WAYNO

Was pretty great on Wonder last week.
MDR - I've never been a big MDR fan and I even enjoyed most of my items there.
WJ - Slightly less variety but good Indian food as usual and some surprisingly good items like ribs and grilled shrimp. Picky wife thought the burgers were better than they used to be. Hand scooped ice cream at lunch and dinner.
Solarium Bistro - Mostly a repeat of WJ with a few unique items. Love their breakfast smoothies and the woman running the omelet station made very large and well made omelets.
El Loco Fresh - Ate there almost everyday. I can always go for tacos and the quesadillas were fine too.
Park Cafe - Still enjoy their breakfast sandwiches, didn't have a kummelweck (too many afternoon trips to ELF), enjoyed the pre-packaged to-go wraps to keep in our cabin fridge as a snack.
Mason Jar brunch - My new favorite specialty restaurant.
Playmakers - Big fan of their burgers and garlic parm fries.
Sorrento's - Still mostly just a place to grab pizza when everything else is closed but I find it to be improved over the past 9 months. Much crispier and less soggy.
I gained my usual 10+ pounds on a 7N cruise and enjoyed doing so.

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

Because we live in Southern Ontario, it was an easy 30 min drive a bit further south for us to Colchester Beach. We saw 90 seconds of totality. It was stunning, unlike anything I have ever seen. For once, I have no pictures to share because the 4 of us wanted to just soak in all 90 seconds of that beauty. But here is one of Hubby before totality, and one just before totality. It wasn’t a cruise, but it sure was an awesome day! It could only have been better if I was seeing it from the suite sundeck somewhere 🙂

I was in TJ Maxx when the eclipse passed over Chicago. The amount of people just staring in the sun was crazy......I am also sure quite a few demons came through while people were being looky-loos. 

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

Wow, Teddy…what an awesome opportunity.  Sounds like you guys are really in the boonies.  Will be a good place to hide out from the demons who came/come through the vortex. 😂😜

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

We have an off grid camp that was smack dab in the middle of the path. 
 
It took some work to get there because it’s very isolated, way in the woods and still winter, but we made it.  20 miles off the tar road and we were able to get within a half mile of camp.  Thank goodness for 4wd, good tires, self recovery equipment, and the fact that the road had been plowed a few times this winter for logging…..and also for one of our kids who suggested we get eclipse glasses six months ago. 
 
Unlike most people in the state, we were totally alone when we saw it.   It’s the first eclipse we’ve seen in our 55 years. 
 
It was neat to hear coyotes yipping and geese honking when the sun was covered.  All the birds went silent, too. 
 
In the negative column was the drive home.  A 3-1/2 to 4 hour drive took us just under 9 hours.   We saw plates from 32 different states.  

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

My cat was looking forward to the eclipse today.  Even though we were only to have 20% coverage, we were unable to see anything at all through the clouds.  So my kitty settled for watching it on TV.
 
 
 

So what “firsts” are we doing on this cruise ?
1.  First time ever parking offsite.  The second “first” (how confusing is that ???) is really just a subset of the #1.  This is the first time we have used Premier Parking in Miami.
2.  The only other “first” has nothing to do with boarding day - we will be calling on Grenada for the first time ever.  Rare for us to have a new Caribbean port, but we do.  As a matter of fact, we will be calling twice b/c our third cruise in this trilogy is identical to the first so we will be visiting twice.

I struggled with whether to do a live blog for these 3 rather mundane EX cruises but I decided to give it a go.  I even have some photos !  Shock, I know….these might be the only photos you get but at least there will be some !
Absolutely nothing interesting to report about our drive in.  Left Port St Lucie at 5:30AM and arrived at the parking garage (finally….more about that in a minute) at 8:00.  Since we had an 8:00 reservation, right on time.  We normally do not plan to arrive quite THAT early, but since we have a couple of “firsts” on this trifecta, plus, it being a weekday, we decided to leave a bit early.  In the end, it was a very good thing we did.

Worst case, the porters can fill out luggage tags for her at the port.

We used it in 2022, was very convenient.
Pre-booked here: https://cruiseseattleparking.com/#/home
There was a shuttle service from the parking to the ship and back.

True but the casino is closed. 😞

I disagree. Another sea day>>>Nassau.

We did the swim up bar in Costa Maya.  If there was a Royal sponsored tour including this, I didn't know about it.  We sat in the beach/lounge area, watched the folks in the pool, and got a severe brain freeze with this 19-dollar Daiquiri.  And to use the beach loungers, one only  had to buy a drink.😀

I used it in 2019. No complaints. A bit hard to find and it was a bus ride to the terminal,  but the car was still there when I got back.

We did the swim up bar in Costa Maya.  If there was a Royal sponsored tour including this, I didn't know about it.  We sat in the beach/lounge area, watched the folks in the pool, and got a severe brain freeze with this 19-dollar Daiquiri.  And to use the beach loungers, one only  had to buy a drink.😀

Roll call!! 368 days to paradise. 

We’re on this one !