Let the Adventure Begin .... Again

So the adventure has begun and it will prove to be what it is, going underway on a Coast Guard Cutter to South America. Hopefully exciting, eventful and surprising in a good way, regardless it will be interesting. Now an apology for my lack of writing; It has been a busy last few months and none the less worth writing. I took Aimee to the Keys for her Birthday, brought Jeff out to Florida for a week, Went on a Caribbean Cruise and spend the holidays at home with family. I don’t have a good excuse why I did not write other than shear laziness, I was fairly busy preparing for being gone for an extended period of time.

Aimee at The Earnest Hemingway House.

The Square in Key West.

 The first major event mentioned would be Aimee’s Birthday in the Keys. We took off on a Friday for a weekend of Key West, Boating, a few tours and relaxtion. The dogs were piled in the car and Hobie was as excited as he normally gets. Cheecha, Aimees Poodle even rode in the back. Once we got settle in, we went to Key West, picnic island and the Earnest Hemmingway House. I tried to convince Aimee to go to see the butterflies, but she insisted and it was her birthday. For the record she wished she had gone to see the butterflies instead. Picnic Island was amazing. Bob Took us out in Lee’s boat to see a coral reef, a local bar and the sandbar known as Picnic Island, where we spent most of the day. The coral reef was nice, lunch was good but Picnic Island was absolutely incredible. The water is about three feet deep leading to a small island flanked by open ocean on three sides. They have makeshift swings set up to relax and the place is crowded with boats and people. There were probably 30 boats out there and 10 portable tables with the toppings of a family BBQ. We explored the Island, relaxed on the boat, enjoyed some snack and rode a wave runner. A random guy that came by our boat offered to let me ride his wave runner, so I accepted. Aimee rode with me for a short time, but chose to relax in the boat instead. It may have had something to do with the speed and quick turns.

The Coral Reef.

Picnic Island

The Earnest Hemingway House was a very interesting tour. He did not originally build the house, but is the most famous person to live there. He led a very interesting life. A man of the sea, of his writing and many marriages. The house and grounds are spectacular and everything seems to have a history. I would not recommend getting married at the chapel there, but there is one available. I would definitely recommend it to anyone that visits Key West. The weekend went by very quickly and then we had a long drive home. Regardless of the brief vacation is was very nice to get away with fair Aimara, the envy of the moon.

It was my pleasure bringing Jeff out to Florida for a vacation. For those that do not know, Jeff is a friend of mine since grade school and one of the strongest most amazing people I know. He does not have much of a chance to travel, but still finds a way to enjoy life. When I was in California, I would see him regularly, but since being stationed so far away, it puts a insurmountable challenge in those regular visits. Instead I decided to fly him out to Florida, take some leave and give him a much needed vacation. Throughout the trip we had a wonderful time. We had the opportunity to go to South Beach in Miami, Orlando and the sky coaster, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and Hollywood where I live in Florida. A few video games, rest and eating and to fill in the less active hours. We had some wonderful dinners with Lee, Lourdice, Aimee and Pat.

Jeff and I before the Sky Coaster

At Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure.

The main thing he wanted to see was the Harry Potter Ride at Islands of Adventure. First we had to check out a small them park in Orlando that had a Sky Coaster. The sky coaster is three towers with two cable between them. A giant swing, in which you are dropped from three hundred feet. I thought it was thrilling, Jeff still has not forgiven me, but I know he will one day. When we finally made it to the Harry Potter Ride, it was impressive to say the least. We ended up going on it three times. Hogwarts Village was even more impressive; it made us truly feel like we were in the movie or books. Other than the rule that I could not do magic in the village and call all the beautiful women over to Jeff, it was spectacular. From the Entrance, all you could see was the Hogwarts Express (The Train), the buildings in the turn of the century winter season style architecture and the Castle in the Background. After walking through the village and making our way to the Castle, we were wisped away by Harry and the gang. We unfortunately had to run from wraiths and dragons, but we were able to get away. In addition to harry potter, we swung with Spider Man, were terrified by Dr. Doom, felt the rush of the Hulk and explored a lost temple. All in all, it was a very exciting day.

Jeff at Dog Beach in Hollywood.

The hotel accommodations were wonderful for both quality and location. I was able to make reservations at the Shades of Green Military Resort so the lodging was affordable. The following day was spend at Universal Studio where Jeff and I blasted some aliens, Rescued ET, and saved all the Fairly Tales. We also met Schreck, Fiona, The Men in Black, Shaggy, Scooby and Dr. Brown. Jeff has so much fun, he slept the entire four hour drive home. He did not want to go home by the end of the week, but I felt fortunate to have given him the opportunity to come out and have a good time. I was proud that he had behaved so well and given me the ability to make it a wonderful trip. I plan to do something again next year, Maybe swimming with the dolphins and the Keys.

Saving the night, you will find out later.

After this trip being the adventurous guy I am, I decided I needed a vacation from my vacation. Aimee had invited me on a cruise to the Bahamas for her brother’s birthday. The tickets were already purchased and I was looking forward to some rest and relaxation. Aimee’s brother was unable to make the cruise due to an injury, but the rest of the family still came. Long Story short her family now knows me as El Gringo Loco and Aimee and I had a wonderful time. The cruise started on Friday with warm sunny weather and brought us to Paradise Island. We met some wonderful people both on and off the cruise. We almost missed the boat, but I will get to that later.

Atlantis Resort and Casino.

The nice thing about a cruise is that it is worry free as long as you don’t mind spending ten dollars on a well drink. There is the duty free store, as much as you want to eat, and alcohol is abundant. I don’t have to tell anyone that has been on a cruise that half the people onboard probably drink more in three days, than they have in the last year. I teamed up to save karaoke, dance all night and saw some amazing aquariums.

How I saved Karaoke … well there were at the bow the ship at a bar that had karaoke, but no Journey. The group on stage was hacking the song they chose. Now this was not a song you can just hack, it deserved respect. No I don’t remember the song. So Chris and I joined them, stole the show, rocked the house and saved karaoke. That is all the details I remember, but the important ones. If you ever here an alternative to my version of the story, it is not true. Unfortunately Chris and I were not able to save karaoke on the last night of the cruise. The guys sang love ballads to their ladies all night, to make up for having to much fun.

When we arrived at Paradise Islands, Aimee and I opted to do the Atlantis Tour. I had been told the aquariums were amazing, and they are. This is one of the most beautiful resorts I have ever seen and the cheesiest tour I have ever been on. The grounds, hotel and aquarium all come together in a majestic montage of manmade architecture emulating the theoretical archeological finding of Atlantis with how they looked in ancient times. It is as spacious as you could imagine without a dull wall in sight. They have four incredible glass sculptures all by the same artist that are worth one million each. Hundreds of pieces of glass in shades that bend the light to make them stand out even in the low light. Now the tour guide had to emphasize the value and get the whole group excitedly saying it back to her. This I was okay with. We then walked down to the first view of the underwater aspect of the aquarium. Mana rays and smaller fish fill the water along with the sunken artifacts of Atlantis. Sun Dials, Crystals and ancient tools.

The life in the aquarium is awe-inspiring. From the nine foot wide manna ray, the grouper, small schools of fish and moray eels. They all seem to swim around peacefully not taking notice of the numerous eyes upon them. There is a grace to them, even in the captive state. The mana rays are actually immature, mature ones in the wild reach 30 feet wide. It was good to hear they raise them here, then set them free when they mature. At some point you enter a dimly lit passage. It is the dig site to where they found the ruins of Atlantis. At this point my “I believe button” stopped working. There are crystals that provided power by bending light, suits of fabric that served as deep-sea diving suits, and submarines. The smooth walls with aquariums built in demonstrate the advance knowledge of the Atlantians because they are preserved to this day. The final part of our tour brought up across the way to the predator tank in which an underground tunnel allow the sharks to swim around us. After Aimee was able to calm me down after I found out that none of this was real, we took a look at the rest of the hotel.

After looking through the shops and getting a good lunch recommendation of local food, Aimee and I met some friends at Senior Frogs near the cruise terminal, we promptly found them being the life of the party. We danced a little, then followed directions to get some local authentic food and beer.

This part of the island was drastically different than Atlantis. There were several construction projects that seemed to have halted mid construction. There was a mix of nice neighborhoods and run down shanty’s like I had seen in the mountains of Puerto Rico. Aimee and I were riding in a bus riding back to the cruise ship that was a very long scenic tour. It just kept going. People kept getting off and eventually the bus tuned around and headed to where we had come from. It was at this moment that we realized that we had taken the wrong bus and had approximately one half hour to make it back to the cruise. We made it back to the bus stop with three minutes remaining and had to run the remaining one half mile to get back. Long story short, we made it.

The rest of the cruise was fun. We met back up with our friends, danced one more night, failed to save karaoke. We departed the trip in Miami and had wonderful brunch with the dogs and Pat.

Lastly I was able to go home for the Holidays. In this case, both Hobie and I came home and for the first time in several years; the family and dogs were together again. It was truly a beautiful thing. We were able to go to the cabin, ski in some fresh powder and spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with both sides of the extended family. It is true when they say there is no place like home for the holidays. After all, your family are the ones that have stood by you your entire life and will always be there. I could have gone without the skiing and the cabin, but opportunity to once again enjoy with family was priceless. It was the first time in about ten years that the family has all been together on the slopes. I cannot truly put into words how it felt, but I believe that my family and I appreciated the opportunity to be a family once again.

Hobie and Mosely at Pinecrest

In short, Life is good. I have a good job, a wonderful family, A beautiful Girl and friends that make all the experiences worth it. Whatever life will throw at me, I just remind myself that I make it a good day and have the choice to enjoy every moment.