Seattle & Home at Last!

Sorry about the delay - wanted to say we were all unpacked, and it took this long to do it! LOL!  Still have some laundry to do and we seem to be missing a few things...
However, previously in Seattle:  

At the train station we loaded up bags in a cab and rode 30 minutes south to our friend's house near the airport.  We got settled in and made friends with the cat, Jesse.  We had plans to meet up with another friend, Cat, for southwest food for dinner.  In the meantime, we relaxed and enjoyed this amazing view from Pam & Charlie's balcony.  The weather was gorgeous and the books were good reads...

Lake Washington viewed from Pam's balcony

The next day we all drove up to Cat's house to meet her dogs, Madison, Zoe and Tucker.  They were delightful and rambunctious and happy to meet new humans. 

B is petting Tucker Madison and I are snuggling and Zoe wants in on the action

 I think an old English bulldog fits B - don't you?

Zoe finally gets her licks in

Starbucks is always a necessity around Cat's house, so we leashed the dogs and went for a walk.  There were fairly well behaved, not pulling, but happy to go out on a lark...  

It didn't take long to reach our destination enjoying hot lattes and puppicinos for the dogs...  

We walked the 15 minutes back to the house and B and the girls decided to pose for a pic - sort of... The girls were keeping an eye on mom.  This view, btw, is just outside Cat's front door - she lives on a cul-de-sac and this is the neighbor's property.  Nice of them to make it pretty huh? 


Since the pups were set, we headed out for lunch.  This is The Attic at Snoqualmie Falls.  Meal was great, company was better!

Cat, Pam and B enjoying the marvelous weather

We must have had a pro taking this photo - it almost looks fake, but trust me, everything is as pictured...

Snoqualmie Falls - tons of water

Great pic of great gals - Cat, G, and Pam.  I am so lucky to have these ladies as friends.  Looking forward to meeting up soon in Vegas...

In order to convince Charlie, Pam's husband, to wear his elephant pants to the movies, we had to show him our camaraderie.  Blue is Pam, red is Cat, I am black with blue shoe and B is black with green tee.  They are the most comfortable pants in the world.

diiner at BJ's - we have added to our gang.  Just over B's head is Russ, our best man at our wedding and friend for 40 years; Charlie is to the right of Russ and our host; and to B's left is Kevin, Cat's friend..

Cat & I lounging in our recliner seats at the theater.  We are awaiting, The Avengers Infinity War - which was amazing!

"all our bags are packed, we're ready to go..."

I really enjoyed Seattle - if I weren't so eager to go home I could've stayed longer.  Thanks Charlie & Pam for your great hospitality - we really enjoyed spending time with you.  So one last Starbuck's coffee and off to the airport.  The photo is intentionally cut off to show Cat the coffees she was missing out on, as well as morning smiles...

Pam drove us to the airport - our flights were delayed then rerouted through Dallas - yuck!  We finally touched down in San Antonio at midnight, home by 1am and in our own bed at 2am!  An exhausting day but thankful we made it home safely and mostly well...  Iota and Zany were ecstatic to see us and bounded all over us and the house.  Pam, our house sitter was just as glad, as after 4 months she was ready to go home.  Her favorite color is purple so I had to find all her prezzies and chat with her some, because she and B were back to the airport the next morning for her flight...  Thanks ever so much Pam - our trip would not have been possible without you...hugs  

And to you, my readers - thanks for letting me know you were out there.  Just knowing some one was waiting for an update forced me to post this blog as often as possible.  I hope you have felt as if you were traveling along as I shared our experiences.  It was virtually a blast!  Nothing planned for the future so far - I want to experience home for awhile.  But I am sure we will get itchy traveling feet again in a year or two, so keep an eye out for BnG's Grand Adventures - enjoy the journey...

5 Sea Days and Vancouver

 We had a smooth crossing and some nice weather for 2.5 days.  After that the sun only managed to peek out a few minutes between the fog.  It was pea soup for several hours but not really cold until the last day then it got down in the 60's and was quite chilly walking laps.
 You would think with 5 sea days that HAL would have additional activities, but not really...  They had a few more lectures - but weird topics and B & I are not much for lectures anyways.  We played a little pickle ball, scattergories, trivia for me and slots for B.  Gambling was a major activity - between lcr, poker and blackjack, I actually brought home money this trip and B had a few winning jackpots, so the casino was fun...  Met some interesting folks at the poker table - if you think we travel, you should talk to Jack and Leslie! They don't even own a home - they ONLY travel!  Not sure I could do that...
 Additionally, someone infected B and he infected me, so we are both fighting the cough/cold thing Again!  I went to the Dr. since we've been home, got a shot and another z-pac.      We are both recuperating, but don't want pneumonia.
My trivia team this cruise kicked ass!  If we didn't win, we tied or came in 2nd most days.  5 Aussies and me in the day and 2 other Americans and Migan & Allan (the Aussies) at night. Oh one of the Aussies was Phil, the guest lecturer on the ship.  The question was some obscure date, movie item or geography and his response was "pha, that's easy"..lol!  I was a great verifier and scribe.  

Daytime trivia team - guess we didn't win today, Phil, Migan & Allen look mad
Ian & Margaret, to my left, were delightful...

Meals were fine but our replacement dinner companions did not live up to the previous couple.  Nice enough people but Canadians, eh?(j/k)  No one wanted to sit by him, so we kinda fought and jostled around - appreciate Marty taking one for the team 3 nights...lol!  We offered to buy him a drink on the last night but after the show the bars were all closed...
We did play Balderdash with our dinner gang on the last day - B kicked ass!  I regretted not encouraging a daily game time, cause it was so much fun. We could have made our own activities...lol
Our cabin this time was 709 and on the 7th floor, all the way to the front.  Still an inside cabin, no port hole, but a decent size.  We often slept till 10amish, because we had no outside light.  B bought me the BEST gift tho for Christmas - 2 tiny motion-light LED lights.  Worked super well for peeing in the middle of the night & when B got dressed without waking me.  Shower was not as nice because it was small and had a sticky shower curtain...  

from Amazon

We arrived in Vancouver and got off the ship easily with our 7 pieces of luggage.  

the 7th is the laptop carryon - not pictured

then had to wait over an hour for a taxi!  Come to find out 3 ships have all just arrived AND there is a marathon race downtown that has blocked all access to the port!  Finally got a van taxi (Uber does not operate in Vancouver) and got to the hotel 15 minutes away.  We stay at the YWCA Hotel in Vancouver and I highly recommend it. It is reasonably priced, beds are comfy and the location is great.  B and I walked around & ate a snack.  We joined our friends Ginny & Chris for dinner at 7pm.  They live in Kamloops and drove over just to meet-up with us. But they almost didn't because traffic was horrendous and a 3 hour drive turned into a 5 hour ride!  Dinner was amazing appetizers - B had a burger and we all shared calamari, chicken wings, sushi, & lettuce wraps.  Damn it that I forgot to take a photo of the food and us enjoying GREAT company...  I need training from my friend Cat - lol!
The next morning we awoke early to catch Amtrak to Seattle.  Unfortunately it was the Amtrak bus, not the train and when you cross the Canadian/USA border, you have to schlep your own luggage: out of the bus, thru passport check, into the scanner & back on the bus.  Can you imagine how much fun that was with all our bags?  Thank goodness the bus driver helped a bit...  The bus ride itself was pleasant enough and we arrived in Seattle around 1pm.  More about that and our journeys end tomorrow...

Hawaii - on our last legs

Aloha Tower, Honolulu

Today we are in Kawaii and it is our last port before Vancouver.  Luckily it is not a tender stop, so I will be walking on land one last time before departing for 5 days at sea.  
Honolulu was fun but a bit disturbing as to how run down the port area around Aloha Tower has become...  The crew walked over to Wal-mart and Ross and came back with 2-4 huge bags of stuff - I wondered if there was anything left in the store...lol
Maui was pretty as always and we just got off for about an hour for a bite to eat.  The ship's food is ok, but the sameness of it is getting to us...  B had deep dish pizza and I had yummy chicken wings.
Today in Kawaii is a short stop, but I will get off in a bit and take a shuttle bus to K-Mart!  LOL!  Nothing I need, just walk about a bit...  This will be the last blog post for 6 days.  I will likely post again from Vancouver and/or Seattle...  thank you all for following along - I hope you enjoyed the journey

B eats pizza watching baseball and the cruise ship

amazing art show

Maui Park: 2nd largest Banyan tree in the world!

American Samoa & 5 sea days

Well it seems like we have been out of touch forever... American Samoa was our last stop 5 days ago but we were unable to get internet connected...

We have been to Samoa several times before but usually on a Sunday. In the past shops and cafes have been closed, however this time there was a tent market, a couple of shops open and a few small grocers open. This is a port where you walk right off and into the middle of town. About 80% of the ship headed to McDonald's to overload their WiFi...lol We bought B several t-shirts and I bought a great travel dress...

Our 5 days at sea have been relaxing and dare I say a bit boring? Still not many activities, so B and I play shuffleboard every afternoon, and I play trivia twice daily. My trivia team is quite good and we have won several times - the prizes are not great, but the honor of winning is terrific! My team is composed of 2 Aussies, 2 Brits and 1 Canadian. We probably won't play during the 3 days around Hawaii, but will have 8 more chances to win before reaching Vancouver.

We have introduced our dinner mates to LCR and have enjoyed fleecing them, I mean playing with them most afternoons. The first time Gordon and Lynn won 2 games, but both with double pots! The next couple of times either they have won or B and I have won. Poor Norm, he is discouraged and woebegone – says he won't play anymore...lol however he & Lynn are disembarking here in Hawaii anyways...lol We hope their replacements are just as interesting tablemates...

Unfortunately, B has the crud again! He says he just sounds terrible but feels ok. However his appetite is not the same – I am sure he is gonna have lost weight on this trip while I have gained it! URGH! I am trying to cut back however the cookies are sooo good...lol! Most days I have done a bit of workout in the gym and I try to walk laps around the promenade deck.

I hope this finds you all well and content. It is weird to think that we are in the states and will be home in 10 days. I can't wait to see my pups! Enjoy these few pics of Samoa and if I take any of Hawaii, I will post in a couple of days from Kwaii. Aloha!

Vanuatu

Hey guys – guess what? Vanuatu was a new nation for us! Yay!

We have added to our countries traveled list. Vanuatu is a nation island with over inhabitants. They speak English but seem to have an island language as primary. The natives were very friendly and only wanted us to exchange paper for their trinkets...lol

There was a Market Maze set up just off the ship. You had to meander through the maze in order to get outside the docking area. We just barely made it without any purchases (I knew we had to go back thru to the ship lol) and found the water taxis that took you across the bay to the city. The cost was $5 and the ride was quite pleasant. The difficulty was climbing in and out of the boat. B scored 8.5 due to his finesse, skill and degree of difficulty. Lol The boat was a small speedy one and the crossing lasted about 10 minutes. I enjoy that kind of ride because it is about 10 people and open air. The water colors ran from shimmering navies on one side of the ship to pale turquoises on the other and all the while the constant hum of the outboard engines as we traversed the harbor.

The town has a local crafters market and further up the road, the local farmers market. We explored both a bit until B spotted the grocery store. He headed that way for soda and I moseyed through the t-shirt market. Everything here was much higher priced that in Thailand: t-shirts were $20 and elephant pants were $15...almost 3x's as much... I wanted a piece of art work, being Vanuatu was new place for us, but didn't find any I liked. I did buy 1 $20 t-shirt because it was so unique for a gift – then got back to the ship and discovered it was the wrong size! Grrr! I am mad and sad...oh well... Jess, keep counting calories - maybe it will fit after all...lol! We did go to the post office and B bought a few stamps for postcards, so our basic missions were accomplished.

Vanuatu is a lovely island with some nice beaches, waterfalls and great people. We would not make an extra effort to get here, but if it was on the itinerary we would definitely enjoy....

on to Hawaii, so I will say Aloha for now.

water taxi

hmm coconuts - 

native braiding palm leaves

boys on a bench..LMAO!

thank goodness we did not have to unload more watermelon! lol

local fruit market

Katu, New Caledonia

Finally we are able to connect to internet.  I hope you have missed us as much as we have missed connecting...lol  We have two days in Fiji upcoming and then 4 days at sea.  I will update the past few days and tell you about Fiji and sea days from American Somoa...  

Well we have been incommunicado since we left Sydney. We had 2 sea days aboard the Noordam then 2 stops in New Caledonia. However these ports were gorgeous tropical beaches unmarred by technology. They were both tender ports, ugh! But I managed to go to one of them. It was truly beautiful and unspoiled. We walked along the beach in Kuto and I sampled the local dish, Bougna, made with chicken, sweet potatoes and banana. It was ok, I am not big on cooked bananas... We only bought a few post cards and a soda. There wasn't much for sale and what was, was pricey. Hell, even the Sprite cost $4....

As you can see in the photos, I was able to blue my hair once more in Australia. One lady yesterday suggested I had better stay out of the water, because no one would see me – my hair created a camouflage effect! lol Both of these ports are lovely and a bit like private beach stops. The weather is warm enough – in the 70's – but sort of cloudy and grey... I will be happy tomorrow to hit a more civilized port in Vanuatu with no tender. It is also a new country for us – yea, the trip hasn't been a total rerun...lol

The ship is fine, but configured differently that our previous one. The activities are still somewhat limited, but they are having pickle ball meet ups daily and 2 trivia's/day. I have hooked up with a brilliant Aussie couple who play pub trivia and internet trivia and another couple. We were joined by Phil, who is the guest lecturer and whose are of expertise is geology and history, so we are a powerhouse team now. We got all 17 correct the other day and won flashy drink glasses – they were empty but cute...

We have a pretty good dinner gang consisting of 2 other American couples and 1 Canadian couple. Marty and Lari are from Palos Verdes, California – an area I grew up in. Norm & Lynn are from Seattle and Gord & Lyn are out of Toronto. We have had a few laughs and decent meals so far....makes the evening enjoyable. Have a G'day mates and no worries...

boy on a bench with a "bitch" lol!

cow enjoying a picnic at the beach

ship from the tender boat

Katu from the tender

making bougna

what the hell is bougna?

especially for a friend of ours - ty JD