Bruce's Travels

Sunday Sept. 24 Another beautiful day at sea. Before we leave our stateroom, we bag up a load of dirty clothes for the ship’s “wash-n-fold” for $35, with a $5 off coupon. Up to the ‘Jammer for fresh fruit all cut up for me, bran muffins, yogurt, and coffee. Next, relaxing in the Solarium (adults only pool) with my Kindle (reading “The Fifth Wave,” by Rick Yancy, another Floridian.) Refreshing dip in the salt water pool. Kind of went rogue today for lunch. Instead of the usual salads, I spotted the carved prime rib roast, and proceeded to load up my plate with various meats and a slice of pizza, of all things. (A pale comparison to Paisans in Madison, my favorite). Anyway, it was all very satisfying. The casino was running a special “low stakes” blackjack at $3 minimum bet, so I want and checked it out, and won $15. The meat was making me loggy, prompted a nap afterward. Upon rising, I went to the coffee bar and ordered a double espresso to get me kick started again. Another lo...

Sept. 21 Sorry, no pictures with this blog entry. I am on ship's Internet, and it is painfully slow. It is a beautiful second day at sea, the water is a gorgeous lapis blue. I have just finished a light lunch in the Windjammer cafeteria of a cold cut sandwich, pasta/veggie salad, and a couple small dessert slices with coffee. I am in the library on Deck 9 which offers comfy chairs/tables, and a reasonable degree of quiet. It was has been a wonderful cruise thus far. The at-sea routine thus far has been to wake at around 6:30 a.m., dress, then climb the 10 flights of stairs to Deck 12, location of the run/walk track. I then do 15-20 minutes of walking laps. I consider myself “in training” for the Sydney Bridge Harbor climb when we arrive in Australia. Next, a light breakfast in the Windjammer, Deck 11, of bran muffin, fresh cut fruit, a cup of yogurt and coffee. Then back to the stateroom on Deck 2 to change into swimsuit, then off to the Solarium back on Deck 11 (elevator this...

September 17th Hi folks. Going to try to make a short entry tonight because tomorrow Julie and I are going to be busy as a couple of one-armed paper-hangers. We have an early flight out of Lihue to land in Honolulu at 9 a.m. From there Julie's cousin (Joe) is going to pick us up at the airport and take us to the Arcadia retirement center where we can drop our bags. From there one of Joe's friends who is an Uber driver has made arrangements to pick us up and take us over to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We're going to be there all day and all night and probably will not return to Arcadia until midnight. And then the next day is going to be just as busy with a visit to the USS Arizona memorial and tour of the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, a quick dinner with Julie's uncle, Larry, and then a ride to the cruise port to board our ship for the cruise. So let's back up and talk about today.  We got up at our usual time around 6:15, Julie went for her walk well I ...

Aloha from the Garden Island of Kauai, the oldest of the Hawaiian islands, and the most lush in terms of botanicals. Julie is on the balcony of our room at the Garden Isle Inn, and I have just awakened from a short nap. Just finished the last of a pint of Haagen-Dazs "Rocky Road" ice cream and am sipping a cup of hotel-room coffee made in a mini-Mr.-Coffee, a poor but ready substitute for the good coffee to be found here. I learned there is Kauai coffee in addition to Kona Coffee! Sept. 15 But to back up to the 15th (Friday), we awoke at about 6:30 at the Sheraton Kona, and Julie went for her usual walk, while I showered, shaved, and packed my suitcase. We had valet parked the Elantra the night before because the self-park lot was full, and it was still raining. So we had the valet fetch our ride, and went to Lava Java Cafe in downtown Kona for another round of the island-style waffles with coconut syrup and macadamia nuts, and strips of bacon. Coffee Bruce, and tea Julie...

 Thursday, Sept. 14 Well, we have just one more day here before we must say goodbye to the Big Island, and say hello to the Garden Isle of Kauai. It’s been a lot of fun. We just returned from a tour/tasting at a coffee farm/processing plant. And we have a sunset cruise/dinner booked for the evening. But tomorrow, we must arrive at the Kona airport at about 11 a.m. to return the rental car and get checked in for our 2-part flight departing Kona about 1:30. Last night was a little “weird” with dinner because of that late lunch we had. Neither of us was particularly hungry around our usual eating time of 5-6 p.m., so Julie went to watch part of a hula dance competition taking place at our hotel. People are here from all over the U.S. doing the hula! It’s not quite “Dancing With the Stars,” but it looks like great fun, and there’s folks here from Kansas and Iowa and all over competing in this thing … mostly women, but a few guys here and there. I did not go, but Julie said it ...

Aloha everyone. Hope everyone is well. This is (sis-in-law) Julie’s and my third day on the Big Island of Hawaii. We are having a fantastic time. I was up at about 6:15 local time (1:15 p.m. Central Time), showered while stomping some clothes*   to get the sweat out (very humid here). Julie is out for her morning walk, and when she returns we will figure out a breakfast plan, and then it’s “hang out at the resort day.” Monday 9/11 But to back up, let’s start at Monday morning, 2 a.m., on 9/11. My landlord, Gary, drove Julie and I to the Van Galder bus depot in Janesville, where we caught the bus to O’Hare. We were both “pre-checked” by the TSA for the express line through security, so we made it to our Alaska Air gate in no time flat. Boarding began at 5:15 for the first leg of our flight to Seattle. The plane was full. In a little less than 4 hours, we were sitting at a restaurant in the Sea-Tac terminal (“Dish D Lish”) having breakfast paninni (me sausage, egg, and cheese...