The Next Adventure

What can I say about cruising to the Caribbean onboard Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas? First, there's the food, lots and lots of it. Had breakfast and lunch mostly in the Windjammer Buffet which had a varied menu. Eating there was fast but crowded. Among the more memorable dishes I liked were the Indian curries and lentil, the jerk chicken and of course the desserts. CJ, our Singles International concierge, had reserved tables for dinner at the Great Gatsby main dining room where the menu changed daily except for some permanent classic dishes. I ditched my diet and ordered multiple appetizers, or 2 main courses or 2 desserts. The food was pretty good. My favorites were the escargots, steak, and lamb shanks; for desserts I liked the souffle and everything chocolate. The Maryland crab cake appetizer did not come close to the real thing and I should know! Buttery and garlicky escargots (without shells), sopped up with sliced bread. Yum! I ordered this appertizer 3 time...

Spent a very restful night in my room at the Hyatt, a big difference from sleeping in Millie of course! Met more fellow cruisers at breakfast, then we had a meet-and-greet + pre-cruise briefing led by CJ the Singles Travel International concierge for this cruise. There was just enough time, before I had to check out, to go look for a store that sold lottery tickets. The Mega Millions lottery was up to about $640M and I wanted to buy a couple of tickets. I'm one of those people who only play when the winnings get big enough to make the news. The Whole Foods across the hotel did not have them, but I found a little convenience store that did. Mission accomplished! I doubt I would win anything given the odds, but I can say I played. Embarkation went pretty smoothly, we were onboard by about 3 pm. I headed straight to the buffet since we missed lunch, got my luggage and unpacked. And then we sailed away just before sunset. I got to the upper deck and got some great photos. What a cla...

Checked out of Ortona South Campground to drive to downtown Miami, about 2 hours away. The drive took longer because I stopped by a Goodwill store to see if I can find some white clothing for the white dance night on the cruise (just found out about that on the RC app). I found an almost new white cotton top and Capri pants that fit plus a beach dress. Also bought a small saute pan, since I forgot to bring one with me. Total cost was less than $15 - I love treasure hunting in thrift stores! The drive to the Hyatt Regency was slow, with heavy traffic all the way there. I was able to check in and put my luggage in my room before jumping back into traffic, heading for the Hilton Airport Blue Lagoon where Millie will be parked for the next 10 days. The hotel is somewhat out of the way which was why I chose it. From there I got on the free shuttle to get to the airport, took the Miami metro rail to Government Center ($2.25 fare) and the metro mover (free) to Knight Station which was next t...

Back in May, I booked a 9 night New Year cruise with Singles Travel International to the Caribbean. I decided to drive down to Miami instead of flying, which turned out to be a good decision after seeing the mess with flights, especially on Southwest Airlines over the Chrismas holidays. Since I am driving Millie, I planned to do some camping along the Gulf Coast after the cruise. It was pretty cold when I left in the morning on Dec 27. I stayed the night at a motel in St. George, South Carolina. Another long drive on Dec 28 towards Miami. I could not find an affordable hotel in Miami (rooms were $150+), so I camped at the Corps of Engineers' Ortona South Campground near La Belle, FL for $10 a night (discountered with the senior national parks pass). It was a small but very nice park, looked like good fishing waters near the locks. I arrived rather late and did not bothered to connect to power since I was staying a night only. Had a good night's sleep before leaving for th...

I spent the long Indigenous Peoples' Day (formerly Columbus Day) weekend (October 7-10) on a camping/hiking trip at Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia. The trip was organized by Bob, who runs the meetup group Hiking, Kayaking, and Cultural Adventurers. About 18 members went on this trip, most stayed in cabins or the lodge at the Canaan Valley Resort. I camped at the State Park's campground and was joined by Nadine in her RV. I met Nadine when camping at Manatee Springs State Park FL back in March. Fall folliage was just starting to peak, and the campground's trees were showing their colors. Saturday Oct 8: In the morning, we took a scenic drive to Parsons to observe the multi-tribal pow wow, Thunder in the Mountains. I have never attended a pow-wow before and it was quite interesting. I got permission to take a photo of one of the tribal members in his regalia. We got there at about 11 am but the event did not start until noon. We were only able to catch the...

I spent most of the summer fishing and crabbing. The crabbing season has been pretty good this year, mainly because I am able to go to a few of my favorite crabbing spots on weekdays and had the pier all to myself most of the time. My best day's catch was almost 3 dozen crabs! My daughter and I could not eat all of the crabs, so I spent a good amount of time peeling them (after steaming) for crabmeat and then making crab cakes, crab fried rice, crab omelette, etc. It was fun catching your own crabs, from piers or bridges, using topless traps, ring nets and hand lines with chicken drumsticks as bait. Then steam the crabs in the evening and put away in the fridge. Next two days, peel crabs, season them for crab cakes, and reserve some crabmeat for stir fry. These crab cakes were put into the freezer, will be taking them to family members over Thanksgiving!

I attended one day of Otakon 2022 (July 29-31) at the Washington DC Convention Center on a guest pass, courtesy of my daughter who is a long time volunteer convention staff. This was the first in-person convention since COVID-19. They had over 40,000 attendees, the highest number ever for Otakon! Must be the pent-up desire to attend a Con in person. It was entertaining to check out and take photos (with permission) of the cosplay participants. Some of the more interesting costumes are posted here. What I liked about Otakon 2022 was that they required attendees to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Verified attendees were then given a wrist band and allowed admission to the exhibit halls and conference rooms. All attendees had to wear masks; it was good to see that this was enforced because there were people everywhere and no way to maintain physical distance. Due to the huge numbers, some sessions had long lines of people waiting to get in. Cons are not just for anime...