Cruising is HARD WORK!

And we are still recovering.

Repeating our previous year's early arrival at the cruise terminal - in order to get on the ship early and take full advantage of the lunch buffet - we found the boarding process had ground to a screeching halt. Seems that the ship had just returned that morning from a 6-day Bermuda cruise, and for some reason, the elevators and escalators in the terminal "weren't working", whatever that means. What it meant was that the departing passengers were agonizingly slow getting off, so we were stuck in the terminal.

Last year, by noon or so, we were on the boat and enjoying the bounty of culinary delights that await around every corner of the Lido Deck. Not so this time. We didn't get to the first round of overindulgence until about 2:30.





(Next morning's breakfast - all those plates belong to the tiny little niece. She had to be removed from the ship with a crane)

After that, until we pulled away, there was plenty of time to look at the harbor...

(The USS Wisconsin)











...and explore the ship...











(Would anyone really want to drink a cocktail made with soy milk?)


(The tiny room I shared with my friend)

...and the cruise that was supposed to depart at 4:30 didn't pull away from port until almost 6:00. Here are some scenes of our departure from the harbor:







(The Lido Deck, site of pools, bars, and FOOD!)

This is the trademark 'whale tail' of Carnival Lines. It has a railing about 4 feet up that we all climb up on every year. Best views on the whole ship, and I have pictures of us all up there, but our faces are all clearly visible, so I must refrain:


But here are all my traveling companions - their best sides anyway. From left - friend, friend, friend, niece, brother, BS:


Once the boat did start to move, the mood suddenly lightened, and the music playing on the Lido Deck inspired quite a few folks to burst into spontaneous dancing:






Then BS espied an old school chum from kindergarten all the way through high school. It was really quite a touching reunion:


As we left port, we saw some stuff that we don't see often. Views of the city from quite different vantage points:



(The world headquarters of PETA, which, even though some people insist it stands for 'People Eating Tasty Animals', really stands for 'People Embarrassing the Tidewater Area'. One of our greatest sources of pride. Snort)




Look at all those trains at the Lambert's Point coal piers. In 1930, the port of Hampton Roads became the largest point of coal shipping in the world. In September, 2005, Norfolk Southern reported that it had loaded "the billionth ton of coal at Lamberts Point's Pier 6, the largest coal-transloading terminal in the Northern Hemisphere.")







And let's not forget the largest Naval installation in the world, protecting your freedom 24 hours a day.



The crown jewel of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group



This is Fort Wool, sitting out there right in the middle of the harbor. It was very active during the Civil War:

A little later, we were treated to a breathtaking sunset:


Each evening, our cabin steward made us little towel critters. Seems none of our companions had such thoughtful cabin stewards. Nyah.




The water is VERY blue out at sea:


It was a rougher sea this year, and that, coupled with our full & taut bellies, made for some queasiness now and then.

I won a trophy at one of the trivia contests. It was a game of advertising slogans. The fact that I knew them all could be a sad commentary of my life, but it is really a game that I constantly play with BS, my sister, and my nephew - movie lines, slogans & jingles. No, really.


As for all the fun that we had on the ship...
What happens on the Fun Ship stays on the Fun Ship!

Next time, I think I would like to go on a cruise that, you know, like, actually goes somewhere.

Somewhere, beyond the sea.....

Look at this great big boat - it's the Carnival Victory:

Isn't it pretty & shiny? Don't you wish you were on it? Well, all week long, Kathie Lee has been in my head, chanting...

"Every morning, every evening, ain't we got fun?
Not much money, oh but honey, ain't we got fun?"

At noon tomorrow I will be on that big ol' bucket o' fun, along with BS, my niece, my brother, and 3 friends. Whoo-hoo!!! We partook of the fun ship last year as well, and last week the niece called the brother and pondered, "Uncle dearest......"

Oooh, I better explain that, my family tree being the gnarly and twisty thing that it is, my brother is only a few years older than my niece, so.... "Uncle dearest, I have been thinking about this, and I don't think we took full advantage of all the food opportunities last year." Disclaimer - this was paraphrased. She doesn't really call him 'Uncle dearest'.

Well niecie dearest, we couldn't agree more, so this year will be a total food orgy. Just the thing to help me train for a bazillion mile bike ride. Don't worry, Pop. I will partake of some physical activity, most likely in the form of pulling the penny slots with one hand and sipping a delicious fruity cocktail with the other. Maybe, just maybe, I'll go to their gym. Maybe. I make no promises.

This particular cruise leaves our fair city on a Saturday, goes far enough out to sea to open up the casinos and the duty-free booze store, then it bobs around for a bit and brings us back Monday morning, hence it is known as 'The Booze Crooze." We. can. not. wait!!

An occasional setback is okay, right?

Because I am in a bad mood today. I feel fat, dumpy, unappealing, and completely inadequate to the task. Plus, it seems like there is not enough time during the week to do this. I don't get off work until 6, and I am tired by then, but I have to get home and put something together for dinner, bike ride, shower, bed. Wah wah wah wah.

Don't you hate it when people make excuses? I did this kind of thing a lot last year with energy & enthusiasm, so there really is no good reason for my whining, but I feel like it anyway. Menopause is a bitch.

But you know what? BS could sense I was in a bad mood. Perhaps it was when I kicked a hole in the wall. Maybe the shoe through the window? I don't know, but something clued him in. So he invited me to go out with him and his friends to watch football at a sports bar type place. Lordy, I love that boy.

Damn, now I have to go do something that is physical and makes me sweat (don't I wish.....).

Later that evening.......

Okay, I feel somewhat better now. Rode the bike - not as much as I should have, but enough so that I don't feel like I am taking up someone else's precious oxygen. Endorphin is mysterious, miraculous stuff, and I recommend you partake of it as often as possible. I am now showered, jammied, and ready for bed. I even trimmed my hair, so not only did I work off about the first bite of my dinner, I am having a good hair evening now. Yay.

Holy Cow!

1. I can't believe how much harder it is to ride outside than on the stationary bike.
2. I can't believe I volunteered to do this.
3. I can't believe what bad shape I am in.
4. I want a speedometer/odometer for my bike.
5. I need a tune-up. A little lube job, you know. Heh, you know what that makes me think of? Yeah, I'm 12.
6. I really meant my bike chain in that last comment.
   

Birthdays & Beaches

I had such a good time last weekend for all my birthday festivities, I decided to do it again. Yippee!! Wait, no? Oh, that's right, it is Beloved Son's birthday, the sweetest baby ever born!!

Long ago one sunny morn,
On the day that you were born,
The doctor tripped, and then then he said,
"Whoops, I dropped it on its head."

Also, he is the cutest baby ever born. I know everyone says this about their kids, but...

... come on people, is there really any doubt? There have been some close seconds, but I have not found anyone to dethrone him yet.

He is 26 - more than a quarter century. Shit, that suddenly makes me feel positively prehistoric. Today, in addition to having to work on his day of celebration (bummer), he is also housesitting his boss's dogs, so tomorrow we will go to dinner at Il Giardino (don't forget to support your locally-owned businesses), where they will be so good as to let me bring his ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. I know, it's a chain. Sigh, but he loves those things, and today he gets whatever he wants. Although I remember once I had a scoop each of pumpkin ice cream & cheesecake ice cream together that was drop-dead delicious.

Today was also the 20th annual St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children 5k Run. In addition to the usual runners, Team Hoyt Virginia Beach was there to push a bunch of our kids through the race in jogging strollers. There were a lot of jogging strollers.

The number of people wanting to push strollers grows with each race, so more & more of our kids get to join in on the fun. So many that not all the kids would fit into the picture.

The race took place this year at Fort Story, a bitty little base plunked down in the most prime real estate in the city - at Cape Henry, where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.

The area above the road is the Fort, and just about all of the green treed area is a state park. Between those 2 things, all that glorious potential revenue-producing land is off-limits to the poor city. Heh. BTW - doncha just love Google Earth?

Every couple years, our good city council folk anxiously await the latest round of base closings, with just a bit of drool on their chins, as they dream of hotels, condos, and high-end shopping. Sadly for them, what appears to be a useless base squatting on pricey land is most useful in other ways. Other than the uses listed in the link, the Navy loves to use the Fort for SEAL training. You can't easily find all those miles of unspoiled, unpopulated beachfront & marshland in which to practice their sneak attacks.

I would really like to know what the rocky outcroppings are used for. There are other hidden gems at Fort Story. The Cape Henry Lighthouses are there, right across the street from each other. The first picture of this series is from the web. The others are mine.

The old one, which is now a national historic landmark, is open to the public. It was built in 1792, the first lighthouse authorized by the federal government. The 'new' one, which is still in use today but not open to the public, was built in 1881. This next picture shows them both in 1905:

I also like this picture I found of the lights with one of our Navy ships being deployed:

Also at Fort Story is the site of the First Landing in 1607.

There is a large granite cross there now commemorating the event. Access to the Fort is restricted, so be prepared to have your car searched if you want to go see these things.

Agony - Day 2

That's a little bitty lie. I suffered no ill effects from the other night, after I got the feeling back in my butt. But it was pretty agonizing while I was doing it.

Today was day 2 of training. It was a spectacularly gorgeous day here - highs at 70 and crystal blue skies. Beautiful weather for a bike ride. Trouble is, I don't get off until 6, so there wasn't a lot of that beautiful daylight left. I pumped up my bike tires and set off. Kept up a pretty good pace, but at 3 miles, it was getting too dark for safety, since my bike doesn't have a light. Also, I was getting cold (I looooove fall), and it was a little breezy (excuses, excuses). I came back and hopped on the stationary bike and did another 13 miles. Now ::as I get out my calculator::

3 miles outside ::tap tap::
factor in the wind ::tap tap::
factor in the bumps I had to go over ::tap tap::
the additional drag of my luxuriant naturally curly hair ::tap tap::
the higher gear I was in ::tap tap::
the wind drying out my eyes ::tap tap::
50 minutes on the stationary bike ::tap tap::
my higher resistance setting ::tap tap::
a little extra time to make it an even 13 miles ::tap tap::
the mosquito bite on my arm ::tap tap::....

I figure I rode the equivalent of 28.41 miles this evening. Yeah, that's it.

I can go to bed happy.

Crap, I'm really committed now

No one volunteered to slap some sense into me. It's a good thing, really. Now I can't weasel out of this.

One of the things about trying to reinvent yourself is accountability. Keeping all this hidden under a bushel would have been a dangerous thing for me to do, because if I am accountable only to myself, I procrastinate, I put off, I find excuses, I curl up & suck my thumb. If I announce it to the world, which I did when I started this blog, I feel duty bound to follow through. Saving face and all that.

So, I mentioned earlier that I asked my father to help me on this quest. I cringed as I saw him mentally rubbing his hands together in sadistic glee and planning all sorts of scream-worthy activities for me. A hard task-master he is, and he knows how to do it, too. The first thing he did on my behalf was contact the Tidewater Bicycle Association, our local riding group. Look at this picture from that link:

The 2nd & last riders are hauling the kind of stroller I will have. Pop told me that riding 60 miles with the kid's weight behind me would be like riding 100 miles without. To me, that's like asking me to train for a marathon. Crappity crap crap crap.

The TBA is interested in this, so I have asked them for support, advice, anything at all. Standard strollers will not fit the kid.

I need to find one (or have one made) that will accommodate his height, weight & disability. I found a few ideas online, but it's late and I want to go to bed now. I will definitely need help with this, so whatever the TBA can do, I will be grateful for.

If any of my 3 loyal readers have any ideas, please let me know.

RIP Mr Arachnid

I was going to take a picture of the repaired web in all its glory. Seems it's a very good thing I got to watch him toil at rebuilding his web yesterday, because today another round of torrential downpours blew through, and when I got home this evening, the web was gone. Not just tattered. Not just ripped. Gone. Obliterated. Not a trace of it remained. I doubt Mr Spider suffered an untimely demise, but he needs to rethink the location of his web. Like the back yard. I don't get weather there.