Back in Time

Now that I am safely home, and using the Internet that doesn't cost a small fortune, I think I will recount for you in further detail the cruise.  Relax, I'm not going to bore you with ALL The details, only the ones I've deemed interesting. And therefore you too should deem them interesting. 

 

Let's start with the NY side of things. 

 

I think it's safe to say that NYC is, quite possibly, one of THE most exciting cities ever.  When you first hit NYC for the first time, or for the first time in years, it takes some getting used to. People everywhere, noise constantly, and the hustle and bustle that never stops.  They say Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps. I'm willing to say NYC is also the city that never sleeps. 

 

Our hotel was in the Financial district which seemed MILES away from anything interesting.  On the one hand it was nice to be outside a bit (though you're never really "outside"), but on the other it kinda sucked we were so far from what I considered the "happening" part of NYC. Still our hotel was nice, small, and quiet. 

 

Walking out the front door of the hotel, turning slightly to your right and you would be facing one of the most beautiful bridges I've ever scene, the Brooklyn Bridge. It was quite literally just an arm length away from our hotel. 

 

I've always been fascinated by the Brooklyn Bridge and was really hoping to get some good shots of it. Unfortunately, they are fixing it and so most the shots I got include some rather unattractive scaffolding. On the day we were leaving on the cruise, the weather finally loosened up enough for SL SIL, Jack and I to walk over to the bridge and get some shots. 

 

Not great shots, but shots all the same.

 

 

Besides the original post I did about NYC 1.1 we did manage to do a lot of other interesting stuff while there.

On Tuesday we did the traditional Hop on / Hop off bus tour of the city. It was cold, wet and a little less interesting while your teeth chattered. Still, I stayed on the top of the bus and perservered. I didn't take quite as many photos as normal given the weather was less than perfect.  

The MomUnit was cold

We hopped off in Times Square to 1) see Times Square and 2) Find the nearest Starbucks for potty break and hot chocolate. 

While in Starbucks, SL SIL and I found this fun little app they had that allowed us to take photos of ourselves and have it sent to us in email.  She and I messed with it a bit, and finally got it to the point where I was actually looking at the camera instead of the timer.  Then we got the rest of our group involved.  Fun stuff Maynard!

It was lunch time by the time we found SL SIL's scarf guy and made our purchases. We asked the scarf guy where around there would be good to eat. He directed us to Virgil's across the way.  Once there, we noticed an Irish Pub next door to Virgil's that looked way more appetizing. So we ate there.

After lunch we needed to get a couple blocks away to hop back on the tour bus. Along the way, Miss Sacramento say a restaurant owned by Guy Fieri (the Diner, Drive-ins, andDives guy). Some of her best friends are big fans of that show and would get a kick out of the restaurant.  She started to take a photo of the logo on the window when she spied Guy Fieri himself in the restaurant. She bolted in. The MomUnit hot on her trail and me right behind.  Guy was nice enough to take some photos with us. Sadly, the MomUnit was too excited to actually get the photo in focus.  Still, you can tell who's who.

Tuesday afternoon our other two traveling companions would be arriving. We had arranged to have dinner with The Nephew and his lovely GF in Little Italy. 

Back in 2006, The Nephew and I had dinner there and he walked me around the neighborhood. I loved Little Italy.  Quite vibrant and smelled like Italy to me.  Now, Little Italy is getting littler and littler. Just 2 blocks now as Chinatown is taking over.  Sad.  

Anyhow, our crew met up with The Nephew and the GF at Angelo's in Little Italy.  To say I had died and gone to heaven with the food at Angelo's would be a little dramatic. But it was damn tasty. 

Tried the new panoramic option on the iPhone. Kinda funky.

After dinner, we walked over to a little place that had, in 2006, the BEST cannoli I had ever had.  I begged The Nephew to take us there again. The short walk did us some good. We sat down and we ate a fine assortment of cannoli's and other misc sweet things.  After that I swore I'd never eat again.

And we all know how that turned out.

Last day at sea

Our cruise is winding down now. We've spent 10 wonderful, rainy, and some cold days in Nova Scotia, Quebec and Newfoundland.  Beautiful country. While the weather didn't cooperate in many of the ports and it was down right cold in Quebec city, it really doesn't matter since I'm on vacation.

A 10 day cruise is about as long of a cruise as I think I want to ever do.  The people were really starting to get on my last nerve.

So next time I blog it'll be from the good old USA.  And I might even go into more detail about our stops since I won't be paying for the Internet.

Night night my little chickens.!

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Our last stop.  Its bitter sweet.  On one hand I'm sad the cruise is almost over. On the other hand, I'm ready to be home.

Sydney was beautiful. The sun was shining, finally, and the temperature was in the mid 60's.  It was just beautiful. 

My excursion was lame. The write up about it made it sound like it included way more than just this highland village.  But the hour ride out there was beautiful. The fall colors here are in full bloom.

I have no idea why Sydney has a big ass fiddle in its harbor. 

 

View of Bra's d'or lake.

 

Loved this little church just sitting on the top of the hill. 

 

Look close you can see me standing at the bottom holding P-Dot.
 

Tomorrow we'll be at sea all day, then home.  I'm ready to be home.

Corner Brook, Newfoundland

My main goal in Corner Brook Newfoundland was to get a photo of a Newfoundland.  I was first one off the boat and there sitting waiting for me was two beautiful newfys.

Meet Flossie and Shawna. Shawna is the one laying down.  They were unbelievably sweet, which is expected for Newfys.

After that I hopped on a tour bus for an excursion called "Corner Brook in Focus" - designed for photographers.  I wasn't exactly expecting an actual photography experience considering my "shutterbug's Dream" in Halifax wasn't exactly a shutterbugs dream.

Anyhow, the tour took us to some of the most scenic places in Corner Brook. Which was challenging I think since Corner Brook to me was not a very exciting city. The weather sucked too which didn't make it much easier to enjoy Corner Brook.

 

 

Quebec City

What an absolutely beautiful city. I just love it here. It has the charm of a little European town and all the class that comes with it.  Clean and lovely.

We docked yesterday around 1pm and the MomUnit, SL SIL and I headed off for an old and new Quebec City tour.  The city itself is one of two remaining walled cities in North America. The other being someplace in Mexico.  Much of the wall is still remaining and there's a definite difference between inside the wall and outside. Inside everything has a historical feel to it and all the buildings and what not are marked as historical landmarks. In fact, McDonald's is inside the wall and they aren't allowed to have their famed golden arches glowing ... it's a very non descript golden arches. 

Montmorency Falls. Just beautiful.  That little path to the right I didn't take.

Chateau Frontenac - beautiful old building. I think it's a hotel now.

Chateau Frontenac

Fall it definitely in the air here.  The colors are beautiful.

this bathroom sign cracked me up.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

I learned, today, that Nova Scotia means "New Scotland".  Not that interesting, but something I learned.

We docked this morning in Halifax and were up and out the door by 7:30. The sun wasn't even up yet, but we managed to get up and out.

The MomUnit and I opted to do the "Shutterbug's Dream" trip.  Turned out it really wasn't all that about being a shutterbug - because if it was we would have spent a lot more time at each location. 

Our first stop was a lookout point for looking into Halifax.  It was on the Citadel hill and not all that interesting.  The brochure made it sound like we actually went into the Citadel, but alas we just stood outside it's gates and sighed. 

After we headed to their public gardens.  In the spring this would have been beautiful. In the fall, not so much.  The sun was still out though so I took advantage of trying to shoot some trees and reflections. The trees in the city weren't quite changing, but as we drove to Peggy's Cove you could see the fall colors. Too bad our bus windows were all fogged up.

Peggy's Cove was our next stop. I was really looking forward to spending time there. But we only got 30 minutes.  I kid you not. I could have easily spent the entire day there and still not shot all the photos I wanted. 

Peggy's Cove is a quant little fishing village. It still does house fishermen and what not, but it seems in the summer and into the fall the main trade is tourism.  The wind was howling off the Atlantic, but it was breath-taking.

After Peggy's Cove it was off to the cemetery where they buried the victims of the Titantic.  Halifax is one of the city's that picked up the SOS signal and sent ships. It took three days for the ships to get there. The first ship picked up the survivors and the following three ships picked up the bodies of those not so lucky.

And like any good cruise excursion they dropped us at a local shopping area.  Nothing really interesting there, but I did find some not so lucky fellas.

Tomorrow we're at sea all day again. Then we land in Quebec City for two days.  We all have things we want to do, let's just hope the weather holds out.

Rock the Boat, don’t tip the boat over

If I had to describe with a color the way I felt today it’d be green.  Blech. We’re in pretty rocky seas it seems and boy oh boy my stomach was not happy. Turns out though, a couple pretzel rolls and some coffee ice cream and I’m just fine.  I do wonder if it was the beer, mixed drink or the wine from yesterday that helped me with my “green” ness. 

Today we’re at sea.  I get bored usually the days we’re at sea.  Today has been different. We got up and did breakfast, then I went off to job.  The jogging track was half closed due to high winds.  And it seems quite challenging to jog when the boat is rocking.  So I went instead to the gym and tried the treadmill.  Not so successful there either. The treadmill looks out onto the ocean and that rocking sensation almost did me in.  Not being defeated I spent 20 minutes on the elliptical and called it a day.  I’m getting enough walking in lately I don’t feel like I need to overly exercise…yet.

Yesterday we boarded the boat around 1 and found our rooms quickly.  I had arranged to surprise the girls with sparkling wine, cheese and chocolate covered strawberries. The wine was here but not the rest. I had to call down to room service three times to get the cheese delivered and by then it was almost dinner so we opted to save the strawberries for today.  I’ll be having a conversation with the front desk about their “ready and waiting in your room” guarantee.

We spent most the afternoon familiarizing ourselves with the ship. It’s laid out a lot like all the other ships I’ve been on.  We’re on the 11^th floor though so we spend a lot of time taking the stairs. The main café is one floor above (cafeteria style dining) and the rest of just about everything we want to do is on the 6^th and 7^th floor.  So even without a workout I’m trying to take the stairs. It’s hard though when the ships rocking so much. I look like a drunken sailor.

Backing up slightly, Tuesday in NY we opted to do the Hop-on and Hop-off bus tour. It was overcast, cold and raining.  Good times. Being from Seattle though I couldn’t let something little like rain get in my way. I found a seat on the top deck and I stayed put. Unfortunately I couldn’t take too many photos, but I had seen most of that before so I wasn’t too worried. 

In the afternoon it let up some, finally. We hopped off at Time Square and spent some time wondering around there. We found, almost immediately, a Starbucks and we all got something warm in us. While there I noticed they had a fun little camera app that we then spent a couple of minutes taking some fun photos.

 

We walked around some more in search of SL SIL’s scarf guy. We knew we needed scarves now for the rest of the trip, it was just that chilly.  Found him then decided we were ready for lunch. We asked his buddy Bubba (that’s not really his name but that’s what I’m calling him) and he directed us to Virgiles BBQ just down the street. We walked over there and stumbled onto an Irish Pub called O’Donoghue’s just next store, so we chose that instead.

After filling ourselves up we need to get to 42^nd and 8^th to hop back on the bus and do the Central Park loop. On our way, Miss Sacramento saw a restaurant from Guy Fieri and stopped to take a photo for her friends. Leaning into the window she noticed that Guy Fieri himself was in the restaurant.  She bolted in, followed by mom, SL SIL and I.  Guy was nice enough to let us take some  photos with him.  We all wished we knew that restaurant was there before we ate lunch.  Next time.

We found ourselves on the Central Park loop and the rain/mist let up mostly. It was still chilly on the top deck, but I suffered through. Central Park really is something amazing. In the middle of all that concrete – a park.

By the time we finished with that we needed to book back to the hotel as the other two travelers made it to the hotel and were waiting for us.  We warmed up, cleaned up and hopped into a taxi to meet the Nephew and his GF for dinner in Little Italy (Little Italy is getting smaller and smaller these days. It’s barely two blocks. By the time I get to NY again it’ll be gone no doubt and Chinatown will have taken over).

Dinner was at Angelo’s and as expected it was delicious. I had the Fusilli Bolognese – of course the Bolognese.  It was very tasty that I even asked if the chef was single. Sadly no, which is probably better. I’d weigh a ton if he cooked for me.

After Angelo’s I swore I ‘d never eat again, and yet…the Nephew took us to Ferrara’s who have the best cannoli in the world I think. Yum.  And no calories because I am on vacation.

There, so that gets you caught up to where we are now. Tomorrow we’re in Halifax Nova Scotia. I’ve signed up for a Shutterbug’s dream excursion – as has the MomUnit.  No telling what the weather’s going to be like, but let’s hope for the best. It’s sunny and beautiful out there right now.

NYC 1.1

Day two of the NYC adventure.  This city fascinates me. Constantly moving, and shaking, and getting in your face. 

Let's get y'all caught up on the last couple of days.

Sunday we rose bright and not so early to start our day. The MomUnit and. SL SIL were heading to spend some time with the Nephew and his lovely girlfriend.  Meanwhile, Miss Sacramento (new nickname pending enough wine for some story that will bring forth a real nickname) and I waited for our one of our blog friends to come meet us.  The Patron Saint of the Smart Mouth's lives in nearby (relatively) NJ.  She was nice enough to hop on a train or two to come into the city to meet us. 

The most amazing thing about the Patron Saint, besides her being just amazing, is she was EXACTLY like her blog.  You know how some people are sorta not like their blog? Patron Saint was exactly as Miss Sacramento and I thought she'd be. Funny, delightful, and darn quick with the comments.

Sorry for the poorly focused photo. Clearly the waiter didn't understand when I said, hold down the button half way to focus.

Funny story, we were walking towards the World Trade area and this random street vendor came up and was trying to sell us these books on the 9/11.  I was trying to be all Seattly polite and tell him no thanks, when Patron Saint, in her best NJ accent, blurted, "Get lost!" The guy just walked away and wasn't even phased.

Moving on.

Miss Sacramento and I then hopped in a cab and made our way to the Chelsea Market.  Wonderful place. Much like the Pike Place, but a lot more upscale.  We wondered around there and I snapped some photos.  We waited in what felt like the longest line ever for the bathroom.

We stopped and had a couple of Stellas along the way.

Side note, the bathrooms here are interesting. With just a couple exceptions, almost every place we've gone they've had unisex bathrooms.  At first I was all grossed out about the idea of sharing bathrooms with boys, but realized women are just as gross. 

Anyhow, where was I? Or right, Chelsea market. After we wandered through the market, we hopped in another cab (we haven't even ventured to take the sub way yet) to meet the MomUnit, SL SIL, the Nephew and the GF at a bar.  Gee shocking a bar.

Today we got up and out to get to the 9/11 Memorial. Can I just say...WOW!  So beautiful and so somber. It is a beautiful way to remember the fallen.

After that we went to Katz Deli. Katz Deli is famous for the When Harry Met Sally scene in which Sally has an orgasm.  The deli was PACKED.  And looks nothing like it did in the movie. I suspect they had to move the booths out to get in more tables. 

We met my long time friend Claudia from my TASIS days at the deli. She and I spent the afternoon together getting caught up and going up the Empire State Building.

Phew...I'm tired just typing it. According to my FitBit I went 16,000+ steps yesterday and 14,000+ today.  Needless to say I'm getting my exercise.

Tomorrow we're hopping on the hop on / hop off bus to really see the city.

New York City Baby

First let me say, I might be a little drunk while typing this.  My nephew met us and took us out tonight in NYC and we may or may not have split 2 bottles of wine between him, his lovely girlfriend and I. BURP!

First yesterday. I jogged/walked my first 5 K. I did it! I ended up jogging about 20 minutes total which is an all new record high for me. Yah.  It was a beautiful day in Seattle and we had a blast.

 

I totally talked the volunteer staff into giving me this shirt too. It was supposed to be for just volunteers but I begged them, literally, to let me have me one to commiserate my first 5K. Even if I didn't jog the whole thing.

 

The work team.  A smattering of LCA folks. And Cathy on a stick.

My one boss CW is getting ready to be in Singapore for 3 months. So we made her CW on a stick. She took part in the 5k with P-Dot as Honorary walkers/runners.

 

 

In other very exciting news, I'm in NYC.  The vacation officially started today. The MomUnit and I arrived around the same time, so we hopped in a cab with a crazy Greek cabby and voila...Manhattan bound.

 

Once safely in our hotel, we hopped in another cab-ish town car thing who took us to this bar where we met my nephew and his lovely girlfriend Jamie.  I'm not sure if he likes this girl why he would think meeting all of us is a good thing, but whatever. We found her delightful and perfect for the oldest nephew.

 

 

After a few drinks there we walked a couple of blocks to have dinner at this restaurant, the Blue Ribbon Bakery.

 

Can I just say?

 

Oh.

 

My.

 

God.

 

I love New York and it's small little fancy pants, without being fancy restaurants? This little place, pricey, but delicious. P-Dot hopped out immediately to do the menu photo shoot then decided it was safer in the purse.

 

Eclectic little building in the West Village that has a bakery inside the restaurant. So your first whiff is of yummy bread cooking. They led us downstairs and parked us in a corner table, smart staff.  Appetizers of hummus, and then shrimp and chorizo. OMG...so good.

 

I had braised short ribs for dinner and about a bottle of wine. The nephew, his girlfriend and I polished off two bottles and that was AFTER drinks earlier.  My lips were numb. 

 

 

 

P-Dot looked on with sadness at the spilled wine..the little drip that was left in the bottom of the glass.

 

Tomorrow Miss Sacramento and I get the EXTREME pleasure of meeting the Patron Saint of the Smart Mouths.  We've kept up on her blog and know all about her life, but never have met her. Tomorrow the lovely Patron Saint will meet us here at the hotel and we'll tear up this area and have lunch. I can't wait!

 

Okay, I'd better turn off the computer and get some much needed rest. I think the wine has successfully seeped through my pores now. I should know better. Tomorrow may not be such a fun day.

 

PS - I cannot hold myself responsible for any misspelled words or grammar. The wine is typing tonight.

 

JDub over and out.

And we're off....almost

P-Dot's packed and ready. By this time tomorrow I'll be Eastern bound on a flight to JFK to start my two week vacation adventure.  Meeting up with the MomUnit, St. Louis SIL, and a new friend who yet to have a nickname. She's from Sacramento so maybe Lady Sacramento? Or Miss Sacramento? or Hey You? Or Bob?  I'll find something I'm sure after spending 14 days with her and the rest of the gal group.

Today is the day. Today I attempt my first 5K.  See on that photo where it says "run/walk"? That's what I intend do to.

The Shrinking Butt Brigade (SBB) will be starting in the 12 minute mile + heat and will be doing one round of Week 3 / Day 3 of the Couch to 5K program.  This week we moved up significantly, I think. This week we are warming up for 5 minutes, then doing two intervals of run for 90 seconds / walk for 90 seconds then run for 3 minutes, walk for 3 minutes. 

Say what? Run for 3 minutes?  Me?

Needless to say, I did not think I could do that. So Monday when I strapped on the new sneakers and headed out to attempt this, my self talk was fairly negative.  There was no way I could possibly jog for 3 minutes straight. I just knew I'd end up stopping after 2 minutes - which was my record.

But something weird happened.  Somewhere between my house and the trail I forgot I couldn't do it.  The program said run so I ran.  Granted I'm not breaking any land/speed records, but it's not about the time for me. It's about the fact that I'm doing it. 

So I did it. 

Then I did it again on Wednesday with the SBB.

And today we'll do it again and this time maybe even a little more.  Brian Carter Cellars will be at the finish line, as will Two Beers Brewery. If those two things aren't enough to get me motivated to finish nothing will.

So here's the plan. We'll do our Day 3 of Week 3 program first. That will get us about 2 miles into the 5K.  At that point, I figured we can just do the jog 2 minutes, walk 2 minutes to the finish line. I will jog over the finish line.  I will. And then I'll collapse. AFTER I have my beer or wine in hand.

3 Minutes in Paradise

Or was it two minutes?

Or, wait, it was 7. I think.

Y'all remember that necking game you used to play where you and some guy you liked would go into a closet and kiss for a specific number of minutes? You do right? This isn't just a southern California thing.  I think it was called 7 minutes in Paradise.

Note to the MomUnit: Look away. Skip the next couple of paragraphs. The story I'm about to tell has never been disclosed to you.  I don't think you need to hear it now.

I can't really remember, but I think it was 10th grade in which this game took place for me for the first time. I was a late bloomer you see. But I was at a party with some girlfriends, and some boys were there. There happened to be - oh wait - it was 8th grade, now I remember.  Anyhow, it wasn't really a party so much as at some one's house after band practice one day.

Anyhow, the parents of said friend wasn't home (a huge no-no in the rules the parental units set forth. I could get grounded for just typing this) and so several of us band geeks hung out after band practice one day.

One of the boys there, I'll admit I didn't know I had a crush on him until this point, drew my name from a hat and had to spend 7 minutes in paradise in the closet with me.

I was mortified.

I was thrilled.

I was petrified.

I remember vividly the door closing and the closet being 1) small and 2) stinky.  Said boy asked if he could kiss me. I don't remember actually say yes, but I do remember the kiss. Sloppy and a bit gross.

Yes, my first real kiss.  How come we can't forget these things? Why can't I remember my first REAL good kiss?

Anyhow, the point to this story is I jogged for 3 minutes straight today. Twice!

Upon finishing the second 3 minutes, and realizing I wasn't actually dead, or dying from the 3 minutes, the memory of 7 minutes in  paradise came to mind, only I changed it to 3 minutes in paradise.

I should mention, that jogging for 3 minutes isn't really paradise. Its hard. But I did it. At this rate, I'll be jogging, and finishing a 5 K by Friday.

No seriously. I'm jogging in and will finish a 5K on Friday. The Hotel Californiasoft Giving Campaign 5 K.  I won't, mind you, be jogging the entire time. But I will at least be jogging for 6, maybe 9 of the minutes. There is, after all, a beer garden waiting for me at the end. That should entice me to jog more.