At last we arrived in Denver to stay with Skip’s daughter Jen and husband Bill for a couple of weeks. We have so much fun hanging out with them. Bailey had the pleasure of meeting his nephew Chester for the first time where he assumed the role of the grumpy old uncle. Poor Chester didn’t know what to make of this dog staying in his house who didn’t want to run around and play.
Our journey continued to the southeast side of the park where we visited the beautiful lake area. Lake Yellowstone is the largest high elevation lake in North America. I was struck by the range of blues and greens in the water.
We enjoyed lunch at the elegant Lake Yellowstone Hotel where Jen and Bill had spent a summer working while they were in college and fell in love with the West. I liked this area as it was much less crowded than the other spots we visited.
On our first day of exploring Yellowstone we decided to drive the furthest away to Mammoth Hot Springs and work our way back. In hindsight it would have been better to split the stay between both ends of the park but we were limited by dog-friendly hotels.
Ever since we sold our boat we’ve dreamed of sailing back to the places we loved the most. The remote islands of the northern Exuma chain in the Bahamas are not easily accessible. That’s the reason why we loved it there so much. The unspoiled, uncrowded beaches and glistening turquoise waters are only 30 miles from Nassau and the best way to visit is by boat. Luckily, our sailing/cruising/travel buddies Rick and Eva had the same longing as us. Rick found us a charter boat from Navtours that we could take one-way from Nassau to Staniel Cay in a week. The plan was expertly formed and executed! Continue reading “Exumas, We Love You!”
We had one of the funnest vacations ever on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. The entire ship is chartered for blues music fans and musicians. We’re talking live music day and night all week long!
The Holland America Koningsdam is a brand new ship and it’s beautiful. We were very comfortable leaving Ft. Lauderdale in high seas and lots of wind. The cruise had a rocky start when the power went out to the entire Port Everglades. Luckily, we arrived early and were already checked in through security and allowed to board. Everyone else had to wait in long lines outside until power was restored.
The ship made 3 stops and we had 3 days at sea. We’ve taken cruises before but they were nothing like this one. First of all, all of the old people were really cool and there were NO kids! The entertainment was all music with 6 venues and musicians performing multiple times all week. By the end of the week, they were joining each others performances and jamming together all night long.
There were theme nights where people got all decked out in costumes. No formal night – it was pajamas! We enjoyed the casual atmosphere and people-watching. It looked like the crew was really having fun along with everyone else.
Bon Voyage!
Continue reading “Blues Cruisin’”
Our last trip to Cat Island, an out island in the Bahamas, was in 2010 on our boat. It was a lot easier getting there by plane although we did have a weather delay out of Ft. Lauderdale that left us with very little time before our connection in Nassau. I was happy to land on Cat Island after a 45 minute flight on an aging plane with no air-conditioning!
Our best sailing and traveling buddies, Rick and Eva, invited us to stay with them at one of their favorite resorts, Fernandez Bay Village on Cat Island. Our little cottage on the beach was the perfect setting for a relaxing and fun vacation. Continue reading “Back to Cat Island”
The blog is getting a little stale because there’s not much to write about when we’re not traveling. We’re just enjoying life in paradise! Continue reading “Blog update…long overdue!”
My sailing blog is now a decorating blog! Sorry, I’ll get back to sailing topics some day but everyone keeps asking for photos so here they are:
The front entry looks better with new plants
Continue reading “Sailing blog morphed”
Skip was released from the hospital on Friday. They switched him to oral antibiotics and he’s healing well. He sees the doctor tomorrow and with an ‘all clear’, we’ll get ready to leave on Tuesday. He was pretty tired on Friday but after a good night’s sleep (without someone waking him up every hour) he felt better on Saturday.
The weather turned nicely warm and sunny. At least we don’t have to have the heater on all the time! We took out towards Tybee Island and stopped at Fort Pulaski to look around. Skip grew up near Savannah and remembers what it looked like 40 years ago. He said that Tybee hasn’t changed much.
Fort Pulaski
Continue reading “Skip Freed! Journey will continue”
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