Mexico Riviera, on the Carnival Splendor

Markay and I are off to the Mexico Riviera on Carnival's Splendor ship.
Our granddaughter graduated from high school in June, so Grandma and

Markay are off to the Mexican Riviera. We left grandpa home to keep up

the chores at home and catch up on his yardwork.

We left from Long Beach and set sail for a seven day, fun filled cruise.

Markay is dressed for the elegant night. We ate almost every night in the dining room. She wasn't too impressed with the dinners but it was fun to get to know our servers who were from Russian and India.
Sunset off the back of the boat--two jacuzzies and the adult pool.
A little windy up on deck eleven--this was just before Markay slipped on the damp deck and fell pretty hard on her wrist and elbow. She was in a lot of pain, and she was taken by wheelchair to the infirmery. Upon an exam, they wrapped her arm and sent her back to the stateroom with ice and ibuprofen. We weren't sure if it was broken, but she thought it was! It turned out to be a bad sprain and we could continue our cruise.
Our first stop was Puerta Vallarta. We took a city tour and did some shopping. Then we stopped for lunch and a swim at the beach. The following day, we were in Mazatlan.

The excursion we originally planned wasn't available but we did see the old part of Mazatlan and the Golden Zone. We had a great lunch watching the parasailers on the beach and, of course, all of the locals selling their wares on the beach. We got real good at saying NO!

Here we are on the boat in Cabo San Lucas getting ready to parasail. We opted to go first out of our group and had a great tandem ride. She had the most fun in Cabo. I think she wants to go back.
Here we are taking off from the back of the boat.....actually that's not us but that is our guide

and the boat.
Our cruise is coming to an end. We have one day of sailing before we return to Long Beach. Markay and I will have great memories of our trip and look forward to more trips together. Grandpa survived on his own but he's happier now that I'm home and back to our routines.

Journey's End

Our journey to Belize has ended. We had a great time and the weather did clear up the last few days. The big rain we had on Wednesday was a tropical depression with 8 inches of rain in one day. It was still quite hot and muggy throughout the week. We are going home with some mosquito bites. They were really bad after the big rain.

The day after the rain was beautiful. We are on the dock waiting for the snorkeling boat to pick us up for the afternoon. This is looking back to the newest addition of the time share. It is not quite completed but includes a very large pool--one of three pools at Captain Morgan's.

The water is beautiful at Amberguis Caye. Our snorkel trip took us to two snorkeling spots--one called Mexico Rocks and the other near the reef. The water was warm and the coral and fish are plentiful.

The catamaran off for a sunset cruise. We later found out that this was a cruise for all the owners of timeshares. Somehow we didn't get word we were suppose to go--oh, well, it was just more eating and drinking and I probably would have been seasick!

This is one of two boats bringing us to the tiny

airport in San Pedro. As you can see in the front part of the boat is everyone's luggage. We were sitting in the back with 3 other people. Loaded to the brim! This is how you travel from the time share to the town of San Pedro.

The other boat with all the other people returning home the same day. They do pack you in! We took a very short walk to San Pedro's airport to board an "8" passenger plane to fly to Belize City. This was smaller than the "12" passenger plane when we arrived. Thank goodness, it is only a 20 minute ride.

We're off to Belize City to finally fly home on a real airplane. See you at home.

Ambergris Caye, Captain Morgan's Resort

Here we are inside our Palapa watching the rain. This is the third day of rain and today and it is really raining. The two previous days we were able to walk on the beach north of us and south of us without getting too wet checking out all the new developments and some of the restaurants. However, today is not a good day to go outside for a walk. It's pouring! It is a good day to catch up with the blog.

The next several pictures are for the benefit of our friends, Dana and Cathie, who are traveling in Europe. They have shared many pictures on their blog of their dining experiences and we wish to do the same.

This is Gary about to enjoy a Belizean lunch made by our tour guide's wife. Chicken, rice and beans, and cole slaw. It was delicious.

Gary, once again, enjoying a Rum Punch on the balcony. It seems appropriate since we are staying at Captain Morgan's.

Last night was Belizean Culture Night which included a large buffet with local artists displaying their wares around the pool. We didn't start with dessert but this is the picture of key lime pie and coconut cake. The main meal included chicken, beef and pork chops with rice, chips and salsa made with pineapple and beans, in addition to plantains.

I'm not sure whose plate this is, but it looks like he went overboard at the buffet!

Gary, in his Cayman Island shirt, enjoying his Belizean dinner.

The open dining room at the resort is very nice. It overlooks the pool and the beach. We have had several dinners here and they have been wonderful. We had snapper and chicken this night.

Everyone needs to experience a "Philly Cheesecake"

sandwich while in Bellize??

Can you guess what this is? Our guide stopped

along side the road to pick this off a tree.

It was a Cashew Tree! The yellow is the fruit that

can be eaten and the nut at the end is the cashew.

No wonder cashews are so expensive. One nut at

a time has to be processed. That's the real cashew

on the right.

Belize, May 2010

After arriving in Belize City, we hopped on this very small prop airplane to fly into San Pedro.

It was a short flight with beautiful views of the Caribbean and the second longest barrier reef.

Gary soon needed to take off long sleeve shirt and long pants to adapt to the hot, humid weather.

We stayed in San Pedro for three days before going to our time share. This was the place our "bug man" back home recommended to us. In fact, we met his wife who was visiting San Pedro the same time we were. It seemed like many of the locals hang out in this area. The next day, we rented a golf cart (the preferred way to travel around the town) to see how the town had changed and to plan our next meals. We drove from one end to the other, stopping at the Palapa Bar and Grill for some refreshments.

We were feeling quite adventurous while driving our golf cart, so we signed up for some Cave Tubing and a tour of some Mayan ruins. We set the alarm very early and took an hour boat ride back to Belize City. We met our personal tour guide and began our adventure. Our guide was a native to the area and had a wealth of information. We walked through the rainforest to get to the area for the float. We saw massive stalactites & stalagmites, bats and a waterfall inside the cave.

After our tubing, we changed clothes and headed to the Cave Tubing Lunch site along side the rode. We had a delicious Belizean lunch ( made by the sister and wife of our tour guide)--then headed down the road to see this Mayan ruin called Xunantunich which means Stone Woman.

There are 132 steps to the top. I'll let you think we climbed them in the heat of the day. We were actually only 10 minutes from Guatemala. After a 12 hour day, we were ready to take a cold shower and then off to the local dinner place.

Saturday morning, we packed our bags and waited for the water taxi to take us to our time share at Captain Morgan on the Amberquis Caye. This is about a 20 minute ride in a small boat loaded with about 10 people and all the luggage. We are a little more isolated here, but golf carts and water taxis are available if you want to go back to San Pedro. There are several restaurants nearby and Captain Morgan has a nice dining experience. It's Belizean night, Tuesday so we will be joining the fun then.

We're hoping to relax a day or two and then perhaps take in a snorkeling trip. Most of the really nice water is further out. As you can see in this picture, it's pretty grassy right on the shoreline. We have two pools and a lovely balcony to enjoy. We plan to do some reading and relaxing.

San Francisco, January 2010

I had a quick trip to San Francisco in January with my retired teacher friends.

We were having my belated 60th birthday celebration--a good excuse for a girl’s trip.

We saw the Cartier Exhibit, along with a quilt exhibit and more. We had lots of fun with good eats and wine. We also went to see Wicked. It was a very quick trip but looking forward to someone else’s birthday celebration.

Hans Returns

We were happy to see our German friends return to the States. We first met Hans last year while we were on our fall motorhome trip with Dana and Cathie. We stored their motorhome for a few months anticipating his return in March.

Hans arrived with his girlfriend Silke. They stayed with us for a few days as we all got ready for a camping trip in the desert. On our way to the Gassaway's for dinner, we stopped at the Carlsbad outlets for some shopping. Along the way we had to let Hans get his feet wet in the cold Pacific Ocean. You can't keep him out of the water!

Yes, it's very cold in February!

What a nice looking couple!





Cathie, Dana, Hans, and Silke after dinner.
We will soon be off to Arroyo Salado to relax and have some fun together in the desert.

Arroyo Salado, March 2010

After our fall trip last year together, we reunited with our German friends with a camping trip to Arroyo Salado
on March 2nd, 2010. Dana, Cathie, Hans, Silke, Gary and I enjoyed some jeeping, hiking, sharing stories, and eating. We went into Borrego one day, so our German friends could experience dining in a Mexican restaurant with margaritas.
Dana led us on some of the desert trails in the area.






















Our first drive was to 17 Palms. Dana and Silke
checking the tree mail.

Silke writing a German note for the tree mail.
On our way back to the jeep, I decided to take a fall
and twist my ankle--ouch. Yes, it was swollen and
all black and blue. Gary is still trying to talk me into
wearing hiking boats!

Silke, Hans, and Gary in the "Pumpkin Patch".

Dana led us on a short walk to see the petrified wood.

Everyone checking out the "drop off".

We have to say goodbye to our friends, Hans and Silke. They are continuing their trip across the states the next several weeks and will be shipping their motorhome back to Germany. Gary and I hope to see them again when we go visit them in Germany! We had lots of fun telling our stories around the campfire.