shadowmeboy

Celebrity on its way out! Royal's Oasis of the Seas on its way - personally I feel this ship is too big. The sun was setting and creating an awesome sunset!

Boat tour time! Hard Rock - We ate here on a previous trip. I got the cup and Susan got the T-Shirt, so we didn't need to go back!

Susan and I did some light souvenir shopping. We had to remember that we had 6 new port stops still to come. We got back on the bus and we started back towards Bayside for the boat part of the tour. Marlins Park Susan and I shared a lemonade slushy drink. Almost time to get on the boat!

Miami River We made it to Calle Ocho and Little Havana! Look another American plane! So we got off the bus and had a little time to walk around. Enough time to get a mojito, do some shopping, or take in the sights and sounds of Little Havana.

American Airlines on final to MIA The tour took us through Wynwood Another American flight! Over by the University of Miami Hospital

British Airways flight on final approach to Miami We will be there tomorrow! Its our third time sailing out of Miami and the first time since the new terminal was finished. Light day for cruise departures

So we got to Miami just in time for our City Tour. Susan and I were up top! We had fabulous weather!

December 22nd, 2022 Edgewater, FL So we got on the road by 8am to head down to Miami. My parents were driving us down to Miami, we all were spending the night, then they are going to drop us off at the cruise terminal, and then they are going to head back home. On Interstate 95 towards Miami! Up near Edgewater it was very overcast. It was a bit foggy on the drive. The closer to Miami we got, the better the weather got! We stopped at chick-fil-a on the way for some lunch. I love me some grilled chicken nuggets. I also got one of the grilled chicken club sandwiches. Dad got the fried chicken nuggets. Mom did too! Heading over to Miami Beach to catch our city tour!

Thank you! I tend to agree with that assessment as well.

sounds exciting! We enjoyed the Encore as you will see 😉

We have Hawaii left. Yes, the cruise is booked for June 2024. We have a 16 night Hawaii Alaska Combo on the Spirit booked, starting in Honolulu and ending in Vancouver BC.

Its still leaning Finally adding decorations Its finally done! So, we made sure to get our stuff organized as tomorrow we head to Miami! We called it a night, as we had to be on the road early the next day.

So the house collapsed. So the pretzels were washed and the house was started again. This time with boxes to hold it up! Susan, you aren't supposed to eat all the decorations! Frosting the boxes to the cookie sheet. such concentration! The I am helping look! I see you taking my picture!

I love the variety of the landscape within the 1.5 mile loop. We headed back to my parents house and it was decided to make a pretzel house Don't let the bag win!

Another Tortoise! Looking out at the ocean almost all the way around the boardwalk. We were at 1.25 miles at this point. Couldn't resist!

More Cactus! There were tons of Tortoise holes This one is occupied! I tried to get the Lighthouse from a variety of angles! Several of the walkways out to the edge of the dunes were closed due to damage from the hurricanes. Standing on the edge of the dune (on the boardwalk) looking back towards New Smyrna Beach

Wild Coffee! We decided to walk the 1.5 mile boardwalk loop. Susan didn't like this sign! Cactus! I was surprised by this. Green Tortoise hole Another view of Ponce Inlet Light! The boardwalk is handicap accessible and a very easy walk.

The bird didn't like me following it! I love this photo! And this one! This guy caught a flounder off of the jetty We headed off the beach and to Smyrna Dunes Park.

Susan is standing where my Mom said the dunes used to extend to. As you can see she is a good 20 feet to where the remaining dune is. Also, it was about this point where if you didn't have special tires, you would get stuck in the sand because it got soft. Now you could drive all the way to the jetty with normal street tires. Just chillin! Oh no, she is collecting shells again. Filming the waves! Pano! Ponce Inlet Light across Ponce de Leon Inlet from us

So the Daytona Beach/Edgewater/New Smyrna Beach area got hit by both Hurricanes that made landfall in Florida this past fall. All of these properties used to be behind a dune. They had paths through the dune to get to the beach. As you can see the hurricanes took out most of the dunes. This picture really shows the decimation of the dunes. The dunes used to extend to where the posts are.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2022 Edgewater, Florida So we decided to go check out a local breakfast spot called the Bagel Barn! I am a huge bagel fan, so I had a hard time choosing. Look at all these choices! Susan got a ham egg and cheese sandwich on a french toast bagel. She was trying to go with a McGriddle style breakfast. Mom got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a croissant. I finally chose! I got a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a bacon egg, and cheese bagel. It was bacon egg and cheese squared! I will tell you, this was an amazing breakfast! I will go back here next time we go down to see Mom and Dad. After breakfast, we headed to the beach! New Smyrna Beach to be exact. Its fun to be able to drive and park on the beach. It was overcast, but still comfortable.

I wanted all of these but we got one to share! We ended up getting two small souvenirs, candied nuts, and a few X-Large drinks! Then we headed back to my parents house as it started getting a bit drizzly. A little later, we headed to the post office to ship ourselves a package of stuff, mainly Christmas gifts, that we didn't want to carry with us on the cruise. We had that box stuffed! Got to love flat rate shipping! Tuesday ended up being a very chill day, which was well needed.

We were overwhelmed with the huge size of Buc-ee's Yes Please! No Susan, we cannot buy one of each. If we hadn't of just ate, I would have tried one of those Brisket Sandwiches It just keeps going!

Tuesday, December 20th, 2022 Edgewater, Florida Finally on East coast time and recovered fully from our trip out to Florida. Then plan for this day was to go finish setting up Grandma's Christmas decorations in her apartment, take her out to lunch, and then see what else unfolded. Susan and I had helped my Mom and Aunt pack up Grandma's House in Oregon over Memorial Day weekend 2022. Grandma wasn't able to live on her own without assistance, so my Mom and Aunt moved Grandma closer to them in Florida. Since we were down there, we had to go see her! We picked her up and we went out to lunch at Cracker Barrel in Ormond Beach. Susan and I enjoy Cracker Barrel as the closest one to us is over 3 hours away. I always love how they decorate the restaurants! Mom got a soup as it was a "cold day" in Florida. It was like 50 or 60. Balmy in my book because it was 2 at home. Chicken salad Grandma got a chef salad. Susan went with the classic meatloaf. I got the Hamburger steak! We had a good time with Grandma and got her apartment all ready for Christmas. On our way back to my parents house, we made a stop Buc-ee's! They had just opened up a store outside of Daytona Beach. Someone isn't paying attention! There we go! No Susan, that is not appropriate cruise attire.

Thank you!