I'm baaaaaaack! Had a great time with total of 16 family members on the cruise, then 4 of us went to Key West for 3 more days. My flight back to Indianapolis on Wed. that originally started out arriving back there at 9:30 p.m. (IN time, 8:30 pm IL time), got changed 2 weeks after I booked it to 10:30 pm, and then got delayed the day of the flight so I arrived back to IN at midnight. It was just before 2 a.m. when I pulled into my drive, after a 2.5 hr drive once luggage was picked up, I was delivered to long-term parking and my truck. Had to work on Thurs., too, but I made it just fine. I was in bed Thur. night at 8, and slept easily through til 6:30. Pretty much caught up. Been trying to get pics cropped, edited, etc. since then, FB friends bugging me to post pics (since other family members were home on Sun. night, started posting in the airport!!!), so here are a few of the fun pics that I thought I'd share with you all. I took something like 600 pics, lots of them sunsets, but as my brother says, 30 pics of sunsets net you at least one good one.
Our first port was Nassau Bahamas. My sister and I went walking and sight seeing.
That's our boat (or do we call it a ship?), the Carnival Valor. My sister found a room on the 2nd level (2nd level of windows from the water that is) that had 2 large windows in it! You can see it at the back of the ship, off my left shoulder. Where the side angles back, you see 2 square windows, that's our room! Not only did we have 2 windows (oceanview rooms have just one), but we also had 1/2 of another room! Our room was literally larger than my brother's balcony room, and the same size as my mom's suite! The only thing my mom had that we didn't was a small "dressing room" before the bathroom, and they also had a whirlpool tub, we had stand up shower. We were thrilled with all that extra room.
One of the many sunsets along the way.
Leave it to me to find a really cool spider to photograph on vacation!
On the ship during sail away, at sunset, drinks in hand.
One of our stops was San Juan, Puerto Rico. This wall was built as a form of protection from the sea - both water and thieves.
If ever in San Juan, look up the "original pina colada bar", I think the name is "Barrachina". It has the BEST pina coladas. They are made with a slushy machine, so no added ice to the drink mix, which is the real stuff: coconut milk, pineapple juice, rum. Yummy!!!
I can't remember where this was. Maybe also in San Juan. This man walked around with corn, he would put some in your hand, to get his pigeon friends to jump up. Then, he walked away, didn't even beg for money for more corn! Of course, he probably figured out Americans would be more likely to give him money if he didn't ask for it. Worked for me! I thought it was pretty neat. I love all birds, animals, bugs, etc. anyhow.
My brother, daughter and I scuba dove in Grand Turk. Saw a really cool sea turtle, the highlight of my daughter's dive, and she got an awesome pic of it. I had 2 underwater cameras for the 4 separate dives I did in 2 places, but have not remembered to take them in to be developed yet.
This pic is myself with my 2 kids on the left, and then my youngest sister and her 2 kids on the right. This was "formal" night, although Carnival is not as strict on the formal issue as some other cruise lines.
