Steel City Bound........

It was too windy to sit out on the gulf side for sunset tonight.  This is on the bay side of Anna Maria Island looking north.....amazing color!

Due to a slightly rearranged schedule, our time out on the island has been a little shorter than normal.  Tomorrow morning it's back to the airport for a short flight to somewhere neither Beth or I have been before, Pittsburgh.  I've heard a lot of really good things about the city and we're looking forward to exploring it a bit.  We didn't just randomly select Pittsburgh.  There's a reason we're heading that direction.  Especially since winter is having a difficult time surrendering to spring up in that part of the country.
Ben has recently accepted a position as the Business Development & Recreation Director at Jellystone Park Camp-Resort at Kozy Rest.  The park, is located in Harrisville, PA, which is about an hour north of Pittsburgh.  It was a tough decision because he was enjoying his position as Stephen F. Austin, but he's following his passion which is what life is all about.  Additionally, he'll be working closely with some friends he has made over the years.  He'll have an opportunity to learn and grow while sharing his knowledge and experience with them.
We'll be spending three days in Pittsburgh before heading over closer to Harrisville for another three days.  It'll be a fairly short trip, but fun to check out some new areas that I'm sure we'll get more familiar with in the future.  We'll be back on the island for Easter.  This means we'll have the opportunity to wave goodbye to the last of the snowbirds and spring breakers.  It'll be nice to have a few less people and cars to deal with out here.   The saying goes, "you can't live with them and you can't live without them" certainly applies to the island during "high season".
I look forward to sharing a bit of information on this new destination in the next few blogs.

Three Days in San Diego

Cruising Coronado Island

It's getting late on Tuesday evening here in San Diego.  Technically our three days in this incredible city isn't up until tomorrow morning.  However, tomorrow morning is going to be breakfast here at the hotel and a shuttle to the airport for a 9:00 AM flight back to Tampa.
It had been quite a number of years since we were last in San Diego.  We liked it then and we like it even more now.  There is so much to see and do in this clean, diverse and easy to navigate city of over 1.3 million people.  In addition to the aforementioned qualities, you throw in great food and weather that is just about as close to perfect as you can get all year long, what's not to like?  Probably just that seventy two hours isn't seventy two days, weeks or months!
Again, thanks to some expert advice from three former San Diego residents (Ed and Judy Laue and Karla DeChavez) we had a pretty good game plan of what we wanted to see and do.  We checked a bunch of it off the list but left a few things, so I guess that means we'll have to come back soon...……...and hopefully stay a little longer.
Once we disembarked the ship on Sunday morning and checked into our hotel, which was just a few blocks from the Broadway Pier Cruise Terminal we were off.  The hotel (Westin Downtown through Hotwire) provided complimentary bikes which we took advantage of to explore the Embarcadero along the San Diego Bay waterfront.  This waterfront multiuse path took us by the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier (now a museum), Seaport Village and the Convention Center in one direction, and to Harbor Island in the other direction.  It's a great walking, running or biking path that connects with numerous other trails along the way.
After working up an appetite on the bikes we struck out on foot in search of food.  Ed and Judy Laue know us well and know what we like (cheap, local dives) so when they recommend a place to eat we trust them completely.  They sent us to a small place in Paris a couple of years back that was a challenge to find but well worth the effort once we finally located it. Their San Diego recommendation of Pizzeria Luigi was easier to find and perfect for us.  The pizza was New York style but with an exceptionally crispy crust. It was outstanding.  It was easy to see why the Laue's sent us here and why Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive In's and Dives) named it his favorite west coast pizza.  It was conveniently located close to Balboa Park, San Diego's version of New York's Central Park.  Balboa Park is actually about twice the size of Central Park.  The 1200+ acre park is also the home of the world famous San Diego Zoo.  We only touched on a small portion of the park before making our way back toward the hotel where the hot tub was waiting to relieve our legs that had biked for three hours and walked for at least that many.
Pizzeria Luigi

Multiuse path along the Embarcadero

Seaport Village with San Diego Bay in the background

San Diego Bay across to Coronado Island

All that biking and walking can make you hungry!

Monday (Day 2) we started out by exploring a few of the beaches just north of San Diego.  We took an Uber (around $14 from downtown) to Mission Beach, which has an oceanfront multiuse path that extends more than three miles to Pacific Beach.  Although it was a Monday the path and the beaches were busy with people of all ages enjoying a sunny, warm morning in Southern California. At the end of the boardwalk in Pacific Beach we took another Uber a short (around $10), but not walkable distance to La Jolla Cove.  There were a few swimmers in the chilly waters of the cove but they were outnumbered significantly by seals and sea lions swimming playfully and sunning themselves on the rocks and beach.  Again there was more exploring along the rocky coast line and through the trendy neighborhoods, shops and cafe's.  As we were walking in downtown La Jolla we looked up and realized we were standing next to another restaurant recommendation from the Laue's.  This one was Richard Walkers and the recommended dish was the Baked Apple Pancake.  We were there, the restaurant was there and pancakes aren't just for breakfast.  We were thankful that we followed the advice to split it.  One pancake is enough to feed a family.  Try as we might, there was a little left on the plate when it was taken away.
If you're going to be in the San Diego area I'd highly recommend a visit to the beaches and La Jolla.  It's an inexpensive and quick Uber ride or for slightly longer and only $2.25 each way you can take the #30 bus.  We took advantage of the bus on the way back and it worked great.
It was a full day but we weren't done yet.  Baseball season is upon us and the Padres were in town for a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Petco Park is one of my favorite "downtown" ballparks that I've visited.  It was just over a mile away from the hotel and an easy walk through the Gaslamp Quarter (4th, 5th and 6th Ave. between Broadway and L Street).  The Gaslamp Quarter is somewhat an eclectic mix of restaurants, bars and shops where the streets are lined with Victorian style lamp posts.
The last few years have been pretty rough on the Padres but they seem to have put together a pretty solid lineup for this year.  Unfortunately their pitching still stinks or at least it did on this particular night.  I'm not sure what the score was when we left but I do know that they were a bunch of runs behind.  We opted to walk back to the hotel after the game, again passing back through the Gaslamp Quarter.  It was a safe and easy walk both to and from the stadium.  One word of caution if you go to a night game here.  Don't be fooled by the warm, sunny daytime temperature you might experience.  Once the sun goes down it can get a little chilly pretty quick.  We learned this on our last visit to a Padres game about a dozen years ago.  This time we were prepared!

Mission Beach Boardwalk

These are over the water cabins/bungalows on the fishing pier that you can rent.

It's never a bad view to be sitting under palm trees looking up at blue sky

La Jolla Cove

La Jolla Coastline

She kept telling me to move back

Lo and Behold...…..there's Richard Walker's!

Baked Apple Pancake

With all due respect to the current owners...….1.5 million doesn't get you much in La Jolla

La Jolla

Petco Park...….Home of the Padres

For our last day we revisited two of our San Diego favorites, the USS Midway Museum and Coronado Island.  The USS Midway Museum can't be missed...……..literally.  It's an aircraft carrier that was commissioned as the world's largest ship in 1945 and decommissioned in San Diego in 1992.  During it's years of service it was involved in combat tours in Vietnam as well as the first gulf war in 1991.  When fully operational it was the home to over 4,500 crew members and more than 100 aircraft.  One of the things that make a visit to the USS Midway special is the volunteers who are stationed throughout the ship to provide information and insight.  Many of these volunteers served on the USS Midway and are proud to play a part in keeping it's legacy alive.  One volunteer that we enjoyed speaking with today served in World War II.  He had pictures of himself as a seventeen year old newly enlisted sailor.  When I commented that he hadn't aged a bit since that picture was taken he proudly pulled off his hat and showed me a full head of hair.  I thanked him for his service in spite of the fact that I think he was rubbing it in that he had more hair than me!
Our final outing for the day was taking the ferry across San Diego Bay to Coronado Island.  This 20-25 minute ferry ride cost $5 per person each way.  You can catch it at the Broadway Pier or near the convention center.  It offers great views of the city, Coronado Island, the USS Midway as well as a constant parade of boats passing by in the bay.  Bikes can be carried on the ferry or rented on the island.  The bikes give you more chance to explore more of the island, beaches, shops, restaurants and the Coronado Hotel which was built in 1887 and is one of America's largest wooden buildings.

I'm feeling rather small standing next to the Midway

Aircraft are on display both in the hanger below deck and on the flight deck

Enlisted men's sleeping quarters.  This section was right below the anchor chain (every link in the chain weighs 156 pounds).  I would imagine your teeth rattled when the anchor was dropped.

I'm not sure what they kept in there, but you'd better have proper credentials if you approached the door.

The bed's in the jail were actually more spacious than those for the enlisted men.  I guess being a little naughty had it's benefits.

On the Coronado Island Ferry

Part of the San Diego skyline from Coronado Island.  The convention center is in the foreground.  The lights to Petco Park can be seen on the right side

The historical Hotel Del Coronado taken from the beach

A nice parting shot!

There are so many good things I could say about San Diego but this blog is getting a little long.  I'll close by simply saying, if you have the chance come check it out for yourself.  I'm sure you'll find yourself in the same position that we're currently in, already looking forward to coming back.

"The fun side of the wall............"

Cruising across Banderas Bay

One t-shirt that was prominently displayed in practically every souvenir shop in all three ports said "Relax...….you're on the fun side of the wall".  While there are certainly some significant challenges in certain places on that side of the wall, the slogan certainly held true for the three places we visited.
We've made our way back to San Diego and enjoyed a nice sunny day yesterday exploring the city on bike and on foot.  Thanks to some great tips from Ed and Judy Laue and Karla DeChavez,  former residents of San Diego, we took in a few of their favorites, including some killer pizza!  There will be more on San Diego in future blogs, in the meantime I need to catch up on the last few days of the cruise.
Our ship remained docked in Puerto Vallarta until 11:00 PM.  That gave us time to explore the city on our own, which I have already written about in the previous blog.  For the evening we did something we don't usually do.  We spent some money on an excursion offered by the ship.  We decided to do something that had received very good reviews from several people that we talked to as well as from TripAdvisor.  We purchased tickets to the trifecta of an evening out in Puerto Vallarta...…….A sunset cruise, dinner and performance of Rhythms of the Night, a show produced by the co-founder of Cirque de Soleil.  

We noticed that as we walked from the ship to our smaller boat for the sunset cruise that the wind had picked up a little.  This made for a bit of a choppy sunset cruise across Banderas Bay.  Instead of mixing and mingling most people sat in their chairs and held on while stories of small ferries capsizing were probably playing over and over in their minds.  We were entertained by the boats crew the entire hour it took to get to our destination of Las Caletas, a tropical forest where the dinner and show were held.  The reality is that it was a little bumpy, but with the exception of a few people I don't think too many folks felt their lives were in danger.

Las Caletas

 The setting for the dinner and show were spectacular.  The paths were lit by thousands of small candles, which were accompanied by torches, musicians and performers.  The food was served buffet style and was very good, although it was a little salty.  The salt wasn't added by the chef, but came from the occasional wave that would crash over the seawall and spray a fine mist of salt water on us, the food and the table.  It was more entertaining than annoying as we tried to anticipate which wave was of sufficient size to make it over the wall.
The show, which was titled "SAVIA:The Legend of the Five Suns", was held in an outdoor theater that looked like it would seat around 400 people.  Although the singing was in Spanish there was plenty of theatrics, similar to what you would see in a Cirque de Soleil show, to make for a fun and very entertaining evening.

Part of the Welcoming Committee...….

more of the welcoming committee

Posing for a quick picture while keeping an eye out for the next big wave.  Notice the water on the table.

Sunset over Banderas Bay

The outdoor theater stage preshow

Singing, dancing and a lot of flying through the air

No Mexican folklore show would be complete without paying tribute to the "Day of the Dead" celebration

The ride back across Banderas Bay wasn't quite as bumpy as the ride over, although the crews entertainment was very bumpy, by design.  They did a very unstable imitation of Queen, that was complete with costumes and fake instruments.  As intended, it was quite silly but made for an enjoyable conclusion to the evening.
Our last two days on the Nieuw Amsterdam were very relaxing as we sailed back to San Diego. Although we haven't cruised in a few months, I am sure there will certainly be more in the future,   probably even a few more visits to the fun side of the wall!
I've gone back into the three previous blogs and added a few pictures and captions as well as removed the duplicate photos.  Take a look!

Puerto Vallarta

Crossdressing idiots!

We’ve reached our final port for this cruise, the resort town of Puerto Vallarta. We’ve enjoyed all three ports of call (Cabo, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta), but if we had to pick a favorite I’m looking  at it right now.
There are around 400,000 residents of the metropolitan area and approximately 10% of them are Americans or Canadians.  Beautiful beaches, inexpensive and great food, friendly people, living in a clean and very safe city......what’s not to like about a place like that?
Mexico has had plenty of negative press in recent years.  Some of which I’m  sure was deserved but a fair bit that has been oversensationalized by the media (imagine that!).  Like many places around the globe, if you go looking for trouble and act stupid you’ll probably end up in a bad situation.  The resort areas on the Pacific side that we have visited all boast of very low crime rates that would stack up well against many places that are considered “safe”.
We’re the only ship in the port today.  Yesterday all three docks were occupied.  Obviously, we’re happy being the only show in town.  We got off around 9:00 AM and took a cab ($10 for both of us) to the colorful downtown area which is about four miles from the port.
The Malecon, as it is known,  is a beachfront promenade that is lined with shops, restaurants and hotels.  It continues for what seemed like about a mile and a half  before we crossed a small bridge into the cobblestone streets of “old town”.  Again the streets and sidewalks were lined with shops, restaurants and hotels all of which were coming to life. We’re in port until 11:00 tonight so we wanted to make sure we paced ourselves, especially since we’re going to a dinner and show on a nearby island (I call it a Mexican Luau) After roaming a bit we found a nice table at a beachside restaurant where we made a glass of tea, coke, a beer and some chips and fresh guacamole last for two hours.  We’re back on the ship now, getting ready for our next adventure, which starts in about an hour....I think we’re on a good pace!

Early morning on the Malecon

Old Town with it's cobblestone streets

Makes for a strong neck

Lady of Guadalupe Church in the center of old town

We sat here so long I'm surprised we didn't get mail delivered to us

I’ll have some final thoughts on the cruise, add a few more pictures, as well as captions, once we get back to San Diego on Sunday. 

Mazatlán .....a very pleasant surprise!

There's a small lighthouse on top of the mountain behind us.  Although the lighthouse itself is fairly small because of where it sits it is the second tallest lighthouse in the world (Gibraltar is the highest)

One of the things we don’t do when traveling is set expectations.  This keeps us from being disappointed. We frequently find ourselves to be pleasantly surprised. Mazatlán turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.
According to Eric, our new best friend from Mazatlán, there are over 700,000 residents in this city which boasts of having one of the largest ports on the Northern side of the Panama Canal.  Eric was our Pulmonia (open air taxi) driver, who toured us around the very clean and orderly city.  A few other things we learned from Eric was that the lighthouse is the second highest lighthouse in the world (Gibraltar is the highest) and that the local baseball team has won the Mexican League Championship eight times.  I guess that makes them kinda like the New York Yankees of the league.  On the notorious side, Mazatlán is where the drug lord El Chapo was from and where he was hiding when he was arrested.  By all appearances the city seemed safe and quite vibrant with a nice mix of locals, tourists and seasonal residents mainly from the US and Canada.
One of the most interesting features of the city was the beachfront promenade which stretched 4-5 miles along really nice sand beaches.  We also had an opportunity to watch the cliff divers as they dove from 50 feet high into less than ten feet of water.  The downtown had a lively market, large Catholic Church and a block long shrimp market where the “shrimp ladies” sell fresh shrimp to local residents.

Along the promenade in Mazatlan

One of the many "shrimp ladies"

Me practicing my cliff diving...…..of course it's not me!

Beth taking off with Eric's Plumonia

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in "Old Town"

Interior of the church......much brighter than the large churches of Europe

Town square in front of the church

Speaking of shrimp, Eric told us that Mazatlán has the largest shrimp fishing fleet in the world. I’ll take his word on that fact. That makes for a nice economic example of supply and demand.  The supply is more than adequate to meet the demand, so the price for a meal of these “fruits from the sea” is very good.  When it was time to eat we told Eric we wanted somewhere that wasn’t touristy, and inexpensive.  His eyes lit up and he said “I know just what you’re looking for”!  He drove us through town until the road ended at a beachfront restaurant called Mr. Lionso.  It seemed to have a nice mix of locals and visitors.  Eric told us his favorite were Coconut Shrimp and Bacon and Cheese wrapped shrimp (probably not real popular with my Adventist friends).  We ordered both types, and threw in an order of crab empanadas for good measure.  For less than $30 total we feasted until we could eat no more and packed the remaining shrimp and one empanada up for Eric.

Bacon wrapped shrimp, crab empanadas, coconut shrimp at Mr. Lionso's

Me and my buddy Eric!

We’re now back on the ship.  It’s a few hours until we pull away and head for Puerto Vallarta.  As we leave we’ll be taking great memories with us from our day in Mazatlán.......and full bellies as well.