Hi Everyone,
I sure have missed all the fun that’s been happening on the forum. I hope to be able to “catch up” this week and be back in the swing of things.
I just want to share the highlights of our trip that we were on recently. Ron and I were celebrating our 34th anniversary and took a cruise with Royal Caribbean for 11 nights. We flew to San Juan and boarded the ***** on January 14. On the days that followed we went to St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, Margarita Island (just off Venezuela) then Curacao, Aruba, and back to San Juan.
We like to snorkel, so we went on three excursions and they were all great. We saw giant sea turtles in Barbados, beautiful coral reefs and colorful fish in Curacao, and a German shipwreck (the Antilles) just off the shores of Aruba. The other days we either went shopping while in port, or took a taxi to a beach and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather. Most of the time it was between 85 and 89 degrees, but always with a wonderful breeze.
When we got back to San Juan on January 25, we went on a tour of Old San Juan and had an authentic meal at our taxi driver’s favorite restaurant. He got us to the airport in time for our 5:30 flight. I enjoyed Old San Juan and it was much nicer and cleaner than it had been 3 years ago. There is a lot of building going on there. The Puerto Rican people that we were in contact with were very friendly and most gracious.
On Thursday, February 7, I flew to Florida, to visit my brother who lives in Winter Park, a suburb or Orlando. Friday, we went to St. Augustine for the day and had a very nice lunch at the Casa Monica Hotel. I had crab cakes that were plated with a warm cooked spinach salad that was dressed with a Greek dressing. That night, we went to Daytona Beach and had dinner at the Chart House Restaurant, which is actually a chain restaurant, but it was very, very good. There I had baked stuffed flounder with rice pilaf, a salad, and key lime pie. Saturday, we went to the outdoor farmer’s market in Winter Park and also Fashion Square Mall, so I could look at tagines at the store that Labs recommended. They did not have the one I wanted, so we left empty-handed, but it was still fun.
Sunday morning after church and a huge breakfast at my brother’s favorite restaurant, we went to the Morse Museum to see the Tiffany glass collection of windows, lamps, pottery, and paintings. It was wonderful and I really enjoyed it. The rest of our time was spent with my brother’s new girlfriend and soon to be fiancé. She has a wonderful family and we fell in love with all of them, but most of all my future sister-in-law. Rena made us a wonderful Italian dinner on Sunday and on Monday morning at 5:30, my brother took me to the airport. My flight was delayed, but I finally got home around 12:30.
So, my winter travels are over and I’ll be going back to work soon, I hope. It’s been a wonderful extended vacation, but I need and want to work for a while yet. I’m also looking forward to catching up on all the good things that are happening on the forum.
I’ll try to upload a few pictures to show all of you. The first one is on the beach in St. Maarten.
This is a picture of me in Curacao.
I sure have missed all the fun that’s been happening on the forum. I hope to be able to “catch up” this week and be back in the swing of things.
I just want to share the highlights of our trip that we were on recently. Ron and I were celebrating our 34th anniversary and took a cruise with Royal Caribbean for 11 nights. We flew to San Juan and boarded the ***** on January 14. On the days that followed we went to St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, Margarita Island (just off Venezuela) then Curacao, Aruba, and back to San Juan.
We like to snorkel, so we went on three excursions and they were all great. We saw giant sea turtles in Barbados, beautiful coral reefs and colorful fish in Curacao, and a German shipwreck (the Antilles) just off the shores of Aruba. The other days we either went shopping while in port, or took a taxi to a beach and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather. Most of the time it was between 85 and 89 degrees, but always with a wonderful breeze.
When we got back to San Juan on January 25, we went on a tour of Old San Juan and had an authentic meal at our taxi driver’s favorite restaurant. He got us to the airport in time for our 5:30 flight. I enjoyed Old San Juan and it was much nicer and cleaner than it had been 3 years ago. There is a lot of building going on there. The Puerto Rican people that we were in contact with were very friendly and most gracious.
On Thursday, February 7, I flew to Florida, to visit my brother who lives in Winter Park, a suburb or Orlando. Friday, we went to St. Augustine for the day and had a very nice lunch at the Casa Monica Hotel. I had crab cakes that were plated with a warm cooked spinach salad that was dressed with a Greek dressing. That night, we went to Daytona Beach and had dinner at the Chart House Restaurant, which is actually a chain restaurant, but it was very, very good. There I had baked stuffed flounder with rice pilaf, a salad, and key lime pie. Saturday, we went to the outdoor farmer’s market in Winter Park and also Fashion Square Mall, so I could look at tagines at the store that Labs recommended. They did not have the one I wanted, so we left empty-handed, but it was still fun.
Sunday morning after church and a huge breakfast at my brother’s favorite restaurant, we went to the Morse Museum to see the Tiffany glass collection of windows, lamps, pottery, and paintings. It was wonderful and I really enjoyed it. The rest of our time was spent with my brother’s new girlfriend and soon to be fiancé. She has a wonderful family and we fell in love with all of them, but most of all my future sister-in-law. Rena made us a wonderful Italian dinner on Sunday and on Monday morning at 5:30, my brother took me to the airport. My flight was delayed, but I finally got home around 12:30.
So, my winter travels are over and I’ll be going back to work soon, I hope. It’s been a wonderful extended vacation, but I need and want to work for a while yet. I’m also looking forward to catching up on all the good things that are happening on the forum.
I’ll try to upload a few pictures to show all of you. The first one is on the beach in St. Maarten.
This is a picture of me in Curacao.