Traveling to Texas

On the journey to south Texas we did experience some Christmas Spirit at a few of the places in which we stayed.

This tree at the Best Western in Corpus Christi was very festive...

...and this Nativity in the lobby was set up very nicely.

When we arrived in La Feria on Sunday morning we found Miss Kitty to be a bit dusty but ready to get out into the sunshine.  No signs of mice, or snakes or even ants so Karen was happy.

So we hooked up, pulled her out, and loaded the bicycles on the back rack.

Forty miles down the road we were at our RV park in Mission.  Sixty five degrees and cloudy.

When we plugged her in we were happy that everything is working as it should.  We are settling in here at Mission and so far things are going as planned.

🎄

Happy New Year

🎉🎊

Looks Like We Made It......

...... to the bottom of Texas that is.   We left home on Thursday morning, December 26, 2019 and arrived  at La Feria, TX to pick up Miss Kitty on Sunday morning after 1820 miles.  Our only traffic mistake was listening to Miss Google near Chicago who told us to take I-55 south to St. Louis instead of I-57.  That lead us into a road construction project and a lot of rerouting that cost us about 1-1/2 hours until we worked our way out of the mess.  Now we are using "Waze" for directions and traffic warnings.  We spent nights on the road in motels in Bloomington, Illinois,  Malvern, Arkansas, and Corpus Christi, TX.  The weather has been unseasonably warm the entire trip as we saw 66 degrees near Chicago and 82 degrees at the bottom of Arkansas!  We hit heavy winds south of Houston, but in general we can''t complain about the weather or traffic conditions.  We arrived at our campground safe, and everything in the RV seems to be working just fine after nine months of sitting idle inside a storage  building.

We settled in, unpacked, and made a trip to the grocery store in time to watch our first Texas sunset here in Mission.  

We will sort through some photos and do some more posting in the days ahead.

🌴

Spending Time in Manhattan

Figuring out the grid between streets and avenues was the first order of business here in NYC.

The streets get larger going north and the main avenues get larger going west.

Bill's problem getting around then became the fact that we can not see the sun for all the high buildings so figuring out directions was a puzzle; without a compass.

Anyway....

we hopped on a bus and made made it to Central Park.

This is one of the reservoirs in Central Park.  Bill wanted to see some of the places he remembered from "Home Alone", but we did not have time to search.

At one small area of the Park we found this "ancient playground" that is made mainly of cement structures with sand underneath just as it was built years ago.

Central Park was preparing for the "Global Citizen Festival" that was going to begin on Saturday afternoon and last for ten hours.  Some performers to sing are Carol King, Coldplay, Metallica, and Alicia Keyes.  These are all police officers above, and this was still six hours before the festival starts.

We visited the American Museum of Natural History that is right next to Central Park.  It was rather dark inside and old-fashioned.

This skeleton of a large snake is rather rare and unique.

 This display showed when ancient primates first learned to play hop scotch.

(just kidding)

Saturday morning there was plenty of activity like you see above just outside our hotel on 6th Avenue.

Our street was closed off for many blocks and this is what the same street looked like Saturday afternoon.  Small private vendors were allowed to set up temporary shop for the day.

By the way, when the vendors packed up for the night the street was a mess and sanitation workers were hard at work cleaning up the mess.

We took a night tour that drove us around the city for almost two hours.  It was a beautiful warm evening.

Our open-top bus tour started at Time Square where the lights were brilliant and truly amazing.

 We were next to Broadway with their displays.

This is the Empire State Building at night.

These huge changing LED lights were on a building at the Metronome and were called "The Passage".

Google it if you want to find out how they are displaying time.  (It is complicated but interesting)

This downtown store has a long way to go to catch up with Bronner's in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

We have enjoyed New York more than we expected.

We fly back to Detroit Sunday morning.

We just may visit again to see some sights that we did not have time for now.

💓

A Few Bites of the Big Apple

Friday morning we disembarked the Zuidendam and caught our bus to our hotel that was booked by Holland America.  We are staying in the Hilton Midtown on 6th Avenue and 53rd Street. We are about six blocks south of Central Park in Manhattan.

We are just down the street from Radio City Music Hall.

We took a bus tour and saw many, many tall buildings that we will not try to identify.

This, however, is the Empire State Building from the bottom looking up.

We are close to Broadway.

This is the New York Library that has more books than any other library in the USA except for the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.  Note the sign on the right pillar.

Alexander Hamilton is buried in this cemetery.  We did not stop, but we saw his picture on a $10 bill. Ha!

This was a rich street.

This New York Federal Court House has been the site of many famous gangster trials.

This billboard showed us that you never know what you will see in New York City.

More on Central Park, Uptown, etc. tomorrow so come back for a look.
The weather is staying excellent.
🌇

Early Morning With the Magnificent Green Lady

Bill woke up early Friday morning, decided to put on some clothes, grab his camera and  walk up one deck to see if New York was coming into view.

This is what he saw  in the distance:

Interesting....

So of course he hung around with a few other early risers.

And as we chugged into the New York Harbor.

He got this shot of the beautiful Lady with the torch  - as the Zuiderdam passed by.

It was a morning to remember.

☕

We Walk Around Downtown Newport, Rhode Island

Thursday morning we anchored in the port of Newport where the America's Cup Sailboat race used to be held.

After breakfast we boarded a tender for a ride to shore.

We decided to do our own walking tour along the shops near seashore.

This turned out to be an interesting shop selling only socks.  Weird socks.  All kinds of stockings.

Kennebunkport, Maine is not far away so we think this is where the late George H. W. Bush may have got his strange socks that he wore.

We found an excellent antique store so that allowed us plenty of space to explore.  

This old life-saver ring cost almost $200.

This table was different for a conversation piece.

Does anybody really need a Zebra skin?

The small shops were unique.  When I told Karen we did not have room in our luggage for more shoes her eyes seemed to roll  back in her head.

Newport had plenty of eating spots, and here the Python burgers were not bad.

Just kidding.  🐊

This refreshment was more to our liking.

Tis the season.  Almost.

Newport gave us a chance to get some exercise and  fresh air, as well as some interesting stores.

This building above is the America's Cup Inn.

Tomorrow is New York city where we disembark from a boat ride.

See  you there.

🏢🏦🏨🏪

A Day At Sea so here is Information about our Ship

The Zuiderdam was built for Holland America in 2001 and it was refurbished in 2017.

It can hold up to 2000 passengers, and on this trip we have a bit over 1800.

We prefer a room with a balcony so you can step out and get a better view of the sights and the weather.

The ship has 10 floors and there are three main elevators.  Whenever or wherever you get off an elevator there is always a sign like this showing your location.  The red vertical line on the right hits the spot.  It is still easy to get lost.

There are two swimming pools.  This is the indoor pool on one early cool morning.

This is the same pool from above when the roof is open,

This is the outside pool and hot tubs that have been getting some use with our warm sunny weather.

We have a great fitness center with modern machines.  The two male instructors talk like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The string quintet is fabulous.  The cello player, in the center, went to school at U of M.

Microsoft sponsors a digital workshop that Bill attended a few times, of course.  Trouble is, we are using a Chromebook with a different operating system.

The ship also gives classes here but Karen is just rejoicing in the fact that she does not have to cook.

However, here is the classroom in which Karen has been spending quite a bit of time.

The people down there are getting to know her by name.

(PS:  we are not getting rich but she is having fun!)

Yesterday, we had a school of small dolphins alongside.

Bill managed to get one in the pic above at right.

Here is one of the many beautiful paintings on the Zuiderdam.

We had lunch yesterday with Mr. and Mrs. Dan DeGraw at the Mariners Luncheon.

He was Bill's high school history teacher in Parchment.

Today we visit Newport, Rhode Island.

Another Sunny Day.

🎾