Explorer of the Seas - Day 3 - Belize

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We all had an early breakfast at Windjammer - because we were boarding the tenders at 9 a.m. When we were planning the cruise, it was decided that at least one excursion we would do all together - all 7 of us. And so today we're all going on excursion BE60 - The Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich and Marimba Lunch! This is the description in the brochure:

Travel across the rolling hills of Western Belize to the Mopan River, located near the Guatemalan border. A hand-cranked ferry awaits to take you across the river, where you will board a shuttle to the Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich (Maiden of the Rock) Plaza several hundred feet above. Your guide will share his knowledge of the Mayan civilization and the Xunantunich site along the trip. From El Castillo, the tallest temple at the site, you will have a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside and portions of Guatemala. Afterwards, travel by bus to the San Ignacio Hotel for a Mayan-style buffet lunch accompanied by music from a local Marimba band.

The bus ride was long (two hours) but it gave us a chance to see the people of Belize, their houses, schools, and living conditions. The bus was comfortable and air conditioned! Our guide was Raoul and our driver was Pech. Raoul is actually of Mayan descent - he claimed that his late grandparents could only speak Mayan. Raoul was well educated and articulate and knowledgeable about the people of Belize and the Mayan ruins. The ferry was fun,and the shuttle vans took us up the hill to a parking lot - however, there was still a half mile of quite steep uphill to climb to get up to the ruins. Everybody climbed the ruins except me, and they all got to the very top of the temple, except for Chip, who said it was out of his comfort zone - very understandable.




The resort hotel at San Ignacio was like a diamond in a sea of poverty. It was gleaming, spacious and bright. The lunch was OK - the marimba music was great - and Dylan fell in love with raspberry lemonade!
On the way back, the bus stopped for shopping at a craft area - Dick bought me a wooden box, Laurie bought a wooden bowl, and Dylan got a top.
I fell asleep on the bus ride back to the dock and the tenders. My lasting impressions of Belize are the aching poverty, school kids in uniforms, grass fires, few Caucasians, a car accident on the side of the road, and a bus breakdown (not ours) - but our tender did wait for the broken down bus people to get there before returning to the ship. That trip was the last time we saw Dylan's Boonie hat - he thinks he left it on the bus.
We skipped the dining room tonight and all 7 had a family dinner at Windjammer. Afterwards we went to the stage show at the Palace - Dylan's comment was "When are they gonna have the juggler?"

Explorer of the Seas - Day 2 - At Sea

We all had breakfast in the dining room on deck 3.

Dick and I checked in at the Concierge Club. Laurie is busy planning and booking excursions.

At 1 p.m. we met in our room for a champagne toast (mimosas).



We had lunch at the Windjammer - have you every heard of tuna pizza? From our balcony we can see flying fish - they fly really far over the water. When I first saw them I thought they were some kind of insect. They looked to be about the size of hummingbirds, but of course I was far above the water on deck 10.

It was fun exploring the ship. It was hard to believe how many people were around the pool today!

Dylan has discovered a "ball machine" and wouldn't rest until he had shown it to me. It's a Rube Goldberg kind of set up where the golf balls keep moving around a structure, triggering other balls to start moving, etc. He loved it!

At 2:30 I went to Scrapbooking - it was OK - Jana sat with me, and then she went downstairs and bought me lots of cruise scrapbooking stuff, with stickers and papers and everything one would need!

Afterwards we met everyone but J. for the Oceanographic Tour. Explorer of the Seas has two on board labs for monitoring ocean conditions - very interesting and important work.

Formal dinner tonight at 8:30 p.m. It seems like it lasted forever - it's been a long day!

Explorer of the Seas - Day 1- Boarding

Left Laurie's at 10:30 for the drive to Miami to pick up Tom at his motel and to go to the cruise ship. (Jana is flying in later and Royal Caribbean will pick her up at the airport.)

Boarding Explorer of the Seas was relatively painless - there were no long lines, and everything went smoothly.

Our stateroom is fantastic - large, nicely furnished, and lots of closet space! It has a huge balcony! The bathroom is especially luxurious - it's almost as big as a regular stateroom! We're in the Gran Suite 1556. Laurie, Chip and Dylan are right across the hall, and Jana's next door to them. Tom is down the hall just a bit.
Our room is decorated with a Happy Anniversary motif - very much fun! Dylan thinks that the decoration hanging from our ceiling looks like an alien mother ship! We even have a big Happy Anniversary sign on our door. The kids provided a champagne bucket and gift basket in honor of the occasion.

The obligatory cruise life boat drill was fun and it went fast - it turns out that our lifeboat station is just around the corner from our elevator, so it was very handy! Jana and I are windblown but happy! Jana already has her free refill Coke cup.

We had lunch in the Windjammer Cafe - as much of everything that anyone could ever want.

Dinner tonight in the dining room was casual. Our waiter's name is Wilfredo, and the assistant is Alen. The seven of us almost filled up one big table, but we do have 2 dinner companions from Peru - Mr. Wong and his daughter Maria-Ximena (Hee-may-nah), who is about 30.

We went to the Welcome Aboard Show in the Palace Theater. It featured our cruise director, Allen, a gentleman juggler (juggled top hats) and a comedian who was actually funny! I loved the whole thing. What a day!

A Day on Saint Creek Drive

This morning I played WoW with Dylan - a fun experience!

We left at 10 a.m. to go see Cirque Odyssey. It's Cirque de Soleil for children, and it was fantastic. The jugglers were amazing, and they use lighting to give the juggling special effects - it's a knock out. The performers have bodies like gymnasts - and such strength - we all really enjoyed it.

Laurie, Dylan, Dick and I sat with Lisa and her kids Kyle and Jessica and Jessica's friend Julia. Afterwards we all went out to lunch at Flanagan's. The kids were all very well-behaved - it was charming and delightful!

Off to Florida

We left TC at 7 am on a Northwest AirLink to Detroit. The McNamara Terminal in Detroit is huge, and the ticket agent said that our gate for departure to Palm Beach was more than a mile away. Luckily there was a very willing young wheelchair redcap standing there, so I hopped in and was wheeled in style to our gate. His name was Benjamin and he's a student at U of M Dearborn.
It was a relief to be in First Class after riding the AirLink!! We had a relaxing and enjoyable flight. Laurie picked us up, and after we changed clothes and unloaded everything, we went to pick up Dylan from school!
We had dinner at Benihana - and it was memorable for 2 main things - one was that our chef's assistant must have been new because the items that he needed for cooking were not always available where they should have been. The funniest was when he went to get the rice to do the fried rice, opened the container and it was empty! She also neglected to set out the chicken for one of the dishes, and various other things went awry, so that our poor chef was livid by the end of the whole cooking segment. I must say, though, that the food was delicious, although somewhat seriously delayed by the assistant's lack of competence.
The other thing that was memorable was that four young couples who were obviously out to dinner prior to their prom, were seated across from us. We were in stitches (politely, of course) watching them - the boys' reactions when they saw the prices on the menu, and most of them feeling a little stiff and uncomfortable in their prom clothes. One of them, the girl in yellow, acted like she was at home in her back yard - she was not trying to act "proper" at all - she was jumping around like she was passing notes in study hall.

The Hokies

We used to giggle at Virginia Tech because their sports name is The Hokies. But we'll never look at it that way again. The Hokies have been through unconsolable horror.

I think Jacquelyn Kennedy said it best all those years ago when Pres. Kennedy was assassinated: All of that bright light gone out of the world.

This last part of the above article seems spooky to me - what are the odds?

Erin Peterson, age unknown, graduated in 2006 from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., along with a second victim, Reema Samatha. That is the same high school that the alleged gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, graduated from three years earlier. It was not known if Cho knew the victims.

Exciting Plans!

I've been having trouble logging on to my blogger account - I just tried it over and over again, and I finally was logged in but I'm not sure why. I'm hoping that this was just a one time glitch (c'mon, it's possible!) Anyway, I'm here now!

We're planning a big family event on our computer game today (Dick&Nan, Tom, Laurie, Dylan, Jana, Dylan's friend Kyle, Tom's friend Val). Dick and I have been gathering herbs and making potions and other healing items (all virtual of course). I think it will be a memorable occasion.

We have begun seriously thinking about the cruise. Some shirts, jackets and suits are even already in the garment bag! We arrive at Laurie's on Friday. On Saturday we're all going to a Cirque de Soleil performance for kids - I'm really excited about that. On Sunday, we'll be boarding the ship!

We've ordered tickets for this summer at Interlochen for just two nights - Capitol Steps and Nickel Creek. For the Nickel Creek concert Laurie&Chip and Dylan will be here and we're all going.

Easter 2007

HAPPY EASTER DAY

This year the Easter Bunny is barely visible through the blinding snowfall. The bunny is having some tough sledding trying to hop around in over a foot of snow. We hope you all have a pleasant Easter anyway - dream of flowers, chicks, bunnies, and bright blue skies.


Today, the poor Easter Bunny will need ear muffs and boots.


At least the chocolate eggs won't melt!


Traverse Citizens returning from Spring Break today are in for a big surprise!

Neverending Snow

It snowed all day. I never left the house. We're thinking that this is the longest lasting neverending snowstorm that we've had all winter. It will be interesting to see the final report.


TODAY'S HEADLINES FROM YAHOO:
• Troops, militiamen battle in Shiite city
• Iranian: U.K. can help mend relations
• NATO troops take over Taliban stronghold
• Bush plan sparks ire, immigration rally
• Mysterious illness at Mexico school may be psychological
• Scientists discover source of Milky Way's red glow
• Tori Spelling says she has reconciled with her mother

April **S**N**O**W**

"April showers bring may flowers" so the saying goes. It's so common to have April showers that there's a sweet old song about it. I have no idea what all of this snow will bring. Our tulips and daffodils are buried.

Dick took these pictures two hours ago, and the snow has not let up at all. We have a winter storm warning for all day today and overnight. They're saying to expect more snow on Easter Sunday, and that Easter will be colder than Christmas Day. It's beautiful, but enough is enough! Last year, Sniders were here on Easter Sunday, it was 65 degrees and we sat out on the deck and watched canoes and dayaks go by!

Our temp right now is 24, and the snow is falling just as heavily as ever. Dick is worried about the robins - very difficult pecking for worms on a day like this!

We're going to keep on looking for the bluebird, and listening for his song!

TODAY'S HEADLINES FROM YAHOO:
8:07 p.m. EDT • Freed sailors say 'confessions' coerced
• Israeli helicopters reportedly fire missiles into Gaza
• Food running out in tsunami-hit Solomons
• Obama to unveil veteran housing plan
• Geopolitics to blame for high oil prices, OPEC says
• FDA: Salmonella outbreak highlights peanut-butter risks
• Ricky Williams applies for reinstatement

I don't understand the brouhaha concerning the freed British sailors. Some are saying that Ahminejad made the UK look weak by freeing them. Huh? They are all home free and alive, and that to me should be the primary focus. It still amazes me that in these days of GPSr's and satellites and such that there can be a difference of opinion as to where they actually were when they were picked up by Iran. It should be cut and dried!

GenFest FutureScope

We went to the gym for an hour, then to the Omelette Shoppe to get my bowl of oatmeal - it was yummy. Then home to shower and prepare for my appointment with a new Doctor I was referred to by Dr. Burke. We hitched up the dogs to the sled and made our way back into town on the treacherous roads. The appointment went well - it's always good to know that your problem can be fixed with a tube of ointment!

We had plenty of time to discuss this year's GenFest. It will be on July 21st, 2007. Because of my reduced capabilities, we want to scale the picnic back a bit by inviting folks to come after lunch - maybe around 2 p.m. - and having just one meal to serve - maybe around 5 or 6 p.m. This year we going to ask everybody to bring their favorite yard game to set up for us all to play at random, with no scheduling or anything. We'll have volleyball, canoes, tubes and kayaks as always. We want to also have a professional photographer there for a while to take family pictures - for example - a group picture of everybody, a picture of Dick's whole family, and then a picture of Laurie's whole family, of course doing the same for Doug's, and Lue's. This is kind of my baby, so I hope I can find a great photographer, and I hope everybody will be as excited as I am.

Looking ahead to the future of GenFest, we're thinking about copying what the Kanitz family does every year for their reunion. That is, having a different branch of the family plan the picnic each year. So our family would do this year, Doug's family (Sue, Dave, Rog) would plan for next year, Lue's family (Barb, Sharon, Mel, Shel, Adam, Kevin, Derek)for the following year and so on. It means that every 3 years a family branch would be responsible for the planning. Our property would always be available for the location, but if somebody wanted a different location that would be fun, too.

So that's what we've been talking about - nothing is etched in stone - it will be interesting to hear reactions!

Palm Sunday+April Fool+Final Four

Somewhere in my youth or childhood, this
Palm Sunday Hymn became a personal favorite. I remember carrying the palm fronds down the aisle in front of the choir during the processional to the singing of this hymn. Happy Palm Sunday!

This has been one of those days that can't decide what kind of weather we'll have. It started out raining and dull. Then the clouds moved on, the sun arrived, and the sky turned bright blue. It was so nice that we went out in the woods to do 3 caches. We were mildly successful - I found one, Dick found one, and the third one eluded us. But you can have a good time if you've a mind to!

As we drove back through town, dark clouds blocked out the sun and drops appeared on the windshield. When we came out of Bed, Bath and Beyond, the sun was shining again and raindrops were still falling. We didn't see a rainbow. While we were inside Ace Hardware, the rain came down in earnest, but by the time we went to the car, it had stopped. When we got home, we heard thunder, but there was no rain. I think that Mother Nature was playing April Fool's pranks all day.

Dick and I came in Number One and Number Two in the Gen Family Fantasy Final Four Brackets. How we did that, I will never know - it's pixie dust! It seems that even if Ohio State loses to Florida tomorrow, I will still be the overall winner - what a great position to be in! Barb and Sharon each posted a letter to congratulate me for winning - how much fun is that? Here is Sharon's message:

Congrats to Aunt Nan! She has certainly earned the bragging
rights this year and is the CHAMP for 2007 (and it doesn't
even matter whether Ohio State or Florida win the
Championship game). Aunt Nan has beat us all!
Way to go! Impressive to say the least. Of course the rest
of the final standings may depend on Monday's game to see
who outscored their sisters, or brothers, or Mothers, or
Fathers, or sons, or daughters, or friends, or fiances, etc.

And Barb's:

Earlier in one of my posts I said "age brings wisdom'!!
Little did I know how true that would be.!.! It's pretty
awesome that you have won the "bragging rights" for the
year, Aunt Nan. We are very proud of you!!

And my response:

Thanks Barb and Sharon! Isn't it so much fun to have Dick
and I numbers 1 & 2.

I love what you said about age bringing wisdom - our slogan
is "They say that age brings wisdom, but sometimes age comes
alone."!

There's another old saying: "Age and treachery overcomes
youth and skill." I love that one, too. Dick and I are
certainly not treacherous, but the rest of you are all young
and skillful !

We must congratulate Ohio State for their high level
performances in both football and basketball this season.
John L. should be bursting his buttons. OSU has held up the
national reputation of the Big 10.

I believe that Dick and I doing so well on the brackets must
be the fluke to end all flukes, and I'm taking it as a sign
that 2007 is going to be a terrific year for us :)

Thanks for your congratulations - it's been a ton of fun for me.

I'm thinking that to have me win the whole enchilada is the ultimate April Fool's joke!

I'm Number One !! (For A Week)

Because of several one-point games, and a fluke win by Georgetown over Kansas in overtime, I turned up at the top of our family brackets! I get to enjoy my position for an entire week, because the Final Four doesn't begin until next weekend. I must say I probably know less about NCAA men's basketball outside the Big Ten than anybody else in the family - I just got lucky (faint)!

Go Big Ten!

Here's a list of our standings - I apologize for the format - the template wouldn't transfer.

GEN FAMILY

Group Standings
Rank Team Name Score Correct Best Score Best Correct Champion
1 Nancy Steiger 83 47 103 50 Ohio St. (117)
2 Roger Steiger 82 47 88 48 Kansas (144)
3 Melanie Henion 81 45 101 48 Georgetown (146)
4 Barb Hardy 80 49 86 50 Kansas ()
4 Steve Reamer 80 48 100 51 Georgetown (158)
6 Jackson Steiger 78 47 92 49 Florida (142)
7 Richard Steiger 76 45 96 48 Ohio St. ()
8 Adam Hardy 75 45 95 48 UCLA (165)
8 Megan Steiger 75 45 95 48 Florida (151)
8 Susan Steiger 75 46 89 48 Ohio St. (89)
11 derek washington 73 45 87 47 Ohio St. ()
11 Sharon 73 43 93 46 Georgetown (142)
13 KDUB 72 43 92 46 Georgetown (138)
14 Melissa Hoyt 69 41 89 44 Ohio St. (134)
15 Michelle Clark 63 40 83 43 Florida (156)
16 Tom Steiger 56 37 56 37 North Carolina ()
17 John W 55 38 69 40 Ohio St. (115)
18 chris charland 52 34 72 37 Florida (181)

High Water

How to have the perfect birthday:

1. Go to the gym for an hour

2. Go out to breakfast

3. Play WoW for a couple of hours

4. Go to the movies

5. Go out to dinner

I had a really nice day. Tom and Jana sent me goodies in the WoW mail - unbelievable things. I think that Laurie is sending flowers, because we got a call from the florist but we weren't home, so that will happen tomorrow. I spoke to all of the kids today - always a pleasure.

The Outback Steakhouse is such a great place. I thoroughly enjoyed everything - it was a concession on Dick's part because he hates movies and he's not too fond of the Outback - but I had a wonderful time, and a terrific day.

Meanwhile, last night we had a torrential rainfall, and the river is about as high as we've seen it. Our dock is under water, our riverside deck is partially submerged, and the river is flowing rapidly over the boardwalk. Our house isn't in any danger, but we're glad we have that flood plain out in front.

This is the canoe dock:



Here is the riverside deck and the boardwalk.

Blue Tractor

Lunch today with Tim and Susie was a lot of fun.

We had originally planned to meet, greet, eat, and go caching. It turned out to be a dismal, dreary, rainy, wet, gray day.

We just sat in the restaurant and talked and talked and gave in to the rain gods.

Sugar Bush

The annual Sugar Bush Pancake Dinner was on St. Patrick's Day this year. We got to James and Sheryl's around 11 a.m., and there were already many caching teams there. The final count at the end of the day was 42 teams in attendance - kind of hard to do an actual head count.

Dick grabbed some green food coloring at the last minute from the grocery store on the way over because he thought it would be fun to make a couple of green pancakes in honor of the day. The green pancakes turned out to be a big hit - who would have thought?

Things were very well organized and everything went smoothly. The only real glitch all day was that the circuits in the Township Hall couldn't handle all of the pancake griddles - but with the help of a generator it was accomplished.

Sheryl is a super event organizer - she had the cooking all figured out down to the last stick of butter. It was a beautiful day weather-wise - cold but with blue skies and warm sun - it was perfect.

The CacheHound and Mrs. Bend, Susie and Me, Dick and Dino

Rootedy-Toot

We left South Haven fairly early, picked up a couple of caches, and then made a bee line for home. I was thinking that after all of our travels over the past week that driving home might be old hat, since we've done it so many times. Not so! First of all, Michigan is scenic! We have forests, lakes, hills, trees, and snow - each beautiful in its own way. Secondly, it's comforting to see familiar signs and familiar places and it was very far from dull.

We stopped in Big Rapids for lunch at our favorite spot - Bennigans. You must try their mix and match appetizers!

I was born in Big Rapids in a nurse's home in 1936. We moved to T.C. when I was 5 years old. Then FSU was known as Ferris Institute (Rootedy-toot, rootedy-toot, We're the girls from the Institute!) It's surprising how much I remember about Big Rapids since I was so young. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime!

Got home, started the laundry, opened the mail, wrote thank you notes, paid bills - now THAT'S what is old hat!

Reflections:

1. The riverboat cruise on the Mississippi was the highlight for me.

2. I feel I could actually live in Arnold, Missouri - it's beautiful, rocky and hilly, clean, and complete with everything you might need. It's a suburb of St. Louis, and while St. Louis may not be a very choice city, it has great suburbs.

3. Tracking down your forefathers is fun, absorbing, educational, and rewarding.

Sunday

Today we drove through flat, boring Illinois, and then through flat, boring Indiana. We took a little side trip to see the Purdue campus in West LaFayette. I know it was Sunday morning, but we didn't see a single soul on the whole huge campus. I don't think that there's a time of day or night that you could drive through the Michigan campus and not see one person. It was a little bit spooky.

In northern Indiana they have lots of sandhill cranes - we don't know if they were migrating or if they live there all the time. A lot of the small towns have a crane as part of their logo.

We had lunch in Niles, glad to be back in Michigan, where we have hills, trees, forests, and scenery! Found 3 caches in that area.

The last time we stayed in South Haven, Clementine's was too busy and we didn't want to wait in line. Tonight, we only waited for 10 minutes, and we had a great dinner and a fun waitress. Left the restaurant feeling very very mellow.

We want to do a few caches in the morning and then head for home - we are both ready.

Dad's Birthplace

Crossed the Mississippi for the last time this morning and said goodby to Missouri. Hello Illinois! Illinois is a very bland State - flat and agricultural like so much of the land that we have seen. We're thinking this must all have been prairie before the western expansion - how boring for the Indians!


At Vandalia we saw the Madonna of the Prairie statue - very nice indeed - a Mom and small children facing the West with courage. Vandalia is the western terminus of The National Road established in 1806 by Thomas Jefferson. Vandalia also boasts the one-time capital building - It was the capital of Illinois from 1836 to 1839. Abe Lincoln got his law license here and also served in the legislature.



But the best adventure of the day was getting off the highway to find Arthur, Illinois where Dad was born. I expected a wide place in the road with an old broken down gas station and that's about it. What we found was a vibrant, colorful small town full of activity. The most interesting thing is that Arthur is the center of the Amish culture in Illinois. The Amish farms are everywhere, and buggies are going up and down the roads, and into town regularly. The town has special "parking places" for the horses and buggies - plenty of space for the horses to be under cover while they wait. There is a disadvantage to having so many horses around - think Mackinac Island. I can't help but wonder how they manage to clean it all up every day.

We knew that not all Kanitzes had moved to Michigan from here, so on the off chance that we might find a gravestone, we went to the Arthur cemetery. Dick spotted the first gravestone from the car - it turned out to be my great-grandparents, William (Wilhelm) and Caroline.

Altogether we found and photographed 6 or 7 Kanitz memorials - it was quite satisfying and exciting. I googled this:

ARTHUR.
This village was laid out in September, 1872, by M. H. Warren and William Kanitz. These gentlemen laid out twenty acres each, and donated half to the Paris and Decatur, now the Illinois Midland Railroad. The line dividing Moultrie and Douglas counties, ru ns north and south through the centre of the plat, and the railroad through from east to west. It was re-surveyed and platted September 1, 1873, by Abraham Jones, county surveyor, and filed in the office of county recorder September 2, 1873.

We found 2 Illinois caches today. Later on, we plan to go take a look at the campus of the University of Illinois - we're spending the night in Champaign.

Some You Find, Some You Don't

The Mastodon State Historical Site is located in Imperial, Missouri, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from our motel. We were there this morning before it opened - saw the slide show, felt the mastodon teeth, were amazed by the size of the sloth and admired the mastodon skeleton. Didn't find the cache, though.

Drove to downtown St. Louis to do some people watching along the riverfront. We parked in the Cathedral parking lot for visitors only and walked over to the Gateway Arch, and went in and found a good spot for people-watching.


Busloads of school children were there, and tourists from everywhere in the US and beyond. The lines for the north and south trams were jammed - we decided against going up. Besides, been there done that (in 1975!)


Stopped at Dylan's Sports Bar and Grille in Arnold, MO on the way back - because, well you can figure it out! The man there actually has relatives in T.C. (David Andrews III, whose wife is a schoolteacher and whose daughter Laura is a world class skater). His grandson is named Dylan - such a coinkydink.

Daniel Dunklin started the public schools in Missouri, and was the 5th governor. We found his gravesite in Herculaneum, and enjoyed the view of the Mississippi. We found that cache :)

At another little park we watched a gigantic coal barge making its way down Old Man River - a unique sight.

When I did the Kanitz family tree I learned that my great-grandparents arrived in this country in New Orleans, rode a boat up to St. Louis, and moved to Illinois. I checked in the phone book, and while there are 27 Steigers in this area, there's not one single Kanitz.