Thursday Island- New Year's Day

Although the date at the top says December 31, 2007 it is actually January 1, 2008. We celebrated the arrival of 2008 about 16 hours before the US.

Had a great New Year's celebration last night. Dinner, terrific show, party on the deck, and a champagne toast as we sat on our balcony. Welcome to 2008.


Sailed into the Torres Straits- a large cluster of 138 small islands- about noon today. We anchored and were tendered to shore.The existence of this strait was not widely known until Captain Cook's voyage in 1770. Thursday Island is the base for pilot services for ships in the various channels around and connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. We will have a pilot on board for several days because of the navigation in this shallow water with all the islands.

There are only 3500 people on the island. Many of the trees and plants in bloom reminded us of Florida- Poinciena Trees, Frangipani, and others. The island is lush and green because this is the wet season. There is no natural source of fresh water so they are grateful for rain.

We rode to the top of the hill and visited the Green Hill and World War II Museum. During the war the citizens of the island were evacuated to the mainland of Australia. The town became a base for airmen and sailors, but the island was never bombed

or attacked.

There are creatures like manatees called Dugongs in the water. There are also 6 of the 7 kinds of sea turtles found in the world in these waters. Some kind of jumping turtles could be seen from our ship after we were anchored.

This island also was one of the first to have a large pearl diving industry. The museum featured a display of some of the shells used for making buttons and belt buckles- until plastic came along. They also had some beautiful pearls found in these waters. The divers came from Japan to begin this industry and then in 1942 the Japanese citizens of this island were sent to mainland Australia to internment camps.

Saw the 48 bed hospital- with 40 nurses and 8 doctors. The island has school for children of all ages- and they come via boat from the surrounding islands.

Seems a very different kind of living in such a small community.

New Year's Eve at Sea

The sea is very gray and the waves are rolling. The wind is whistling. The captain says there is a low pressure nearby. The great hopes are that the New Year's celebration job can be on deck tonight....but it doesn't seem possible.

Our cabin- 7035- is very comfortable. We have a TV and a DVD player in the cabinet behind Jim. There is also a safe and storage there. There is a double closet behind Jim near the front door to the cabin. I think this cabin has slightly less than 300 square feet.

The bed is a king sized one that could be made into twin beds. The mattress is very comfortable. Cruise ship beds have come a long way from the platform,hard things in our earlier days of cruising. The sheets and duvet are soft,  Egyptian cotton. Olga is our Cabin Attendant and she does a great job keeping us neat and tidy.

The other day we had a cricket in the cabin and Olga was frightened. Jim got the bug to go outside. Today we had a tiny bird on the balcony but it kept moving along from balcony to balcony.

The other end of the cabin has a desk with storage and a small refrigerator, a sofa and a small table. Out the door on that end is our balcony with two chairs and a table. Makes for a great place to read and watch the sea go by.

Many special events are planned for today. By the time our family and friends are saying "happy new year" to each other we will be fast asleep in 2008. But we both send you greetings for a terrific 2008 and much love.

Darwin, Australia

This morning, December 30, we sailed into Darwin harbor. Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory and is part of the Outback. The town has a population of about 120,000. It was completely destroyed by a cyclone 0n Christmas Day in 1974. It has been rebuilt and the area looks very new.

All passengers had to come to the Nautica Lounge, get passports and have a face-to-face with the Australian officials. This country is really careful about immigrants and importing of almost anything.

This area has 2 seasons- wet and dry. We are in the midst of the wet season. The guide said rain comes every afternoon about 4:00. He said by the time the wet season is almost over, "everyone has a gut full of rain and ready for the dry season....and then the same thing happens at the end of the dry season."

There is no industry and everything is shipped in. We saw a truck with 4 long tanker type trailers attached to the cab. Can't imagine driving that long thing. The guide said sometimes having to truck everything in is "a bit of a bugger, but that is life!" What a good attitude.

We went to a wildlife park but were disappointed about the numbers of creatures that we saw. We saw wallaroos- a small animal in the same family as kangaroo. We saw some pelicans, water rats, many snakes, and the cutest little green tree frogs with little yellow feet. They were so brightly colored they almost didn't look real. There were water buffalo and emus.

There is a photo of me holding a small black -headed python. It curled around my arm- strange! It was very soft feeling.

At last we put our toes on the 6th continent on earth for us. 

Sailing the Timor Sea

Here we are as we sailed away in the sunset from Komodo Island. The sunset was colorful, the sea calm and the weather hot and steamy.

We have been really interested in the time changes we are experiencing. Years ago we visited the Observatory at Greenwich....the home of Greenwich Mean Time. We learned how very important the invention of clocks were as an aid to navigation. Very important in knowing just where your ship was.

Now that we are sailing along we seem to be making many and different adjustments. Since we have been on board we have moved the clocks backward an hour from Singapore time and then forward  an hour. Last evening we moved the clocks forward an hour again and tonight we will move the clocks forward 1/2 hours. We will then be on Darwin time. If I lived in Australia I don't think I could ever figure it out- especially because some places observe daylight savings and some don't; some adjustments are an hour and some are 1 1/2 hours. Right now it is 1:45 on Saturday afternoon, December 29. The time in Florida and North Carolina is 11:45 PM on Friday and 10:45 in Nashville. In Sydney- where we are headed -the time is at the moment 3:45 PM on Saturday. 

Today we went to a great gourmet cooking demonstration- tasty food. BUT the preparation used way more ingredients than we might ever use. BUT it was fun to watch a pro cook.

We are having a great time!

Komodo Island

We are anchored off the small 250 square km island of Komodo Island in Indonesia. It is mostly hills and barren except for some palm trees. It is famous for its giant lizards- Komodo Dragons- considered the last of their kind in the world- probably left over from from prehistoric times. 

The island's human inhabitants are there just to raise goats to provide food for the lizards. They are fast and have deadly germs in their mouths. We learned that they bite their prey and if the creature doesn't die right away the infection will kill it later. The creatures are on the endangered species list because it is believed there are only about 2000 living. The whole island is Komodo National Park and very controlled to protect these giant monitor lizards.

Had a grand day yesterday-played Team Trivia and then late last night we play a round of Name That Tune. The entertainment staff is really fun and talented and we are meeting some very interesting and fun fellow passengers. 

Beautiful Bali

We arrived early in the morning on December 26 in Bali- the 

beautiful island sung about it South Pacific and the setting of much of that story. It looked like the words of the song "someday you'll see her, floating in the sunshine, her head sticking out from a low flying cloud." And it looked just like that.

The sea was rough and so our getting to shore via tender was delayed...but soon we were on shore to be greeted by beautiful young women and lovely music.

We were met by a guide who took our tickets and the tickets of one other couple with number 9. Soon we were together riding in a mini-van with our guide and a driver. The vendors at the pier were especially aggressive, but we managed to get through. 

There are 3 million people on Bali and most are Hindu. Each home has a Hindu shrine and each village has three temples- creator, protector and destroyer. In their homes an offereing is made each day.

People live very simply- cooking with wood and most without electricity. We stopped at an ancient village, Tenganan, where people were busy carving wooden Balinese calendars, painting real and wooden eggs, and weaving fabric. We went into a simple home. 

Cock Fighting is illegal in Bali but there were lots and lots of many colored (dyed) roosters in bell-shaped bamboo cages sitting around. Obviously the law is not strictly observed.

We drove about an hour up tiny, winding roads to Putang- a scenic view. But the mist and clouds were so thick you could barely see our ship. We ate some more of the gummy, sweet dessert offerings. Some were green and round, one was green and long, some were stripped and different colors, and there was the same brown gummy paste wrapped in a push-up palm frond cone. 

We saw many terraced fields of rice- naturally all being planted, tended and harvested by hand. Looks like hard work. 

We sampled a strange fruit that was brown and prickly- called Snake Skin Fruit. The texture and taste was like a leechee nut. 

We learned that each village has an elected leader- elected for 5 years- and this person can be male or female. They report up some chain of command to the leader of the province of Bali. Bali is one of 33 provinces of Indonesia. The leader must gather the community at least once a month to discuss "important things." The meeting is announced by the ringing of a wooden bell that hangs prominently in the center of the village.

We returned to the ship about 3:00 for a late lunch. The evening featured a beautiful Folkloric of dances and music from Bali. All very lovely. 

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful and most unusual day on board the Nautica. We went to The Grand Brunch at about 10:00 The Dining Room was really festive. The food ranged from traditional breakfast eggs, omelets, waffles...to reubens and other sandwiches....to real meals of ham and turkey. We ate a yummy breakfast. 

We sat on the deck and enjoyed the breeze as we cruised along. I watched a really good movie Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce the Member of Parliament who worked hard to abolish slavery in England. Just nice to be relaxed.

We played a little Team Trivia in the afternoon, dressed for dinner and went to the Nautica Lounge to dance and hear the 4 musicians do some vocal numbers with the orchestra. It was wonderful. 

We went to dinner and then returned for the evening show The Magic of Christmas.  The show featured Ray- the cruise director- Margaret- the Assistant Cruise Director who grew up in York, SC- and the other 3 singers- Heather, Michael and Bryan. They did a clever presentation of the 12 Days with  the 4 singers and Ray as "Emily" the person who got the gifts. Her "thanks" got less and less thankful as the livestock began to grow in size.

At the end some of the staff dressed like St. Lucia came in all dressed in white and singing. Then more crew and staff came with candles singing "Silent Night." It was beautiful.

 

We then went to the Martini Bar and joined a Christmas Sing-a-long. The place was packed and we had great fun singing to lovely piano playing. 

We truly a Christmas to remind us of the great gift from God bringing light, life and peace to the earth.

Christmas Eve in Semarang

We arrived right on time in Indonesia to the sound of music and the sight of dancers. Buses were right at the end of the gangway and we were off and running with a police escort for the Buddhist temple -Burobudur- one of the places mentioned in the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die."

This 9 level temple was built between 778 AD and 842 AD. It was a precursor of Ankor Wat in Cambodia. It was destroyed, rediscovered and rebuilt by Stamford Raffles in 1814. It was destroyed and once again with UNESCO funds of 25  million dollars. A terrorist bomb destroyed part of it in 1987 but it was quickly rebuilt. 

The 9 levels are reflecting the life as a Buddhist. Level one is basic able to do good

 and able to do bad in your life. Level 2 is a freedom of some passion but still able to do bad. The top level is "heaven" or Nirvana. One of our guides talked about the life of a Buddhist as learning to manage your holes. Our body has 9 holes and there is much superstition about the number "9." In our head we have 7 holes for the senses and are called "material holes." We also have 2 holes for our sexual nature. Important for many things to add up to 9 to give them special meaning.

We had a first ever on a shore excursion. The bus broke down. The transmission locked up. We transferred to different buses and continued on.

We made a stop for coffee. Kind of neat to drink java in Java. 

The Borobudur was gray colored stone made with all the pieces interlocking like a jigsaw puzzle. All the way up were statues of Buddha with most of the heads missing. Our guide said people believed that getting a head of Buddha and burying it in your yard would bring you luck.....so lots of folks had done that through the years.

We went for an Indonesian lunch and performance by dancers. We saw a woman appear to eat about 5 cylinders of glass. Jim decided that it was really sugar. The man in charge had let us touch the glass and it felt like glass, but then we decided he had changed to something looked and sounded like glass but was without a doubt not that.

Indonesia is 1700 islands with 250 million people. Living conditions on this island of Java were pretty basic and at a poverty level. We saw paddies and paddies of rice growing and we learned that "wet" rice being harvested now in the rainy season is plump, sweet and more expensive. The "dry" rice is hard and has no taste. Because of the quickly increasing population rice is imported from Japan and the Philippines. 

Our original bus was gathered again at the Borobudur and we learned from our guide that his house had been completely destroyed in the last earthquake. He was pretty philosophical about it all. Alex is a Muslim married to a Catholic. They have 3 sons and one is Catholic and 2 are Muslim. So they celebrate everything.

We got back to the ship at about 6:00PM and showered. Dinner was at a table shared with a couple form Holland. We had fun sharing travel stories as best we could with the language issue.

When we returned to our cabin we found a neat Christmas gift from Oceania- one of those large glass balls painted on the inside- from China I think- with scenes from this cruise. Be a great memory of this Christmas cruise.

Went to the Nautical Lounge for a concert by the Strong Quartet and then at 10:30 we experienced a wonderful Carol Sing and reading of the Christmas story. I was surprised that the place was packed. The time was to move forward an hour between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas on the Ship

The decorations on this ship are so lovely. Trees are everywhere and all the light fixtures have lovely mauve ribbons around them. The garlands hung everywhere creating a really festive atmosphere. 

The first thing we saw this morning was this beautiful table with a gingerbread village. The table was filled with at least a dozen different kinds of cookies, nuts and dried fruits. You would have been amazed to see how quickly the good sweets disappeared and just as quickly how the plates got refilled.

Jim did a photo tour this morning so we could send you some images. 

Feels very strange to be away from familiar surroundings for this special holiday time. But it also feels good to have a lovely place to be. 

December 23- At Sea

We left the Intercontinental Hotel about 10:00AM yesterday and joined other cruisers for a tour "The Footsteps of Raffles." Stamford Raffles was the founder of Singapore. 

The name and the symbol for the city with the lion's head and the mermaid tail comes from a mistake. An early founder thought he saw a lion- turned out it was a deer- but the word for lion is "singa." The name means "lion port" thus the lion and the water connection. The name of the symbol is Merlion.

We walked several blocks through a shopping center and boarded a Bum Boat for a rid

e on the Singapore River. The river in the 1970's  was so filled with trash boats could hardly go through. Then the city decided to clean it up. That process took 10 years. Our guide claimed the water was now good enough for people to swim in it and a large population of fish have returned to the water. Didn't look so terrific to us.

We saw the amazing skyline with the contrast of modern and old and reall

y rundown. The guide said the port, finances and then tourism were the main sources of income for the city.

We visited the Asian Civilizations Museum and made a quick photo stop at Raffles. I was so glad we had seen the hotel the night before.

Renewed acquaintance with another couple from our last cruise on Nautica who were also headed to the ship for this trip. And at breakfast this morning we saw Jennie, a wonderful and fun lady from Australia who was on our Orient trip also. 

We drove through the commercial port that was so very, very busy.

Singapore is 85% Muslim, 10% Christian and the rest a varied mixture of ethnic groups. The area is surrounded by countries that are totally Muslim and at one point the Singapore government was made up mostly of Christians and people believed that might be dangerous because of the surrounding countries. We found this city interesting.

Arrival was wild though the BIG terminal.

We finally got on board and and into Cabin 7035. We found two great gifts from Leigh Berghane- champagne and shipboard credit. Thanks to Leigh for all her wonderful efforts for us!

Happened to run into Inge and Lawrence on our way to the Welcome Aboard Show so we watched it together and then went to dinner in the Grand Dining Room. We also made some reservations at the special restaurants. Just love this ship.

Our time went backward an hour last night so we are 12 hours earlier than home. We'll get to see Santa a bit earlier.

Today and Tonight in Singapore

For some crazy reason we got up at 5:30 this morning. Perhaps that was connected to the long nap yesterday. The lobby of this hotel has this wonderful piece of blown glass in the center. The colors are beautiful and subtle. The piece is breath-taking- especially at night when it is surrounded by candle light provided by large candles.

We went to breakfast at about 7:30 and then hung out until we thought the mall outside our hotel would be open. It wasn't open until about 10:30 and was almost immediately filled with huge numbers of p

eople. There was nothing that tempted us, but we enjoyed the decorations.

In the early evening we took a taxi to the Raffles Hotel for dinner. The entrance was beautiful, 

the gentleman in the Indian uniform, and the flowers created an unforgettable image. 

As we entered the lobby a choir of about 20 young people began to sing carols. 

The  sound and the sight was almost a sensory over-load.

We went to the Long Bar Steak House for dinner. 

Our steaks were cooked to perfection and presented on wooden tray that was lined with a sizzling hot metal tray. was so good!

We then went to the Long Bar where the Singapore

 Sling was invented. We had arranged to meet Inge and Lawrence Lewis- friends from our Orient Cruise in 2006. We had enjoyed many afternoons of playing Team Trivia and were so glad to know they were coming on 

this journey.

After that we got a taxi to drive us on Orchard Road to 

see the Christmas lights. The driver said since it never snows people are always outside celebrating the holidays. He talked about having no snow and we laughed because- just as in Florida where there is no snow- the lights looked exactly like snow.

On every block there were people dancing and music playing. There was every kind of music you can imagine rock & roll, heavy metal, Christmas Carols. There were even some Nativity Scenes on the sidewalk.

 Shoppers were rushing among the party folk.

Because of this city being about 4 million and representing so many nationalities this time of year sees holidays for Indian New Year, a Muslim holiday, Chinese New Year and Christmas. Seemed like just one BIG party. 

A Lazy, Rainy Afternoon in Singapore

We took a really long nap this afternoon after lunch.

 

The computer ran out of power and Jim went down to the Business Center and came back with a transformer- more like a fat plug- and it worked great. I couldn't help but remember the transformers that we had to buy and use in Germany 45 years ago. Those things were huge- about 4" x 6" and weighed 10-20 pounds. This one was too cool! We are off and running with power! Indeed technology has come a long way...and what an understatement that is!

We went downstairs to the bar and met a couple from Tucson-originally from Holland- who are traveling on the MS Nautica as well. They had been in the bar just after noon when we were so we began a conversation. They have traveled a great deal also so we had fun comparing notes with Ben and Adrianna.

Jim and I went to dinner at Man Fu Yuan Chinaese Restaurant in the hotel. 

We shared way too much food- garlic pork rolls; prawns with tropical 

fruit salad; crispy pork ribs; sliced chicken with

dried chilis and cashew nuts and a vegetarian dish of lily bulbs, snow peas, mushrooms and water chestnuts in a yam bowl. Learned that yams are clearly different in China than they are in our background. All was tasty. 

I even had a dessert that was supposed to be good for your complexion- a warm sort of apple soup with Fiji apples and cherries. Very different.

The restaurant was lovely, the service was grand and the food was very different. 

We are off to bed for the evening of December 20. 

Intercontinental Hotel

We slept fairly good and awoke at 9:00 AM, dressed and headed for breakfast. It is raining and looks like it might rain all day. The staff just smiles and say, "It is December." I guess that means in it the rainy season. 

The lobby is lovely 

and huge. The Christmas decorations are so beautiful- even the airport with its orchids and lights was wonderful. 

After a buffet breakfast, Jim went off to find postcards and I checked us

 in with the Oceania Cruise  folks and did a little photo safari of the hotel. 

The Christmas Tree made from pasta in the restaurant was a sight to behold. 

There is 

a nice shopping area just outside the hotel. It looks really fancy and nice. I have hopes that the rain will stop, but whatever is OK because we are in "get over jet-lag" mode. 

Flying To Singpore

We left Berkeley at about 9:00 AM on the morning of Tuesday, December 18. Rich, Arta, Jim and I went off in the rain with our four pieces of luggage. Got on a crowed train at the BART station and moved along rapidly. We finally got seats. We changed trains once and most folks on that train were headed to the airport.

Arrived at SFO at about 10:30AM and checked in with no problem. We said good-bye with grateful thanks for the wonderful hospitality and assistance in transportation. 

The only little hitch we had was the carry-on was only supposed to weigh 15 pounds, was to have been weighed at check-in, and wasn't. When the officials came to weigh luggage gate-side ours weighed 25 pounds. Finally the Singapore Airline folks gave us a tote bag and we shifted some items. 

The seats  on the plane were amazing. There was more storage space than you could believe and even a 

make-up mirror. 

When time to sleep came the flight attendants made the bed down- complete with covers and a pillow.  The entertainment system had everything you could imagine and the headphones were the noise reduction kind like BOSE. 

First time we have had such delicious food on an airplane and such gracious service. So....12 hours later and the time was 6:45PM on Wednesday, December 19 we arrived in Seoul, Korea. 

We were to continue on the same plane, but we had to get off, go up-stairs, walk to the far end of the airport, go through the Transfer Station and walk all the way back to the same plane. Seemed strange to us. The crew did change and we figured maybe the plane was being re-fueled and so passengers needed to be off. Later in the Singapore Airport we saw the same thing happened. 

We took off on time for Singapore, had another meal, slept a bit and flew 6 more hours. We arrived in Singapore at 1:05 AM on Thursday, December 20. Immigration was simple and the luggage arrived. The man with the Oceania sign was right outside the door and transportation to the Intercontinental was a breeze. 

We took showers and fell into the bed at about 3:00 AM.

Sunset on the Bay

Last evening we had a wonderful dinner with lots of folks around the table. 

Thor Wilbanks and his companion Karin Ericksson, Aaron Wilbanks and his wife Lynn Roberts, Ericka Buky, Sigurd's wife, and her mother Eunice Buky just in from London joined Rich and Arta and Jim and I for a delicious dinner and terrific conversation on many many subjects.

Otherwise it was a delightful day to linger over The New York Times and The San Francisco Chronicle.

This is the amazing view of the Golden Gate at sunset. Imagine these good folks get to see this view all the time- well most of the time.

Today we are doing a bit of laundry and preparing to depart in the morning for our 21 hour flight to Singapore. We are going to travel to the airport via BART(Bay Area Rapid Transportation) with luggage assistance from our terrific family. 

A Visit to Napa

After a lazy morning we began the day with a visit to the studio of a potter friend of Rich and Arta's- Ross Spangler. Erika went with us and planned to meet up with Rich and Arta's youngest son, Thor and his companion Karin. We looked at some beautiful pieces and enjoyed seeing Thor and Karin.

And we were off to Napa. Since we got a late start we didn't travel to the more remote wineries as in the past. Being Satur

day we knew Napa would be busy and wild and it was.  

We stopped at the fancy grocery, Dean and Deluca, and got a lunch of cheese, fruit, crackers and nuts. We went across the road and bought a bottle of wine at V. Sartui's winery and settled in for a chilly picnic.

We moved on and tasted wine at Louis Martini. We didn't buy anything, but we learned that Louis Martini was making wine before and during Prohibition. During Prohibition there were three ways to make and sell wine. 

One was sacramental wine for the Roman Catholic Church. 

Second was for medicinal purposes. Martini had a physician on staff so you could stop by complain of being stressed or any other ailment and receive a prescription for a glass

 of wine or a bottle of wine. Pretty handy plan! 

Third was they sold grape juice concentrate which came with a warning label. If you add yeast, water and sugar this will turn into alco

hol. Even more clever!

We stopped, tasted and bought some wonderful wine for our dinner tonight. We were at Markham Winery. The old stone building dating from 1889 was interesting and the wine was delicious. 

We made a quick stop at Berringer's but found it was terribly busy and had gotten more commercialized than any of us liked. But Rich did take advantage of the Lift provided to let people by-pass about 10 steps. Looked like he got into a trash compactor so we were glad to see him safely emerge.

Our evening ended with a dinner, a return home to Berkeley, and a nice visit with Erika, Thor and Karin. As always, we are grateful for such a neat extended family.

Arrived in Oakland

We had a very smooth trip from Tampa to Atlanta and then onto Oakland. Rich met us at the airport and together the three of us managed the luggage and it all fit nicely into their Camry. I think Jim and I were riding on energy from the excitement of beginning this journey. 

We had a glass of wine, looked at Arta's new remodeled kitchen and the level approach to the front of their house and went to bed. I guess everyone in THIS bay area lives on the side of a hill making approaches to most houses and driveways a challenge.

Our heads hit the pillow about 12:00 midnight here- 3:00 AM at home.

Erika Wilbanks, daughter-in law, is here for the holidays. They live in Dunedin, New Zealand and will both be here for the holidays. We are looking forward to conversations with her about New Zealand.

BUT right now I am the only one awake- but I did manage to sleep until 6:45 PDT.

We are off to the wine country today/

We are leaving this morning for this NEXT journey of a lifetime. We will be in California for 4 days, fly to Singapore for 3 days, get on a cruise ship for 35 days, and get off in Auckland, New Zealand. We will spend about 2 week sailing around Australia and then 2 weeks around New Zealand. 

 We both agree that we are so fortunate to be able to travel and see such interesting places. The world is filled with amazing sights.

 We will be flying today to Oakland, California and a terrific visit with our cousins Rich and Arta Wilbanks. Rich is the son of my mother's oldest brother Harrell. 

Rich and Arta live in Berkeley in the home where they raised their 4 sons. The view from their living room of the Golden Gate Bridge is amazing- when the fog is lifted. Hopefully we'll be able to catch a view and share it with you. We always have fun catching up, tasting wine and sharing good food with this part of our Wilbanks family. 

We hoped to learn from our trip last year to the Far and Middle East to pack light. Jim did a great job of that and I did an OK job. Here is Jim with the luggage as we wait for the Execu Car to pick us up. 

We look forward to sharing some of the sights we visit with you during the next 7 weeks. 

We Are Off Again

Since our last post we have had some wonderful travels with family and friends. Some years ago our daughter, Kathryn, gave us a copy of 1000 Places To See Before You Die, and we began noting the things we had seen and making a list of places we'd like to see. 

What a quest this is because the world offers so many exciting, interesting and challenging places to go. Across this wide earth there are wonderful people with art, music and ideas to share. 

This fall we visited Costa Rica with Kathryn and her family to celebrate a special birthday for her. We stayed in an amazing house with monkeys, toucans, lizards and other creatures in the trees, on the roof, and sometimes in the house. We sailed, swam, ate delicious food prepared by a French Chef and rode in the rain forest. We flew on some tiny planes landing on dirt airstrips as we continued our journey to sit at the feet of the Arenal Volcano and watch its colorful display of "hot" rocks, smo

ke and steam. The sounds were also amazing.

For Thanksgiving we went to Cheeca Lodge in the Florida Keys with Bill, Katherine, Michael, Jack and Ethan Barnett and Will, Christopher, Ella Cheek and Kathryn Barnett. 

This was our Christmas celebration together. We swam, fished, kayaked, played games, and had fun. Some brave people even swam with the dolphins. 

Now we are off to the "Land Down Under." We leave in 11 days- December 14 for a brief visit with Rich and Arta Wilbanks in Berkeley and then onto Singapore for a couple 

days. We sail on December 22 for Australia. We plan to share the highlights of this travel in the blog- assuming the electronic systems all cooperate. Do stay tuned.