Today was a down day and we didn’t get very much accomplished. It was very cold and windy all day. I can’t believe we are in the South. It is so cold. We used a light to heat up the room.
We cut up all the cardboard, set up our printer, bought a vacuum, and more wood was loaded and carted away.
Then we had a small mother’s day picnic inside our worksite breakroom. Received red roses from my son’s family. First mother’s day with them in twenty years.
No one touched the peanut butter on the traps overnight. We are thinking field mice do not like the activity here and have left the house.
One other good to know thing is that the Port a John leaks in the rain. I am not a happy camper. Can’t wait to get back to the hotel tonight lol.. Happy Mother’s day everyone.
Break room is now pretty nice. The carpet is down, a table set up, and we bought shelving and placed it in the old kitchen pantry/closet.
Looking into the other rooms from our new office/breakroom is pretty gross. We will just use those areas for tool storage.
The trees are also down, so it is time for a little relaxation. Outside porch looks pretty bad. Bought some cheap plastic chairs to sit on. Have to clean up all the cardboard.
Took a little time out today to take some pictures with our Granddaughter. She is beautiful and heading to the prom tonight.
Look at our beautiful view. Doesn’t it remind you of the hill the Ingalls’ girls used to run over in “Little House on the Prairie”.
Today was a shopping day. We made it to light 29 and we are thinking that is the last light in Somerset. What a nice day shopping day we had, just like girls day out. HaHa. Would much rather have gone shoe shopping and lunch with the girls. But in the end we bought a John Deere 36G mini excavator. That’s exciting.
After shopping, we, I mean Steve took two of the three trees down that were in the way of the new construction. He then sprayed the house to get rid of huge SPIDERS, while I ordered our lumber for the shed construction. Lumber will be delivered Monday. Moving right along.
We always use the Ortho Home Defense around the sill of our houses. Really puts up a great barrier and bugs do not go in your house. The link to the Bostitch Framing Nailer is below also.
Woohoo, we now have all permits to start the house. The Porta Potty arrived and the break room is starting to not look so disgusting after a good coating of kilz2. We have to make sure no mold can come through. I am so spoiled lol. I have been spending a lot of time sitting in the car and truck with my computer. I am so glad that my Verizon hotspot works fantastic here. We cooked lunch on the grill today though.
If you are looking for the best grill cleaner around with no chance of pieces of brush breaking off and getting in your mouth or throat or worse. I own two of these now. One is in PA and one here. I highly highly recommend this grill brush scrapper. Here is the link:
Getting closer to breaking ground. The Environmentalist inspector approved the existing septic system to use for the new house. I talked to the Plumbing inspector and we are applying for the plumbing permit tomorrow. The job site port a john is also being delivered tomorrow. Look at the below pictures and you will see the existing kitchen was total gross. The cabinets, stove, and walls were filthy, moldy and buckling out of the house. We need a place to get in out of the elements and cook some lunch. Therefore, we started ripping out the existing kitchen to redesign and make it into a worksite break room. We also did a little shopping and bought a gas grill, small refrigerator, and microwave. Things are moving along.
The house is 17 minutes from Lowes in Somerset, Kentucky which is great for quick runs to get materials and tools. We will probably find a lumber yard to obtain the home construction lumber. On the way to Somerset the view of the mountains in the distance is gorgeous. Directions to anywhere in Somerset are given in traffic light numbers . Traffic lights are numbered in order starting with 1 at the north end of town. I have only been to intersection 25. Lowes and Walmart are at light 13 and our hotel is at light 18.
Here are links to the small refrigerator, gas grill, and microwave if interested:
Ticks, ticks, and more ticks. Can’t even walk through the yard. This property has been neglected. We should be good to go once we start maintaining the lawn. So today was bug killing day and setting up an outside table for lunch and breaks.
We used a spreader and put the below Spectracide down. We have used it in the past and it works. Here are links to those products.
We found the septic after a few hours of digging through hard dirt and huge roots. We then headed to the county environmental services office. We need a permit in order to use the existing septic for our new home. Fingers crossed they approve it. It has a newer type tank and looks like a good system to use. There are lots of horses in this neighborhood.
Our neighbor horseback riding by our house
Be sure and get a good pair of work gloves like the ones below when digging. These protect your hands from nasty blisters.
Year 1 Day 1 – “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 5/02/2021
Day 1 of our new adventure. Starting to build a new house. The old home will be demolished. We are setting the corners.
In order to set the corners, we used a transit. Here is a link to a great one if you are interested or just click on the picture. https://amzn.to/3LdpKq9
On the road again, heading back to the cold snowy Northeast NJ, PA area. Hate to travel back to the cold, but have to have a little skin cancer issue taken care of. Driving out of town on Interstate 4 you will notice that Orlando is expanding up in a big way.
The last 6 nights staying at Homewood Suites in Lake Buena Vista was a really great experience. The price was unbelievable at $71.00 a night with breakfast everyday.
This hotel is taking the pandemic serious, making everyone feel comfortable and safe.
Our room overlooked the pool and had a nice kitchen area. Easy to eat healthy. There was no restaurant dining for us this trip. Cooking or takeout in our room mostly.
Entertainment was going to SeaWorld in the mornings. All Tourist attraction parks are by reservation only. We debated about Disney World, SeaWorld, or Universal Studios. So call us cheap, but we ended up buying SeaWorld tickets. One annual pass and one fun card. The annual passes give you free parking. Cost was $330.55.
SeaWorld is okay if you like seeing animals. Any exhibit or any simulator rides where social distancing was not possible was closed. Before entering the park your temperature is taken by walking through a tent. An employee is standing viewing your temperature on a large monitor as you walk through. I wonder if it is healthy to have those temperatute scan machines taking your temperature.
If you like roller coasters there are lots of them running with short wait times.
The weekends through May 9th are the food festival. Lots of carts decorated and food and beverage tastings offered.
The only shows currently open are the sea lions and the whale show. In the stadium areas while watching a show you have to wear masks and sit on benches where marked with tape. The social distancing rules were well organized and thought out. Employees told you where to sit and then told you when you could stand up and leave.
DisneyWorld is currently not selling annual passes. Hopefully, that option will come back soon. Four days to Disney with paying for parking was like 1,080.00. Now you can see why we bought SeaWorld passes.
It was sunny, hot, and in the 80’s everyday. Sitting by the pool enjoying the afternoons was totally awesome. Just listening to the water flowing and watching the dragons. Pool water was super cold. Only a few brave children ventured in. Hot tub was super hot, but seemed to get a little more activity. Most people just lounged around and enjoyed the fantastic weather.
Arrived in Danville, Kentucky on Monday February 1st. Danville is a nice size town and is only a 45 minute drive to Lexington. During our stay it was mostly cold. Schools were closed Monday and Tuesday due to the snow. It is funny how different it is here compared to the New Jersey, Pennsylvania area. There is no snow to speak of and schools are closed.
We stayed at the Danville Hampton Inn for the last four nights. It is a very nice clean recently remodeled hotel. In the last fifteen years we have stayed at this hotel many times. The employees are so nice and friendly.
The first day was spent relaxing and visiting with family. We even had a little birthday party for our son. So many candles we set the smoke detectors off. It was good to laugh and de-stress.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we drove around looking at different pieces of property and houses. Since we have family in the area it made sense to see if Kentucky is where we want to settle. What an exhausting three days driving hundreds of miles to look at property that appeared flat and nice in pictures, but ended up to be very steep terrain.
In this area we found the flat nice pieces of property were not for sale, were in bad locations, or subdivisions with restrictions. We looked at some really nice land that was across the road from railroad tracks. Not what I want to listen to a few times a day.
We broadened our search and went to Columbia which is near our son’s blueberry farm. There it was very hilly and we felt we would be too isolated from people.
There are more beef cows here than people and a church every mile or so. Not sure how they fill the churches.
We looked in Danville, Waynesburg, Stanford, Science Hill, Columbia, and Hustonville. Four days was not enough time to really look. We ended up breaking the car’s front bumper pulling out of a property’s driveway. We were then done for awhile. Haste makes waste as they say. We decided it is time for some warmer weather
Today we are off to Florida. Driving down Interstate 75, our first stop was London to visit our son at work We never looked in London for property, but may come back in a month or so to do that. Nice size town and seemed a little flater.
We left London and drove past Corbin which is the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Another thirty miles down the road we are in Tennessee. The mountains are beautiful. Can’t beat the views. We have no set destination today. Just plan to be in Orlando tomorrow.
We are officially on our new adventure. Due to the pandemic, homes in the PA Poconos area are selling very quickly at a premium, with most buyers coming from the New York city area. We sold our home to a nice couple from the Bronx. We hope they love their new home as much as we did. (What were we thinking?) LOL
Many loving meals were cooked in that kitchen
We closed on January, 29, 2021. Since home prices are selling at a premium right now. We decided to hit the open road. Hotel stays for the near future, at least until we find a new place to live.
On the road again!!!
We are looking for property to build a new home. My husband says he has one last home he can build before he is too old. He does all the work himself, so it is a big project.
Most of our stuff we sold, gave away, or threw out. The remainder is in a 10×20 storage unit in PA. Actually most of that storage unit is filled with the tools that Steve will need to build our new home. He says he sold his other equipment until it hurt. We rented two twenty foot U-haul trucks on two different days. We picked the coldest windiest days to load those trucks. We started out with two 10×20 storage units. After we had everything in the storage units, we went back and condensed it into one saving $165.00 a month.
I am really anticipating that most of this stuff will never get moved, but we will sell, give away, or throw out a year from now. Except Steve’s tools, of course!
I will get all new stuff, of course! ( Steve has been editing)
The storage units are not climate controlled so items can freeze.
We stayed in Quakertown, PA at the Hampton Inn for three nights. It is a much different experience staying in a hotel during a pandemic. The hotel was very quiet and the rooms were not cleaned unless requested. A Cold breakfast only was provided and it was not very good. Although, there was a McDonald’s across the street, where we enjoyed Egg Mcmuffins sitting in our car in the mornings.
My daughter loves to make our room more cheerful at Hampton Inn
Today, January 31, 2021 we are headed to Barboursville, West Virginia and trying to beat out a bad storm. The news is saying to be prepared for 18 – 20 inches of snow in the NJ/PA area. So happy to be getting away from it. We have to drive through the storm to get to our hotel. We ran into bad snow in Maryland. Interstate 68 is so different depending on the jurisdiction. We hit bad no plowed no salted areas, then plowed no salted, and then plowed and salted. Why are they so different?
One accident
Once we got near Morgantown, West Virginia the temperature raised to 34 and the rain/ wet snow became heavy. Roads became clear at this point. Whew what a relief. Going through the mountains of Maryland in a snowstorm is very stressful.
Looking for a great extended family vacation? Try Avon, NC. It is a wonderful place to just hang with the family for a week. We always do an oceanfront house rental with a boardwalk walkway over the dunes to the beach. There are many other options for location (sound side, canal side, ocean side), but we like sitting on the deck and watching the waves, and the great sunrises.
October is a nice time to go. Kids are back in school, prices are more affordable, the beaches are quieter, the weather is cooler, the water is a nice comfortable temperature, traffic on and off the island is less congested, and the fishing is fantastic.
You can fish either from the Avon fishing pier, the beach or go on a party\charter fishing boat. Fishing from the beach requires a NC Coastal Recreational Fishing License. You can buy a 10 day license online before your leave for vacation. Doing it online means you can print at home and have in your tackle box. The cost is $11.00 plus a small transaction fee. Fishing from the pier or a party\charter boat does not require you to purchase a license. Your fishing will covered under the pier or boat owners license.
In Avon you have easy access to any supplies you need for the week. There is a Food Lion Grocery store where the prices are good for all your staples, plus they sell a large variety of beer and wine. Although, we always bring a lot of stuff with us. At the end of the page you will see items I recommend bringing. If you want any other alcoholic beverage besides beer and wine you have to drive about 15 minutes to the state liquor store in Buxton. There are also many gift shops, a Dollar Tree, an Ace Hardware store, a Dairy Queen,
a specialty donut shop where you can even get Maple Bacon donuts or any kind of weird donut flavors, and a few pizza restaurants in Avon. Don’t forget to get lots of Salt Water taffy for your friends back home.
One of the most popular seafood restaurants ‘Dirty Dick’s Crab House’ is located adjacent to the Food Lion. It is a very easy to walk all over Avon. Just be a little careful crossing route 12. Route 12 is the highway that goes from Nags head to Hatteras.
If you want to get away from just lazing on the beach. Try a surf board lesson. Our family had a great time with that.
Some of the other things you should do is to take a ride to Hatteras and use the NC Ferry system to cross over to Ocracoke. This is a great free way to spend the day. Also you should visit the lighthouses, see the museum in Hatteras, and go to the NC Aquarium in Rodanthe. All of these things are a little bit of a drive though.
We have stayed at the O’Sun a few times. The location is great and the house has a great design. Watch the three videos below to get a good idea of what to expect of this house. These videos were taken in October, 2020. Every year the home changes a little depending on how much updating is done.
O’SUN exterior tour o’sun interior floor 1 and 2O’sun interior floor 3 and 4
We never leave home without a travel alarm clock and a mini maglight. The ones we own we bought from Amazon and are listed below
For those beach days bring some chairs and fill your fishing box with tackle for your surf fishing. The chairs below are fantastic and they serve as a cooler also. Love them
I love coffee and have this coffee maker that we use on vacations only. Easy to set up and use. We always bring an electric griddle, makes cooking so much easier.
We just traveled from Pennsylvania to Avon, NC for a much needed week long beach vacation. We are so in need of a cruise that we decided that we would go for a little bit of a cruise experience to offset the covid-19 no cruising since March, 2020. That is seven months of no cruising.
So we cruised from New Jersey to Delaware on the Cape May–Lewes Ferry. It is a 17-mile trip across the Delaware Bay from North Cape May, New Jersey to Lewes, Delaware.
If you are looking for a great way to spend the day take a round trip ride on this ferry. Leave your car and it costs $18.00 for the round trip fare and you can bring your bike for free. I hear there is great biking on the Delaware side. For us though, it was a one way trip with our car. We used the ferry as part of our route in traveling from Pennsylvania to Avon, NC.
You are required to wear a mask because of covid-19,unless inside your vehicle, or when eating or drinking.
Additionally, due to Covid-19 the seating is limited. See three pictures below: The outdoor seats has orange tape on the ones you can’t sit on, there is no sitting at the outside bar, and inside seating is limited to every other row.
We reserved the trip and paid on line in advance. The cost is $55.00 for a car including the driver and one passenger.
There are refreshments available and also a small gift shop.
Nice clean bathrooms are also available for your use.
We love this ferry ride, but today is a little rough. I have been on many cruises and really never get motion sickness, but a few times have gotten sick doing this trip. Staying outside on deck helps. Watch this video for todays ups and downs.
Actually, the best part of the trip is sitting outside and relaxing, looking for Dolphins, different types of birds, and any other water sights you can see. On the crossing you will see three lighthouses. They are so cool – love lighthouses.
There are many boxes of adult and child sized life jackets and even a separate one box marked infants.
One hour and fifteen minutes later and we are off the ferry in Lewes, Delaware at Cape Henlopen. From start to finish you cruise over twelve miles per hour. We are now going to travel down the Delmarva Peninsula.
We carry the below monocular telescope anywhere we go. It is the perfect thing to use to see far off sights. Much better than a pair of binoculars.
We got off the Cape May Lewes ferry at 11 am and continued traveling down the Delmarva Peninsula. It is about 140 miles from the ferry to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
This drive is through Delaware, Maryland, and then Virginia. The countryside is beautiful and filled with lots of really nice farmland.
You will pass two very smelly chicken processing plants (Tyson and Perdue) on your way down the peninsula.
Somebody is probably eating these guys right now.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a four-lane 20-mile-long bridge tunnel which will take you from the Eastern shore of Virginia to Virginia Beach near Norfolk which is Southeastern Virginia. The cost with EZ Pass is $14.00 for one way. The speed limit is 55 and it takes about 30 minutes to cross.
The US Navy relies upon the deep channel for its warships to get to the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, the bridge tunnel was designed so that the US Navy could get their ships in and out of the Norfolk Naval base. If a bridge alone had been used, there would always be a chance that the bridge could be compromised and the naval war ships would be blocked from entering or leaving that naval base.
When you first go through the toll you will be on Fireman’s Island. Here you will find a place to stop, park, and get a great view of the bay, bridge and tunnel scenery.
If you are in luck you will see some very large ships. Today there is a huge car carrier traveling through.
Then you go through the Chesapeake Tunnel,
another bridge, the Thimble Shoal Channel Tunnel, and then the last bridge. The Thimble Shoal Channel Tunnel crosses the old channel of the James River. Each tunnel portion is anchored by a series of four man-made islands which each are the size of a football field.
When driving on the bridges check out the light poles. Sometimes you will see a seagull sitting on the top of everyone. There are also quite a few dead on the road.
I read that about 4 million vehicles use the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel each year. Traffic is fairly light today though (Friday, October 2, 2020).
There is a full-service restaurant, the Chesapeake Grill, with restrooms and a gift shop on the bridge after the second tunnel. Along with a scenic overlook and 625 foot fishing pier. We have stopped many times to fish on this pier, but today the pier, restaurant, and gift shop are closed due to a new parallel tunnel being bored. These facilities and the new tunnel are planned to be opened in 2023. Currently the bridges are one way traffic, but the bridges merge into a tunnel with 2 way traffic. This new tunnel at Thimble Shoal will eliminate the 2 way traffic and there will be a separate tunnel for north bound and south bound traffic. No more merging to 2 way traffic. That will be so nice. The two way traffic in the tunnel is scary.
But normally it would a good stop to use the monocular telescope or do some fishing. You will have a great time. Bring a cooler for those drinks. See below if you need these supplies.
And in no time at all we are coming to the end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel into Norfolk. This is a must do trip for everyone in their lifetime. There are only nine bridge-tunnel systems that cross a body of water on the earth. How cool that we are able to drive to this one so easily.
Next up is a night at the Hilton Garden Inn Chesapeake/Greenbrier in Chesapeake, VA. before we head to Avon, NC. OBX – yea.
You will also need needle nose pliers to get those hooks out. Look at these from Amazon.
This a great idea to make for a gift or to do at a craft party. Look at how nice these look. The plates could be presented with cookies and the cutting board could be presented with some nice cheeses. The possibilities are endless here. They are so easy to make that just about any age can and will love making them. For little ones you will need to remove the feet and super glue the feet back on. Watch the video below for full instructions.
They can be created in about two hours with one coat of Dishwasher safe Mod Podge mostly dry. Most of the two hours time is in the drying process. If you are planning this for a party craft, you will need to let the first coat of Mod Podge mostly dry. Then send everyone home with their craft and some extra Dishwasher safe Mod Podge so they can add another two to three coats.
Here is a picture of the ones I have been working on.
Supplies needed are listed below and also there are links to Amazon at the bottom of the page if you wish to purchase some right now:
Fat quarters fabric
Scissors
Clear glass cutting boards and/or plates
Dishwasher safe Mod Podge
1 inch paint brush
Small knife of some sort
Rubbing Alcohol
Cotton pads
Super glue
Parchment paper
Watch these videos for a closer look at making them. Any questions let me know. Now let’s get started!!
All supplies are available on Amazon if you need:
There are so many different fabrics you can purchase for making these. Way tooo many choices. I want to buy them all.
I didn’t list these items for Amazon: 1) Clear glass cutting boards and/or plates. You can buy the ones I used at the Dollar Tree. They are perfect for this project. 2) Small knife of some sort. Use like a steak knife. At least that is what I used.
I highly recommend the Cotton Rounds below. They are fantastic. We use them for everything and you will also. A favorite item in this household.
I use parchment paper a lot for doing crafts on and have been using my kitchen roll. So am buying these for future use.
Do you need a gift for the up coming holidays or a fun holiday craft party idea? Why not make some great decoupaged soap bars. They are made from everyday party napkins and doesn’t everyone use soap. Materials needed are mostly everyday items and you may even have most of them already in your home. All ages can and will love making them. The absolute best part is you will have a beautiful decoration that is usable. That makes this craft a win win for everyone to make. Watch the video below for full instructions.
They can be created in about an hour with one coat of Mod Podge fully dry. If you are planning this for a party craft. You will need to let the first coat of Mod Podge dry and send everyone home with their soap and extra Mod Podge so they can add another 4 coats. These bars should cure for one month before using. To make the design last longer wash mostly with the no decoupaged part of the soap bar. The less you rub the decoupage the longer the design will last. The decoupage part will eventually come off though, but you will have a nice bar of soap.
Here are some pictures of the ones I have been working on. The fronts are decoupaged with a larger design then the backs. This is a project where you can let your imagination run wild.
Supplies needed are listed below and also there are links to Amazon at the bottom of the page if you wish to purchase some right now:
Decorative napkins
Scissors
Plastic wrap
Mod Podge
1 inch paint brush
Bars of soap
Paint Scrapper
Flat edge item to separate napkin layers
Watch this video for a closer look at making them. Any questions let me know. Now let’s get started!!
All supplies are available on Amazon if you need:
Love love love all these napkins. The Butterflies, flowers, and Succulents would look gorgeous on your soaps.
I didn’t list the paint scrapper below. You can buy the one I used at the Dollar Tree. It worked perfect for this project and it came with extra blades.
We are in July, 2020 and cruises have basically stopped since March due to covid-19. These paper bag decorations are the best. Inexpensive, easy, and look great. They are amazing. Use your imagination and go for it. The images below are the two I made, but the possibilities are endless. Use them for seasonal decorations, party decorations, a children’s party activity, an adult party activity, or for an everyday wall hanging.
Watch the video below and create one yourself. Follow links below to purchase craft items that can be used in this project.
Please share a picture of your project and let us all know about your experience creating a paper bag decoration. The possibilities are endless. I have added some links to items I have purchased or interested in purchasing below.
Supplies available on Amazon:
I purchased the below flowers and leaves. Absolutely love them and they can be used on many different projects.
The bags below are the ones I have been looking at. These are just suggestions. Use your imagination.
We have been home now for three weeks and I am so ready for another adventure. Our new normal life is staying home and working around the house due to the Coronavirus. President Trump has advised everyone to continue to stay at home until April 30, 2020 and a Stay-at-home order is in place for the entire state of PA.
We currently have five cruises booked, but we will see. The next one is May 15, 2020 and I really doubt that one is going to happen.
While I am enjoying this nice home time and dreaming about the next adventure, I thought I would share the dining room menus from the eleven night cruise we just came home from. Everyone always wants to know about the food choices.
I love the man dining room. The food is always great and the wait staff excellent.
Day 1 – Fort Lauderdale welcome aboard. Dress code is casual. Love Royal’s Spaghetti Bolognese – YUMMMMM
Day 2 – At Sea. Dress code is formal. The duck used to be fantastic but it was just okay tonight. The last few cruises it has not been as good as it used to be. The red cabbage was good, and the hush puppies were not my favorite.
You will on most ships see the cheese plate as a dessert. You can order for an appetizer and share. It is wonderful. Assorted cheeses, grapes, yummy dark bread with fruit and a fig spread. Be careful though, once you order one time the waiter will bring every night. So be prepared.
Day 3 – At Sea. Dress code is casual. So missed having the Butternut Squash Risotto tonight, since we went to Chops Grille for dinner. The pretzel rolls at Chops are excellent as is the Goat cheese salad.
Day 4 – Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. Dress code is tropical. Excellent Four Cheese Ravioli.
Day 5 – Colon, Panama. Dress code is casual. Baked French Onion Soup is always piping hot. Be very careful or you will burn your mouth.
Day 6 – Cartagenia, Columbia. Dress code is white attire. Shrimp cocktail is always good, but they are a little bit small. Chops Grill has huge ones in their appetizer.
Day 7 – Oranjestad, Aruba. Dress code is casual. Windjammer buffet for us tonight, but here is the main dining room menu. Cheesecake is always excellent.
Day 8 – Ornajestad, Aruba. Dress code is tropical. The breads and rolls are so goooood!
Day 9 – Willemstad, CuracaoDay. Dress code is casual. Arancini is the best appetizer.
Day 10 – At sea. Dress code is formal. Another favorite tonight the Cheese Tortelloni. Fantastic flavor.
Day 11 – At sea. Dress code is casual – Ate at buffet, but look my favorite Spaghetti Bolognese is on the menu.
The complimentary food on board all of Royal Caribbean ships is very good. Looking forward to the next dinner on board.
This morning we are docking at Fort Lauderdale. These instructions were left on our bed two nights ago. We left our luggage outside our door last night.
Our tag number is three. We should be getting off the ship around 8:10am
Breakfast at the windjammer and saying more good byes. The last morning is sad!!!!
Our trip was fantastic and we traveled a lot of miles.
The port is very crazy. We quickly get on the free shuttle which will take us to the parking garage.
The reality of the growing Coronavirus spread, dropping stocks, and many closures is what everyone is talking about. Royal Caribbean has just changed their policy and as of march 16, 2020. No one over 70 is allowed on their ships without a doctors note.
Every employee is now wearing gloves on and off the ship.
Traffic on I95 seems normal. I anticipated that we would have a lot less traffic due to the closure of all Disney parks and Disney cruises being cancelled.
Homeward bound and we find out that Royal Caribbean has now cancelled all cruises starting at midnight tonight for 30 days. The trips already in progress will continue.
So happy to be heading home, but can’t wait for our next trip May 15th.
Waiting to get a gel manicure and a regular pedicure
Love the spa onboard the ships. I have never had any of the massage services. Everyone raves about them though.
Relaxing view of the jogging trail
Love the manicure products – Royal Caribbean Cruise lines uses CND products.
The service and finished job is always fantastic.
Book before boarding and you will get a lot better price. The added bonus is, it will already be paid for.
Trying to relax today, but the constant texts from friends and family about the coronavirus does not allow me to. This is a major event now and everyone wants to know if they will be quarantining us when we get home
We have not been anywhere that has had the coronavirus.
Ended the night watching President Trump’s speech on the coronavirus. Ugg. Border to Europe closed starting tomorrow at midnight.
Time to get this hat home. Three part time Port Everglades have tested positive for coronavirus and the Florida department of health are requesting people coming through the port to self quarantine for 14 days.
Sending lots of love to Savey ” A great stateroom attendant”. She was so concerned for everyone with this virus.
There is a great walkway to the right when you come off the pier.
So well maintained with a great view of the ships that are docked. This pathway takes you to a nice shopping mall with free internet. Stores there are mainly the same stores you would find in any United States outlet mall.
You will see many iguanas on the path or to the side.
We are the only ship here today.
Look at the beautiful clear water.
Walk through the shopping area and stay by the water and you will come to the local vendors. After that cross the street away from the water and you will start getting into the town where the locals shop. Look at these telephone booths. Don’t see those very often anymore.
You will not find many tourists on the streets or in the stores in this area. If you are interested in buying something that is not a souvenir/t-shirt with Curacao on it this is the place. Found a lovely blouse in a local shop and had to buy it.
Headed back to the ship for lunch at the Windjammer. Starting to feel like I have been eating way too much. Going to be home in 4 days.
Here’s a video of The Serenade of the Seas Windjammer buffet on a port day! – Enjoy!!
Last land we will see for 2 1/2 days. Everyone is now talking about the Coronavirus and people are generally worried.
Well a new day in Aruba and the CDC and United States State department are now advising people to not go on cruise ships due to the coronavirus. Oh boy and this is our home for four more days.
Took a packed elevator to get off the ship to go on our tour. Don’t people understand there is a deadly virus going on now.
Well this makes me feel a little better. Getting fairly paranoid and just want to get home. Four more days to go, but the tour bus is empty. There is only our tour being done with twelve people today. Normally there are 44 people on a tour and two tours a day.
What a nice clean island. Very little trash on the roadsides. A big difference from where we have been lately.
This is a desert volcanic based island that is 16 miles from Venezuela, part of the ABC islands (formally known as the Netherland Antilles), and has a population of 112,000 in its 19.6 miles by 6 miles area.
We started our tour in the South end of the Island
Moved onto the north and the Natural Bridge
North end is very desolate
and swimming is not recommended at this end of the Island
Headed to the light house for a brief stop. We didn’t go in and climb it today. Have been here before.
Land of the iguanas
Guide told us that houses on the island start around 110,000, but in the west end near the hotels this house is about one million. Almost all land is owned by the government and leased to the homeowner. A very small percentage of the property that was owned along time ago is still actually owned by the homeowner.
Beaches are all public. The white sand is created from parrot fish droppings.
Aruba’s economy is based on tourism. Coronavirus is really taking it’s toll already. Everywhere we went today was pretty quiet and empty from the beaches, to the lighthouse and the natural bridge stop. There are 33 hotels and 15 casinos in Aruba and it can dock 6 large ships.
Took a fifteen minute boat ride from Palm Beach to the sea observatory boat
We were fortunate that we could jump from side to side and look out at the fish due to no one being on board. The water was not clear. It was very murky. Cozumel water was much clearer. Our guide was really good, but was very nervous and concerned about the virus. There it is again in my face – Coronavirus.
Went back to ship and watched people refilling their water bottle here — How disgusting
Even with this sign right there. I completely lost it and yelled at a lady. “We do not need to be sharing germs”
We got off the ship again and did some souvenir shopping near the pier and took the free trolley through town. All were talking about being nervous about the Coronavirus.
Parking garage is directly across from the terminal
Very easy pull in and park.
You pay in advance.
Then carry or roll your carry on items over to the elevator.
We use this compact rolling cart to carry our items on the ship which includes a 12 pack of water. Before we bought this we were each carrying a bag or backpack. Here’s a link to it on Amazon. I would highly recommend for traveling.
Nice elevator brings you to the street.
Cross the street and walk by this pond.
If lucky you will see a turtle or two.
And walk right into the terminal. A nice relaxing stroll.
So today I am officially starting to get freaked out about the Coronavirus. They have brought the heavy cleaning out. At breakfast a man was coughing a lot at the next table. I had to get up and move. Oh and here’s the thing we were outside.
Then walking around deck 5
there was lots of extra cleaning going on
Makes me a little anxious, but safe I think.
We are pulling into Aruba at 4:30pm
In the distance you can see a natural gas drilling rig.
There are also many ships in the distance. We think they are tankers waiting to load up fuel off the coast of Venezuela
A lovely little sand bar sits along side of us. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit under that tree and walk on the sand bar. Okay I found a nice day dream to relax.
Very quiet on the ship tonight. Most people got off the ship at 5pm. We stayed on the ship and went to the diamond lounge.
Then went to the windjammer buffet for dinner.
Windjammer is also empty.
MV Freewinds sits next to us. We have seen this ship here in Aruba before. It is owned and operated by the Church of Scientology.
Just hanging around the ship tonight. Tomorrow morning is our excursion
Cartagena, Colombia “The white city” . Didn’t expect such large buildings.
Docked by the Shipping Containers
Today’s tour
Martin is our driver today
Heavy city traffic with lots of motorcycles.
Stopped at the Castillo San Felipe Fortress for a short time just for pictures or a quick walk around.
Got off the bus and we were attacked. The vendors were so aggressive and in your face that you couldn’t get very far from the bus. Never even got close to the pathway up to the fortress.
New buses have been deployed all over the city in the last 2 years.
Headed to the old city for our carriage ride.
Lovely balconies
The unemployment rate is 10 percent and everyone is trying to make some money.
“Colombia fashion” have to love it
Never been to a place where the vendors are like this. They are running along side of the carriage trying to sell us stuff. I do love my new hat though.
Look at this little boy with the carriage driver behind us. He is loving his ice cream cone. So sweet!
There is always a Hard Rock Café.
This is the main church in town. There is a service everyday. The population is 70% catholic
We headed to the new part of the city. This is the most expensive part of Cartagena to live across from the water.
This is a very cool Catholic church in the wealthy area of Cartagena. Love the design.
Lovely water front area
Went back to our room and sat on the balcony and was entertained by people chasing their hats as they boarded the Pullmantur Monarch. Those Colombia hats do not stay on in the wind.
Today is the farthest from home we have ever been and the closest to the equator. Our first look from our cabin at 6:25am on this cloudy morning shows a huge shipping area.
This is our view from the rear of the ship at breakfast.
Small boats with people fishing in the water.
Ship is being refueled at this port.
Excursion today is to the locks. Always wanted to cruise through the Panama canal locks. This should be a great day.
As we leave on the bus the first thing noticed is there are multiple casinos right at the dock.
We are heading to Portobelo, Panama and then on to the Expanded Panama Canal. The tour guide is excellent and is providing very interesting information about Colon and Panama. Below you will find some of the information she provided.
Panama
Was part of Columbia at one time.
Main language is Spanish and only 25% speak English.
English as of 2003 is now mandatory to be taken in all schools
There are seven Indigenous tribes that all speak a different language.
Lots of people from Columbia and Venezuela are currently moving into Panama.
There are no roads between Panama and Columbia due to the rain forest being there. They are protecting the rain forest.
Gasoline comes from the United States and the current price is $3.20 a gallon, but it is sold in liters.
Has two seasons – rainy season from 4/15-12/15 and the dry season the rest of the year.
Cruise season is September through May.
70% of people are Catholic, other 30% are a mixture of many different religions.
School runs from 3/2 – first week of December.
It is mandatory to finish High School.
Balboa is the coin used and has gold in the middle.
Instead of printing their own paper money, they use US paper money.
Divorce rate high in newly married (3-5 years range)
16 is the minimum age for driving
Minors not allowed to walk down the street after 9pm.
Baseball is the favorite sport.
Colon, Panama
Lots of people live in Colon rent and utility free.
Government is cleaning up the city now and it will be cleaned up within 7 years.
300,000 people live in Colon and most originated from Jamaica and Trinidad
Most in the Colon province countryside work in colon city or agriculture. Bus to the city costs about 1.50
Passed the Colon Duty Free Zone. This is the second largest Free Zone in the world
Old United States school buses are used for public transportation and we saw a lot of them on this trip.
This is the land of the Taxi Cabs. Interesting was that you saw a lot of them throughout the countryside not only in the city. Passed hundreds of these throughout the day. Taxis have license plates on the front and back, whereas personal vehicles only have them on the back.
Also the land of the bus stops. Never seen so many bus stops all through the countryside roads. And they mostly were occupied with people waiting for a bus.
Saw a lot of this type of scenery. Do animals get in their garbage, like our bears?
We stopped at this crossroad in Maria Chiquita and the tour guide got off bus and paid a toll. Notice that there is a man with a bicycle in the picture. On the 6 hour tour that is the only bicycle rider I saw and no motorcycles or scooters. Very strange, in other counties we see a lot.
First stop a bathroom break at this little closed restaurant.
The patio overlooked the water. Gorgeous view.
We got off the bus at the Fuerte Santiago ruins and walked about a mile into Portobello where we got back on bus. No words can describe the feelings from the awe of the views, the compassion for the people, and the sense of peace and simplicity in the area. So many emotions – just look at the pictures below. One thing observed is that every house had a tv dish on the roof and everyone was talking and texting on cell phones.
These kids have found a way to make some money. They came running up and asked our tour guide if they could dance for us. Look at the video below.
On to the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is the key to Panama’s economy. This canal is run by the government and takes in a few billion dollars a year and has about 12,000 workers.
We are very fortunate and a Princess cruise ship is in the locks. This ship paid about $650,000 to pass through all locks and go from Pacific Coast to East Coast in the new expanded canal. The original canal takes ships with a 965 feet maximum. Prior to this new expanded canal this ship would not have been able to go through the locks. See pictures below as the ship passes through first lock into the second. The first lock refilled and gates were opening for a freight ship to enter from fresh water Gatun lake.
Now back to the ship. What a great day. This is the best Excursion and highly recommend Colon, Panama.
We are approaching Costa Rica in Central America and it is partly cloudy.
This is our first visit to Costa Rica and the early morning coast view is not very impressive.
The ship bounces around the closer we get to shore and slowly turns and backs into dock.
Medium well egg for breakfast. Does this look medium well to you? Ugg ordering well done from now on.
We are parking next to the Holland American Zuiderdam at 8am
Weather is a little breezy and cool.
Busses are swarming in to transport people around
We are churning up a lot of muddy water as we slowly back into the dock.
You can’t get away from McDonalds. Can see the golden arches from the ship. First McDonalds out of the US was in Costa Rica.
Nice view of waves rolling in.
Plumes of smoke in different areas. What is burning?
Everyone scrambles off the ship and the pools are empty. Look at this beautiful clean solarium pool.
Walking around deck 13 and windows are very dirty. Think they will clean them today?
Sun broke through at 9am and it is rapidly getting very hot. See below for pictures of the deck 13 miniature golf, view of water slide, and the rock climbing wall which is so much smaller than Allure.
Off the ship around 10am and it is so hot. Unbelievable, how hot it got so quickly. Actually, thought about wearing a sweat shirt this morning. The sweat is now running down my face and neck and I do not sweat easy. The band is great as you depart the ship. See below for a video and you will hear their sound.
Walked through shops in pier. Very nice handmade items, but no air conditioning and a metal roof.
Walked into the city a little. It was so hot that I had to go back to the ship.
Walked back to the ship, cooled off, had lunch, and recorded the below video.
After lunch headed out to the Tortuguero Canals tour.
Tour guide had a wealth of information.
Puerto Limon means lemon city. Most people are descendants of Jamaica. There is a lot of poor in this city. Halloween and St Patrick’s day are not celebrated. Mothers day is 8/15.
Costa Rica grows 350 different types of fruit. Tomatoes served with almost every meal.
Very clean production of electric. 100 % is solar or hydro.
The length of days in Costa Rica varies by only half an hour between seasons. Sunrise is like 5:45am and sunset is 5:45pm everyday due to being on the equator.
There are 40 different bananas some round like an orange.
Look at the Noni cross fruit in the picture. It is a cross between a potato and grapefruit. It smells like a skunk and they make a juice for health reasons.
Costa Rica has green foliage year round and lots of mountains like 14,000 feet.
People swim and fish in these canals with very large crocodiles. Costa Rica is home to one of the world’s biggest populations of American crocodiles. This brackish water is very good for fishing.
Costa Rica is home to one of the world’s biggest population of American crocodiles. A crocodile will have 60 to 90 babies and only 2% survive. There are many natural predators.
Only birds eat these bananas with seeds.
Tour was good, but not very exciting. It was a long hot educational day though.
It is a lovely, lazy day at sea and the temperature is perfect.
Breakfast today as like every morning is at 7am outside the windjammer. The wind is very high and you have to sit back from a railing a few tables. This class of ship has the best outside buffet seating. Even if you hate buffets this is the best place to be for morning breakfast. You can just breath the fresh air, watch the water and sky, and listen to the water.
Then a nice walk around deck 5. Love the quietness of the early mornings. Did 14,000 steps yesterday and want to keep up the momentum everyday. At 8am it was so windy that you can hardly walk on the starboard side and sea spray is soaking us. The gates are up and you can’t walk around the front of the ship due to the high winds. We did a few laps and were really getting pretty wet. Our sunglasses were salt filled, our lips tasted like a salt shaker, and hair a total rats nest from the blowing wind.
We attended the Top Tier Event. If you are a Crown and Anchor member you will be invited to a top tier event on every cruise. Here they will sometimes talk about new ships or new things happening in the cruise industry or with their cruise line. It is a little different on each trip and ship.
At this event the captain speaks and they honor people who have the most crown and anchor club points. Captain Stig Nilsen of Norway, who commanded his first ship at age twenty-four is speaking here at today’s event
Here’s a short video of Capt Stig Nilsen speaking at this event – Enjoy!!
Some drinks are offered
with a little entertainment.
There have been 6 foot waves all day. So the ship has been moving.
Went to Chops Grille for dinner. There you will find excellent service and meals. The ocean view is gorgeous also.
Pretzel rolls are to die for. Love them.
Crispy Goat Cheese Salad
Green apples, candied walnuts, cranberries, balsamic dressing. This salad is great.
Today we went to the Windjammer for breakfast and ate outside. The fried egg station is fantastic. Eggs are not soaked in grease like the Brilliance.
We are really moving to get to Costa Rica in 2 days. The seas are a little rough and it is very windy.
Room attendant is so nice, although she has a problem with the rough seas. She wears and loves the sea bands. See link below to purchase from Amazon. Don’t go on a cruise without having them in your bag.
Spent the day getting to know the ship. We got off the Brilliance of the Seas which is the same radiance class cruise ship a few days ago. There are some differences that you will notice between the two ships.
The first thing you will notice is the stateroom bathrooms are much nicer than the Brilliance. They are brighter and fresher looking. The really big difference is they have shower doors and not a shower curtain like the Brilliance.
The casino is not as smoky as the Brilliance.
The starboard aft part of the 6th deck on the Serenade has the same basic design as the Brilliance, except the Serenade has the Safari Club and the Brilliance has the colony club
Diamond evening hours are held in the Safari Club. What a lovely setting. Nice bar, seating with tables, and great views out the back. The food set out is the most extensive I have seen on any ship. Both nights so far have been very impressive.
Here’s a video of Senade of the Seas forward starboard balcony stateroom 8512 – Enjoy!!
