled into Puntarenas, Costa Rico.  Puntarenas is a quite small town with this one really long, thin dock that sticks out into the bay. 

The town of Puntarenas apparently didn't have a lot going on.  This is right after you get off the pier.

Puntarenas was soon left behind and we were bused inland to Esparza, another little town, slightly larger, to check out their festivities.  In Esparza there is a church (Catholic, of course) that was supposed to be something special.  The only unusual thing I noticed was that the ceiling was made of wood.

Outside in the square there was a performance set up for us.  Some of the local children had been trained in a little dance recital or something.  I hate things like this!  Not because I don't like children, I just find it demeaning.

There was one kid who was enjoying himself after he got into costume.

After the presentation we had time to look at local vendors of whatever they think tourists will buy.  This time we actually did buy something:  an apron in bright green.  Like most of the stops, dollars were accepted in payment.  The exception being Cuba where they have a separate currency for foreigners. 

We arrived back at the ship to discover that a dance group had arrived.  The music was basically drums with five or six young ladies dancing around.  This is the view from our balcony.  They were too loud to stand around in front of them and get pictures!

There is a lot of talk lately about living as an ex-pat in Costa Rica.  It turns out that both coasts of Costa Rica are rather hot and humid and that the middle of the country, up in the mountains, is where the ex-pats go to live.  It is kind of too bad because the coast could sure use the money.

In the evening the ship took off headed for Corinto, Nicaragua.  Again, Corinto is a small coastal village and we were bused inland to the city of Leon.  However, before we left a large group of people showed up on the dock to play and dance in welcome.

You can see that even before we got tied up they were hard at it.  The port is primarily for cargo however so the dancers had a nice background of containers! 

There were even some 'civilians' who joined in from time to time.  The town does seem rather poor.

Leon was a fair bus ride away and again we ended up in a square with a church. 

At least there were people in the square that were neither tourists or beggars; just locals enjoying the day.

There were stands where one could buy souvenirs but we managed to avoid those.  There was also a dance troupe but they too seemed as much for the locals as for us.  On the way to and from Leon we did get to see a couple of volcanoes.

I talk about getting carted around in a bus.  Well, they need quite a few!

In the evening we left Nicaragua and in the morning tied up at Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.  Quite frankly my wife and I were tired of riding on a bus for an hour or more only to be visiting a church and seeing some trinkets.  So we made the big decision not to leave the ship!  It was a container port however and you have to wonder what could be in all those containers.

Now it was time to find a port in Mexico and the line chose Cabo San Lucas.  Hmmm.  It took us three days at sea to get to Cabo.  My wife and I enjoy the days at sea so we were happy enough.  We have visited Cabo however so we made the same decision we made in Guatemala and stayed on board. 

That's most of our trip.  There are just stops in San Diego and Los Angeles.  I'll leave those for another day.  Have a good one!

On to the Canal

Last time I talked about leaving Miami and visiting Cuba.  It was really quite a surprise leaving the modern, metropolitan city and ending up in the very rural and quite poor area in Cuba.  That's ok, it is a legitimate choice but I wish I knew the thought behind it.  Perhaps they just thought Havana to be atypical.  At any rate we followed our days in Cuba with two 'at sea' days prior to visiting Cartagena, Colombia.

Cartagena's skyline brought us back to the modern city.

The tour we took started off by giving us a view of the modern part of the city which was all highrises and beachs.  The modern city could easily have been Miami with the signs all translated into Spanish.  They did show us some of the old town but it really did seem to be as clean and well ordered as Miami.  Of course they have the huge fortress in the middle but that was the 'local color'.  What was facinating my wife and myself was that we were docked in a real working port!  Across from us was a container ship being loaded and watching that was fantastic.

Imagine, we may well have seen a few thousand pounds of cocaine being loaded for shipment to New York; mixed in with a larger quantity of legitimate goods, of course.

Of course by the time we got back from our tour of the city there was another ship spoiling our view.  This photo was taken from the tour on the modern side of the city looking across the bay.  Our ship is on the right facing out.  The newcomer was the AIDAdiva - I'd never heard of the line

We left Cartagena and the next morning about 06:30 we started entering the Panama Canal.  We were both really looking forward to seeing the Canal and were thrilled that the cruise line was smart enough to do this during the day.  The fact that this cruise transited the entire canal was the reason we chose it!  BTW, this is the 9th day of the cruise.  We started the day following the Norwegian Jade into the first lock.

We'll see the Jade later but first how about another view of how much some of these ships fill the locks.

There is a train engine tug or two on each side of every ship helping it through.  These are the famous Gatun Locks.

Leading, of course to the lake by the same name.  The lake is formed by a river that is dammed on this (eastern) side.  We weren't quite out of the last lock when this photo was taken.

Oh, and there is our friend the Norwegian Jade.  It has entered the canal and gone through one series of the locks and now is waiting in line to head back out to the Caribbean.  How disappointing that would be if you were thinking of transiting the entire canal!

So I could post a bunch more photos of the canal, the ships and the people on them but I imagine you have the idea.  Between my wife and myself we took about 250 photos so it might get a little dull for folks not so facinated by the canal and the sea in general.  So we were on to our next port of call:  Panama City, Panama.

Panama City is another modern city with some ancient bits.  We were anchored out again and had more runs on those lifeboats.  I know how much I'd appreciate a lifeboat if I needed one but as tenders they leave quite a bit to be desired!  However, being anchored out we did get a great view of the city.

Again our tour was of the city.  We drove through the modern bits then paused in the old quarter to drop off some money with the local tee shirt vendors (or whatever your addiction might be).  It was December 1st so the square had a reasonable number of local artists trying to sell things and the Christmas decorations were starting to appear.

There was a church of course!  We did not go through it but I found the old center with the new towers unusual.  Someone had an idea there but we know not what.

Of course there was a little side street where the shops were located.

So that was our first port on the Pacific side of the canal.  Very nice.  I must say there was a larger police presence in Panama City than anywhere we've been so far.  Next time we'll be cruising the Pacific up the coast.  Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!!!

2019 -wow.  We are having temps in the 30's (1-2C) and 20-25 mph (32-38kph) breezes.  Not all that much fun to be outside!  So I'm going to talk about our trip through the Panama Canal.  It was more like 85F (30C) most of the time down there!

So we leave the Vegas airport at 01:00 in the morning on Thanksgiving day.  What a treat!  Well, it all started with a little drama.  This drunk guy was trying to convince the airline people that they should let him on a plane.  They kept refusing and he kept insisting.  He started shouting and swearing coming pretty close to hitting someone.  Finally the airline people called the cops and just in time because he did finally take a swing at one of the guys from the airline.  The cop was a little guy but he threw the drunk on the floor and eventually got some help to take him away.  Nice little drama to keep us awake!

Anyway we didn't land in Miami, the origin of the cruise, until mid-afternoon.  Yeah, really lousy!  Anyway, we finally made it to the ship.  The ship was the Viking Star; sistership of the one we took across the Atlantic earlier in the year.  It is virtually identical to the other ship.  We got on about 14:00 and were underway by 18:00.  Goodbye Miami!

We had a day at sea and then entered the harbor at Santiago de Cuba.  Santiago is a good sized city on the southern side of the island.  The revolution had some beginnings there but it was quite a change from Miami!  There was the usual convoy of buses to take folks sightseeing.  Highrises, not so much!

Cuba is quite poor and some things are just really amazing.  Of course we went to the main town square where the cathedral is found.  There were plenty of beggars around as well.  They were fairly aggressive about it.

After seeing a bit of the downtown we wandered off into the country to see another church.  Here I found a rather old fashioned means of getting around.  It was a donkey cart and it wasn't the only one I saw.

Finally the bus took us back into town where I saw what is used for public transportation:  old trucks.

Back on the ship and off to visit the next stop on our cruise; Cienfuegos, Cuba.  The Cienfuegos harbor is on this little river/bay that takes some getting into!  The pilot certainly earned his or her fee.  We had to anchor out and the lifeboats are used as water taxis.  They aren't very comfortable and got really warm in the afternoon.

 Here I am on the way back to the ship in the lifeboat.

We paid extra for a tour of the harbor and felt pretty unhappy when the tour consisted of going back out to the ocean then coming back in just as the ship had just done!  There were photo ops of course.  A local ferry.

A boat, maybe a fishing boat, that didn't make it back home or maybe was just left there.

The town had a cathedral of course.  And happily fewer beggars.

After Cienfuegos we went back to sea for a couple days.  Next up will be Cartagena, Colombia but that will be next time!  Until then let me wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2019!  Take care!

Christmas done!

Happy Holidays to all who are still celebrating but for us it's over.  Haven't taken down the lights and tree yet but it won't be long. 

We were invited to Vegas to have Christmas dinner with our daughter and a friend so headed over there.  We were to bring a potato dish and the carving knife.  We set off in light traffic and had a pretty good drive until something unexpected happened.  We were going along on a four lane undivided road that enters Vegas.  There we found a car that was having trouble staying in his lane; sometimes over the line into the other travel direction and sometimes into the 'slow' lane in our direction.  At least he wasn't speeding, in fact he was doing about 10 mph under the limit so I waited until he was well over in the far side of his lane and passed him on the right. 

That went pretty easy and since he was going so slowly he was soon behind us by quite a distance; maybe a half mile or so.  Well, then we come up on a stop light that is turning red for us.  It's a new light and some people aren't used to it being there.  It is triggered when someone approaches from the side roads; we were on the main road.  So there should have been someone going through the intersection but there wasn't.  I've no idea whether someone got tired of waiting and ran the light or if it malfunctioned.  At any rate, we slow and come to a stop at the red light in the right lane.  I checked the mirror and the people behind us were slowing and the guy we'd passed was still coming but was still a ways back.  Then we stop at the light and about 5 seconds later this guy comes flying past us blowing through the light at his usual 55 mph!  Thank goodness that no one was turning onto our road and that he managed to stay in his lane for that maneuver!  It would have been a big crunch had he hit anyone.

Well, no harm done but you can be sure we'll remember that maneuver for a while.  Actually I don't know what else I could have done.  Aside from not passing him in the first place.  Anyway, the remainder of the trip was pretty quiet. 

Our daughter had borrowed an 'air fryer' to do a Christmas turkey.  I must say I'm not impressed.  The turkey looked ok but was not cooked through.  It took some time in the oven to get it to completely cooked.  It is only her second attempt at cooking turkey but I'm blaming the method not the cook.  The rest of the meal was excellent as was the company so what more can one ask.  It was dark by the time we arrived home but that's hardly unusual.  And we arrived safely for which I am very grateful.

Merry Christmas then and Happy New Year!

You knew it couldn't last....

Us staying home that is.  No, back when we were on the Atlantic cruise in April (on the Viking Sea), we went to talk with the cruise salesperson that Viking wisely puts on every ship.  They told us that Viking was going to kill off a cruise we were hoping to go on someday.  The cruise in question, they use one whole ship for it, goes from Miami through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles - then it returns exactly the same way.  The main downfall is that it is 22 days.  But we are masochists so that didn't scare us.  The only downside was that the last two cruises were this fall.  It would leave Miami on November 22 (this year aka the US Thanksgiving Day) arriving in LA on December 13 then leaving LA on the evening of the 13th and sailing back to Miami by some time in January.  Hmmm... yep, we fell for it.

So we get home from Washington on October 4 and leave for Miami on November 21.  Well, we got our clothes washed but that was about it!  Sorry, I'm whining.  It was actually six weeks of semi-normal time and in an extremely good time of the year.  It's warm but not too warm and just generally nice.  The problem was that it really wasn't enough time to get all organized.  However, flying on the Thanksgiving holiday is always a stupid idea.  Flying anytime around the holiday is pretty lame but the weather gods were good to the US this year and there weren't tons of delayed flights, etc. 

So we hop on this ship, the Viking Star.  Viking built four ships from the same plan:  the Star, the Sea, the Sky and the Sun.  We were told that there are internal changes that make the later ships better than the first but from the passenger point of view they are identical.  It is so identical that we asked for, and received, the same table we'd had in the restaurant on the Sea!  The art work on the walls is different but that's about it!  What was different was where we were headed.

First we'd hit two ports in Cuba then one in Colombia.  After that we would do the canal then work our way up the Pacific coast:  Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico.  Then, just for a change of pace, we'd stop in San Diego before finally landing in Los Angeles.  I must admit it was quite a trip.  It was different from what we'd expected but still good.  We've been home less than a week and I still don't have all the photos downloaded!  That should tell you something about my state of mind.

I'll write more after I have some photos to share.  Thanks for stopping by!  AND Happy Holidays if I'm that slow!

Quiet times

Things are pretty quiet around here these days.  It is getting cooler and the crazy neighbors are getting their Xmas lights out but, you know, nothing exceptional.  I'm sure they think we are crazy for NOT having lights all over the place.  We'll get there but it will be a while yet; like after Thanksgiving at least and that is only a week away.

As expected our deceased Republican candidate for the state legislature won so now the local Republicans get to argue over who to send in his stead.  Our local paper had a column suggesting that it might be better that the guy died because he was pretty divisive and might have been a poor representative for the area.  Personally I think the whole area is pretty weird so having a weird representative might actually have been in character.  Oh well, no one is asking my opinion.

Speaking of our local population, there is a new reality cop show called Live-PD.  They have camera crews following police around on calls in various places in the US.  Of course, Nye County (where we live) is one of the places in the spotlight.  You can see some of the clips on YouTube if you would like a taste of what they are doing.  One of my favorites was where some guy got his phone numbers mixed up and was calling a sheriff's deputy asking to buy some marijuana.  That was pretty weird.  Then there was the time some deputies went to arrest a guy in a local hotel and ended up letting him escape from the hotel.  They eventually chased him all the way into Las Vegas before they got his car stopped.  See, even the cops around here are kinda different. 

Just to end on a high note.  Here's a photo I took the other morning.   It was cold and windy.  So windy that there is a wave frozen in the birdbath.  (No there is no rock or anything else in the ice.)

Oh, if you have a better idea about what might have happened to that water I'd love to hear it!  Until then, thanks for stopping by.

Going along normally

We are having a quiet time and enjoying the hell out of not doing much!  The other day we took the pickup into Las Vegas to buy some fake lumber (this stuff) to replace the warped real lumber we've had in our back yard for at least 5 or 6 years.  Jeez!  It is really amazing to think we moved into this house on January 3, 2009 and in a couple months that will be 10 years!  We've never lived anywhere for that long since we were children (wifie in San Diego and me in Iowa).  OMG.  We attended the 50th Anniversary party a few weeks ago; those folks have been in that house for like 40 years.  Different strokes, etc. 

This time of year is 'open window' time for us.  It gets cool in the night but the days are about 70F - 80F (21-27C) so we kind of leave the windows open all the time.  I want to rebuild the seating area in the back yard (thus the fake lumber) and this is the time of year to do stuff like that.  We also need to check out the wiring in the attic to find a suspected fault in the tv-internet wiring but that's another story.  Again, this stuff is really life in the fast lane.

In Nevada we have early voting and we did vote the other day and have the sticker to prove it.

It is really difficult since we basically think all the candidates are, at best, idiots!  Don't ask me what they are 'at worst'.  We re-registered as Republicans because then we at least get a vote on which idiot will be on the ballot.  There are quite a few positions where there isn't even a Democrat on the ballot.  Life in rural Nevada!  At least we don't get total racists like that guy in Iowa.  God knows how that dirt bag has managed to hang around for so long.  I don't recall the state being that stupid when I was a kid. 

Of course we are the town who has the local whorehouse owner running for our state legislature.  Happily he turned 72 a few days ago and had such a great party that he died that night!  Yep, it must have been one hell of a party but he was found dead in his bed (by Ron Jeremy, remember him?) then next morning.  Hmmm, maybe I should appreciate the quiet life more.  In Nevada you can't take the guy off the ballot even though he is dead so every prediction is that he will win the seat then the Republican locals will get to name the person who actually gets the job.  Isn't it just great?

I did see a car in the supermarket parking lot with a bumpersticker that I liked.

And we are damned proud of it!  Have a good one and thanks for stopping by.

Back home for a while anyway

We got back from England on September 5 and had a whole two weeks to relax before our next trip.  Yep, another one!  This one was more personal.  FIFTY years ago I had the honor and pleasure of being in someone's wedding party and on September 22 they were celebrating their anniversary.  Well, you've got to go celebrate something like that!  So on September 21 we hopped a plane for Chicago.

Our friends live in a small town in northern Ohio near Toledo so flying to Chicago was the best choice by far.  Then it is a 4 hour drive to Ohio. Well, it is if you are smart enough to go around downtown.  If you aren't, it's more like a 7 hour drive.  However, we made it.  The party on Saturday was fantastic and we got to spend a bit more time with our friends on Sunday.  Monday a.m. we were off for the Chicago airport again. 

Now you need to understand that my wife does about 75% of our trip planning.  I get a word in every now and then but basically she does all the work.  So when we knew we were headed for the Eastern Time Zone we decided to add on a bit to the trip.  First a quick few days in Montreal; since we've never been there. 

We mostly wandered around in the old part of town.  It was nice and we got to see some of the good stuff:  the cathedral, the waterfront and the underground.  In one part of the underground was a large mall that had a fountain shooting way up in the air.  There were a couple small boys who really enjoyed that!

It was a very relaxing time and we enjoyed seeing some of the city.  I did see something I've never seen before.

Beware of Falling Ice!  Someone must have had a really bad experience on this corner.

Well, now we've been more than a week in the East but that wasn't quite enough so we added another five days in Washington DC.  We visited Washington in 2003 in our trailer.  As I understand it there is one 'good' RV park in the Washington area and we didn't stay in it.  The park was fine but we ended up with an awful commute into the city every day.  This time we weren't making that mistake!  We had a hotel about 3 blocks from the National Mall.  In 2003 we had done the Memorials:  Washington; Lincoln; Vietnam Vets; Korean War Vets.  All the big things with the glaring omission of Arlington National Cemetary.  So this visit we did make sure to visit Arlington.  As with every military cemetary I've visited there is a sense of peace and sacrifice.

Having visited the cemetary we spent the remainder of our time in museums:  The Art Museum (West and East); the Air and Space; he Smithsonian; and even the Hirshhorn.

That was different.  The above piece is displayed in front of the Hirshhorn.  The name is "Still Life with Spirit and Xitle".  The materials used to make it are listed as:  Car, volcanic stonee, and acrylic paint.  The car, of course, is a Dodge Spirit. 

One unexpected thing in Washington was our first Uber ride!  Uber hasn't made it to rural Nevada but it worked very nicely in D.C.  After a few days of such wildness it was time to go home.  Believe me, home is looking really good these days.  Take care and thanks for stopping by!

So...

Back before we set out on our spring trip we were already thinking of maybe a fall trip.  We didn't want anything too challenging but we thought a couple weeks in England would be fun.  We've been there before but never really got to spend time in the Lake District or Wales.  We tore through that area back in 1990 but you've got to admit that was a while ago.  Plus, when we visited Ireland we had intended to visit Northern Ireland but just ran out of time.  So, we talked ourselves into a Northern Ireland, Lake District and Wales trip even before we'd gone on our cruise.  We thought mid-September sounded like a good time; weather might be questionable but at least it wouldn't be crowded. 

Then our friends invited us to a birthday party in Germany on August 11.  Hmmm.  Well, we could move the England trip forward so we bought the tickets.  Non-refundable tickets, of course.  Then when we were in Spain our friend had an accident which sent him to the hospital and cancelled the birthday party.  Happily we hadn't purchased the tickets to Germany but only the tickets to London.  So, the English portion of our trip was going to be a little less hurried.  We can make this work.

We left for London on August 8 arriving on the 9th.  We got there really early so had decided to hop the train to Liverpool and spend a couple days there getting over the jet lag.  That all worked out well.  We got to see a bit of the city and get our feet on the ground.  We had decided we wanted to go see Northern Ireland first so we set out on the Stenna Line ferry to Belfast.  Let me tell you, there doesn't seem to be a way to go from Liverpool to Belfast in less than a day!  Flying involves travel to airports that are distant and the ferrys all seem slow.  I don't know, maybe we missed some genius method that is only 2 hours.  We hopped the ferry!  This is a photo of a similiar ferry in the middle of one of the largest windfarms in the world - in the middle of the Irish Sea.

We enjoyed walking around in Belfast.  It seemed like a nice walkable city.  Of course we had to rent a car and go check out the Giant's Causeway. 

We got to the causeway mid-afternoon and couldn't even get into the parking lot!  It was slammed!  We wandered down the road and found a nice little hotel to spend the night.  About 7 pm we decided to go check out the Causeway.  It is a national monument so you can visit any time.  You just miss the tourist office and we were pretty ok with that!  Clammering around on the rocks was fun but, well, how much fun can a guy take?  So we went back to the hotel and had dessert. 

Heading back to England was another day on the ferry but quite nice.  We found our rental car and headed our for the Lake District.  Our car was a Vauxhall Adam and let me assure you it was small.  Like the back seat wasn't usable for anyone with legs.  Still, it worked for us.  Our suitcases filled the trunk and our backpacks rode in the back seat.  We had decided to use the Keswick area as the center of our Lake District visit.  We had considered trying to stay on Lake Windemere and were very glad we'd switched to Keswick when we got caught in this awful traffic jam by Windemere.  For the second time moving our vacation earlier had brought us the crowds we were hoping to avoid.  Oh well. 

Our hotel was on Lake Thirlmere, one of the smaller lakes. 

It was very remote actually but worked for us. 

Keswick, the town, was still pretty crowded but our hotel was quiet.  Parts of the building are quite old but it has been updated many times over the years.  We found a walk or two to take and spent a day just driving around in other parts of the Lake District. 

Next we moved down to Barrow in Furness.  It was just a place that was closer to Wales and on the sea.  Living in the desert makes the seaside sound pretty good.  From Barrow we drove all the way down to Cardiff.  In terms of US travel it isn't far but in the UK it's quite a drive! 

Cardiff was fun.  It ought to be called Castle Town though.  First there is Cardiff Castle.

Then there is Caerphilly Castle.

And, finally, a late comer: Castle Coch.

Being a foolish American I always envision castles as having grand staircases and wonderful areas.  Here are the staircases tourists get to use!  This one has iron handholds, some only have a rope!

But, of course, it is great fun to visit these wonderful buildings and learn about the history and the stories surrounding them.  It does make using the elevator a much more treasured experience.

Next we headed for Aberystwyth on the western coast.  Aberystwyth is a college town with a lovely beach walk.  We enjoyed walking on the beach and in the town.

You can see the lovely summer weather we were enjoying.  No fear of finding a woman in a bikini on this beach!

Next we wandered up to the Northwest corner of Wales around Caernarfon.  Actually we were in a small town a few miles away called Y-Felinheli.  Our hotel was right on the Menai Straits.  We'd had a really small, odd room in Aberystwyth and the guy at this hotel took pity on us and gave us a special room.  This room has been used for a party room, servants quarters and who knows what else.  Here's a bit of the decoration.

But it was really a great place.  We could see the tides and the boats and, yes, Caernarfon Castle.

I like that view of the castle because it gives you a hint about how formidable it would appear to others.  And I liked the little warning signs they posted.

But it was the view from our hotel that was really the star of the place.

We found a restored railway to take for a day trip where we even got to see Snowdon!

That's the visitor center on the top of Snowdon.  At least that is what one of our fellow travelers said!

From Menai Strait to Liverpool was just a little drive and we got to spend another day or two in Liverpool.  By now we felt we knew the city and just relaxed and enjoyed our time.  There was an artist who set up some "Lost Castles" and we got to see one.  This was all created by volunteers using cardboard!

After Liverpool it was back on the train to London, Heathrow and flying home.  Thanks for stopping by!