It’s been an interesting January; and very different from past years. I decided i wanted to spend some ‘quality time’ with my friends here in the USA.
It started with reservations on a Cruise. Those of you who know me, will be surprised to hear i signed up for a Cruise; … the things we do for friends! The initial Cruise included a stop in Cuba, which seemed worthwhile as well. That was promptly squelched by Trump. We then switched to a MSC Cruise going to San Juan, Puerto Rico, another location I’ve tried to visit previously but was thwarted by 2 hurricanes. It seemed like a good plan.
The month began by Carolyn driving Cinda and I to Florida, where we met Larry. We spent one night in Miami and Larry found the most amazing local restaurant with Flamenco Dancing. We were the only gringos in there and it was amazing. The music was made with a simple guitar, clapping and stomping, and it was unbelieveable.
Both a woman and a man danced for a very long time, what training!
Here is a short video of the man ….he really got into it !
That was great entertainment !
The next morning we boarded the ship with 2 more friends. I could hardly imagine a ship being that large. Very windy and rough seas caused the Captain to cancel our stop in San Juan… still haven’t been to San Juan :( The Cruise verified that a Cruise is not for me; but we had a good time: drank a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot, danced a lot, and even stayed up past midnight one night for their ‘new year’ celebration.
Here’s our group.
The entertainment was fabulous. We enjoyed a tour around St Thomas,
and discovered Jens's with these fun glasses.
In Nassau, trying to find free WiFi was a priority, Hard Rock Cafe won, then eating, walking, sunning, and drinking.
I was impressed by MSC's newly constructed ‘private island’ called Ocean Cay. Free chairs, umbrellas, and food; ... and many bars along the way. All in all, it was a good week with friends!
The rest of the month was spent with wonderful fun friends, Susan and Bruce
and their sweet dog, Lou, at Ft Myers Beach; sunning, eating, drinking, card playing, thousands of steps, and lots of laughs!
We also took the Key West Express 4 hours to Key West.
We spent a couple great days with another friend, Terri, who was our personal tour guide and made sure we had a drink at almost every bar on the Key... as well as other Keys along the chain! Check out my Facebook posts if you don’t believe me.
While I was at her home, I was the object of a lot of ‘blonde jokes’. The Earthquake shook my toothbrush into the toilet and plugged it up. My story and i’m sticking with it ! This was hanging from her door after the plumber left :(
We visited Hemingway's Home . Very interesting tour with facts about Hemingway that i knew nothing about. Interesting man. I did not forget to notice some of his 59 cats, all with extra toes (polydactyl), all decendents from his originals (so they say).
Back at Bruce and Susan's, Sally arrived. We took a Dolphin Tour in one of the Bays. The Naturalist was very good with interesting facts about dolphins and the bay. We were happy to have one dolphin that wanted to play and show off in our wake !
And we did a Beach CleanUp day with Tunaskin at Ft Myers Beach, and got great shirts !
Mission accomplished: I was able to spend some quality time with my bestest friends ! A HUGE thank you to all involved !
I was happy and had some guilt relieved when i received this photo from the Red Barn Cat Hotel where Mufasa is staying. It looks like he is running the place, greeting customers at the reception desk; and annoying anyone trying to get any work done on the computer ! I miss him :(
At 7am on 4 February I boarded an American Airlines flight from Ft Myers to Chicago to begin the rest of my Winter Adventure.
Stay tuned for that ‘unexpected adventure’ in the next blog.
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