On vacation!

Life is a beach!  Cocoa Beach that is. :)  I arrived here on Wednesday after three flights and 5 hours of layover.  I had set two alarms to be sure I wouldn't sleep in, and of course, I woke 5 minutes before the alarm went off!

I was at the Regina airport by 4:30, checked in and through security shortly thereafter and was relaxing with a cup of Timmy's coffee by 4:45.  Hurry up and wait!  Our flight was scheduled for take-off at 6:30 but by the time we loaded and de-iced it was closer to 7.  But obviously we had a tail wind as we arrived in Toronto right on schedule. I slept much of the way there; grateful for that as I knew I had a long day ahead of me.

I had about 2 hours in TO, but in reality by the time we deplaned, and I made my way through Customs I arrived at my gate just 40 minutes prior to take-off.  This time we were early though and it was less than 30 minutes before we were flying off to New York.  We were off at gate D8, and my new gate was D9 so I had very little distance to go.  

By this point it was nearly 1 p.m. at home (2 p.m. local) so I was very hungry.  I wandered about and found Harry's Deli where I purchased a half a turkey & Swiss sandwich with a bowl of cheese and broccoli soup.  Both portions were huge!  So I ate half the sandwich, finished most of the soup, and tucked the other half sandwich in my bag for later.  I highly recommend the place - the sandwich was freshly made, the turkey was real shredded white meat (not turkey roll) and the soup was heavenly.  

We boarded our flight on time and I found I'd been upgraded...not to first class but to the next best thing, Comfort Plus.  I don't believe there was much more leg room, but the seat itself was very comfy.  Since I'm only 5'2" it was perfect for me.  I had a really great seatmate, a young man who writes for an adventure website.  Hearing about his adventures was wonderful - he'd just experiences snow in Vermont for only the fourth time in his life.  He was interested in hearing about my travels as well so the two hour flight flew by.

We arrived in Orlando a half hour ahead of schedule, I'd found my baggage and called the transportation company by 8:30 p.m.  My driver was obviously on his way (he had checked my flight number) and was there in 10 minutes.  I was prepared for a wait of up to an hour so was thrilled.  The drive from the airport to Cocoa Beach was about 45 minutes.  He offered to take me the scenic route but I was ready to get to the hotel...besides which it was dark and there was heavy sea fog in the area so not much to see.

Check-in was a breeze and I was in my room by 9:30. I was glad I had my sandwich as I didn't feel like wandering about in the dark.  I watched a bit of the Olympics and turned in by 11.  I had a great night sleep and woke ready for adventure on Thursday. 

The hotel (Comfort Inn and Suites, Cocoa Beach) offers a full complimentary breakfast including sausage, scrambled eggs, waffles, bagels, yoghurt, cereal, toast, fruit, juice and coffee.  I hadn't realized it, so it was a nice treat!  After breakfast, I went to the front desk as my safe wasn't working properly - it seemed the batteries were dead.  The maintenance man was right there but after fiddling with it for awhile he ended up taking it out of the room to fix.  I watched the Olympics and read while I waited for him to return.  He finally showed up about 9:30 with a new safe.  

I had been planning to try to catch a shuttle to Kennedy Space Center but assumed I would miss it, as it was scheduled for 9:30 a.m.  I wandered down to the lobby to call to book for Friday.  Frank answered the phone and told me he was right outside the doors as he'd had a request for pickup of 4 people but they hadn't showed!  Serendipity at its best.  For $30 round-trip he drove me to and from the park.  On the way there he gave a number of suggestions of what to see and do while I was there.

There will be no pictures with this post as I have no access on this computer to permit me to share.  I'll share those when I return home.  I had a great day though!  The Kennedy Space Center has lots to see, lots of exhibits and a full IMAX theater.  I also took the bus tour that drives the tourists through the NASA and private companies buildings.  There are two companies currently working on space exploration; Blue Origin and Space-X.  We drove past the two launch pads 39A and 39B but both were obscured by fog...not much to see there.  We were dropped off at the Saturn exhibit hall where we could spend as much time as we liked.  I went through it in about an hour and headed back to the bus.  

Back at the park, I wandered through the Atlantis exhibits before grabbing a cold drink and taking a seat in the shade at the Rocket Cafe. By this time it was nearly 3:30 p.m. so I gave Frank a call and asked for a pick-up.  He advised he'd be there by 4 p.m.  Since I had a bit of time, I took a tour of the Rocket Garden before heading to the parking lot for pick-up.  

I could have spent more time at the park but I wanted to get back so I could head down to the beach.  It was lovely evening on the beach, lots of families playing in the water, others walking the beach, and lots of birds!  I splashed a bit in the water, took some photos, including a few of the Carnival ship sailing away.  

After dinner (I cheaped out and went across the road to the McDonalds) I sat by the pool to read before heading back to my room.  I found the women's Olympic curling (USA vs. Switzerland) - Kevin Martin did a great job of commentating, the US rep not so much.  I did hear that the Canadians (Rachel Homan's team) lost both of their games...not good.  Hopefully they'll pick up on the ice soon.
After a little more Olympics coverage I was ready for sleep.  Lots of fresh and sun will do that!

Today's agenda - beach & pool, lunch at The Shark Pit, and more beach & pool.

Have a great day everyone!

 

Slow down, sit back and relax

Hooray for July!  I am so glad June is finally over...even though it was so busy I was certain I'd not make it through.  But I did and summer is definitely upon us, with hot (for us) and stormy weather.  We had a thunderstorm last night and another this afternoon, I slept through the first and enjoyed the second.

I was out early this morning to do some weeding in my driveway.  It was poured in sections and over the years the weeds have started growing in the cracks.  I'd done the rest of the front yard (which is zero-scaped) last weekend but had sprayed the driveway with some weed killer.  Apparently most of the weeds just laughed at the spray because they were very lush and green today.  After digging out as much as I could I gave them another spray...we'll see who is laughing now.

I haven't been spending much time outdoors this week; no walking in particular due to the smoke from the forest fires in Northern Saskatchewan.  I took this photo just before leaving for work one morning.  

The air quality was very poor and though I don't have any respiratory issues I found the smoke bothered my throat when I was out for any period.  My friend K (who I often travel with) really found it difficult and wore a mask when she was outside.

*****

Even without the smoke in the air, I've been exhausted from work and haven't felt up to walking in the evenings.  I must remedy that this weekend...though it's already Saturday evening, the football in on the television....so maybe tomorrow.

Work has been insanely busy, more so than normal.  I managed to get the people in place for the training on June 24/25 and then came the big move.  I think I've mentioned we're renovating our office space, so we had to move off our floor into the basement.  The move took place last Tuesday (Wednesday was our Canada Day statutory holiday) but there were lots of people still packing and moving articles on Thursday and Friday.  

But things will start slowing down now that it is July.  The external hiring process that I've been tasked to work on has been postponed to the fall.  Or at least that is the rumour...I haven't officially been told.  (Communication is not a strong suit of our organization).  One of my staff is off on a leave until the end of August, and three of my new staff members will be in training for much of the summer.  

After the busy-ness of the last few weeks it's going to seem odd to have so few people around, and a limited amount of work to keep up on.  But I'm planning to enjoy it while it lasts!

*****

At home I'm caught up on most of the yard-work.  The fence was painted, the zero-scaped portions of the yard well-weeded (hopefully that will last for a couple of weeks) and the containers are thriving.  As long as I keep up on the dead-heading, water as necessary, and the smoke clears, I should be able to enjoy spending some time relaxing outside.

Tonight I'd have to take the cushions off the chairs because they are soaked!

 This is the side view from the walkway to the front door. My neighbour's air-conditioning unit is a bit of an eye-sore though she's got some vines growing that help a little bit.

Despite being in the front yard, it's private because it is tucked in behind the large evergreen tree.  Since it's on the north side of the house, it's a shady spot in the heat of the day to sit and read a book and watch the traffic (just local) drive by.

Out in the back yard things tend to get a little noisy, especially when this guy is hanging around.

The other day I heard some kerfuffle and looked out the sun room window to see the squirrel and a couple of birds arguing over the bird feeder.

He ran up the tree when he spotted me and sat and chattered at me, even after the birds left.  I know a lot of people don't like squirrels but I think he's kind of cute.

Of course, that will last as long as he doesn't try to get into my attic!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I hope you get a chance to slow down, sit back and relax!

Catching up

It's been three weeks since I flew off to Fort Lauderdale for the cruise, I got home a week ago and immediately came down with a wicked cold. Not unexpected as many of the 250 passengers on the flight from Barcelona to Toronto were coughing, sniffling or sneezing.  Add in a bit of jet lag and it's been a long week.

But enough whining, I did have a great vacation!  We had 11 days at sea before we reached Malaga, Spain, one more day at sea before ending in Barcelona.  I have nearly 800 photos but don't worry I'm not to share the all!  And not all at once, either.

We were on the Allure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean), and until later this year it is the 3rd largest cruise ship in the world.  There were 5200 passengers on board (only 85 children*), 500 contractors (portions of the ship were under construction) and approximately 2700 crew.  That's bigger than the town I grew up in!

These are few photos from sail-away and of the ship itself.

To give you a sense of the size, the life boats are off Deck 5 and hold a maximum of 350 passengers. Thankfully we never had to test that theory!

I think I have a photo similar to this one, from the other three cruises I've taken out of Ft Lauderdale as we've sailed out of the port.

I keep saying, one day I'll arrive a day or two early and spend some time on this lovely beach.



This is the main lobby area on Deck 5, called the Royal Promenade.  Along the sides are several venues including a sports bar, a pub, pizza restaurant, a cupcake store, a cafe, guest services and more.  It was always a busy place!

I took the photo from the "Rising Tide" bar  This small bar literally moved from 5th floor up to 8th (to Central Park) every 15 minutes.  I'll share those photos later.

There are actually four pools on the ship - these are the adult pools at the front or forward of the ship. The other two pools at the back (aft) of the ship include a special pool just for children. I was tempted to try it out but didn't!

At the very aft of the ship on a lower deck (four I think) is the Aqua pool. This was used for various productions, including Ocean Aria, "Let You Entertain Me" and a fountain show.

One of the special features on this ship is the central areas.  This was Central Park and the other was the Boardwalk.

As you might expect I have a lot of photos from the gardens.  I'll have to do another post just to share some of those.

Our cabin looked out on to the park. I had originally booked an interior room (affectionately called a bat cave since they have no windows), but when C joined me, we were able to get a better cabin location.




The other central area, the Boardwalk included this carousel, shops (including a candy store...I resisted the temptation), two restaurants, a hot dog stand, a doughnut shop and ice cream bar.

Yes, we rode the carousel!

On interior Deck 4, just outside the art gallery and casino, were a comedy club and Studio B.  The latter is where the ice skating rink was located.  I was a bit disappointed as I only got to go skating once, as it was only open for free skating three times during the voyage.


However, the ice shows we saw there were fantastic!  Another post for another day.

With so many passengers there were very few areas where one could find a quiet corner.

The card room, although looks quiet in this photo was busy much of the day with cards, Mahjongg, and other games in progress.

The library was small, and the shelves nearly empty at the beginning of the sail.   By the end of the trip it was apparent the passengers were dropping off new material.

I'd brought my Kobo, along with a paperback so I didn't borrow anything.

It is a beautiful ship, there is no arguing that fact.  Despite the size, once I'd got my bearings I found it easy to navigate and I can't say I got lost - at least not in the public areas - the decks where the cabins are located have a tendency to look the same!

But the sheer volume of passengers was the part that overwhelmed.  Not only was it difficult to find a quiet spot (besides one's cabin) there were often line-ups to get into venues or at the two cafe's, the buffet area was crowded with tables and chairs, the formal dining rooms were noisy, and we never did get to the pub for a specialty beer because we could not get a seat.

Despite those issues, I did enjoy my time on board the Allure.  I met some really super people both at meal time and at the knitting group I joined, spent time at the gym and walking track almost every day, saw some great productions, and had time to relax and recharge.  Just what I needed!

 
Have a great weekend everyone!

Sail away with me

The Bayport in Houston, Texas is not an attractive spot. (I hope this doesn't offend anyone but it's true).  There isn't much around the port itself, it's mostly industrial.

When we arrived on Saturday, it was grey and mostly overcast.  Temperatures were cool, around the mid 60's F but so much warmer than home we didn't mind a bit.

Before we sailed away, I spent some time on our balcony watching the small watercraft and the birds.

I'm not certain if this was our pilot boat or not, but it spent most of its time off the side of the ship. At times it was right up against the ship and other times it moved away.

It certainly attracted the sea birds!

They flew around the small boat, and splashed into the water beside it.  I assume it was stirring some small fish or some other sea critter the birds like to eat.

I'm not certain how well this photo show up, but this was a crane flying around with the smaller birds.

On final day before leaving the ship we saw several cranes, but I don't recall seeing more than this one that day.

By mid-morning the following day we were out of the clouds and into the sunshine! The

This is taken from the 17th deck of the cruise looking down at the pool.   Surprisingly there were very few people out at the time.  It's not my favorite place to hang out usually as I like the small adult pool at the back of the ship.  It is generally quieter....and I was there to relax.

We took a walk around the ship (that's K heading down the stairs) stopped at the buffet for breakfast, and made our way to the back of the ship.

The temperature was beginning to warm up - I think I heard it was in the low 70's that day.







Watching the wake behind us, I could feel the worries and the cares of the day before slip away.

Ahhhhh....this is vacation!