Vacation 2011: Fun Day at Sea

Our second full day of the cruise was our "Fun Day at Sea". For Justin and Katherine, it was a "See How Lazy You Can Possibly Be Day at Sea". We didn't do anything! It was so nice, too. Around four or five that afternoon, we managed to drag our lazy bodies up to the one of the upper decks. We soaked in the beautiful views.

Do you see land?
Maybe now?
There it is! It is still somewhat hard to see, but that is the island of Martinique.
Don't judge me. I think I had just awoken from my nap. Being lazy is hard.
They showed movies on the big screen. We watched the first fifteen or twenty minutes of something, but I don't remember what it was.
Isn't the ocean pretty? There is something relaxing and even a little mysterious about her.

Some photos of the ship:

Being on vacation is no excuse for not exercising. We spent several afternoons up here. The wind was quite the hazard.

D'oh! So close.

A rain shower in the distance.

So pretty.
I love this man!

I keep trying to talk Justin into buying us a ship, but he keeps saying something about a $500,000,000+ price tag.

Vacation 2011: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Day two of our trip was spent in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Even though St. Thomas is part of the US Virgin Islands, they drive on the left side of the road. The first few days of our cruise were in jeopardy, somewhat, due to Hurricane Maria churning near the Puerto Rican coast. The weather cleared and we were able to sail on time, but we did encounter some rainy weather due to Maria. The entire day in St. Thomas was rainy and humid. All of the island tours were cancelled due to the rain and wind.

The visit wasn't a total flop because we got to visit our friend, Cole, who lives on St. Thomas. He moved to the island from Atlanta a couple of years ago and seems to really like living down there. We met him for lunch at Senor Frogs. It was near the ship port, so I suspect that it's a little touristy. Cole seemed to be a regular there and it was near his work.
These are some photos Justin took as we were leaving Senor Frogs. I was amazed at how hilly the islands are.

Cole has told us before how lots of tourists on the island will ask him if he lives on the island. Apparently, this is a question lots of people on the island are asked. They usually tell people they live in Miami and take the tunnel to work each day. This is unbelievable for several reasons, the main one being Miami and St. Thomas are over 1,100 miles away from each other. One of Cole's friends on the island made these decals for their vehicles. The photo below shows Cole's tunnel passes for the last couple of years.

After lunch, Cole very graciously drove us from the port to the downtown area.
They even have a Pizza Hut in Charlotte Amalie.

After wandering around the downtown area for a while, we grabbed a cab back to the port. Justin and I were somewhat surprised at how religious people on the island were. Nearly every store we visited had the radio on a religious talk show. Our cab driver was listening to the talk show and basically preached to us. She was very nice, so we just smiled and nodded. As we were walking back to the ship, we heard some music from an approaching vehicle. We turned to see an open bus-type vehicle dropping off some fellow cruisers. They were singing, clapping, and chanting. We secretly wished that we had been on that bus instead of in the church cab.

We snapped this photo before we headed to dinner later that evening.

When we returned to our room, our room steward had left this towel animal for us. These are so interesting to me! I'm easily entertained.

Happy Birthday, Pete!

Guess who turns seven today? I'll give you a hint...she's a girl with a boy's name.

If you guessed Pete, you're correct!

She and Annabelle got their usual ride in the car to Brewster's to get doggie sundaes. Pete actually ate her sundae this year. Annabelle usually eats them both.

Happy birthday, Stinky Pete!

Vacation 2011: San Juan, Puerto Rico

On September 11, Justin and I did what I'm sure many people were afraid to do - we flew on a jet! We haven't taken a vacation since August 2005, so I think we were due one. For years, Justin and I have talked about taking a cruise of the Southern Caribbean. One of the main things keeping us from booking the cruise was the fact that most cruises that hit the islands we wanted to visit originated in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In addition to the cruise fees, we would have to get flights to and from Puerto Rico. Previously, our budget wouldn't allow this. Earlier this spring, we finally bit the bullet and booked our vacation. I think we booked about five or six months before the cruise left. Needless to say, we've been incredibly excited for half a year.

It goes without saying that the tenth anniversary of one of the worst days in US history was on my mind. How could it not be with all TV news channels in the airport broadcasting memorial services? On a side note, I couldn't figure out why people were glued to the airport TVs, watching broadcasts that relived the day when four jets were high jacked and crashed into buildings and a field. Honestly, I really wasn't concerned about flying on September 11, 2011. I felt confident that security would be pretty tight that day and a flight from Jacksonville, FL to San Juan, Puerto Rico is probably not at the top of terrorists' target lists.

We chose to fly out of Jacksonville because we dropped off Pete and Annabelle in South Georgia. It also cost less to fly from Jacksonville instead of Atlanta. This was my first time flying out of Jacksonville and I was pleased. We paid $32 total to park in Jacksonville. We would have paid over $100 at the Atlanta airport. I was also happy to be flying JetBlue. I've never flown JetBlue and I've heard good things about them. They did not disappoint. We got there, safely, on-time, and with our luggage. You can't really ask for more than that! The comfortable seats were an added bonus.

Our jet being prepared for our flight from JAX to SJU.

Chilling before the flight.

Waiting for take-off.
I love flights that provide flight in-flight maps of your journey. Based on our altitude, we had been descending for a while as we approached Puerto Rico.
The airport in San Juan is slightly different than what I'm used to seeing at the Atlanta airport.

This sight convinced me that the airport in San Juan was actually a normal commercial airport.

Once we claimed our bags, we stepped outside to grab a taxi. It seems that tourism is a big part of the Puerto Rican economy because they have tourism groups who help people get cabs to their destinations around the island. It was around 4:00 p.m. and we wanted to get some food in San Juan. Since our ship didn't leave port until 10:00 p.m., we had plenty of time to hit a restaurant before heading to the port. Naturally, Justin and I ended up with a cab driver who didn't speak any English. Many of the people in San Juan seemed to know English and Spanish, but this lady did not. I would like to thank my high school Spanish teacher, Senora Jones, for being such a good profesora. I communicated to the cab driver that we wanted comidas bueno. She drove to a local restaurant and said, "Comidas bueno aqui" which means "Good food here."

I cannot remember the name of the restaurant, but Club Gallistico de Puerto Rico was next door.

Based on the signage below, I don't think much dancing goes on at Club Gallistico de Puerto Rico.

The food was muy deliciosa (very delicious)! Justin had a crab stew and I had an appetizer sampler which consisted of some kind of fried corn sticks, fried cheese, and mozzarella sticks. Don't judge me for eating so much fried food. It was our vacation. The service was also wonderful. After we ate, we got another cab and headed to the port. We stopped at a grocery store to grab a couple of bottles of wine for the cruise. San Juan seems like a typical US city.

There's the Carnival Victory, our home for the next seven nights!

Our room's decor appeared to be straight out of the late eighties or early nineties. What was so surprising to us was that the ship was built in 2000. I do not remember this being the style in 2000. You might not can tell this from the photos, but the walls are a peachy-pink color. They coordinated with the pink tiled bathrooms. This loveliness did not interfere with our enjoyment of the cruise, but it was puzzling to Justin and me.

We left the San Juan port right at 10:00 p.m. After exploring the ship for a little while, we found ourselves in the South China Sea Club, which is the ship's name of the casino. I played the $0.01 and $0.02 slots while Justin mastered roulette. After a little gambling, we called it a night and headed to our room so we could be rested for the next day in Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

Malley

When my sister and niece visited in July, they brought their newest family member. Miss Malley was nine or ten weeks old when she visited her cousins, Pete and Annabelle.

This photo makes her look all sweet and innocent. Looks can be somewhat deceiving. Just ask Pete and Annabelle.
Malley wanted to play, play, play! My little angels did not want to play with their new cousin. I think Malley was a little too hyper for their taste. Even Malley's veterinarian asked if she was always so active.

This little lady was worn out after a while of playing. Isn't she adorable?! She's about four or five times this size now. On her most recent visit, Annabelle did chase her around the yard a few times, which Malley LOVED!

Family, Food, and Zip-lining

Last weekend, my sister and niece visited Atlanta. They brought along my niece's new puppy, Malley. I'll post some photos and information about her in another post. They were visiting so they could go zip-lining in West Georgia. They had a lot of fun doing that, but were pretty tired.

They arrived Friday afternoon, so that evening, we dined at Murphy's in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but I think my niece would have preferred something a little less "fancy". Justin and my sister, Carrie, enjoyed the black bass special. They both said it was amazing. My niece ordered the pork tenderloin. She said it was really good, but she said she didn't feel well. I had the lobster cobb salad, minus the bacon, and it was delicious. It was light and just right.

For dessert, Justin enjoyed a scoop of ginger ice cream. My niece ordered The Bonzo cake. It was yummy! Carrie ordered the spiced apple and cranberry tart and said it was wonderful. I had the dessert trio and it was good! Mmmm...

Saturday evening, we headed to Flip Burger Boutique since my niece said she really enjoyed it when she's eaten there in the past. Carrie enjoyed a cheese burger, my niece enjoyed a bacon cheese burger, Justin enjoyed the steak tartare burger, and I enjoyed the blackened shrimp burger. For dessert, my niece and I each ordered a Krispy Kreme milkshake. We shared with Carrie and Justin. Those are the best milkshakes! My niece was disappointed that they didn't have the turtle milkshake this time, but she said the Krispy Kreme milkshake was really good.

After a trip to Filene's Basement, we called it a night. Sunday morning, we headed to J. Christopher's for breakfast. I love breakfast food! I was afraid it would be busy, but we got there around 10:00 a.m. and they weren't busy, yet. Not long after we arrived, people were having to wait for a table. Carrie had the pantry feast, my niece had chocolate chipcakes, Justin had a billy goat omelete, and I had just Bubba. It was delicious! My niece was slightly disappointed that her orange juice had pulp, but she was ok.

After breakfast, we headed home so my family could pack and head to South Georgia. We really enjoyed them visiting and hope they come back soon!

Photo sources: Murphy's, Flip, J. Christopher's