November 25th thru December 1st, 2005 - Holland America's Zuiderdam

The cruise port in Fort Lauderdale. There are many many ships that leave every Saturday and Sunday. It's fun to watch!

They had the pool area set up for lunch as you boarded. This can be an outdoor pool or indoor with the sliding roof. This is a great concept that I wish every ship had. Usually they don't have all these ugly table and chairs out. In fact, this was the first cruise I have ever seen set up this way. We were getting ready to cruise the Caribbean. Yay!

Our balcony cabin

Inside our balcony cabin. They aren't the prettiest we have seen, but it sure was comfortable, and Holland America is one of the only lines that have tubs for showers instead of just a tiny shower stall. They do have a nice cabin for the price.

One of our stops was Tortola and this is probably my favorite Caribbean island. The Bath's is something that has to be experiences to believe.

You actually take a ferry from Tortola over to Virgin Gorda to experience the Baths. This is SUCH a cool place. You wander through caverns like this in ankle to knee deep water... you walk through these rocks that are seriously as big as buildings... it is SO incredible! I didn't take my camera for the day. We were caring all our snorkeling gear and didn't want to chance ruining my camera. This is just one view of the areas where you walk. The echoing is very cool.. the colors that are reflected on all the walls of the rocks is something that I can't even explain. You just have to go!

Here is an area of the Baths... when you come out of all the caves.

Our favorite bar tender of this cruise, Chris. He was a martini man. Dan tried his different martinis every night. VERY nice guy!

Our ship outside of Nausau Bahamas (not my favorite cruise stop)

Cool picture of ship...

Another picture of the port at Nausau.

These are our tablemates. The old guys was hilarious! He reminded me of Jackie Gleason of the Honeymooners.

November 24 & 25th, 2005 - Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise

Fort Lauderdale is one of my favorite US cruise ports. It's close to the airport, close to the cruise port, and you just don't get much better than this place! There are canals all over. They call it the Venice of the U.S. There is endless beach... a great boardwalk and very nice dining opportunities.

This trip we decided to rent a boat for the day and go exploring the canals. This little blue roofed jobbie was ours for the day. We had snacks and no agenda.

First we cruised up the New River. I really would like to stay along here some time. It is so gorgeous and I love all the action going on on the river.

Just some little houses along the canals... oh if only!

A little neighborhood street...

Nice ride, eh? Docking... $1,000 a foot a night...

Another nice little bungalow.

A gorgeous day and I was getting to go cruising tomorrow... life is good!

June 18th, 2005 - Cindy's first trip to New York City!

This is the girl's trip to New York. My best friend, Cindy, had never been. So... I was going to show her all over! I was armed with my semi-new Nikon D70 and it was going to be a fabulous week. We had only one show on Broadway planned, Movin Out. This was the greatest show. It was over in a blink of an eye! Such great music and dancing. We both loved it! Since I have been to New York so many times now, I am going to use this post to show mainly my photography. There are some photos that I will caption.

Me standing at the start of the Mall

Here I am on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art


Here is the famous Magnolia Bakery... and I will say we found this place WAY before everyone else did! This place is oh, so dreamy! But... most of the time, you have to be willing to wait. The line stretches around the block at times... we have waited around all sets of windows before. There is no seating inside. It's all take away and it's all good.


Here we are waiting our turn...

Their cupcakes are so popular that you can only buy a dozen at a time.

It's very vintage inside... with mason jars with sprinkles... sugar... flour... and old fashioned mixers are running all over the store. I love this space!

This is their cake window... you can buy a whole cake or just a slice... you can buy a brownie or a cookie...or several. They have individual cheesecakes... old fashioned banana pudding, made with vanilla waffers... they have one of the best Red Velvet Cakes I have tasted (now I make my own) AND... they have the cupcake. It's such a bite of goodness!

Here you can see the road below and then the walkway above the cars.