SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN REVISITED

Our latest travel adventure was a 12 night cruise on the Carnival Liberty beginning in San Juan, Puerto Rico & ending in Galveston, Texas. It's becoming more of a challenge to find Caribbean islands that we haven't already visited but we managed to find three new destinations on this trip. 

Downtown San Juan from our ship. We spent a couple days sightseeing in San Juan several years ago & decided to skip it this time. That was a good thing since we were both totally wiped out from three flights with long layovers. Air travel is such an ordeal now days - it used to be a fun adventure. Not anymore!

Our first port was St. Thomas, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Thirty-five years ago I had visited St. Croix, another Virgin Island & a couple years later Lou stopped at St. Thomas but immediately took a tour to St. John, the third Virgin Island. Technically, St. Thomas was new for both of us.

We walked the 1-1/2 miles into downtown Charlotte Amalie & found the landmark known as "The 99 Steps". But in reality there are 103 steps that lead to Blackbeard's Castle. We climbed them all only to find that the castle was closed that day but it offered some beautiful scenery.

I love impressionist art & one of its most well known painters, Camille Pissarro, was born in this house (with the yellow & aqua shutters) in Charlotte Amalie where he lived for 12 years before attending school in France. It is now an art gallery for local artists.

These pickup truck/sightseeing buses are extremely popular throughout the city. 

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this sign outside a local bar in the main shopping area of  Charlotte Amalie.

The skies opened up on our long walk back to the ship. We had umbrellas but still ended up pretty well soaked by the time we arrived back onboard. The good news is that it made for a pretty picture with the rain clouds over the harbor - but, fortunately, it was the only rain we had on the whole trip!

Our cruise a few years ago stopped in Barbados. We visited the island again on this cruise & didn't even leave the cruise port. It was the first of three consecutive ports so we saved our energy for tours of Tobago & Grenada which were new countries for both of us.

Tobago is half of the island nation of Trinidad & Tobago. Trinidad is the more populated, urban island & Tobago is the scenic, laid back & much smaller island. It's main city is Scarborough where over half the population resides.

Our island tour included a stop at Mt. Irvine Bay Hotel & Golf Course with its panoramic view of the Caribbean Sea. Not many cruise ships stop at Tobago which gives it a more natural feel. Although it was perfectly obvious that the bathrooms were not designed for busloads of people with long lines for the 2 of 3 stalls in working order (sort of) in the ladies room. I spent half of my time here waiting in line commiserating with the other women.

The most popular tourist site on Tobago is Store Bay with beautiful beaches, boats for hire & handmade local crafts. There seemed to be as many locals as tourists at a few of our stops. 

One of our stops was Fort James which also provided some stunning views. 

Our final stop before heading back to Scarborough was Fort King George on a hill overlooking the city. If you look closely between the cannons you can see our ship in the harbor, the Carnival Liberty, with its red, white & blue smokestack.

Most Americans have heard of Grenada because of the United States invasion in October of 1983. President Reagan ordered the Marines to invade & secure the safety of nearly 1000 American medical students when in fact he was really preventing a new Communist regime in the Caribbean according to our guide.

Grenada is such a beautiful island that I wanted to forget the politics & just enjoy the scenery. Our first stop was Fort Frederick with some gorgeous views of the city of St. George's. Our ship (on the right) & one other were in port that day.

By turning about 90 degrees I was able to see the spectacular coastline of the island. As with most of these islands, the majority of people seem to live in one major city. Grenada is mountainous with small, winding roads - I swear we traveled 20 miles to go 5 miles as the crow flies. The entire island is only 10 by 12 miles but we drove for literally hours.

In the sparsely populated interior of the island we happened upon two women washing their laundry in the stream with buckets - just like in our pioneer days.

This unique plant is called a "Traveler's Palm". Each leaf can accumulate up to 1/2 gallon of water from the rain giving thirsty travelers a chance to drink. 

Grenada has lots of beaches where tourists & locals can both enjoy the idyllic setting. Women were selling spices just behind where I took this photo. Grenada is famous for its variety of spices such as cinnamon, mace, saffron, cloves & bay leaves.

Grand Etang National Park is located in the crater of an extinct volcano in the middle of Grenada. This lake is in the center of the crater.

Annandale Falls is a popular tourist attraction. Buses & cars drop off tourists for the short walk down to the falls. Local men jump from a cliff above the falls into the pond for tips. Lou caught this guy in mid-flight. In the short time we were there the two men jumped numerous times. I'm guessing there are several of them who take turns jumping in pairs.

This was our third visit to Aruba! Although it is a beautiful island, we weren't too excited about another visit. BUT we were pleasantly surprised to see all the improvements made to the city of Oranjestad & to discover a park we had missed the last two times.

As we walked to a nearby Starbucks that we found last time where for the price of a frappacino you can check email on their WiFi, we discovered these new blue horse statues all over the downtown. Apparently there is some historical significance to them & the city included them as part of the renovation of downtown. 

The picturesque boat harbor in Oranjestad, Aruba. 

Wilhelmina Park, named after Queen Wilhelmina, is just a few blocks from the cruise port. It had interesting trees & was right on the Caribbean Sea.

There was a huge population of iguanas all over Wilhelmina Park. You have to look closely to see this bright green guy who blended in with the green grass.  He was close to two feet long including his tail.

I had to take several iguana photos for two reasons - they are all different & they stay still making it pretty easy to get good pictures. I loved the "spikes" down this one's back.

They all have this fascinating prehistoric look to them. I'm not sure exactly why but I am really intrigued by their appearance.

Someone had dumped a bunch of lettuce on the lawn causing a feeding frenzy with 10 or 20 iguanas of all sizes. The biggest ones here are probably 2-1/2 feet long. Amazing creatures!

Lou zoomed in & captured this great close up of one of the iguanas. I love all the subtle detail in his face & expression.

The final new port for us was Grand Cayman. This is a popular stop on many cruises but somehow neither of us had ever visited this destination.

The shoreline of George Town, Grand Cayman from our cruise ship. Unlike Tobago & Grenada, Grand Cayman is totally flat. As we drove over a small overpass crossing a river, our guide said, "This is one of our mountains in Grand Cayman."

Our first stop was a ride in the Nautilus. It is called a semi-submarine - the actual vessel doesn't go underwater but we  are sitting underwater looking out through windows. We passed by coral reefs, two shipwrecks & numerous colorful fish. It was extremely difficult to get any sort of good pictures, but this little guy with his black & yellow strips came out okay.

During our 45 minute journey, a "mer-man" goes into the water with a glove full of fish food to attract them to him. 

The final stop on our tour was a visit to the Cayman Turtle Farm Wildlife Encounter. They breed, raise & protect these giant sea turtles. This one was close to three feet long. Unfortunately, we learned that while 10% are released back into the wild, the rest are eaten by people!

There is a "holding pond" where visitors can pick up the young sea turtles. Here is Lou with one of the babies. I held him first & he was flapping his flippers like crazy. Our guide told me to rub his chin gently with my finger. I did & he settled right down letting me hold him without squirming.

The main shopping street in George Town, Grand Cayman.

Here are some of the gorgeous flowers that are common throughout the Caribbean islands.

One of the things I love about tropical locales is all the beautiful flowers. 

The array of colors, shapes & sizes of blooms seems endless.

In this photo, it almost seems as if my camera focused on the orange flowers & blurred the yellow ones - kinda cool.

Not sure what this is but it certainly is fascinating. I'm in awe of all these incredible creations.

Another thing I love is blue sky & puffy white clouds - add them to any photo & it is suddenly breathtaking.

While I was playing around taking iguana & other photos, Lou managed to get this butterfly before he flitted away. Great photo!

FROZEN ON ICE

Today we took my 4-1/2 year old granddaughter, Charley, to see "Disney's Frozen on Ice".  She has seen the movie, "Frozen", countless times, knows the words to all of the songs & owns numerous Anna & Elsa dresses & accessories which makes her the perfect audience for this show!

My sister, Karen (AKA Zizi) & my son, Darrin (AKA Daddy) accompanied Charley & me to the spectacle that is Disney ice shows. I wanted to treat us all & bought lower level tickets along with a considerable number of other overpriced items to make Charley's day super special.

The four of us ready for the show - Zizi, Charley & I all wore Elsa or Anna tiaras & Daddy donned the Olaf hat that came with the cotton candy!

All children's events seem to have one must-have major money making item that every kid HAS to have. For Frozen on Ice it was the magic snowflake light up wand - in all fairness it is pretty impressive with three different flashing color functions & a two year battery replacement guarantee from Disney. But there was still a moment of sticker shock with the $30 price tag. 

This is the Olaf hat that came with every $15 bag of cotton candy. Just as with the magic wand above, the prices didn't seem to deter anyone from buying. I mean how can you possibly disappoint your child or grandchild? The $20 bills were flowing freely & I eagerly joined in to Charley's delight.

Disney does put on a professional, well rehearsed & choreographed extravaganza. There were literally thousands of little girls in Elsa dresses or adorned with all kinds of hats, crowns, jewelry, etc in the sold out arena.

For those of you who don't have children or have simply been living under a rock these past few years here are a few scenes that mirrored the movie accurately. This is Anna & Hans dancing a skating routine while "The First Time in Forever" played. 

When Elsa's powers to wreak havoc with snow & ice became uncontrollable the kingdom of Arrendale froze over.

I loved Sven, the reindeer, in the movie & he didn't disappoint in Frozen on Ice. Darrin did comment, "Wouldn't it be a pisser to audition for Kristoff & get the part of Sven's butt?"

Elsa with her grand finale of "Let It Go", Charley's favorite song. Thousands of little voices sang along & belted out the entire thing. The passion of all these children literally brought tears to my eyes as they lived the moment.

Disney smartly included a 15 minute intermission for bathroom trips - & I'm sure another chance to pick up some souvenirs & Frozen themed food items. The place was packed but it seemed to all play out pretty smoothly given the shear number of small kids.

The intermission gave Gaga the chance to indulge in one more purchase for all of us - some popcorn (which we didn't even finish between the four of us) that came with a reuseable Mickey & Minnie Mouse bag.

I was reminded of a trip to New Orleans 25 years ago where we had lunch at one of the high end restaurants in the French Quarter. The prices were outrageously expensive but the service was excellent & the meal so delectable that, strangely, you never felt ripped off.  I felt a slight sense of that today - plus the grandma thing of nothing is too much for my Charley.

The snow monster that Elsa creates to protect her Ice Castle was one of Charley's favorite characters. It didn't disappoint in the Disney on Ice version of the story.

The trolls (if you haven't seen the movie you really should since I'm not going to try to explain it here) did the typical ice capades thing where the skaters spin in opposite directions with the end skaters really picking up speed.

Part of the grand finale with Olaf, Sven & Anna. My photos weren't up to my normal quality since the lighting was low & there was a ton of movement going on. I apologize for the grainy, blurry images but I tried.

All in all, it was a great day & Charley really enjoyed it. She yelled & whooped it up when it was time to cheer. That girl is going to be great at sporting events!  I was so grateful that I could share this with her & I'd have spent triple the amount without batting an eye to experience this with her. Besides, in the end, it's only money - & to paraphrase the old Mastercard commercials:

Four "Frozen on Ice" tickets - $200

One snowflake magic wand - $30

Cotton candy with an Olaf hat - $15

Popcorn & a Disney bag - $12

Spending a magical day with your only granddaughter - PRICELESS!

CHRISTMAS IN JANUARY

Does this man know me or what? Many years ago I told Lou that if he was gift shopping for me to forego jewelry & diamonds (not my thing) for travel or sports. He listened! My Christmas gift was tickets to see our San Francisco Forty-Niners play the hated St. Louis (formerly Los Angeles) Rams at Levi's Stadium.

Not only did we have a great outing but it gave me one more chance to see my Charley since we stayed at Darrin's last night to make our train trip to Santa Clara much shorter.

The train was a great way to get to the stadium since our two round trip tickets from Hayward to Santa Clara were less expensive than parking! And much less stressful. The train was packed with red & gold clad fans attending the game. We couldn't find seats together but I had a nice visit with my seat mate, a man from Auburn, who has been a season ticket holder for 36 years! Now that's a hard core fan!

The Great America Amusement Park is located next door to Levi's Stadium. They even share some of the same parking lots.

One entire side of the stadium has only the lower deck of seats. The rest is luxury boxes that I've heard start in the low six figures for companies or super rich folks to indulge in. Steph Curry (the NBA reigning MVP of the Warriors) was in attendance in one of them today. 

It was our first time seeing Levi's Stadium. This state of the art venue will host Super Bowl 50 in just over a month. We thought that the whole luxury box thing was overkill. I mean, come on, it's a football game, not some who's richer contest. My train seat mate thought that the new facility lacked "personality" - he may well be right. They could certainly use more stairways to the 4th deck & a few escalators wouldn't hurt either! We must have climbed enough stairs today to reach the top of the Empire State Building. 

Now on to the game!

The Forty-Niners starters are introduced one at a time as they run through this tunnel (notice the name on the side that changes for each player). My camera trigger finger wasn't quite quick enough to catch the fire that shoots from the red towers on the right.

The traditional coin toss which the Niners won. I do love my 35x zoom lens!

Couldn't resist this photo of "Joe Montana" & "Steve Young" two of the star quarterbacks from years past a few rows in front of us. Hmmm, they haven't aged as well as I would have thought. :-)

Unfortunately, the Niners are terrible this year & the Rams aren't much better. The two offenses were ranked 31st & 32nd in the league (which only has 32 teams.) Oh, well, we were hoping for an entertaining, competitive game. And we got that! Our Niners won in overtime! The fans in our Bob Uecker/nosebleed seats were noisy, spirited, enthusiastic & a bit sarcastic at times. 

Fortunately, the rain held off but we damn near froze to death. However, we stayed until the final field goal in overtime to clinch our 19-16 victory! I still can't believe fans who pay for tickets then leave early when the game is tied - that is simply not acceptable in my book. I have never left a sporting event before it ended & I never will!

The Forty-Niners sideline. Those seats in the back where the players are sitting are heated. We could have used those up in the stands.

I took lots of action shots & captured our quarterback, Blaine Gabbert (number 2) turning to hand off the ball to the running back, Mike Davis (number 22 on the far left).

It was a fun day & another great gift from my sweetie. The man knows the way to a woman's heart is through a ticket to a sporting event or an adventure to a far-away land - at least this woman's heart! Thank you, my love!

A CHRISTMAS COLLAGE

We are in the middle of Charley's two week stay in California over Christmas & New Years. I'll start off with our latest four generation photo taken yesterday at my dad's house in Roseville.

Four generations of the Bray/Silver family. We got pretty lucky we were all smiling without looking goofy - no easy feat in my family.

Here are the same four generations a little over four years ago when Charley was just a few weeks old. Same chair & lamp but a different house!

Darrin & I decorated her Hayward room with Disney Fairies & Princesses. She loves watching the Disney Fairy movies & I do, too!

Here is her bed with the Fairy blanket & sheets. There are lots more Princess & Fairy stick ons all around her room.

Daddy & Charley embarked on a four night Christmas road trip to Sonora (to visit Grandpa Allen & Marilyn), Sacramento (to visit Gaga & Lou) & Roseville (to visit Pop).

Daddy's little two-seater airplane is up in Columbia near Sonora & Charley flew with Daddy for the first time! She loved it! Look at the expression on her face - it says it all. She was so excited that Daddy let her fly it up in the air! Come to think of it, Daddy looks pretty excited himself to share his passion with his daughter. Another flyer in the family!

It was thumbs up & lots of smiles back on the ground.

Daddy & Charley in their jammies & Santa hats on Christmas morning at Grandpa Allen & Marilyn's.

Baking muffins with Gaga.

A "Baker's dozen" is 13 but we invented the "Charley dozen" which is 11 because she ate so much batter we couldn't fill all 12 cups.

Fresh from the bathtub with wet hair watching "The Princess & the Frog" & eating a lollipop.

In order to accommodate everyone, we had our family's Christmas celebration on December 27th at Pop's house in Roseville with my sister & her husband (Zizi & Steve). 

Zizi & Steve gave Charley a pop-up Frozen house which she made Daddy crawl around in with her. Fortunately it folds up quickly to about 18" around & 3" thick.

Opening her pile of presents with Zizi & Gaga.

One of her gifts from Gaga & Lou was a Fawn (an Animal Fairy) doll which she loved.

But at the end of the day something as simple as a candy cane made her extremely happy. That's Lou in the background watching football with his Forty-Niner Santa hat.

MY SWEET CHARLEY

Earlier this evening I returned home from a four day visit with my granddaughter in New Mexico. Due to circumstances beyond our control Charley & I are no longer able to see each other on a weekly basis.

This was my first visit with her since she & her mother moved on October 20th. It was a huge relief to see her smiling face & be treated to hugs & kisses galore. We played & read & watched movies just like always & I cherished every minute of my time with her.

One of my favorite activities is snuggling up with Charley while we watch movies, Octonauts or Curious George.

Charley, Daddy (my son, Darrin) & I spent a few hours at her favorite "Blue Playground", explored the aquarium, went out to lunch a couple times & generally spent every minute together.

Charley takes after my sister, who she calls Zizi, when it comes to being photographed - she doesn't like it! Selfies with Daddy are about the only time she doesn't protest having her picture taken. I didn't get any good ones at the aquarium or the bugarium.

We won't be the least bit surprised if Charley is competing in American Ninja Warrior in fifteen years. As Darrin says, "Pretty much anything than can be climbed, will be." 

My camera has a 35x zoom so I can sit across the playground, zoom in & get close up shots - at least when I'm not being ordered to play a part in one of her movies or told to "Run, Gaga!"

As Charley & Daddy drove me to the airport this afternoon, my little sweetie must have said "I'm going to miss you, Gaga" about twenty times. I held up pretty well telling her I would miss her, too, but we'll see each other next month & talked about all the fun things we will do.

As I received several enthusiastic hugs & kisses from her car seat while saying good-bye, Gaga started to lose it. I managed to keep my voice fairly even as we said our traditional farewell. Me: See ya later alligator. Charley: After while crocodile. That was followed by more "I love yous", smiles & waves.

I turned to hug Darrin good-bye & was pretty much weeping. Thank goodness I had on my sunglasses. After one more big smile, several waves & a few blown kisses, I turned to walk into the terminal. Once inside I had to sit down, grab a few tissues & compose myself before checking in for my flights.

It hit me again about ten times on the flight home. This little girl has wonderfully & amazingly changed my life forever. Sometimes my travels & my life can be really emotional.