Geocaching

Sometimes we go on adventures not far from home.
     Today, the boys went Geocaching along the Silver Comet Trail.

Looking for Geocache hidden in fence.

There it is...Very tiny! 

Signing in.
     What do you think, is the weather warm or chilly today?
          Depends on who you ask, lol.

I didn't go along the whole way, and picked them up later a few miles up the Trail.

 The Circle-A symbol Ⓐ generally stands for Anarchy.
     In this case, it stands for Ⓐsshole (pardon my french). 
          This is why we could never have an Ⓐnarchist Society, because idiotic Ⓐssholes don't know how to Ⓐct right and require Policing. 

Liberty Cruise {Day 3}

Day 3 of our cruise was the Day at Sea.

I always try to pick cruises with a Day at Sea the day before we get thrown off the ship our cruise is over so we have nothing to do but relax and chill and not have to think about a single thing.

My plan was to lay out on a deck chair and enjoy the warm sunshine, while everyone else did whatever they wanted...also hang out on deck, play games, swim, whatever.
    Sadly, it didn't go as planned, on account of it turned out to be a chilly, overcast day outside. 

So we hung out inside and ate and piddled around and not much.
    Which was fine, we had no where to be and nothing to but relax. And eat.

 Later we participated in a Dr. Seuss parade.

We paraded, and watched story time.
   And nibbled.
        Or grazed, as Aunt Rita might say.

Later when it was time to pick Baby up from Kids Camp, we went back to our cabin(s) to rest (doing nothing can be tiring, lol) before dinner.

I don't think any of us ate very much dinner that night. I only had an order of shrimp cocktail and skipped the entree.

Didn't skip dessert, though!

Our other favorite cruise dessert, Baked Alaska. Mmmmmmm!

After dinner we headed to the Show, an 80's Rock n Roll show, which was right up our alley, that was our Era.
     We had a big time rockin' out to the music, and watching the dancing and singing on stage. 

 Not Kev's era, but I raised him right, he digs 80's rock-n-roll, and had a good time rockin' out with the rest of us.

After that show, we collected Baby from kids camp and headed on deck to watch Minions3 on the big screen Poolvision.

One last ice cream cone before another Fun cruise comes to an end.

'Til next time!

Liberty Cruise {Day 2}

Day 2 of our cruise, we were porting for the day in Nassau, Bahamas.

We woke up, got ready, and went to breakfast in the dining room.
      Breakfast is also served in the buffet (which I think was the better breakfast and wish we had gone there instead).

After that we went up top and watched us sail into Nassau.
    It was gorgeous.

Nassau itself, not so much gorgeous. Seems like it has gone downhill since the last time we visited (ten years ago?). 
It really isn't that tourist friendly as you would think, for being such a major cruise port.

As the unofficial trip planned and Tour Guide, I had planned out a general walking tour, visit the Rum Distillery, eat Local, and Beach time!

      We didn't plan to visit the Atlantis Hotel on Paradise island this time because we had seen it previously and weren't interested in gambling.
      They have a pretty cool aquarium underneath Atlantis that we managed to see for free last time, but now it's really expensive to go in, as is the beach/water park activities there.

We first headed towards the Queens Staircase (which had trash in it and smelled like pee).

Then up the hill to Fort Fincastle.

     Last time we went there was no charge to go in, and I had thought the only fee they charged now was if you wanted a guided tour. But I was told it was $3.00 per person to go in at all now.
Not a bad price, if you haven't already seen it before.
    We skipped it.

The view of the cruise port from Fort Fincastle Hill.

Library in the old jail.

The foyer of the beautiful Greycliff House, which they invite you to come in and look around.
Absolutely beautiful place.

We eventually made our way across town on broken, sometimes non-existant sidewalks and dangerous streets (as far as cars/drivers, not people. We never felt scared of anyone there) to John Watlings Distillery.

At the door they give you a tiny sample cup of Pina Coloda  (frozen coconut drink) that was yummy, then you go out back to a tour of the warehouse.

After there you go back inside the main building and can buy bottles of rum, and/or drinks at the bar.

The plan was to eat somewhere Local after that, but I guess no one wanted to, or couldn't decide where to eat.
    Anyway, we ended up just going on to Junkanoo Beach, where only me and my little niece would get in the water and swim.

The others' loss, it was great!  The water was great, the weather was great. I could've hung out there for hours. So could have my niece, she's a little fish, too, and loved the water and didn't want to leave.

After the Beach, I had a couple of errands to run - to the DI (Diamonds International) store to collect my free charm to go on my cruise charm bracelet, and to a grocery to pick up a couple 6-packs of Bahamas Goombay Punch - and then we headed back to the ship for lunch.

I really don't like going back on the ship before I have to, I feel like I'm wasting time I could be doing or enjoying something in port, but oh well, I was outnumbered, so I went on with it.
    No worries, I'll be back.

Back on board we ate lunch, got ice cream of course, and headed outside to enjoy the beautiful day and check out some of the ship activities while the crowd was away.

Shuffleboard

Mini-golf!

Cornhole

Giant Chess

 Then we went back to  our cabin(s) to nap/rest/be lazy awhile before dinner.

Zzzzzzzz!

It was Elegant night at dinner, so we duded up a little bit.

One of our favorite desserts: warm chocolate melting cake. Mmmmmm!
    My sister asks for 2 ice creams. Kev asks for a side of peanut butter.

There was a show following dinner, but unfortunately someone had gotten hurt during rehearsal so instead of all fun dancing and all, the cast sat on stools and sang.
   I missed the fun show, but hope the person wasn't hurt too badly. 

To be continued.......Day 3.......

Liberty Cruise {Day 1}

Carnival Liberty
February 1-3, 2018
Nassau, Bahamas

This was the shortest cruise we ever went on, only 3 days....but I'm not complaining, better than 0 days.

This was the largest ship we ever went on.
     I didn't exactly pay attention to that fact when I was booking the trip, and was afraid the crowd would be horrendous...worse than our '07 Triumph cruise. People wall to wa - er, starboard to stern and here to there. However, I didn't really notice how awful the crowd was at the time.
Until.....

This is the second cruise we've taken off-school-break, and hoo-boy what a difference. From now on I will always try to cruise when the kids aren't out of school.
    The majority of the kids that were there were really young, five and under, and we barely saw them.
     I had thought the ship was sold out for some reason, but if it was, I don't know where all the people hung out. There were plenty of deck chairs available all the time.

This was my little 5 year old niece's first cruise. She cried as we were dis-embarking. I wanted to, too!

So, the first day isn't a whole lot more fun than the last day, but at least you know once you get through the "work" of going on a cruise, you have the rest of the trip to look forward to.
     It's what you make of it. You can either have a good attitude and 'enjoy' it as part of the whole experience, or have a bad attitude and make yourself miserable. And possibly everyone around you, but not me, because I'm gonna walk away from your miserable self.

We sailed out of Cape Canaveral, which my sister lives about an hour-and-a-half away from, so we spent the night at their house and drove to port the day of sailing.
    They chose to park at the port because they didn't want my little niece to either have to ride in the shuttle van without a car seat (which may not even be legal/allowed) or they would have to heft her car seat along on the ship with them, which would have been a pain.

We didn't have little kids with us, so it made sense for us to park at a nearby lot and be shuttled to port for much less cost.

      We chose 1:00pm check-in time so we had plenty of time. And, it was one of the latest, if not the last, check in time, so we "sailed" right on through the check in process (lol).

Pretty much the first thing we do once we're aboard ship is to go get lunch.
     For others, they might grab a drink first, or walk around looking at everything, or hit the pool, or....whatever.

Our routine is to get lunch and sit and eat and study the ship map.
     Or, Kev studies the ship map. He's kinda fallen into the Guide role of the group. If you need to know where some where is - the theater doors, the dining room, kids camp, etc. - he knows. He says, "Follow me!"

After eating, depending on the time, we walk around learning where some of the places we'll be spending time at is, looking at the ship and decor, taking selfies, etc.
     Probably also a good time to go check out your cabin, leave any carry-on items, meet your Cabin Steward if he/she is around (they're really busy about this time).

One place Kev always visits is the Coffee Bar. Not for coffee, but they put out a little puzzle sheet everyday (most days) with puzzles like Sudoku, Find A Word, etc. that he enjoys doing.

Walking around and checking things out may come before or after Muster, but whichever, Muster at 3:30 is Mandatory.

     No, it's not at all fun, but you have to do it, can't get out of it, and the longer you fiddle fart around, the longer it takes to get it over and done with.

I've started a collection of "I am so over muster" face photos, LOL

Don't take muster-survival lessons from my BIL, you're not supposed to pass the time by
being on your phone. They will holler at you.

Not well pleased with her first muster, either.

Following muster the Sail-Away Party starts up top.
      Lots of people, and loud music. (It is a party ship, afterall.) There are quieter, less-crowded places to hang out on some of the lower decks.
(I don't know what happened, I apparently didn't take many pics during the Sail-away part.)

Despite our enjoyment of cruising the "party" ships at Carnival, we aren't really party people, and the party, and sailing away, was interesting for maybe half an hour.

We left the party and moseyed some more around the ship checking out the arcade and shopping area and what not, and back to our cabin(s) to just rest and/or get ready for dinner.

 We enjoy eating in the formal dining room, mostly for the experience.
     Others enjoy the buffet better, eating on deck, or even in their cabins, and that's okay, too.

We always pick the early seating, 6:00pm.
    I used to dress us up for dinner every night, and even more fancier on Elegant night, just for the experience, but not so much anymore.
    I usually wear dark jeans and a nice(r) blouse on regular nights, but the guys just wear whatever - well, not whatever - I mean, cargo shorts and a t-shirt ok, but basketball shorts or swim trunks or pjs, no.
    Then on Elegant night I just wear church clothes, a skirt or dress. The guys wear jeans and a nice button up shirt. 
    That's just our preference, now. Some people, and we used to, dress really nice or fancy for Elegant night. I used to dress the boys in suits and tie, and we'd have our family portrait taken on the ship.

The first night there was a Welcome Aboard show at 10:00pm.
     Can't tell you how it was, we were all in our beds asleep by 10pm, lol.

To be continued.....Day 2....