Saturday Night we turned our clocks back one hour. The cats eat dinner at 3 o'clock, give or take ten minutes. Yesterday they were in the kitchen raising hell at 2. Sorry guys you're an hour early. They can't tell time. They don't give a shit about D.S.T. or P.S.T.
Wanda and I looked at the clock at 4 p.m. "Are you hungry," she said. "Yep, but it's too early to eat." Around 7 p.m. she said, "Is today like thirty hours long?" "Yep, but it's too early to go to bed." Yesterday was one of the longest most depressing days of my life. And, I couldn't stop munching.
I'm wrapping up cruise news today. And while I'm on the subject of wrapping, is nothing sacred? There is talk of an early Black Friday this year. It's bad enough seeing x-mas holiday gifts out before Halloween. But this is an affront to humanity. I know what's next; the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys will start playing their Thursday Thanksgiving Day games on Monday, in London.
Wanda heard Christmas music on the radio this morning. It's November 4th.
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| Wanda at the Aquarium of the Pacific |
Google maps indicate it is 24.3 miles from Long Beach to Los Angeles. I mention this because we initially thought we were actually going to L.A. Now that I look at a map I understand why we didn't. There is very little cruise ship parking in the City of Angles. And I really thought we could go to Disneyland for the day.
I hope you know I'm just being silly. There are lots of places you "can't get to from here" unless you're willing to take a long bus ride to and fro. Paris is one of these. Its 126 miles from the port of LeHavre to Paris. This is one of the drawbacks to cruising. Sometimes you just have to go with flow. (flow, water, cruise ship....get it)
Wanda and I took a free shuttle from the dock to the aquarium. It was a just a few minutes and we got there as it was opening. It's a good size and had terrific and some one of a kind displays. The fun part was watching all the kids, it was a school day. The movie "Finding Nemo" has done wonders for ichthyology.
Younger Daughter Rebecca has been to this aquarium. She told us to go outside and see the lorikeets. I thought it odd that a fish place would have birds, but here you are.
The Queen Mary is berthed in Long Beach. Launched in 1934 she's now a hotel and attraction you can tour. We have something to look forward to our next trip.
Our last state stop was in San Diego. Thanks to my cousin we had tickets to tour the USS Midway. I don't use the word awesome very often but for this it fits. This was the second floating city at sea Wanda and I have toured. The other is the USS Hornet, anchored in Oakland, Ca.
The most interesting thing I remember from the Midway is the guidance system computer. It was huge, like in a small room huge. It had less memory than the smart phone of today. We spent a couple of hours on board the carrier then met up with the family.
Over the next few hours we caught up with family gossip and each other. Marshall and Lynn have lived in San Diego for years. Cousin Carol, Lynn's sister moved there eight years ago? I'm guessing. It was so nice of them to drop whatever they had going that day and come pick us up.
We went over to Coronado, had lunch at an outdoor deli (next door to a Starbucks) and then drove over to the Hotel del Coranado. This place is on a beautiful beach and has a huge wow factor. Built in 1888 the interior woodwork is gorgeous.
I looked at this landmark and saw Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon and Marilyn Monroe. The hotel and beach scenes of "Some Like It Hot" were filmed there.
After our great day in San Diego we sailed down to Ensenada, Mexico. I expected a commercial area with lots of oil tanks. I was pleasantly surprised. We walked from the dock, about 15 minutes to the business area and did some shopping. Yes; the merchants want to sell you items, after all, it's how they earn a living. But, no one was overly aggressive.
As you can see, we were there pretty early in the day. As a side note, the homeless and/or people asking for money in Santa Barbara and San Diego outnumbered the one guy in Mexico by a substantial number.
We had a great time on this cruise. We shared it with good friends, saw family and had some new experiences. In March we get to do it again. Now that Grandson Nicholas is staying here we feel much better about leaving Steve, Dakota, and Sparky. I don't know why I'm so concerned about the cats. Nick said Sparky spent the week hiding in a corner of the bedroom.
"The only time I saw him was when I put out the cat food."
Interesting how we worry about our pets when we leave them. I well remember when Mickey urinated on my suitcase, but that's another story for another day.
Tomorrow I will get back to news worthy and informative blogs. Today I leave you with this: Cruising has changed with the times. It's more casual and modern. But some things like arts and crafts @sea are timeless.
12:30 p.m. Vista Lounge, Deck 7 Aft. Arts & Crafts@Sea: Basic & Origami Dollar Bill with the cruise staff (Bring Your Own $ Bills).
They wouldn't want anyone spending a thousand bucks a week to walk away with their dollar.
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