Ya' - Grand Cayman Mon

While looking for a timeshare trade, I decided to give Grand Cayman another shot. We had been there for a business trip 6 years ago with the twins and our business group - the Homebuilders 20 Club. It was fun and we stayed at the Westin - which of course was fabulous.  But I was looking for something that gave us more of the island.

So we ended up at the Morritt's Tortuga Resort at the East End.  This was nothing like the 7-Mile area and Georgetown where there are many tourists and cruise ships regularly.  So I'll take you through a few of our crazy adventures...well, to us they are crazy!

We got lucky on 2 flights both in the exit rows so lots of leg room. We even managed to hit the duty free store for some booze and landed on time.  Upon arrival and entering the customs terminal there was a reggae band  to welcome us....quite nice!

So we collected baggage and collected the huge rental car you see here. Bill had to curl up to get inside but it worked!  So the TRIPPIEST thing EVER is driving on the wrong side of the road.  The perspective from both sides of the car is really strange.  More on that another day...

We arrived at Morritt's checked in, and found a great room at the pool.

Morritt's Tortuga Lobby

Tommorrow - Tukka...our fabulous lunch, view, and saviour at the end of a long day!

What can I say? It's late Spring in Florida-

Just when other parts of the country are getting glimpses of spring bulbs, and a warmer day here and there - we are realizing that summer will he here pretty darn quick!  All of my plants are going nuts; growing, blooming, enjoying the fertilizer and warm sun.

The lizards are running around, Painted Buntings and other colorful birds are consuming the contents of my feeders, and the lawn will be mowed for the fourth time this year tomorrow.  So everyone here is enjoying the perfect 80 degree weather and trying to avoid sunburns.  Heck, my A/C has been on for 3 weeks already!

I'm getting ready to plant herbs and a few plants to start our landscaping.  But no veggies, we grow those starting August.  I feel like I've moved to another planet sometimes!

Don't dispair if you are in a northern state.  When you are enjoying this period of time we'll be sweltering.  But for now...I'll take the weather and the breeze.

The Old Pink House - Outstanding!

While passing through Savannah last week I picked the Old Pink House for our big night out.  We spend several hours walking the charming and beautiful streets.  The residents of Savannah are very friendly and fun as well.  All of them are true believers that there are ghosts everywhere.  Cody, at Tapas at The Market, showed me a photo that a customer sent to him - there was a ghost in the background of her picture...it was authentic and crazy!

The Old Pink House is a charming place with a wonderful staff.  We sat at the charming table by the window in the photo. The food was some of the best we've ever had!  The Blackened Oyster appetizer I could eat every day with the delicious relishes. Bill had the Crab Stuffed Flounder and I had a Redfish with Shrimp Scampi special.  I honestly think the mashed potatoes here were sent from Heaven.  Mashed potatoes, really? (you say)  Yes - velvety and scruptious!  It was absolutely outstanding. 

I will return to Savannah for several days on the next visit and definately be back for another round here.  And upon the recommendation of the locals - I'm definately up for a ghost tour!

Good Morning World!

So how do you beat this?  We were all out one morning to fish in Old Harbor and non of us could focus.  The world consumed us with this beautiful morning. That evening everyone compared photos. They all looked about the same...but we all had the same experience - the best our world has to offer.

Check This Bad Boy Out

So Bill & I are walking up a bank to step over the edge and onto the beach.  This gorgeous spider was just sitting there hoping some lunch would hop or fly into her web.  To give you some perspective - it was the size of my hand.  I didn't have the nerve (or maybe I'm not a big enough idiot) to put my hand near for the perspective shot.  A couple of our friends walked the same path as we fished together for the afternoon.  They didn't notice this spider...how could you miss it?

I'm Back in the Saddle

Sebastian Inlet June 2010

After starting this blog and life taking over in a HUGE way - I'm back.  So what's going to be happening here?  Well to me, every time you step out your front door you are traveling.  Life truly is an adventure from the people you meet to the places you shop. 
I like to travel, cook and spend time getting to know people.  So that's what I'll be writing about.  There will many restaurant reviews and you'll wonder where the travel part comes in...it will, I promise.  I have traveled the world a little and our great country a lot. 
Did I mention I like to fish?  Crazy as it may seem I was dragged up to Kodiak Sportsman's Lodge 10 years ago and fell in love with it - the lodge and Alaska.  Now I belong to a ladies fishing organization: Sebastian Fishin' Chics.  It's a great group of ladies that raise money for local charities and scholarships but we have fun fishing too!
So take all of it for what it is worth to you.  I welcome your comments and questions. This is also a great way for me to stay in touch with my friends in Utah now that I am in Florida.   

From Kansas, through Missouri, Tennesee to Georgia

After one of the longest days of my life across Kansas we had a short day driving to Springfield, MO.  Bit of a rough morning being really tired from the prior 12 hour driving day.  We were going along smoothly until I talked to my Dad (who lives in Springfield) telling me we were taking the long route and we should cut across to a different road to save an hour.  Well we programmed Nancy (my GPS) and ended up on back roads with lots of dead critters, one lane bridges and endless fields of who knows what.  I'm sure it still took us that hour we were trying to save.  We finally got to Springfield, visited with my parents, had a great dinner at Ocean Zen, and managed to get my mom in bed after half of a martini.

My dad is dying and he knows it.  We said goodbye on Sunday morning probably for the last time.  Needless to say, it was a long emotional day.  Scariest thing ever - we're on a road in Tennessee and it was kind of back road, windey and rural.  I come around a curve to a huge levy bridge.  I am terrified of bridges.  And this one was really high and really narrow and there were semis coming straight toward me.  It was all I could do to keep a little composure and get over those bridges.  We crossed the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.  Erin learned something about Mom she never knew.  I HATE BRIDGES. 

After that incident I enjoyed the scenery.  There a rolling hills, beautiful southern homes and lots of beautiful fields. Erin & I took turns and drove to Murfreesboro, TN and couldn't wait to get out of the car.  Nancy, our GPS, got us safely around Nashville and we needed the help! We were both pretty hammered emotionally, tired and hungry.  We went to a local Italian place run by Sicilians - Sal's Pizza.  It was fantastic! At the end of a crappy, crappy day that place made our day.  The building wasn't special but the food was amazing.

So we get up for another crazy day of driving, this time to Valdosta, GA. I got us through Atlanta which was crazy.  A 20 lane freeway and going 75 is like standing still.  We managed not to get hit, or to hit anyone, and only got honked at once. The architecture in that city is beautiful.  I've only spent time in the lovely airport for layovers, but I would like to investigate that city some day.

Erin had her first experience with fire ants while walking the dogs at a rest stop. There was also a chopped up school bus being worked on that said, No Work, No Tacos, on  the mud flaps....okay....

Lucky for me that Erin was with me.  We changed over and I was out like a light.  I slept for 2.5 hours and we pulled into our luxurious Best Western for the night. Amazing how wonderful any hotel is when you want to stop driving.  The whole way through Kansas I thought "look, there's a perfectly good hotel" and we would drive by. We finally hit the South and some serious heat and humidity.  Our room would only go down to 75 degrees but we were too tired to change rooms. 

We decided to go out to eat and ended up at a Japanese restaurant.  I could have eaten BBQ every night but it's not Erin's favorite.  So the food was decent there, and we drove through a local ice cream place for a sundae.  The next stop was the gas station to fill the generator.  Have I mentioned that we are hauling UHaul with a freezer full of fish from Alaska?  Every night and every morning we start up the generator and run that sucker to keep the fish frozen. Move over Beverly Hillbillies.  Anyway, I'm filling it up and the nozzle slips and I gas down Erin's feet; ant bites and all.  I'm such a great Mom.

We get back to the room and Erin MUST shower after being doused with gasoline. We start watching the Cowboys game and the cable just turns off.  Emory must come and reset our TV so we hide the dogs in the bathroom as pets are allowed but there must be two under 40 pounds or one 50 pound dog.  Sophie's head weighs 50 pounds.  We got past that and finished the game and passed out.

Did I also mention that Sophie started "woofing" during the night at every little noise?????????