Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 6, Day at sea
Robbie and I had been having great Christmas/Anniversary Caribbean cruise! We had an awesome day exploring Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. We had an enjoyable day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, although it was a really hot day. I really had fun taking night photos in Old San Juan. What a great view of the Caribbean from Mountain Top in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands. On day 6 of our cruise, December 28, 2021, we spent the full day at sea on our way to the Bahamas. I woke up to another beautiful sunrise. I slipped out to our veranda to take some photos.
We had our breakfast in our cabin, enjoying the view from our veranda window. One of the great things about cruising, it could also be argued that it’s one of the bad things about cruising, is the food. There is plenty of delicious food available, as much as you like, pretty much when ever you like. Typically on a cruise I generally gain about 5 lbs! Personally I enjoy eating, so on a cruise, I like eating the tasty food that I would not normally eat at home. Unfortunately, this means that I usually eat more food than I usually do at home. To offset eating more we like to walk as much as we can. On shore we like to do walking tours and on at sea days we like to walk around the promenade deck. Holland America Line has a tradition of doing a walk to raise money for cancer research. For a donation to the cause we get an On Deck for a Cause tee shirt and a walk around the deck. We have done this on several of our past cruises.
After our walk we celebrated our anniversary with some champagne!
On a cruise there are dozens of things to do to keep you occupied. You could do the entire cruise and never leave the ship. There is a small shopping area with lots of expensive jewelry. Eating! There are all types of classes, you can learn about cooking, making towel animals and art. Eating! There are usually some dance classes but for some reason there were none on this cruise. Eating! You can take a tour of the kitchen to see how all of the tasty food is made. We did that on another cruise, it was pretty cool. Eating! There is a library for reading, a casino for gambling. Eating! There is all types of spa treatments and a gym. Eating! Not to mention the pools and hot tubs! Many other things as well and Eating! Here are some photos of just a few of the places around the ship.
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Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 5, St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands
Day five of our Christmas/Anniversary cruise, December 27, 2021. Today is the anniversary portion of our cruise, Robbie and my 15th wedding anniversary! We were sailing into St. Thomas U.S.V.I at sunrise. I went up to the upper promenade deck to watch the sunrise as we sailed into the islands. The islands were bathed in the warm golden hour glow as our ship glided past. The pilot boat slipped alongside and our St. Thomas pilot jumped onboard to guide our ship into the port.
The town of Charlotte Amalie was about two miles from the cruise port. We could have just walked into town from the port. We thought that it would be nice to get a birds eye view of the island. We booked a shore excursion that took us to Mountain Top, the highest point on St. Thomas. From Mountain Top there is a great view of the blue water of Magens Bay, the best beach on St Thomas. We met our tour group on the dock by the ship.
The gift shop at Mountain Top claims to be the home of the banana daiquiri. So naturally Robbie and I had to have an anniversary banana daiquiri! Of course the scenic overlook is through the gift shop.
We made a quick photo stop at Drake’s Seat, a scenic overlook where we got a nice view of the port and Charlotte Amalie on our way into town.
We arrived in Charlotte Amalie near Fort Christian, a fort built by Denmark and Norway in the 1600’s. We were on our own to explore the town. Our guide and safari bus driver would be back in 1 hour to take anyone who was ready back to the ship. Then again in another hour for a ride back to the ship, so we had two hours to explore. The historic town of Charlotte Amalie has cobblestone streets, lined by colorful colonial buildings with big wooden doors and iron hardware. It’s not hard to imagine the streets filled with pirates drinking grog and singing Yo-ho-ho! Unfortunately, a lot of these beautiful old buildings are filled with high end, high pressure jewelry stores. I think there were over a dozen jewelry stores in a three block area. That’s great if you are looking for jewelry but we did not need any jewelry today.
We needed to get off of the main street. There are several really pretty stone alleyways with shops and restaurants. In one of the alleyways we found Glady’s Cafe. We were getting hungry so we stopped in for a bite. It was Robbie and my anniversary! We were married 15 years ago in Jamaica. To calibrate I had the jerk chicken and a Red Stripe beer! It was great to be back in the Caribbean with my beautiful Angel on our anniversary! I love you honey!
We had a nice leisurely lunch and we missed our ride back to the ship. We needed to walk off all of the wonderful food that we had been eating on the cruise, so we took a nice long walk back to the ship. When you get back to the ship there is always cold wate and lemon-aid and my favorite the cold damp towel! We had a great day exploring Charlotte Amalie! The next day was a day at sea on our way to the Bahamas and then back to Florida.
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Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 4, Part 4, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico at Night
Robbie and I had a nice, but hot, afternoon exploring Old San Juan. It was great walking through the colorful old buildings. And blue cobblestones, how great is that! Going up and down the hills in the heat was not so fun but Old San Juan was amazing! We went back to the ship to cool off and relax a bit. Our all aboard time wasn’t until 11:00pm. There was still plenty of time to continue exploring Old San Juan. I wore Robbie out with the hills and the heat and 1111 steps! Robbie was going to stay onboard the ship. I wanted to take advantage of the extended time in port to take some night photos of Old San Juan. I brought my travel tripod along just for tonight. I was so excited to get started that I walked off of the ship without my mask! I’m surprised that they didn’t say something when they scanned me off of the ship. Pretty much everyone in town had been wearing masks when we were in town earlier. I didn’t want to go back to the ship though, there was a Walgreens across the street from the ship. I went in to buy a mask, there were 10 or more people in line to checkout! I went down the street to a souvenir shop, I now own an Old San Juan mask.
I wanted to try and get a few photos at twilight so there would still be some color in the sky. That didn’t go quite as planned, twilight was short lived and the narrow streets hid the sky. I did get two images with twilight sky.
When I photograph a place like this, I like to wonder around and just follow my nose. I usually end up finding some interesting things. I found myself in Plaza de Armas, the original town square. The centerpiece is a fountain, the fountain was now the base for the town Christmas tree. City Hall is along one side of the plaza.
After Plaza de Armas, I ended up back at Umbrella Street. The Christmas lights were lit where the umbrellas usually hang. The Governors Mansion is at the end of the street. Earlier when we went by here the street was closed. It was open now for Navidad de Puerto Rico. There was music playing and they were projecting a light show onto the mansion. The street was narrow and there were a lot of people, so I didn’t venture down the street.
I continued walking and I saw a woman walking a dog down a narrow street. I was hoping to get a bit closer but she kept moving away from me. It was an interesting street so I kept going.
This brought me to the old city wall along the entrance to the harbor. I was just in time to see one of the other cruise ships leaving the port. I did a quick time check to make sure it wasn’t my ship! There is always a little fear of the ship leaving without you.
I knew where I was now, Robbie and I came down this hill earlier. Casa Blanca was at the top of the hill. I decided to walk up the hill. It ended up being a pretty interesting street.
I came to a wide walkway with steps, it was sort of like a courtyard/pathway. We came down these steps earlier as well. It looked pretty cool at night.
I continued walking and found some interesting places. I found the famous Puerto Rican flag door by Rosenda Alvarez that I had read about. It was originally the traditional red white and blue. In 2016 she repainted it black and white to reflect the gloomy political climate during that time. Although I had the flag door pinned on my map, I never looked at my map. I just stumbled on to it. I didn’t know anything about the Ricardo Alegria door. Ricardo was a cultural anthropologist and archeologist. He was responsible for the renovation and restoration of Old San Juan. I think they could have given him a better door, maybe a nice wall.
Then I found this beautiful cobblestone street with the Puerto Rican flag in lights! There was also a section of the blue cobblestones.
The flag in lights was like a beacon that I had to follow. I walked down the cobblestone street and found an amazing carousel. I didn’t know about any of these things. If I had been looking for some specific thing, rather than just wondering around, I probably would not halve found most of these things.
The carousel lead me to another Puerto Rican flag. I just stayed in this intersection for a while photographing the people walking around.
I ended up back at the cruise port and the Nieuw Amsterdam, it was still there, phewww! I wondered around the dock taking a few photos of the ship before boarding. I set up to take a photo of the ship with the ornamental pillars and a woman laid down and started doing some arm exercises. So I took her picture too.
I had lots of fun photographing Old San Juan at night. I was able to do two of my favorite things. Wonder around an old town with cobblestone streets and colorful buildings and night photography. Hopefully I was able to get a few good images to boot.
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Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 4, Part 1, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Yesterday we had an long but awesome day exploring the Dominican Republic. Back on the ship Robbie and I had a nice relaxing evening. No matter how you spend your time on board, full tilt nightclubbing or just relaxing as we did, your floating resort is on it’s way to your next adventure. One of the things that I like about cruising is, waking up to a new and exciting port. Today December, 26 2021 we were sailing into San Juan, Puerto Rico. This is actually our second time in San Juan. On our first cruise into San Juan we visited the El Yunque Rain Forest. The rain forest was great but we didn’t get to see much of San Juan. This time we wanted to explore Old San Juan. This is why it can be nice to revisit a port.
We weren’t due to dock in San Juan until noon so we were able to spend the morning on the ship. So we took the opportunity to have a nice leisurely breakfast in the main dinning room. Before breakfast we watched the sunrise from our veranda.
As we sailed into San Juan Harbor everyone was on deck. Our cruise director was describing the sights and history of Old San Juanover the P.A. system as we sailed past. The most prominent landmark on the coast is Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a 16th century Spanish fort built to protect the harbor. Several other San Juan landmarks were visible as we sailed into the harbor. A few other cruise ships were all ready docked as the Neiuw Amsterdam eased up to the dock. It’s amazing how maneuverable these huge ships are.
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Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 4, Part 3, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Next to Barrio La Perla is Cementerio Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis. An ornate cemetery from the mid 1800’s. Several prominent Puerto Ricans are buried here. The cemetery is outside of the city walls. We had to walk down a steep road to the bottom of the wall. Then through the wall to get to it. The cemetery was closed when we were there but I was able to get some photos through the fence. The other side of the cemetery is bordered by Castillo San Felipe del Morro. Built in the 16th century in honor of King Philip II of Spain to protect San Juan. Old San Juan is bookmarked by Castillo San Felipe del Morro on the west and Castillo de San Cristobal to the east.
Continuing our walk through the beautiful cobblestone streets of Old San Juan I was noticing several homes with decorative tile house numbers.
Casa Blanca, a whitewashed home, built for Juan Ponce de Leon, the first Governor of Puerto Rico. Unfortunately he died on his expedition to Florida, in search of the fountain of youth, before it was completed in 1521. The home is currently a museum. It was closed when we were there.
Next we came to La Fortaleza, the fortified Governors Mansion. The street leading to the mansion dubbed, Umbrella street, typically has colorful umbrellas suspended above it. Umbrella street was decorated with Christmas lights instead of umbrellas during our trip. It was closed off to prepare for, what I later found out was, Navidad en Puerto Rico, a Christmas light show projected onto the mansion.
A quick look at Capilla del la Salud a small chapel at the end of the street, before heading back to the ship. We were very hot, sweaty and exhausted from walking up the hills and down the hills and back again. Robbie was done for the day but we were in port until 11pm. I wanted to take the opportunity to photograph Old San Juan at night. I freshened up a bit and went back for more of Old San Juan.
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A Trip to ZooTampa
For my birthday, my wife and our friend Cassy took me to ZooTampa in Tampa Fl. The zoo has 56 acres of naturalistic animal exhibits in a tropical setting, housing over 1000 animals. The zoo is divided into regions with corresponding habitats and animals. There is a region for Asia, Africa, Australia, and Florida.
We arrived just in time for the orangutan chat. The orangutan caretakers gathered them together and kept their attention by tossing them a treat as they told everyone about the orangutans. We were able to get a great look at the two week old baby clinging to its mother. They were all covered in feathers. Apparently, earlier they were given feather pillows and they all had a pillow fight!
We walked through the Florida manatee exhibit. ZooTampa is a manatee critical care center. Injured and sick manatees are brought to the center and cared for until they are healthy enough to be returned to the wild.
There was a wildlife connection at the Zoo Ventures Theater. The caretakers for the macaws told everyone all about the macaws. They had two macaws that were flying over the audience from one caretaker to another. After the wildlife connection, it was time for the macaw fly over near the main entrance. All the macaws fly through the zoo to manatee circle, a large circular sitting area with a manatee sculpture in the center. The macaws land on a perch near the circle. The caretakers explain how the macaws are going to fly around the circle and back to the perch. They did this three times before they sent them flying through the zoo back to their enclosure. It was pretty cool seeing the large colorful birds flying overhead.
We had a trip to South Africa planned for this coming April. We were really looking forward to this trip! But the tour company canceled the trip due to the covid pandemic. We planned on seeing the African Penguins at Boulders Beach and doing a safari through Kruger National Park. Today we saw some African Penguins and took a ride on a safari vehicle through the African region of the zoo. It wasn’t quite the same as a trip to South Africa, but I guess it will be as close as we get for now.
Here are a few of the other animals that we saw along the way.
This Indian Rhino was keeping cool in his pool and having fun blowing bubbles.
The lorikeets are always fun! We always like to visit the lorikeet aviary anytime we visit a place that has one. We bought a little cup of nectar to feed them. They can spot those little cups from a mile away! They come sit on your shoulder or your arm and even your head! We had a great time with the lorikeets. We had a awesome day at ZooTampa! It was a fantastic way to spend my birthday!
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Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 4, Part 2, San Juan, Puerto Rico
The San Juan port is right in Old San Juan. Pretty much anything in Old San Juan is within walking distance. We did not do a shore excursion here. We just walked through Old San Juan on our own.
My wife Robbie and I walked off of the ship into Old San Juan. It was a short walk to the Capitol Building of Puerto Rico.
The front of the Capitol Building faces the Atlantic Ocean. Across the street is a statue of San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist) name sake for the city of San Juan. It looks like he is giving the world the finger but he is actually pointing into the air. We took the steps down to the beach. The beach is quite narrow but the blue water and the Coconut palm trees are beautiful!
We continued walking through Old San Juan. It was a very hot day for the day after Christmas! Old San Juan is by no means flat! We were walking up hills and down hills, did I mention that it was hot! At the top of a steep hill we came to Castillo de San Cristobal, an old Spanish fort. It took 150 years to build, construction started in 1634 and wasn’t completed until 1765. It’s the largest Spanish fort in the Americas.
The blue cobblestones of Old San Juan. When Spanish ships sailed to the New World they were filled with ballast for stabilization. The Spanish ships sailing to San Juan were filled with ballast bricks made from iron mill slag. Ships returning to Spain, replaced the bricks with pilfered gold as ballast. The discarded bricks were used to pave the streets of Old San Juan. With age, the slag in the bricks turned a cobalt blue.
Barrio La Perla, a colorful ramshackle neighborhood along the Atlantic coast of San Juan. During hurricane Maria in 2017, La Perla, as well as most of Puerto Rico, were heavily damaged by the storm. A music video filmed in La Perla called “Dispacito” (slow), criticized the slow response by the United States government, it went viral. The video created a surge of visitors to the barrio.
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Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 3, Part 3, Christmas Day! Fort San Felipe, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
After a great tour of the Isabel de Torres National park, our minibus took the roller coaster ride down the mountain, back to Puerto Plata. As we were walking and driving through Puerto Plata, it was nice to see that most of the people all over Puerto Plata were wearing masks during this time of covid. We stopped along the Malecon de Puerto Plata, a boulevard along the coast. We got out and stretched our legs on the beach for a bit.
We took a short drive down the road to Fort San Felipe. The stone fort was built by King Felipe II of Spain, in the mid 1500s, to protect Puerto Plata from pirates and privateers. This was a quick photo stop, we needed to get back to Amber Cove.
We returned to Amber Cove to board our ship to start our next adventure. We had fun spending Christmas Day in the Dominican Republic. Our next port will be in San Juan, Puerto Rico!
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Christmas/Anniversary Cruise 2021: Day 3, Part 2, Christmas Day! Mount Isabela de Torres, Dominican Republic
We had a great time on our walking tour of Puerto Plata. We returned to our minibus to climb the mountain! It was a long steep winding road to the top of Mount Isabel de Torres. We got a good look at the beautiful countryside along the way. The higher we climbed the better the views became. Towards the top, the road was very steep! Our minibus was having a hard time. Rambo told us that we would probably need to get out and push! Luckily the minibus made it to the top without our help. When we arrived at the top we were literally in the clouds. We were there to see the Christ statue on the peak. It was barley visible through the clouds. Puerto Plata below us was totally obscured. The Christ the Redeemer Statue is a smaller replica of the same statue in Rio de Janeiro. The clouds were moving rapidly and we were able to get nice views of the statue and Puerto Plata below. There is a cable car from Puerto Plata to the peak of Isabel de Torres. It was temporarily closed.
The Isabel de Torres National park has a beautiful botanical garden. After we took in the views of the valley below, we took a walk through the garden. The stone pathway wound its way through the beautiful lush garden. We came to a small cave. Rambo said he brought a group of 14 here and only 13 came out! He was kidding, I think….
There was a replica of an early Dominican home complete with its own herb garden. Rambo was very excited to tell us all about how the early Dominicans lived. He plucked herbs from the garden and invited everyone to smell how fresh they were. He was really having fun showing us how they used a device that looked like an old butter churn to grind coffee. He was very funny shaking his booty as he ground the coffee. He was telling us all about the house and how they lived. The roof was made from the base of palm fronds. It was a very interesting place. The path wound its way down the hill and was fairly steep! We were worried that we were going to need to go back up the hill! We were happy to see that Rambo had the driver bring the mini bus down the hill to meet us.
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SpaceX Crew 3 launch
The SpaceX Crew 3 launch, transporting 4 astronauts to the International Space Station. Photographed from the Project Gemini Memorial at Space View Park in Titusville Florida. This launch had been postponed several times. I picked this location for the original launch date. Once I pick a location I try to stick with it. I used this location one other time, but there was heavy cloud cover and the rocket disappeared shortly after takeoff. So I wanted to give this location another try. There was light rain falling as I left the house, not a good sign. The rain was supposed to stop by launch time, but what about the clouds? When I arrived, the moon was covered by clouds. It was looking like I may have a repeat of the previous cloud situation. As launch time got closer the moon and a few stars became visible, I was hopeful. The sky was pitch black and it was hard to see if the clouds were going to be an issue or not. As soon as the rocket ignited it lit up a huge cloud bank! Shortly after lifting off the rocket disappeared into the clouds. A collective “awwwww” arose from the crowd. I waited and waited, it peeked out and was gone again, finally the rocked reappeared, although partially covered by clouds. The clouds are not always bad. A good night launch photo looks better with some clouds. You just don’t want too many. If I try this location again and there is another cloud issue, I will begin to think the twins have a cloud curse. The area around the Gemini Monument was recently renovated. They installed some new LED lights. This is a really dark area and needed some light. From a photography standpoint, the lights created a bunch of crazy lens flairs and a shadow from my lens hood. I took the lens hood off for a test photo, this made way more lens flairs. I kept the lens hood on and dealt with the shadow. Over all I was pretty happy with my image and it was a beautiful launch to watch.
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Christmas/Anniversary Caribbean Cruise: Day 2, Day at sea.
The first full day of our cruise, Christmas Eve, December 24, 2021. We spent the full day at sea enjoying the ship. We started the day with a nice breakfast in bed! Well not really in bed but we could’ve if we had wanted to. The night before we filled out our breakfast menu and hung it on our stateroom door. In the morning, right at the time we specified, our hot breakfast was delivered to our stateroom. It was very nice watching the world pass by through our veranda window as we ate our breakfast. It was very yummy too! We were far from camera ready so, sorry, no photos.
We wanted to work off that wonderful breakfast and also minimize the weight gain that always happens on a cruise. We took a brisk walk on the windy Promenade deck. We did 6 laps which equals two miles. We had to stop from time to time to watch the Brown Boobies chasing the Flying Fish that were jumping out of the water as the ship cut through the waves. As we were walking, I was seeing lots of photographs. So I took an extra lap to take some photos.
We were on our way to the Dominican Republic. This is the port that was switched at the last minute right before we left. The cruise port at Amber Cove is a fair distance from the places that we wanted to visit, so we booked a shore excursion. A shore excursion can be expensive, but in a port like this, it’s probably the best option. They were giving a talk about the shore excursions in the main showroom. We went to the talk to help us decide which excursion to do. We booked the Mountain Views and city sights shore excursion for the Dominican Republic.
Time to eat again! The reason the we always gain weight on a cruise is all of the wonderful food available pretty much anytime you want. We can’t let it go to waste! We popped up to the Lido deck and ordered a pizza for lunch.
There was another talk in the main showroom about the Caribbean. It turned out to be a sales pitch for rum. So we went back to our stateroom watched the flying fish and relaxed until it was time to get ready to eat again! This evening was gala night, so everyone dressed up for dinner. We had a very nice Christmas Eve dinner in the main dining room. After dinner we went to see the dance show in the main showroom. The Step One Dance Company put on a nice show.
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Christmas / Anniversary Caribbean Cruise 2021: Day 1, Sail Away
My wife Robbie and I enjoy taking a cruise for Christmas and our anniversary. Unfortunately the past couple of years the cruise industry has been shut down. We have been unable to take our Christmas cruise. So we were really ready to cruise. Things have been getting better, the covid cases have been dropping. Everyone on the ship needed to be fully vaccinated and have a negative covid test to board the ship. Masks were also required everywhere inside of the ship, except your cabin and while eating or drinking. So this year we thought that we would take our Christmas cruise. We booked a 7 day Caribbean cruise with Holland American Cruise Line. Enter the Omicron variant! Covid cases were rising, ugh! We had committed to going, so we made the decision to continue with the cruise.
Our cruise departed from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 23rd. We were going to Grand Turk, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay Bahamas. A few days before the cruise we were told that the Grand Turk port would be replaced with a stop at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Apparently both ports are owned by Carnival Cruise line, Holland America is a Carnival company. The Grand Turk port only had enough personnel to accommodate one ship. Carnival and Holland America were taking turns at the port. It was Carnivals turn, so we got bumped to Puerto Plata. We had been to Grand Turk before on another cruise, so we were good with the switch.
We drove our car to Fort Lauderdale to start our cruise. The great thing about living in Florida is that we are a few hours drive from any Florida cruise port! We parked at the Park N Go parking lot. We took a 5 minute shuttle ride to our ship the Nieuw Amsterdam. Our last cruise in 2019 from Venice, Italy took hours to board the ship. The European ship was delayed by fog but still, after boarding started it took hours! This time in Ft Lauderdale, we boarded the ship in record time! In fairness, the latest ship was about 500 people short of being full. All of the passengers had staggered boarding times, we were in the 1:40pm boarding group. We arrived at the parking lot about 1:30pm. The shuttle dropped us off right at the ship. The cruise line baggage guys grabbed our bags from the curb. We walked into the cruise terminal. We had to wait for one couple in front of us to show our boarding passes, passports, negative Covid tests and Vaccine cards. They scanned our boarding pass and we went right to security. We put our carry on bags through the machine. From there we stopped at a kiosk and had our photos taken for our ship/room key cards. After the photos we walked right onto the ship. I think they scanned our boarding passes one more time, as we boarded the ship. We were in our cabin literally 15 minuets after we got off the parking lot shuttle! Our key cards were waiting for us in our mail slot.
Once on the ship everyone is required to do a mandatory muster drill. This is a practice run for everyone to gather at their assigned lifeboat in case of emergency. Normally the whole entire ship gathers on the promenade deck under their lifeboats. You are all massed together until everyone is there and listen to the safety instructions. It’s a very tedious and long process. Not to mention huge crowds of people and Covid. They changed their process for this cruise. This time we just needed to go visit our lifeboat, so we knew where it was. A crew member scanned our key cards, so they knew we had been there. Then we just needed to watch a safety video in our cabin. A much better process, thank you Holland America! We took in the view of the port on our way to the lifeboat.
When we sail out of a port, I like to go up on deck and watch the sail away. Robbie stayed in the cabin and I went to take some photos of the sail away. I like to watch the people, watching the people, as we sail through the port. People on shore are waving and yelling at the people on the ship and people on the ship are waving and yelling at the people on shore. Everyone is happy, taking photos, and having fun!
click on an image to se larger.
As we were sailing out to sea, we were treated to a nice sunset over the fantail. One of the best things about cruising is watching the sunset from the deck.
After enjoying the beautiful sunset, I took walk around the Lido deck. There is the rear pool and hot tubs with a pool bar. There is also a pizza shop where you can get a made to order pizza. Moving inside we have the Lido Market buffet restaurant. This is where you can go just about anytime and grab a bite to eat, get something sweet, or something to drink, ice tea, water or coffee. Everything is usually pretty good! Moving through the Lido Market there is the second pool and hot tubs with the Lido pool bar. Get a tropical drink and sit by the pool or have a soak in the hot tub. There is also the Dive In restaurant, a walk up diner where you can get a hot dog, burger and fries. Robbie really liked the portabella mushroom sandwich! In case of inclement weather they roll the roof closed. We had great weather and the roof was open every day. They did close it at least one night. I think we passed through some spotty showers.
Back in our cabin, from our veranda, we got to enjoy the last of the setting sun as Fort Lauderdale faded into the distance. Our cruise was off to a great start!
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Predawn Atlas V Launch of the Lucy Space Probe
What a beautiful Star-filled night for a predawn Space Coast Rocket Launch! United Launch Alliance launched an Atlas V rocket carrying the Lucy Space Probe. Lucy will be exploring the Trojan Asteroid Belt in Jupiter’s orbit. After the launch the wind blew the rocket’s contrail into a cool smoke-ring in the sky.
Click on photo to see larger. You will miss all of the stars if you don’t.
After photographing the rocket launch, at Space View Park in Titusville Florida, I stuck around with a few other photographers and a few others that were just waiting for the sun to rise. It was a beautiful light show, a pod of dolphins went swimming buy as well. It was worth the wait!
Click on photo to see larger.
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Road Trip To York PA. A Side Trip to Washington DC Day 2 Part 3 (AKA Hamilton Tour)
06-26-2021
Robbie and I had a great morning on our Washington DC/Hamilton tour. We saw lots of things and walked lots of miles. We were exhausted, but we still had lots more to see. We went back to the hotel to freshen up and rest for a while. We planned to take the car and park either by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial or the Jefferson Memorial. This would save us quite a bit of walking. First we drove to a Safeway to pick up a few supplies. From there we drove to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The parking area there was full, so we drove to the Jefferson Memorial. The parking area there is larger and had lots of spaces left. Since it was after hours, we didn’t need pay the kiosk for parking! The Jefferson and MLK memorials are basically on opposite sides of the Tidal Basin. We walked all of the way around the Tidal Basin, we started with the MLK Memorial.
Continuing around the Tidal Basin we came to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. This is a memorial that you don’t hear too much about. I was thinking that it must be fairly new, it’s actually been there since 1997. The memorial is really quite impressive. It covers a 7.5 acre area consisting of four sections, representing each of FDR’s four terms as president. Each area has lots of stone work and water features. There are statues depicting the depression and other prominent points of his presidency. There is a statue of FDR with his faithful companion Fala by his side.
Continuing around the Tidal Basin we arrived at a stop on our Hamilton tour, the Thomas Jefferson memorial. The memorial was undergoing a partial renovation but we were able to enter to see the Jefferson statue. We were able to get a nice sunset view of the Washington Monument from the portico, also on the Hamilton tour.
We had enough time to visit two more locations. We got back in the car and moved to the MLK parking area, everyone there had left by this time. We were heading to the Lincoln Memorial, on the way we wanted to stop at the Korean War Veterans memorial. Robbie’s father is a Korean War Veteran. It’s a pretty impressive memorial with a life size bronze platoon in formation crossing rice paddies. The lighting at night make the soldiers look pretty spooky. We were disappointed to see that the memorial was undergoing a total restoration; we were not able to see it in all of its glory. We did visit the memorial a few years ago on our last visit to DC. We continued on to the Lincoln Memorial, probably everyone’s favorite memorial. I always remember visiting it when I was a kid. We climbed the steps to see the huge statue of Lincoln. We like to walk around the to the back to view the Potomac River. There is always the awesome view of the National Mall and the Washington Monument. It is even better at night.
My little Fujifilm X100V was working out great! It was very easy to carry around and I was traveling much lighter. I normally only carry one camera and one lens anyway, but it was much lighter. I got some really nice twilight images. For the twilight images, I was using my monopod. With my big Nikon, I would have needed to use my tripod. In DC, you can’t use tripods in the monuments.
We made our way back to the car and then to the hotel. We had a very long day! We ended up logging 30,000 steps, over 13 miles!
The next morning we had a long 12 hour drive back to Florida. We took turns driving, had a nice lunch stop, and several stops for gas. We made it home around midnight.
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Road Trip to York PA. A side trip to Washington DC. Day 2 part 2 (AKA Hamilton Tour)
06-26-2021
Robbie and I found a nice pizzeria and sat down for a nice long relaxing lunch. We were very hot, tired and thirsty. Feeling very refreshed from our lunch, we got back to sightseeing. We heard that there was a Freedom Ride rally on the National Mall. We headed to the National Mall to see what was going on. There were lots of people with red shirts, even a few horses. We hung out there for a while and listened to a few speakers.
We went from the rally to the Capitol Building. It was disappointing to see the Capitol Building surrounded by a security fence. It was nice seeing the Capitol Building, fence and all. The fence has recently been removed.
Our next stop was on the list of monument to Hamilton characters. The Library of Congress: James Madison Memorial Building. Madison was one of the first people to indicate a need for congress to have a library. He suggested a list of books that would be helpful to members of congress. Inside the main hall of the Madison Building there is a statue of James Madison. Unfortunately, due to covid, all of the federal buildings were closed to the public. There was a very nice capitol police officer at the door. He informed us that we were not allow to enter. Robbie asked him if he would take a photo of the Madison statue for us. He said yes! So he took Robbie’s phone inside and took a few photos of the statue for us. We were very grateful and thanked him for taking the photos for us. We didn’t tell him about our Hamilton tour but we did mention the other reason that we wanted to see the Madison statue. James Madison and I are “cousins” or something like that. My Grandmother was a Madison from Virginia, apparently her family goes back to James Madison’s uncle. So James Madison and I share a great grandfather.
Our next stop was another one on the Hamilton tour, the Jefferson Library of Congress Building. Unfortunately also closed. This is the main building for the Library of Congress. We were able to go inside on our last visit to DC a few years ago. It’s a very beautiful building!
The Supreme Court Building is next to the Library of Congress. It was closed as well but was also barricaded at the street. We also went inside of the Supreme Court Building on our last trip to DC. It would have been nice just to walk up the steps though. From there you get a good view of the back of the Capitol Building.
They call it Capitol Hill, because the Capitol Building is on a hill. It doesn’t look like a big hill, until you walk to the top of it! We are from Florida, so the biggest hill we have is an ant hill. Walking up and down Capitol Hill made us quite tired. We planned on using the car for the next places on our list. So we headed back to the Hotel to take a break before heading back out. About half way to the hotel we took a little break at the fountain for the National Botanical Garden.
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Road Trip to York PA. A side trip to Washington DC. Day 2 part 1(AKA Hamilton Tour)
06-26-2021
My wife Robbie and I took a road trip to York PA to see my family. It was great seeing everyone again, we really missed them a lot! We had a great visit but it was time to head home. We planned on visiting Washington DC on the way back to Florida. We spent two nights in DC, this way we would have one full day to see all of the sights. We had a very full day planned, we wanted to see everything! We wanted to visit some of the Smithsonian museums while we were there. In the past, you pretty much just walked into the museum you wanted to visit. During our visit in June, because of the covid pandemic, they were restricting the number of people visiting each museum. To control this we needed to get a free admission ticket online, 30 days in advance! Unfortunately, we started planning our trip less than 30 days before. We were unable to get any museum admission tickets. According to the website they were holding a small number of tickets for walk ups. We wanted to see the new National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was under construction during our last visit a few years ago. We planned on being there in the morning when they opened. On the way there we took the scenic route through the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden next to the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building. There was a line of people waiting to get into the African American Museum. We asked the woman who was checking tickets if there were any left for today. She said that there were no more tickets for today. She told us that to get tickets the day of, you actually needed to go to the website the day before at 4:30 to get them. So we were unable to get tickets for any of the museums. I checked recently and it looks like you no longer need to get a ticket to enter the museums.
Robbie is a huge Hamilton fan, so while we were in Washington DC we also wanted to see all of the monuments to Hamilton characters. Alexander Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury. The US Treasury Building is just a few blocks from the African American Museum, so this was our next stop. There is a statue of Hamilton at the rear of the building. This also seems to be the main entrance, there is a security fence with a guardhouse there. We were only able to see the Hamilton statue from a distance. In the front of the building along Pennsylvania Ave is a Statue of Albert Gallatin, the longest serving Secretary of the Treasury.
Walking from the back of the Treasury Building to the front, we passed the Sun Trust Building. It’s just a neat old red brick building.
Walking down Pennsylvania Ave, we came to Lafayette Square. There is a statue of the Marquis de Lafayette, a good friend of Hamilton and French ally who helped win the American Revolutionary War. One of the men at the base of the statue is Comte de Rochambeau. Rochambeau and his French army were instrumental in defeating the British at Yorktown and winning the Revolutionary War. He is mentioned in Hamilton at the battle of Yorktown.
Across Pennsylvania Ave from Lafayette Square is The White House. There were barricades along Pennsylvania Ave, so we could not cross the street.
We were able to get into The White House for a photo though! No, not really. We stopped at The White House gift shop down the street to do some shopping. With our purchases, we could go around the corner to a small studio, for a free photo in a faux White House.
Heading back down Pennsylvania Ave we came to Pershing Park, sort of a two for one memorial. It honors General Pershing on one half and World War One on the other. The artwork reflecting in the pool will be replaced by a bronze mural when it’s completed. It’s a really pretty memorial.
We were getting pretty tired and hungry from walking around seeing the sights. We found a nice pizzeria and had a long relaxing lunch. The pizzeria was just around the corner from Fords Theater and the Peterson House across the street. The Peterson House is where President Abraham Lincoln died after being shot in Fords Theater. After seeing Fords Theater we walked across Pennsylvania Ave and got a good view of the Capitol Building. We were in Washington in June, it was Pride Month, the Federal buildings were flying pride flags. This one was the Commerce Building.
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Ladder Company 10 and Engine Company 10, The Ten House
Ladder Company 10 and Engine Company 10, The Ten House. The Ten House is literally across the street from the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, The Ten House was the first to respond to the towers. Members of The Ten House directed people to exit the towers through the subway. An estimated four thousand people escaped through the subway. The Ten House lost five firefighters in the towers. A total of 343 New York City Fire Department members lost their lives that day.
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Road Trip to York PA. A Side Trip to Washington DC.
06-25-2021
Robbie and I had a great time in York PA visiting the family. It was awesome seeing everyone again. We missed them a lot! It’s always nice getting back to York. Hopefully it wont be so long until we get back again. It was time to say goodbye and head back home. It’s a really long drive back to Florida. To break it up a little, we planned a side trip to Washington DC. One of Robbie’s favorite cities. On our way from Florida to York we stopped at Mount Vernon. By the time we arrived it was too late to take a tour. We decided that we would stop at Mount Vernon again on our way to Washington. This time we arrived with plenty of time to take a tour. Due to covid restrictions they were limiting the number of people allow to take a tour of the inside of George Washington’s mansion. Although we could still walk around the grounds and see the farm and the mansion from the outside, they had reached the limit for tours of the inside of the mansion for the day. The admission to Mt. Vernon is fairly expensive. Since we could not see the inside of the mansion, we decided not to take a tour. There is a nice restaurant there next to the gift shop so we had a good lunch before heading into Washington.
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We had booked a room in downtown DC at the Holiday Inn. It was just three blocks from the National Mall, just behind the Air and Space Museum. This was a great location, most of the things we wanted to see were within walking distance. Our rate included come and go parking privileges for the parking garage, very important when visiting DC by car. The hotel was really nice, our room was on the top floor. The room was fairly large and had a sitting area with a sofa. There was also a refrigerator that we made good use of. Along with a view of the inner courtyard we could just see the top of capital dome from our window. There was a rooftop pool, but due to covid, it was closed.
I wanted to see how my new little Fujifilm X100V performed for travel photography. The X100V is a very small camera and easy to carry around. Although it is a small camera, it has all of the features and capabilities of a larger camera, with one, well, two exceptions. The X100V has a the smaller C size sensor (lots of big DSLR cameras have C sized sensors too, so not much of an issue) and a fixed 23mm focal length lens, equivalent to a 35mm focal length lens on my full frame size sensor Nikon (sensor size affects the focal length). I normally use a 24-70mm zoom lens on my Nikon. So the 35mm equivalent focal length lens on the X100V is in the middle of the range that I’m used to using. I was eager to see how being tied to the fixed 35mm (equivalent) focal length would affect my photography. There was still lots of daylight left, so I thought I would walk around and take some photos. When I photograph a place like Washington DC, if I have time, I like to walk around and sort of just follow my nose. I usually have a few things that I want to photograph, but I like to keep things loose. I like to also be able to photograph things that I find along the way. Here, my main targets were the Capitol building and the Washington Monument. If I found something along the way, all the better. I walked a few blocks from the hotel on the way to the Capitol building and found the National Museum of the American Indian. This museum has some really nice architecture. I was having a great time photographing it. This museum was not on my list of places to photograph. Not having a strict itinerary allowed me to spend some time on a found place. Tomorrow will be much different, we have a larger list of places to see, so I won’t have as much time for found places.
After photographing the American Indian Museum, I made my way towards the Capitol Building. It was a really nice evening for a walk through the Nation’s Capital. It was disheartening to see the security fencing around the Capitol Building. The reason why it needed to be there in the first place is even more disheartening. Area closed is not something you want to see around your Capitol. That aside, the Capitol Building was looking very majestic as usual. Thankfully the security fencing has since been removed.
I walked all the way around the Capitol Reflecting Pool then started down the National Mall. There was not a large number of people on the Mall. The people who were on the Mall had been taking part in many activities. They were sitting in the grass relaxing and enjoying the beautiful evening. People were walking, taking in the sights, like me. They were playing games and having fun. Bike riders and rental electric scooter riders were zipping up and down the Mall. A Segway tour passed by. There were people sitting on benches just watching the world go by. It was a great evening to be on the Mall. I was treated to a colorful sunset as I approached the Washington Monument.
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On my way back to the hotel I stumbled onto the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden. The garden is a beautifully landscaped brick walkway between Jefferson Drive and Independence Avenue. It’s part of the gardens surrounding the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building, the prominent 1800s redbrick building along the National Mall. The Air and Space Museum was undergoing a renovation and had construction fencing around parts of it. I poked my camera through the fence and I was able to get a photo of the Delta Solar sculpture. Just a block from the hotel I passed the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial with a nice view of the Capital Building. I had fun walking around the Nations Capital taking photos. I was very happy with the performance of my little Fujifilm X100V. Occasionally I needed to reposition myself to frame an image. With my 24-70mm I would have been able to simply zoom. For the most part thought I was working well with the fixed focal length. The camera was really nice to carry around, I felt very light and free. I just had the small camera, with an extra battery and lens cloth in my pocket.
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Road Trip to York PA. The York County Heritage Rail Trail, Glen Rock
06-24-2021
During our recent trip to York PA, Robbie and I took walks on the York County Heritage Rail trail. This is a great trail for riding a bike or walking. On our last walks we visited the Howard Tunnel and Hanover Junction. This time we started our walk South of Seven Valleys in Glen Rock PA. Glen Rock is another quintessential American small town along the rail trail. Most of the rail trail is pretty flat. Glen Rock is in a valley surrounded by rocky hills and dotted with small farms. Heading south out of Glen Rock there is an uphill grade. Trains from the 1800s did not like going uphill so it’s not a very steep grade, but it does give your legs an extra workout.
My great uncle Roy lived in Glen Rock. I remember visiting with my grand parents when I was a kid. They lived in an old three-story farm house. The house was built into the side of the hill, so the lower level was partly under ground but the front was exposed. This was not a basement but additional living space. My aunt and uncle lived in this lower level. They were avid antique collectors. The upper floors of the house were jam packed full of antiques as well as the barn. I always enjoyed looking at them when we visited. I especially liked the old organs; they had several. They were huge, well huge for a six year old boy. They had ornate oak cabinets with lots of keys and buttons. Their house was like walking into an early 1900s parlor.
Many generations ago the Thoman family immigrated from Bubendorf, Switzerland to southern York County. Several years ago Robbie and I visited Bubendorf. I was amazed at the similarities between Bubendorf and Glen Rock. Bubendorf is a small town in a valley surrounded by rocky hills and dotted with small farms. It was easy to see why the Thoman’s chose southern York County.
The lane to my uncle’s house is right next to the rail trail. The last time we walked the trail in Glen Rock we could see a little of my uncle’s old house through the trees. This time it was too overgrown. We could not see the house. Keeping with the bicycle art theme all along the trail, there are some old bikes in a garden and a big dog sculpture made of old bike parts.
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Road Trip to York PA. The York County Heritage Rail Trail, Seven Valleys PA.
06-23-2021
While Robbie and I are visiting York PA, we like to take walks on the York County Heritage Rail Trail. The trail is a 20 plus mile long trail through southern York County. We like this trail because it’s very scenic with lots of things to look at along the way. In the heat of the summer the trail is covered in shade by trees on both sides of the trail. The shade keeps it nice and cool while walking the trail. The other day we walked from the Brillhart Station parking lot to the Howard Tunnel. We wanted to walk a different section of the trail, so today we started from the Seven Valleys trail parking lot. We walked South past Hanover Junction for about two miles before returning to the Seven Valleys parking lot.
The rail trail winds its way through 200 year old small town America. It’s like a trip back in time before suburbs and urban sprawl. Seven Valleys is one of those small towns, population 517. There are several bike themed art pieces all along the trail. The Seven Valleys parking area has three large bike sculptures. There is also a building with old bikes mounted to a wall. There is an antique store that probably has that amazing piece you have been looking for. Back when I rode my bike on the trail, it was more of a general store. On my way back home I would stop for a snack and a drink. Seven Valleys is known for cigars and ice cream.
Just past Seven Valleys is Hanover Junction. In Hanover Junction the Northern Central Railroad line split and headed west to Hanover PA. Trains would either go west to Hanover or continue north to Harrisburg. Abraham Lincoln passed through Hanover Junction twice. The first time he was on his way to Gettysburg, to give the Gettysburg address. There was an infamous photograph that was said to be Lincoln at Hanover Junction on his way to Gettysburg. It has been determined that it was not Lincoln. Photo or not, his train did stop in Hanover junction. The second time, his funeral train passed through Hanover Junction on the way to Harrisburg PA. The train station has been restored to look the way it did in the mid 1800s. There is a small museum inside. It is currently closed due to covid. Outside there is a small butterfly garden full of butterflies. There is a man and horse sculpture, sculpted from old bicycle frames and parts.
The other day we noticed new railroad ties laying along the tracks all of the way from Brillhart Station to the Howard Tunnel. Today we ran into the railroad tie machine in Seven Valleys. There is a steam excursion train that is based at the New Freedom train station. New Freedom is the southern most town in PA along the trail, close to the Maryland line. They have been running the excursion train for several years. They needed to do an extensive rail restoration in order to be able to run the train. The restoration work was completed north as far as Hanover Junction. The train has been running from New Freedom to Hanover Junction and back. After the track is renovated into York, the train will run from New Freedom to York. That will be a really nice train ride!
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Road Trip to York PA. The York County Heritage Rail Trail, Howard Tunnel
06-21-2021
The York County Heritage Rail trail is a 20 plus mile rails to trails project. The trail winds its way through scenic southern York county. It follows the old Northern Central Railroad line. The NCR served Harrisburg PA and points north and south through York County to Washington DC. It was an important freight and passenger route from 1838 to 1972. The rail line was abandoned for many years, in 1990 one of the two sets of tracks was removed. Starting with an Eagle Scout project from two Boy Scouts, the rail bed from the removed rails were transformed into the Heritage Rail Trail.
When I lived in York the trail started in the middle of downtown York. It goes a little farther north now. The trail is a multi use trail it’s great for walking, jogging, bike riding and horse riding. No motor vehicles allowed. I would ride my bike from my house on the east side of town to the beginning of the trail downtown. Depending on how I was feeling that day, I would ride 8 to 15 miles south and then turn around and go back to the house. I really enjoyed riding the Heritage Rail Trail. When Robbie and I visit York we like to walk the trail as much as we can. My parents live a short distance from the Brillhart Station trail parking lot. We parked in the lot and walked just under two miles to the Howard Tunnel.
The Howard tunnel is a 275-foot brick lined tunnel with stone facades. It’s a pretty cool looking tunnel and worth the walk to get to it. It can be a bit creepy to walk through with water dripping on your head. It’s not quite long enough to be too dark. When you get far enough into the tunnel you start to see the light from the other side. It’s only a little bit dark in the middle. The York County Heritage Rail Trail is my favorite trail!
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Road Trip to York PA. Happy Father’s Day!
06-20-2021
Our road trip to York PA happened to be over Father’s Day. My son had planned to go to the Father’s Day brunch at Troegs Brewery in Hershey PA with his family. They invited us to come too. We thought that sounded like a good idea, so we decided that we would go too. My daughter Nicole and her family came along as well. My mom came along with us, but my dad decided to stay home. The brunch was great, plus you got to have a good beer with brunch. The best part though was being with the family!
You can’t go to Hershey PA and not do the Hershey’s chocolate tour at Hershey’s Chocolate World! Hershey’s Chocolate World is a huge store with every type of Hershey’s chocolate known to man, in every package size you can imagine. The chocolate tour is an amusement style ride through a simulated factory. Along the way you learn all about the making of Hershey’s chocolate, from cocoa bean to Hershey’s Kiss. Hershey started this simulated chocolate tour many years ago in place of an actual factory tour.
Ryan and Shana have moved to a different house since the last time that we visited York. After Hershey, we stopped by to see the new house. My brother Brian and his wife Theresa picked up some lunch to have with dad. After visiting with the kids at Ryan’s we went back to my parent’s house to spend some time with my brother and his wife. It was amazing spending time with my kids and my father on Father’s Day! I have not been able to do that for many years. It was one of the best Father’s Day ever!
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Road Trip to York PA. Hanging out at Mom and Dad’s
06-19-2021
After mom and dad’s anniversary dinner at Primanti Brothers we all went back to their house. My son Ryan and his wife Shana own White Rose Hobbies in West York. Ryan had to work at the hobby shop and was not able to join us for dinner. We were waiting for him to join us at mom and dad’s house.
My son-in-law, Ronnie and his boys, Colin and Conner brought their remote control cars. They were playing with them out in front of the house. They were having fun, until a bad collision happened. One of the cars suffered a broken suspension part. Luckily, Ryan had not arrived yet, this meant that White Rose Hobbies was still open! So Ronnie was off to the hobby shop for parts.
While we were waiting for Ryan and now Ronnie, the grand kids, Brooke, Colton, Colin and Conner broke out their devices. When Ronnie returned with the part. He not only had a new suspension part to replace the broken one. He also had all new upgraded suspensions for both cars! I think the guy at the hobby shop saw him coming! Ronnie started working on the cars, when Ryan arrived he helped install the new parts.
We’ve really missed seeing everyone. It was great to hang out with them and spend some time together!
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Road Trip to York. Happy 62nd Anniversary Mom and Dad!
06-19-2021
While we were in York this past June, my mother and father, Roy and Linda Thoman, celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary! It was really great to be with them for their anniversary with the family that they started. We all went to Primanti Brothers restaurant in York. Primanti Brothers is from Pittsburgh. Their specialty is a huge sandwich your choice of meat with coleslaw and french fries on the sandwich between two thick slices of bread.
It was really great to be with the family again! We love you all! Happy anniversary mom and dad, we love you!
roy thoman photography 