Cruise 2025, Day 1: Mass and Dancing and Mass

 So for some reason my computer Boethius won’t hook up to the internet on the ship, so I’m having to use my phone. Please excuse typos. 

We started the day going to St. Coleman for Mass. Presumably he is the patron saint of camping lanterns. 

Then we got on the ship. There was a Sailing Away party with champagne (not free), so we got a banana daiquiri, and then we joined the dance party, doing the Cupid Shuffle, YMCA, a conga line, and a dance contest that I did not win. That’s fine, the prize was champagne that I didn’t want anyway. Then there was a steel drum concert.

At five there was supposed to be Catholic evening prayer, but there’s a priest on board so it was actually Mass, I guess for tomorrow because the readings were different. We took a walk on the promenade and saw other ships, then we had dinner and went to the Christmas tree lighting.

Then we watched the house band doing oldies. Apparently they do all sorts of music, because Tuesday they’ll be doing funk and disco. Looking forward to that! Travalon took a photo.

We are not having good luck with shore excursions. We already had two canceled. We booked a different one for tomorrow, a glass-bottomed boat ride. If the first one (an island off Nassau) was canceled due to the weather, then who’s to say this one won’t be too?

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Road Trip 2025, Day 4: Travalon's Teacher, New Smyrna Beach, and Ron Jon Surf Shop

 

Today Travalon and I drove and drove until we got to Daytona Beach, where we met his old high school teacher and his wife for a late lunch. The traffic there is just horrible! And the place was packed despite the hour. We spent quite a bit of time talking to them, then they recommended that we go to New Smyrna Beach, so we got there about half an hour before sunset and took a walk. Here are some photos.

Then we went to Ron Jon Surf Shop, even though we are not surfers, because they had approximately one million billboards along the highway, and one featured a little girl snuggling a unicorn. We didn't see any unicorns there, but we did get a crocodile wearing a Ron Jon tie-dyed hoodie and a hammerhead shark, and the shark came with an app that lets you track an actual female hammerhead named Riptide. Sorry, no photos of the stuffies yet. We also got some clothes and jewelry and a hat.

Not far down the road we found a seafood place where we could get conch fritters for an appetizer, and Travalon got a whole lobster while I had a classic lobster roll. They even had a watermelon-flavored infused drink. Then we had to drive quite a while on the turnpike, singing Steely Dan to stay awake, and I was snuggling the hammerhead shark. Cameras took photos of us every few miles, and I imagine how weird they must look if they got us too and not just the license plate - me snuggling a stuffed shark and making weird faces as I sang. Now we are in Pomano Beach, and tomorrow we board the cruise ship.

We did see a lot of spectacular Christmas decorations along the turnpike, but it was impossible to get photos of them. We did see this display on the way to the hotel.

We were at a stoplight that changed, otherwise I could have gotten the whole thing, including a marlin.

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Road Trip 2025, Day 3: Jimmy Carter and a Very Wild Adventure

 

This morning we stopped at Buc-ee's to get coffee. The mascot is a beaver, and it is a travel plaza that seems like a department store. They sell just about everything, even Buc-ee Buckets.

Then we drove quite a while and stopped at a Texaco in Palmetto, Georgia that made fresh pizza and had an Italian restaurant next door, so we had pizza from the gas station and cannolis from the restaurant for lunch, sitting outside. It's so mild here, but you still need a hoodie or light jacket. After that we drove quite a while until we got to Plains, Georgia, the home of President Jimmy Carter. By the time we got there, the museum was just about to close, but they did let us in to look around. 

This seems to be a replica of the Resolute Desk.

Official portraits of Jimmy and Rosalyn.

Apparently he won four Grammies! Here is one of them.

Arafat gave him this replica of da Vinci's The Last Supper.

Here's what people want in a president: the absolute opposite of Dear Leader.

Then we went into town, stopping at an antiques shop to buy T-shirts and some old campaign buttons, and the general store for their famous homemade peanut butter ice cream - so delicious! Here are photos of the town.

We went to his boyhood farm outside of town, which was closed by then but we could walk around the grounds. Here are some photos.

Then we got back on the road again and drove to Valdosta, Georgia, where we had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that played Bossa nova in the background. The food was very good, and I love Brazilian music, it's just that it was such a crazy combination. Then, as we were leaving town, we saw a sign for a light display at the Wild Adventure Park, which is a zoo of some sort. Since we never got to Zoo Lights back home this year, we decided to go there. The bad news: they had just closed. The good news: we were able to sneak in without paying and mingle among the people who were poky about leaving. We took some photos.

We got all the way back to this beautiful pond with decorated trees reflected in it.

Then we realized that nobody else was around. We hurried back and saw some people who worked there clearing stuff up, but then we did see some other laggers, and nobody said anything to us since we were heading toward the exit with great speed. We were even able to use the bathroom before leaving. The thing I can't get over is that we were moving fast the whole time, but my FitBit said our workout was just medium effort. What? Not vigorous? I can't believe it!

Now we are at a Holiday Inn in Lake City, Florida. Even they have Christmas decorations.

We got here too late to use the pool, so we might try to swim tomorrow. You have to pay for breakfast here, but I do have leftover Vietnamese food. Travalon isn't so lucky - he ate all his lobster stir fried rice.

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Road Trip 2025, Day 2: National Museum of African American Music and Chattanooga Christmas Trees

 

Today we drove to Nashville, and the traffic into town was insane, but eventually we got downtown and went to a Mexican restaurant with this beautiful turquoise wall.

It was right next to our actual destination, the National Museum of African American Music. I was in heaven there, listening to music and creating some music of my own. Part of our price of admission (we both got the Educator Discount because of Travalon's job) was a wristband you could use to save playlists and whatever you created, like a blues song, a video of yourself singing with a gospel choir, a hip hop beat, etc. Meanwhile, Travalon took photos.

This is a wig and costume George Clinton wore in concert:

This is right up there with the Jazz Museum in Kansas City. Do not miss it if you are in Nashville. Afterwards we walked around the area - the Ryman auditorium was right across the street, and the crosswalk is painted to look like the famous stained-glass windows.

Here is the Ryman Auditorium.

I have no idea what this building is called - I always call it the Cyclops Owl.

Not sure what this beautiful building that looks like a castle is either.

This huge Christmas tree was outside of a Baptist church.

This funny little contraption is a coffee shop! No seating available.

I loved the Christmas decorations at this outdoor mall full of high-end shops.

The traffic out of town was even worse, and the weather was drizzly, but we listened to gypsy jazz swing and were having a great time until it really began to rain as we drove through the mountains with tons of semis around us. We finally made it to the Welcome Center outside of Chattanooga, where the person manning the desk couldn't tell us if there were any Christmas displays downtown. (In contrast, the women at the desk in the Welcome Center when we first entered Tennessee were extremely knowledgeable and helpful.) They did have a pretty Christmas tree there.

We decided to find the Chattanooga Choo-Choo and stumbled across a large display of Christmas trees on the way. Here are some photos.

This is a Bahamas tree. We'll be there soon!

We did find the "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," but it wasn't an actual train, it was a beautiful old train station converted into a sort of mall. Oddly, instead of parking being free after hours, it was MORE expensive, so we just stopped long enough for me to powder my nose and Travalon to take photos, and we didn't get a ticket. Here are his photos.

In the next building over we could see a very cute green trolley, so maybe that runs during the day. Sorry, no photo - it was too far away to get a good one with our phones, and Travalon didn't have his good camera with him. 

After that we drove to Dalton, Georgia, where we are staying the night at a Country Inn and Suites. We got here late, so we ate at a nearby Waffle House, since they are always open. Plus, grits!! Even they had a Christmas tree.

Check out our server's name!

Back at the hotel, we swam in the pool, which was not warm but was fine once I got moving. Now it's my usual bedtime, but because we are now on Eastern time, it's actually much later. My phone has adjusted, but neither my FitBit nor Boethius my MacBook Air have adjusted automatically. Weird... I could have sworn they did in the past. 

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