ImprompATL

We took an impromptu trip to Atlanta this past weekend. What started out as a mistake, turned into a nice little trip and the discovery of yet another great band out there that no one's ever really heard of.

The mistake was that a band we like a lot out of Canada, Blue Rodeo, recently announced on Facebook that they would be playing in Atlanta on Friday night, April 23rd. Note to selves: don't trust Facebook announcements until you actually see the tickets go on sale...turns out its June 23rd. By the time this correction was made however, we had already used the great new Travelocity feature: Top Secret Hotels to secure a room in the downtown 4-Star Holiday Inn for a mere $42. The one catch to Top Secret Hotels is that once the rooms are bought, you can't change the date or get a refund. At first we thought of just having to eat the $42 and chalk it up to a lesson learned, but after a little more thought and a call to our friends, Terry and Rex, who live in Atlanta, we decided that a quick trip might be worth it to visit some friends, plus Rex said a good band we had never heard of - The Bridge - was playing at Smith's Olde Bar (this is where Blue Rodeo will be playing) that Friday night and he had read glowing reviews of their shows. In addition, we thought it would be a good opportunity on Saturday to tour one of our favorite regional breweries, Sweetwater, which is also located in Atlanta. So off we went.

We left after work Friday afternoon for the easy 3.5-hour drive to Atlanta. Rex picked us up at the downtown Holiday Inn after we checked in. This was our first experience using Travelocity's Top Secret Hotels and we could not be more pleased. We got a nice non-smoking room on the 8th floor with a queen bed. The location is perfectly situated downtown within walking distance of Phillips Arena, the Georgia Dome, the Tabernacle (another great music venue) and Centennial Olympic Park. We are using this service again for upcoming trips to Las Vegas and Louisville and are really saving money. Probably even more so than our Hilton loyalty program.

The drive over to Smith's Olde Bar was quick and we found good parking nearby. We have been wanting to check this place out for a while and almost came down for another show a month or so ago, but got lazy in the end. Now we wish we had made that trip because this place is an excellent music venue with great acoustics and good sight lines. The three-level bar is non-smoking upstairs where the concerts are held and that's very important to us. It's a general admission venue with mostly standing room only, but we were able to secure one of the few tables available as we walked in while the opening act, Danger Muffin (great name), was well into their set. "The Muffin" was good with their laid-back beach bum inspired original tunes plus a solid cover of Seal's "Crazy,"

The Bridge came next and this quintet from Baltimore was extremely impressive. Granted, these fellas are not the best looking dudes in rock-n-roll by far, but they are gifted with a lot of soul and a lot of talent on a wide variety of instruments from the dobro to the mandolin. Their original music is strong and melodic and their closing cover of The Allman Brothers' "Whipping Post" was dead solid perfect. It's a shame there wasn't more of a crowd for them as the turnout was a bit sparse, but they mentioned the first time they played Smith's Olde Bar seven years ago only 3 people showed up, so this was a great improvement. We got to meet a few members of the band after the show as they handed out posters and signed them for us. We found out when talking to them that they just recently added a late show at Bonnaroo as well. We told them we would definitely see them there! After the show we did a bit of bar-hopping downtown and wound up at Rex's very cool loft near our hotel for a nightcap. His loft home is in a converted gasket factory building with exposed original brick, huge windows, high ceilings and a private roof-top patio with amazing views of downtown. Thanks for a great evening, Rex!

We slept in the next morning and soaked up our $42 room for all it was worth. We met Rex again and our old friend, Terry, for lunch at a pasta/pizza place that was very good. We sat and chatted for a long time as thunderstorms and rain showers passed through clearing just in time for us to head over to Sweetwater Brewing Company for a mid-afternoon tour and some tastings. The brewery is on a dead-end road in an industrial park next to I-85 and you have to be looking for it to find it, but we were definitely not the only ones seeking it out this rainy afternoon because the place was packed when we arrived. We got a souvenir glass and 5 tasting tickets each and while it was crowded in their tasting room, their expansive bar and numerous tap stations made it easy to grab some brew. See Rob's beer blog for more info on the beer we had. We jumped in the 3 PM tour line and got a quick run through of their fairly large (but regional) facility. Our tour guide was more of a glorified bartender and seemed limited on his knowledge of the brewery and it's processes, but it was still an enjoyable look-see behind the making of one our favorites regional brewers (Ashlee loves the Sweetwater Blue - a malted wheat beer with a hint of blueberries and Rob loves their Sweetwater IPA claiming it to be the best bottled IPA he's ever had...and he's had a lot of IPAs...again see the beer blog for more on that).

We headed back to Chattanooga after the tour to visit family and spend the night before heading back home on Sunday. Just outside Atlanta on the way back north we stopped at Pappasito's Cantina in Marietta, Georgia. Our friend, Brenda, had suggested this place for dinner and she was right on the money. Excellent fresh, high-end (without a high cost) Mexican food. The place was jam packed for a Saturday evening and we got lucky and were able to get in quick and grab a table next to the bar for dinner. Delicious fajitas and grilled fish tacos were the choices and both were fantastic.

NaFF '10

For the third straight year we participated in the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF) held this week at the Green Hills Mall Theatres. This has always been a great event to attend especially on opening and closing nights of the festival when a few stars seem to show up to walk the red carpet. In the past we have seen William H. Macy (also met him), Sheryl Crow, Ben Folds, Hal Holbrook and William Shatner (see previous blogs).

We started off on Wednesday, April 14 by attending the Patron Party with our friend, Carolyn, (photo below) a day before the festival actually began. It was a very nice tent party held outside the ground floor of the theatre building. It was all you could eat and drink with some tasty finger foods and good selections of beer and wine. There were literally no "big" stars in attendance that we saw, but their was one "minor" local celebrity we got to meet. And when we say "minor" we mean that literally as well since he is known as "Two Foot Fred." TFF is actually Fred Gill, a comedian and businessman in the Nashville area known for yes, his small stature. He is a member of the country "Music Mafia" started by the duo, Big and Rich. He has appeared in a few of their videos, on stage with them during concerts, etc. We actually saw him a couple of times as part of the cast of comedian, Larry the Cable Guy's Christmas specials that are taped in Nashville and we have been a part of the audience (see previous blog). TFF is a very nice guy who was all smiles when we asked for a picture (see below). The following evening we met Carolyn again for the Opening Night screening of "Nowhere Boy" - a biopic focusing on the early life of John Lennon before Beatlemania swept him into super stardom. The film stars young Aaron Johnson as the teenage Lennon and Kirsten Scott Thomas as his straight-laced Aunt Mimi who raised him for the most part. Both Johnson and Thomas were spectacular in their roles as was Ann-Marie Duff as Lennon's estranged mother, Julia Lennon. Unlike the fairly well known Thomas, British natives Johnson and Duff are relative newcomers to American cinema, but look to have bright futures. Johnson may be on the fast-track to American recognition as he has the lead role in the comic-book-to-big-screen movie, "Kick-Ass", which opens nationwide the following day of this NaFF screening. Perhaps that's why he was a no-show as far as we know for the screening as we promised by the festival literature. Or perhaps it was the rather strange fact that he (2o years old) recently knocked up the 42-year-old director of "Nowhere Boy", Sam Taylor Wood who was also listed to appear but did not that we know of, and is engaged to be married to her. Too much controversy for the meager NaFF? Could be, but more than likely the Hollywood glitz of "Kick-Ass" coming out the following day was more of an obligation to them than a film festival in "Music City." Despite the disappointment of not seeing or hearing from the film's star and director like we did last year with "William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet" the film was well-done and enjoyable. We also hated the fact that Carolyn was called away on a medical emergency (she's a doctor) just before the film started. Sorry, Caro, but the film will be released in the fall of this year in wider distribution throughout the U.S. We waited a week before returning to the NaFF and selected the Closing Night documentary, "Teenage Paparazzo", directed by Adrian Grenier, most well known for his role as Vincent Chase on HBO's hit show (and one of our favs) "Entourage." Carolyn joined us again as well as our friend, Paige. We were all hoping to spot Grenier on the red carpet before the screening as was again indicated by festival literature, but were again disappointed to find out he had to back out last minute. At least we were told this time because we still had no idea what happened on opening night to the scheduled attendees. Grenier even taped a brief apology to the festival goers that was broadcast before his film. We did get to see Brad and Kim Paisley of country music and TV/movie fame (photo below) being interviewed on the red carpet before the show. Brad had a short film preceded the main feature. It was called "When Mom's Away" and it was hilarious. "Teenage Paparazzo" tells the story of a 13-year-old living in California who has joined the packs of roving photographers that stalk celebrities in hopes of obtaining pictures to sell to tabloids and magazines for big bucks. Grenier was a target of this young photographer and was intrigued by his young age and passion for getting the shot. He decided to turn the camera around on the young man and follow this mere child into this bizarre world of late night stalking, car chasing and pushing/shoving for the shot. It's a very well-done and engrossing film, and very revealing about our society and culture these days in terms of celebrity (hey did we mention we got to see Brad and Kim Paisley!!!!).

We enjoyed our time at the NaFF this year and while our brushes with stardom were not as prevalent as in previous years, the films we saw were top notch. We may expand or experience next year and go for festival laminates that give us more access and privileges as well as try and take in more films during the week-long celebration of the arts.

A Touch of Gray

Several months ago we were lucky enough to win tickets to see the popular singer/songwriter, David Gray, perform at the historic and beautiful Ryman Auditorium (photo above) just a day before the tickets were to actually go on sale and we were planning on buying them anyway. It was a trivia question on Nashville's independent radio station, Lightning 100, about the worth of a U.S. Dollar vs. the Euro. After taking a bath in terms of exhange rate on our trip to Ireland last fall (previous blogs), the answer was quite easy.

The show sold out fairly quickly and we were excited to see the dapper English gent and his solid band perform on the famous Ryman stage. The tickets we won were excellent. About 20 rows back from the stage with only one balcony-support pole to the right of our field of vision of the entire stage (photo below). Gray's voice was strong and clear and his hour and a half show included all his well-known contemporary hits such "Sail Away" - "You're the World to Me" - "Babylon" and "The One I Love" as well as some songs from his new album, Draw the Line, which include the new singles, "Fugitive" and "Stella the Artist."

Thanks so much Lightning 100 for the free tickets as well as for bringing great music from the past and present to the airwaves of Nashville which are thick with twangy country and "classic" rock...is there really anything "classic" about .38 Special and Loverboy tunes?

The Tenth Time Is The Charm

We were geared up tonight for our tenth time seeing our favorite band, Train, at The Ryman in downtown Nashville (this would be the third time seeing them at this beautiful venue). We were even more excited about this particular performance because after the show we were going to get to meet the band! We had opted for VIP Meet-N-Greet tickets which not only gave us great seating right up front, but a chance to say hello after the show and get some autographs.

We began the evening with dinner at Watermark Restaurant and thanks to the mild early spring weather, we enjoyed outdoor seating for the first time this year with a beautiful view of downtown Nashville. Dinner was excellent and we opted for a seafood-themed evening with BBQ shrimp as an appetizer and Cajun-style mahi-mahi and a pesto-inhanced halibut dish for our entrees. We usually sample each other's dishes but tonight we did a complete swap a few bites in as we realized we liked each other's dish more (photos right and above). We also found a nice $25 bottle of sparkling wine on the menu from Spain and finished up splitting a trio of seasonal ice cream scoops with the pistachio being our favorite. We arrived at the beautiful Ryman (photo below) and found our seats just a few feet from the stage just in time to see the opening act, Butch Walker and the Black Widows, take the stage. These guys were awesome and Walker's front-man energy and voice were very impressive. Walker (photo below) is known more for his music producing than his music itself, but it's clearly evident his passion for performance is something that needs to be shared. The band's original songs are catchy and well put-together and hopefully their success and notoriety will grow. And the band's theme of "Little Guitar = Party" shows their wide-ranging musical talent. I mean who else gets that excited when they pull out a mandolin for their next number? They closed their set with a rocking cover of Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl" and Train lead singer, Pat Monahan, even took to the stage with them, complete with a cheesy fake John Oates mustache.

The Train train pulled onto the historic Ryman stage next and the sold-out theater went nuts. It is great to see these guys get the applause and respect from Music City that they deserve for cranking out great music for well over a decade. In these days of TV-show-produced "idols" and flash-in-the-pan gimmick acts, it's great to see a real American rock-n-roll band stick it out this long with their original members and continue to put out real quality work. The hour-and-a-half set seemed to fly by and before we knew it, the show was over. Or was it? We slipped on our VIP laminates and awaited instructions on how we were going to be able to meet our favorite band of all time.

This wasn't our first "brush with greatness" since we have had to the priviledge of meeting the members of another of our favorite bands, Sister Hazel, as well as one of our favorite actors, William H. Macy (see previous blogs), but this was the first time we were offered the opportunity at The Ryman. We were given a tour poster for the guys to sign, but we had already bought a beautiful original Hatch Print for the show that we intend to have framed. We have started a collection of these show posters by getting them framed and hung in our house as we can afford them (man, quality framing is expensive!). While it wasn't as casual an experience as the "mingle and meet" situations with Sister Hazel and Mr. Macy, it was organized and fairly personable. We stood in line and waited as each person or couple or small group met Scott (the drummer) Underwood (photo below far left), Jimmy (lead guitar) Stafford (photo below far right) and Pat (lead singer) Monahan (photo below center). All three guys were all smiles and very warm with hand shakes and arms around each other for our picture together. They gladly signed the Hatch Print (photo above) with no qualms and even personalized it with a "We love Ashlee!" They were impressed that we had seen them ten times and thanked us for the continued support. Kind of hard not to love these guys even more now than we have before. It's time to start looking for another chance to see them...in Chicago in August maybe??? We shall see!

Big Apple Bites

Long weekend in NYC

Saturday, Feb. 27 through Monday, March 1, 2010

We took off early Saturday morning on US Air on a dirt-cheap flight to New York City. The Big Apple and lot more of New England had just recently been hammered by yet another snowstorm that reported up to 20" of accumulation in Central Park. We monitored the flights closely beforehand, but had no delays coming out of Nashville. We had to change planes in Philly (please explain to us how airlines make money this way by charging less for more stops, more fuel, etc.??) which also had a good amount of snow but we had no problems landing on time. Now's where it got sticky...but not due to snow..instead our plane to NYC was coming from Scranton, PA, and had mechanical problems that keep delaying it 30 minutes at a time until 4 hours had piled up before it finally got to Philly. The really frustrating thing was that we were only 50 minutes by plane to New York and 90 minutes by train, but were offered no respite by US Air all afternoon. Man, what a sorry airline.

When we finally did get into NYC after wasting a whole afternoon in the Philly airport, it was smooth sailing as the roads looked good and getting a cab to downtown was without a wait. We opted for the Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel right smack in the middle of Times Square after securing a good rate and a ton of Hilton points to be applied on later travels. Our room was on the 20th floor and looked right down on Times Square itself (photo above).

Our planned 6 PM dinner reservations at a Cuban restaurant we heard good things about had to be cancelled thanks to US Air's pathetic performance. So, we had to opt for the Glass House Tavern across the street from The Barrymore Theatre near our hotel where we had tickets to see the new David Mamet written and directed play: Race. The Glass House Tavern actually turned out to be pretty good with decent fare including a yummy rock shrimp pot pie appetizer. The strangest event at dinner was after we had eaten and our waiter dropped a plate nearby that shattered sending fragments in every direction including right into Ashlee's cheek dangerously close to her eye. The waiter wasn't overly sympathetic when we showed him the shard and he offered us "something free" despite the fact we had just finished dinner. "How about knocking off some of our bill, buddy?" we thought. He obviously didn't read our minds and delivered our full check. Oh well, there went a good tip for you, young man. We probably could have raised a stink with the management and got a comped meal, but that's not really how we roll. But, we also don't forget mediocre service and won't be back there or recommend it to anyone else.

We headed across the street afterwards to The Ethel Barrymore Theatre as throngs of people were moving in for the 8 PM show. We were surprised at how small the theater seemed in comparison to most Broadway venues (500 seats or more). Our seats were in the front row (a first time for that for us) and we were so close to the stage you could reach out and touch it. The place was packed and the 2-act play began promptly. Race is the story of a rich, white businessman (played by Richard Thomas of "John Boy" Waltons-fame) who is accused of raping a young, attractive black woman who he admits to have had a relationship with before. He seeks the help of a small, but very successful, law firm whose two partners just happen to be white (James Spader of recent Boston Legal fame) and black (David Alan Grier of comedic In Living Color fame). Also helping in the case is a young, attractive black female lawyer (Kerry Washington of Ray and Last King of Scotland fame) fresh from the bar exam who is learning the ropes from these two seasoned vets.

The entire play takes place inside the firm's law office and obviously, the sensitive topic of race is keystone onto which the lawyers must decide to take the case, and if so whether they can win it no matter what the guilt or innocence of their client might be. Mamet's work always tends to be volatile in terms of topic, language and characters, and you would think that the subject of race would be the end-all. and it was at times with terrific performances turned in by Spader and Grier. However, Thomas and Washington seemed somewhat underwhelming in their important roles and the play suffers from that in terms of being great and powerful overall in comparison to other Mamet work like Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed the Plough and The Spanish Prisoner. It was a very interesting experience to be that close to the stage during a Broadway production, and our opinions of Spader and Grier could not be higher, but taken in an overall context it was bit disappointing per our expectations due to the performances of Thomas and Washington.

It had been a long, rather frustrating day with the flight delay, the OK dinner that was still a second choice, and the Broadway play that didn't quite live up to our expectations. So, it would have been understandable for us to just pack it in early and try again tomorrow, but this is "The City That Never Sleeps" and we just couldn't give up on it yet. After chilling a few minutes in our room, we flagged a cab down and headed uptown to the Mercury Lounge to catch some live music from The Sadies, an alt-country band from Canada that we had heard good things about. We read that the Mercury Lounge is tiny, but gets excellent reviews on its acoustics. We agree with both. The place is VERY tiny only allowing 250 people inside, and the acoustics are top-notch. The reviews about The Sadies and their live show are also accurate. They are a fantastic live act. We arrived as their first set was starting and the place was packed. Good thing we had taken the risk and bought tickets beforehand just in case we wanted to go (at only $13 a ticket, it wasn't that much of a gamble). We were able to move up closer between sets and get a better view when they came back to the stage. To describe The Sadies sound is kind of hard to do with words since they tend to wander in and out of stylings from alt-country to surfer rock and back around again. Check out the clip below for a better understanding: We slept in fairly late on Sunday thanks to our long Saturday and Saturnight. We got up in time to grab another cab and take a quick ride up to Bleecker Street in the heart of Greenwich Village for our 11:30 AM food tour of the West Village. We took a great food tour in Chicago a few months back (see previous blog), so we thought we would give New York a chance to counter. The small 12-person tour was sold out and the weather was cooperating nicely with no precipitation and temps creeping up over the freezing point and mercifully no wind to speak of. Our guide was Heather and she did an outstanding job weaving us in and around the West Village to some of the many delectable eateries in the neighborhood. Here were our stops in order:

Amy's Bread - we stopped in this artisan bakery before the tour actually began to grab some hot coffee and some delicious morning pastries.

Famous Joe's Pizza - our first "official" stop was for some real crispy New York thin crust pizza which we all ate right out on the street. Excellent.

Rocco's - this Italiana pastry shop was amazing in terms of the choices they had available (photo below). We were supplied with mini-canolis that were just about perfect. More street-eating. Did we mention these shops are tiny and more of a grab-and-go kind of thing? Totally New York.

Fiacco's Italian Pork Shop - our favorite nibble of the tour came here with a deep-friend rice ball that wasn't the least bit greasy and incredibly flavorful. Again, we ate right out on the street as a group. Tons of fun.

Palma - this was actually our first venture inside an establishment to eat. Since it was the first sit-down restaurant on the tour, it could obviously accommodate us. But, we didn't go in and sit down. Instead we were led behind the Southern Italian restaurant where the original farmhouse from this property still exists before the area became so urban. You would never know it exists from the street. In the dining room/kitchen of this little villa we were given a wonderful-tasting dish made from boring old cauliflower. Who would have thunk it?

Centro Vinoteca - half-way through our tour we were invited to sit down at this Italian restaurant and wine bar and order a glass of vino if desired while we were served some delicious risotto from their menu while enjoying their street-scape window views (photo below).

It was time to stretch our legs now and take a history and architecture tour of the neighborhood, but before we got started we stopped at the Milk & Cookies Bakery where were each given a HUGE chocolate chip and oatmeal mix cookie. Still warm from the oven. Heavenly.

Our guide, Heather, did a good job of pointing out interesting landmarks in the neighborhood (such as the narrowest house in Manhattan - photo below) as well as other restaurants and shops not included in the tour but still worth checking out if you had the time. Our last stop was were we first met our tour group - Murray's Cheese Shop. This place is legendary and incredible in the variety of cheeses available - over 250 different varieties. We got to go upstairs above the store to the "classroom" where cheese classes are taught...who knew you could go to school for cheese. Once we were all seated were able to sample 3 different kinds of succulent cheese as well as a fresh salami. It was a perfect way to wind up a perfect tour. We highly recommend http://www.foodsofnytour.com/ if you are ever in The Big Apple. After the tour we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in The Village poking around in stores and checking out a local watering hole that Heather recommended, The Blind Tiger Ale House. Unfortunately, once we went in The Blind Tiger it was a long time before we came out due to great beer (see Rob's beer blog for more info on that), great atmosphere as the USA and Canada took to the ice for Olympic gold on TV, and great camaraderie from some nice locals who befriended us while we sat next to each other in the small pub. New Yorkers definitely get a bad rap in regards to their friendliness especially to visitors. Not only in the bar but everywhere we went in the city the folks were friendly, inquisitive of where we were from and how we were enjoying our visit, and more than happy to give out information and suggestions. It's been like that each time we have come to The Big Apple and it's part of the reason we keep coming back. As darkness fell we decided to forego another dinner reservation we had at a nearby restaurant participating in Restaurant Week and instead check out another suggestion from Heather, Little Havana on nearby Cornelia Street. Maybe it was the fact that we missed our Cuban restaurant reservation the night before, or maybe it was because Heather not only suggested it but also worked there part time, or the fact that it was owned and run by a 77-year-old Cuban national who still does all the cooking herself - but it was a decision we didn't regret because the food was delicious and we were the only ones in the tiny place until another couple from our food tour earlier in the day also came in to have dinner - good selling skills there, Heather! We slipped across the street to listen to a little live music but it was jazz and that doesn't do much for us so we called it a night and headed back down the glitz of Times Square to draw the shades and get some sleep. Monday was a lazy day for us as we slept late, packed up our stuff, stored our bags with the hotel and took another quick cab ride back to Greenwich Village. Yep, we had another Heather suggestion to check out: Bleecker Street Pizza - supposedly the best in the city and it definitely was good and cheap. We decided to spend the rest of our time just walking back toward the hotel and taking in the city on foot. We figured we would get a cab when we got tired but we never did making it the whole way back (about 3.5 miles) along with a few stops along the way for some light shopping. The plane ride home was uneventful (thank goodness) except for the fact that both flights (NYC to DC and DC to Nashville) were both pitifully devoid of passengers. Again, how is the po-dunk airline staying in business? Oh well, keep doling out the dirt cheap airfares US Air and we'll keep flying you and griping about you on our way to another visit to The Big Apple in April perhaps?? We shall see.

"We Can Drive It Hoo-ome... With One Pro-pell-or" - Western Caribbeean Cruise Day 7 (and 8?)

It was our last day of the cruise and another "fun day at sea" for us coming back from Roatan to Tampa. It gave us time to relax and look back and laugh at the wonderful and wacky trip it had been such as the station wagon we ate warm fruit out of in Belize (and didn't get sick) as well as the dumbest chicken in the world in George Town, Grand Cayman (photos above).

The four of us dressed up for dinner one last night (photos below) after spending the afternoon emptying a litre of duty-free vodka we had sneaked aboard in a water bottle in Roatan....shhh, that's an old Mexican trick we learned a few years ago on another cruise.

We got the news late that afternoon.

Well, the daily onboard newsletter proclaimed it "An extra half day at sea!" but what it really boiled down to was a mechanical glitch that caused one of the ship's two huge propellers to stop turning sometime on the way back to Tampa dropping our speed in half and thus delaying our return by eight hours. This, in turn, caused us to have to rescheduled our flight home and cancel our Valentine's dinner plans back in Nashville. We give Carnival Cruise Lines all the credit for handling the situation very well with constant onboard updates of our status, opening phone and internet access for folks to rebook and contact those waiting on them about the delay, putting up passengers overnight in hotels if need be for rescheduled flights (which we did) and including dinner and breakfast vouchers as well. Luckily, Monday was a holiday for us anyway so it didn't mean anymore missed time at work.

We got off the boat around 4 PM and hopped on a prearranged bus over to the Airport Marriott. This isn't a Marriott BY the airport, this is a Marriot IN the airport. Very cool. Thanks, Carnival. The hotel lobby and bar was full of cruise ship passengers waiting to take the next cruise on our boat. They had been there all day waiting to board with Carnival vouchers so most of them were pretty tanked. It just so happened that our friends from Chattanooga, Lavonda and Tim, were in Tampa for the weekend and we decided to all get together for dinner at a place that we heard had great reviews, The Z Grille. Amy and Jeremy got sent to a different hotel and decided to just hang around there for the evening. Our new foursome had a great time at The Z Grille with some amazing food (the reviews were spot-on) and drinks....not a bad way to spend Valentine's Day after surviving Belize and a crippled cruise ship.

Our rescheduled Southwest flight (no charge to us - thanks SWA!) was early the next morning but it was easy to get to the gate since we were already in the airport. We flew back into Nashville with a couple of inches of snow and ice on the ground but we had no delays and a smooth landing. Good to be home but this cold weather really sucks!

Isla Roatan - Western Caribbean Cruise Day 6

After our "adventure" in Belize we had a bit of an uneasy feeling heading to our last stop, Isla Roatan, Honduras. The country of Honduras has been in the news a lot the last year or so because of political upheaval including a presidential coup. Fortunately, this situation had us doing much more research before we left on this trip about the island of Roatan, the port of Mahogany Bay (photo above) and the excursions available there. Roatan is a good distance from mainland Honduras and was reported to be virtually unaffected by what was going on in the capital. Plus, we figured the cruise ship wouldn't go there if there was potential danger. As we cruised into Mahogany Bay our fears eased a bit more because the port was very clean and rather new looking.

Our excursion for the day was a visit to Maya Key which got good reviews on several websites that we trust per our research. Maya Key is a small private island located about 10 minutes car ride from the port. It used to be called "Fins & Flippers" and was just a day resort. Now, Maya Key is not only a day resort with a nice pool, a good beach, nature trails, a full bar and restaurant, plus a long pier for snorkeling off of to a nearby reef, but it's also an animal rehabilitation and interpretative center. We arrived just in time to see some of the staff feeding a half-dozen or so nurse sharks (photo above) that they were working with for proposed future interaction with guests....wow, that's gonna be a tough insurance policy to write! We also checked out some sea lions and stingrays they were helping rehab from injuries.

Next we ambled over to the pool which we had to ourselves. In fact, there was only one other family on the whole island with us. A visit to the beach was next and then we checked out the monkeys, jungle cats and plethora of exotic birds on site as well. We decided to try the snorkeling next off the long pier (photo above) and it was exceptional, probably the best "from the shore" snorkeling we have ever experienced in terms of fish variety and overall beauty.

Our time at Maya Key was much too short because it was the quickest stop of the four in terms of the ship docking, plus the fact we got a bit of a late start after sleeping in some from our previous day in Belize. We definitely would return to Roatan and Maya Key. Unlike Belize, beyond the port the homes, businesses and public area of Roatan were modest (photo above), but very clean and well kept . The residents seemed friendly, helpful and welcoming. Take notes, Belize, take notes.