Monday, January 25, 2010

Eastern Caribbean Cruise, 2010

Thank you Western Heating for giving us the opportunity to do so many things we wouldn't normally have had the opportunity to do. I took my first swim in the ocean, I rode my first zip line, we ate great food and had wonderful company!

Day 1, Ft. Lauderdale. We had breakfast with one of my old friends from high school, Rick Dewey. Boy, did we have some fun back then! It was so wonderful to catch up on his life. He lives in Memphis now but still seems to be the same Rick I remember from 37 years ago. Thanks Rick, hope to see you for the Hillbilly Gatherin' in May!


They have lots of iguanas in Ft. Lauderdale. So many that they have signs...



We found this one. He was sleeping really good.



After hoping he'd wake up on his own, I finally bent over and tried screaming in his ear but he was sleeping GOOD! Goofy thing...


Then we found one that was actually awake. These things fascinate me. They think they're hiding in plain site...



Day 3, San Juan Puerto Rico
San Juan was beautiful. Lovely, friendly people.




We went to a farm where we rode ATVs up to the foothills of the rainforest. Their horses are very small and they all do this fancy, FAST trot. I don't know what it's called, guess I'll have to check on that but it was great to watch.




This was one of our guides who jumped in the river at the base of the rainforest. (he was real cute Lisa!)


The ancient Puerto Ricans found these stones that you can still find today and if they're rubbed in the water, they act just like paint. They come in all colors!


I loved all the bamboo, it's so beautiful!



On board the ship, they had twice-daily shows by people from the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. I've always been fascinated by glass blowing and went to 5 or 6 of these shows as they were always different because they made so many different and beautiful things.

This young man is 23 and was an art history major when he took his first glass blowing course.




This gal is 24 (she had her birthday while we were on the ship). She took her first glass blowing class at the age of 13 and is now a master glass blower. She spent a year in Mirano, Italy studying under one of the most famous glass artists in the world. She's been on the ship for 9 months. What a life! (she had a pair of shoes I really wanted to steal).



And this guy just actually started blowing 5 years ago. They were all three just fantastic artists!


Day 4, St. Maarten, US Virgin Islands. We rented a car here and drove all around the island. It's very small and didn't take long. This is the island where most of the beaches are "clothing optional". It's also where you can stand on the beach under the runway and have huge jets pass just a hundred feet over your head. We triend to get there but there was only one road in and one road out. After sitting in traffic for about 20 minutes and not moving an inch, we gave up.






Don't ask. I was with a group of 180 heating and air conditioning people. Elmer wanted this picture so here it is... I know, fascinating.




We stopped at a roadside pet shop. Beautiful birds, we kept hoping we'd see some kind of wildlife on this trip, but nothing. What a disappointment!


9 comments:

kate said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE your pictures and stories sis! I'm SOOO glad you got to go on this trip; you both needed and deserve it.

I've heard a couple of times in the news that it's been so "cold" in Florida that the iquanas are freezing to death, literally dropping dead out of the trees! Sometimes they land on people who get hurt! Imagine trying to explain THAT to your insurance company! ha!

It all looks so beautiful and tropical. HEY! You guys stopped in Haiti, didn't you? How did you fail to mention that??

Sheri said...

I want a picture of that girls shoes!

Jodi said...

Sheri, I KNEW I should have taken pictures of her shoes. They were Pumas and she said she can't find them anywhere, even the internet now. She got them in Puerto Rico last year.

Kate, part deux is coming later tonight or tomorrow.

kate said...

Yeah, I wanted to see the shoes too. What did they look like? Anna had some awesome Pumas last year, brown with white stripe, but sleek-ish.

Jodi said...

Yep, these didn't have shoe strings. They almost looked like REALLY comfortable slippers. Kind of a reddish color.

Dee said...

Those are great pictures. LOVE 'em. And you found and were fascinated by the iguanas. As that was the only wildlife, you had to take pix. Guess that 1st one took a lonnnnng nap !

Can't wait for part 2.

So glad you had a good time and yes, we all enjoyed Elmer's work picture.

Rick Dewey said...

I love the "sleepin' lizards", I saw them years ago on a different "trip"!!!!!

tallulah said...

Please tell me you tried out the "clothing optional" beach!

Jodi said...

Well T, we TRIED! That was the island we rented a car on and we found the most popular one and were too early, no one there yet and the second was the one we couldn't get to because traffic was so backed up.

Sorry to disappoint you!