Wonderful Weekend Woes

Weekends should never have to end. The previous one doubly so.

Why, you ask? Well, maybe you didn't, but you're going to learn anyway if you continue to read.

Forrest came down. I always enjoy it when he does. He came for the Jonathan Coulton concert at the Birchmere on Thursday. What a wonderful coincidence that it corresponded with Memorial Day weekend.

For the rest of the weekend, the poor cars must have gotten sick of seeing Virginia. I had to work on Friday, but everybody else went sailing with Laura. Saturday, the Mini got to see both IHOP and Great Falls, VA. No, we did not drive the Mini into the IHOP, though it probably would have fit. It had to wait outside.

We also saw Star Trek, which was very awesome. It was like a masterfully played chess game. It took the future, full of old people, and turned it back on the past, full of young people, entirely changing history and paving way for remaking the original series (if the creators so desire). Just poetic in its execution.

The Girl's car also got to see Baltimore. Sunday, we went to Brew at the Zoo, which was nice in that we got to try a lot of local brews. Subsequently, we returned to Amanda's and began brewing a vanilla porter.

I really wish the girl hadn't been sick. I felt as though she was just chauffeuring us all over creation this weekend. She maintains that she didn't feel that way, and that she had fun too, but that doesn't change my supersensitive inhuman ability to feel things in a way that always makes me feel guilty or lessens my enjoyment.

Despite that, it was an awesome weekend. It ended on Tuesday, of all times, with Forrest and me playing Smash Brothers. I can imagine no better end to it. And with that, I take my leave.

Bermuda: Day 3

I haven't talked about this yet. Day 3 in Bermuda was something of a mixed bag.

It was SCUBA diving day in Bermuda. Sandrew, the Girl, and I awoke early to go meet SCUBA dude on the pier. Besides us, only one other person on our ship was diving, which was nice. We took a short van ride to the boat site, filled out the paperwork in the gale force winds, and proceeded to hop aboard the boat.

We had a short (~20 minute) ride out to the dive site. SCUBA gear ready, it was time to jump in the water. I was finally going to get to go SCUBA diving with my bestest wonderful wife ever.

The girl did jumped in, and so did I. Because of the previously mentioned gale force winds, the seas were really choppy. Really really choppy. While proceeding, snorkels in mouth, to the site of descent, the girl began to panic. It's hard to continue breathing when water keeps getting into your snorkel.

I failed. I couldn't help calm her down. The girl had to get back out of the water. I had to go diving without her. It just wasn't the same... I'm sorry bear.

Post diving, we rode back to the ship, showered, had lunch, and decided what to do. Amanda, Forrest and I rented scooters while the others went shopping. The scootering was fun. I was fortunate enough to obtain the position of captain and navigator for this endeavor, so I got to lead us about the island wherever my heart desired.

There was only one catch. When we arrived at the scooter location, I realized that I didn't have my driver's license. Fortunately, the rental place didn't require one for the rental (or assumed I had it). However, the license was necessary for getting back aboard the ship. So, our first destination on the scooters was to the ship, where Amanda took my room key, entered our dirty den of clothing, and found my license! The adventure continued, and was very pleasant.

Later on, when finished scootering (scooting?) we returned to the ship. While getting ready to leave my cabin with Forrest and Amanda, I saw that we had a message. I decided to check it, and found that the pier people had found the girl's license and room key. She was somewhere in King's Wharf and was unable to board the ship again. I set out to find her after obtaining the necessary materials.

On the way out, I ran into Drew. He followed his own little adventure to find her license, which brought us to the same place at the same time. I had the stuff. He knew where everybody was.

It could have been much worse. As it was, though, we happened upon the girl, got her the license and room key, and all was well. We boarded the ship again.

I'm not even sure what we did that night...

Bermuda: Day 2

Bike Day! The group minus the Girl, Karina and Amanda went biking. We met the same outfit who would ultimately be the dive people. The bike tour ended up being our own personal bike tour, too, which was awesome.

Bermudians really like their Oleanders, by the way. It came up on every tour. You know, they're poisonous.

Bermudians also like their roofs. They are functional, which is cool. I wonder what it could do for other societies to implement something similar.

The bike tour also stopped at a fort. At one point the tour guides issued a challenge to climb and really rough hill and touch the wall of the fort. After all of us attempted, they informed us that there was actually a mote pit around the fort, and that touching the wall would have been difficult. What they didn't know was that they have a climber in their midst, and I would have done so anyway just to do it. I didn't make it to the top, however. I didn't win the case of beer or the rum. Bummer, because the ship just didn't have enough of either...

At the conclusion of the bike tour, we swam in cold water where Forrest did his beached whale impression by hydroplaning face first into water that was maybe two feet deep. Laughter ensued.

When we returned to the ship, we had lunch and then attempted to once again get me to my climbing destination. Bermuda transportation thwarted me once again, damn it. We instead took a bus to the Gibbs Hill light house, walked the one hundred eighty odd steps to the top, and peered around for awhile. While there, we realized we weren't far from Horseshoe Bay.

We decided to walk there, my climbing gear in tow. A seemingly endless walk later, we arrived at one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. Even better, there were rocks in the water! I got to scramble/climb on some of the rocks in Horseshoe Bay. Awesome! Thanks to everybody who tried so hard to get me to climb!

At one point, I decided to kamikaze off a rock into the water and swim back into land. What I failed to realize was that the floor of the ocean surf was only about two feet deep. I'm lucky I didn't break something. I came back in, we saw some man-of-wars, and we trekked out to the taxi.

We had decided to return via taxi because of the walk to Horseshoe Bay. We fortunately found two other cruisers on Horseshoe Bay, and we all split a tax back to the ship. Best money spent ever. Whew!

That night was one of the best nights there. We went to a little place in King's Wharf called the Frog and Onion Pub. We had some awesome hanging out and some beer and various other mixed drinks and some good food and whatnot. I dug it.

Exhausted, we returned to the ship. I'm pretty sure we had super chocolate rush once back on the ship, and then lapsed into comas in preparation for the next day...

Bermuda: Day 1, Cinco De Mayo

We showed up to Bermuda, wide-eyed and ready to roll. All of us went on a tour to the aquarium and some caves. The first thing we learned was that our transportation to this excursion wasn't included; strike 984 for Norwegian. However, we bested our apocalyptic Norwegian taunters and made it to our excursion.

Despite that, it was a generally enjoyable experience. But why? Why did our tour guide have to stop at a cemetary and talk about death and cremation and whatnot? The Girl and I just sat there crying.

From there, we made it to the aquarium, where we saw a puffer fish, turtles, other fish, an eel, and animals. Did I mention animals? After that, we went to the caves, which were also cool. Pretty and interesting.

The sights were pretty. I got some of (what I believe to be) the most perfectly colored digital photos I've ever taken.

We had lunch at a place that, if judged by appearances, would have been terrible. We went up, though, had an awesome lunch, and enjoyed one another's company.

After the excursion, my family and friends reminded me just how lucky I am. Everybody really tried to get me to my impromptu excursion. I really wanted to go climbing (deep water soloing) in Bermuda. I've never had the opportunity to free climb over crystal clear water. However, I did not realize just how formidable an opponent the public transportation system would be. The bus system, the only way to get where I wanted to go (or so I thought), had left a few minutes ago, thwarting our collective attempts.

Defeated, we went for a nice long walk, saw a really cool park where I took out my climbing frustrations on the nearest cool tree, and then saw a fort. I was done at that point, and so I sat while the others explored the fort. I felt happy just petting the putty tat, a cat much like Creepy the Dinner Cat.

Note at this point that it was Cinco De Mayo. A restaurant on the ship, Salsa, was giving a single complimentary margarita. Oh, yeah, and crappy service with not the greatest food. Strike #1547 for Norwegian.

Yet, despite Norwegian's attempts to make us despair, we were still having loads of fun. Going on vacation with friends is awesome. And that was only day one in Bermuda! There were still two to come...

The Bittersweet Geriatric Cruise of 2009

It was a wild ride. So much happened. New York happened. Rain happened. Wild seas happened. Bad food happened. Fun with friends and family happened. Lots of alcohol happened (I think).

First, New York...

The Girl and I jumped in a car with Amanda and drove to New York City on Friday. It's been a long time since I've been there. Highlights include the girl eating Octopus, us walking 18 miles in two days, us meeting the woman we suspect George hires regularly to act as his wife, and karaoke. Yes, karaoke. I sang and I wasn't drunk. Well, if you can call that singing...

Next, the cruise...

I could probably write a book about spending a week on a ship, and in Bermuda, with our friends. There were good times. There were bad times. There were great times. There were exceptional times. There was good food. There was bad food. There was just so much alcohol...

I started out in a tizzy. The Girl and I took a train from George's back down to where the car was parked. I was already anxious about getting us there on time, and about the car, and about the trip, and about being on the ship, and about whether or not everybody would have a good time together, that when we tried to meet up with Amanda, our conversations got mixed up and I got short. Not in the literal sense where I lost height, but I just couldn't figure out what was so complicated. Well, it all worked out, and her friend Jon was awesome for storing our luggage, and we got it, and we drove.

It took about ten minutes to drive from the Village to the point where we could see the dock. It took another 15-20 to make the left-hand turn to go to the parking lot. It was rainy and crappy, and things were not looking up. We finally made it to the line, I started calming down, and we met Forrest. So, the four of us, while waiting in line, looked outside to the ship and saw the other half of our crew standing on the ship waving at us! We were all here! Things were starting to turn for the better.

After getting on the ship, we hung out and just sat for awhile. After that trip, who wouldn't?

The first two days we spent at sea. The comedian sucked the first night. At one point, I had the only good meal we would eat on the ship, which was sushi. Go figure. We hung out, played Fluxx, dressed up for formal night, and generally had a good time. Also spent some time in the hot tub, which was relaxing, but ultimately suffered (for hopefully only me) from me being in a less than happy mood. Ultimately, it was OK, though, and I enjoyed it.

I definitely ate too much the first few days. I spent those first two or three days learning what the capacity for my stomach was, and subsequently exceeding that limit by about 100x. Maalox! Awesomeness for the stomach! That should be its new slogan.

Stay tuned for part 2...

Update: The Girl points out that the title of this post is not yet appropriate. The cruise, the freestyle cruise, was full of really really old people. Really really really old people. Oh, yeah, and us, and maybe a couple others, but mostly really really old people. Typically, women in bathing suits are supposed to make men feel warm and fuzzy inside. You know the cruise is for old people when this fundamental man principle does not hold.

OLD PEOPLE!