Wandering and Wondering

19/12/2023

Nothing better than a sunset at sea.

19/12/2023

Best laid plans. Life just isn’t predictable. Supposed to be in Bermuda. But instead tootling around the Atlantic Ocean with 75 mph winds and 22’ swells.

Don’t care.
With Will and Dave. A drink package, cards, naps and lots to do.

09/08/2023

How does 18 years pass so quickly? I just can’t make sense of it.

Will leaves for college next week so we took him and a couple of his friends to Busch Gardens and Williamsburg. Poor Will has a terrible cold so he got a scooter for Jamestown. More amusement parking tomorrow.

If anything, these past few days have showed me how still very young they are, what huge hearts of caring they have and what amazing people they are turning out to be. They are so big! But still so little.

No- 3 dogs, 3 -18 year olds, the food to support them and the HOT weather all squeezed into an RV that had a broken slide (the part that slides out to make the RV bigger) for two days and a $600 repair bill isn’t bad enough to outweigh these precious moments with them.

They are just like birds teetering on the edge of the nest ready to fly. One moment I want to shove them off the edge but the next moment I want to pull them back and say, no, not yet.

But they are so ready. 🩷

22/06/2023

Walked 33 miles in 5 days. Drank 5 Butterbeers. 45+ rides. Ate way too much food. And enjoyed every second of it. I blinked and now Will of off to college in two months.

Wow, time flies way too fast.

20/06/2023

Yes. More Butterbeer, Roller coasters and Dr. Suess for good measure.

19/06/2023

Celebrating Will’s graduation with Butterbeer and roller coasters!!

10/06/2023

An hour away. Caves and Steel Stacks. Pretty cool.

20/04/2023

Longwood in bloom. Gorgeous!
Planted for the season then dug up and composted, that’s a lot of work! 😳😳

10/04/2023

Bermuda, we miss you. ❤️

19/02/2023

Thanks George and happy birthday.
Good day to be reminded about the United States of America and all the history in our own backyards.

30/08/2022

Bermuda.
It just doesn’t need a filter. 🌴☀️

29/08/2022

Yes, why yes - I did get a hole in one with a 25’ putt on a moving cruise ship with wind as my foe. Will got one too, granted much less dramatic than mine. HA I still won.

I sat out this round of go carting and got pictures of Will and Dave. I am not a good candidate, too aggressive. Found myself wanting to run people off the track. Bad idea on top of a ship. 🤣

Treats, Gin Rummy, sunset and dinner. Pretty perfect day at sea! 🚢⚓️

28/08/2022

Day 5

Started the day with a humongous rainbow. That white spot in the left is a cruise ship. It really was a huge rainbow!!

Beach for a a bit. Will is now hooked on strawberry daiquiris (minus the rum).

Fabulous sunset, hibachi, and Will and I conquered the terrifying glass stairs.

26/08/2022

Day 4

Docked in Port Canaveral so the obvious choice was Kennedy Space Center. What a great decision- getting to see Artemis on its launch pad was simply spectacular! It will launch Monday for its first trial to the moon.

25/08/2022

Day 2

Cruised past the Atlantic Fleet as we arrived in Norfolk. Admittedly, it’s pretty impressive. Had the luck of meeting a fellow passenger that served in the Navy, in Norfolk and was able to tell us about each ship, its role and details. I would not have noticed the Navy patrol boats (with very big guns) watching the fleet without his observation. Was awesome to have a “guide!”

Parked (docked?) next to the battleship, The Wisconsin which was cool to run around and explore. Watched sunset from up top on deck 19 during sailout. One submarine had pulled out, off on patrol in the Atlantic. Could not help but think, thank you for your service… them being on a very different cruise than me!

24/08/2022

Can’t get a much better sail away than out of Manhattan. It’s a bit odd to see a cruise ship just parked right there!

Off we go on NCL Joy.

15/07/2022

Sunset…this day is done.
Grateful for another one tomorrow.

14/07/2022

Naval Air Station. An interesting slice of WW2 history in our own backyard.

13/07/2022

More hot chocolate. Mini golf- Dave declared the winner by 1 stroke but it’s sketchy; was the math right? Score card mysteriously disappeared. More beach, delicious dinner and storm clouds.

11/07/2022

Started with a walk. And a perfect day to be at the beach.

11/07/2022

Back to Cape May 🌞💗

Day 1 done and enjoyed.

04/07/2022

We would have arrived to Yellowstone today. But decided with the cost of gas, to keep the RV closer to home this summer. So, Gettysburg became our destination this weekend.

It’s a beautiful Park, just two hours from home. In a town that’s overflowing with history. It’s hard to not be introspective when you walk field after field where thousands and thousands of people lay dying or wounded.

1500 monuments and Will patiently let me take pictures of him with 1.5% of them that I found moving or worth pondering.

I don’t know if it’s my age or the world we find ourselves in that made me lean in closer, listen harder, learn more about this 3
day battle that 149 years ago took place from July 1-3. Time and time again through history because of circumstance, passion, intelligence, and pure luck, events are shaped. One man in the right spot at the right time to see the advantage of the high ground needing to be protected and History changed in that moment.

But it struck me, he had no idea that the moment, his decisions or actions mattered
so much until decades and decades later. The actions we take now may have not impact immediately. So do we not take them? Or take them knowing we may not know the outcome in our life?

It was humbling and sad to relearn the stories of Gettysburg. Two sides both adamantly holding true to their opinions. Their beliefs. 60,000 wounded or killed in three days. There is still discontent…confederate flags being waved by visitors, placed at memorials. Shirts sharing differing opinions on tourists.

I am glad we went. There is no better way to try and not repeat painful lessons from
the past by actually going to see… to feel where they happened.

And if you go, by all means, eat at Gettysburger- awesome hamburgers!!

27/10/2021

18/09/2021

Thinking back to our unplanned day in Seattle. Which ended up in Tacoma. At their zoo, which we all were not too old for.

Why do we start to think we outgrow these places? Hate that as grownups we forget things. Perhaps even really important things. Like going to a zoo.

01/09/2021

Ketchikan, a great, big beautiful Alaskan Island.

29/08/2021

Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls. I literally had an inch of water in my rain boots. The rain was that intense.

Wet.

Very wet.

But breathtaking none the less.

28/08/2021

Whales migrate from Hawaii to Alaska without stopping, over 2100 miles. There, they feed for 6 months, eating 22-23 hours a day. Then they head back to Hawaii.

Warm water to be romantic and have babies. But no eating while they are there. The ocean around Alaska is filled with minerals from the glaciers. So the ocean is rich in food. But Hawaii doesn’t have enough to support the amount they need to eat.

Weighing in around 40-50 tons, the size of a school bus, the momma whale feeds her baby on the way back to Alaska and loses 1/3 of her body weight to do so. Amazing to see them up close and in person. 😍

28/08/2021

Skagway, tiny little town that sprang into existence with the Yukon gold rush. It is working so hard to survive the effects of the pandemic.

One of the reasons we decided to go ahead with the cruise was knowing we were the only ship in our port stops. As a town, well State really, that relies fully on tourism, it is in many ways, hard to see how hard the struggle is. We supported local shops, ate local and really enjoyed the town. Our ship is well below capacity and this means having this wilderness practically to ourselves. With only 1029 full time residents, our ship added another 500 people.

27/08/2021

Ok, so Alaska is impressive. Very impressive. Yesterday we cruised through Tracy Arm Fjord. Wowsa!

Plan this trip for next year and book it now when all the cruise lines are having deals to lure people back. Costs less than a week at the Jersey shore.

24/08/2021

Stop 2 -MoPop, aka Museum of Pop Culture. Again, did not think I would like it as much as I did. Was a silly kind of fun to see iconic pieces of pop culture in person.

Of course after a teenage “I am going to die if I don’t get to sit and rest on my phone for a bit to recharge” break.