I’ll be leaving pretty soon for Michigan. I can’t wait!
I received and invitation from my former apprentice to visit him for two weeks. In return for his hospitality I agreed to help him paint his house. Just a couple of days work and we will spend the rest of the time bumming around the west coast of Michigan.
I’ve enjoyed spending time in South Haven and Holland on prior trips to Michigan. They both have great beaches with lots of activity. I can usually find a volleyball game to crash or make friends with a boat owner who might take me out on the lake.
I’m pretty sure that I won’t have to spend more than $100 once I arrive in Michigan. Just a little sweat helping Beach_Guy with his painting project. I’ll be leaving in a couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to it.
All gased up and ready to go. I’ll be picking up the other beach bums soon to begin our spring break adventure. As long as the weather is warm and the waves are breaking we hope to do a little surfing.
Last year the waves were not very big so I didn’t even get the surfboard out of the room.
The GPS is programmed with the destination, the binoculars are in the glove box and the metal detector is sitting by the door. My duffle bag currently has my board shorts, a couple of t-shirts and my sandals but more will be added as travel day approaches.
Last Saturday I went and got a fresh hair cut so my tan on my face won’t look funny in a couple of weeks.
Now to decide on the snacks for the trip…hmmm…banana chips anyone???
The annual trip to Myrtle Beach for spring break is coming up. I’ve invited fellow beach bum, Beach_Guy, to travel with me and my group. I need to find my metal detector and binoculars.
I plan to do a little bit of treasure hunting while I’m down there. I hope to do better than last year when I found a dime. Some Spanish doubloons would be nice but I’d be happy with gold jewelry that I could sell at the local pawn shop.
I like to boat watch with the binoculars. Last year there was not much in the way of boat traffic. Maybe this year will be better.
More on the trip to come.
On the cruise one day was spent at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. The island has three beaches, a teens beach, a family beach and an adults beach. The shore excursions that we took advantage of were the parasailing and the “boat” rentals. The “boat” rental was one of those water tricycles where you pedal around in the water.
We took lunch on the island. It was a wonderful Caribbean picnic…yet another day in paradise.
The cruise itself was four days three nights out of Port Canaveral with excursions to Nassau and Castaway Cay. The ship, Disney’s Magic, was beautiful; the crew was accommodating; the meals were fabulous. The cruise was definitely in my top ten vacations.
Back to the meals. We were seated at our own table and had the same servers for all of the dinners. We rotated through three of the ship’s restaurants each of which had its own theme. The first night we ate at the restaurant called Triton’s. The food was incredible. Obviously Triton’s has a theme based on “The Little Mermaid” the cuisine is primarily seafood which makes sense.
The next night we ate at Parrot Cay. The theme of this restaurant is Caribbean cuisine. The food again was fantastic and served with a Caribbean flare.
On the third night we found ourselves in Animator’s Palate. The theme is animated films and as you eat the decor changes from monochrome to a colorful setting.
All in all the food and the ambiance was to die for.
The trip started out by driving to Port Canaveral, Florida. It is located near Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. Cocoa Beach is of course the home of the Ron Jon Surf Shop. We spent the night in Cocoa Beach and walked about the the town and saw the sights. The next morning we drove to Port Canaveral, the second busiest port for cruising in the world.
Driving up to the embarkment point was as bad as driving to a large airport which can be so confusing for a beach bum like me. But we knew that the cruise was going to be a trip to remember. Embarking was a slow process as we went through the process of getting cleared to cross the gang plank and get on board the cruise ship.
Once we were on the ship the first task we took on was locating the stateroom that we were assigned. We had selected an interior room but had been upgraded months ago to a exterior room. The reason for the upgrade has been unclear but we were happy for it. All in all it was a good beginning.
