A Fortress With a View - Caribbean Winter Retreat - Day 6

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 "Hello, my name is Pompy." With that simple introduction we were off on another driving tour at our second port-of-call, St. Kitts - one of two islands that make up the tiny nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. While waiting on our tour to start, we had taken a short walk around the port and capital city of Basseterre and quickly surmised that this was, in all honesty, quite a poor country. Businesses, houses and even government buildings were shabby and in disrepair. The streets were crowded and littered with trash. Obviously, our first impression of St. Kitts was not very good. Things did improve somewhat once we were able to leave Basseterre on our tour and some of the lush natural areas of the island came into view. Unexpectedly, we started and ended most of our tour privately with just us four and our driver, Pompy, in a small bus that could accomodate up to 14 people. We did make one detour to pick up some obnoxiously loud and brazen Texans who had went to the beach earlier that day on the slightly more upscale side of the island and needed transportation back to the port. Once we got rid of them, the scenery and the peacefulness got much, much better. Our first stop was at the former Romney Manor Plantation . This is an interesting place historically, as well as, the current home of a thriving artisians studio known as Caribelle Batik, an early form of tie-dying clothing. The plantation grounds are also now a beautiful botanical garden. Our final and best stop was Brimstone Hill Fortress, a hand-built 18th century stone fort sitting high up in the lush rainforest with tremendous views of the coastline and neighboring islands. Today was another rather short day ashore, but it was, of course, New Year's Eve and time to start preparing to ring in the new year. We counted down the year 2008 and brought in the year 2009 out at sea on the main deck around the pool area as a live band played and thousands of our shipmates cheered with us. Not quite the celebration we saw in New York City a few years ago that topped 1 million participants, but still a pretty uniqure way to usher in the new year. Evelyn turned in early and Matt hung out a with a gaggle of teenagers he had befriended on the boat within a day or two of sailing. We were thinking of turning in early as well after we finished our bottle of champagne just after midnight, but strolled to the Lawn Club on the back of the boat to escape some of the melee around the pool area and struck up a conversation with some nice folks from Texas (obviously not the same ones from our earlier tour experience) and New Jersey. Three hours and another bottle of stolen champagne later (Rob says it was justified...who charges $30 for two glasses of champagne on New Year's Eve??), it was bedtime. Another great, long day cruising and the end of a great year for us and the start of what we hope to be yet another one.

San Juan via Orlando -Caribbean Winter Retreat - Day 5

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 Today was our first port of call, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our amount of time in port was rather limited (2 to 10 PM) as were our options for shore excursions. We arranged a private car tour of Old Town and the rest of San Juan via Fairway Transportation - we highly recommend their services: http://fairwaypr.com/index.html. Our driver, Orlando, picked us up at the port in a beautiful new Lincoln Navigator and we were off in style. Besides the comfort and class of our car, it was also a relief to have someone driving who knew the area and how to navigate the crazy traffic in San Juan. Man, what a mess! Tiny, crowded streets and what Orlando called the "Puerto Rican way" of driving (i.e. half-hearted observance of stop signs, aggressive merging and constant tailgating) would have made any visitor behind the wheel a nervous wreck, but he took it all in stride with a smile. Orlando gave a great tour and provided a lot of information about his city, his U.S. territory and his people. We wound around Old Town with stops at the two forts that flank the city (the latter included a beautiful park encompassing it and a seaside historic graveyard), a couple of beautiful churches, the capitol building, the governor's house, the business district in the newer part of San Juan and the large Hilton proprety that lies between the new and old sections of town ( this was a request by us for future reference in case we want to stay here again). After the tour, Ashlee and I made the foot-climb from the port back up into Old Town for a peek in a few shops and a stop for a couple of beers at the Old Harbor Brewery (San Juan's only microbrewery). Well worth the walk! As we wondered back to the ship for our late evening departure, we surmised that another visit to San Juan and some of the rest of Puerto Rico is definitely on our list of things to do in the future.

This Ship is "The Noise" - Caribbean Winter Retreat - Days 3 & 4

December 28 and 29, 2008

According to my 17-year-old nephew, when something is great it is referred to as "the noise." I guess then if something sucks it's "'the silence?" Well, the Celebrity Solstice upon initial inspection is definitely "the noise." Utterly beautiful from bow to stern. We spent the first day and half at sea just wondering around this uber-tug taking in everything it had to offer. And some of things it offered have never been on a cruise ship before. This includes a Lawn Club of a half-acre of real grass and a glass-blowing studio with working artists. The Lawn Club offered golf putting, croquet and a new game we learned on board: bocce ball. Other interesting accoutrements (see photo insets) included glass elevators, wine-tasting vending machines, an ice martini bar and a large live tree in a planter suspended in the aforementioned elevator atrium. The staterooms were extremely nice with plenty of room inside and out on the balcony, comfy beds and large flat-screen TVs.

Texas Hold 'Em and Florida Sold 'Em - Caribbean Winter Retreat - Day 2

Saturday, December 27, 2008 As we anxiously awaited getting on the new Celebrity Solstice cruise ship on Sunday, we had a Saturday to kill in south Florida and of course there were many things to choose from to do but in the end we stuck to some of our old favorites - just in new places. Rob spent most of the day at the somewhat new Seminole Hard Rock Casino playing in a poker tournament and although he missed making the money by just a few spots - he placed 14th and the payout was for the top 7 - he had a great time and gave the casino and its surrounding dining and shopping complex high marks. Ashlee, her mom and Matt spent most the day shopping in the Seminole complex and then a little distance north at the huge Sawgrass Mills Mall. The shoppers had fair results but reported that the mall while very nice was extremely crowded with after-Christmas shoppers. The ladies were exhausted, and after we checked in our room in downtown Ft. Lauderdale, they were content with take-out food and watching movies on TV. Rob and Matt ventured out for dinner (and a few brews for Rob - see his beer blog entry: http://seerobsbeerblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/big-bear-hunting-in-south-florida.html) at Big Bear Brewing a half-hour north in Coral Park. The food and beer were excellent. The restaurant was busy and beautiful. Definitely a must-return when in this area again. We are on the boat tomorrow and cannot wait for the experience!

Travel and Taste Buds - Caribbean Winter Retreat - Day 1

Friday, December 26, 2008 Planning a major vacation right after Christmas has been a bit more hectic than we thought it would be. but fortunately day one of the trip went fairly smoothly after a bit of a crazy start. We (Rob, Ashlee, Ashlee's mom, Evelyn, and our 17-year-old nephew, Matt) departed Chattanooga at 3 AM - yes 3 AM! - on the Atlanta airport van-shuttle in the pouring rain. This was after we discovered that Rob had left the sun-roof open on our Honda CRV (packed to the gills with luggage) while the rain had moved in overnight. Except for a couple of wet butts, it wasn't a major catastrophe, but along with the inclement weather we had to drive in, it wasn't the smooth start we had been hoping for. The van-shuttle was comfortable for the most part and the driver did well although Ashlee and her mom thought he was a light lead-footed once we got to Atlanta, but he got us there in one piece and the always-busy Atlanta airport and the flight on Delta went as smooth as can be expected. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 9 AM, gathered our ton of luggage for this ten day trip and picked up a rental SUV at "ACE Car Rentals" (it was the best deal we could find on a vehicle that could hold us and all of our luggage). ACE is a no-frills off-site rental agency that we discovered we had used before and forgotten about (their records indicated we had rented from them in 2003 - ah yes, that little Mitsubishi convertible that was so hard to see out of). Of course, you can't blame ACE for Mitsubishi engineering and they delivered us a Toyota Highlander this time that has worked very well so far in terms of our luggage and comfort. For the price these guys do a fairly good job and are a decent choice to use in the pricey south-Florida area. Another bonus this trip is that their off-airport rental site is actually very close to the cruise-ship port and they are going to give us a lift to the boat when we drop off the car on Sunday. All of us were fairly beat when we got to Florida after such an early departure (Rob, Matt and Ashlee basically pulled an all-nighter and only dozed off an on throughout the evening and early morning). We headed north from the Ft. Lauderdale airport bound for our first night's lodging in Juno Beach. We chose to stay in Juno Beach so we could have dinner at our favorite south-Florida restaurant, Captain Tony's Reef Grill. This saved us from a hundred-mile round-trip for dinner like we have done before when staying in Ft. Lauderdale (see May 4, 2008 blog entry: http://collagebarrage.blogspot.com/2008/05/100-miles-round-trip-for-dinner.html Our our way to Juno Beach we took care of immediate business and stopped for lunch in Lake Worth at probably our second-favorite south Florida eating establishment, Too Jays Deli, a regional chain that dishes out New York-style (and size) sandwiches and such. Lunch was huge and delicious, as usual at Too Jays, and it just made us all the more tired and sleepy. We were able to check in to the Juno Beach Hampton Inn a couple hours early and we all crashed for much-needed afternoon naps ( 5+ hours may be considered more than just a nap!). We woke from our slumber just in time to - guess what? - eat again, of course. We drove a mile or so north up Hwy. 1 and found Captain Charlie's Reef Grill overflowing with patrons at 6:45 PM on a Friday night - did we mention the food here is incredible? It was going to be a 30- to 45-minute wait, but we weren't going to let that scare us off. Fortunately, Captain Charlie has "expanded" his restaurant by adding a waiting bar in a suite a few doors up (don't forget it's in a strip mall). It was all of 45 minutes in our wait, but it was well worth it. The seafood was superb an included a snapper-cake appetizer, a rock shrimp and Gorgonzola cheese entree for Ashlee, a pepper-crusted swordfish entree for Rob and two dozen steamed mussels for Matt. Evelyn stuck with a house salad (which was also huge and fresh) but sampled everyone else's dishes as well. This was Evelyn and Matt's first trip to Captain Charlie's and they were impressed. This was the fourth visit for us and we are already planning a return trip as soon as we can. In regards to that, we ambled over to Hwy. A1A after dinner to take a peak at the ocean. Near the restaurant we found a Hilton property that we crashed so as to get to the beach and it turned to actually be quite the discovery. We are very Hilton-loyal in our travels because for the most part Ashlee racks up a ton of points with them when she travels for work, but also because their properties are consistently clean and safe. We will definitely return to this property, Hilton Singer Island, as proper guests. The hotel and grounds are very nice, it's right on the beach (and what a lovely beach it is), it's located in a quiet, mostly-residential area and it's only a couple of miles from Captain Charlie's. Need we say more! Day 2 will be spent back down south in Ft. Lauderdale as we excitedly prepare to board the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship on Sunday.

Well, it had to happen eventually....

...when you take two "trips of a lifetime" in a two-year period, it's gonna be hard to fit all that you have done in one frame. So, for the first time in 16 years, the years of 2007 and 2008 have their own separate collages. Putting these collages together is always a great way to remember what we've done and seen over the last year (or two). These "pre-blog" events were just some of the highlights: 2007: - Ringing in New Year's Eve in Times Square in New York City with 1 million others. - Our amazing trip to Europe which included a wonderful Mediterranean cruise from Rome, Italy, to Athens, Mykonos and Santorini Greece as well as Ephesus, Turkey. Then we flew to Zurich, Switzerland, then Venice, Italy, and finally one memorably perfect night in Paris. Man, what a trip! - Live performances by Dave Attell in New York City, Patty Griffin in Nashville, Pat Monahan in Nashville, Nightwish in Atlanta (for our nephew, Matt), Tennessee Vols football, The Tennessee Titans and Duke University basketball in Charlotte. - Great festivals like Bele Chere in Asheville, the Southern Brewer's Festival in Chattanooga, and the Americana Music Festival in Nashville. - Memorable movies like Blades of Glory, We Are Marshall, Oceans 13, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Simpsons and Fred Claus.

Early 2008:

- New Year's in Chicago including a great meal at Sepia Restaurant and the discovery of some great champagne at Pops of Chicago.

- Our great trip to Las Vegas that included some non-gambling activities such as a visit to the Ansel Adams: America collection at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay and a great meal at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

Shall we gather at The Tabernacle

Saturday, November 22, 2008 Our road trip to Atlanta this past weekend was way too brief, but it was enjoyable. After checking into the Embassy Suites downtown and partaking in the manager's free cocktail reception in the lobby (woo-hoo!), we hooked up with Ashlee's long-time friend, Terry, for dinner at Spoon, a small Thai restaurant just off the GA Tech campus. Excellent food and fun. We couldn't talk Terry into going to the concert with us just down the street at The Tabernacle and that's too bad because he missed a pretty good show. There were four bands playing with one of our favs, Augustana, slated third to play and the show started at 7 PM - we arrived at around 8:30 - plenty of time to see Augustana's full set, right? Uhh, wrong??? They were more than halfway thru their set when we arrived and it was only an hour and a half into the show?? Granted, the two bands before them we had never heard of but what did they play? Two songs each?? It was a bit of a disappointment that the one time we plan to be "fashionably late" to a concert it bites us in the butt. On the bright side, we were able to see a half-dozen or so songs performed by Augustana including a nice acoustic version of "Sweet and Low" and a rousing cover of The Traveling Wilburys' "Handle Me With Care." It takes guts and talent to pull that one off and they did it flawlessly. They closed their set with another strong cover of the Delta blues-rock classic, "Baby, Please Don't Go." As we waited on OneRepublic to take the stage to close the show, we wondered around The Tabernacle and were very impressed with this venue. It's a beautiful old historic building with tons of general admission seating on the second and third floors plus the open first floor in front of the stage. Acoustics and sight-lines were good and the location in downtown Atlanta next to the Olympic Park was safe and convenient. We will definitely add this gem to our collection of places we would come to again. Back to the music. OneRepubic is a fairly new band birthed literally from the internet and MySpace. They have two songs that we had heard, so we weren't super-familiar with them. Reviews of their live performance were positive, so we were hoping for the best and actually got a pretty good show. The really surprising thing was that the 5-piece band is actually much more musically-talented than their poppy radio-friendly hits - "Apologize" and "Stop and Stare" - truly indicate. Lead singer, Ryan Tedder, has a strong voice with decent range along with great piano self-accompaniment. The most interesting aspect of the band was their use of instruments like the cello, the xylophone and the Spanish guitar that are not usually associated with a "rock band." While The Tabernacle is a fairly small venue, these guys might actually be more appreciated in an ever smaller more intimate venue (perhaps unplugged) to truly experience these instruments being used in their songs and not somewhat drowned out by rock-concert standard maxed-out vocals, guitar and drums. Overall, they put on a solid performance with good energy and flow that was worth checking out.