Friday March 18, 2016 – Ft Lauderdale to Miami to LA
We had a very busy morning with last minute details. Tim did last minute laundry and cooked us a
great breakfast of lobster benedict with the lobster he caught on
Wednesday. It was delicious.
We locked up at 1:30 and headed to the lobby to wait for our
Uber. He got lost coming to us and
finally arrived at 1:45. The traffic getting out of Ft Lauderdale was
horrendous. We got to MIA in about an
hour, checked in quickly, went through TSA-Pre and headed to Starbucks for a
coffee and snack. We’ll have dinner on
the plane so we just needed something to tide us over.
We went to the gate at 4:15 and loaded onto our American jet
at 4:30 in first class. Is there really
something behind the curtain other than luggage???? The accommodations on board were super – a
private pod with a swivel chair, movies, great wine, delicious meal, and super
service.
We arrived on time and got our luggage. It took forever to get the shuttle to the
Renaissance. We finally loaded on and
had to make our way through the rest of the terminals and pick up passengers
before we got to the hotel. Leslie,
Lincoln, Lauren, and Lillian were there to greet us. We checked in and had a drink in the lobby to
wait for Chris’ arrival. He got there
and we visited for a short while and then went up to our room. With the time difference, we were tired so we
went right to sleep.
Saturday March 19, 2016 – Los Angeles, California
We woke up about 7 and it was very smoggy and cloudy
outside. A typical California day for
this time of year. We had breakfast in
the restaurant buffet – it was a great omelet.
At 8 we walked to National, not far from the hotel, and got
our van for the day. It was brand
new. We came back and I parked along the
street until we meet the family. At 9
everyone came down and I got the van. We
loaded up and headed to Paramount Studios.
Given that it is Saturday morning, it wasn’t typical LA traffic and we
got to the studio in Hollywood in about 30 minutes.
We took pictures in front of the Paramount Studio entrance
and then went to the Visitors’ Center.
We checked in, got out tour badges and looked at some displays while we
waited for our guide. Chanel came at
10:30 and we headed off on our studio tour.
She was very informative. We rode
in a golf cart through the studio grounds.
The first stop was a map showing the extensive complex.
Second stop was the blue background where they film water
and ocean films. The 10 Commandments was
filmed here. They filmed the water
parting by dumping water into the basin and then running it backwards to look
like it was parting.
The third stop was a NYC and Chicago set with store
fronts. Completely empty buildings. Chanel told us about all of the movies and TV
shows that were filmed here. We also
went to the restaurant where Rachel worked in Glee.
We loaded back on the golf cart and went to a sound stage
for the Dr Phil show. Then we visited
the sound stage for The Doctors. No
pictures were allowed.
Next stop was the Lucy Park and the place that was Lucille
Ball’s dressing room. Part of this
studio was DesiLu Studio which was all sold after Lucy and Desi broke up.
Then we went to the theatre where they have movie premieres
and showings.
Our last stop was a large building with props. A coffin, cars, robots, etc. It was fun, but I think Lillian was freaked
out with the person in the coffin.
We ended up at a coffee shop and souvenir store. Chanel escorted us to the exit, we thanked
her, and went on our way. A great tour
of Paramount Studio.
We drove a short way to Inn and Out Burgers. We had to park on the street at a meter since
there were so many people there. It was
a zoo! The line to order was out the
door into the parking lot. There must
have been 100 orders waiting patiently for their food. It took a while to order and then longer to
wait for our food. It was an
“experience”, all thanks to Arleen who told us to try it. When I told her about “the zoo” scene, Arleen
told me “well, you should have gone somewhere else!”.
We then drove a short way to Hollywood Blvd and parked on
the street. We walked around and looked
at the stars in the sidewalk. The stars
are extensive now. We went to the old
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (which has changed hands) and saw the old footprints
and handprints in the concrete for the old stars.
We were going to go to Westwood Cemetery to see the graves
of Marilyn Monroe and other stars but we decided to forego that.
We got back in the van and drove to Rodeo Drive and then
thru Beverly Hills. We passed the
Beverly Hills Hotel as we got on Sunset Blvd. We headed west on Sunset Blvd
past the 405 to go to Arleen’s. She had
eye surgery yesterday so she is recuperating now. We went to Starbucks for a coffee and then to
a wine store to get wine for tonight’s dinner.
We then headed to Brentwood to Arleen’s home. She met us at the door with her sunglasses on
to cover up her badly swollen eyes. She
and I visited while everyone else went for a walk through Brentwood.
Heidi, Logan and Bailey arrived and I got to meet them. Arleen and I had a cocktail while the others
were gone. It’s so good to see her
again.
Everyone got back and they said they had a good visit. Heidi and Bailey were busy fixing
dinner. Logan set the table. At 6:30 we ate dinner – lasagna and grilled
vegetables, wine, garlic bread, and then ice cream and cookies. It was all so good.
Tim and Caro cleaned up the dishes and we visited in the
living room for a while. We hit on
politics a couple of time and there were some “tense moments”!
We left about 8 and headed back to the Renaissance. We dropped everyone off at the hotel and then
headed back to National to turn in the van.
We had to get gas first and then got to National Car.
They had a courtesy shuttle that took us back to the
Renaissance. We went straight to bed as
it was a full day.
Sunday March 20, 2016 – Los Angeles to San Pedro – Embark on
NCL Jewel
We got up at 7 and had breakfast at the hotel buffet. The breakfast was included with our room
since I’m a platinum Marriott member. We
relaxed in our room for a while and finished packing. At 11 am we went to the lobby and checked
out. I ordered an Uber SUV and he
arrived in less than 5 minutes. We
packed up the family and their luggage and they headed off to San Pedro to the
port of Los Angeles. While we were
loading them up, Tim ordered an Uber for us and he arrived and took Tim and I
to the port.
We actually got to the port ahead of them. Since we are in a suite we got expedited
check-in. We met the concierge and he
offered to make dinner reservations for us.
The butler met us and escorted us to a special lounge that is used for
lunch for the travelers in suites. That
took a while. They announced that the
cabins were ready while we were at lunch, so when we finished, we headed to our
suite - #10002 at the bow of the ship just under the Navigation Area.
The cabin is spacious with lots of closet space and a pretty
good size bathroom. Leslie and Lincoln
have a 2 bedroom cabin and Lincoln is in awe.
We explored the ship for a while to get our bearings. There are 2,800 passengers and 900 crew. We aren’t used to ships as big as this. There are 800 teenagers on the ship since it
is spring break.
We had the emergency drill at 3:30 but we didn’t have to
take our life vests or go out on the deck.
We then opened up some champagne and took it to the deck for
sail away. We took our traditional
selfie of “The Cruisers”. Chris
designed the special Cruiser’s T-shirts for our 2016 sailing.
After sail away, I took a nap and Tim worked on his
iPad. We dressed for dinner and went to
the Lounge at the bow for drinks. The
family met us there. At 7:30 we went to The
Tzar’s Palace for dinner. They tried to
put all 7 of us at a very small table but Tim got us a larger one. Dinner was good and service was quick. I was surprised that there weren’t many
people in the dining room. But there are
a lot of dining venues on this ship.
After dinner, Leslie took Lillian to their cabin as she was
tired. The rest of us went to the theatre
for the Sail Away Show. The singers and
dancers were good and there was a large cast.
There was a huge orchestra. The
cruise director told jokes and a “magician” did some tricks. At 10:10 the show was over and we headed to
our cabin for a well-deserved night’s sleep. It was a busy day.
The Cruisers are headed to Mexico!
Monday March 21, 2016 – At Sea on NCL Jewel
We got up at 7 am. I
had a few issues to handle – a showing for one of my listings and an AC out at
one of our rental properties. I handled
that and at 8 am Tim and I headed to the gym to meet Leslie for yoga. The instructor was good and he helped focus
us on our breathing. I was able to do
most of the moves and it was energizing.
Tim stayed in the gym and did his exercise routine while I
returned to the cabin and updated the blog.
We showered, dressed, and then walked around for a
while. We spent the rest of the morning
relaxing and reading. We went up on deck
about 11 and found Chris and the LP4s.
Lillian was enjoying the water slide but she said it was very cold and
short. At noon, Tim and I went into our
private dining room reserved only for suites and had a light lunch.
At 2 pm we met with the cruise consultant about a future
cruise to Alaska. It was expensive so I
asked Nancy to work on it.
Tim finished his exercise routine in the afternoon and I
relaxed and read. At 6 we went to
Spinnaker and had a drink with our bartender, Mark. We got to talk to him for a while as it
wasn’t busy. And we got to watch the sun
set over the Pacific.
At 7 we went to the theatre and watched the singers and
dancers perform. They were pretty good
for most of it. The theatre on NCL is
huge and the staging and sets are somewhat elaborate.
At 8 we headed to Le Bistro for dinner with the family. It was a French restaurant and delicious. We all enjoyed French specialties, except
Lillian who had her favorite butter noodles with nothing on them.
We had dessert and an after dinner drink there too. By the end of dinner it was almost 10:30 so
we all retired to our cabins and got a good night’s sleep.
Tomorrow Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Tuesday March 22, 2016 -
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
We got up about 8.
Tim went for breakfast and I had coffee in our cabin, made on our
special coffee maker. It’s pretty good.
We caught up on email in the morning and got ready for our
respective tours. Tim is scuba diving
and I’m going on a Desert and Camel Ride Experience in the Baha desert.
I got a quick lunch at 11 by the pool grill. Tim left early to go explore in Cabo San
Lucas. I met the family at 12:15 and
they had already called us for the tender ride ashore. The tender service was well organized. We got ashore quickly but had to wait there
for everyone else to arrive.
They loaded us up on buses and we took a 25 minute ride out
to a ranch overlooking the Pacific Ocean north of Cabo San Lucas. We got in a 4 by 4 and rode down near the
ocean where the camels were kept. Our
guide, Jose Luis, explained all about the dromendary camels. He told us that they originally came from
Canada many, many years ago.
We got to take pictures with Snowflake who pretended that
she was kissing us. She had really bad
breath. Then we put on helmets with a
covering to make us look like Lawrence of Arabia and loaded on our camels. Lillian and I had Cleopatra while Chris and
Lauren had Morena. They were tied
together and we had a camel herder leading us.
The camel ride was for about 20 minutes and we went down by
the Pacific and they walked in the sand and then back to the corral. It was a lot of fun and the girls enjoyed it.
Then we got back in the 4X4’s and went to a shelter area
where they were selling the pictures of the camels and they had a buffet of
Mexican food. They showed us how to make
tortillas by hand by grinding maize and they explained about the various types
of tequila. It was good.
We then loaded back onto the 4X4’s and went back to the main
area and waited for the buses to take us back to the port. Back in town, Leslie and Lincoln went for a
drink at a bar and Chris, Lauren, Lillian and I went back to the ship on the
tender. Tim met up with us on the tender
as he had just gotten back from his dive.
Tim was hungry after his dive so we went to the grill and he
got something to eat and we had a drink.
We showered and relaxed until 7:30 and then went to Spinnaker for a
drink with Mark.
We met the family at 8 for dinner at the churrascaria, the
Brazilian steakhouse. It was good but
salty. After dinner we retired to our
rooms as we were all beat. A fun excursion
in Cabo San Lucas.
There was a beautiful full moon tonight over the Pacific.
Wednesday March 23, 2016 – Mazatlan, Mexico
We got up early and had coffee in our room. We went to disembarkation at 8 and waited on
the pier for the rest of the family. They were late – again! We met our tour guide and loaded on a bus for
the 40 minute ride to the Mazatlan Hotel.
We got towels and headed to the beach but all of the chairs were
occupied. Tim and I spread our towels on
the sand but Lincoln was persistent and found several chairs and lounges
scattered around. We relaxed for a while
and it was cloudy, but then the sun came out.
We bargained with several of the merchants. Lincoln bought a small hammock. I bargained for a mask and 2 kaftans that
we’ll wear in LA for dinner with Arleen.
We enjoyed the scenery and weather.
A relaxing beach day.
At 12:30 they opened the cruise only buffet line. A typical Mexican buffet. As Tim said, it was fuel.
We relaxed a while back on the beach and then Lauren went parasailing. She had a great time. I bought Leslie and Lillian some shell
jewelry.
About 2, Tim, Chris, and I went to reception and they
secured a taxi for us to get back to the ship.
It was a circuitous route that he had to take because of road work. At the port, Chris did some shopping and Tim
and I went back on board and napped.
At 6 we went up on the deck and had a drink for sunset. It was pretty. We then went to see Mark in Spinnakers and
had another drink that we took with us to the theatre for the Luminescence
Show. The two acrobats were great. We
got to sit with the family and everyone enjoyed the show.
After the show we went to the champagne bar and had another
drink. Then at 8:30 we went to Teppanyaki
Restaurant, the Japanese grill restaurant.
The “show” was great as our chef was a character. He was from The Philippines and did all kinds
of crazy things including throwing food into our open mouths. A lot of laughter.
Lillian had gone to the kids’ club but she didn’t enjoy
it. Chris went to get her for dessert
but she didn’t want any.
After dinner, we went to the cabin as we have a very early
day tomorrow for our excursion in Puerto Vallarta. Another fun day on our Mexican holiday.
Thursday March 24, 2016 – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
We got up at 7 and had coffee in our cabin. We met the family at 7:45 in the theatre and
they called our tour at 8. We left the
ship and met Pablo, our tour guide. The
boat for our tour was docked right next to the NCL Jewel so we didn’t have far
to go. We headed off on the catamaran
and sailed south past some rocky islands with arches that you could see
through. We stopped at a secluded spot
where we stopped for snorkeling. The people
snorkeling were all bunched up and there weren’t many fish. The water was refreshing.
Leslie and Lillian went kayaking. Unfortunately, that upset Lillian’s stomach
and she got sick.
We sailed further south to Yalapa, a very secluded spot
accessible only by boat. I stayed with
Lillian and we went to the beach so she could get on land and settle her
stomach. Everyone else took a hike up to
see a waterfall.
Lillian and I had a good chat on the beach. I started bargaining with the ladies for
sarongs for the girls but they wouldn’t bargain. I held my ground. At the end of the day, one lady came back and
she agreed to my price for 2 of them so Lauren and Lillian both picked out
sarongs that they liked.
We loaded back on the catamaran and headed back to the
ship. As we got close to Puerto Vallarta
the crew put on a show with them acting like Mick Jagger, Christina Anguilera,
and others. It was really fun and they
were good at it.
We got back about 3:30 and were supposed to meet Dag Arne
and Christian who are visiting PV from Oslo but we don’t have time and all
aboard is at 4:30. We got aboard and
napped and showered. At 6:30 we went to
Spinnakers for a drink. As the sun was
setting we headed out on the bow of the ship upstairs to watch it sink below
the horizon.
We then went to Moderno and had a glass of wine. We talked to a couple of servers there – one
from Macedonia and one from India. The
servers are all very personable. At 8:15
we headed in to Cagneys Steakhouse and waited for the family. We were dressed in white as tonight is the
big White Party. We’ll see if we make it
that far.
Dinner was good.
Steaks were good and service good.
After dinner, we were a bit toasted, so we headed back to the
cabin. We stopped by the family suite so
Tim could see the accommodations for the Pagels. After that we headed to bed. I think the sun took it out of us today.
We gain an hour tonight as we head back to LA so we will get
a long night’s sleep.
Friday March 25, 2016 – At Sea on NCL Jewel
We got up at 8 after sleeping a very long time. Another beautiful day on the Pacific. We are heading north back to LA. We’ll have two days at sea.
I worked on email and the blog until mid-morning and then we
walked around for a while. We met Leslie
and Lauren at the sushi bar for lunch.
The sushi rollers were both from The Philippines and the sushi was
delicious. I had some wine with my sushi
and that made me sleepy.
It was a relaxing afternoon napping and relaxing. We went for ice cream and walked around on
deck but it was windy and blustery outside.
Not a good pool day.
We dressed and went for a drink at 6 pm. We picked up Lauren at 7 and went to the
Stardust Theatre for Le Cirque Bijou.
The dancers and acrobats were excellent.
An enjoyable show.
We went to Tzar’s Palace for dinner. We enjoyed our time with Lauren and dinner
was good. After dinner, we went to the
sports bar where Lincoln and Leslie were bemoaning the fact that Indiana lost
to North Carolina. Chris was very happy. We talked with them for a while and then we
went to Spinnaker’s Bar for an after dinner drink. They were getting ready for a toga party
there and the costumes were interesting to say the least. We went to the cabin about 11 and off to
sleep.
Saturday March 26, 2016 – At Sea on NCL Jewel
We got up about 7.
Tim went to the gym while I started packing to disembark tomorrow. I took care of some showings and the blog.
Tim came back and showered and then went for breakfast. I was able to get most of my packing
done. Lots of dirty clothes to wash when
we get back to LA.
We walked around and went up to Bingo in the lounge but it
was freezing up there. We went to the
reception desk and I took care of the gratuities for Chris and Leslie’s
cabins. We relaxed in the common areas
for a while and people watched and then returned to a clean cabin.
I met Leslie at 12:30 in Moderno for lunch. Ricky from Bali was our waiter again. We had a good father-daughter lunch.
We napped in the afternoon.
The sea is very rough and the ship is rocking this afternoon. Leslie told me that Lauren was feeling ill
from the ship’s movements.
It was a lazy afternoon and the weather was chilly and still
blustery. We dressed about 6:30 and went
to Spinnaker’s Lounge for one last drink with our favorite bartender Mark.
We met the family at 8:15 for dinner in La Cucina, the
Italian restaurant.
Sunday March 27, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA
The shipped docked back in LA during the early morning. We got up at 7 and had breakfast in Moderno. We had “Priority” tags on our luggage since
we were in a suite so we can disembark anytime we want.
We said Goodbye to the Pagels and Chris and they were on
their way home about 8:30. They will be traveling all day to fly back
east.
We left the ship about 9:15, got in a taxi and headed back
to Arleen’s home in Brentwood. She has
company visiting and prepared an Easter brunch for us all before her company
headed back to Calgary. On the way a car
was clipped on the front-end and spun around right in front of us. We missed it but it was a close call.
We got to Arleen’s about 10:15 and met Cheech and Perry from
Calgary. Nice people. Arleen and Cheech had fixed a great Easter
Sunday brunch and we ate out on the patio.
Perry knows all about US politics and hates the conservatives, so we had
a lively discussion.
After lunch, Cheech and Perry left to begin a several day
drive back home. We relaxed around
Arleen’s house and she iced her eyes.
Arleen got out a puzzle that Cheech and Perry had brought her of the
Petrified Forest and we began that. It’s
a hard one.
For dinner Arleen fixed a duck and we ate out on the patio
again. Caro joined us.
We enjoyed the evening and headed to bed about 10:30 pm.
Monday March 28, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA – Newport Beach, CA
We got up about 7 am and it was very cold. It had rained some during the night. We had a breakfast spread with Arleen –
breads, fruit, and salmon. We relaxed
around Arleen’s for the morning and she fixed a large salad for lunch.
We left at 1:30 and went with Arleen to the VA Hospital to
give ribs to her friend there. We
dropped Arleen off and headed south to Newport Beach. The traffic on the 405 was touch and go in
many places, but we stayed in the HOV lane and that helped our progress.
We got to Newport Beach about 3 and stopped at a Starbucks
for a coffee. We went to John and Janet
Wells house on the bay. It was good to
see them. They fixed drinks and had
appetizers ready to go. We got on their
Duffy, an electric boat, and they took us for a tour around Newport Beach. Lots of celebrities have (or had) houses
there including Roy Rogers and Nicholas Cage.
We road in the Duffy for about 2 hours and then headed back
to their home. They had fixed a lasagna
dinner so we sat down about 6:30 for that.
It was good and we had fun catching up with each other.
After dinner they showed us a DVD of their private jet
around the world adventure with National Geographic. Janet said that was the best trip she has
ever been on.
We walked with them 2 blocks over to the beach and it was
windy and cold. We didn’t stay
long. The beach here is huge.
We then got our things and headed back to Brentwood. We didn’t get back until about 11 pm and
everyone was asleep. Heidi, Logan, and
Bailey had arrived from Hawaii earlier in the evening but everyone was
asleep. We went straight to bed.
Tuesday March 29, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA
We got up about 7 again and had coffee. Arleen appeared about 9 and we had a light
breakfast – lots of fruit in this house!
We had breakfast with Heidi and the kids and heard about their trip to
Maui. They left after breakfast to head
back to Fresno.
We left a little after 10 and went to the Frederick Weisman
Museum in Bel Air. Weisman collected art
of all kinds and his wife turned his home into a museum. It was fascinating. Not only was the collection great but the
house was great.
We left that about noon and went to a Mexican restaurant for
lunch. That was good too.
We rode around Beverly Hills for a while and then headed
back to Arleen’s house. A nap was in
order.
We had drinks around 6 and Arleen fixed dinner for us. We ate in the dining room since it has been
very chilly. Off and on, Tim and I are
working on the puzzle of the Petrified Forest.
It’s hard.
We went to bed around 10.
Wednesday March 30, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA
We got up at 7 again and had our coffee as we waited for
Arleen to arrive. We had our typical
breakfast in the breakfast room as it is still chilly and smoggy outside.
We left about 10 and headed to the Getty Villa. We had reservations for the car there. No reservations are needed for the museum and
it is free. The collection of ancient
art is good but I actually like the Villa the best. Gorgeous place. We had a snack and walked all thru the
exhibits.
After the Getty, we headed to Malibu and went to Dukes
Restaurant where they had fish tacos. It
was right on the beach and an old restaurant started by a “surfer dude”. After lunch they went to the grocery store
while I made some real estate calls.
We got home late afternoon and had a short nap. Cocktails were in order again in the evening
but only one. We left about 6:30 and
began an hour long ride into downtown LA to go to Otium, a new trendy
restaurant. It was neat with the kitchen
out in the open. Customers could walk
through and watch. Dinner was good but
we ordered way too much. I thought the
seafood and grilled fish were the best.
We left Otium about 9 and it took about 20 minutes to get
back to Brentwood. I was driving and I
only made one wrong turn when Tim was telling me to go the wrong way! I started listening to Arleen from then on.
We got home and went to bed about 10.
Thursday March 31, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA
Today is a “catch up” day.
Tim did laundry and picked up the dry cleaning. We started repacking too.
Tim and I worked on the puzzle a lot. So the morning was busy doing “busy
work”. Arleen did the same.
For lunch we drove a short way to Beverly Hills to Bao, a
dim sum restaurant. It was really good
and inexpensive. We all enjoyed that.
We drove around after lunch and then headed back to Chez
Arleen. During the afternoon we napped
and worked on the puzzle. At 5 I went to
pick up the last of the dry cleaning but it wasn’t ready. Not happy about that. A little after 6 Tim went with me to get the
dry cleaning and it still wasn’t back but then the driver pulled up. We got that and refilled Arleen’s car with
gas since she has been so hospitable in letting us use the car and driving us
around.
We had crab cakes for dinner that were superb – an Arleen
specialty. I finished the puzzle just
before dinner and we took pictures to celebrate. Tim and I wore our African shirts that I had
purchased in Mazatlan and Arleen was thrilled.
We took pictures of that too and emailed it to a bunch of people.
Dinner was so good and we enjoyed our conversation with
Arleen. We cleaned up the dishes and
went to bed about 10:30.
