TheKingD

2 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

I don’t know how you arranged such a magical day to open the patio, but the weather is sheer perfection today.  Truly fitting of the Chez.

 

Vince

It is sheer perfection in North Carolina too, on the

patio sitting in the pergola.  We had ribs and corn on the cob tonight and we will have lobster claws tomorrow night.  Maybe Key Lime Pie too.  No cicadas providing their chorus yet, though, but hummingbirds are here.

13 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Thank you for that.  The hotel was bundled into the price, correct?  Also, how much hiking does Arches National entail?

You are correct that the price includes the hotels, and it includes transportation between the hotels and the train.  Your luggage is transported separately to the hotels and it will be in your room when you arrive and you leave it there when you are leaving to board the train, and the train representatives hand out room keys as you leave the train.  All of that worked really well.

The guide we used for Arches was JG Outfitters, and they totally customized our tour, so we rode through the park in their nice Suburban and only got out for some photo-ops.  They offered plenty of other options if you want to take hikes - short or long.  We saw where other tour companies parked and let people out for short walks for those who wanted to walk some.  Their website was spotty and the way we communicated with them was texting or phone calls most of the time.

I had ordered a National Park pass in advance, and that came in handy for the tour because we were able to bypass the lines at the entrance.  You only need one pass for the vehicle, and I think the tour companies' pass does not include passengers. 

11 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Agree those both look juicy.  Our neighbors did the Van-Banff run, must question them more closely.

We did the US route on Rocky Mountaineer in late October last year.  We had never been to Utah, so we started in Salt Lake City a couple of days early, and our trip included a flight-seeing trip from there to Moab.  The train segments were outstanding - service, food, scenery, logistics.  The hotels were fine, but definitely not top-tier.  We chose the eastbound route because the train schedules were more civilized, and since DH is more of a crack-of-noon guy, we wanted to avoid any 6AM departures.  We also arranged our own private excursion in Moab to Arches National Park, because the ones offered by Rocky Mountaineer were skimpy, and I think they were actually cancelled because not many people signed up.  The US route has single-level trains so the meals are served at your seat rather than downstairs in a dining car.  We were in the Silver-Plus, or whatever they call the upgraded experience, and I would recommend that.  I'm happy to answer questions if you have anything specific in mind.

I agree with you @notamermaid.  I think traveling requires a lot more patience and flexibility for possible bumps in the road than it did five years ago, and we are not as full of adventure any more.  You are in a great place to enjoy everything close by, and actually we are too, because we are 2 to 3 hours from either really nice beaches or lovely mountains.

We were lucky with our cancelled Danube cruise, and we were able to get full refunds for both the cruise and for the airfare on Lufthansa.  We could have opted for some future cruise credits, and some of those seemed generous at the time, but we cashed out instead!

If the Alaska cruise goes well, DH might be up for another cruise at some point, even though I am the one who really loves a cruise.  We'll see.

I appreciate the links about the old Crystal river ships.  We were on the Debussy on the Rhine, and we really enjoyed that trip and were scheduled to be on the Danube on the Ravel when everything shut down.  The Mozart is supposed to be a really nice river ship too.  Somehow I stumbled on @notamermaid and the really interesting posts before we were on the Rhine cruise, and here we are!  I'm not sure I could get DH on another cruise in Europe, because he wants to be able to get home on land if something happens.  So we are going on an Alaska cruise this summer instead of anything across an ocean.  Maybe one day I'll be back to the Danube.

Thanks @BEAV!  We have been having supper on the patio recently, and I have not heard a peep from any cicadas just yet, but I'm looking forward to hearing them.  It means summertime is here.

Thanks, @grapau27 for the homily.  The hymn in the background is one of my all-time favorites.

Wishing everyone a lovely day.

In the My Bookings it says 7 nights, and in the Reservation Documents it says 8 nights.  I had not noticed the 8 nights until you mentioned it.

I'm glad you will be on too, and I'm looking forward to meeting you.  Here's a toast to a great trip and fun, new friends!

We're boarding July 2, but we will arrive in Vancouver late on June 29, so if they will let us on a day early we're all in!

The Picasso Museum in Paris is also nice and easy to visit.

Paris has some really great cemeteries too.  You might be too young to feel the need to go see Jim Morrison's grave at Pere Lachaise, but other very famous people are there too.  The Montparnasse Cemetery is really special too.  It is very peaceful and on a nice day would be great to walk around.

A much more fun word to talk about is Dagnabit!  Or Pshaw!

Thanks so much @BEAV and @TER777.  I looked at their website and they are exactly the kind of florist I had in mind, and I knew you would know who to recommend.  I'm going to call them in the morning and figure out if we can work something out, or if they have a connection with a similar artsy florist closer to Fremont.  I was actually hoping you were a florist, but this is a close second!  🙂

This is a random request of @BEAV - totally off-topic.  I think you are near San Francisco, and I am looking for a special florist in the Fremont area.  We are in NC and our son is eloping next week in Santa Barbara and then they will be with his new bride's family in Fremont for Christmas.  I have in mind to send a really nice flower arrangement to her family's home that would maybe have a combo Christmas/wedding motif.  I know I can call my regular florist here and they will arrange for it through their network, but you rise above the crowd with your class-act, so I figured it was worth asking, just in case you have a recommendation.  I'm not much of a search-online gal for something like this, and I much prefer an actual recommendation.  No worries if not!

Thanks,

Cindy

I was in the 4th grade, and our school was trying to figure out what to do about telling us, and the mother of one of my classmates called the school and insisted on having her daughter called to the office, so that girl knew and came back to class with the news.  I think they let us out of school early, and by the time I got home, my mother was distraught.  She never watched TV during the day, but she had the TV on, and the draperies were closed so the picture would be clearer in the otherwise bright room.  It was a very sad day.

@BEAV, you are correct.  I didn't mean to attach my picture as a pdf, but here it is again - sideways - sorry!  The US route is fairly new, and the trips are less expensive than the Canadian routes.  We started in Salt Lake City, and they flew us in a 10-person plane to Moab so we saw a lot of the Utah landscape from that plane.  We did our own excursion into Arches National Park with a hired driver, but everything else was arranged by RM.  It was top-notch all the way, and I highly recommend it.

I am following @BEAV with a totally off-topic tidbit.  I think you were the person who raved about a train trip between Denver and California earlier this year, and that, plus Roy's train adventures, motivated me to look into a train vacation.  We just got back last week from a Red Rocks to Denver train trip that was great.  We were not in a private train car like you were, but we still had a very luxurious trip with great food and libations and interesting people.

I wanted to give Crystal a bit of time before I booked a cruise, so I'm considering that for next year!

View from train.pdf

I'm here too - mostly enjoying reading where others have been.  And like @jpalbny, work is crazy, and I'm ready for a trip, but not ready to head to Europe just yet.  We have a train trip booked for right after my October 16 deadline at work, and we will start in Utah and head back to Denver on the train and fly home from there.  We are less adventuresome than @ural guy, so we booked a package trip so we can relax and avoid taking care of our own logistics.  We can fly direct from Charlotte and back again, and hopefully we will avoid any flight drama.  I hope I will have at least one more River Cruise in the future, but this suits us better for the time being.

Thanks for posting the live information @SteelCityCruiser10.  One of our friends was supposed to be on your cruise with his brother and four other guys on a "bachelor party" cruise in advance of the brother's upcoming wedding.  I don't know if they stuck with the cruise or if they changed their plans, but if you see six 30-ish-year-old guys celebrating (hopefully with more clothes on than shorts and flip-flops!) they deserve a toast - Cheers from Cindy and John!

I hope you all have a great cruise.

Roy, I hope you can make this all work out so you can cruise on the Serenity.  I have followed your postings for several years now - going back to your trip on the Bach, because we were going to be on the Debussy soon after your trip.  I have looked at the fall trips on Serenity, and I cannot make any of them work for me this year, but I might be able to in 2024.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you about this!!

Cindy

To the Crystal fans of Portuguese Tarts, this morning, CBS had a little story about a Lisbon bakery famous for its tarts.  It is worth a quick view, and it will make your mouth water and give you a suggested pit stop if you are in Lisbon.

For @Keith1010 and any other Beatles fans, NPR had a nice interview on this morning with Paul McCartney about his photos.  It is short and light-hearted and his cute personality shows through.

Cindy

Thanks to everyone here for the positive energy through these difficult years.  I read every day and even though I have never been on Holland America cruises, I have found this group to be sincere and kind and like a breath of fresh air.  I tracked @rafinmd here after reading his comments on a thread for Crystal River Cruises, and was lucky enough to settle in when so many other threads were "wound too tight" and I am grateful to you all for providing such a nice Daily break.

This group is legendary in my world.  Thanks for being there.

Cindy

In response to @Copper10-8, I'm in Charlotte, and the balloon flew over us this morning, and some of our neighboring counties have a bit of a rougher reputation and their law enforcement alerts were telling them to not try to shoot it down!  As it got closer to the coast, I'm sure a lot of those residents tried to shoot it themselves because they have an even rougher reputation - full of hunters and lots of people with no fear.  The balloon made it out over the Atlantic and a couple of F-22's got it.  The airports in Charleston and Myrtle Beach, SC and in Wilmington, NC were shut down.  The Coast Guard and Navy are in the area to try to retrieve the debris.  It was all quite a-buzz here this morning.

I didn't feel the need to be on one of the inaugural cruises with New Crystal, and I decided to wait and not even put any money down to get some "freebies", so I sincerely hope that some of you fun people on this thread will have also done the same thing and I can be on the same cruises with you whenever that is.  I like to travel with fun people and not any Debbie Downers.  Thanks for the entertainment and off-topic posts!

Roy, @rafinmd, some more of your fan club members are over on the Crystal Bistro message board concerned about you.  I gave them a quick update, and they are wishing you well.  If you feel up to it, you can check it out and take in more positive vibes.