Vacation Photos

So, I've been back from my vacation almost three months, we traveled the first two weeks of April, and I finally have some pictures to share. I won't bore you with too many (we took about 2,3oo altogether), but I'll pick a few from each port of call. Today's photos are from the two days we spent in San Diego before boarding the ship.

Our first day was spent at the San Diego Zoo. We took in quite a bit in the six and a half hours we spent there. I would definitely like to go back and spend some more time there - the line to see the pandas was just too long and there was so much to see that you just can't see it all in one day.

Watching the giraffes feeding - we spent almost a half an hour watching them strip every thing, including the bark, off the tree branches that were left for them.

I've never seen a giraffe with such dark spots. And with so much patience pulling the bark off the branches.

Proud as a peacock - and justifiably so I'd say. However, it took a while to get him to spread his feathers in our direction!

I wanted to take one of the Koala's home - they are just so darn cute.

I've never seen a duck with a blue bill before - so unusual.

Meerkats - the original snoops.

On Saturday, we went to Coronado to check out the Hotel Del Coronado.

Happy travelers.

We also went to the Torrey Pines Gliderport where hang gliders and paragliders fly.

It's about a hundred and fifty foot drop when they take off.

This is the sanctuary of the Mission San Diego church where we attended Mass on the day before our ship left.

I'll post more as time allows. We set sail on Sunday from the port of San Diego and in the next two weeks, we made three stops in Mexico, one in Guatamala, an evening stop in Panama City, a day going through the Panama Canal and a day in Cartagena, Colombia before docking in Ft. Lauderdale and flying home.

California here I come went

J and I went to northern California to visit my childhood best friend in honor of her Big 50. June-Bug and I have been friends for, well, forever. Our parents were friends and our mothers were pregnant with us together. Our parents originally lived a few houses apart in one neighborhood and after one move for my family and two moves for her family, we wound up living just around the corner from each other. And about 25 years ago, when I moved to NJ from Pennsylvania, she moved to California to be near her parents who had retired there a few years before.

I haven't been to see her in a long time. Fifteen years to be exact - I traveled to help her when her son was born and he'll be 15 next week. She's been east many times and we've always gotten together to hang out for what ever time we could. After visiting her at her brother's house last November, I decided that I would make a visit to celebrate her big day. And so I made plans.

Of course, what would a vacation be with out drama. June-Bug's mom is in a skilled care facility - about 17 years ago she suffered a brain aneurysm and then suffered a stroke. She's has feeling, but no mobility on one side of her body. Last Friday night, our first night visiting, June got a call from the facility letting her know that her mom was being transported to the hospital. So she and I packed up (J stayed behind with her son as her husband was away working) and off we went to the hospital at 10 PM to see what was up. Her mom had an infection that caused her to be septic - the infection was in her bloodstream and throughout her body. By the time we left the hospital at 4 AM, she was in ICU and as stable as she could be. It would be touch and go for the first 24 to 48 hours. By the time we left on Tuesday, she was recovering and was awaiting a move from ICU to a regular room.

We made this a vacation in addition to our visit and we toured 4 wineries and had tastings at 2 others (which I will post on separately) and an afternoon in Sonoma. Northern California is a beautiful place, but seeing June-Bug and her family was the best part of the trip.