Los Angeles, California

Hello from San Pedro! While we’re technically in Los Angeles, San Pedro is a working port for container ships and quite a ways from what you would consider the touristy part of Los Angeles.

View from my balcony

Immigration actually went better than expected, with no elevator backup. Thankfully I had been assigned a later time so most folks were already off the ship so my day's plan could go forward.  

A couple weeks back I had been toying with this idea of attaching my camera to the scooter and filming the places I go. When traveling on a scooter I'm always having to be aware of sidewalk surfaces and widths and curb cutouts and inclines. Of the roundabout ways people on wheels have to take to avoid stairs and the distance between places to sit down. Even my husband with his wide base four pronged cane has these stressors. I believe there is value in knowing those things ahead of time (we all need one less thing to worry about when traveling, right?) and I was wanting to be part of the solution.

So today I attached the camera to my scooter and zoomed down to the Green Onion in San Pedro for some Mexican food. Yes, I filmed it, but no, I'm not posting it. As I suspected (and I should have tested this out at home) uneven surfaces make the camera jiggle much too much. And the background noise was a bit too much as well. While I can edit some of it out, it's not enough. 

Taking a break while I try and figure things out

It turns out my experience making YouTube tutorials about sewing doesn't translate well into videos made on a scooter. If I want to get serious about this scooter filming I'll work at it harder - and maybe upgrade my equipment. But not today. Green Onion was waiting for me.

I had the largest strawberry margarita I've ever had in my life. Yikes. And I drank that strawberry margarita faster than I ever have before. Double yikes.

I learned my lesson from this spring when I ordered a combination platter so this time all I needed was just a cheese enchilada with the tastiest sauce out there. So yummy but still too much food.

But as you would expect by downing so much liquid so fast a trip to the restroom would be in order. Their sink bowls are beautiful.

Even with all the alcohol, the filming situation was still bugging me. But I put the camera away, grabbed my phone, and took photos on the way back instead. There was plenty to see.

There's a park between the restaurant and port I never paid much attention to. There were disembarking passengers from the Royal Caribbean ship there with a big pile of luggage, obviously waiting for their ride, while their kids played away. I also found a permanent ping pong table and place to play chess.

I stopped by the USS Iowa for a photo, too.

Between too much alcohol, too much food, too much sun, and too much frustration I headed back to the ship where I saw a new sign had been installed. A very important sign. 

My cabin was cool and perfect for a little long lie down. I don't think there will be any dinner tonight for me. 

Tomorrow is our last sea day, the Most Traveled Guest Luncheon, another dinner at Crown Grill, and packing day for the move to my next cabin. I'll be back to wrap all that up, including some things I've found around the ship. See you then!

Ensenada, Mexico

Hello from Ensenada!

Today I contemplated heading back to Tacos Lucero for some tasty fish tacos like I did in April. 

They are sooo good. 

Ship excursion anyone? Nah, I’m good. 

We had to be out of our cabins by 9 for high fog maintenance, 

High fog maintenance on the balcony? Hmm. 

so in between the out-of-cabin time and crew drill announcements and the fact it was 36 degrees at home and going to be 75 and sunny here, I quickly made up my mind about how to spend my day. 

1. Water

2. Diet Coke

3. Captain’s Bounty

4. Sunscreen

5. Empty terrace pool 

All ready to go by 9:45 AM

I spent a full five hours out there, again sunning and swimming and swimming and sunning. It was wonderful and just the medicine Dr. Deb ordered.

My late lunch/early dinner was the specialty pizza of the day on Lido deck. It was a Mexican pizza with chipotle sauce, chorizo, peppers, lots of cheese, (and honestly I don’t remember what else) but it was delicious. It put my slice of vegetarian to shame. If they have it next week when we come back to Mexico, I will definitely partake again. And I’ll be sure to take a picture of the menu to find out the actual toppings.

Afterwards I hung around the cabin on my shady balcony watching the last of the passengers getting back onboard. Once we pushed off, the ship swung around and my balcony was back in the sun again. It felt so good. You can tell it’s fall because when you’re in the shade or once the sun goes down, it gets a little chilly.

It wouldn’t be Ensenada without the sea lions.

Tomorrow we’re off to LA, more specifically San Pedro. Since it’s our first US port, we have to go through immigration. Ed and I have been through immigration there a couple dozen times over the past two years. Being we’re docking at Pier 93, the one with a tiny elevator, I can guarantee it will not be an easy day. But it’ll be okay (for me, at least) because my plans for tomorrow aren’t time sensitive.

See you then!