Day 9

Antigua

Antigua welcomed us with rain. It's our last stop before heading home, and it's the excursion I've most been looking forward to: snorkeling with the stingrays.

It became like a routine to meet with Beth, David , Julia & Eli, have a coffee and go off to the gym with Beth, while Eli took charge of the 3 kids.

We did curcuit training class, which was very fun. Our instructor was encouraging , not pushy, with a Brazilian accent. After that Beth & I did some cardio. I took a treadmill by the fore window, and looked out over the beautiful island, for we were at port already. Watching the birds, ships, and all, I tripped & fell on my treadmill. Quickly righting myslf, I was only slightly bruised but adrenolin shook my body for several minutes, so I had to sit & relax.

Later, we got into swim suits. Beth, David, Julia, William & I took a walk into Antigua. Pushy vendors swarmed over us, as we looked for hair ties for Mike & Larry, and underware for David. The kids bickered annoyingly.

After a quick bite, at Windjammer, we headed down to the gangway to catch our boat to the excursion. The guide led us on a meandering path to the dock, where we boarded our flat sor of boat with about 20 seats, and after an 8 minute ride, where it rained the whole ride, the rain stopping along with us. Life vests were optional, as it was shallow enough for adults to stand.

William was at first reluctant, and I wasn't sure he would overcome his fear. David & Julia were OK with the water, but tailed of Steve Irwin made them fear the stingrays. The first ray came by, with a long whip like tail, with alien eyes on top of its head.

Michael enjoyed the stingrays and they enjoyed him! Two jumped into his arms. Larry too played with the stingrays, feeding it squid, it came back & kissed his hand. Wow!

Eli also had a great time with them, but Frankie stayed on the boat with that poor infection on her back. Sigh, without a doubt, that put a damper on her fully enjoying the cruise.

Hank took Julia out for some time. David felt one stingray, then lost his nerve. William said the stingrays felt like yogurt. I thought they looked and felt like "tree's ears", the brown, slippery mushrooms found in hot & sour soup, which I always joked looked like the beach at low tide.

After the swim, I thought Beth looked a bit miffed, which continued on through dinner.

We saw the show "Fast Forward" with the singers & dancers, including Bonnie from the Canadian's table, who did a great Flash Dance. Cool!

Dinner was formal, because it was New Years Eve, I wore my navy blue gown, which fit me like a sensual column. Julia was adorable in gold taffita & velvet.

Mike scowled his way through dinner like an angry storm cloud. Fine, let Mike and Beth stew, I was having fun. And speaking of fun, the French Canadians at the next table, were louder that ever, and that's saying something. Singing, banging the table, playing the spoons, dancing, noise makers, cheers, clapping...they were the life of the party.

David, with the Canadians (especially Evan, with the Maurice Chavalia voice) danced the French version of the hokey pokey, called the Boogy Woogy, which I got on video.

Dinner was delish! We went to trivia afterwards, I got 11 & the others got 10.

I did the "Family Disco" with William, to keep him awake. We walked here & there, finally all 5 of my nuclear family meeting on the main prominade at 11:45. We snagged a few glasses of champagne, yes, Mike & Larry, too. Toasted the new year right, and by 12:10 we were in bed.

Day 8

St Kitt

Will & I met Beth, Eli & the twins at the Windjammer for breakfast, then Beth & I headed off or an 8am total body conditioning class, although I would have been happy to go to a total turn into a slug class. Beth is such a good influence. Guilt further drove me to do 20 minutes of cardio.

I had some breakfast, played shuffleboard with David & William, bought them & Julia some towel animals. One of the small pleasures of a cruise is to come back to your cabin and find out what towel animal you have: monkey, stingray, bat, rabbit. Fun!


We met up at deck 3 and head down together en-mass to deck 1 to disembark, or ie it embark? Whatever, we get off the ship, and into a strip mall, all new construction and high priced sameness & pass through a few more dollars lighter to our bus, or should I say buses, as they are too full to seat a party of ten, and Michael goes on his own, which suits him well. Outside, skids of bricks waited to pave the way for more tourists' feet as the optimistic expansion proceeds.

Larry & I sat up with the driver, who told us to call him Earl, Duke of Earl, like what was written on the side of the bus, but his ID said something else, so Earl was like a stage name, the name goes with the job.

We learned that the St Kitt government planed the last sugar cane crop last year and will now work on building up tourism, as evidenced by the strip mall.

We drove up and up through streets lined with crowded, but clean housing, the gutters were clean (not like Dominica), the houses were poorly constructed and I doubt they could survive a hurricane.

We stopped at an overlook with a vendor. Then stopped again at a batik studio/store with beautiful, but highly overpriced goods. We swarmed over the frounds & took pictures. Then back on the bus.

Chickens, cows, and goats all roamed freely. We went to a 300 year old ruins of a windmill for sugar cane. We walked into the rain forest from there on a wide, clear path with steps made of logs & packed earth. We ate some almonds, fresh from their pods, opened by our guide with a rock. Larry and David tried their hands at cracking the pods, Larry was especially good. What a lot of work for 1 almond!

We saw plants, birds, and monkeys, well some of us saw monkeys.

Frankie kept up with us well. David and Will squabbled a bit and had to be separated. We went back to the bus for tuna sandwiches, lemonade, Sunny D, and coke. Then back to the ruins and there was a car parked in the way. How rude! The driver was agitated and squeezed by it, but scraped a fender on the rock wall.

Back at port, Mike & I went shopping briefly. We bought nothing, but the free samples of rum were yummy, coffee flavored. Hank, too went shopping, buying Cuban cigars.

Mike & I got on with 2 minutes to spare, we got showered & dressed for dinner . Smart casual dress.

Hank went to the dispensary for an ear infection, poor guy. But he a had to treat it or risk full infection while flying, which is painful. Unfortunately it cost $250 with meds (note: insurance reimbured it).

Day 7

Barbados

We have a 5.5 hour excursion planned. It was quite pricey, but includes lunch buffet & complimentary drinks.

The bus takes us to the catamaran, where our pleasant crew help us aboard, after we remove our shoes. Beth gave David some Dramamine, but I didn't give William any, as I think he has his sea legs by now.

We sail out to where the turtles are. Me, Mike and Larry snorkel out, Beth and David go, Eli goes, Hank too, but Julia asks for Michael to help, but then took my hand when I came; William needed much more coaxing, then went back on the boat to put on his mask, and was finally ready, when "all aboard" was called. William was so upset that he couldn't swim then. Everyone else got a good look a the sea turtle. Michael almost touched one!

Sailing to another site, we set anchor near the beach. A coral reef was 10 yards away. I swam Julia out to where Beth and David were, but she had to pee, and I say "just pee in the ocean" (I grew up on the beach) and she's like "yuck" So Beth took her back, while I had a nice time snorkeling with David. Side by side we swam, pointing at the fish.
We got back to the catamaran, the last ones on, and enjoyed a buffet. After which, I finally talked William into going in the water, on the beach side. He was happy, making pretend commercials for Barbados tourism.

The ride back to port , I regret that I neglected to put on sunscreen and laid out on the deck and got a bright pink sunburn.

Day 6

Dominica

We got up early for breakfast. Frankie, Eli, Beth, David & Julia went to the Magellan, the fancy sit-down restaurant. Hank, Will & I went to the Windjammer.

We packed rolls, fruit, & boxed cereal for the trip. Enough to make our Grandmas: Goldie & Gerry proud. They were notorious for stealing food from buffets.

Larry & Michael were going on a different excursion than the rest of the gang. They were going to the zip line tour, while the rest of us, 8 were going to the Trafalgar Falls & Sulphur Springs tour.

Down to deck 1 to go ashore, we didn't meet our party. I went ashore with William and Hank stayed on board ton deck 1 to wait for the other 5. We didn't know, but Eli was calling our room, looking for us. Eventually, we met & found our guide, Samuel, who I should take a moment to write about his character, for I could use him in a bit of fiction some day.

Samuel, a thin black man, with close-cropped hair, clear eyes, good teeth & a melodic voice. Like many in Dominica, he was rude, but in an ingratiating sort of way. Like he was clearly annoyed with the children chiming in, and said please let me finish, and said how he 'we all tolerate children' all the while, eh clearly didn't. He sang the Dominica national anthem in the taxi, and officiously bragged about his powers of perception, memory, singing, & other expertise. he told us he regularly calls into radio talk shows to express his opinion.

Likewise, the vendors were pushy. I bought nothing, at first. Not beads, bracelets, sulphur mud (good for the skin Mam), soap, etc. The sulphur spring was so so. Julia complained of the smell. It rained lightly. And I was afraid of the steep mountain terrain.

The Caribbean is a set of volcanic islands. The sulphur springs bubble up from the hot interior. They get about 390 inches of rain on Dominica a year. And the y have rebuilt it from the devastating hurricane David in 1979. Lush & green describes it best. We say coconut, mango, banyan, poinsettia, bird of paradise, Acadia, banana, cashew, palm (12 kinds), & cocoa trees.

Twice a week cruise ships come in, swelling the population of 74,000. There is visible poverty. People live in huts I wouldn't use as a shed. Yet their national anthem is prideful.

Trafalgar Falls is a steep ride up to a steep climb up log & gravel stairs. At the top, twin falls are breathtaking. How can so much water come down like that?

The ride back to the port was quiet. I find that on all excursions, we're loud & boisterous going out, and quiet (or maybe just exhausted) coming back.

After we got to the port, Frankie & Eli took William, David & Julia back on the ship. Hank & I walked around a bit and bought swim suits, Dominican spices and hot sauce. We met with Beth & took out money from the ATM: Eastern Caribbean dollars at the exchange rate of 2.6 to 1 U.S. dollar.

We went on board, and I found Frankie with David & William at the pool, which I was surprised to find was salt water. I swam with the boys, then hot tubbed, until our fingers & toes looked like prunes. We had ice cream from the soft-serve machine near the pool, which vends strawberry, vanilla or strawberry/vanilla swirl on the left; and chocolate, vanilla or chocolate/vanilla swirl on the right. We dried in the sun. Heaven.

We showered & dressed for services, it being Friday night. Hank led at first, then Larry. I was filled with pride. David, Julia & William did the challah blessing.

Dinner at 6, we signed up to the next day's activities. Then played a trivia game.

Day 5

St. Thomas, U.S. V.I.

We all met for breakfast at the Windjammer, Deck 11 (aft) at 8am, and since the ship was docked at 7:30am, we were treated tot he beautiful view of St. Thomas over breakfast.

The island is lushly green & hilly. Pastel colored homes & hotels, with massive windows to take advantage of the view, dot the hillsides. There's a sky ride, like the sky safari at the Bronx Zoo, that climbs up the largest of those mountains.

But our destination is Sapphire Beach.

OK the original destination is St. John's, another island. Beth's idea is to take a cab, a ferry, then another cab to the beach which is spectacular. But with 10 of us, the taxi being $10/person, plus who knows what for the rest of the trip, not to mention we missed the 9am ferry.

After some deliberation, we take a large taxi that fits us all-very nice-with an equally nice driver Earlin, an older lady with a 'traditional build.'

We ask Earlin to stop, so we can get the kids sunglasses, and she found us a nice pharmacy. Eli also got testing strips, at exorbitant price, and we all got bottled water.

The road snaked up and over a hill slowly to Sapphire Beach, we got out at the hotel, which had this free beach, and found a shady spot.

The sand is soft and very white, but the edge of the water is littered with bits of coral. The waves are soft, the water a gorgeous blue, and the clouds rained lightly on us for 10 minutes, then moved on. I swam out with the kids, the water was warm, but not too warm.

I swam out a little & stood on a ruond rock. David, Julia, William & Beth had snorkles & masks. The raved about the view. Mike, Larry & Hank borrowed masks and raved, too. I didn't think it could be much, but I borrowed a mask to see what there was to see.

Wow! That was a coral reef I was on. Fish swam around my feet & I didn't know it. Tiny white & blue fish swam in schools; big yellow fish rolled in the sand; pink an dgreen striped fish swam around the coral; beautiful dark blue fish, with electric blue fins; some other blue fish was flat & as large as a dinner plate. So close you could almost tough them...I tried, but they swam off, just slightly out of my reach.

I didn't stand on coral after that.

At one point William argued with David; it's a wonder it didn't happen sooner! I took Will for a walk in front of the hotel. Fragrant honey suckle lined the cobble stone path. And little lizards, not-so-little iguanas, and feral cats distracted my youngest from his grudge.

We ate the snacks we brought from the ship, feeding any bits that fell in the sand to the colorfully-billed ducks that lived on the beach as plentifully as seagulls at the Jersey shore.

We rinsed off & some of us changed into dry clothes to catch our 2pm taxi. Was is $10/rt or each way?

Day 4

San Juan, Puetro Rico
yoga
line dance
shore 3pm
shop 7pm

Day 3

We got up & took David, Julia & William to see Santa at Studio B on Deck 3, the erstwhile skating rink. A short line was followed by gifts & pictures with Santa. I took my own, rather than rely on the price-gouging professional photos.

The kids got beach towels with the Royal Caribbean logo with matching carry bag.

William's beach towel was stolen. He was in the arcade with Eli, and put it down for a minute, and someone took it. Outrageous! How could someone steal a child's present on Xmas?

I went to the 'Diamond & Gemstones' seminar thinking to get a watch in the raffle. It was a good strategy, as there were only 2 dozen people there, increasing my odds of winning. But they were giving out a pear neckless, which I didn't win anyway. It seems that you can save a great deal by buying watches & jewelry in the Caribbean. And there is no tax. More so, loose diamonds are not subject to duty. So if you're in the market for a diamond over $10k, say a couple or more carats, you can have your jeweler at home set it.

Diamonds were not in my vacation budget, but there were plenty of ladies there who I met, at least 3 were widows living on the upper East side. Wheels turn, numbers in the 8 figures come to mind, yes, double digit millionaires.

We went to a Beatles tribute band. William loved it, as he loves music in general, and the Beatles in particular.

The ice show was after that. All but Mike went, and they were a lot of fun, Dancing the Seasons or some name like that, with a funny "Time Warp" number. Beth, Larry & I were dancing in the seats along with them.

There was a family disco, which we took David, Julia & William to. William & David had fun, but Julia hated the volume. David did a good "Cotton-Eyed Joe" and other line dances, which I like to do, too. William just has a funky crunk dance he does.

Day 2

William was sea sick!

I wasn't feeling well, either. We tried to go to breakfast, but he collapsed into a fetal position on the hall floor & threw up. Frankie gave him a Dramamine, but even 3 hours later, he was still hurling. We went down to medical, on Deck 1, Mike, William & I. We accidentally went down the wrong elevator, and walked through the crew's quarters, and were chided by security, but then directed where to go.

The nurse at the dispensary told us Dramamine isn't for children & we took a pamphlet on motion sickness which suggested green apples and crackers. We made our way up to Windjammer, on Deck 11, the huge buffet style restaurant, which was to be our regular breakfast & lunch place.

On the way, we ran into Beth with David, who had just hurled a prodigious amount just outside Ocean Adventure. The cruise was starting to feel like a bad idea. Mike took David back to their cabin. What a nice thing to do!

At Windjammer, I asked the chef for some crackers, which she gave to me in a small bowl. I snagged a glass of water & a green apple.

The solicitous waiter, noticing how green around the gills we both looked, gave him a bucket and suggested Will return to his room, but we stayed. After cracker & apple William was singing! Yay!

Will went to kids camp in the afternoon & felt like his old self.

The evening was our first formal night. It was a joy to see everyone so elegantly dressed. David wore a suit, William wore a polo & linen shorts, Michael wore a suit & a scowl (but I won't let him ruin my fun!), Hank & Larry were splendid in their tuxes! I wore a purple, beaded gown, Beth wore a sparkled top & pants, Julia wore a black velvet party dress with rhinestones around the neck and pretty party shoes, Frankie wore a pretty, sparkly gown, and Eli wore a black suit with his tux shirt.

The table next to us was a bunch of French Canadians, the loudest of whom was Evan, and the couple at the end worked on the ship, as a dancer & a photographer. They sang Xmas songs at the top of their lungs & their ignorance of the lyrics didn't dampen their enthusiasm.

Funeral & Day 1

We woke up early to attend Paul's funeral. Driving to Poughkeepsie in gray drizzle, we took 2 cars, as the folk's neighbor & dear friend, Joan came, too.

Lisa met us with red-rimmed eyes. I chocked a sob in commiseration. A great service, I learned Paul was a Check from a wealthy family, a holocaust survivor, and everything the Nazi's didn't take, they lost went the communist came to power. He moved to Israel, where they gave him a rifle as he came off the plane & just like that he was in the army fighting the war for independence. After such a life of suffering, we knew him in what was maybe the happiest time of his life, when he was a grandfather.

It was very touching when William comforted David. William will also miss Paul, who always gave him chocolate, and a dollar whenever he mispronounced his name, which he did on purpose to William's delight.

After the funeral, we had to leave to catch the boat. We drove down to Frankie & Eli's; Mike & Larry with us; William, David, Julia with the folks and Joan; Beth went alone. We changed , the van arrived & we loaded it all up. Although they got there late, we got to Cape Liberty port in Bayone, NJ in plenty of time to stand on the interminable line.

By the time we got on board, it was time to "muster." That's an emergency drill, where we put on life vests & gather in our muster zone. Kids are given bracelets of the theme-park sort, with the muster location.

We had our first dinner in the formal dining room. Such good food! Such good service! It felt odd to eat in a restaurant & not wait for a bill.

We went to Ocean Adventure orientation, that's the camp for the kids, which turned out successful for 2 out of our 3 kids; David thought there wasn't enough supervision.

We turned in—end of Day 1!

New Jersey

Hank & I took Beth's room, Larry got Goldi's room, and Mike & William shared Richard's room.

I got up early Saturday to get to WW. My friends were so glad to see me. Dawn, Molly, Aida, Bernadette, Glen & Lisa. I felt so loved!

After WW I went for a manicure & wax. I never had a bikini wax before. Annie, who owns the nail place remembered my sister Annette. I will always appreciate how they made her feel like a queen.

So anyway, I thought she would just clean up the edges of the triangle, but instead she completely de-forested all the edges all the way around. She asked me to put my leg over her neck. It was as unsensual a process as can be imagined. Never since I was a baby, was I cleaned so gently & perfunctorily.

As a result of my beauty treatment, we were late for the Cooper Bar Mitzvah, at Beth Havarim, followed by a party at Powerhouse in Paramus, behind Gold's gym. Larry & William came to the ceremony.

Our kids were not invited to the party. Which I thought little of. But then, Russel doesn't know Larry & William so well. We had a great time with Stacey & Ian. I had 3 drinks, not finishing the last, but rather spilling it on Jeff, the rabbi's husband. The food was good, buffet style. Hank was the designated driver. How sad to leave my friends! Chris said I was her inspiration! And how lovely she looked! Bonnie, Gary, Barry, Ash. Familiar people, but not good, close friends, yet more welcome thatn almost any face in Macomb. It felt good to be with a large group of Jewish people again, too.

We went back to Frankie & Eli's and got changed for our next visit. We went to Tom & Melissa's for bridge at 6pm. We miss them the most. Funny, Hank turned into Dunnery Court, where our old house was, out of habit, instead of going another half block to Tom & Melissa's. They were wonderful! It was like no time had passed. Mandy was ther, so tall, athletic & lovely. I've known her since she was little & feel an aunt's pride in how nice she's turned out.

I was designated driver at their house, We played maybe 3 rubbers, witching partners at each. Poor Hank, had cold hands all night.

Fogged in (cont)

We made our connection in Detroit, a much larger airport than that podunk Peoria, with lots of shops & restaurants. Hank got a calzone, I got an orange, trying to be healthy, The big boys got pizza & William got milk.

The flight itself was fine & we got into NY, Laguardia around 10pm.

Eli picked us up at the baggage claim. He had the van, but we had so much luggage & so many people, we had to sit 5 in the back seat (anyone remember that song: It's My Car?). William sat on my lap on the right, Hank on the left, Michael in the middle, with Larry laying across on our laps.

We were squished, but so happy to be with Eli, to be off the plane & to be back on the NY area again.

As we got into NJ, route 4, Larry asked us what stores we passed, as he couldn't see from his vantage point. Gleefully we read the passing stores.

We got to Frankie & Eli's at about 11pm. So sad we couldn't get to Stacy & Ian's for dinner! Frankie was so happy to see us!

Fogged In Flights (news article)

(repost of http://www.week.com/news/local/12755197.html)

By Syreeta Baker

Nearly 9–million people will get to their holiday destinations by plane.
Friday, those trying to fly out of central Illinois got fogged in.

Between the Greater Peoria Regional Airport and the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, more than half of today's flights were canceled or delayed. But that didn't dampen all air passengers' spirits.

Some airline passengers arrived at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport early Friday morning only to be met with flight delays and cancellations because of heavy fog.

"We are trying to accommodate the passengers as best as we can with the airlines," said Ken Spirito, Director of Peoria Airports.

Some passengers lucked out with airlines offering to take them by bus to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.
But for those travelers left sitting and waiting, Santa was there to entertain.

"I'm just talking with children the adults visiting with everybody as they come in and out of the airport just trying to make everybody feel a little happier during the holiday time," said Santa.

While the fog left some passengers a bit agitated.

"It's a little frustrating but that's the nature of the beast it's just a fact of life," said Douglas Dougherty, a holiday traveler.

Others like Caren Bordowitz ended up capitalizing on the weather in two ways. Her son got to spend some more time with Santa and she got free tickets vouchers for being bumped.

"Due to the fog they had to put more fuel on the plane and because of the weight limit they had to knock some passengers off and it was us," said Bordowitz.

Santa is used to granting wishes, but guiding planes through the fog is Rudolph's job and there just isn't enough of him to go around.

Fogged in Peoria

Thursday night we drove in thick fog to Peoria, and checked into a hotel overnight. It was like driving in a bubble, only things inside the bubble were visible, while things outside, say the grass on the side of the road, were blanketed in fog.

In the morning, we went to the airport for our 6am flight; checking our 9 bags in at 5am. We would be laid over in Minneapolis for 3 hours, so we will breakfast there.

The fog was still a thick bubble, with about 50 ft. visibility on all sides.

We passed through security efficiently.

When we got to the gate, the bad news: because of the fog, they had to put on more fuel, so the plane was overweight and...WE WERE BUMPED!

The good news: we each got $300 vouchers; with the 5 of us traveling, it is a nice piece of change. Our spring vacation.

We got put on the 9:40 flight. 3 hours. Layover in Detroit. No problem (we thought).

Channel 25 interviewed me about the "fogged in fllights"

Peoria airport has not restaurants past security, just some vending machines. So out of the secure area we trooped to get a bite of breakfast at the "Hanger" cafe. After breakfast we went back in through security a second time & waited. The 9:40 got delayed because of the fog.

Time passed. And we waited. We played cards, read, sat, ate, made cell phone calls. 11:30, still no flights OK for takeoff. We left the secure area again to lunch.

Third time, we went through security. More waiting.

Alas, we got the call that Paul (my SIL's father who was gravely ill) passed. The funeral would be 10:30 Sunday. Well, at least we could attend that.

Finally at 3pm; 10 hours in the airport, we took off.

Prolog

If my facts are wrong, say Eli bought 5 bottles of wine, not 7, or you don't like what I say, make your own journal.

The Waitresses - It's My Car lyrics

1 2 3 4 5 in the backseat
A ton of cheese & lunchmeat
Driven maybe 50 feet
And we're fighting like dogs & cats
Yeah we're fighting like dogs & cats

School's out, holiday
Party was too far away
Lost since the motorway
And we're fighting like dogs & cats
Yeah we're fighting like dogs & cats

You're running every red light
...just relax
Safer if we'd hitch-hiked
...give me some slack
Missed a turn a mile back
...alright, where's the map
You know, you could be right
You know, you could be right

Bouncin' down the wrong road
Now which way do I go
How the hell should we know?
Now you're getting yourself upset
Now don't get yourself upset

Stop in for some more wine
Ask directions for the 5th time
You jerk you think you got it right?
Now don't get yourself upset
Now don't get yourself upset.