Hurry up and Wait

Friday, November 16
Today was a day of waiting and moving. 
After a brief visit at John's sister's home in San Antonio, she drove us to San Antonio airport for our flight to Fort Lauderdale.  SAT is a rather small airport, considering the size of the city, but is quite convenient and efficient.  
They say that wheter you go to Heaven or Hell, you have to change planes in Atlanta.  This was true in this case, since there doesn't seem to be a direct flight across the Golf of Mexico between the two cities.  We had a very close connection in Atlanta and, true to form, two gates were at opposite sides of the airport, but we made it.  Both flights were filled to capacity, but not uncomfortable.
After a long wait for baggage at FLL (Fort Lauderdale airport) we called our hotel shuttle and asked where to wait.  We stood outside for nearly an hour in the drizzle waiting as vans from other hotels came and went.  Eventually, after two more phone calls, the driver arrived.  It was his forst day on the job!
Checking into the hotel at about 10:00, we grabbed a snack at the restaurant and turned in.
We board our ship, the Century Eclipse on Saturday and will probably be offline for a number of days, since internet on the ship is both expensive and slow.
Look for us down the log.

John and Donna

Greetings from San Antonio Thursday, Nov 15

We have been having a great time in San Antonio visiting with John's sister, Susan and her husband Carl this week. We have not been here for 7 years and it has sure grown with new construction of buildings and freeways everywhere. Lots of traffic but no where near that as Seattle so we have have little difficulty driving around the area and seeing lots of things, some new and some repeats of great places that we visited on past trips.

Yesterday, Susan drove us to an area about 120 miles northeast of SA to see some lovely painted churches. These historical churches are located in Czech communities of the late 1800's. These little churches have been maintained over all of these years and all are beautifully adorned and hand painted with frescoes and beautiful stained windows. We followed the church trail throughout this rural area and enjoyed going inside each one as no two are alike but each is unique and charming. They are still in use by their congregations and but are opened to the public when there is no service.

Today we decided to re-visit an area that we have always enjoyed, The SA Riverwalk. We loved the 4 mile walk that took us up one side of the river and down the other. We have always found this to be a delight but it is even better now since they have added a large new portion in what is called the museum section. We thoroughly enjoyed this time together strolling along this lovely river.

We then drove to the Mexican marketplace and had a wonderful lunch at a great older restaurant called Mi Tierra. We have eaten here before years ago and enjoyed it very much. The food was excellent and the decorations are so funky. This place is located at the marketplace and after lunch we walked around the market and felt like we were in a Mexican Mercado, something we both miss and love.

We drove around another of our favorite haunts in San Antonio, the King William Neighborhood. This historic area contains stately homes dating back to the early 1800's and most of them are beautifully restored and maintained.

It has been a great week her in SA with family and the start of an exciting journey. Tomorrow we again board a flight and continue to travel east. We fly to Fort Lauderdale FL and board a ship on Saturday morning. We will be working on a two week cruise and will continue to share our adventures with you so stay turned for more!

San Antoino TX, Nov 13

Traveling by air can be uncomfortable or downright irritating.  Fortunately, our experience yesterday proved just the opposite. 
Anderson Island is a place where neighbors help neighbors.  We posted a comment a few weeks ago and our neighbor, Dave Albertson, offered us a ride to the airport.  It is quite a drive and we really appreciate his generosity.
Alaska Airlines now has a direct flight from Seattle to San Antonio.  This is a big deal, because our previous flights always had poor connections via Dallas, Houston or even more obscure routes.  Leaving Sea-Tac a bit late, we landed our fully loaded 737 less than four hours later.  This was a perfectly smooth and flawless flight.  Kudos to Alaska.
We were met at the airport by John's sister, Susan and her husband, Carl.  We checked into a nearby hotel and had a nice meal at a neighborhood Thai restaurant.  The weather in San Antonio has taken a turn to the cool side and we actually had to wear the sweaters we had packed for the Northwest.
We will see what the rest of the week will bring.

Rain, rain, go away...

In Western Washington, November and cold rain seem to go together like beer and bratwurst.
After an absolutely beautiful July-September, we are back to our old weather pattern.
Today, we fly away sunnier and warmer climes.  San Antonio is our first destination,where we will visit John's sister and brother in law for several days.  I memory serves us correctly, our last visit to SAT was in 2005.  It's about time we went back.
After our visit with Susan and Carl, we will be flying to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up a cruise to the Southern Caribbean, where we will serve as guest speakers.  Since hurricane season is officially over, we are looking forward to swaying palms, sunny skies and sparkling water during our visit to nine different countries.
Look for postings from time to time.

Cruise Alaska with John and Donna 2013

A Great Holiday Gift Idea…
a summer  cruise to Alaska



Islanders to Cruise Alaska

Give yourself, or someone you want to impress, a cruise of a lifetime to Alaska. This will be another all-inclusive trip and will begin in August 2013. The cruise will be round trip from Seattle and will include everything in one super package. All room reservations, meals, entertainment, some parties on board and even escorted ground tours will be included in this great deal. John and Donna Mollan, experienced travels and experts on Alaska cruising, will accompany you on this cruise and be there to share with you many things about Alaska that you would not get on other Inside Passage cruises.

Donna & John Mollan, your escorts

Price for this outstanding package will be dependent on the total number of people signing up for this exclusive tour group with the Mollans and will be announced late. All that is needed now are names of those interested with no deposit needed until later. The group size will be limited to keep it more personal so let them know soon if you might be included.

The Star Princess, Our Deluxe Cruise Ship

Donna and John Mollan
donnamollan@gmail.com
253-884-1679

Click Here for More Information

Return from Paradise

Our Kauai Week in Review

by John and Donna Mollan

 

A cuppa java?

View from our condo

Beauty in the Jungle



Waiting for the Rainbow

1. favorite place – Our condo at the Lae Nani in Kapa’a had wonderful gardens, great views and wonderful apartments.  The grounds, pool and beach were also very nice.
2. favorite event – Smith’s Luau in Wialua.  The tour, meal and program gave you four hours and the program was unforgettable.
3. best service – Alaska Airlines direct service from Seattle to Lihue.  (Of course, we did travel first class!)
4. best scenery/ scenic drive – The drive from Kapa’a to Hanalei and beyond has some spectacular vistas and is only a bit over 20 miles.
5. biggest disappointment – Wialua Falls.  This is the waterfall shown in all the pictures and touted in all the tour brochures.  Those of us from the Pacific Northwest were underwhelmed.
6. best out-of-the-way place – The stream and drive to the end of the road about 8 miles past Wialua Falls brings you to a jungle-like park where you can hike or take a dip in a beautiful stream.
7. best meal – The buffet meal served at Smith’s Luau was very authentic, complete and tasty and included unlimited drinks.
8. best tourist attraction – The beaches near Hanalei, including Tunnel Beach and its tunnels, have waters with a range fit for water babies or super surfers.
9. best museum – The Kauai Coffee plantations, near Wiamea, had a tasting room with free samples of coffee and aromas to die for.  The tasting room and the adjoining groves of coffee trees would be a wonderful place to spend the rest of our lives.
10. best free show – The 5:00 pm show at the Coconut Marketplace in Kapa’a offered us live music along with the hula.  Nothing was tacky.
11. worst service – Hertz Gold Service – Much ado about nothing.  Our “reserved” car wasn’t even ready for us.
12. biggest surprises – Wildlife! We saw two large Hawaiian green sea turtles attempting to come ashore when we were swimming at Poipu Beach.  A few days later, an endangered Hawaiian monk seal came ashore at the beach in front of our condo
13. biggest overdevelopment – Princeville, on the North Shore.  The uber-golf resorts in this area could have been transported, intact from any other similar area of the world that has palm trees.
14. unexpected bonus.  Although the gas prices were about 15% higher than home, the short distances on Kauai meant that we could drive all week on only a bit more than $33 worth of gas.
15. The experience we enjoyed the most:  The climate! We spent day and night with our windows open and needed neither a blanket nor air conditioning.  The gentle breezes from our ceiling fans made for comfortable living.
16. addendum: Hawaii has hundreds of beaches, but none officially top-free or clothing optional.  Perhaps this is an area for improvement.

Stay tuned for our further adventures and Aloha!


 J & D

Paradise continues

Yesterday we  woke to a surprise on our condo beach. An endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal was sunning itself on teh  shoreline. I walked down to take a picture of this light tan huge guy.
We decided to drive to the north shore today.  We drove up the very tropical east side with goes up into the hills above the Pacific and then down to the shore continually and the views are gorgeous. We searched for a nice calm beach with gentle waves for swimming and skorkeling later in the day. We found that the Anniki Beach, about halfway up the coast seemed to fit the bill.
We drove to the resort area called Princeville and found that it is very overbuilt with hotels and condos but not the kind of area that we like to stay. We prefer the smaller,quieter and quainter areas so we continued down the road to the funky little town of Hanalei. This is much more of our style so we spent an hour or so walking through town and exploring. There was a short downpour but since the temperatures were in the 80's we didn't mind walking in the rain. Just like a shower. The only thing missing  was the soap!
We left there and decided to drive as far as the road would go. The views were gorgeous hugging  the hillside all the  way to the famous NaPali Coast and the end of the highway. We came to an area that we had read about called The Tunnels. It is an undercut area that forms huge caves in the mountainside.  We walked back  into the tunnels and took pictures which we will post when we get home.
We next drove back to Anniki Beach to swim in the calmer waters but only did so for a short time as the  current  was strong  and I am a wimp when it comes to current. Guess my balance isn't very good in the waves but John helped me to wade out and enjoy the refreshing water. He has been doing that all week and it makes it better for me in any waves.

museium in Hanalei

Monk seal on beach in front of our condo

John at Tunnel Beach, Naapali Coast

We drove back to the condo to watch the presidential debate. With the time  difference here in Hawaii, it began at 3pm so we wanted to get back on time. Our candidate did well so we were happy to see this debate.
After dinner on lanai we watched the waves and then TV. Another day in Paradise.

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Paradise continues...October 15

Mother's Day  delayed. I finally got my Mother's Day gift from my John but it was slightly delayed. This trip was originally for May after John's mom funeral in April. We had decided to spend some time together unwinding. Before we were scheduled to leave, Mother's Day arrived and John asked me what I would like and I told him that it would be nice to attend a luau while we would be vacationing on Kauai.  Unfortunately, our son-in-law, landed in the hospital on Mother's Day so we spent the next 30 days with Kari in critical care and oif course postponed our trip to October.

breadfruit tree

Lagoon at Smith's Gardens

Removing the kalua pua'a from the imu

So I got my Mother's Day gift last evening as we spent four delightful hours at the best luau ever. We had heard on a travel  show on TV that the Smith's Family Luau is the best one on Kauai so that is the one that we had Kari book for us.

Tahitian Dancer

The four hours began with a tram ride around the exquisite acres of gardens and and imu ceremony whereby the roasted pig is removed from its ground oven pit.Next were  served an  excellent buffet meal of all of the traditional Hawaiian foods and there was an open bar with no limit on drinks.  After dinner, all 800 or so of the guests walked to the outdoor theatre for an hour show including dances from numerous polynesian cultures. The whole evening was delightful.

Customs of Kauai

We have learned a few of the local customs here:

• Using the horn on your car is considered quite rude.
• It is expected that you will remove your shoes when entering someone's home.
• When approaching a one-lane bridge (There are plenty.) yield to any approaching traffic.
• Just because the sign on the shop lists its opening time as 9:00, doesn't mean it will open at 9:00, or even at 9:30.

Sunday Daytimer, Kapa'a Kauai, Hawaii

Daytimer, Sunday

1. woke up, turned coffee maker on,
2. went back to bed
3. got up, coffee on the lanai
4. light breakfast on the lanai (cereal, juice, fruit, coffee)
5. checked email
6. walked around the grounds, took some pictures to post
7. walked all the way to town along the beach, about an hour
8. took a dip in the pool
9. posted some pictures to Donna's Facebook page
10. relaxed and read on the lanai.
11. lunch on th lanai
12. did some more reading.  John finished his book and started another.
13. took our snorkels, beach mats and other stuff to the beach.
14. set up lounge chairs on the lawn next to the beach.
15. John tries a swim, decides the undertow is too strong and returns to his lounge chair
16. read our books in the shade overlooking the ocean, sipped a few beverages
17. tried snorkeling in  the protected area,  but tides are wrong and waves too big
18. went  swimming in surf
19. returned to lounges
20. tried to locate misplaced car keys.  Discovered they were turned into the office
21. texted Kari, checked email
22. light dinner on the lanai
23. Watched the CBS news
24. updated their blog

October 14 summary:

money spent $0

miles traveled by method other than walking 0

experience:  priceless

Aloha from Kauai

view from the lanai

Oct 13
We arrived in Kauai on Thursday after 6+ hours on the plane. We were delayed on take-off with a mechanical problem for about 1 1/2 hours but the flight finally took off and was very smooth. It was nice to fly first class for the first time. A good meal, unlimited drinks and two movies made the time "fly by".
We picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel/condo in Kapaa. Kari reserved this placeand it is lovely. The condo is equipped with everything and decorated so beautifully and the grounds are beautiful. Our lanai looks over the pool and gardens and the waves of the blue ocean.

at the hula show

We have spent the first two days exploring, hiking and playing in the surf. It is nice to be on the quiet garden island. Quite different from our previous trips to the other three main islands. It is very quiet on this east side of the island on the coconut coast and we are so happy that we came here for vacation.
We have explored about 1/2 of the island and have done such neat things already. Today we stopped at a number of beaches and snorkeled and saw a number of lovely tropical fish and two HUGE sea turtles that were swimming right at the shore line. They were enormous!
The weather is gorgeous with temperatures in the 80's and so far no rain. We expected rain since this is the rainiest spot in the US with upwards of 400' annually but so far none.

More later so keep checking and Aloha to all of you.

Another Adventure…Hawaii

October 10, 2012

Today we are doing another packing as we are ready to leave for another adventure. This will be a little different than most of our travels as there is no work involved until we return. We look forward to just relaxing and exploring Kauai together. This is the trip that we had planned last spring following the sadness of John’s mom’s death. We had decided that after the funeral that we needed some time away together but the trip had to be postponed when our son-in-law, Jim, landed in critical care for over a month. Then we spent 30+ days with Kari in the hospital.

Now we are excited to be able to be leaving. At least the two of us in the family are excited about the trip to Kauai but one is not. That is our cat, Ocho, doesn’t feel quite the same way about our leaving. He has been staying by our suitcases with hopes that we will take him with us. No way, Ocho! You don’t get to go this time as it would be impossible to put you in our suitcases and off our Anderson Island and then onto the Hawaiian Islands! Instead, you will just have to enjoy or tolerate the house/cat sitter again. Tough luck, kitty, “no go” to you! By the way, after eating John’s shortcake the other day, you are not on the preferred cat list right now.

We stay at the airport hotel tonight as we have a morning flight. We will be flying first class for the first time to Hawaii with a non-stop flight to Kauai so we will look forward to that luxury.

It is great to have a daughter who is a travel agent. She helped us plan our travels as always and it looks like a great week. Kari has booked us into a hotel that is beach-front in Kapa’a and we have a condo set-up so that will be nice. We have a car reserved so we plan on hiking and exploring this island all week but relaxing whenever we plan on just kicking back.

We may not have email everyday but we will try to write comments when we can. Just check our blog to read about this newest adventure   http://donnamollan.blogspot.com

Late Pix from Bermuda

St Geoirge's Bermuda
Perfect weather, perfect cruise!

Adventures in Bermuda

Onboard the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Location:  Atlantic Ocean, 33 N. 57.7 W, northwest of Bermuda

This is the first opportunity we have had since our embarkation on Sunday to add to our Blog.  Port Liberty, the cruise ship port of Bayonne NJ, is basically an industrial port located across New York harbor from the Brooklyn Bridge.  Looking out from the sports deck, we could view Manhattan, Brooklyn and get a rather distant view of the Statue of Liberty. The skyline was lovely and was back lighted by a perfectly blue sky. The new building replacing the World Trade Center is not yet completed but it already towers over all of the other structures in Manhattan and can be seen easily from our ship. The weather is wonderful for a September afternoon and there is no wind.

As we left the harbor, our ship looks like it will scrape the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, but the captain assures us we will have a number of feet to spare.

After checking into our inside cabin on deck 8, we await word from the cruise director’s office for our speaking schedule.  Eventually it is delivered and we discover that we have one presentation on Monday and two on Tuesday.  Very rarely have we had more than one presentation scheduled per day.  We also find that our venue is a rather small bar, as opposed to larger area.  Well, onward and upward.

We are pleased to have been given an early 6:00 dinner, something that doesn’t happen for us on most of our cruise jobs.  Our tablemates are two couples from far northern New York State and are pleasant conversationalists.  The food and service meet the high standards that we have come to expect from Royal Caribbean.

Monday, Sept 17

At Sea and our First Show

We slept well, did our morning one mile walk, and rehearsed early for our first presentation we call Beautifully British Bermuda.  We had a bit of difficulty with the a-v setup, since we are used to a large screen and not a television screen, but the room was packed to overflowing and more and we received wonderful comments from our audience.

We went to a wonderful ice show in the afternoon. It amazes us that these 10 ice-skaters are able to do such elaborate shows on a moving cruise ship on a rink which is ¼ the size of a normal rink. It was a tribute to the seasons of the year the costumes and moves were all wonderful.

This was the first of two formal nights on board so we dressed in our finery for dinner and then the captain’s champagne reception in the Royal Promenade. This area is nice for strolling and shopping as it goes most of the way through the center of the ship and includes all of the shops, many bars and pubs and a nice café for a quick cup of coffee and a snack and it open 24 hours a day. We then went to the first stage production show. This excellent presentation showcased the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers and they were excellent. We try to go to the show each night since we can’t go out at home in the evenings due to our limited evening ferry schedule.

Tuesday, September 18

A Busy Day

This was a busy day for us.  We had two presentations today, quite unusual, but the show must go on.  Immediately after breakfast at the Windjammer buffet, we rehearsed for our morning show, Buccaneers, Brigands and the Bermuda Triangle.  Since tomorrow is “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, Donna’s pre-show was a short lesson on the essentials of pirate talk.  We had a nice turnout for this early show and this it was well received by our audience. 

Following the morning show, we decided to postpone lunch and rehearse for our 1:00 pm program, The Immigrant Experience and the Great Liners.  Since so many of our fellow passengers are from the greater New York area, we received many personal comments about this material.

Wednesday, Sept 19

Ahoy, Mateys, We Be in Bermuda!

We got our first off work day and we decided to tour Hamilton, Bermuda’s capital city today. The best way to get around this fish-hook shaped country is either by ferry or bus since they do not allow rental cars. The country is only 22 miles long by we are docked at the most westerly point and Hamilton is in the middle so we decided to take the ferry to the city. We are experienced ferry riders so it was any easy way to get around. We purchased a 3 day pass for $28 each as it is good on all of the ferry and bus routes throughout the country.

The ferry gave us a good view of the harbor as we approached the city. When we arrived in Hamilton, we decided to walk around the downtown area first since it had been so many years since we were last here. Our next adventure took us up the tallest hill so we could visit one the many forts and get a wonderful view of the city and the harbor from which to take pictures. It was a nice walk up the hills to the fort and we weren’t a bit disappointed with the view. The weather is wonderfully warm and the day was lovely so we enjoyed this time in Hamilton.

We decided to take the bus back so as to get a view of the various neighborhoods. Even though it took about twice as long as the ferry, the experience gave us the opportunity to see the wonderful colors of the houses as we meandered through all of the small villages. Everyone paints their homes with lovely pastel colors and it is not unusual to hear directions given by house color instead of addresses in each neighborhood.

We didn’t meet up with any pirates but it was fun to be able to use a few expressions on this being “International Talk Like a Pirate” day.

The evening show was a silly juggler and his show was much like many of the other jugglers that we have seen on other cruises but the other guests seemed to have enjoyed the show. Afterwards, we went to one of the lounges and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the big band music preformed by the ship’s orchestra. We even got the chance to dance so it was a nice ending to a lovely first day in Bermuda.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Bermuda

We spent the day in the charming town of St. George’s.  It is at the other end of the country and can be reached either by bus or ferry.  The ferry takes 45 minutes and the bus two hours, with a transfer in Hamilton.  We chose the passenger ferry.  The trip was very smooth across the open ocean and gave a beautiful view in the wonderful, sunny weather.

St. George’s was the capital of Bermuda until the late 1800s.  It has been preserved in much the same way as it was when it was built and there are many buildings from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  St. George’s has a town square, complete with pillory, stocks and a ducking stool.  The Anglican church has been in continuous operation since the time of the Pilgrims and has been honored personally by the Queen. 

We spent four hours walking the quaint streets and had a light lunch at Tavern by the Sea, overlooking St. George’s wonderful harbor. John even dared to drink a rum swizzle, the national cocktail.

We then visited the Heritage Museum.  St. George’s was honored as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000and it was well earned.  If you ever travel to Bermuda, don’t miss St. George!

Donna fell asleep for a few minutes in the warm weather on the ferry ride back and were are now planning for our evening’s activities.

Friday…. Beach Day and our last day in Bermuda.

In Search of an Ancestor

In Search of an Ancestor

Cinnaminson NJ

By John

During the past decade I have been involved in expanding our family tree.  Each year we attend a reunion near Anacortes, Washington of our oldest American branch of the family, the Ginnetts.  My mother’s mother was born Sarah Ginnett and we were always told stories about how the family worked its way to the West Coast, with various stops along the way. 

Several members of the family tried researching the family’s roots and we found the name of a Moses Gennet (spellings changed over the generations.) who was born in the late 1700s in Cinnaminson, Burlington County, New Jersey. 

Since we had a spare day, we drove the 75 miles from Newark to Cinnaminson, which is located not far from Philadelphia.  There is not much to say about the central part of the state, but approaching Cinnaminson we were pleased to see beautiful the farmlands that explain why New Jersey is called the Garden State.  The surrounding towns and suburbs were similarly scenic.

We were able to find the name of the Methodist cemetery, Ashbury, on line, with the help of our GPS, that we have named Susie.  The burial ground is still in use and dates from the early 1800s, but the headstones did not seem to be in any order. 

Looking at older stones, Donna’s sharp eyes soon spotted a monument to a Moses Ginnett and one for his wife, Elizabeth.  Upon closer examination, the dates did not seem right and we came to the conclusion that this must be the grandson of my great-great-great-grandfather Moses.   We spent another hour inspecting the cemetery and eventually found a Robert Gennet, the son of our patriarch.  We determined that he was my great-great-great uncle.  Later research determined that he was the father of the Moses Gennet, whose headstone we had found earlier.

We stopped by the town library branch for more research, but found nothing except for one listing in the local telephone directory with the same surname.

We were planning to drop our rental car off at Newark airport on the way back to the hotel.  Our goal was to keep the tank as close to empty as possible. A short distance from the airport, the tone sounded indicating low fuel.  Another $5 and we finally made it.  Note: The approaches to Newark’s airport are among the most confusing we have ever seen.  Fortunately, Donna is a very skillful driver.

We celebrated our 44^th anniversary with dinner at an airport restaurant.

Our working cruise to Bermuda leaves on Sunday, the 16^th, so we will offline for some time.

Look for us down the line.

John and Donna

Into the Big Apple and Beyond

Friday, Sept 14^th--Into the Big Apple and Beyond…

Today we drove into New York City and we are glad that we don’t have to do that again on this trip! The drivers in this metropolis are nuts when they dart in and out of the traffic and no one follows the speed limits. Many of the drivers must think that their car horns will help them get through the traffic…the more they honk, the faster the people in cars and crosswalks will move J

We drove into the city so that Donna could visit her cousin, Diana, whom she has not seen in 7 years. Diana lives in Queens so it meant driving into the city to pick her up for lunch at a kosher deli. Thank goodness we brought Susie, our trusty GPS along with us. She was able to get us down the turnpikes and parkways and right into traffic in the city with very few mistakes on her part. Yeh, Susie you are super!

Donna's cousin Diana (left) and Donna at kosher deli in Queens

 We had a wonderful visit with cousin Diana as she had a whole folder of family records that she found in her mother’s things after she passed away a few years ago. These included the grandparent’s marriage license, immigration papers and other records and many very old family pictures. Some are not identifiable by us but we hope to find who they might be. The documents might help Donna uncover some of the mysteries of the ancestors that have thus far been unknown.

typical Queens neighorhood

We had to finally stop and buy gas but the prices in New York were in the mid $4.00 range so we didn’t fill the tank. We decided to wait until the next state as we had heard that New Jersey is much cheaper and more similar to what we pay in the northwest. We also experienced just how expensive the tolls are on the bridges and turnpikes in this area as it cost $13 for one way on the bridge and $10 for about 1mile of the NJ turnpike. That makes our local Narrow’s Bridge toll seem a lot more reasonable. J

Crossing the $13 Varrazano Narrows Bridge at 10 mph

Tomorrow we are going to spend our last day in the NE researching John’s great-great-great grandparents who were born in the late 1700’s and are buried in western New Jersey. They are the patriarchs of the family on his mother’s side. We know where they lived and have also found the cemetery that they are buried in so it will be fun to see what additional information we can gather when we drive out there. We both enjoy learning about the genealogy of our families. It is like a detailed puzzle that we are solving.

We also plan on finding a nice place to celebrate our 44^th anniversary tomorrow here in New Jersey. It is hard to believe that we have been married for that many years but we both love each other and our lives together.

Sunday we board the cruise ship from Cape Liberty, NJ for another adventure with a cruise job of lecturing to Bermuda. We will be presenting programs for the guests and also enjoying the beautiful cities and beaches of this lovely island. It will be a weeks’ cruise and a wonderful way to complete this amazing adventure.

September 13 in Pictures

Thursday, Sept 13,
Belleport, Long Island NY

Boarding the Ferry John H in New London CT

John enjoys the beautiful 90 minute crossing.

We meet an interesting boat on its way back to New London

Donna still texting

a "moderate" million dollar home in the Hamptons

Donna enjoys the beach at South Hampton, Long Island.  Note "summer cottage" in the background.