FRIDAY 22ND FEB 2013 - HANGING OUT

FRIDAY FEB 22 2013 - HANGING OUT

Another great day.  We had a call from Des and Pat (from Medicine Hat) who we had met on the cruise and they came over for a drink after lunch while we waited for the Mattress firm to call to say our Mattress had arrived. It was nice entertaining for a change and before they left we decided to go to meet them for lunch tomorrow for beer and oysters at Gaido’s. The Mattress Firm  called and said that the mattress had not made it, but they would deliver it for free tomorrow. Disappointed to spend another night on the thin mattress, but happy they will deliver it as it saves us some messing around.  Met some people at the resort from Edmonton and they came over for ‘happy hour’ before dinner and we exchanged note about various RV resorts on our travels. They are laving tomorrow morning heading slowly back toward Edmonton.

Thurs Feb 21- Space Centre Houston

-->

Thursday Feb 21^st 2013 – Space Centre – Houston

SPACE SHUTTLE "DISCOVERY"

What a great day. The Space Centre was not as far as we thought and we were there by 10:30am. It opens at 10 am, so it was not too busy at that point. We got our bearings and headed for the tram tour before it got too busy.  The first stop was the astronaut training facility. It was huge… several football fields in size and we were able to view it from a walkway gallery. There were modules, moon vehicles,  simulators etc etc.. quite fascinating. After that we drove through the compound, past several buildings, housing, development, engineering, research etc, including the original mission control building, and then stopped at the huge structure that houses the complete Saturn space rocket. I don’t know how long it is, but it was truly magnificent to see it. At one juncture, we could climb up and see how intricate the wiring was in the end of the rocket. Beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals.

ASTRONAUT TRAINING FACILITY

GREEN ROUND POD IS RUSSION BUILT DECOMPRESSION UNIT

Outside were other decommissioned space modules and rockets. Back in the Space visitors center we went from theatre to theatre watching various short lectures and films on the development and growth of the space program. The most impressive, being the mission museum and vault, where we saw and touched the actual  Appollo 17 capsule and where we could see various samples of rocks gathered from the moon’s surface. We were privileged to actually touch a rock from the moon.

By the time we realized it, we had been at the centre for over 5 hours, before we became totally ‘spaced out’ (pun intended) and decided that we needed to tear ourselves away. While we totally enjoyed the experience, we both shuddered at the thought of coming here during the height of the summer tourist season… the crowds were not too bad for us, but the nature of the place would make it hard going when it is busy.  A piece of advice would be to get there before it opens and when you get in, go straight to the tram tour… it is not to be missed and the lines can be VERY long.  The rest of the centre is made of up large theatres and displays which are more capable of handling large crowds.

COUPLE OF SPACE EXPLORATION UNITS WITH ROBONAUT ON RIGHT

ROBONAUT DEVELOPMENT (FIRST ONE WITH LEGS)

SATURN V

 After the Space Centre we decided to go to a mattress store and look for a new mattress. So we went to ‘The Mattress Firm” South of Houston and found a good mattress. We hope to pick it up tomorrow when they get their shipment.  To celebrate our new purchase we decided to eat dinner out as we were hungry having skipped lunch. We checked out “Shrimp and Stuff’ which someone had recommended, but it turned out to be more a deep fried/fast food type of fish restaurant and we didn’t fancy it so we headed to Gaido’s on the Sea Wall…. WOW!!! The food was amazing. It is Oyster and Flounder season in the Gulf and we had Oysters to start. I have never seen such huge oysters and the taste was out of this world. Lightly baked with garlic and parmesan. Derek had a whole flounder stuffed with bay shrimp and Janice had Fresh Snapper, covered with crawfish in a creamy Cajun sauce. All the fish served at this restaurant is fresh from the gulf and never frozen. It is truly fabulous. Treat yourself if you ever come down this way.  After dinner we headed back to the RV and watched the final show in season 3 of Downton Abbey.  Love that show!!

SATURN V

SATURN V - HUGE!!

PART OF FRONT NOSE SECTION (ALL THE WIRES!!!!)

THE INTREPID ADVENTURERS

I WOULD GO IF THEY WOULD LET ME111

 

FINALLY GOT US A PICTURE OF A TEXAS LONGHORN -YES IT WAS IN THE SPACE CENTRE GROUNDS

SPACE CAPSULE... DEFINITELY A LITTLE COMPLICATED!!

THE ACTUAL APOLLO 17 CAPSULE -- ONLY ROOM FOR 3 SEATED

APOLLO 17

MOON ROCKS IN VAULT

MOON ROCK

EXERCISE AREA IN SPACE STATION

TOUCHING  A MOON ROCK

Saturday Feb 16-Monday Feb 18th - Back in Galveston

Saturday Feb 16-Monday Feb 18^th

We docked at Galveston at 7am on Saturday and, after lounging around over a large breakfast we waited for disembarkation at 10:30am. Janice started to feel slightly ill while waiting. We managed to get through customs with no problem and grabbed a cab back to the ‘condo’, which we found to be as we had left it. All well except Janice who got progressively worse (flu-like symptoms) and spent the rest of the day and the next 2 days curled up in bed, not eating, and thinking the world was ending!!!  Derek did some shopping for groceries etc and basically was chief cook and bottle washer while Janice was ‘out of it’. How lucky that this didn’t happen during the cruise!!  Windy and cool at 20 degrees in Galveston, which feels very cool after the heat we have experienced in the past week. 

Fri Feb 15th - At sea, heading back to Galveston

Friday Feb 15^{th At sea} 

We spoiled ourselves with a balcony champagne breakfast with smoked salmon, fresh fruit, fresh pastries, quiche, bacon and half bottle of French champagne. It was wonderful.  Forgot to take photos.. having too much fun.

Enjoying the last day. On the balcony of our cabin

We enjoyed a day at sea.  The weather got much cooler and windy as we headed North back to Galveston. Day of rest reading, packing, eating… lovely. I love cruises that end with a day or two at sea. It gives you time to unwind, reflect, and prepare yourself for the reality of getting back to ‘normal’ life. Although ours is far from normal at the moment.

 Our cabin B752

Our cabin

Thursday Feb 14th - Valentines in Cozumel

PHOTO OF OUR FORMAL PHOTO! Valentines night.

Thursday Feb14th

Kinda tacky port statue!!

Basic training on the Stars and Stripes Yacht

The competition "True North"

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE. We docked in Cozumel and joined our excursion. We chose to go on the Americas Cup Yacht “Stars and Stripes” which won the race in 1987. It was a small group and we were divided into 2 groups. One group went on the yacht “True North” from Canada and one (ours) on The Stars And Stripes. We were all given jobs to do, although Janice opted to hold on for dear life and cheer !! Derek was one of two “Main Grinders”. After a short training stint, we had a shortened Americas Cup race. It was absolutely amazing, scary and exhilarating.  A once in a lifetime experience. The yacht tilted so much, one side was dragging in the water, then one flip of the sails and we were over on the other side. A good time had by all, with rum punch on shore to celebrate.  We had lunch at a small restaurant on the pier before getting back on board.  Late afternoon we popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and totally enjoyed sitting on the balcony for a couple of hours reading, chatting and sipping as we left Cozumel and headed on our last leg of the cruise back to Galveston.

Taking a break from working the grinders

It was ‘formal’ night so we got all dressed up again.  Dinner in the dining room was wonderful . Lobster and giant shrimp for Janice, steak for Derek… feeling very privileged. We were both tired, so after the main show we walk around the ship for a while then headed back to the room and sat on the balcony.

It was scary at first... but so much fun!

Derek (blue shorts) Working hard at the main grinder

Quite the lean!!

WE WON!!!

SIGN IN BAR ON SHORE!

PORTA MAYA, COZUMEL Been there, done that.

LUNCH ASHORE!

WAITER CARRYING DRINKS ON HIS HEAD

HEADING BACK ON BOARD

ENJOYING STEVIE WONDER VIDEO AND THE POOL.

THE OTHER MAIN POOL

DO YOU SEE THE DOLPHIN IN THE SKY???

VALENTINES RENEWAL OF VOWS CELEBRATIONS

Wednesday Feb 13th - Belize

Wednesday Feb 13th 2013 - Belize (previously British Honduras)

Leaving ship on power boat to go snorkeling

 

Belize is not able to handle cruise ships, so they all anchor about 15-20 minutes from land.  A flotilla of local boats of all shapes and sizes came to ‘tender’ passengers ashore. We booked a snorkel trip in a high speed power boat, so we were picked up directly from the ship and sped off to a reef by a beautiful island (think Robinson Crusoe, or Treasure island). The seas were quite rough so it was hard going snorkeling. Derek was tired and finished a little early, he went to the island and sat  sipping rum punch. The group leader told him that he was tired due to the effects of the diving yesterday. Using the compressed air apparently messes with your body’s nitrogen levels.  Janice snorkeled for as long as possible. Saw lots of big colourful fish, coral, eel, and starfish.

Post snorkeling rum punch on the island

Such a beautiful place

It's like the desert island we only dream of.

After lounging on the island for an hour we were taken back to the ship. We had lunch then jumped on a tender and went ashore to Belize and pottered around the shops, bought some aloe for Janice’s sunburn and another cowboy hat.  Had a couple of beers (2 for $5) at a bar near the dock and chatted with a couple of people. Tender back to the ship at 3:30 and relaxed, had dinner, show and a quick dance before heading to bed ready for another exciting day tomorrow. 

Happy to be here

We really should ask people to take our pictures together LOL