On the Road, Again - and In the Air & On the Sea

On the Road Again - and Air &Sea            January 17, 2019

This is a test:  a test primarily to see if this inept techie could get a photo from her phone onto this blog.  Should have tried it sooner but here we are in Ft. Lauderdale and finally have time for such things!   Yay!!  I did it - with in-family tech support, of course!

Could be a test, too, to see if we'd like spending more time here in the winter.  The photo gives a hint as to Bruce's conclusion.  Our first morning outside Maine was spent on the small patio of our Airbnb, sipping coffee next to a canal, temp around 70, sun shining, lush vegetation all around, and a fascinating hostess!

Rosemary had picked us up at the airport yesterday - she's an Uber driver, as well as running an Airbnb.  I immediately noted her Scottish accent - and the fact that she looked about our age!  She & her British engineer husband lived in Brussels for many years, then in Plymouth, Mass., now here.  In front of their canal-side home is moored a big motorboat, which also serves as Airbnb accommodation.  Rosemary manages all of this in a gentle, unhurried way, with the help of her trusty Roomba!

We spent today roaming around Ft. Lauderdale on foot, as is our habit.  The Riverwalk is gorgeous.  It wends its way alongside the New River, through the historic part of the city and past lots of new high-rise construction.  Hamilton is just finishing a run at the beautiful theater.  Massive private motor boats ply the waters.  The Florida East Coast Railroad tracks run through the center of town, necessitating the raising and lowering of the train bridge over the river multiple times a day. 

Tomorrow we board Volendam, our Holland-America floating home for 2 weeks.  It will take us down through the Caribbean Sea, stopping at a small island in the Bahamas, then on to Cartagena, Colombia, through the Panama Canal, then north on the Pacific side to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, & Mexico, arriving eventually in San Diego.  The stops last for a matter of hours only, so just a quick taste of each place.  Our purpose for the cruise is to experience passage through the canal, a bucket list item for Bruce. 

The cruise will be followed by a flight from Tijuana to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where we'll spend a month.  It's a UNESCO World Heritage city and is located at a fairly high elevation, so it should be a pleasant temperature and interesting place to explore.  We haven't been to Mexico for nearly 50 years, when we were grad students at Arizona State U. 

After that, Guatemala for the month of March.  So, follow along with us for this total Latino winter adventure!