Category Archives: Forts

Forts, Travel, Waterfalls, Wildlife, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone and Tetons Roadtrip 2025: Part I

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After six years and several adventures overseas we decided that 2025 would be a great year to return to a couple of our favorite places: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We were a little burned out on air travel (who isn’t?) and wanted a fun roadtrip that wasn’t overly distant from our home in Colorado. And we had a longing for an outdoors experience to test our new hiking and camping equipment.

One thing I didn’t want to do was rush our visit. Our prior trips in 2010, 2017, and 2019 were all relatively short. In May of 2010 we had four days to cover both parks. In 2017 we had five days of camping with three nights in Yellowstone and two in Grand Teton. In 2019 we camped the entire time in Grand Teton and drove into Yellowstone two days, spending the other three in the Tetons.

In every case, we enjoyed ourselves and brought back good memories, but we also spent a lot of time driving and had to forego many activities because of the schedule. This time I gave us eight nights and nine days to see the parks and some of the surrounding areas too. The slower pace gave us time for activities like horseback riding and kayaking, as well as several days of hiking, wildlife viewing, visits to museums and scenic drives.

I also decided that we should try going in June this time. Our trip in May of 2010 was fun, but the weather was pretty cold and many of the trails were still snow covered. I remember crossing Jenny Lake on the ferry boat in falling snow. And the other two trips were scheduled in July around Independence Day. July is the busiest month in both parks and it is especially true around Independence Day.

But June seemed a good chance to see more wildlife (it was pretty active in May of 2010) with more accessible trails and potentially lighter crowds. Well, June turned out to be as good as I hoped. Tons of wildlife, rushing rivers and waterfalls, and maybe a tad fewer people.

We did have one last minute change to our plans, however. We were initially planning two nights of camping in our RBM tent in Yellowstone. But due to a medical issue a week prior to the trip we decided to swap out the camping days for a stay in the Grant Lodge in Yellowstone and an extra day in a cabin in Colter Bay in Grand Teton.

Once we had my truck packed up it was clear that the cargo requirements for the trip with the tent and all the other equipment would have been very challenging. So the lodge stays worked out and kept our itinerary intact.

Day 1: Sheridan

I decided to stop in Sheridan, Wyoming on our first night of the trip so that we could enter the park the following day on a westerly drive across the Bighorn Mountains with a stop in Cody so we could visit the Buffalo Bill Museum of the West.

With that in mind we had a straight 450 mile drive north to make and one that we had done two years prior on our way to Glacier.

We were able to drive at a fairly leisurely pace and decided to make a couple stops along the way.

Fort Fetterman

After a brief lunch stop we wanted to take a break from driving and followed a sign for Fort Fetterman near Douglas, Wyoming.

Fort Fetterman was an outpost at the southern end of the Bozeman Trail that led pioneers and fur traders to Montana. The only buildings at the site today are a reconstructed officers’ quarters and a toolshed. The rest of the site is marked out to indicate where buildings once stood.

The fort didn’t have as much to see and do as we had hoped, but it was interesting nonetheless, and the views across the rugged prairie are a reminder of just how remote and lonely these forts would have been for soldiers stationed there in the 1800s.

On our way back to the I-25 from the fort we saw some pronghorns and I was able to get some photos from my truck.

As most travelers through Wyoming know, pronghorns are fairly common throughout the state. But I was happy to get these photos only a few hours into our trip.

We still had some time to burn and I looked online for museums and historic sites that we could stop at on our route. There are some museums in Sheridan itself, but by the time we arrived there they would have been closed or near to it.

But there was a historic site in Casper we hadn’t yet visited: Fort Caspar.

Fort Caspar Historic Site

Fort Caspar (notice the spelling is different than the modern city of Casper where it’s located) had a much larger museum and more to see and do than Fort Fetterman.

We spent an hour walking through the buildings and learning about the fort and its history. The recreated barracks and officers’ quarters actually looked fairly comfortable and the surrounding landscape more lush and hospitable than the very stark surroundings of Fort Fetterman.

Fort Caspar sat near the North Platte river and was a trading post and pony express station, then was an army outpost to protect emigrants. The fort is a National Park Service site but is operated by the city of Casper, Wyoming, so you cannot pay for admission with your National Parks Pass.

Following our time at Fort Caspar, we continued north to Sheridan. I had reserved a conestoga wagon at the Sheridan KOA Journey and we proceeded there first before looking for some dinner in the town.

After reviewing our options we decided on the Pony Grill and Bar. We found the rustic, low-key atmosphere to be just what we wanted. the food was good, but nothing fancy. We were tired and just wanted some burgers and beers and the Pony Grill delivered.

After dinner we headed back to the KOA and settled into the wagon. Before bed, however, we decided to make use of the fire pit since we had some firewood and s’mores ingredients.

Overall the conestoga wagon was a good way to have some fun for our first night. The reservation was $180 compared to the $250-$300 per night at the hotels in town. It had a private bathroom, a king bed, and bunk bed for our son.

I slept reasonably well, but my wife did struggle to sleep due to the noise of trains passing nearby the campground. Also someone was shooting off fireworks (we think just outside the campground). Definitely not cool.

Day 2: Sheridan to Yellowstone

As I mentioned before, my decision to stop overnight in Sheridan was driven by my interest in entering Yellowstone on a westerly drive through the Bighorn Mountains. And so the next morning we started up Highway 14 and entered the Bighorns Mountains Scenic Byway.

The road ascended quickly with roadsides telling the relative ages of the surrounding rock formations. Interestingly the rock layers grew older the higher we went.

I had been debating whether to follow Highway 14 or it’s alternate route 14A for months (honestly). Highway 14 would take us to the Shell Falls overlook area (which looked really neat), while 14A would be a steeper route with the possibility of stopping at the archaeological site of the Medicine Wheel.

As we approached the fork known as Burgess Junction my wife (who was driving) asked me to make the decision. At the last second I chose the regular Highway 14.

Within minutes we found a whole herd of moose grazing jus off the roadside.

I was still learning the many functions of my new EOS R50 and tis was one of the first moments where I had to really recall all the functions for focusing at a distance and adjusting brightness in dimmer lighting.

I took a few more practice shots of the surrounding mountains then found this healthy marmot waiting nearby the road for a portrait shot.

Shell Falls

As I mentioned, my primary reason for choosing HIghway 14 over 14A was the Shell Falls Interpretive Site. Well,, when we got there it was closed. Seriously.

Rather than simply drive onward, however, we found a pulloff near the site entrance and walked to a spot with some views of the falls. They were spectacular, even if we couldn’t walk down to the primary overlook.

I was happy to get out of the car anyway and hopefully we’ll come back this way when the falls site is fully open. But then again, we need to go the 14A route too.

We drove onward, enjoying our homemade muddy buddies Chex mix until we arrived in Cody. Once there we made our way to the museum I had planned on visiting before, but failed to see in the prior visits to Yellowstone.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

The BBCOTW encompasses five museums (Natural History, Buffalo Bill, Firearms, Native Americans, and Western Art). I wanted to visit all five but we were too hungry to stay long enough to visit the Western Art Museum (the Buffalo Bill Museum contains impressive western art too).

We first visited the Natural History Museum and perused the exhibits. The focus is on the natural world of the Yellowstone area, which makes it an informative stop before continuing on to the park.

Next we visited the Buffalo Bill museum and learned all about the life and career of the larger than life western hero William Cody. I have been to a few places that were historically significant to Buffalo Bill including the Scout’s Rest Ranch in North Platte, Nebraska and his grave here in Colorado. But I learned more about the man in this museum than I had anywhere else.

Following the Buffalo Bill museum we went to the Firearms museum, which I consider the best of the museums we visited. The collection is just astounding and more than you can imagine. The entire history of firearms of every sort is on display. And you can test your skills in target shooting (without real bullets but a laser target).

The Native American museum was next and it seemed a little sparse in my opinion. I know that many tribes have demanded that artifacts be removed from museum displays, and sadly this makes it harder to learn the history of these tribes and to be educated about their customs and ways of life.

After that, we were starving and decided to head to the exit (with a stop at the gift shop first). We decided on pizza and followed the directions to Wyo Dough. The directions led us to a less atmospheric building the the photos of Wyo Dough on TripAdvisor. This restaurant was called Cody Craft Brewing.

Apparently, Cody Craft Brewing and Wyo Dough were merged int one restaurant. Fair enough. Some good beer would be nice too.

The pizza was very meh. The beer flights were better. But with a continued drive ahead we couldn’t have much. Anyway, it won’t be at the top of our list when we come back to Cody.

Since it was Father’s Day I thought about going to the Irma Restaurant which is in Buffalo Bill’s historic Irma Hotel. But we were in a rush really. So next time.

We got some gas and set off for the entrance to Yellowstone via the Shoshone River Canyon that Theodore Roosevelt considered the most scenic drive in the country. He never saw the Beartooth Mountains road or Going to the Sun Road, but this is certainly a beautiful drive.

Yellowstone National Park

The east entrance to Yellowstone is over Sylvan Pass and right at that moment we saw a bighorn sheep sauntering past us by the roadside.

The bighorn was molting its winter coat with the transition to summer temperatures. But nevertheless, it was a pretty good ndication of just how plentiful wildlife would be in the park.

We proceeded onward along the shores of Yellowstone Lake (and a sadly ugly stand of dead timber from a past fire) to Lake Junction.

Turning north we proceeded into one of the prime wildlife viewing areas of Yellowstone: Hayden Valley.

We saw our first bison of the trip. It’s always good to see the bison herds and to know that indeed you are in the heart of Yellowstone. It was especially cool to see all the bison calves since it was still only June.

We made our way slowly north toward the Canyon area until we came to a car jam and decided to check it out. I’m glad we did. Our first of many black bears.

This is one of my favorite black bear photos that I’ve ever taken, looking directly at the serenely content bear in the woods.

After unjamming ourselves from the car congestion we continued to the south overlooks for the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

I believe the view of the Lower Falls from Artists Point is one of the most spectacular viewpoints in all of the national parks. I’m pretty sure I’m right.

After taking our photos from Artist’s Point I convinced Shelley and Evan to take a little known trail from the overlook toward Ribbon Lake. Alongthe way there are some beautiful views of the canyon.

Along the way there were also some voracious mosquitoes. With no repellant on, we decided to cut the trail short and made our way onward to the hotel to check-in at the Canyon Lodge.

Our room was in a Western Cabin and it was a nice choice overall. It was tucked back from the busier main lodge area, had ice available for our cooler, and there was a trail to the north rim of the canyon nearby. Xanterra put ridiculous sideways recycling trash bins in the room, which I’ll discuss later.

The Canyon area overall, however, for as large as it is and with it being in one of the prime areas of the park, lacks any good restaurant options.

When we camped at Canyon Campground in 2017, there was a sit-down restaurant in the Canyon Village. This is now gone and the only option is a crowded cafeteria-style eatery with limited menu options. The cafeteria was also running out of ingredients and we didn’t get our side dishes because of it.

The staff looked frustrated too and acknowledged that the cost of the food versus the quality was a total mismatch. The woman at the cash register let us have our drinks for free to make up for the missing side dishes.

Xanterra just isn’t doing a very good job managing the lodges and restaurants in Yellowstone, in my opinion. We visited Glacier National Park in 2023 and the restaurants there are also managed by Xanterra, but the menus seemed better and the staff seemed a bit more relaxed.

I will state unequivocally that Xanterra seems too focused on virtue-signaling efforts for sustainability (like the laughable trash bins) and isn’t putting enough into the overall comfort and quality of the visitor experience.

As I wrote in my review, most visitors are there to hike and enjoy the outdoors. When we return from a long, tiring day and want to celebrate with a good meal, the last thing we want is overpriced cafeteria food or ridiculous woke choices like jerk tofu. Seriously. How about BBQ Mac-n-Cheese like we had in Glacier?

After settling into our room we decided to drive over to the north rim of the canyon. I would actually visit the north rim a few times on the trip since we were nearby.

The Brink of the Lower Falls

We drove over to the North Rim (since we hadn’t yet found the trail from the cabins) and stopped off at the Brink of the Lower Falls trailhead.

Evan and I made our way down the steep switchbacking trail to the bottom where a platform overlooks the Lower Falls. And it was flowing at an incredible rate. Almost too fast and powerful for comfort.

We walked onto the platform to view the falls before feeling like the platform would erode away beneath us. It was cool to see, but just a tad too powerful for comfort.

We hiked back up and felt pretty good about the day’s experiences. We were only at the beginning of the trip and had already seen bears, a moose, a bighorn and some terrific scenery. We had a hike planned for the next day and we wanted to be up early to enjoy a full day in the park.

Forts, Georgia, South Carolina, Travel

The Low Country: Charleston to Savannah: Part 5

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Day 6: Savannah to Hilton Head Island

After a second night in Savannah, it was the day to depart for Hilton Head Island, across the South Carolina border. But we weren’t quite ready to depart Georgia entirely. We still had a few places to visit outside the city.

I like to take morning runs, and I decided to take a few photos along my route (which went from the Marshall House hotel to the edge of Forsythe Park and back). Along the way I saw the Mercer Williams House (made famous by the book and movie ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’), Monterey Square (which is across the street from the Mercer House), and the Sorrel-Weed House which was built in the early 1800s and was the home of a Confederate General named Francis Sorrell.

The Sorrell-Weed house is among the many supposedly haunted houses of Savannah owing to its history. Supposedly the house is haunted by Sorrell’s second wife Matilda who jumped to her death from the second floor of neighboring house, or the slave girl Molly with whom Sorrell may have been having an affair, and who may have hung herself in the carriage house.

After returning to the hotel we packed up and reclaimed the car from valet parking. The valet attendant was much more helpful than our experience on arrival and we tipped him according.

At this point I was enjoying Savannah much more and I do think we will be back again in the future, and we certainly have a lot more to see and do in Georgia in the coming years.

Bonaventure Cemetery

The first planned stop was the actual ‘Garden of Good and Evil’: Bonaventure Cemetery. Truthfully, it is a bit odd to go on vacation and spend time visiting cemeteries. Its not as if we knew any of the deceased personally.

But Bonaventure is a tourist attraction owing to the historic statues at many of the grave sites, the moss-covered oaks that often drip with rain water, and the aforementioned book. Unfortunately the Bird Girl statue from the book cover is no longer in the cemetery. It was moved to the Telfair Museum in Savannah.

We did see a number of interesting statues, however, after realizing that we were in the wrong section and not in the ‘old’ cemetery. The Corinne Lawton grave and the Gracie Watson grave are among the statues pictured below. I’ve linked to their tragic stories.

While I don’t know how much of this is myth and how much is reality, grave sites like Gracie’s have to be protected from people attempting to chip away from them and some of it is part of voodoo practices. This was one reason the Bird Girl statue was removed from the cemetery. At any rate, it’s a rather mysterious place but one that must be respected.

Tybee Island Light Station

After spending some time at the cemetery it was time for something a little less somber. We drove onward to Tybee Island to visit the Light Station.

As I mentioned in the prior post, it was a rather cold day for Georgia in October, with a brisk wind and temperatures in the high 50s on Tybee Island. Normally I would have included a stop at Tybee Island Beach, but the weather and surf conditions were not conducive to doing so.

We ascended to the top of the lighthouse (as you can see if the photos and videos), and Shelley and Evan (and I as well) took some time learning to tie some mariner’s knots.

We learned from watching a movie in the visitor’s center that the lighthouse dates back to the early 1700s, but originally it wasn’t a lighthouse at all. It was a ‘daymark’, which provided a visual marker for a location. The first lighthouse at the current location was built in 1790. Just before the Civil War the first fresnel lens was mounted on the lighthouse, but this structure was destroyed by the Confederates who viewed it as an aid to the Union navy.

After the Civil War the current structure was built along with the accompanying head keepers cottages. The head keeper’s cottage is actually a pretty nice house, in our opinion. Plenty of room, and let’s face it, there are worse places to be a head keeper than Tybee Island, Georgia.

Fort Pulaski

Just a short drive from Tybee Island is the Civil War-era Fort Pulaski. It was our next stop of the day.

We’ve been to a lot of forts over the years. I don’t know if I could even enumerate them all. But I think Fort Pulaski is one of the most interesting of them all.

Fort Pulaski was an American fort that was captured by the Confederate Army at the outset of the Civil War. The fortress was believed to be essentially impregnable, to the point that Robert E. Lee told the commanding officer at the fort that the Union guns on Tybee Island could not penetrate the walls.

However, Lee was wrong. The Union army had begun to use new rifled artillery. Using these rifled canons they managed to breach the outer wall, forcing the Confederate commander Olmstead to surrender or risk having the entire fort explode if a shell hit the powder magazine, killing everyone within.

A couple other interesting facts: there is a brick in the floor of the fort with a paw print from when the brick was made, close to 200 years ago. You can see that paw print in the photo above. And the first baseball game ever photographed took place in the central courtyard in 1862 (when the fort was under Union control).

Hilton Head Island

After Fort Pulaski it was time to drive an hour around the marshlands (as the crow flies the distance is only a few miles, but by road its around 40 miles) to Hilton Head Island where we would spend the next two nights before heading home.

We had a townhome rental with separate rooms and a kitchen which was a nice change from hotel rooms. We were staying at the Coral Sands Resort. With only a half mile walk to the beach it was in a great location and the price was very reasonable as well. There was a curious site of a tree growing in a gutter which I couldn’t help but photograph.

The weather was finally warming up enough that the following day would be beach weather. We stopped off for a pizza dinner and called it a night.

Forts, South Carolina, Travel

The Low Country: Charleston to Savannah: Part 1

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We had been wanting to revisit South Carolina since we went in 2020. That trip was kind of a spur of the moment decision at the time, and we only gave ourselves two days to get a taste of the Low Country.

Ever since we had been wanting to return and see more of the historic beauty of Charleston and its surrounding areas, and to see whether the people were as friendly as we remembered.

Additionally we read a book called ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ and that piqued our curiosity about a certain city in Georgia called Savannah. Actually, we already were interested in visiting Savannah, and the photos of Spanish moss dripping over fountains in the city parks and the historic antebellum architecture of the city were definitely a draw for us. “Midnight” only added impetus to the decision.

So with October 2024 fall break coming we decided it was time for a “Low Country” crawl, starting in Charleston and working our way down to Savannah, visiting both cities and everything in between.

Day 1: Charleston

We flew into Charleston in the afternoon, and after swapping our rental car (the initial economy car we were given sounded like it had transmission issues) we headed for our hotel in Mount Pleasant.

Mount Pleasant is right across the bay from the peninsula of Charleston and hotel rates for rooms with three people are a lot better for the weekend than what you can find in the historic center of Charleston.  We had booked the Cambria Hotel which was sufficiently nice for our sightseeing needs.  Close to the Arthur Ravenel Bridge, Patriot’s Point, and Sullivan’s Island we were well situated for the next three days.

But sightseeing would need to wait until the following day.  We arrived in the afternoon and we didn’t want to kill ourselves with a ridiculous itinerary the day of arrival. We just wanted some dinner and a chance to relax. 

We found a place called The Mill at Shem Creek which had a nice view of the river estuary while we had some much needed beers.  The seafood was just ok though.  We’d need to rectify that before the end of the trip.

Day 2: Charleston

Fort Moultrie

We started out the day a bit disorganized and instead of stopping along the way for breakfast we made our way to Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island.

There is something of a joke between myself and my wife about how often we tend to visit forts when we travel. It just seems like we make our way to historic fortifications as a matter of course, since they were important in our nation’s wars and we’re kind of history buffs. But at the same time she said she didn’t need to see one every time we travel.

So of course I decided to make Fort Moultrie our first stop on our trip 🙂

We had gone to Fort Sumter on our previous visit to Charleston in 2020 and that fort’s significance as the starting place of the Civil War makes it a priority for most visitors to Charleston. However, Fort Moultrie has a longer and more complex history since the initial fortification dates back to the Revolutionary War and the fort was still in use through World War II.

We walked through the fort and into the various bunkers to see various exhibits. The visitor center movie was a bit dated and corny but it also provided a good bit of information before entering the fort. Now we know why palmetto logs were effective against cannon fire (the rounds bounce right off).

My son Evan really likes canons and artillery too, as you can probably tell.

After visiting the fort we were pretty hungry and we all still wanted breakfast. It was already around 11AM and since we were on Sullivan’s Island we decided to head to a place on the island that had some good reviews on TripAdvisor. And it was relatively close, though still 5 miles away.

We drove to the restaurant and found that the parking on the island was pretty limited. Entering the restaurant we found that it was cash-only and we had no cash. In frustration we decided to forgo breakfast entirely and to go have lunch at a BBQ place in Charleston instead.

We drove across the Arthur Ravenel bridge (the first of many crossings) to Lewis BBQ. It was one of the restaurants that I picked out before we left for South Carolina since it had BBQ (a must in Carolina) and the prices were reasonable (a must for us since we’re not wealthy). It turned out to be a pretty good choice. I had a delicious pulled pork BBQ sandwich.

After getting some much-needed food, we wanted to get away from the city for few hours. It was Sunday and things were a bit more hectic than we were really expecting. We wanted to visit a plantation and I suggested Drayton Hall, which would deliver us to the calm countryside along the Ashley River.

Drayton Hall

The drive to Drayton Hall was pleasant and when we arrived the plantation grounds were practically empty (as you can see in the video below). We did see some people waiting near the visitor center for the house tour that would start a half hour later but in the interim we were free to enjoy an afternoon on the plantation grounds.

Exploring Drayton Hall Plantation

Drayton Hall is unique in that it is both an antebellum plantation and the house remains unrestored, remaining largely as it would have looked prior to the Civil War. Most plantations houses (including the one at Magnolia Plantation which we visited in 2020) were either destroyed during the Civil War and rebuilt, were built after the Civil War, or simply no longer exist. Drayton Hall is a glimpse back in time to the antebellum era.

Since we were alone to peruse the grounds we made it to the caretakers cottage, the privy, the reflecting pond, the well, and a great oak. While standing by the pond my son and I noticed a dark, elongated shape on the opposite shore. Was that what we thought it might be?

I walked around the pond and sure enough, there was a smallish (around 7 feet long) alligator lying in the grass. I called my son over and he excitedly dashed around to see the alligator too.

After this bit of fun it was time to enter the house on the tour. And it is a good tour with a lot of interesting information. The Drayton’s were a wealthy and politically powerful family dating back to before the revolutionary war. And they weren’t exactly on the side of the colonists in the War of Independence until they knew the American side would win. Then, of course, they played the side of the patriots.

The house tour includes the basement levels where slaves worked and lived and on to the upper floors where the Drayton’s made sure to show off their wealth in their choice of woodwork, ceilings, and furnishings. They also refused anyone to enter through the front door unless they were particularly high-status individuals.

After touring the house we walked over to the shore of the Ashley River and enjoyed the serene environment and the Spanish-moss laden trees with the house in the distance.

Driving back to the main road from the plantation we stopped at a pond where the tour guide said an alligator named “Big Momma” might be found. And of course, we found her right away!

Kiawah Island Beach

After enjoying our visit to Drayton Hall we decided to visit a place that we enjoyed on our first visit to the Charleston area: Kiawah Island. Last time we actually stayed on the Island at the Andell Inn, which had very reduced rates due to the Covid pandemic.

The drive was a bit longer than we remembered it being last time, but after about an hour we arrived at the beach. It was much more crowded this time around and there was an obvious sense that it was a beach visited by those that believe themselves the higher class.

Seagull at Kiawah Island Beach
Kiawah Island Beach

I didn’t quite get the same feeling I got the last time we were there, but it is a nice beach. Did I feel like it was among the top beaches in the country? Maybe not. Another day with fewer people I might think differently again.

But perhaps the old woman dressed in a ton of jewelry took away from the beach vibe. Who wears jewelry to the beach? And she was hardly alone in seemingly presenting a “look at me” wealthy vibe.

Beaches are for families and chilling. Lounging and relaxing in the sun and in the surf.

So yeah, we made it to the beach that we enjoyed in 2020. We didn’t get into our swimsuits and maybe that’s part of the problem. Last time we rode the waves. It’s all good.

One thing we learned is that sanderlings have some fast feet. We got a kick out of watching them race across the sand.

Cruise, Europe, Forts, France, Spain, Travel

Mediterranean Europe, Part 1: Barcelona, Spain and Cannes, France

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The last time I was in Europe I was 24 years old, which was ironically 24 years ago (the year 2000). And strangely enough this year happens to be 2024.

Too much time had passed since I last traveled to Europe and we had never gone as a family. We wanted to wait until the kids were old enough to really understand and appreciate the places we would be going. Additionally, traveling as a family to Europe is relatively expensive so it wasn’t something we could afford to do without a bit more time planning and saving. Which was well over a year.

Finally we just decided 2024 was a special year, being our 20th wedding anniversary year and both kids graduating (my oldest from high school and my youngest from grade school into junior high). So it was the right time to make not only a Europe trip, but a BIG Europe trip.

We spent time looking at a number of different trip concepts that might visit various countries before deciding that, because we were traveling as a family and were no longer twenty-something backpackers, it would be easier to not have to relocate our luggage frequently from hotel to hotel and train to train.

So we decided to look at options for a Mediterranean cruise. But if we were doing a cruise I wanted to make sure it hit a lot of ports that we wold find interesting as a family. While I had visited Italy in my twenties, the rest of the family had not. I have always been interested in Greek history so that was another country that was high on our interest list. And finally, Spain and Barcelona in particular, was a country I had missed the last time I was in Europe and was pretty determined to visit the next time I made it to the Old World.

So if we could link together a cruise to those countries, and any others that might be come with it, we’d be pretty happy. Fortunately we did indeed find a repositioning cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines that would travel from Barcelona, Spain to Cannes, France, to four ports in Italy, and three ports in Greece before disembarking in Athens.

A nine day cruise with two additional days in Barcelona and two more in Athens. Thirteen days (fourteen with the flight time). I did look into extending it a little more too so we could visit more of Spain, but realized that we would be better served just focusing our time in Barcelona and saving the rest of Spain for a future trip. And I also knew our work schedules just wouldn’t allow going past fourteen days. So there it was.

While a cruise would seem simple to plan, it was actually quite a bit more challenging since we would be flying out in the height of the European travel season and had to fly into and out of Barcelona and Athens on specific days with no flexibility in the schedule. And for whatever reason the price of flights to and from Europe has just been much higher than it has been in previous years. Part of that is travel demand. Part of that is fuel prices. Part of that is just BS from the airlines.

But we had over a year to plan and watch prices. Eventually in December of 2023 we realized the flights weren’t going to decrease in price and just booked what seemed the best flights to fit our work schedules and to arrive at the best possible times. And I watched all the local ticketing sites to be sure to buy our entrance tickets to attractions ahead of what I knew would be massive crush of other tourists in many of the cities.

We put so much time into researching everything about the places we were going and getting every itinerary for every day hammered out in advance that we were almost tired of it by the time we were ready to depart. But we knew that because we were taking a cruise, we’d have to be extra diligent about our time on shore at each stop. Additionally, we didn’t want to pay the inflated prices the cruise line wanted for excursions. We’d either do it on our own or book with a third party.

I will say at the outset that all of the many, many hours spent planning was what made difference in the eventual outcome of this epic journey. I will also say that we had to overcome a lot along the way and we learned a great deal from the experiences. No, this was not a relaxing vacation. It was never meant to be, but it was also at times highly stressful. To a degree we’ve never endured before on a vacation.

I do hope that if you have read this far you’ll take the time to read the whole account. And truly, it is a story that is filled with highs and lows but ultimately I think it’s one that is a testament to our ability to persevere and take on every challenge that comes our way.

The Flight Out

We booked flights on United Airlines. We’ve been Mileage Plus miles collectors for years. We have United Explorer visa cards and we typically convert our Chase Sapphire points to United miles. We used United for almost all of our recent air travel, either cashing out miles for free flights or buying the flights and acquiring the miles with it.

And on top of that we booked the cruise with United Cruises. Just to get the bonus miles post-cruise. Basically, we pile up miles so that we can travel more. On United.

We were never going to have enough miles to get free flights to Europe so we decided to just buy the flights (reluctantly) and earn the resulting miles from trans-Atlantic flights. Since we had the visa cards we can board the plane early and we could use the United lounge in Denver before the long flight out.

Almost nothing went without a hitch in the days leading up to our departure, but fortunately we did manage to all get in the car and arrive at the airport on time. And even though the parking experience was chaotic, we did get through security and to the lounge without too much trouble.

The United Lounge in Denver was a lot more crowded than we expected, but at least there was free food and drinks before the long flight to Munich, where we would connect on a Lufthansa flight to Barcelona. And clean, private bathrooms to get ourselves prepped to sleep on the flight.

When it was time to arrive at the gate for boarding we were there. We got into line right at the front of our boarding group. And readied ourselves to board the flight.

Then it was announced. We were delayed. Not because of weather or a late arriving plane. We were losing our pilot and crew to another flight to London that had been delayed two hours already. The unprofessional employees at the gate assured the waiting travelers that another crew was on their way. In the meantime we could eat snacks and drink bottled water.

We weren’t concerned. We have given ourselves a five hour cushion on the connection. That cushion would save our butts. Or so we thought.

We waited with several hundred agitated travelers as the hours passed and the delays continued to be extended. The gate employees laughed and chatted while frustrated passengers explained that they were now unlikely to make their connections and if there were other flights available. The employees nonchalantly either ignored the passengers or repeated the claim that a new crew was on their way.

We’re ok though. The hours were ticking by. The five hour window was now whittled down to two hours. No longer enough time to eat a restaurant meal in Munich.

At midnight, we were suddenly slammed with unbelievable news. The flight was canceled.

The Flight is Canceled?! Are you !*#$@& Kidding Me?

No, the flight was really canceled.

Now what do we do? Ok, we did have two full days in Barcelona planned before boarding the cruise. But the number of flights available to us at such short notice that could accommodate four passengers was limited.

Had United not toyed with us all night we might have had more options. But now our entire trip was in jeopardy.

My wife Shelley and I looked online for a substitute flight. We got on the phone with United customer care and booked the next, best available flights: Air Canada from Denver to Montreal, and then to Frankfurt, followed by a Lufthansa flight to Barcelona. We would arrive a day late and would lose a day in the hotel. Would they even keep our reservation?

We demanded a hotel at the hotel from United and were given two rooms at a hotel several miles away (fine), and then went to reclaim our checked luggage. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was already about 3:00 AM, and we still had to check into our Air Canada flights online and call the hotel to let them know we were still coming. Just a day late.

We had to get up at 6:00 AM in order to shower, eat breakfast at the hotel, and take an Uber back to the hotel (the shuttle was already fully booked for the time we needed). We ended up getting no sleep. While lying in bed I booked a new entrance time at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona since we would no longer be there at 9:00 AM the following day.

We managed to get back to the airport and checked in with Air Canada. And luckily this time we took off on schedule. At last we were going east now.

We arrived in Montreal and went through passport controls. Our next flight to Frankfurt was another Air Canada flight which made the connection easier. Still, we had to deal with an announcement that Air Canada would force everyone to check their luggage if not enough people voluntarily checked their carry-ons. We began stuffing clothes into our backpacks. The entire point of the carry-ons was to cover us just in case there was a problem with our luggage.

Despite the threat, we were never forced to check our carry-ons. We boarded the plane and had an inner section of four seats all to ourselves. Had it not been for the two obnoxious German twenty-somethings sitting behind us we might actually have been able to sleep. Instead we spent the flight having our seats pushed and listening to them loudly chat and laugh. A couple of Deutsche bags.

We did cross the Atlantic. That was the hard part. Even if the Lufthansa flight was somehow screwed up, we had many options now with all the regional airlines in Europe. The only thing we had to deal with now was our own exhaustion and getting through the Frankfurt airport security.

And another delay. This one only an hour. I had canceled our Welcome Pickup from the prior day an had booked a new one for our arrival in Barcelona. I messaged the driver on Whats App that we’d be coming in a bit late but we’d hurry through security and baggage claim. Fortunately, there was no security check on arrival in Barcelona.

Exhaustion was taking a toll and we were starting to get irritable, but inevitably we arrived in Barcelona. Our checked luggage arrived too. And after a quick stop at the bathroom we were almost feeling relieved.

Day 1: Barcelona At Last

I mentioned Welcome Pickups in the prior section and I want to tout it here again. I first heard about it on a YouTube video by a guy that does travel videos in Spain. I looked it up and booked us a pickup from the airport to our hotel: Hotel Balmes.

Our Welcome Pickups driver Cesar was great. Friendly, full of information, and ready to assist us any way we needed. I looked at the time and reluctantly admitted we were not likely to make it to the Sagrada Familia in time for the 2:00 PM tower visit, Another set of tickets lost and the opportunity to see Sagrada Familia in person gone.

Well, it was only 1:15 PM. There’s still a chance. Right? Cesar called our hotel and arranged for us to drop off our luggage and then check in later. And to have a taxi waiting to take us from the hotel to the Sagrada Familia. How cool is that?

Sagrada Familia

When all seemed lost we were walking around the outside of the cathedral looking for the entrance. We found it, showed them our tickets, and we were the very last people into the tower before closing on a Saturday afternoon. Everyone in Barcelona seemed to be really nice.

At Sagrada Familia an hour after landing in Barcelona

Again we landed at the airport at 1:00 PM and we were taking these photos at 2:00 PM. The very fact that we were able to visit Sagrada Familia with it closing only moments later and with no availability the next day was an enormous win. We took the stairway down the tower (the view from the towers is admittedly not that great), but we were able to enjoy the stained glass at its best.

After an hour we decided it was in our best interest to head back to the hotel and check in, as well as get desperately needed rest. Well, at least a shower and a change of clothes.

Hotel Balmes is in the Eixample neighborhood and I highly recommend it. It’s very difficult to find rooms in Europe for four people. Hotel Balmes has some great family rooms set on two levels with outdoor porches that worked great for us. Also the staff was very nice and helpful. And finally, it’s not necessarily a short walk to most of the attractions, but if you are willing to do a bit of a hike, you can get to the Gothic Quarter or Sagrada Familia.

Both kids wanted to sleep, which was absolutely fine. Shelley and I wanted Tapas. We didn’t go all this way to be denied our Tapas. And luckily there is a great Tapas restaurant only a couple blocks from the hotel called Cerveceria Catalana.

Enjoying Tapas in Barcelona after staying awake for 24 hours

I had effectively done 24 hours+ without sleep when this picture was taken at the Tapas restaurant. I know the food was great though and the two beers we each had hit the spot. I remember the cuttlefish in particular. Oh to have had another night and a slower pace in Barcelona.

The Gothic Quarter

After two hours of bleary-eyed tapas enjoyment, Shelley and I took our churros and chocolate desserts for the kids back to the hotel. They were both largely awake and I said we would go to the Picasso Museum as a family. After all, I had paid to book new tickets for a new time and we were not going to miss out on anything we could do before boarding the ship.

I will admit that was a mistake. The family was past the point of exhausted. We should have just gotten some food and let everyone sleep. Instead we hopped in a taxi and hopped out in the Gothic Quarter a half block from the Picasso Museum.

As we were standing in the museum our teenage son Daniel asked to see my phone. He wanted to check Live 360. He had left his phone in the taxi, and we could see it was moving from stop to stop nearby.

I didn’t know what to say other than to console him. Getting it back would be a tall order. I won’t go further into details but the rest of the evening was not much fun because he simply wouldn’t keep his emotions in check.

Losing a phone is hard. I broke one several years ago on vacation, and another time I dropped one in the San Antonio Riverwalk right at the start of our vacation. In many of the photos you’ll see myself and Shelley with lanyards either at our hip or over our neck. The lanyards are there to protect from the potential of either dropping our phone or having it pickpocketed. I highly recommend getting one.

The Gothic Quarter

We managed to get through the museum and to be honest, it wasn’t as good as I was hoping but the medieval palace that houses the museum was itself worth seeing. It was hard (impossible) to relax though because of the complicated phone situation.

Because of the flight fiascos and the my son’s losing a phone I felt like Barcelona got short-changed on the trip. Shelley and I want to come back and we’ll probably do it as part of a Spain-only trip (Portugal and Morocco might sneak in there too).

I will say that of all the places we went, the Barcelonés were the nicest and most welcoming.

Day 2: Barcelona and Boarding the Cruise Ship

With all we had been through in the past 48 hours it was feeling as if our vacation was going sideways badly. The next morning we made a last effort to recover the phone before we left the city, while still trying to regroup enough to get the vacation back on track.

We ate breakfast in the hotel and then I left my phone with Daniel so that he could remain in the room and respond if anyone did report finding his phone. Shelley, Evan, and I walked to nearby Casa Mila.

Casa Mila

Casa Mila was enjoyable and quite impressive. We needed a chance to decompress and the whimsical house was a perfect place to do it. We could do nothing about the missing phone and Daniel was still aggrieved over it, but we also needed a chance to enjoy ourselves.

Enjoying Casa Mila

Barcelona was Antoni Gaudi’s personal art studio and his architectural dreams are to be found all throughout the city. I was disappointed to not be able to visit Park Guell (we were supposed to go that morning), but I think Casa Mila was in many ways a bit better for us at the time.

What I enjoyed the most was the attic space where his vision came to life in the exhibits. Gaudi loved the natural world and looked to it for inspiration. He also was a brilliant architect and understood how to take simple chains and turn them into models for his structures.

As noon approached it was time to walk back to the hotel and check out. Daniel’s phone was still missing. We would have to leave without it. Perhaps it would be returned to the hotel after we departed and could be sent back from there.

We took a cab to the port and got in line. Daniel was still upset but was gradually beginning to accept the reality that his phone was gone. The trip had to go on. We made it on board and ate the first of what would be many less than stellar meals on the Norwegian Getaway.

Aboard the ship

Norwegian Getaway

Our cabin was a family ocean view on deck five, and it was in am ideal location for debarking and reboarding the ship since we were only one level above the gangway. And the bathroom in the cabin was quite nice since it had a double sink and a bathtub.

Once onboard we really needed to go to sleep. Desperately. We eschewed everything going on on the ship and called it a very early night. We’d been through a lot and just needed a rest. Tomorrow would come soon enough and we were ready to start the voyage.

I will tell you a lot more about this ship as we continue in the blog post, but to cut to the chase, while we really liked the ports that the cruise took us to, we didn’t care much for the ship or NCL as a whole. Of all the cruise lines we have been on we found that NCL was the most lacking when it came to matching price to value.

Day 3: Ile Saint-Margarite and Cannes, France

We had one stop in France on the cruise and and it was to Cannes. I will say that there are two sides to Cannes: The old, historic section, and the obnoxious wealthy red carpet film festival area. Don’t bother with the red carpet area.

I had researched this port and decided that we would enjoy most taking the ferry to Ile Sainte-Margarite which is just offshore. The island is about 30 minutes by ferry and the ferry departs right next to the same port where the cruise ship tenders arrive.

Cannes is a tender port, meaning that cruise ships cannot dock right at the city port but must anchor offshore and then use ship tenders to ferry passengers to land. We bought the priority pass from NCL to be among the first group with access to cruise tenders. On a ship with 4,000 passengers that makes a huge difference in terms of how soon you will be ashore doing activities versus waiting for your turn on the tender.

If you enjoy nature and history and just want to enjoy a quiet getaway from traffic and commotion, Ile Sainte Margarite is a great place to go. In many ways I wish we had just spent our entire day there and didn’t head back into Cannes, because we lost the chance to find some secluded beaches to enjoy. On the entire trip, despite being on numerous islands and in places known for beaches, we had zero beach days. 🙁

Fort Royal

As you can see from the video and photos we first made a stop at Fort Royal which has an interesting history as a prison fortress. The Man in The Iron Mask was held in a cell here, as were many other political prisoners over the years.

The fortress also house a Museum of the Sea and displays many of the artifacts found in the seas nearby dating back 2,000 years (although to be honest the signage at the museum could be improved). The ramparts are also a terrific location to take in views over the surrounding coastline.

Fort Royal and Ile Sainte-Marguerite

We greatly enjoyed walking the trails that criss-cross the island. We really needed a respite from all the craziness that had occurred the last couple days and it was relaxing to just wander about the island. Daniel was also finally starting to smile and enjoy himself. He enjoys hiking and he taken some French classes in school which he could now, years later, put to some good use.

There are some restaurants on the island and if I would have known that another museum on the mainland would be closed I probably would have just had us stay on the island until it was time to go back and skipped the dreadful red carpet area.

Old Town Cannes

After a couple hours we took the ferry back to Cannes and set about finding some authentic French food somewhere in the Old Town. Cannes is frightfully expensive the closer you are to the port but I had done some research in advance and found a fairly authentic and reasonably priced restaurant up the hill in the Old Town called Le Bistrot de Grand Mere. It was indeed good and we enjoyed sitting outside.

Old Town Cannes

I wanted to go to the Musee des Explorations du Monde partly or mostly because it is housed in a medieval castle (and can you go to Europe and not see at least one castle?). Unfortunately once we walked up there from the restaurant we found that it was closed. Apparently the museum is closed on Mondays and we were there on Monday.

So other than getting an opportunity to walk the streets of the Old Town and have a pretty good lunch, we didn’t accomplish much.

I didn’t really want to go to the Film Festival area and think the entire glitz and glam side of society is stupid. But Shelley had said she wanted to take a picture on the red carpet so we walked down the very hot streets along the port to the Film Festival site. It was also closed except for the souvenir shop. We didn’t buy any souvenirs there. Not our thing.

We walked back up the street along the port and stopped at a couple souvenir shops. We bought our youngest son Evan a red fedora. He wanted it and then later said he felt uncomfortable wearing it, then decided he like it again. But I will tell you it was a great thing for him to be wearing amid the huge crowds in the European cities. You could pick him out easily in that red hat.

We could have stayed longer in Cannes, but knowing we had to take a tender back to the ship, and the fact that we had covered most of what we could and wanted to do in Cannes (other than find some pastries to eat), we decided to call it a day.

So in the end, I highly recommend visiting Ile Sainte-Marguerite. It’s a great place to unwind and enjoy the southern coast of France. And just skip the stupid Film Festival area.

In the next post I’ll cover our Tuscany, Italy stops.

Caribbean, Cruise, Dominican Republic, Florida, Forts, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, St Maarten, Travel, US Virgin Islands

Eastern Caribbean Cruise, March 2023

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In March of 2023 we flew to Florida to take a Caribbean cruise with stops in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, and Saint Thomas, USVI. Following the cruise we used an open day in Orlando to cash in a free day-pass at a Disney park as well.

This cruise had waited a few years before it came to fruition, actually. We had planned to visit Puerto Rico and St Thomas on a Royal Caribbean cruise back in 2017, but hurricanes Irma and Maria hit back to back and we postponed the trip. Then we also were about to take a Carnival cruise in 2021 that would have visited the DR but due to the ongoing Covid travel restrictions at the time we had to postpone yet again.

So finally, with a Carnival cruise credit to use or lose along with the free Disney pass, we made reservations a year in advance and finally traveled to the Eastern Caribbean.

Day 1: Orlando and Port Canaveral

We flew out the night before and arrived at our hotel at about 2AM due to the time change from MST to EST. We rented a car at Orlando airport to drive ourselves to the cruise port, while also giving us latitude to make a few stops to pick up supplies before boarding the boat. At $64 for a less than 24 rental this was actually much cheaper than using Lyft or Uber or a shuttle service for 4 people.

We woke up the next morning feeling expectedly groggy but wanted to get to Port Canaveral fairly early so that we could make a stop at Manatee Sanctuary Park just a few short miles from the port.

Manatee Sanctuary Park

Manatee Sanctuary Park is a small park on Merritt Island. There is a boardwalk right by the sheltered inland bay where manatees may be seen in the right season.

We did not see any manatees or even dolphins. But we did see quite a number of other animals of various kinds all within a half hour. Florida soft shell turtles, a skink, a brown anole, a white ibis, and a warbler among them. This was also a last moment of serenity before we would be boarding what we knew would be a very full Carnival Magic cruise ship for spring break.

We then drove down to the Avis at Port Canaveral to return the car and found that there were already a LOT of people waiting for shuttle rides to the port for a number of ships. After about an hour waiting in the hot, sunny waiting area (and debating calling a Lyft or Uber) we finally got on the shuttle and made it to the Carnival embarkation port.

I had bought Faster to the Fun in advance of the cruise to help us get aboard the ship in a priority line. The cost was $125 dollars for one cabin. Even with the priority line it was still about an hour of lines and processing steps before we were aboard the ship. Without FTTF this would have been at least twice as long, so it was still largely worth it. You also get priority debarkation and a special Guest Services line.

You are also supposed to get into your cabin early, which we ended up doing but it isn’t clear the cabin steward knew this was a benefit we had (our room was ready but our room cards had to be delivered to us).

Chilling out in the cabin while we wait for the ship to depart

We were able to get into our cabin earlier than the vast majority of the guests and that was nice as the rest of the ship was full of guests laden with their luggage. Eventually we left the room to get some food from the Lido deck which was crowded beyond reason. Just finding anywhere to sit was next to impossible. This was the worst we saw the Lido cafeteria, but the honest truth is the Carnival Magic at capacity is a bit of a crowded place.

At 4PM the ship left the port and we started the cruise. We had some fun on the 12th deck ropes course (circling it multiple times to try every path) and got in a few games of giant chess (we love playing chess).

Day 2: Sea Day

The second day of the cruise was a sea day traveling through the Bahamas toward the first stop at Amber, Cove in the Dominican Republic.

We were still feeling a bit tired even though we went to bed early the night before (around 8PM EST). I was glad to have a sea day with no itinerary that day to fully recover from the flight and sleeplessness of the prior day.

Groggily having breakfast on Day 2
Passing San Salvador Island in the Bahamas

We took it easy on Day 2 aboard the ship and had a formal night dinner in the ship’s steakhouse. It was the best dinner we had on the cruise, which made sense since it was the fine-dining restaurant and charged extra (although the wine was complimentary).

For free restaurants, Magic did have a Guy’s Burger Joint which was among our favorites throughout the cruise. Guy’s Pig and Anchor BBQ was also decent, but had odd hours (2PM open and 4pm close).

A brown booby (that’s what they call these birds) swoops nearby our cabin on Day 2

Day 3: Amber Cove, Dominican Republic

The Amber Cove stop was our favorite stop of the cruise. I had looked at possible excursions for this port for several months and kept reading that the 27 Waterfalls of Damajagua was the most exciting and worthwhile. I had also read a lot of reviews on TripAdvisor etc to the effect that it was physically demanding and potentially dangerous.

After weighing our options I decided that we should go ahead and do it. But I also had to decide whether to book it through the cruise line or through a tour in the Dominican Republic for less than half the cost (and also give us the chance to be ahead of the crowds that would arrive with the cruise tour).

Finally I decided to book the tour through Viator with Edwin Transfer Tours. I highly recommend doing this as we not only were taken to Damajagua, but got another stop at a plantation in the Dominican countryside on the way back. Although getting to the tour van was a bit of a walk (they park outside the gates on the highway), they treated us great and it was a relief to be away from the cruise hordes (at least for a brief moment).

A rhinoceros beetle at Amber Cove

We found our way through the gate to the highway and only at that point did I realize I didn’t bring our passports (just in case anything went wrong). It was fine though. You only need your ship card to reenter the port.

We found Edwin’s driver and climbed in to go on the tour. We were the only four in Edwin’s tour group that day. The drive up to the 27 Waterfalls was pretty short but gave us a chance to look at the Dominican countryside. When I travel I enjoy seeing ‘real’ places and not the built-up, touristy places that are usually right outside of cruise terminals. Even cows can look very different in a foreign country (and they did in the DR).

After arriving we were given our helmets and lifejackets and while I was hoping to be in our own group we ended up in a larger group which included many from other cruises. It still wan’t too bad though (there were some arrogant, rude New Yorkers that ended up in the excursion group with us but they shut up when they got winded on the hike and we were just fine – we’re Coloradans).

If you read the reviews the hike uphill sounds much more intense than it is. If you are in relatively good physical health and especially if you hike it’s really nothing. My eldest son and I could have run up and back and then back up again. So don’t let those reviews deter you. Just enjoy the forest scenery along the way.

Once you get to the falls the fun begins. You won’t descend 27 falls but instead about 7 (not sure who is counting). While I would never, ever take a child under 8 years old (and I think that is the age limit), older children will have no problem with the help of adults. There are places where you cannot touch the bottom and you can optionally jump at a couple spots. Some of the slides are as high as the jumps in reality.

After making our way through the falls we hiked back along the river to the visitor center. There we had a better buffet lunch than we ever got on the ship. We were really hungry so the food tasted even better.

After the Falls we started back and the driver asked if we were interested in stopping at a market. We weren’t sure what the market was but we wanted to do a little souvenir shopping so we said ‘yes’.

The market was actually more interesting than that. It was a farm of sorts where tobacco, cinnamon, cocoa, cilantro, mangoes, etc were grown and we got to watch cigars being rolled. That was something I was actually curious about as well but since we had chosen the Damajagua tour I didn’t expect to get to see.

When we arrived a tour group from a Norwegian cruise line was arriving at the same farm. I thought it was kind of funny that we got a free stop at a place those passengers paid for separately. While I wouldn’t have been that thrilled with it as an excursion if that was all we did, since it was a free stop off it was a pretty nice addition. It did not compare to what we saw in Costa Rica, however, at a cocoa farm there.

Day 4: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Old Town San Juan has been on my bucket list for years and it was right at the top of the list of places I was looking forward to seeing on the cruise. I had mentally put together a walking route to cover once we were off the ship and for the most part we covered it.

I’ve posted our walking route here as a guide for anyone that wants to use it for future reference. The only difference is that we walked around La Forteleza on the south outside the wall and up to Calle Fortaleza. Google Maps doesn’t seem to think you can do that.

There were four huge cruise ships in port in San Juan that day and that was immediately a big disappointment as almost every sidewalk and historic site was saturated with people for the first several hours. By the time we were finished eating lunch things were better but we also had less time before we had to start making our way back to the ship.

Columbus statue and Castillo San Cristobal

Our first stop was Castillo San Cristobal passing the Columbus statue in Plaza Colon along the way. Castillo San Cristobal is one of two national park sites in Old San Juan along with El Morro on the opposite side of the city.

The fortress is huge and it provided the land defense of the city while its twin El Morro provided the sea defense. The fortifications were built by the Spanish in the 1500s and were so well constructed the US army used both in World War II for coastal defense.

Unfortunately at that point Shelley was succumbing to a stomach illness that I also would acquire on the trip, and because of the high heat and humidity she decided she would have to let the rest of us continue the tour of OSJ in her absence. We were not going to stop until we’d seen the most important places (and had at least one piña colada).

We decided Castillo San Felipe El Morro was next and made the trek across the north part of the city to the second fortress.

El Morro seems even more impressive owing to its position at the edge of a peninsula. The kids enjoyed reading about the history of the fortress and viewing the defensive walls and entering the garitas (the guard towers that line the walls).

After spending time in El Morro it was lunchtime and the heat and humidity were wilting us so we decided to head off to find some lunch. Along the way we came to the Iglesia San Jose which was built in 1532 making it the oldest church in Old San Juan.

This was certainly a cool stop and a relief from the heat and the crowds. I knew that in one of the churches was the tomb of the explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. We asked at the church and they said it was originally there, but it was moved to the Cathedral Basilica San Juan down the street which was a decade younger.

All the restaurants in San Juan were filling with diners and most were pretty much overwhelmed by cruise traffic. We found El Patio del Sam and were just happy to get a seat out of the heat and a chance to enjoy some local food.

Enjoying piña coladas. The kids had non-alcoholic ones.

While our drinks came out quickly and the sole waitress was nice, the food took over an hour to arrive and we really weren’t sure it was even the right food (we ordered empanadas and were served breaded, flattened meat entrees, but we were not going to ask to have it changed). A few other tables of tourists were getting grouchy and complaining to the staff. We just decided to be chill and understanding. There were too many people and too few staff.

After eating, the streets were dramatically less populated, which was great. We made our way next to the cathedral which was also pleasantly quiet inside.

We did find the Tomb of Juan Ponce de Leon, the conquistador that once reputedly sought the Fountain of Youth (obviously he failed otherwise we wouldn’t have found his tomb).

We also found a rather interesting relic in the remains of Saint Pius that were brought to the cathedral in the 1800s. I realized that these were in fact the actual remains coated with wax but let out 10-year-old Evan believe on his own they were fake. I didn’t photograph the saint as I didn’t feel it was appropriate. I honestly had a dream a subsequent night about this experience.

After the cathedral we set off for La Fortaleza but only after passing through the gateway Puerta de San Juan in the wall. This gateway was one of the last that remained of what was once an encircling wall but which was partially removed. The gate led uphill to the cathedral.

We passed by La Fortaleza but because of time constraints we had to hasten this last part of our journey and moved directly on to Calle Fortaleza after passing through a park square.

Unfortunately Calle Fortaleza was undergoing roadwork so we proceeded on and just made a few quick souvenir shop stops in the Old town, enjoying the scenic architecture as we went.

With time running short and our energy depleted we made our way back to the ship.

Day 5: Saint Martin

I wanted to do some good snorkeling on this cruise as it’s been rather difficult to find good places to snorkel over the last few years. Key West was rather disappointing (dead coral and rough seas on an overcrowded catamaran) and we really didn’t try in Costa Rica (although we considered it).

The last relatively good snorkeling was on our last cruise in Roatan, and prior to that we had some good experiences in the Cayman Islands, Maui, and best of all (by far), Belize.

So I booked the one and only excursion of the trip through the cruise line: Ultimate Snorkel and Beach Break.

But the excursion wasn’t until 1PM and the ship arrived at 8AM. Which should have meant we had time to visit the historic town of Phillipsburg, Sant Maarten.

Instead upon exiting the ship at 9:30 (we took our time eating breakfast, etc) we found that the cruise port is a distance from the town and just finding a taxi to town was a pain. We eventually decided that we would be better off just spending a little time at the cruise port shops before returning to the ship to put on sunscreen, take Dramamine, get our cameras, and eat lunch.

The flag of Sant Maarten

When it was close to 1PM we made our way to the dock for our excursion and after a wait in the hot sun on the concrete pier, we were taken to the boat.

It was good to not be on a crowded catamaran, but when we were taken t o the snorkeling spot we saw not only the catamaran but several other boats. The excursion just went to the same snorkeling spot as every other tour.

We saw ballyhoo fish while snorkeling in St Martin

We were instantly disappointed on seeing hundreds of snorkelers in the same area, but we didn’t have another option. Little Bay seems to be the default snorkeling spot on Saint Martin and it does have some interesting things underwater (helicopter, submarine, cannon, etc) and some colorful fish, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for (a vibrant reef full of amazing sea life).

What made it worse was my attempt to move to the edge of the group led me to bump into a barnacle-encrusted boat nearby. I scraped my arm and was bleeding but didn’t even realize it until we exited the water.

The crew weren’t exactly the nicest either. They gave me peroxide but acted like I must have scraped on coral. The coral was far below as you can see in the video.

Once we were back on the boat we did get a pretty good tour that led to the French part of St Martin and around past Maho Beach where the airplanes land at the edge of the beach. I got a video of a plane landing right over our tour boat.

After that we went to Kim Sha Beach which was pretty nice with warm water and a sandy fenced-in shore. There was no real scenery there, however so I was kind of disappointed we weren’t at one of the other beaches we passed along the route.

Overall we kind of felt bummed out by the snorkeling tour experience. It was neat to travel around by sea and have the plane land overhead, but the snorkeling was our primary objective and that was less than we were hoping for.

We did see a resident iguana lounging on the pier as we made our way back to the ship after the tour.

As for my arm, I was worried about an infection after exposure to the uncertain sea water and barnacles, but after applying hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, and some Neosporin I brought with us, I decided it was likely ok. I had to get right back in ocean water the next day, and since it had not yet scabbed over, it bled a little more in the ocean there as well. As of today (over a week later), the scrape is healing fine.

Day 6: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

This was another stop I was looking forward to and had once made plans for on a cruise we never took. I had read about Virgin Islands National Park on St John and Trunk Bay and that was really where I wanted to go as a first priority.

Unfortunately the only excursions that went there were sold out (there is one called St John on Your Own, which I considered). And the ship was set to depart at 4 PM, requiring being back on the ship by 3PM (to be safe).

It is possible to take a cab to Red Hook on the east on of St Thomas to board a ferry to Cruz Bay on St John and then an open air taxi to Trunk Bay (or another beach on St John). But with only really about 5 hours to work with and four cruise ships in St Thomas that day, I wasn’t willing to risk it.

So I decided on what is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean and the second most famous in the USVI, Magens Bay. Getting to Magens Bay would just be a short taxi ride up and down to the north end of St. Thomas and would provide a nice day on the beach without any real rush. Afterward we would have time to do the Skyride at Adventure Point (right by the cruise terminal).

The taxi ride there was $12 per person (or $48 for four of us) each direction, plus $5 to enter the park for 12 and over. So we spent a little over a $100 to go the Magens Bay. Overall worth it. But make sure you have plenty of cash (we did).

Magens Bay was exactly what I expected: beautiful, crowded with cruise travelers and the water had little visibility so you really can’t snorkel. There are better places to snorkel in St Thomas so only go to this beach to enjoy completely calm, safe water and a beautiful beach.

After a couple hours we wanted to return to the port area to have lunch and ride the Skyride. That unfortunately wasn’t going to happen.

When we got back to the port the line for the Skyride was ridiculous. There were four huge ships in port that day and Adventure Point was overcrowded. I also wanted to do the Pirate Museum but the cost of admission for us seemed ridiculous at the time. We were hot and overwhelmed by the crowds and just wanted to get away.

We ended up re-boarding the ship knowing that the next stop on land would be in Port Canaveral. But we just didn’t have a lot of time to begin with and everything was overcrowded.

In the end I liked Magens Bay overall but felt disappointed with this stop. St. John would have been better. The itinerary just didn’t give us enough time in the port and there were too many other mega cruise ships in port as well.

Days 7 & 8: At Sea

Our last two days of the cruise were sea days. We made extra efforts to enjoy the activities on the ship these days, playing trivia several times, giant chess, and taking part in family games on deck five.

We ate in the Italian restaurant and had the Dr Seuss breakfast with Green Eggs and Ham. We took our portrait photos and went to the White Night party on the last night. Might as well get it all in.

We actually enjoyed these days the most of the cruise as we were starting to settle in more. We were also starting to feel ill (cold symptoms) which I don’t blame on the cruise but we were getting a tad worn down physically by the time the ship arrived in Port Canaveral.

We found the crew to be very nice aboard the ship and enjoyed many of the activities on the ship. But the spring break crowds were as expected. The pools were crowded and there were often some significant lines at the cafeteria on Lido Deck. And the Serenity deck loungers were rarely available. We’ll cruise again, but not on spring break. It’s more relaxing with a less busy ship.

Day 9: Back to Orlando and Disney Hollywood Studios

With the cruise over we had still another day before our flight back to Colorado, since the difference in flight prices were substantial between Sunday and Monday.

We took the shuttle to get our Avis rental at Port Canaveral (which turned out to be a smaller car than I intended and we had several suitcases) and after stuffing ourselves into the little Kia Rio, we drove off to find breakfast.

We found a nice waffle diner in Cocoa Beach called C’s Waffles. We had some good waffles there and lots of coffee (much needed because of the cool weather and my cold symptoms). After eating we drove onward to Orlando and the Disney resort.

Both Shelley and I were starting to have cold symptoms and felt congested. So we canceled plans to go to Hollywood Studios that day as we were just too sick. And the weather was an unseasonably cold 58 degrees Fahrenheit. We would still stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World.

Once we arrived at the hotel and checked in we realized the resort wasn’t crowded at all and presumed the park wouldn’t be either. Also we really didn’t have any other plans for the day and the kids really wanted to go to the park. So we uncanceled our plans and decided to go ahead and visit Hollywood Studios.

Since we had our free pass I decided to put on the warmest clothes I could (my son’s flannel shirt) and we got aboard the sky tram to the park. It was very much worth it. We had a really good day that made up for the bad day we had at the Magic kingdom a year and a half before.

The reason we had a free pass was we complained about a prior visit which was a shitstorm in the covid era with grouchy staff and ridiculous mask rules. Now we had low expectations based on that but Hollywood Studios turned out to have some good new Star Wars rides, a new Toy Story rollercoaster, and the staff was nice too.

Our kids enjoyed the day at Disney a lot and honestly I enjoyed the resort hotel we stayed at after the crowding of the ship. The Caribbean Beach Resort was quiet and relaxing. We also really liked the direct access to Hollywood Studios from the hotel by the gondolas.

We got a late checkout for our room and then made our way to the airport to hang out in the United Lounge before our flight home. My cold was worsening but at least the airport lounge had coffee and soup to eat.

By the time we got home I would say we were exhausted and my cold made the flight a tad miserable (thanks for the in-flight tea). But overall I’d say it was a good trip. Maybe not as relaxing as I hoped for, but never boring either.

Forts, History, Travel

Photos from America’s Battlefields

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How many places have you visited from each of America’s wars?

French and Indian War

I have not yet been to any sites of the French and Indian War (which would include places like Fort Necessity, Fort Duquesne, and Fort Niagara.

War of Independence

We’ve been to Lexington and Concord where the first shots were fired and the Old North Church as well in Massachusetts. We also stopped at Musgrove Mill in South Carolina, where a regiment of colonials defeated the British in the southern theater.

Concord and Lexington memorial, the Old North Church, and Musgrove Mill muskets

War of 1812

This is a complicated one. Technically you could include New Orleans and even the White House. But I’ll go with Old Ironsides here. The USS Constitution sunk HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812 and was undefeated at sea against 5 British ships. Very impressive.

Old Ironsides, The USS Constitution, victorious at sea in the War of 1812

Mexican-American War

Most of the war fought between the US and Mexico occurred in Mexico. But the Alamo was the most famous battleground even if the Texas was not yet part of the US. The Texans may have lost the Alamo in a fight to the death, but they quickly avenged it at San Jacinto and won independence.

The Alamo, San Antonio, TX

Civil War

The first full-scale battle of the Civil War was at Manasses in Virginia. The Confederacy won and the reality of the war set in for those who thought it would be a quick Union victory. I also have included Fort Sumter in Charleston, where the first shots were fired.

Manasses National Battlefield, Fort Sumter National Monument

Indian Wars

Not yet, but Little Bighorn will happen next summer. I might make a trip to Sand Creek too.

Spanish-American War

Not yet unfortunately. We are going to Puerto Rico which saw part of the fight in the Spanish-American war.

World War I

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

This is not yet as well, although I will someday go to a WWI battle site in Europe. But the Tomb of the Unknown soldier marks the grave of a World War I veteran.

World War II

Yes, I have been to Pearl Harbor but I don’t have a photo to share here. I was 13 at the time. I’d love to go back there, but also I’d really love to see the battlefields of Europe.

I suppose I could count a bunch of cities in Europe that were invaded and liberated. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris was marched through by German troops in 1940. In 1944 Allied troops, led by the Americans and British, liberated the city and carried out their own victory march through the Arc.

Arc de Triomphe

Korean War

I don’t think too many non-Koreans are going to have one for this often-forgotten war

Vietnam War

USS Midway

The USS Midway saw significant action in Vietnam, thus we will count it here.

Gulf War I

Nope for this one too. Rather difficult unless you were a veteran of the war.

9-11/Afghanistan

No to this one as well. I would include the memorial locations but, haven’t been to them. Sites in Afghanistan are, well, not safe to go to.

Iraq War

Well, no to this one too. I don’t think the city of Tikrit will be a safe destination for a while.

Forts, Maine, Massachusetts, New England, New Hamphire, Rhode Island, Travel, Vermont

Journey through New England

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Journey Through New England

In the fall of 2019 we took a week to journey through several New England states to take in the best of the fall colors, historic sites and cities, covered bridges, lighthouses, and more. Starting and finishing in Rhode Island, we journeyed through Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Read on..

  • Highlights
    • Iron Works Restaurant, Providence, RI
    • Freedom Trail, Boston, MA
    • House of the Seven Gables, Salem, MA
    • Portland Head Lamp, Portland, ME
    • Swift River Bridge, Conway, NH
    • Crawford Notch State Park, NH
    • Apple Picking, Vermont
    • Billing’s Farm and Museum, Woodstock, VT
    • Minute Man National Historic Park, MA
    • Fort Adams State Park, RI
  • Lowlights
    • Emerald Rose Restaurant, Billerica, MA
    • Long Trail Brewing Company, Bridgewater Corners, VT