I'm Back

It has been a hectic month and a half. We had a good Christmas and New Year in Virginia. Our son was able to visit for over a week. Mary Ann is constantly busy making preparations for our daughter's April 11 wedding. We had originally planned for the wedding to take place in Freestone Park in Gilbert but have since changed to have it at a house we rented in Gilbert. It is on a large lot, has 6700 sq ft and six bedrooms. This gives us a place to stay, somewhere to have the reception and Mary Ann can get everything ready ahead of time. We left on vacation on 16 January. We spent the night in Charleston, SC and saw a lot of historic Charleston. The next day we drove to Savannah, GA and spent the day touring the city. We spent the night in Kings Bay,GA and then the next day we drove to Kennedy Space Center where we did the tour and actually saw the Shuttle on the launch pad as it is scheduled to launch this month and they move it to the launch pad 30 days prior. We spent the night in Melbourne, FL and drove to Fort Lauderdale the next day and picked up Carol and Steve Kizziar at the airport. We toured the Coral Castle in Homestead, FL and spent the night at Homestead Air Force Base. The next day we drove to Key West where we had rented a 3 bedroom townhouse on Key West Naval Base for 3 days. We spent the next 3 days exploring Key West, enjoying sunsets and freezing(they had record low temperatures). On January 23 we drove to the Everglades and spent the day exlporing before heading to our motel in Fort Lauderdale where we met up with other friends(Janelle and Dale Huddleston and Jan and Richard Fisher) who were also going on the cruuise. The next day the eight of us left on our cruise to St Maarten, St Kitts, and Grand Turk. St Maarten was the highlight where six of us did the Zip Line where you go from tree to tree on cables or walking on ropes, cables or boards. Luckily you are attached by safety cables so you cannot fall unless you are stupid enough not to connect your safety cables. We then spent the rest of the day at a nice beach enjoying sun, food and beer. On St Kitts Carol, Steve, Mary Ann and I took a tour of the Island and then had lunch and relaxed at the beach before taking a water taxi back to the ship. On Grand Turk Janelle, Dale, Mary Ann and I rented a golf cart and explored the island. It is only 6 miles long and 1 mile wide. After taking then back to the ship we returned to Governor's beach which was the best beach I believe we had been to. It was less than a mile from the ship but was deserted except for a few people. We arrived back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday and drove as far as Walterboro, SC and checked in the Holiday Inn in time to watch the Super Bowl(What a game). The next day we arrived back in Virginia. Mary Ann is busy again preparing for the wedding and we will return to Phoenix next week for a short visit.