Crown Princess Disembarkation Day

I don't know how it is humanly possible to experience such joy and sadness in the same moment. Knowing the Universe takes care of us helps, though.

Sometimes when we disembark a ship we arrange for wheelchair assistance for hubby. With my shoulder and his latest couple falls, with the ship returning after being out of the US for so long (which means immigration will be backed up with long lines), we decided to meet in the wheelchair disembarkation area this morning. Of course, not unexpectedly, things were running behind. As we were sitting there we saw a familiar face. At the same moment we both shouted, "Sydney!". Hugs and greetings and photos taken. And the same disbelief. Sydney, a crew member we knew from the Grand, was on this ship. For the entire cruise. 14 whole days and we never saw him, never knew he was there. He's the Vines guy now! (And a wheelchair disembarkation guy.) We were oh-so-excited to see him. And oh-so-sad we went the entire cruise without seeing him even once. Breaks my heart a bit.

But then as we waited longer for a wheelchair, hubby and I both shouted, "Shannon!". Another round of hugs and greetings and photos taken. And again the same disbelief. Shannon, a crew member we knew very well from the Royal, was on this ship. For the entire cruise. 14 whole days and we never saw him, never knew he was there. He worked in Crooners the entire cruise. (And was a wheelchair disembarkation guy.) We again were oh-so-excited to see him and oh-so-sad we went the entire cruise without seeing him even once. We had just been talking about him last month when we were in Nassau on the Caribbean Princess. Last time we were in Nassau was with the Royal Princess and we went to the beach with Shannon and a couple other crew members. (Today I even showed him that I still had the picture on my phone - and promised I wouldn't show that particular photo to other passengers!) Missing Shannon this cruise really broke my heart. We finished off with more hugs and a hard-to-say goodbye as he headed out to take a passenger onshore in a wheelchair.

And we continued to wait for our luggage tag color to be called. When it was, and a wheelchair guy showed up at the exact same time, guess who was hubby's wheelchair pusher? It was Shannon! Super excited, we were. Thank you, Universe, for giving us a bit more time with someone we hold so dear.

So happy. So sad. But at least we got to see them both. Then we saw Vickie and Bernie as we were headed out the door. Thank you again, Universe. It wasn't even 10 in the morning yet!

After all that excitement, we got our taxi to the car rental and headed to our first stop of the day, Biscayne National Park. We are working our way through the National Parks and when we arrived at this one we were surprised how far out away from things it was, but also surprised it was free. It was so beautiful. We wandered the paths, watched fish jumping and fisherman fishing, rocked on the porch, got our National Park stamps, and sat a spell on the bench overlooking the water.

Seems like we should be sipping sweet tea with a view like this.

 That could have been enough for the day. But we had another stop.

When we knew we wouldn't be able to fly home today (Pre-Thanksgiving airfare was ridiculously high) we knew we would not only do some National Park visiting but go to something that just happened to be scheduled the same weekend the ship arrived.

NASCAR Championship Weekend. Tomorrow I'll share more of the story about how we wound up watching NASCAR on TV years back, but today we saw our first-ever race in person today.

It was an afternoon race and we were so tired by the time it started.

It was covered by NBC Sports.

We finally decided to call it quits as the sun was going down. The Universe must have had us in mind again. As we were leaving the racetrack, we got a call from the front desk checking to see when we'd be there. You see, they close the front desk at 7 pm. I did not know that until the call.

If we had stayed the entire race we:
A. Wouldn't have heard the phone ring.
B. Wouldn't have made it to Key Largo before 7.
C. Would have lost our room.
D. All of the above.

The correct answer is D. Again, thank you Universe!

While we arrived after dark to a hotel that was extremely difficult to find, our room is a pretty one. We entered through a sliding glass door to see this:

We have a little patio (it's pitch dark out here so I'm not sure exactly what it looks like) and if I look closely I see maybe some sand around the corner. Looking at the pictures in the book that was in our room, we may have quite a nice view out back once the sun comes up tomorrow. Can't wait to check it out.

Oh, yeah, and another NASCAR race. Tomorrow should be exciting. 

Yummy Monday - Pig'n Pancake, Seaside, Oregon

It's Yummy Monday! Today we're talking about the Pig'n Pancake restaurant in Seaside, Oregon.

We were driving outside Astoria, Oregon a few months back and saw a billboard for a place called Pig'n Pancake. My mind went right to pigs in a blanket. Which I can't stand. I may have even said gross out loud.

Then a couple days later we were in Seaside, Oregon and I was searching on my phone for a place for breakfast that had good reviews.

We needed to make a stop at the local bank and saw that the Pig'n Pancake place was about a block away. And it had great reviews.

It was so not a pigs in a blanket place. (Thank goodness.) We had probably one of the best Denver omelets we've ever had. Chock full of bacon and onions and peppers and tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Oh, yum.

We also had lingonberry Swedish Pancakes. A double yum.

Look at their cute plates!

I'm always surprised by the amazing - and delicious - things we run into by chance. 

Yummy Monday - The Best Marionberry Pie in the West

It's Yummy Monday! Today we're talking about the best marionberry pie out there.

In April 2012 I publicly declared the marionberry pie from The Gallery Restaurant in Sisters, Oregon the best pie ever. You can find the declaration here. I had that belief for years and even with all our traveling - and all our marionberry pie eating - we never found anything that came close.

That has now changed thanks to a restaurant called the Halfway House, set alongside the road in the small town of Brinnon, Washington.

My title of the Best Marionberry Pie in the West now goes to them. Although, technically it is a cobbler. But oh my, what a tasty cobbler it is.

Served in a bowl, brimming over the top. Piping hot with a big scoop of ice cream.

But the thing that sets it apart from the previous best marionberry pie? See the filling that has bubbled over? Scrape it off and eat it. It's chewy and tasty and sweet and oh-so-heavenly!

Can't believe I have a new number one!

5 Things to do in Ketchikan, Alaska

It's Wanderlust Wednesday and today we're talking about five different activities you can do when visiting the cruise ship port of Ketchikan, Alaska on your next Alaskan cruise. 

Since Ketchikan is one of the most southernmost cities in Alaska, it's usually the first port of call for northbound cruise ships. Ketchikan has been dubbed the Rain Capital of Alaska. We've been to Ketchikan over a dozen times and have been lucky with the weather. But rain or shine, there is plenty to do in port.

1. Take in a lumberjack show. Lots of strength and skill on display with a hefty dose of audience participation. The cheering and rooting kind, not the axe-throwing kind.

2. Ketchikan has the largest collection of totem poles in the world so visit one of the totem pole parks. There are several to choose from. Depending on the park you may be able to do a self-guided tour, enter a clan house, view carving in action, or watch Native dancers.

3. A seaplane to Misty Fjords National Monument provides plenty of opportunities for oohs and aahs. Flights are weather-dependent.

4. Visit Creek Street. The historic boardwalk was a Red Light District during the Gold Rush.You'll find shopping, food, and salmon-watching spots along the way.

5. Ketchikan is also known as the Salmon Capital of the World, so head out to catch your limit. The fish are abundant so there is no need to go into deep, churning ocean waters. And the fishing charters work with a local cannery to process your fish and send them back home for you.

Look at the pretty salmon we had shipped home.

Enjoy Ketchikan!

A Ft. Lauderdale Un-Adventure

We got enough sleep on the plane to be ready to hit the town in Ft. Lauderdale. We had it all planned out. But plans don't always work out as expected.

Readers of the blog know hubby has cerebral palsy. He's not wheelchair bound, but he does walk with a limp. Most people assume he's had a stroke. He's slow moving but tries to go for a walk each day to keep things moving. He's had a good summer, and has even felt confident enough to venture around the block a time or two by himself. He hasn't had a fall in quite some time.

But that changed today. He made it through the Boise Airport and the Seattle Airport (and even down to 13 Coins). He made it through the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Yet at our last flight of the trip - on the way to baggage claim - is where things went awry.

Hubby fell and hit the floor. Hard. And it wasn't a carpeted floor, either. Hard linoleum with (I'm guessing) concrete underneath. When most people begin to fall they reach out to catch themselves or at least try and minimize the impact. But hubby has no use of his right side. There's no catching unless he's falling on his left side. Which he didn't.

Broken glasses. Jammed right thumb and swollen right elbow. Swollen left knee with a raspberry to boot. And the worst of all - a big nasty goose egg of a knot just above his right eyebrow. He's battered and bruised.

So our Ft. Lauderdale Adventure day turned into an un-adventure day. Instead, we checked into the hotel early, are icing body parts, popping some meds, and just taking it easy. I'm guessing we'll be ordering in tonight as he's in no shape to go anywhere.

It's times like these we know how lucky we are. We are so thankful we have this life. And we are thankful:

• for the kind people around who always pitch in and help me get him up off the floor. It's a two person job as hubby can't help himself at all. 
• he was wearing long pants. Last time he fell while traveling he had on shorts and really tore up his leg. Took months and months to heal.
• he had brought a second pair of glasses.
• I had packed some Tylenol PM in my medicine stash.
• our room was ready for an early check-in. 
• I had packed plenty of Ziploc bags which are coming in handy for icing.
• things weren't worse. While he is pretty banged up, we know from experience how bad it could have been.

And we are ever-so-thankful each time we take a trip. We know each and every time it could be our last. We will keep a-goin' as long as the bodies and minds will allow us.

So if you see some guy limping on a cruise ship in the next few weeks that looks like he was in the latest Rocky sequel, it'll probably be hubby.

If you're interested, here's what our original plan was for today in Ft. Lauderdale. We had done it before and were planning on doing it again today:
*Stay at the Hilton Marina. Close by the cruise terminal and the Sun Trolley.
*Take the Sun Trolley to Ft. Lauderdale Beach.

*Head down the breezeway next to Bubba Gump's. Don't go to Bubba Gump's but instead grab a patio seat in that breezeway outside our favorite hole-in-the-wall bar, 5 O'Clock Charlies.

*Order a couple drinks.

*Get some food off their lunch menu.

*Then if we were still hungry we would head down the beach to Primanti Brothers for one of their over-the-top sandwiches.

That didn't happen today but we are feeling blessed nonetheless. Because tomorrow we are heading on a cruise ship for three weeks. Life is good.

A Pleasant Stopover in Seattle

When we booked this Boise-Seattle-Dallas Fort Worth-Ft. Lauderdale flight we made sure we had a nice long layover in Seattle. We like Seattle a lot. Travel there several times a year, even. So any opportunity we have to have a flight take us through Seattle, we try and get a generous stopover.

Our plan could have taken us to Pike Place Market to have delicious salmon croquettes at Lowell's, or to Ellenos to get some Greek Yogurt. If the Seattle Mariners had a home game (they didn't) we would have had enough time to get in several innings of a baseball game. We had enough of a layover we could have done at least one (even maybe two) of the things I have on my 5 things to do in Seattle list.

But we went with the simple, relaxing, non-rushed route instead.

We walked through the airport past all the Terminal C baggage claim carousels. And past the Terminal B baggage carousels and past the terminal A baggage carousels. All the way until we got to the door to the outside. From there we walked towards the scheduled shuttle service stops and the city bus stops.

We walked past all those buses and followed the sidewalk out from the airport area...

towards International Boulevard...

to where the entrance/exit of the airport and International Boulevard met. Our destination, 13 Coins restaurant, is just across the street.

It looks like it was a long walk, but it wasn't. I'm guessing from the outside door of the airport terminal to the restaurant was half a mile or so.

It was at 13 Coins where hubby had the most tasty spinach salad. Yeah, he kind of went overboard on the pepper.

And I had an even more delicious meat bites starter.

Prices were comparable to what we would have paid at the airport but so, so, so much better tasting than airport food!

After eating and walking back to the airport, we stopped at the section right inside the door. They have seating there, seating that includes rocking chairs. Hubby loves rocking chairs so we spent a good chunk of time with him rocking and me sitting with my feet up.

Definitely a nice way to spend 5 hours at the Seattle Tacoma Airport!

Here's the 13 Coins menu for future reference. Apologies for the blurriness. Not sure what happened there.