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!