The real vacation begins

Time for us to finally take a real vacation. We have traveled this year, but not without bringing work with us and mostly to go spoil the grandkids. This time, we are determined to relax and try to untie some knots for a change. The flight from Ft Myers to Charlotte was great except for the tight seating on US Air, wow, I never realized how much I appreciate Jet Blue, that is why they don't have first class, all the seats are roomy and I so missed having a TV! It is a little weird to fly with a stranger's head in your lap. People watching is always fun at an airport, I saw this woman, mid-fortyish, with red and purple dreadlocks poking out from under her straw hat that had a teal boa tied around it, and she had on these black platform lace up boots. I wonder why people decorate themselves this way? Do that enjoy having people stare or try not to stare at them? Is it an ego thing? Are they trying to make a statement, if so, would it be 'screw you', 'I'm a nutcase' or are they craving attention even if it is only to force us to stare and wonder???,

It amazes me how well Bob can time his workload, he can time it so that he works exactly up to the minute we leave for vacation. I wonder what would happen if he started working at ludicris speed 2 days before he started this time, would it mean he would be done two days before we left so he could get ready at a leisurely pace, or would he find more to do??? He works 24/7, I was tempted to leave the plug for the laptop home and hide the cell phones, but as you can see, I brought mine. You just can't get away from it.............

So, picture taking opportunites are everywhere here in AZ, I get so frustrated when driving down the highway and I see all these great things that I would love to shoot, but we can't stop. So, I decided to shoot from the car anyway. And I was pleasantly surprized, they look really good. I had bob stop at the side of the road to take a shot and check out what I found Arizona trash.

What a gorgeous place this is, the view just kept getting better and better, we started in Phoenix and drove north to Sedona. With the time difference and the fact that we got up at 3 am est, and were starving, we got to the hotel, threw our luggage in the door, headed for the nearest local pub and had lunch. We hung around long enough to eat and pay, then headed back to the room to crash at 3 AZ time. I gave up trying to figure out how many hours it was from the time we got up in FL. till then. The time change and the fact that AZ does not cooperate with daylight savings time, just gives me a headache. And who cares anyway, we are on vacation, it is dark now, so I think it is safe to go to bed whatever time it is!!!

St. Thomas

A picture is worth a thousand words.


But, I bet you can't even begin to guess why Steve is wearing snorkle gear in this picture.








Is he...





a. Going to dive off the deck ?


b. Trying out for Sports Illustrated snorkle issue ?


c. Training for the special olympics ?


d. Protecting his eyes from a mother bird ?

e. Waiting for Scotty to beam him up????





Ok, it's d..we have this awful bird here in St. Thomas who has made her nest right in the ceiling beam of this deck. She has terrorized us since we got here. Poor Steve, he is her favorite. She can get him to make moves he hasn't done since Saturday Night Fever and lesiure suits were in style.


After a few martini's, Steve decided enough was enough, he decided to take action. He suited up and showed her who rules this roost. I'll have more pictures when I get a card reader. We have Bob's new computer with us and I never loaded the disc for my camera in it. For now I am using Tina's pictures.

This is the view from our house. I just love the color of the water. I went snorkling yesterday in Caneel Bay , I was very afraid, but I did it. It was awesome, the fish and the coral were amazing. It is so relaxing just floating and looking at the sea life. We saw sea turtles and yellow fish, purple fish, and little fish and big fish. There was this wonderful little cove that we walked up into and it had the perfect blend of sand, water, sea life just perfect. I can't wait to see my pictures when I load them up. We were on a 60 ft sailboat captained by a guy called ' Hollywood', he is quite a character. Bob and Steve got his life story, boy, he should write a book. I'll fill you in later when I have my pictures

The roads here are unfreakinbelievable, so steep and winding with hairpin turns and you have to drive on the wrong side of the road, Steve gave Bob a new name, it's 'Crash Dummy Bob'. After few martini's he thinks he is in the indy 500. We did fine though and Bob got his driving privileges back today. Did you know that drinking and driving is legal here? I think it is because they want you numbed up when you go over the cliff, less screaming I guess.

We are high in the mountains with this awesome view of Mandal Pt. In St. Thomas, we look out over at St. John to the east. Bob keeps trying to pretend we are moving here, he does that all the time when we go on vacation. I think he wants to be Captain Hollywood. When he was a little kid, he would always want to be the tv repairman, if they had the tv fixed, the insurance guy, if they were buying insurance, the tow truck driver, etc. He is still such a little boy that way, but of course he also wanted to move to Florida the last time we vacationed there and look what happened. Oh boy!!!