The Martin's Blog

3/5/11 – Our first stop was Booker T. Washington NM outside of Roanoke VA.  It is located on the farm where he was born a slave in 1856.  He was a leading black educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.  We did the Plantation and Jack-O-Lantern Branch Heritage trails.

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park is located just north of Greensboro NC.  On March 15, 1781, Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene and about 4,400 men contested the invasion of NC by 1,900 redcoats commanded by Cornwallis.  Fierce fighting resulted in about 250 rebels and 500 redcoats dying before Greene withdrew resulting in a British victory.  However, the battle left Cornwallis’s troops weak an unable to fulfill their role as an occupying force.  Seven months later he would surrender at Yorktown.

3/6/11 – The Charles Pinckney National Historic Site is located on a farm (plantation) he once owned just east of Charleston SC.  Charles was a founding father of the U.S. and a major contributor to the Constitution.  He devoted 42 years to public service and the Visitors Center (house circa 1828) tells/displays his story.

Fort Moultrie is part of the Fort Sumter NM and is located on Sullivan’s Island just across Charleston Harbor.  A palmetto log fort was built here in 1776 and that year Colonel William Moultrie prevented the British Navy from entering Charleston Harbor.  On December 26, 1860, six days after SC withdrew from the Union, the small Federal garrison abandoned the fort and moved to Fort Sumter.  Cannon from Fort Moultrie, now occupied by SC militia, participated in the firing on Fort Sumter that began the Civil War.  The Fort was part of our coastal defenses from 1776 to 1947.  Different parts of the Fort are now laid out to illustrate the periods 1776-1793, 1794-1808, 1809-1860, 1861-1872, 1873-1897, 1898-1939 and 1940-1947.

We stopped in Savannah GA to visit our friends Ali and Carol whom we met in Iran.  This is a picture of one part of their “Persian Room.”

3/7/11 – We visited downtown Savannah, drove to St Marys, GA and stayed ay the Spencer House B & B.

3/8/11 – Took the 9am Cumberland Queen ferry to Cumberland Island National Seashore.

Upon arriving we visited the small Ice House Museum and then took the hour long ranger tour to the ruins of the Thomas and Lucy Carnegie “summer mansion.”  This was the playground of the rich and famous in the 1920’s.

We then hiked through the sand dunes and about two miles along the beach to the southern tip of the island called the Pelican Banks (lots of pelicans and shore birds).  We filled a couple of bags with interesting shells.

This is a sperm whale carcass that washed up five days before.  The rangers tested it and then cut off its head so that if it washed out to sea and then returned again they would know they had already analyzed it.

It was supposed to be 70 today but it didn’t make it beyond the low 50’s.  In addition, there was a stiff breeze.  We had optimistically worn our bathing suits but did not venture in the water – hiked about 8 miles today. 

Cumberland is GA’s largest and southernmost barrier island and among other things is noted for its oaks.   

3/9/11 – Castillo de San Marcos was built by the Spanish and is located in St. Augustine FL, the oldest permanent European settlement in the U.S. (1565).  It was originally constructed to defend FL against pirates hunting the Spanish treasure fleets traveling along the Gulf Steam.  It was finished in 1695 and was involved in wars between Spain and France and between Spain and Great Britain.  Spain ceded FL to the U.S. in 1821. 

Fort Matanzas was finished in 1742 to protect the southern approach to St. Augustine

 

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge borders the Kennedy Space Center.  After touring the visitor center and doing the nature trail, we did both the Oak Hammock and Palm Hammock trails.  Also, drove the Bio Lab Rd but had to turn around and return along the same one lane dirt track when we found they had locked the opposite gate entrance/exit at 5pm.  Proceeded to the Peacocks Pocket Rd and drove through the marshes on some dykes while watching the sunset.

We reluctantly stayed the night at the Casa Coquina B & B in Titusville.  It was dark when we arrived and there were no cars or people around.  We had to call to gain entry to this 1927 eclectic mansion?  An old woman, who emphasized that she would not be staying the night first showed us the unique bar.  We were offered some free decanted red wine but the thought of spiked spirits crossed our minds.  We were then shown the doll wedding chapel and rooms full of flea market items for sale, before going upstairs to our gaudy suite.  Helen was afraid to stay but didn’t tell me until after the credit card transaction – maybe it was the life size horse with armored conquistador and the mannequins everywhere.  We had dinner at the Cuban restaurant across the street and asked the waiter and manager about the place.  They said it was probably OK because no one had died there recently.  Helen had visions of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller! 

What a difference the dawn.  With the morning light our view changed from scary to weird but interesting.  It was dirty and we had to serve ourselves the breakfast of coffee, a hard boiled egg with a few pieces of fruit and stale croissants but Helen’s mood changed to one of tolerance.  Maybe it was the two crystal dishes she bought (left the money on the counter) or perhaps we were just glad to get out of there!?       

It only took about a half hour to drive to Playalinda Beach at the south end of Cape Canaveral National Seashore.  We walked about two miles (more shells!) south to the fence and guard tower of the Kennedy Space Center.  I believe it is as close as you can get to the launch pads.

Next drove to the end of the road and discovered an “unofficial” nudist beach.

The shuttle Discovery made its last landing today at 11:57am.  We drove about 30 miles to the north end of the seashore and parked on a bridge to try to see the descent.  Unfortunately for us, the shuttle landed from the south instead of the north.  The following picture was taken from the top of Turtle Mound.  It is one of the largest middens along the east coast of FL.  A midden is an area where discarded food and other unwanted items were thrown in large quantities.  This mound, built primarily from oyster shells, was shown as a navigational point on Spanish maps but has eroded to about 40 feet in elevation.  

The State House at Eldora is representative of a bygone era.  In the late 1800’s a small town here was served by flat bottom steamboat.  The house now serves as the Eldora History Interpretive Center.

Fort Caroline National Memorial is located east of Jacksonville FL.  It was built by the French in 1564 to get a toe hold on the east coast.  The Spanish attacked the next year and slaughtered about 140 settlers and a bit later killed another 350 who were ship wrecked trying to escape.  In 1568 a French force took revenge by slaughtering all Spanish at the fort and then sailed for home never to return to the east coast.  Fort Caroline is now part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

We took a loop hike in the preserve and then the St Johns River Ferry from Mayport to Fort George Island.

It was about a 16 mile drive north on A1A, crossing the Little and Big Talbot Island State Parks, to reach Amelia Island, Fernadina Beach and our B & B.  We stayed at the Florida House (1857) which is the oldest operating hotel in FL.

3/11/11 – It was raining, so we took it slow, toured Fernadina Beach, shopped and went to an estate sale.  Also, we liked the area enough to spend an hour and a half with a realtor inquiring about houses in the area.  In the afternoon we drove back to St George Island to tour the Kingsley Plantation (sea island cotton), which is now run by the National Park Service; there were only a hand full of people there, so we were able to get a personal ranger tour.  Kingsley’s wife, who he had bought as a slave in Cuba, ran the plantation as a freed black under Spanish rule.  In 1837, when the Spanish ceded Florida to the U.S., she escaped to Haiti because by law there was no longer a “free” black designation.     

3/12/11 – We stopped to see Fort Frederica NM on St Simons Island GA.  The fort was built in 1734 to protect the British colonies from Spain.  We spent the night with Irmi and Harold in SC and then drove home the next day.

Two mile hike up Whiteside Mountain – North Carolina

Whitewater Falls – Highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains

Hosts Harold and Irmi, Lake Keowee South Carolina

Carl Sandburg Home – National Historic Site North Carolina 

Carl Sandburg was a poet, minstrel, lecturer, biographer (Abraham Lincoln) and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Mrs. Sandburg ran the Connemara Farms’ goat herd.

“It is necessary now and then for a man to go away by himself and experience loneliness; to sit on a rock in the forest and ask of himself, ‘Who am I, and where have I been, and where am I going?’ ”   Carl Sandburg

We hiked around the property including the trail to the top of Glassy Mtn

Hendrika Ruth Fischer was baptized today at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church. 

We also celebrated Leva’s birthday.  She will turn 4 on October 19th.

8/7/2010 – Saturday, we rented our kayaks under the Roberto Clemente Bridge on the north shore of the Allegheny River by PNC park

 

 

Paddled past Heinz field and down to the Ohio River

Looking south toward Chad’s office building (Hatch, Mott and MacDonald) with the Duquesne Incline (1877) in the background.

 

Point State Park from the Monongahela River – paddled on 3 Rivers

 

Downtown Pittsburgh from the Allegheny River

 

Chad and Liz from the Grandview Saloon at the top of the Duquesne Incline

 

8/8/2010 – Drove to visit friends in NE Ohio and stopped at the President William McKinley National Memorial in Niles, OH

 

8/9/2010 – On the way back to Springfield, stopped at the David Berger National Memorial in Beachwood, OH.  David was an American lawyer who immigrated to Israel and was competing as a weight lifter at the 1972 Olympics in Munich Germany when he was killed, along with ten other athletes, by Palestinian terrorists

 

First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton, OH – there are two buildings, the first was the home of Ida Saxton McKinley.  The William McKinley family lived in this house for 12 years before they moved to Washington DC.  The second building (old bank building) is one block away and is seven stories high.  It is used as a visitor’s center and also houses the National First Ladies library.  

June 8, 2010 – Start of our SE Ohio tour and 42nd wedding anniversary celebration.  After short stops in Columbus, we arrived at the Longaberger Basket corporate office building outside Newark OH.  The building is seven stories high and shaped like a basket.

 

It was then a short drive to Frazeyburg, the Longaberger Homestead and the factory.  The world’s largest apple basket (apples 4 ft in diameter) welcomed us and we did a self tour of the factory.

 

After another short drive, we were in Dresden to see the world’s largest basket – made from 10 maple trees!

 

We stopped in Zanesville for lunch and ice cream at “Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl,” rated #1 in the country for a scoop of ice cream by USA Today.  We also had to drive over the famous “Y Bridge” before we left town on U.S. 40 heading east on “the national road.”  The next stop was Zanesville Pottery.  Helen has wanted to stop here for 30 years but was not impressed and we were out of there in 15 minutes.

 

After a quick stop at the “S Bridge,” on route 40,

 

we arrived at our destination, the Wilds.  Covering about 14 square miles, the Wilds is one of the largest wildlife conservation centers in the world.  It is an open range habitat that is home to rare and endangered animals from around the world.  We took the last Open-Air Safari tour of the day.

Bactrian Camel and Persian Onagers in background

Dhole – SE Asia Wild Dog

Cheetah

African Wild Dogs

Sichuan Takin

Fringed-Eared Oryx

Southern White Rhino

Giraffes

Humans

Helen pointing at yurt

 

Afterward, we checked into the Grand Yurt on Nomad Ridge (a 5 star tent?!) with sweeping views of the Wilds. 

 

After some cheese and crackers and a bit of Apricot brandy, we had dinner and then made our own dessert.  Though cloudy with a few drops of rain, we got out our roasting sticks and made “Smores” at the fire pit – roasted marshmallows placed on chocolate between two graham crackers. 

The Tradition Continues!

June 9, 2010 – after breakfast, we drove to Cambridge OH and toured the Degenhart Paperweight and Glass Museum, the National Museum of Cambridge Glass AND the Hopalong Cassidy Museum!  We had dinner with the Fischers in Columbus on the way home.       

 

 May 28, 2010 – Drove to Madison, IN, which is a historic Ohio River town (population 12,000) that was ceded to the government by the Indians in 1805.  It has 133 city blocks listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.  We walked around town, along the river and through the antique and craft outdoor market called “Old Court Days,” that was set up around the courthouse for the Memorial Day weekend.   

The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial was next on our agenda.  Lincoln was born in KY but his family moved to this location in 1816 when he was 7 years old.  Two years later, his mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk sickness; she is buried here.  The following year, Thomas Lincoln married a widow with three children.  It is said that this is the place where Lincoln grew from a boy to a man.  In 1830, when Abe was 21, the combined families moved to Illinois.  We went through the Visitor Center and then did the mile trail to the living Historical Farm.

 

May 29, 2010 – After a “healthy” breakfast of granola, fruit and yogurt at our B & B in Lewisport KY, we drove 2 hours to Vincennes (Indiana’s first city,1732) to see George Rogers Clark National Historic Park and the “Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous.”  The park commemorates Clark taking Fort Sackville from the British in 1779 and that is the period that is depicted at the Rendezvous.  It is a large affair with the encampment of many period reenacting military units, craftsmen, Indians, farmers and towns people. We especially liked the Irish washer woman who, among other things, described how she got stains out of white clothes by using urine and drying them on the grass. 

Candid Family Photo – it’s hard getting this family organized for a picture!

Saturday March 6^th – Arrived in Phoenix last night but Helen’s bag did not – long story.  We visited Casa Grande Ruins NM in the morning.  It is the first cultural and prehistoric site to be protected by the US government.  It was set aside in 1892 by President Benjamin Harrison.  The “Great House” is four stories high and was built in 1350 as an astrological center for the Hohokam Indians farming community.  The protective roof was built in 1932.

After driving back to Phoenix to pick up Helen’s bag, which arrived from Detroit at 12:30, we drove to Sonora Desert NM and took a 15.3 mile dirt track to the start of the trail leading to the summit of Table Top Mountain in the like named Wilderness area.  Because of our late start, we had to hustle to complete the 7 mile round trip (ascending over 2000 ft) to the top.  A cacti jumped up and bit the back of my hand on the way up (see pic).  We had a dramatic panorama of rugged mountain ranges and desert plains from the top.  It was dark by the time we got back to I8 and proceeded to the Guest House Inn B & B in Ajo, AZ.

Sunday March 7^th – We woke up to cold and rain but by the time we drove to and went through the Visitors Center of Organ Pipe Cactus NM most of the rain had stopped.  We hooked up with a couple who had stayed at the same B & B (He is the state Grizzly Bear specialist for the state of Montana) and completed the Desert View Nature Trail (1.2 miles), shared a picnic lunch, and drove the Ajo Mountain Drive (21 miles) completing the Arch Canyon trail (2 miles) and the Bull Pasture trail (3 miles).  We had a reservation for an observation program at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (world’s largest collection of optical telescopes) but it was canceled due to the weather so we continued to our Days Inn north of Tucson for the night.

Monday March 8^th – After a 6am continental breakfast, we drove to and through Ironwood Forest NM in cold and rain.  In fact we literally “slid down” one hill on the dirt track, first bouncing off one beveled shoulder and then the other, in our rented Ford Escape SUV.  The Ironwood tree is one of the longest living trees in the Sonora desert.  Ragged Top Mountain is a monument landmark as well as the Silver Bell Mountains for which the still active Silver Bell Copper Mine is named.

 

We continued to the west segment of Saguaro NP, toured the Visitors Center and then drove the Hohokam Road completing the Valley View Overlook trail and the Signal Hill Petroglyphs trail.  Too cold for rattlesnakes, check out the Saguaro cactus skeleton.

 

Just south of Tucson we stopped at the San Xavier del Bac mission.  We had hot beans and cheese on the frybread for lunch (see pic).  Father Kino first visited the O’odham Indian community here in 1692.  The current church dates to the 1820s.  Note the squaw statue in the church.

 

A little further south, we toured the last remaining Titan Missile silo that was part of our nuclear missile deterrent in the 1960s.  It was an impressive tour.  The command center was used for the first Star Trek movie.  Captain Helen at the controls – don’t push that button!

Continuing south, we stopped for a tour of the Tumacacori National Historical Park.  Like San Xavier del Bac, Father Kino, a Jesuit, was responsible for the start of the mission here in 1691.  In 1767 Franciscans took over mission operations.  During a period of exploitation, the Jesuits and Franciscans were often the only ones to have the Indians’ interests at heart.

 

After stopping in a Pawn Shop in the border city of Nogales (can you believe Helen didn’t buy anything!), we drove to and through (dirt track) the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (NCA).  “Cienegas” means marshlands in Spanish and I had to be careful not to get stuck in the mud.  This NCA consists of rolling grasslands and oak-studded hills that connect “sky island mountain ranges.”  Cienega Creek supports a lush riparian corridor.  Many early western movies (e.g. Red River, The Big Country) were filmed in this area.  After having a humongous Porterhouse Steak we stayed the night in the Sonoita Inn, which had originally been built as a barn to house Secretariat, the famous racehorse, after he was retired.

Tuesday March 9^th – Drove south from Sonoita to Parker Canyon Lake and then took a dirt track called Montezuma Canyon Rd to Coronado National Memorial on the Mexican border.  It was an adventurous trip negotiating the mud, fording the streams and then getting caught in the middle of a Border Patrol search for “illegals” (emigrants or drug dealers).  We were the only ones in the area beside about 20 border control vehicles (some armored) and a helicopter!  After reaching the Memorial (this “Memorial” has the requisites to be a national park), we took a short hike (about 1 mile roundtrip) to the top of Coronado Peak (6,575 ft).  We were surprised to be in snow this far south, when it was in the 60’s back in Ohio!  From the top we could see the new and old sections of the fence built along the U.S. – Mexican border.  There was also Border Control radar set-up in the trail head parking lot.

Illegal immigrant (no birth certificate)

 

After going through the Visitor’s Center in Coronado, we visited the BLM district office in Sierra Vista and then went to the Fairbank Historic Townsite in San Pedro Riparian NCA.  Fairbank is a “ghost town” that began in 1881 when it was the closest railroad stop to Tombstone, then one of the largest western cities (15,000 in 1882). 

Our visit to Tombstone (“The Town Too Tough to Die” and the site of the OK Coral) – the second largest tourist attraction in AZ – behind the Grand Canyon, was less than memorable.  We spent an excessively long half hour paying to see a “re-creation” of Boot Hill and walking downtown among the glitzy tourist traps.  Our recommendation – don’t go there!

 

Our next stop was Chiricahua NM.  I visited this NM with my family in 1966 and was again impressed by the spectacular beauty of the place.  Our time was limited, so we did a loop hike, taking the Echo Canyon trail, then the Hailstone trail and then the Ed Riggs trail (3.1 miles) followed by the Massai Point nature trail.  Again, it was colder than expected (snow on the trail) but we thoroughly enjoyed our hike through the canyon and the balanced rock formations.  This is an “undiscovered jewel” of the national park system and I hope to return again!

We came to AZ to get a break from Winter – it was in the 60’s in OH!!!

Wednesday March 10^th – after spending the night at a Holiday Inn Express in Wilcox, we drove to Fort Bowie National Historic Site.  As we turned on to the dirt road to reach the trail head (40 miles from Wilcox), Helen informs me that her glasses are missing; no where to be found, perhaps she left them by the computer at the Holiday Inn.  OK, let’s think about this.   We drive through Apache Pass (site of wagon train massacre) and then do the 1.5 mile hike past the Butterfield Overland Stage coach station, the fort cemetery (Little Robe, Geronimo’s 2 yr old son, is buried here – Helen’s rock can be seen in the background), the site of the battle of Apache Pass, and the First Fort Bowie ruins to the Visitor Center.  It was a cool crisp morning and the hike with reflection on the historic events that occurred here was invigorating.  We hiked back to the SUV by way of the Overlook Ridge trail (1.5 miles).

Helen searches the SUV and then calls the Holiday Inn.  At first, she can’t get through, so we start driving to New Mexico.  As we approach I10, Helen contacts the hotel and they say they will search for the glasses and call us back.  Long story short, they could not find them.  So, I decide to drive an hour back to Wilcox on the interstate to find the glasses.  We pull into the parking lot and I get out of the SUV to start the search.  As I approach the Holiday Inn door, Helen calls to me that her glasses were under her seat in the SUV!  We silently drove to Silver City, NM. 

 After passing through Silver City, we took State Highway 15 north through the mountains.  It was a windy, at times one lane road, through snowy passes to Gila Cliffs NM.  We watched the video at the Visitor’s Center and then headed for the trail to the Cliff Dwellings.  We were told that we could not do the loop trail through the canyon and then past the ruins because of trail construction.  However, we reversed the loop and did the trail to (and through) the Cliff Dwellings and then down the canyon, bush whacking around the trail bridges that were being reconstructed. 

 

We took a different route back to Silver City (longer but safer) and stayed at the Palace Hotel in the heart of the downtown historic district.  We ate at a great Mexican restaurant called the Jalisco Café (hot stuff!) and then “hit the hay.” 

Thursday March 11^th – I had to scrape snow and ice off the Ford Escape before we headed for the Catwalk National Recreation Trail in Gila National Forest near Glenwood NM and the AZ border. 

 

Along Rt 180 we stopped at a monument to Aldo Leopold.  Aldo was a Forest Ranger in Gila National Forest and in 1924 he persuaded the Forest Service to set aside 755,000 acres as the U.S. and World’s first designated and protected Wilderness!

 

Continuing, we drove to Glenwood and the Catwalk National Recreation Trail.  It is a 2.2 mile (roundtrip) trail that provides a glimpse of historical and culture events that occurred a century ago.  It started when gold and silver were discovered in the area and a mill was built to crush the ore at the bottom of Whitewater canyon.  A pipeline was built, starting 3 miles upstream, to carry water to the mill.  Workmen used to walk up the canyon on the pipe to maintain it – thus the name catwalk.  The mill is gone; remnants of the pipeline remain as well as a beautiful riparian area along Whitewater Creek.

Glenwood New Mexico – how about a 25 cent coffee!

 

We had lunch in Clifton AZ in what appeared to be a dying mining town and then passed through a small part of the Gila Box (River) NCA as we drove the Black Hills Back Country Byway, a 21 mile unpaved road “accessible to high clearance vehicles during dry weather.”  Even though Coronado passed this way in 1540, we would not recommend this road, as the desert scenery is rather boring.  Though I must admit that my impression of the road and area was tempered by being stuck behind a road grader for a half hour despite the fact that there was not another vehicle on the road!  I even got out and ran up to the driver and asked him to move over so I could get by on the one lane road – he refused!  We continued on to Globe AZ where we stayed in a nice B & B called the Dream Manor Inn.

Friday March 12^th – we left Globe at 7:30am to be sure we were on time (had reservations) for our ranger led hike and tour of the Upper Cliff Dwellings at Tonto National Monument.  Access to this site is only offered a few times each week.  The ranger did an outstanding job explaining the flora, fauna and history as our small group climbed the 600 ft (3 miles round trip) to the ruins.  When finished, Helen and I did an additional mile on a paved trail to the Lower Cliff Dwellings. 

 

Afterwards, we drove the Apache Trail Historic Road (Rt 88) down from Roosevelt Lake and dam toward Phoenix.  This Scenic Byway along the Salt River, which was used by the Apaches as they migrated between their winter homes in the high country and their summer homes in the basin, is definitely worth the time and effort.  It is a heavily traveled dirt road (slow) but has spectacular scenery along the river and then through the Superstition Mountains.

 

We next drove through Phoenix and then north to Agua Fria NM.  We had little information about this Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Monument.  According to the internet description – “it is an expansive mosaic of semi-desert, cut by ribbons of valuable riparian forest and offers one of the most significant systems of prehistoric sites in the American Southwest.”  Our objective was to get to the Pueblo la Plata archeological site and back before dark.  The first part of the Bloody Basin dirt road was rough but then we forded the Agua Fria River on to an unmaintained road.  Even though we had a small SUV, it was only two wheel drive and this road was a real challenge.

 

Long story short, we got stuck about a mile from the pueblo at 5pm.  I stepped out in mud up to my ankles and proceeded to place rocks around all tires.  There was NO ONE around in this wilderness area and I was afraid we would have to spend the night in the vehicle, hike out to get a tow truck the next day and miss our flight home.  I was really upset when the first pavement of rocks didn’t work and we sank deeper in the mud!   At that point I saw a Suburban about a quarter mile away and was able to flag him over to us.  The driver was heavily bearded, packing guns, dressed in camouflage and looked like he would either eat us or be able to help us!   Well, he had a towing strap.  So I crawled in the mud under the car and attached it to my rear axle and then that old beat-up truck (4-wheel drive) was able to pull us out.  As it turned out, the man was hunting coyotes and we were just lucky he was in the area. 

Natural car wash – crossing the Agua Fria River

We got to the Cordes Junction Motel & RV Park after dark.  Though a one star facility, it was an “oasis in the desert” and a place to clean-up!

Saturday March 13^th – We had a couple of extra hours, so I took scenic route 260 and then 87 through Payson to the airport in Phoenix.  As we approached Phoenix I decided to stop at the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation to see if they were selling any Indian crafts.  Low and behold, they were having a flea market!  Though we had only an hour, Helen was in her glory buying a moose pitcher, two pairs of old turquoise earrings, 3 silver pins and a silver button – all for $40!  We were back in Springfield at 10pm – having completed another great Spring Break trip!

Hendrika (Hattie) Ruth Fischer was born Wednesday February 17th at 7:10am.  She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz, was 20 inches long and has loads of black hair!  Baby, mother and family are doing fine!

We “won” our “free” ($400 for two) cruise with air fare by attending a pressure filled travel vacation marketing presentation in Columbus last year.  They made it extremely difficult to actually make the arrangements and discouraged us with various roadblocks along the way.  But we were determined to “make them pay” and our persistence paid off when, after three months, we were finally able to make our reservations.  We decided we would use the cruise to celebrate Helen’s 65th birthday!

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale in time to walk the beach, visit the Swimming Hall of Fame, have dinner at the Bahia Cabana (were we had gone with Chad when he was swimming in the YMCA nationals here in 2001) and then settle into the Best Western Oceanside Inn.

The next morning we were up to walk the beach again, this time in the opposite direction.  Many “Portuguese Man o’ War” (jelly fish) were washed up on the beach.  We walked over the bridge to Walgreens to buy some cruise essentials (e.g. sun tan lotion), had a late second breakfast at the hotel (free) and then were picked up for our drive to the Port of Miami to board the Royal Caribbean “Majesty of the Seas” and join the other 2742 passengers on a cruise to the Bahamas.  We boarded about one o’clock, got settled in our small but nice inside cabin on level 2 (bottom of the boat) and then went up to the 11^th level for lunch at Windjammer food court.  It was good exercise walking up and down the stairs, partially making up for the calories consumed during the voyage!

There was a “Sail Away” party at 5pm after which we went to our assigned dinning room for dinner and then went to the Welcome Aboard show in the evening.  The next morning the ship set anchor off CocoCay, a small Bahamian Island used (owned?) by Royal Caribbean.  We boarded the launch at 9am to spend the day on the island.  It was partly cloudy with the temperature in the high 70’s – perfect for starting our “winter tans” to impress the folks back home.

 

Helen chose to read on the beach while I walked around the island on the fine white sand, waded through the water and picked up some treasures from the sea (shells).  The Cay was bigger than I thought and by the time I got back (about two hours) it was time for our beach Bar BQ.  The afternoon was spent moving from sun to shade and then back again to make sure we were “done on both sides” without burning.  Back on the ship, we dressed for the formal dinner (excellent food!), made a stop at the Casino and then listened to music in the Centrum (like an atrium in the center of the ship) while we played Farkle (dice game).

 

I was up the next morning for sunrise as we cruised into Nassau harbor.  We started the morning doing a little shopping in the market (Helen bought a “real” Coach purse for $20!) and then walked to and toured Fort Charlotte, an English fort built in the late 1780’s. 

 

After lunch on the boat, we walked to Atlantis, a luxury resort on Paradise Island.  We walked through the Casino with its three Chihuly glass chandeliers (worth one million each!) and then took a tour of the aquarium and marine sanctuary.  The underground (underwater) views were amazing.  It is one of the finest facilities we have seen.

We took a small Bahamian sea taxi back to the ship while a local entertained us with verbal tidbits related to Nassau harbor and another broke open a conch, which he had just pulled up from the sea floor by the dock, and ate it raw.  After boarding the ship, we listened to a Reggae band by the pool, had dinner, saw the show (comedian was quite good) and packed for our trip home. 

We arrived in Miami at 7am, hooked up with another couple for a van ride to the Fort Lauderdale airport, arrived in Columbus at 4:30, picked up Kate’s dog Casey and were home at 6:30 for the national news – rested, refreshed and ready for spring!