Bon Voyage

Last Monday morning, Hubby, his Mom, Esther and his Aunt Lynn and myself flew to San Diego, CA.  It was an early flight out of Bellingham.  We took a cab to the port, left our luggage with Holland America Cruise Line and then explored San Diego.

 We had a five night Pacific Coast cruise ahead of us.

On Tuesday we were at sea so we enjoyed the ship.  We took a cooking class at the Culinary Center, snacked, explored the ship, napped and lounged by the pool.

That evening it was Gala Night on the ms Amsterdam.  We enjoyed steak and lobster for dinner and then went to the piano bars to enjoy the music.

 On Wednesday morning we sailed into San Francisco.  I got up early to be on deck to sail under the Golden Gate bridge.  It was beautiful and it feels really close when you're on a large ship.

 I had to take a selfie as the rest of my party was still in bed.

 We took a bus to Pier 39 and enjoyed a sunny day in San Francisco.

It was a fun day off the ship, but then it is so nice to get back on board.

It's pretty relaxing on board.  We dressed for dinner in the dining room every evening and enjoyed either the show in the Queen's lounge or music in one of the piano bars.

Thursday we were at sea.  The sea was angry my friend.  We staggered around and watched other passengers stumble about the ship.

 It was Hubby's birthday on Thursday.  His Mom was happy to spend his birthday with him this year. Hubby and I took a Martini Mixology class in the afternoon.

We learned how to make three martinis and we learned some new toasts.

May the winds of fortune sail you,

May you sail a gentle sea,

May it always be the other guy

who says, "this drink's on me."

 Hey, that bartender looks familiar!

The instructor picked a good assistant.

 No matter how beautiful,

how smart, or how cute she is...

somebody somewhere, is sick of her sh*t!

CHEERS!

We had a delicious dinner in the Pinnacle Grill to celebrate Hubby's birthday.

On Friday Hubby, Es and Aunt Lynn went to Victoria.

 I went to the spa for a facial and massage.  Their spa area is gorgeous and the view of Victoria didn't hurt either.  Those loungers are heated and comfortable.

 We enjoyed our last dinner in the dining room and then went to a show featuring the Holland America singers and dancers. Then one last piano bar session.

The ms Amsterdam has good musicians.

We woke up in Vancouver B.C. and got ready to disembark.  But not before one last Dutch raisin bun for the ladies.  Those Dutch ladies love their raisin buns and gouda! 

We took the Quick Shuttle back to Bellingham.  It was fun for Hubby's Mom to see where he works and then we were home.

We had a wonderful time.  Cruising is relaxing and it was fun to show Mom Es and Aunt Lynn that they can take more cruises, it's pretty easy and they don't even need us.

But we'd be happy to go with them again!

Permission to Board Granted

**imagine music

Chris invited her junkin' friends on a final cruise.  The Renewal has been sold but before the new owners cruise off into the sunset, Chris wanted to leave the dock with her friends.  I'm perfectly content to stay secured to the dock but no, not Chris.  She's crazy like that...

I took my motion sickness meds, separated my mind from my body, reread boating etiquette 101, said my prayers, said my good byes, and we lifted anchor. 

After asking permission to board, we were waiting for all passengers to board and I grilled Captain Paul on his education and experiences as a captain.  He told me that he had a copy of  Captaining for Dummies on board.  I asked about his experience as a Coast Guard, he told me he tried that but flunked out.  Excuse me, Captain, that isn't funny!  He's actually a very capable captain, with a good sense of humor.

While I scoped out the emergency life raft and fire extinguishers and questioned our captain, Chris set up a lovely sunset dinner in the galley.

 It was calm, sunny and still for our sunset cruise.  I kept one eye on the horizon and was just fine.  We had dinner on the upper deck after enjoying a drink and appetizers in the main saloon.

 T'was gorgeous scenery and delicious food and drinks with my junkin' friends.

The sunset was beautiful.  It's hard to capture just how beautiful on a phone camera so you'll just have to trust me.

 The captain was called upon for collateral duty as photographer.  Paul was busy with captain duties on the bridge or cockpit up on the helm, and was a good sport on a boat full of crazy.  Crazy, laughing, loud ladies on board!  In between getting the money shot he took the helm and kept the sunset as the photo background.  We went aft to the stern deck for the pics.  Aft? Aft daft!  Possibly an accurate caption for our evening while onboard.

Trisha took the shot of Shelly, Chris and I on the stern.

 Thank you Captain Paul and First Mate Chris for a fun, safe beautiful sunset cruise.

 *All BOLD are yachting terms.  I may have used them incorrectly.  I don't care. 

I made it without falling overboard, getting sick or otherwise embarrassing myself.  And that is all that matters in matters of the SEA.

Ship Ahoy Matey!  

**Sound track includes Gulligans Island theme song, Nearer My God to Thee, Smoke on the Water, Peace Like  River, Will Your Anchor Hold, Wipeout, Bridge over Troubled Water and Looks Like We Made It.

***Edited to add for people that don't know everything about boating...
Hairdressers, beauticians, and couturiers have salons; sailors have a saloon. The Encyclopedia of Nautical Knowledge defines a saloon this way: “In a cargo and smaller passenger vessels, the main cabin, or that serving as a dining-room, assembly room, etc.” The Oxford Concise Dictionary describes a saloon as a “public room for first-class or for all passengers on ship.”The only dissonant note is sounded by Webster’s New World Dictionary, which allows the use of both salon and saloon but then confesses that saloon is “specifically, the main social cabin of a passenger ship.” Nevertheless, whereas most sailors use the word saloon, most powerboaters seem to prefer salon.It’s possible that some boaters use the word salon because they don’t want their boats to be associated with saloons where strong alcoholic drinks are served and rough men indulge in fisticuffs.  - From Yachting Forum

Splain Lucy

As Ricky always said to Lucy, "Splain Lucy", and I do have some explaining to do.  

I have some catching up to do also.  This is only the beginning.

The painting continues thus there haven't been any new recipes on the blog.  Who would want to cook in a kitchen with counters like mine?  No one.

Though I did bake Almond Cookies this weekend.  They really are the best and since I was sending a care package to Danny, and I had everything out because it was my week to bake cookies for church, and I had places to go where I knew they would be appreciated, I baked around the painting mess.  Twice.

I've been out junkin' this past week.  On my way to a boating cocktail party I stopped at a roadside sale.  My hostess gift was a dahlia bouquet and since Holly and Shelly were in the car and told me I should have a vase I flipped the car around at a roadside sale and found the perfect vase for two bucks.

I'm classy like that.

 The Saturday estate sale was in Marietta and was quite the adventure.  But I got what I went for so it's all good.  It was a little sketchy.

Back to the boating cocktail party...  It was girls' night on the Renewal and we had a wonderful time.  I think you all know how I feel about boating, it's little scary for me.  Since we stayed tied to the dock I felt pretty good though I did take a some seasickness meds prior to boarding.

 I wish I had a picture of our hostess smiling because her smile is so pretty, but she was so busy waiting on everyone that my pictures of Chris are all blurry.

 Before the other guests arrived Shelly and I played with my new camera and took some shots of each other.  We're goofy like that.  But it was fun and we felt so nautical and swanky that we couldn't resist.

I wish I had taken a group shot but I was very busy having a lot of fun.  And you may be surprised to know just how many boating rules and how much terminology this non-boater does know.  

Permission  to  board?

I'm actually pretty nautical when it comes down to it.

There's more blogging coming and even more splaining.

Stay tuned.