Home Sweet Home

Wow, it was really strange to be walking in my front door after 11 1/2 weeks away. Anna looked after things really well, so it was easy to step in and mess the place up with all the miscellaneous from the car, LOL!
We put on over 12,000 kilometers, saw more places than I could ever imagine I would see, especially in one trip, and found some hidden gems that I'd have never known about. I definitely feel like a seasoned traveler, and  I know I started out with "tips" but kind of let that go. However, if anyone out there ever wants some advice or help planning or executing a trip, I'd be glad to help out. Of course, I always loved getting comments on my posts too!
So I've pretty much got the laundry caught up, the suitcases put away, and now on to seeing all my family that I've missed since before Christmas, for some of them!

Take care, y'all, and don't be strangers!!

LaGrange, Kentucky on Wednesday night

We're taking it kind of easy on the way home. We travelled through Tennessee and just northeast of Louisville, about an hour or so away from Cincinnati on the Ohio-Kentucky border. It looks like an excellent depiction of Smallville, USA. Nice, clean and far enough outside of Louisville to be much less hectic. Still, it's on the way between Louisville and Cincinnati, so there is still lot of truck traffic along I-71. We went to the "historic shopping district" (haha, about 1 block long) and had dinner at The Irish Rover Too (the original Irish Rover being in Louisville). Excellent food, reasonable and a great bread and butter pudding for dessert. Beautiful drive through the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky. Something happened to the car radio though...it seemed it only played country music :)

Priceville, Alabama

Priceville is where we stopped for the night last night. It's just south of Decatur, near the Alabama-Tennessee border. Now we're starting to get into the hills, which will be nice to see since when we came down it was snowing and misty and we couldn't really see anything. We were just in a hurry to get to the warmth of Florida, which of course was freezing when we got there, haha. What a winter...coldest on record in areas of Florida, and of course it seemed that the winter was exceptionally mild back home. I guess we can blame it on El Nino, or so I hear. Not sure how far we'll get today, probably stop somewhere in Ohio if we don't run into any more miles-out-of-our-way detours!

The Big Easy...and Little Easy

Yesterday we travelled from Mobile, Alabama along the gulf scenic route to Slidell, Louisiana (also known as Little Easy because of it's proximity to The Big Easy haha). The 25 miles or so along the gulf between Biloxi, MS and the Saint Louis Bay is listed as the 5th most scenic coastal drive in North America, even ahead of the Cabot Trail. The road is basically right on the beach for that distance. It was quite windy yesterday, making the sand blow across the road just like ground drifting snow. Because it was so windy and quite cold, it was not enticing beach weather, so we had no beach stops. From Mobile we passed through towns like Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Gulf Port and Pass Christian. Once in Biloxi, we could start to see some of the scars left by Hurricane Katrina. Until you can see this first hand, it's really hard to imagine the impact that is still felt even after 4 1/2 years. More about that later on. We found our hotel (a brand new Comfort Inn) here in Slidell. This is first hotel I've ever stayed at that has a second tv in the bathroom. I called my cousin Kenny, who happens to live no more than 10 minutes from the hotel, and took a drive over there to have a visit. We met his girlfriend Raenelle (please excuse and correct if I have that spelled wrong!) who is absolutely delightful, and the dogs and the lizard and a few assorted family members and had a good visit. Raenelle lost her home in Katrina, in fact she said everyone in her family but one person lost their homes. Left for what she thought was a few days, and never made it back. Katrina is still first and foremost in life here. Today we drove into New Orleans and took a city bus tour. It left from right in the French Quarter (which is pronounced by the locals as "Quota") and went through the lower 9th District, which is where the most destruction was. The water level in this neighbourhood was about 12 feet, if I understand correctly. The homes left bear the evidence of the searches afterwards. The homes are marked with a large X with the date they were searched in the top, the search group number in the left and what they found in the right. While there is restoration and new growth going on by groups such as Habitat for Humanity and the foundation started by Brad Pitt to name a couple, the empty lots, empty foundations and rotting homes give testament to that great flood. Our guide told us that in the New Orleans area of 160 square miles, 140 of those square miles were flooded to some extent. Some areas just a foot of water, some 4-8-and more deep. Buildings, signs, and other structures have obvious water lines to show just exactly how that neighbourhood fared. It was impossible not to be affected by the disaster even 4 1/2 years later. He explained how the levees were constructed in the different areas, around the canals etc, and where the water breached them. We also stopped at one of the many cemetaries in the city and saw how New Orleans buries their dead above ground. After the tour we walked through the Quarter to the French Market, stopped at Le Monde Cafe for hot beignets. These are a kind of square, fried dough that is served hot out of the oil with about a half pound of powdered sugar poured on it. That and a cafe au lait for Thor and a hot chocolate for me provided our recommended daily intake of sugar for about a week! Funny, you can tell anyone on the street that's been there by the white powder all over their clothes (ourselves included, haha). We enjoyed the market, the street musicians and just the experience of walking down Decatur Street. We stuck close to the car though, and didn't do any walking down Bourbon Street. Funny many of the trees were still festooned with just tons of beads from Mardi Gras.
Well, tomorrow we start the trek north towards home. Hard to believe 11 weeks have gone by since we left Canada!

Sweet Home Alabama

Love this area! Today we drove down to Dauphin Island. If you're looking at a map, look on the west side of Mobile Bay south and if you scroll in close, you'll see the island. It's a "true barrier" island. All sand, with dunes, maritime forests, salt marshes, tidal flats and also has two freshwater "lakes". It's only about a mile and a half wide at it's widest, and I think about 12 miles long all told. There is a ferry to the Gulf Shores islands to the east, and into Florida Pensacola area. If you are looking for a serene beach vacation in quiet, total beach experience, this is the place to go. The far west tip of the island is all and only white sand beach, the south facing the Gulf of Mexico and the north facing Mississippi Sound. Both sides are beautiful. If you go right to the end of the road, you can walk from one side to the other in about 3 minutes. I took a stroll and saw many beautiful shells just within the water's edge, but unfortunately they were all still inhabited! I picked one up that looked abandoned and saw the claws peeking out, it's terrified owner probably praying that I'd put it back. I did. I couldn't bear the thought of killing one of the creatures to take home it's home. At the east end of the island (this is where you'd pick up the ferry across the bay) is where Fort Gaines is located. There were Civil War battles here, something Thor is pretty interested in. We took a look around the fort, there wasn't really much there.
Almost all of the homes/cottages on the island are built up on poles. Again, the sand takes over everything. On the way back out we passed a street cleaner brushing sand off the road. I imagine this has to be done quite frequently.
Later in the day we went to Dick Russell's BBQ for dinner. Mmm. BBQ baby back ribs, chicken, potato salad and BBQ beans. Sweet tea with lemon. Homemade biscuits. Oh, I was stuffed. I really wanted the peach cobbler (our own recipe!) but just couldn't do it. We drove around a bit, checked out some residential areas. Noticed right away that many homes have huge front porches, and almost all have rockers, sometimes lots, and/or porch swings. Places to set a spell and have a sweet tea. Another thing, in Florida, you don't hear that deep south "y'all" accent very much, as most of the inhabitants are from somewhere else. Here, our northern accents stick out like sore thumbs. People are very friendly though, and it's definitely slower paced. I find it truly amazing to find these areas that we've never heard of, as opposed to the "known" vacation destinations.

The Emerald Coast

This is the area from Panama City Beach and Pensacola. Advice on visiting the area...skip Panama City Beach and go straight to Santa Rosa area. Look in real close on the map for Choctawhatchee Bay. Start at Hwy 331 right in the Gulf and go west from there. You will pass through places like Santa Rosa Beach, Turquoise Beach, Miramar Beach, Destin and through Fort Walton Beach. Wow, these places were a whole 'nuther world as compared to Panama City. The beaches were the most different we've seen in our travels. The white white sand was just everywhere, if you didn't know better, you'd think you were in the middle of an area under snow. The sand took over the roads, sidewalks, parking lots and open fields. The area itself in this drive was delightful. Obviously a higher class of travellers than the "spring breakers". It was still busy in some areas, just not the mayhem of the younger crowd. Tons of vacation rental properties, condos, and in this tiny strip island area both sides of the street were waterfront. Pensacola Beach is definitely a recommended vacation destinaton, just plan it in April or early fall so you get some better temperatures though.
We scored an unbelievable deal here in Mobile, Alabama at a brand-new Wingate by Wyndham hotel at $54 per night for 3 nights. So here we are in Mobile, thinking of New Orleans and in the meantime, we'll see what there is to see within driving distance of this place. We're actually on the northwest outskirts of the downtown area in suburbia. A few days to relax now!

De-where in the world is De funiac Springs???

OK, look on the map. Find Tallahassee Florida. Look west about half way between Tallahassee and Pensacola, north of the Gulf beaches. Scroll in close at the junction of Hwys 10 and 331. Around are places like Bonifay, Ponce de Leon, Chipley and Crestview. Nope, never heard of any of them. Yep, right there in the middle of nowhere, it seems. We got to Panama City Beach and holy smokes, didn't realize it was PRIME spring break destination!! The mean age there was about 17 1/2 it seemed. And holy smokes busy!! Anyone out there reading know what Grand Bend on a holiday weekend is like....think about times 10. Maybe more, because it's much bigger. Maybe go times 100. All along the coast from there to Destin so we decided to high-tail it north. I guess we won't be seeing the #1 beach area in the U.S. :(
And it was cold today, it was about 50 when we got in to our room (very nice I might add, brand new Comfort Inn). This area of Florida has less palm trees, more pines and deciduous trees. The trees are all popping out with their blossoms and new leaves so it seems a strange mix, with all the pines, the look of northern spring with the new leaves and blooms and palm trees, all mixed together. It seems that this area has a lot of lumbering...I think we passed a big stinky paper mill on the way, and there are lots of big trucks loaded with logs. Didn't look like big logs for lumber, hence the paper mill guess. These were tall very skinny trees. What we could see of the beach was very unimpressive, but we never got anywhere near it in Panama City so I'm sure it's as nice as it was reported.

Hi y'all! Welcome to Tallahassee!

I think northern Florida is really part of the deep south. We've heard it referred to as the "Redneck Riviera" and scoffed about that, but guess what? Sorry to offend anyone who may be from this area or have loved one around. It's OK though, Tallahassee is a beautiful area. We walked around the downtown area to see the capitol buildings and whatnot, and found it a beautiful, well-kept city. It's kind of hilly here as well, the first hills we've seen in Florida. Most of the state is flat, but here some of the streets that make up the downtown area are very steep. It certainly wasn't what I expected and I would definitely recommend a visit here. I guess there's not much draw here for tourists as it's not in the "warm" zone of the state. However, I think it's warmer here today than in some of the actual tourist spots we've been in this last while. It hit 75 here today. I know it's almost that temp back home today too.

New Port Richey

Just for the night. We're working our way north over to the panhandle. We didn't go too far in miles, but meandered around and thought we'd stop mid-afternoon. Went through Tarpon Springs, it's like Greektown. Once we stopped here we drove around to check out this small-ish community (around 25,000) and found a small park out on a key (Green Key - just a tiny speck on an enlarged map) that was a nice place to watch the sunset. Apparently it was a big spot for birders, we took a walk on a "boardwalk" through a swampy area that had lots of birds. We don't really know what we're looking at, but we saw red-winged blackbirds and heard lots of different bird calls. Tomorrow, we'll probably land in Tallahassee.

The Jays vs the Braves

Yeah, Jays lost. It was a fun game though. The stadium held about 4,000-5,000 people and almost every seat was full. There were lots of Canadians and of course, Atlanta isn't all that far so Braves fans as well. It's good to see a real sport, even though it's still pro, it just felt more like "real" baseball. Some of the fans are obviously regulars. Snowbirds, I'm betting, that fill their days with season tickets to the pre-season games. Thank goodness I thought to bring caps, but I still got too much sun on my shoulders.
The last two days we have just been checking out the area. This peninsula-type area that we are in is pretty much defined by St. Petersburg in the south, Clearwater in the north, Largo to the west, Tampa to the east. Of course, you have to go across one of the bridges to get to Tampa. We hit the beach at Sand Key yesterday. The beach area was large, but not as nice and clean as we have become accustomed to on the Atantic side. The water line was full of vegetation that washed up, oh, and I actually got a piece of sponge! The "sand" was far more crushed shells than sand. We've been spoiled!!
After the big rain we got on Friday, the last two days have been absolutely delightful. Tonight is our last night in St. Petersburg, tomorrow we are off to the north - Perry or Tallahassee.

Day 3 in St. Petersburg

We've spent the last couple of days scoping out the area here. Yesterday and today were very warm. Yesterday was bright and sunny and actually quite humid. We went downtown to the Pier, which has an aquarium (which we didn't visit) but we did walk around the pier and enjoy the view. Along the water were several parks which we walked around and did some people watching. It was almost too hot to be laying on the beach, but we did come back to the hotel and do a little sunning at the pool. Today the wicked weather has moved in, and we're supposed to have some severe thunderstorms, and wind tonight and tomorrow. We drove over to Tampa and went to see the stadium where the Yankees are spring training. We thought about getting tickets to see a game, but the only game that fit in our schedule was Sunday and it was against Baltimore and neither of us have any ties to either of those teams. I called Dunedin Stadium (just north of Clearwater, about a 30 minute drive from here) and got tickets for Sunday's game Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. Baseball fever is in full bloom here, let me tell you. I'm kind of excited to see a pre-season game. Smaller crowd, and hopefully some real baseball. Now we're going to do our homework and make sure we know who's who!

Yesterday, Sarasota, Today, St. Petersburg

No internet access yesterday but we were in Sarasota. We stayed just outside the downtown area. Took a drive through the downtown and found a nice park on the water to have lunch at. We decided to continue on so this morning headed up through St. Petes Beach area and all the way up to Clearwater Beach. Continued over the bridge back to the mainland through Clearwater and into St. Petersburg. The day was mostly cloudy until almost suppertime, then the sun came out. We've hunkered down at a Comfort Inn for a couple of days, maybe a week and we'll check out this area. The weather doesn't sound great for the next 10 days, in fact, it sounds almost as warm back home! I can't believe we picked the coldest winter in years to have our winter here. But we haven't seen any snow since we've been here and there are still lots of flowers blooming and palm trees and of course, the beautiful ocean and Gulf of Mexico. 

Two nights in Naples

Yep, Friday and Saturday night were spent in Naples at a very nice Best Western hotel with a very nice pool. And nice breakfast :)
The Naples area is really nice. There is a huge touristy-shopping area, shops like on Mackinac Island or in Bayfield only much larger. The streets were beautifully decked out in all manner of green plants and colourful blooming flowers. We walked around a few of the streets and down to the pier, which jutted out probably about a quarter mile into the Gulf of Mexico. The water was really churned up and quite brown looking, and there was a chilly wind but it was just too pretty!
Today we drove north up through Punta Gorda and got a room in Port Charlotte (another La Quinta, I think our next stay is a free night!). It's very busy here, lots of traffic. Of course, it is a weekend and I think it's March break for some schools. After we checked into our room, we drove north again to Venice and Casey Key. We were checking out some places for tomorrow night. Casey Key was a great find, and you could park for free for the beaches. I don't think we'll be staying on the key, but it was a beautiful drive on a beautiful day. We also went to Englewood and over to Manasota Key. Again, pay to park to go to the beach. The Englewood business district was pathetic, many places empty and not much traffic at all. The Venice area is beautiful and we'll probably stay there tomorrow. If you want to find these places on the map, you have to scroll in VERY CLOSELY to find them! I kept wondering how people knew about these places. The keys are similar to St. Pete's Beach area and a lot of the off the mainland beach areas. Some of them are so narrow that one side of the street has beachfront property and the other side of the street has the intercoastal waterway in their yards. Water, water everywhere! This part of the state is very busy again, a big change from the Fort Pierce area but all seems to be more expensive, more of the bigger homes and newer buildings.
OK, time to settle in for the Academy Awards.

Back in the US of A

Wow, the night was a rough one again. No complaints here, I love the rocking at night, but to some it's misery! We got back to Miami this morning and when leaving the ship we were greeted with “Welcome to Alaska”. These people down here are just too spoiled. It was cold, mind you. Apparently El Nino is to blame for this. We drove from Miami, Highway 41 which is the southern-most way to go east-west in the state. I did get some alligator pictures. You'll have to look hard, since the pictures are so small on here. I'll put a big one at the bottom. We are in Naples (on the Gulf of Mexico) for the next two nights. It's still cold (55 degrees at 6:30 pm) and it doesn't look all that promising in the next ten days either. I just keep telling myself at least it's not snow!


We still don't have our land legs yet. This sensation of moving will take a couple of days to wear off, if I remember correctly. This hotel is a Best Western, has a heated pool, is very large and looks great. We have a balcony, even if it does just overlook the parking lot!

Cruise Day 4: On The Open Seas

The weather just will not co-operate! Everyone keeps saying how unusually cold this weather is, hasn't been like this for years, etc etc. It just figures! Well our day at sea was cold and windy. No sunbathing or swimming. We ventured out to sit on deck a couple of times, but it was just too cool and windy. There were lots of things to keep everyone entertained today. All the musicians were playing at one place or another. There was bingo, food, the casino, food, contests, food, people-watching, food. See a pattern here?? Ok, I admit to having second breakfast this morning. Thor had second dinner.

For our dinner tonight, I had a chilled black cherry soup, also fresh mozzarella and tomato plate and Thor had Mediterranean Fruit plate. I had english-cut steak (medium rare and delicious) with Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and a few slices of roasted potato while Thor had chicken breast with mashed potatoes. I ordered German chocolate cake and Thor ordered warm coconut souffle and we shared. I missed out on my crepe, as the station was closed after the evening show. The show was fantastic again. It was a mixture of the ship band (blues/jazz), comedy, a bit of comedic magic, and other performances. We listened in on the ship talk, where they have an officer representing different areas of the ship available to talk about ship life and answer questions. Some of these people having been working on ships for ten years or more.


All in all, what I liked about the Norwegian cruise was the freestyle dining, and the quality of the entertainment. What I liked better in the Carnival cruises was that there wasn't as many things that were extra (meaning pay extra) for and I thought the variety and availability of food was better. Other than that, they were pretty comparable and I thoroughly enjoyed the four days.