Photos
We got picked up at the Sheraton by a big black van and it took only about 20 minutes to get to the port. There was no traffic. Since our pickup arrived early and we were ready and there was no traffic, we arrived before our scheduled time of noon. We weren't first here anyway. They had been checking people in since 11 am. Crystal pulled out all the stops making a Hollywood production of the World Cruise guests arrival. They made the private transfers drop us off upstairs and drive our luggage back downstairs. I had an unhappy hour or so while we waited for all 4 bags to appear. We found the 4th ourselves out in a stairwell. We got everything unpacked but have an electrical outlet shortage. The 220 outlet on the desk is loose and unusable. There is 1 110 on the desk and 2 USB outlets. There is 1 110/220 on the hair dryer in the bathroom but it only works if the lights are on. Not optimal but we have a power strip sitting on the old TV ledge above the refrigerator on the desk which has been left unfinished and a large useless space. We'll see.
We have a welcoming gala cocktail party at 5:30pm and an assigned table in Waterside (the main restaurant) at 6:30pm. So I need to go change clothes now. It is a previously unused category of dress code Informal. We only had pre-cruise dress codes of casual and black tie optional. We'll wear the BTO clothes. Tie is listed as optional for men tonight. No idea what Clay will do. I brought one fancy beaded dress for BTO so that's what I'll wear tonight.
Later.
Photos
Little Bob hits the road
Little Bob hits the road
Sunday, January 13, 2019
Last morning in LA
Photos
I think Clay has some food photos from dinner at El Cholo last night and from the Original Pantry this morning. I had been looking forward to the remembered as mythological pancakes today. When we got there I saw they had pancakes and buckwheat pancakes! I didn't remember which kind I had and loved and wanted to repeat! Assuming I'd have gone with buckwheat in the past as something different, I ordered them. These were just ordinary, not the fluffy, melt in your mouth pancakes I'd remembered and craved. Disappointment. Still massive servings. Coffee was only 85 cents with a meal! I'd made and drunk the Starbucks in the room since we were up very early. That was good as when we departed about 8am, there was a line around the corner waiting to get in.
We walked back and Clay went in the Rite Aid across the street from the Sheraton to look for some kind of ice cream. Now this was not our first visit to this Rite Aid, but somehow we'd previously failed to notice the scoop shop! This Rite Aid had a Thrifty ice cream counter. How had we missed that. Clay was thrilled, if disappointed to have missed a serving after dinner the last 2 nights!
We are resting after breakfast and waiting til closer to our 11am private car transfer to Crystal Serenity. Next post will be from onboard. There is supposed to be a formal World Cruise kickoff Gala onboard tonight. The next day the 1st segment passengers board and we sail about 6pm that evening. We prepurchased tickets for the USS Iowa for that day. Sadly, it forecast to rain again that day. It was meant to be a walking kind of day for us at the waterfront. Oh, well it's weather and you get what comes.
Photos
I think Clay has some food photos from dinner at El Cholo last night and from the Original Pantry this morning. I had been looking forward to the remembered as mythological pancakes today. When we got there I saw they had pancakes and buckwheat pancakes! I didn't remember which kind I had and loved and wanted to repeat! Assuming I'd have gone with buckwheat in the past as something different, I ordered them. These were just ordinary, not the fluffy, melt in your mouth pancakes I'd remembered and craved. Disappointment. Still massive servings. Coffee was only 85 cents with a meal! I'd made and drunk the Starbucks in the room since we were up very early. That was good as when we departed about 8am, there was a line around the corner waiting to get in.
We walked back and Clay went in the Rite Aid across the street from the Sheraton to look for some kind of ice cream. Now this was not our first visit to this Rite Aid, but somehow we'd previously failed to notice the scoop shop! This Rite Aid had a Thrifty ice cream counter. How had we missed that. Clay was thrilled, if disappointed to have missed a serving after dinner the last 2 nights!
We are resting after breakfast and waiting til closer to our 11am private car transfer to Crystal Serenity. Next post will be from onboard. There is supposed to be a formal World Cruise kickoff Gala onboard tonight. The next day the 1st segment passengers board and we sail about 6pm that evening. We prepurchased tickets for the USS Iowa for that day. Sadly, it forecast to rain again that day. It was meant to be a walking kind of day for us at the waterfront. Oh, well it's weather and you get what comes.
Photos
Saturday, January 12, 2019
In LA
Photos
I guess it has been a long time since my last post. When I last posted we were on our way to Florida for the holidays. Weather was excellent for our visit. Sadly, we were all sick during Christmas week and spent most of our time indoors! It was still a good visit. I managed to get all but 300 or so of my Flickr account photos moved before their free account freezing and deleting. I had to leave 2 trips worth of photos behind there due to the way I had saved/formatted the albums making it too hard to reconstruct elsewhere. Fingers crossed the photos left behind stay there!
It has been a busy last 2 days. On the 11th, we flew from RDU to LAX. It started badly with us first breaking the handle off one of the suitcases getting them out to the street, then realizing half way to the airport that neither of us had shut the living room drapes! We had to go back and start over. In good news though we managed to successfully have the house's water supply line from the meter replaced in a little over a half day on the 9th. So, it looks like we finally have our pesky leak problem solved but we shut off the water anyway before we left. Because the hall bath faucet that got broken searching for the leak, and which we replaced ourselves, has itself sprung a leak! And around it goes. We'll deal with that when we get home in April!
We paid AA about $950 for the 2 of us to fly one way to LAX. Thank goodness for that because it was just about tolerable but as it was an overbooked flight, I was glad to have the space and quiet of first class. It was still a long almost 6 hours. We watched movies on our seat back on demand video systems and they served us a meal that we'd pre-selected online. Clay had chicken and salmon and I had fruit & cheese. Clay had red wine and I had prosecco. The meal came with an appetizer of mixed hot nuts. It was a rather turbulent flight and I was happy to land. Once at LAX, it took about an hour to get out of the airport. They changed our baggage carousel which may have accounted for some of the delay. The rest of it was waiting for the Execucar private transfer that Clay had booked in advance online for about $60. I still don't know what that delay was about. We wound up downtown in the Sheraton Grand about 2 hours after we landed. We stayed here once before and loved the central location. We booked it online for just under $560 for 2 nights, but they've charged our Discover card $677.88 since we arrived so I guess somebody has some explaining to do. We'll see.
After we got checked in and our luggage stowed, we walked a few blocks to Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken. There is a small fridge in our room along with a coffee/tea making station. I thought we were going to get breakfast for Saturday, but Clay also got fried chicken. We got there more than an hour before closing at 9pm and they had fewer than a dozen doughnuts left! They had no chicken ready, so we sat and waited about 20 minutes for fresh fried to order. I guess that was better than old and stale. We had our doubts about the remainder doughnuts but they were good this morning. My favorite was the square PB&J one.
The room, 1006, was quiet and the bed was very cushy both top and bottom. I don't know if it was the stress of a flight day or what but we both slept well. I was up first at 6:13am. I didn't realize Clay had a digital clock on his side until I got up to check the time. That was earlier than we'd planned to wake, but too close to go back to sleep. It meant no rushing anyway.
The Sheraton Grand must be directly over the 7th St. Metro Center. I think it is a convergence of 3 different metro train lines. Very convenient. We wandered to find the entrance as Clay trusted his Google Map app over my looking out the window or around the hotel lobby. We had allowed plenty of time for error anyway. We bought TAP cards with our 1 way fare on for $2 deposit + $1.75 fare each. The $2 deposit is non-refundable! Anyway, it was still cheap and efficient transportation. We had a walk of several blocks on the other end of the ride. I guess I haven't said what we were doing today! We had booked online an Architecture Tour. We were looking for something easy, interesting and new for us accessible on public transit when I thought about Frank Lloyd Wright houses in LA. Googling found the tours and a query found that the FLW tour today was sold out. Laura though suggested the Hollywood tour as a substitute and it was a good choice. It began at Barnsdall Park and the Hollyhock House which was where the Lloyd Wrights began their time in California. We learned and saw a lot we hadn't seen or known before and got a refresher on some that we had. It was a great way to spend a rainy morning riding around in a van. We turned out to be in the van for the heaviest part of the rain. It was clearer before and after. Lucky. (Which reminds me to talk about the baptism of my Vera Bradley rain poncho! It works great which is a good thing since I didn't bring any other waterproof gear! It was my Christmas gift/ACL/Savannah souvenir.) After the tour, on our return to our meeting place at Barnsdall Park, we paid $7 each to tour the Hollyhock House. We were glad it was available. After that I suggested lunch. We first thought we'd pay an extra fare to ride a couple of Red Line stops further out to Musso & Frank. Laura had pointed it out and I'd eaten there before without Clay. As we walked back to the Metro stop, Clay wondered aloud if Papillon in Little Armenia would be a more tasty choice. We both agreed it would and backtracked across the park for Hollywood Blvd. It was definitely a more unique choice and we shared savory and sweet fried dough specialties. Clay described it aptly as fair food. They were all served piping hot and all were delicious. We shared 3 savory perashki, with one each of meat, potato and cheese. Followed by 2 sweet ponchik with one each of dulce de leche and Nutella and Oreo. They were all delicious. Clay asked but I couldn't name a favorite. It was an interesting and perfectly portioned lunch for us. We had originally planned to skip lunch and have dinner near the Sheraton at Mas Malo, but as I typed this Clay double checked our original research and found it permanently closed, so dinner plans are open right now as he starts over looking for another close by Mexican food place. We'll see! We wound up at El Cholo. We should have made a reservation, but instead wound up among a thousand hockey fans have a pre-game dinner out. It was good, I don't know if it was worth the 30+ minute wait though. Tomorrow morning we plan to return to the Original Pantry for breakfast before checking out. Crystal Cruises is providing a private car transfer to the San Pedro World Cruise Terminal at 11am tomorrow as part of our World Cruise. Then a new adventure begins!
Photos
I guess it has been a long time since my last post. When I last posted we were on our way to Florida for the holidays. Weather was excellent for our visit. Sadly, we were all sick during Christmas week and spent most of our time indoors! It was still a good visit. I managed to get all but 300 or so of my Flickr account photos moved before their free account freezing and deleting. I had to leave 2 trips worth of photos behind there due to the way I had saved/formatted the albums making it too hard to reconstruct elsewhere. Fingers crossed the photos left behind stay there!
It has been a busy last 2 days. On the 11th, we flew from RDU to LAX. It started badly with us first breaking the handle off one of the suitcases getting them out to the street, then realizing half way to the airport that neither of us had shut the living room drapes! We had to go back and start over. In good news though we managed to successfully have the house's water supply line from the meter replaced in a little over a half day on the 9th. So, it looks like we finally have our pesky leak problem solved but we shut off the water anyway before we left. Because the hall bath faucet that got broken searching for the leak, and which we replaced ourselves, has itself sprung a leak! And around it goes. We'll deal with that when we get home in April!
We paid AA about $950 for the 2 of us to fly one way to LAX. Thank goodness for that because it was just about tolerable but as it was an overbooked flight, I was glad to have the space and quiet of first class. It was still a long almost 6 hours. We watched movies on our seat back on demand video systems and they served us a meal that we'd pre-selected online. Clay had chicken and salmon and I had fruit & cheese. Clay had red wine and I had prosecco. The meal came with an appetizer of mixed hot nuts. It was a rather turbulent flight and I was happy to land. Once at LAX, it took about an hour to get out of the airport. They changed our baggage carousel which may have accounted for some of the delay. The rest of it was waiting for the Execucar private transfer that Clay had booked in advance online for about $60. I still don't know what that delay was about. We wound up downtown in the Sheraton Grand about 2 hours after we landed. We stayed here once before and loved the central location. We booked it online for just under $560 for 2 nights, but they've charged our Discover card $677.88 since we arrived so I guess somebody has some explaining to do. We'll see.
After we got checked in and our luggage stowed, we walked a few blocks to Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken. There is a small fridge in our room along with a coffee/tea making station. I thought we were going to get breakfast for Saturday, but Clay also got fried chicken. We got there more than an hour before closing at 9pm and they had fewer than a dozen doughnuts left! They had no chicken ready, so we sat and waited about 20 minutes for fresh fried to order. I guess that was better than old and stale. We had our doubts about the remainder doughnuts but they were good this morning. My favorite was the square PB&J one.
The room, 1006, was quiet and the bed was very cushy both top and bottom. I don't know if it was the stress of a flight day or what but we both slept well. I was up first at 6:13am. I didn't realize Clay had a digital clock on his side until I got up to check the time. That was earlier than we'd planned to wake, but too close to go back to sleep. It meant no rushing anyway.
The Sheraton Grand must be directly over the 7th St. Metro Center. I think it is a convergence of 3 different metro train lines. Very convenient. We wandered to find the entrance as Clay trusted his Google Map app over my looking out the window or around the hotel lobby. We had allowed plenty of time for error anyway. We bought TAP cards with our 1 way fare on for $2 deposit + $1.75 fare each. The $2 deposit is non-refundable! Anyway, it was still cheap and efficient transportation. We had a walk of several blocks on the other end of the ride. I guess I haven't said what we were doing today! We had booked online an Architecture Tour. We were looking for something easy, interesting and new for us accessible on public transit when I thought about Frank Lloyd Wright houses in LA. Googling found the tours and a query found that the FLW tour today was sold out. Laura though suggested the Hollywood tour as a substitute and it was a good choice. It began at Barnsdall Park and the Hollyhock House which was where the Lloyd Wrights began their time in California. We learned and saw a lot we hadn't seen or known before and got a refresher on some that we had. It was a great way to spend a rainy morning riding around in a van. We turned out to be in the van for the heaviest part of the rain. It was clearer before and after. Lucky. (Which reminds me to talk about the baptism of my Vera Bradley rain poncho! It works great which is a good thing since I didn't bring any other waterproof gear! It was my Christmas gift/ACL/Savannah souvenir.) After the tour, on our return to our meeting place at Barnsdall Park, we paid $7 each to tour the Hollyhock House. We were glad it was available. After that I suggested lunch. We first thought we'd pay an extra fare to ride a couple of Red Line stops further out to Musso & Frank. Laura had pointed it out and I'd eaten there before without Clay. As we walked back to the Metro stop, Clay wondered aloud if Papillon in Little Armenia would be a more tasty choice. We both agreed it would and backtracked across the park for Hollywood Blvd. It was definitely a more unique choice and we shared savory and sweet fried dough specialties. Clay described it aptly as fair food. They were all served piping hot and all were delicious. We shared 3 savory perashki, with one each of meat, potato and cheese. Followed by 2 sweet ponchik with one each of dulce de leche and Nutella and Oreo. They were all delicious. Clay asked but I couldn't name a favorite. It was an interesting and perfectly portioned lunch for us. We had originally planned to skip lunch and have dinner near the Sheraton at Mas Malo, but as I typed this Clay double checked our original research and found it permanently closed, so dinner plans are open right now as he starts over looking for another close by Mexican food place. We'll see! We wound up at El Cholo. We should have made a reservation, but instead wound up among a thousand hockey fans have a pre-game dinner out. It was good, I don't know if it was worth the 30+ minute wait though. Tomorrow morning we plan to return to the Original Pantry for breakfast before checking out. Crystal Cruises is providing a private car transfer to the San Pedro World Cruise Terminal at 11am tomorrow as part of our World Cruise. Then a new adventure begins!
Photos
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum
Photos
We're on our way to Florida for the holidays. This trip we've finally stopped to visit the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. A stop here was first recommended to us by Clay's sister Sue & her husband Mike a very long time ago! We must have driven by it on I-95 over 30 times over the years. When it was offered as a paid excursion by ACL last month, I balked as we'd drive by it again. So, here we are at last. I think it is a well done museum, but I am just not that interested in WWII history, so it was rather wasted on me. Clay was disappointed that the B-17 on display was not accessible (for years? There was a video saying it would reopen in 2014!) now. We were both disappointed when we went back out to the car in the parking lot to find that someone had keyed a big long arc in the paint of the hood. What is wrong with people? We did note the prominent and frequent signs in the parking lot to hide your valuables, so vandalism and theft are evidently expected problems in the lot out front. For the cost of admission, you'd hope they could provide a secure lot. Just saying. We bought our tickets online at $11 each, the senior rate of a $1 discount.
We are spening the night at a Sleep Inn at this I-95 exit. It is fine. It is convenient. It is a free night's stay for us using 8000 Choice Rewards points. So we can't complain about it! We found a Chinese restaurant very close by. It had a menu online and looked inexpensive. We went to fill the gas tank and eat. It was New China. Two problems, it turned out that it was a takeout place and while the portions were huge compared to the prices, the food was not very good. There was a lot of it!
So, that is our first day on the road. Tomorrow will be better because we'll end at Mom's house!
I don't expect to do much blog posting over the holidays. I am still trying to get years' worth of photos moved off Flickr before they start deleting photos from free photo storage accounts like mine next month. I'll be busy getting ready for Crystal Serenity's 2019 World Cruise too. So, expect new travel posts in mid-January 2019.
Happy Holidays!
Photos
We're on our way to Florida for the holidays. This trip we've finally stopped to visit the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. A stop here was first recommended to us by Clay's sister Sue & her husband Mike a very long time ago! We must have driven by it on I-95 over 30 times over the years. When it was offered as a paid excursion by ACL last month, I balked as we'd drive by it again. So, here we are at last. I think it is a well done museum, but I am just not that interested in WWII history, so it was rather wasted on me. Clay was disappointed that the B-17 on display was not accessible (for years? There was a video saying it would reopen in 2014!) now. We were both disappointed when we went back out to the car in the parking lot to find that someone had keyed a big long arc in the paint of the hood. What is wrong with people? We did note the prominent and frequent signs in the parking lot to hide your valuables, so vandalism and theft are evidently expected problems in the lot out front. For the cost of admission, you'd hope they could provide a secure lot. Just saying. We bought our tickets online at $11 each, the senior rate of a $1 discount.
We are spening the night at a Sleep Inn at this I-95 exit. It is fine. It is convenient. It is a free night's stay for us using 8000 Choice Rewards points. So we can't complain about it! We found a Chinese restaurant very close by. It had a menu online and looked inexpensive. We went to fill the gas tank and eat. It was New China. Two problems, it turned out that it was a takeout place and while the portions were huge compared to the prices, the food was not very good. There was a lot of it!
So, that is our first day on the road. Tomorrow will be better because we'll end at Mom's house!
I don't expect to do much blog posting over the holidays. I am still trying to get years' worth of photos moved off Flickr before they start deleting photos from free photo storage accounts like mine next month. I'll be busy getting ready for Crystal Serenity's 2019 World Cruise too. So, expect new travel posts in mid-January 2019.
Happy Holidays!
Photos
Friday, December 14, 2018
We're Going Around Again, briefly
We couldn't survive long without an upcoming trip being booked. Now wasn't the best time with the hustle of the holidays and the leaking water supply line in the front yard needing to be completely replaced, but when a door opens you should step through if you can. We did it.
We are booked very last minute on Crystal Serenity's 85-day 2019 World Cruise. I'll blog about it here and not create a free-standing blog for the trip even though it is in no way a road trip.
Here's an overview for you:
a map
an itinerary
We are booked very last minute on Crystal Serenity's 85-day 2019 World Cruise. I'll blog about it here and not create a free-standing blog for the trip even though it is in no way a road trip.
Here's an overview for you:
a map
an itinerary
| DATE | PORTS | ARRIVAL | DEPART |
| Jan 13, Sunday | Los Angeles/San Pedro, CA, USA | Embark pm | |
| Jan 14, Monday | Los Angeles/San Pedro, CA, USA | ||
| Jan 15 - Jan 19 | Cruising the North Pacific Ocean | ||
| Jan 20, Sunday | Oahu/Honolulu, Hawaii, USA | 7:00 AM | 11:59 PM |
| Jan 21, Monday | Maui/Lahaina, Hawaii, USA | 8:00 AM | 10:00 PM |
| Jan 22 - Jan 23 | Cruising the North Pacific Ocean | ||
| Jan 24, Thursday | Fanning Island, Republic of Kiribati | 9:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Jan 25 - Jan 26 | Cruising the Pacific Ocean | ||
| Jan 27, Sunday | Pago Pago, American Samoa | 9:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Jan 29, Tuesday | Crossing the International Date Line | ||
| Jan 30, Wednesday | Cruising the Pacific Ocean | ||
| Jan 31, Thursday | Lautoka, Fiji | 7:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Feb 01 - Feb 02 | Cruising the Pacific Ocean | ||
| Feb 03, Sunday | Waitangi, Bay of Islands, New Zealand | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Feb 04, Monday | Auckland, New Zealand | 8:00 AM | |
| Feb 05, Tuesday | Auckland, New Zealand | 6:00 PM | |
| Feb 06 - Feb 07 | Cruising the Tasman Sea | ||
| Feb 08, Friday | Sydney, Australia | 5:00 PM | |
| Feb 09, Saturday | Sydney, Australia | 6:00 PM | |
| Feb 10, Sunday | Cruising the Coast of Australia | ||
| Feb 11, Monday | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia | 8:00 AM | |
| Feb 12, Tuesday | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia | 1:00 PM | |
| Feb 13, Wednesday | Cruising the Bass Strait | ||
| Feb 14, Thursday | Kangaroo Island, Australia | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Feb 15, Friday | Adelaide, Australia | 8:00 AM | 9:00 PM |
| Feb 16 - Feb 17 | Cruising the Great Australian Bight | ||
| Feb 18, Monday | Albany, Australia | 7:30 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Feb 19, Tuesday | Busselton, Australia | 9:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Feb 20, Wednesday | Fremantle/Perth, Australia | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Feb 21 - Feb 27 | Cruising the Indian Ocean | ||
| Feb 28, Thursday | Mauritius/Port Louis, Rep. of Mauritius | 8:00 AM | 9:00 PM |
| Mar 01, Friday | St-Denis, Réunion, France | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Mar 02, Saturday | Cruising the Indian Ocean | ||
| Mar 03, Sunday | Taolanaro, Madagascar | 7:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Mar 04 - Mar 05 | Cruising the Indian Ocean | ||
| Mar 06, Wednesday | Maputo, Mozambique | 7:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Mar 07, Thursday | Richards Bay, South Africa | 7:00 AM | 9:00 PM |
| Mar 08, Friday | Durban, South Africa | 7:00 AM | 9:00 PM |
| Mar 09, Saturday | Cruising the Coast of South Africa | ||
| Mar 10, Sunday | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | 7:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Mar 11, Monday | Cape Town, South Africa | 7:00 PM | |
| Mar 12, Tuesday | Cape Town, South Africa | ||
| Mar 13, Wednesday | Cape Town, South Africa | ||
| Mar 14, Thursday | Cape Town, South Africa | 7:00 PM | |
| Mar 15, Friday | Cruising the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Mar 16, Saturday | Luderitz, Namibia | 7:00 AM | 4:00 PM |
| Mar 17, Sunday | Walvis Bay, Namibia | 8:00 AM | 11:00 PM |
| Mar 18 - Mar 20 | Cruising the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Mar 21, Thursday | St. Helena | 7:00 AM | 3:00 PM |
| Mar 22, Friday | Cruising the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Mar 23, Saturday | Georgetown, Ascension Island | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Mar 24 - Mar 26 | Cruising the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Mar 27, Wednesday | Dakar, Senegal | 7:00 AM | 11:00 PM |
| Mar 28, Thursday | Cruising the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Mar 29, Friday | Porto Novo, Cape Verde Islands | 7:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| Mar 30 - Mar 31 | Cruising the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Apr 01, Monday | Santa Cruz de la Palma, Spain | 8:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Apr 02, Tuesday | Cruising the Atlantic Ocean | ||
| Apr 03, Wednesday | Málaga, Spain | 1:00 PM | 11:59 PM |
| Apr 04, Thursday | Cruising the Mediterranean Sea | ||
| Apr 05, Friday | Barcelona, Spain | 8:00 AM | 10:00 PM |
| Apr 06, Saturday | Monte Carlo, Monaco | 4:00 PM | |
| Apr 07, Sunday | Monte Carlo, Monaco | ||
| Apr 08, Monday | Monte Carlo, Monaco | Disembark am |
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Voodoo Doughnuts
I'm back to talk about Voodoo Doughnuts. We first had these in their home town of Portland, OR. They have traveled quite well to Universal Orlando Citywalk. Today we ate the last 2 of the dozen we purchased on Friday night! We needed a lot more than 2 mornings to eat a dozen! So, I have some favorites and some not so favorites. We got an itemized receipt, so I know what we had. Here goes...
Clay's favorite is Apple Fritter. At $2.95 and dinner plate-sized, it is a bargain. Sharing or 1/2 a day seems a good idea. Clay tried to eat one + help eat his share on the first morning after the ant clean up and I think that just about did him in. That brings me to Memphis Mafia, our least favorite and most expensive at $5.25. It is described as Fried dough with banana chunks and cinnamon covered in glaze, drizzled in chocolate and peanut butter with peanuts and chocolate chips on top. It could serve a family of 4 dessert. It was overwhelming and too many flavors and too greasy. We advise against it. We ended up with one of these because when we originally ordered, Clay requested 2 apple fritters and they were out. As we walked away, the guy behind us called us back as the fritters had been restocked. Clay got his fritter but we kept the Memphis Mafia. Some of my favorites have cereal on top. Those did not store or travel well. The cereal was soggy by the morning after. Keep that in mind when ordering. If you aren't going to eat them immediately, I'd advise again cereal topped doughnuts. We got Triple Chocolate, Chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate frosting and Cocoa Puffs at $1.95. We got Oh Captain, My Captain, Raised yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting and Captain Crunch at $2. One of my favorites was Grape Ape, Raised yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting, grape dust, and lavender sprinkles at $2, a delicious blend of sweet and tart. A new seasonal favorite was Grinch at $3.75, another great combination of sour apple custard filling with sweet icing on top. It even traveled really well. Among regular selections, I also have as favorites Portland Cream (Raised yeast shell filled with Bavarian cream and topped with chocolate and two eyeballs, representing the vision of the great city of Portland at $2.45), the signature Voodoo Doll (Raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake (characteristics of Voodoo Dolls are all different) at $3.20), Old Dirty Bastard (Raised yeast doughnut with chocolate frosting, Oreo cookies, and peanut butter at $2.60) and PB&J (Raised yeast shell filled with raspberry jelly, topped with peanut butter and a side dip of peanuts at $2.95. The last 2 regular doughnuts that were not too special after all that, were Bar Maple (Raised yeast doughnut with maple frosting on top at $1.60) and Diablos Rex (Chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate frosting, red sprinkles, a vanilla frosting pentagram, and chocolate chips in the middle at $2).
Clay's favorite is Apple Fritter. At $2.95 and dinner plate-sized, it is a bargain. Sharing or 1/2 a day seems a good idea. Clay tried to eat one + help eat his share on the first morning after the ant clean up and I think that just about did him in. That brings me to Memphis Mafia, our least favorite and most expensive at $5.25. It is described as Fried dough with banana chunks and cinnamon covered in glaze, drizzled in chocolate and peanut butter with peanuts and chocolate chips on top. It could serve a family of 4 dessert. It was overwhelming and too many flavors and too greasy. We advise against it. We ended up with one of these because when we originally ordered, Clay requested 2 apple fritters and they were out. As we walked away, the guy behind us called us back as the fritters had been restocked. Clay got his fritter but we kept the Memphis Mafia. Some of my favorites have cereal on top. Those did not store or travel well. The cereal was soggy by the morning after. Keep that in mind when ordering. If you aren't going to eat them immediately, I'd advise again cereal topped doughnuts. We got Triple Chocolate, Chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate frosting and Cocoa Puffs at $1.95. We got Oh Captain, My Captain, Raised yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting and Captain Crunch at $2. One of my favorites was Grape Ape, Raised yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting, grape dust, and lavender sprinkles at $2, a delicious blend of sweet and tart. A new seasonal favorite was Grinch at $3.75, another great combination of sour apple custard filling with sweet icing on top. It even traveled really well. Among regular selections, I also have as favorites Portland Cream (Raised yeast shell filled with Bavarian cream and topped with chocolate and two eyeballs, representing the vision of the great city of Portland at $2.45), the signature Voodoo Doll (Raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake (characteristics of Voodoo Dolls are all different) at $3.20), Old Dirty Bastard (Raised yeast doughnut with chocolate frosting, Oreo cookies, and peanut butter at $2.60) and PB&J (Raised yeast shell filled with raspberry jelly, topped with peanut butter and a side dip of peanuts at $2.95. The last 2 regular doughnuts that were not too special after all that, were Bar Maple (Raised yeast doughnut with maple frosting on top at $1.60) and Diablos Rex (Chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate frosting, red sprinkles, a vanilla frosting pentagram, and chocolate chips in the middle at $2).
Monday, December 3, 2018
A Happy 60th Birthday
Nov 30 photos
Dec 1 photos
I had a mostly terrific time for my b-day in Orlando. I had second-guessed my decision to travel for 1 day to spend in Orlando after all the last minute travel we've done this fall, but in the end I was happy we went. We drove down in the middle of the night on Friday morning. We had one stop for gas and biscuit breakfasts at Bojangle's in Walterboro, SC on the way down. We arrived too early to check in and spent a couple of hours at an outlet mall. We went on to the Holiday Inn & Suites by Universal Orlando about 2pm and they let us check in around 2pm. It is conveniently located for an easy walk to Universal Studios and CityWalk. We had stayed here for a previous b-day trip and returned. Last time we checked in after midnight due to a canceled flight. The desk clerk took pity on us and upgraded us to the Suites tower. It was really a nice place to stay then! This time we got what we paid for which was a good-sized, clean room for $225 for 2 nights. The big difference in my mind was the view. From the suites tower, we could see Hogwarts. From the inn tower, we could see the new Hyatt. We really only slept there anyway, so it didn't matter. Since we were early, we took a nap. The beds were weird. They sloped from a high center to low sides. It felt like you were crawling uphill the whole time in bed. Both beds were like that! There was a construction project building a pedestrian bridge over Kirkman Rd. We decided if we come back, we'll try the DoubleTree which is on that side of the street. I guess it would depend on the price as it is only one extra street to cross!
I had a birthday dinner request at CityWalk for tonight. Tomorrow on my actual birthday, we'll eat fast food in Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. So by about 5pm we arrived in CityWalk. My request for tonight was Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. We had both looked at the menu and picked what we'd order. I stayed with my picks and my meal was delicious. Clay fell apart at the table and asked if he could get a plain hamburger with mustard and onions which was not on the menu. He was disappointed. He's not sure what happened. I had the Croque Monsieur which was perfectly done. I shared the flourless chocolate cake with Clay. We both agreed it was the best version of flourless chocolate cake we'd ever had. It was served warm and came with a scoop of Nutella ice cream. Clay decided if we'd both shared everything I ordered it would have been perfect. Maybe next time! My other reason for dinner at CityWalk was Voodoo Doughnuts. I wanted to take a dozen back to the room for 2 days of breakfasts. It turned out a dozen was at least a half dozen too many! And we left them out the first night and attracted ants. They didn't get inside the box but it was a mess.
On my actual birthday, Animal Kingdom opened to WDW Resort guests an hour before opening to the public. Still it wasn't too crowded. We had to swap our email printout ($260 for 2 1 day/1 park tickets + $25 for parking) for magnetic keycard tickets and go get a b-day pin for me. We were still in sight of the rope for a rope drop entry. That means you get there before park opening. For us that was 9am. We dropped the ball on booking our fastpasses for today. We wound up with only Festival of the Lion King show at 10am and Rivers of Light show at 7:30pm. We rode Kilimanjaro Safari before the show and got there too late to use our fastpass! We walked right in and sat right in front! The one ride which was the reason for the trip was Nav'i River Journey in the new land of Pandora at AK. That was the only low point of the day. We couldn't get fastpasses for it and had to wait 85 minutes in a standby line. The ride itself was only a 3 minute dark boat ride. It was fine but nothing really new or exciting. Nothing to warrant an 85 minute wait. Oh well. We saw Pandora in daylight and after dark. I'm glad to have done both. I missed a lot in daylight that was amazing in bio-luminescence mode. We spent the majority of the day collecting Wilderness Explorer badges. You can pick up a WE handbook as soon as arriving on Discovery Island. Then walking through the park you find guides and troop leaders who teach you something, or you have to do something in your book or the park to earn a sticker for them to put in your book. It was fun. You could at least do it with a short wait each time. If we'd ridden more than 2 rides all day, we'd have needed more days! We ate lunch at Satu'li Canteen. I had picked Steamed Pods (cheeseburger bao buns). Clay couldn't decide again and was going to try for a kid's menu cheese quesadilla. I saw a dish with 2 pods on it and figured rightly that we could just share one order. That worked perfectly. Clay was pretty much off his feed this weekend. Usually he is the one who has studied all the menus and is in anticipation of every meal. Not so this weekend.
We had great weather. Partly cloudy and a high in the mid-70s I think. It sprinkled on us for about 5 minutes in the afternoon. Not long enough to get the umbrellas out. We took in the last show of tohe day of Finding Nemo by walking right in about 1 minute before it started. Time for an early dinner. We ate dinner at Yak & Yeti's fast food side. Again, Clay couldn't decide. I shared my Honey Sesame Chicken and he ate an egg roll on the side. It was just right.
We really enjoyed the Tree of Life Awakenings and the River of Light show. They were both also new since our previous visit.
It was a good day and a good Birthday. Since I was wearing my button, I guess at least 100 times today random strangers wished me a Happy Birthday. There was usually just enough time between wishes that I was surprised each time someone told me!
Nov 30 photos
Dec 1 photos
Dec 1 photos
I had a mostly terrific time for my b-day in Orlando. I had second-guessed my decision to travel for 1 day to spend in Orlando after all the last minute travel we've done this fall, but in the end I was happy we went. We drove down in the middle of the night on Friday morning. We had one stop for gas and biscuit breakfasts at Bojangle's in Walterboro, SC on the way down. We arrived too early to check in and spent a couple of hours at an outlet mall. We went on to the Holiday Inn & Suites by Universal Orlando about 2pm and they let us check in around 2pm. It is conveniently located for an easy walk to Universal Studios and CityWalk. We had stayed here for a previous b-day trip and returned. Last time we checked in after midnight due to a canceled flight. The desk clerk took pity on us and upgraded us to the Suites tower. It was really a nice place to stay then! This time we got what we paid for which was a good-sized, clean room for $225 for 2 nights. The big difference in my mind was the view. From the suites tower, we could see Hogwarts. From the inn tower, we could see the new Hyatt. We really only slept there anyway, so it didn't matter. Since we were early, we took a nap. The beds were weird. They sloped from a high center to low sides. It felt like you were crawling uphill the whole time in bed. Both beds were like that! There was a construction project building a pedestrian bridge over Kirkman Rd. We decided if we come back, we'll try the DoubleTree which is on that side of the street. I guess it would depend on the price as it is only one extra street to cross!
I had a birthday dinner request at CityWalk for tonight. Tomorrow on my actual birthday, we'll eat fast food in Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. So by about 5pm we arrived in CityWalk. My request for tonight was Toothsome Chocolate Emporium. We had both looked at the menu and picked what we'd order. I stayed with my picks and my meal was delicious. Clay fell apart at the table and asked if he could get a plain hamburger with mustard and onions which was not on the menu. He was disappointed. He's not sure what happened. I had the Croque Monsieur which was perfectly done. I shared the flourless chocolate cake with Clay. We both agreed it was the best version of flourless chocolate cake we'd ever had. It was served warm and came with a scoop of Nutella ice cream. Clay decided if we'd both shared everything I ordered it would have been perfect. Maybe next time! My other reason for dinner at CityWalk was Voodoo Doughnuts. I wanted to take a dozen back to the room for 2 days of breakfasts. It turned out a dozen was at least a half dozen too many! And we left them out the first night and attracted ants. They didn't get inside the box but it was a mess.
On my actual birthday, Animal Kingdom opened to WDW Resort guests an hour before opening to the public. Still it wasn't too crowded. We had to swap our email printout ($260 for 2 1 day/1 park tickets + $25 for parking) for magnetic keycard tickets and go get a b-day pin for me. We were still in sight of the rope for a rope drop entry. That means you get there before park opening. For us that was 9am. We dropped the ball on booking our fastpasses for today. We wound up with only Festival of the Lion King show at 10am and Rivers of Light show at 7:30pm. We rode Kilimanjaro Safari before the show and got there too late to use our fastpass! We walked right in and sat right in front! The one ride which was the reason for the trip was Nav'i River Journey in the new land of Pandora at AK. That was the only low point of the day. We couldn't get fastpasses for it and had to wait 85 minutes in a standby line. The ride itself was only a 3 minute dark boat ride. It was fine but nothing really new or exciting. Nothing to warrant an 85 minute wait. Oh well. We saw Pandora in daylight and after dark. I'm glad to have done both. I missed a lot in daylight that was amazing in bio-luminescence mode. We spent the majority of the day collecting Wilderness Explorer badges. You can pick up a WE handbook as soon as arriving on Discovery Island. Then walking through the park you find guides and troop leaders who teach you something, or you have to do something in your book or the park to earn a sticker for them to put in your book. It was fun. You could at least do it with a short wait each time. If we'd ridden more than 2 rides all day, we'd have needed more days! We ate lunch at Satu'li Canteen. I had picked Steamed Pods (cheeseburger bao buns). Clay couldn't decide again and was going to try for a kid's menu cheese quesadilla. I saw a dish with 2 pods on it and figured rightly that we could just share one order. That worked perfectly. Clay was pretty much off his feed this weekend. Usually he is the one who has studied all the menus and is in anticipation of every meal. Not so this weekend.
We had great weather. Partly cloudy and a high in the mid-70s I think. It sprinkled on us for about 5 minutes in the afternoon. Not long enough to get the umbrellas out. We took in the last show of tohe day of Finding Nemo by walking right in about 1 minute before it started. Time for an early dinner. We ate dinner at Yak & Yeti's fast food side. Again, Clay couldn't decide. I shared my Honey Sesame Chicken and he ate an egg roll on the side. It was just right.
We really enjoyed the Tree of Life Awakenings and the River of Light show. They were both also new since our previous visit.
It was a good day and a good Birthday. Since I was wearing my button, I guess at least 100 times today random strangers wished me a Happy Birthday. There was usually just enough time between wishes that I was surprised each time someone told me!
Nov 30 photos
Dec 1 photos
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)