Port Everglades & Aruba

There was one big advantage to staying at the Best Western Oceanside. It was extremely close to Port Everglades where we boarded the ship. Neither one of us prefers to take taxis, but we decided we could handle potentially dangerous driving for one mile. As it turned out, we got one of the sweetest guys in the world and he got a large tip.

We are use to the cruise lines taking your picture when you board the ship, but this time the backdrop to the picture was awful. Usually, they have an elaborate setup for the pictures, but there were only two fern plants, nothing else. No sign, no pictures of the ship, nothing, and even more surprising was that the people behind us in line were in the picture. I was really curious how it would turn out. As you can see, digital photography does have its advantages.

This is a picture of the Intercoastal Waterway. Did you know that you can travel by boat all the way from Florida to New York in this waterway, without going out into the ocean?

Aruba was our first port of call. We arrived at 7:00 AM and had to be back on board at noon. This did not give us time to take a shore excursion and shop. We had attended the shopping talk the day before, where Tiffany told us that if we planned on doing any shopping during the cruise to shop in Aruba. We canceled our shore excursion and went shopping instead.

The harbor was very pretty and the clear, clean water was beautiful.

Anyone from the Sea Princess taking a helicopter tour in Aruba did not have to go very far. We took this picture from our balcony on the ship.

I would love to return to Aruba and see more of the island. The island is approximately 74 square miles and 30,000 people live in the capitol of Oranjestad. Aruba gained its independence from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986. The language, Papiamento, is a unique combination of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, African and Indian words. It is spoken only on the Dutch "ABC" Islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

Aruba is one of the most prosperous islands in the Caribbean thanks to the Lago refinery located at the southeastern tip of the island. Surprisingly the interior of the island is arid and dotted with cactus and divi-divi trees, in sharp contrast to the coves and sandy beaches of the coast.

Fort Lauderdale

Traveling is always an adventure and even though we have traveled quite a bit, we always seem to see something that surprises us. This trip was no exception. We flew out of Yakima to Seattle to catch a red-eye flight to Miami. While we were waiting for our flight, a guy came running up to a nearby gate, swearing loudly because he had obviously missed his flight. The customer service agents were not at the desk and the plane was gone. Instead of walking down to the next staffed gate, or customer service desk, this guy opened the door to the jet way setting off all the alarms. Yep, the plane was still gone. Everyone in that end of the terminal is watching this guy and assuming that he would quit throwing his temper tantrum and go ask for help. Boy, were we wrong. This guy opened the jet way door multiple times until a service agent appeared to ask him what was wrong. Considering the fact that the alarm went off every time he opened the door, it took a long time for someone to check out the situation. Not only did we have to listed to the alarms, but he continued to swear the entire time. Some people should not travel.

The only non-stop flight we could get on Alaska landed in Miami. We arrived early in the morning and used a shuttle service to get to Fort Lauderdale. We stayed at the Best Western Oceanside Inn. When we made the reservations, they told us the hotel was on the beach and that there was a drug store across the street if we needed anything. Well, the hotel was not on the beach and the drug store, while indeed across the street, was 1.5 miles away. After relaxing for awhile we decide to go out and look for the beach. Not only did we find the beach, but we found the hotel where we wished we were staying.

This Marriott had beautiful grounds and a private beach.

We might not have been guests, but that did not stop us from eating dinner at the Sea Level Restaurant & Bar. This place was so fancy that the menu lit up when you opened it. We joked around about how funny it would be if the bill jacket did that. It did!

I loved this chess board and hammock.

We only had one full day in Fort Lauderdale before the start of the cruise, so the next day we bought all day tickets for the water taxi. With an all day pass, you can board the taxi as many times as you want. It stops 14 times on the Intercoastal Waterway and New River. The captain or the first officer would point out places of interest, or yachts and it was interesting to hear the facts change depending on what taxi you were on.

We got off the taxi at the stop downtown so we could walk along the shops on Las Olas Blvd.

We really were not in much of a shopping mood, but we did eat lunch at La Bonne Crepe. It was fun trying something new.

We saw many mansions and yachts while riding on the taxi. We saw homes owned at one time by Farrah Fawcett & Lee Majors, Lucille Ball, Sonny & Cher, and Chris Evert, just to name a few. We also walked down the main road in front of the public beach, where we saw just about everything from a guy with a giant cobra around his neck to another guy wearing practically nothing at all. His totally bare butt was just hanging out. I can't image what this place looks like during spring break!

Moving Renton to Selah

Thursday, May 27 was the day that Allied Van Lines was to move Janet's belongings from the storage facility in Renton to the house in Selah. The driver arrived almost 2 hours early and then suggested that we push the move back a few days due to the amount of mud present around the house. We rescheduled the move for Saturday morning, May 29.

Unfortunately, mud was still a major problem. The driver tried to get the truck close enough to the house to use a ramp between the truck and the front door, but the truck ended up stuck in the mud. Watching these three guys trying to free the truck was entertaining to say the least. At one point they tried to pull this moving van with 8300 pounds of load out of the mud with a pickup truck. We were sure we would be a witness to the axle being pulled right off the pickup. Fortunately they stopped before that happened. The guys ended up putting plywood and tarps down on the ground and they rolled the stuff into the house that way.


Joe is taking a break, sitting on one of the chairs we did not want to keep. He ended up taking the chair home.

With most of the furniture in the house, these are all the boxes we need to sort through to determine what we want to keep. The only problem left was the fact that there were no garage doors up yet, so we had no way of locking the contents up for safety. Our contractor came out in the afternoon and put plywood across the door openings. What a day.

Property Update

The last picture of the property posted, before we left for vacation, showed the ground leveled for the garage and shop. Mom and Dad were nice enough to continue going out to the property every few days and taking pictures, so we could share them with you. Right after we left, the cement truck showed up to pour the foundation.

Waiting for the foundation to dry.

Some of the supplies needed to build the garage and shop.

The walls are up! The room closest to the camera is the garage and the room in the background is the shop.

The garage has been insulated, the dry wall installed and the walls painted.

Ditto for the shop.

This is looking at the shop doors. You can see the house in the background. Next up - the siding.

Eventually, the siding will be painted to match the color of the house. Next, the garage doors will be installed and the electrical outlets completed.

Vacation Time

Good Bye Everyone! Check back at the end of May for new information.

The Panama Canal

Early Mother's Day

Mom and Dad arrived on Thursday afternoon from Arizona. Their trip was uneventful for the most part. They drove through hail, high winds, and rain, but did not experience any car trouble. We are so happy to have them here! Since we are going to be on our trip on Mother's Day, we celebrated with Mom over the weekend by taking her to brunch at the Hilton Garden Inn. Then we took Mom and Dad out to see the house for the first time.
Mom and Dad are going to dog sit for our while we are gone. Toby and Tillie and two very lucky little critters. Susan and I do not believe we will be missed at all.

New House Updates

Changes are occurring daily now out at our new house. We try to go out every other day and take a new set of pictures to document progress.

Most of the back-fill has been completed. The front yard looks much more like a yard than it did before. There are still several mounds of dirt in the back yard.

The ground has been leveled for the garage/shop and the trench has been dug for part of the foundation. The trench doesn't show very well in this picture, but the white water pipes are sticking up out of the trench.

The septic tank is in place. Now they are working to put down all the drain field pipes and get them connected to the rest of the septic system.

We have a well!

Our well went in this week and finally we got some good news. The well company only had to drill down 101 feet before they hit an abundance of very clean water. We are so excited! The water is not connected to the house yet, but this is a major item that we no longer have to worry about.

Look at my pearly whites!

When Tillie wants to play and she thinks you are ignoring her, she will slowly start growling. She usually does this with her head down on the carpet and her tail wagging like crazy. If she really gets desperate she will open her mouth and start barking. It is really funny to watch her antics while she is trying to get your attention.

Skirting in Place

Another step has been completed on the house. The skirting is in place. The next step involves back filling all the soil around the house and then work will begin on the septic system.

It is exciting to see the changes every time we go out to the property!