Rain Rain Go Away!

+28 Rain

We arrived early in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. We had a couple massage on the ship together - every day should start this way!! We were in no rush to leave the ship as there was a tropical storm on shore. When the rain did ease up, we ventured into the City and discoverd a cool market. We also found a cool park just beyond the Market where we were approached by a guy who asked us if we wanted to see his sloth and wanted us to go deeper into the forest with him. We quickly declined and it was proably the best decision of the day! Later that afternoon, we found out that a guy from a different ship and his two friends were robbed at the same park! Unfortunately he tried to be a hero and fought with the robber - lesson to learn...don´t bring your fists to a gun fight! He was shot in the gut, but we understand he´ll be OK. How crazy is that?!

Third World -Panama- First Class Canal

We pulled into the Panama Canal at 6am - Scott had never seen the locks and was eager to get to deck to experience this marvel. It was pouring rain, something that happens lots there. An average of 800 inches per year!!! Luckily December marks the end of the rain season and the clouds moved off and the heat cranked up by 9am (+30 and sunny)
Here´s some interesting info we discovered:

• It cost our ship more than $ 170,000USD for 1.5 hours in the locks.
• The highest paid position in the canal is the pilot (the guy who makes sure the ship doesn´t scratch the sides!) And he makes $33USD/hour. The lowest paid position only makes $2.50/hour.
• Each canal is totally self-contained and is run by electric power run by the hydo electric dam at Gatun Lake.
• We counted 12 tanked and cargo ships waiting to go North in the Lake.
• Gatun Lake is the same size as the last Island we visited - 425 square KM - huge lake, but small for an island!

We enjoyed breakfast on the open deck as we passed thru the locks and were simply amazed by the creation. Katie, Scott and Ed were then tendered off the ship at the Lake and they spent 4 hours up close to the canal on a kayak tour -- we had tons of fun exploring the edge of the jungle and even saw some Howler Monkeys!

We were shuttled back to the ship, as it had returned to the Sea. Although the Canal is spectacular, Colon - the city near the Canal is very scarey ass! The 3rd world condiction were even more highlighted by the fact that the cruise terminal resembelled a new strip mall. Made us appreciate even more coming back to the ship and where we are from!

Bonaire

+28 partly cloudy

Today we started out with a quick sail to a protected island used by turtles for mating grounds - wicked! Our excurision included a two-site snorkle, the first on an island surrounded by coral reef filled with fish and turtles - a truely amazing experience to so close to those animals. The second site was just as beautiful, but didn´t involve the ¨drift snorkle¨ technique we had to use at the first one. A few hours later we were back at the ship, had some lunch and made some family phone calls for Christmas and then hit the beach at a nearby favorite with tons of iguanas roaming the rocks!
Once again, we managed to squeeze in an afternoon nap before getting ready for eats, drink and entertainment...ahhhh...Island Life!

Gold Digging Cougar Update!

Katie is learning the art if surveillance during this holiday and is becoming very good at it - she learned from the best!
After confirming the courgar´s lover is in fact a ship employee, we decided to go on a hunt of our own. We found lover in a lounge...singing! Hereinafter referred to as Leisure Suit Larry (LSL) We also established that cougar likes this watering hole and gets front row seats for LSL´s show! Tonight is Christmas Eve and she showed up in a pink santa elf lingere outfit - sick!
As this surveillance target is far too easy for us, we don´t anticipate any further updates!!

The Dutch Island of Curacao!

+31 Partly Cloudy

Curacao is the largest of the Dutch Islands (400 square kms) and home to a whopping 130,000 residents. For all you single men (Schwartzee), the women account for 65% of the population.

We did a wicked trolley tour this morning and then explored on foot. One of the first Governors made a law that the buildings need to be painted bright colours - making for amazing scenery. Turns out he also owned the local paint store & made a dandy profit from his new law!

Sorry we've taken so long to make a posting - you're getting our first 4 days all at once. But the ship Internet price is 75 cents/minute! Here on Curacao, we've found an air conditioned Internet Cafe for the low cost of $3/hour!

We're now off to explore some more shops - we got lots of sun the last few days, and have a beach & snorkel day planned for tomorrow!

Aruba & Gold Digging Cougar Sighting!

+30 Sunny!

This post will mainly deal with the Gold Digging Cougar Sighting, since it was the source of many hours of enjoyment yesterday! (Friday)

Aruba
Beautiful beaches - what else can you say!? The city was OK. We spent some time with Christine & Ed (Kate's parents) Christine upgrade the ring she bought int he same shop last year. Since they knew the store owner collects police shoulder flashes, we got free beer!

Cougar Sighting
Back on the ship -- as we were enjoying some time at the pool, we saw the most leathery, plastic gold digging cougar! We've seen ship pictures of her and know she boarded with a guy who makes KFC Coronal Sanders look young!!! But yesterday she was with one of the main charcters from the Sorpronos, complaining about how loveless and lonley her life was. We had a great vantage point and could easily listen to their conversation and see both husband and lover circle around the pool like sharks! Our fun ended as we watched husband and cougar have a yelling match on the Lido Deck and then Cougar run to the sports deck for some Italian love! Who needs TV!!

First Stop -Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

+31 Sunny and Wind

Remember the song - "what do you do with a drunken sailor?!" Well we found the answer to that question: Aqua Trax Tour Guide! (Jet Skis)

We hit the beach for a jet ski around the island owned by Holland America - our guide was a hung-over grumpy Jamaican who's only instructions were "start that up and meet me at the buoy!" (He smelled like rum and cigarettes!)
Thanks goodness the Island was beautiful, the water was amazing and the beach had wicked white sand! We had tons of fun jumping waves & playing on the beach all day (and no guy yelling at us, Schwartzee, Paul & Mandy like in Peurto Rico!) After a BBQ lunch on the beach it was back to the ship for the long awaited tennis match!!

You see it's difficult marrying a Women's National Team Soccer Player - she's a gifted athlete who is good at all sports....except tennis!! Now, I don't excel at tennis either, but I'm proud to say I did kick some ass! I have to gloat while I can - we're only slightly competitive ; )

At the end of the night of activities on the ship, we came back to our room and found a weird ass towel-monkey hanging from the curtains - thanks for the scare, Bayu! (Cabin Boy)

Welcome Aboard!

My mother-in-law should be a travel agent! She's made this entire travelling experience very easy & due to her vast cruise experience, we somehow find ourselves on the Navigation Deck (with all the Penthouses!) with an amazing suite. I'm told this may ruin any future cruise as we are VIP everything for the next 14 days - wow! (Thanks, Christine!!) M.S. Amsterdam is very new and beautiful - we don't know where to explore first. We have met tons of Canadians and everywhere you go you hear people talking about Vancouver, Alberta or Ontario.
The Food is great and our dinner table is shared with a couple in their 80's who are very good friends with Christine Silverberg (Former Calgary Chief-of-Police) Holy small world!! It blew their minds when I told them I used to be her speech write in '97/'98!

Early night to bed, as our first shore excursion is bright and early tomorrow!

Wish you were here!

Gators & Jellyfish

We're in Florida! But we forgot our camera download cable - have to wait for pictures in Calgary...sorry! But here's what we've been up to:

Sawgrass Recreational Park (i.e. trailer park in the Everglades!)
Wow - you've never seen trailer trash quite like this - but what serious fun we had with them! Today we trusted our lives with an elementary educated guide on a wicked airboat tour in the Everglades. Although he probably couldn't read & write he sure knew how to track gators. We were lucky enough to see two gators, one of which had a keen interest in trying to get into our boat! You have to see the picture!!

Florida Beaches (i.e. lifestyles of the Rich & Famous...oh, and the Quebecers!)
We discovered that Quebec is ripe for the picking - no one is home, they are all in Florida at the beach. Every 5th vehicle had a Quebec plate - no kidding. We had tons of fun walking in the hot sun on the sandy beach and checking out the piers along the way. When we walked past the lifeguard stations on the beach, they had a purple flag out - indicating "dangerous marine life" in the water. Thinking that there may be sharks or such, we stayed clear and opted for holding hands on the beach as the waves crashed. Turns out they actually meant "Danger - Jellyfish!" Which by the way, still hurt when you think they are dead, wahsed up on the beach!

Lessons learned: Jellyfish 1 / Scott 0. (For my sister-in-law to be, Roxcie: I'm not scared of the water!)

Tomorrow we board the Ms Amsterdam for our adventure @ sea. Katie's mom has made the process very easy and we're told we just have to show up on time in order to have fun!

Oh! We've also spent lots of time enjoying this wicked pool @ our hotel. A temperature of 90 degrees - who wants to leave?!

Stay tuned, we'll be updating along our voyage.

Bueller...Bueller...

It's officially difficult to concentrate at work! I've caught myself a few times when I'm only hearing the 'school teacher voice from Charlie Brown' -- probably not good.

When you're excited about a trip and you've booked time from work, etc. Do you find yourself wishing you had taken one more day off. For instance, our last day at work is this Friday - we both wish we had taken it off to finish getting ready for the trip and start the holiday sooner. But the question then begs, had we taken Friday off - would we then wished we had Thursday off???

I'm betting it's a never-ending cycle that doesn't stop until you are actually on holidays!!! (Deep Thought Alert: Is it still a never-ending cycle if it stops when you're on holidays? hmmm...)


This will be our adventure in only 4 more sleeps!!

Christmas Comparisons

It's funny how where you work can dictate the quality of your Christmas party. For instance, Scott is a public servant and his Christmas party was held at a Keg in Calgary (a nice one), and his food and beverage were his fiscal responsibility. A highlight was the free baked goods provided by a coworker!!! In comparison, corporate Katie works for an equipment manufacture which provides equipment to the Oil & Gas industry. Her Christmas party included round trip flights to LAX, two night's accommodation at the Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach, all meals, and a new portable DVD player. Guess whose organization ISN'T accountable to the tax payers?!!!

A highlight while in LA was the formal Christmas Dinner in Beverly Hills at Fogo De Chao (http://www.fogodechao.com/), a Brazilian BBQ that puts Alberta steak houses to shame. Dinner begins with a salad bar (which if you are smart you will avoid all together leaving room for what's to come!). The next course is a parade of BBQ'd skewered meat (18 varieties) which they bring to the table and slice directly from the skewers the meat was BBQ'd on. This process doesn't stop until you turn your place card from green to red. 20oz's of meat later they roll you out the door to your valet parking. *Star Sighting* Bob Newhart had dinner a few tables away from our group!

Our stay at the Queen Mary was significant since Scott's grandma and his mom as a child sailed to Canada on the Queen Mary when it was being used as a passenger transport ship at the end of WWII. Apparently the ship is haunted, but we'll only believe this if the ghosts are honeymooners, in the next room, since we didn't hear anything else ALL night long!!! We enjoyed exploring the ship and imagining where Grandma Horrill had spent her time while crossing the Atlantic.

Regardless of where you celebrate your Christmas party, the important thing to remember is to enjoy the time and people that you are with. Everything else is just unbelievable tender and tasty meat!!!

Let the Christmas Fun Begin

Instead of making the trip back to Calgary this week I will be meeting Scott in Long Beach for my company Christmas party…on the Queen Mary! We are both looking forward to a weekend of fun, sun, dinner, drinks and most importantly…Galaga...oh, and don't foget Big Buck Hunter!!! This is Scott's big chance to win back the title! We have been pretty lucky to get a few weekends like this in since I started working in Portland (May 2006). The most recent trip was to Seattle for his birthday. Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera for that trip, but the interesting people (a.k.a. weirdos) we saw, and in some cases met, will be ingrained in our memories without the photo reminder! Remeber the weirdos with the possum Scott?!!!

Speaking of weird...I'm writing this from the Portland airport and there is this strange man (I would guess about 20-25 years old) sitting beside me, whistling Christmas carols and knitting a pink fluffy scarf?!!!

Anyway...I am kind of hoping we can track down a batting cage while in Long Beach…we both love the batting cage in Calgary, but unfortunately it's closed for the season :(

Stay tooned for Sunday's post with pictures of our fun filled weekend in Long Beach!!!

Biking, Beers & Bears!

It's always a challenge in Alberta to see how late in the season you can still ride in the mountains. This year, Scott and his friend Mark weren't satisfied to stop riding when the snow flew in Calgary -- so they did a road trip recently to Spokane, WA.

We did two great days of riding. Day one was on Mount Spokane -- we must have been the only two guys actually climbing the trails on the Mountain! Don't get me wrong, there were other riders - just all downhill bikers. And if you're true riders, like we are, you should embrace the motto of "if you don't climb the mountain, you haven't earned the ride down!" We met up with two other guys after about 2.5 hours of climbing and they looked well rested. This is when we discovered that on the backside of the Mountain there was an access road that everyone DROVE UP in their support vehicles and then rode down the wicked trails!

These two guys said they'd drive us back up, if we wanted to follow them on the "Jedi Trail" (these guys were super nice, but very weird and often spoke in Star Wars character voices to each other!) We took them up on their offer and experienced some fast and greasy single track! The only downside was having to hear "Use the Force, Luke!" about 15 times during the 20 minute trail!

Day two was at Spokane Falls -- more diverse trails, tons of fun and way less weirdos!

The Boys Trip was a complete success, but not without its' lessons:

• Don't drive 7 hours, spend the night drinking and expect to feel good during the first few miles of the morning climb!


• Mark can stay on a mechanical bull for 8.3 seconds, if he's scared of falling off and landing in the foam pit with the guy dressed in superman spandex.


• If you find yourself in a US Jail - don't hire a tax lawyer named, Maurice. He's usually drunk and will only recite Latin phrases that we've all seen in Dead Poets Society.

Until Next Time - Seize the Day!

Golden Triangle

A few May Long Weekends ago, a mutual friend (Jackie) invited us both to come and ride the Golden Triangle (3 days, 300kms: Castle Junction to Golden, BC; Golden to Radium; Radium to Castle Junction) with a group of people. Who could pass up three tough/fun days of bike shorts, sweat and hot tubs?!

After totally ignoring each other for three days -- Scott broke the ice when we got back to Calgary. A few bike rides, a Coca-Cola Stage Concert and tons of cupcakes later -- Katie finally realized that Scott liked her ; )

The May Long Weekend tradition continues and it's a ride we look forward to each year!