The Norfolk's Cruise Celebration
We have been richly blessed by God. Our family is well, we have more than enough to sustain us, and the future is bright. We were fortunate enough to be able to go on a cruise to the Caribbean in January of 2004 to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. This is the story of that trip. We took many pictures and I kept a journal to help us remember the big and little things that went on. Relax. Read what you want. or, just look at the pictures.
The site is organized by day. We left on Friday, 9 January and arrived back in town on Saturday, 17 January with a lot of fun packed in between.
We were picked up by Lyle at 0800 and had a smooth drive to the airport. It was a chilly 20 degrees outside We went to the American Airlines desk to check in for our 0952 flight. We were informed our airplane was still on the ground in Kentucky, and we were being sent on to Chicago via a United Airlines flight to depart at 0900. It was a fast 40 minutes to clear the airport security as we were picked for some of the random checks. Shoes off, pockets empty, explosive detector checking my socks (they used dogs to do that for a while, but too many were ruined for life as sniffers, as they had been De-feeted. <bad joke time>). We got to the departures area in time to go to the bathroom and board the plane.
Due to the other plane not being available, this plane was packed and Sandy and I were in adjacent rows. The flight was short and we had a very smooth landing. The Captain asked us to let those with short time to make connecting flights exit first, but we couldn’t dock. Our gate was still occupied by a plane that was being de-iced. It was about 10:30 when we were finally able to get off the plane – which was nice timing all in all. We grabbed a bite to eat and were ready to make a leisurely boarding at 11:18.
Snow
Happy to start
Sky
Miami at our hotel
However, (don’t you just love the effect that a sentence beginning with “However” has?) after loading the deicers found a broken landing light lens. Soooo, after repairs were made we took off around 12:15. Our flight to Miami went well and we got our luggage and called the hotel for their courtesy van. It was a balmy 74 degrees in Miami.
I’ve driven the traffic circle around the Arch de Triumph in Paris, left-sided in London, and negotiated tiny twisty crowded suicide roads in Germany, Italy, Belgium, Chicago and others. These drivers specialized in high-speed, no-signal cutting each other off and blowing the horn. It was several choruses of “Nearer My God To Thee” when we arrived at the hotel.
Our excitement was almost over, but Sandy was surprised by a tiny green lizard running around in the bathroom to complete day one’s adventures.
$16 McDonalds
$5 Drinks
$5 Tip
$25 Supper
$5 General stuff.