All Things EARTH... part 2

[Sailor_Sally]

Sally,

 

Glad to hear your trip went well. I would love to see photos if you share them :) The old cars would be a huge draw for us!

The old cars are everywhere . It was like the largest car show ever but they are daily drivers and in great shape .We took a tour in a 50's two toned Ford .

[Sailor_Sally]

Havana Forest

[Sailor_Sally]

Fosterlandia

[awhfy]

Looks fabulous!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Joby]

The old cars are everywhere . It was like the largest car show ever but they are daily drivers and in great shape .We took a tour in a 50's two toned Ford .

 

My DH would be in heaven! Loved the photos :)

[Sailor_Sally]

Revolution Square

[Sailor_Sally]

Sloppy Joe's Havana

[Sailor_Sally]

The ship's terminal

[Sailor_Sally]

The square across from the terminal

[laurspag]

Melody, quick question: what hotel do you recommend in Boston? We are here, all id fine. We are just thinking ahead to next year.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

[Sailor_Sally]

the ship's terminal

[awhfy]

Laurie, if we stay downtown (which is unusual for us) we stay at the Copley Plaza. It’s walking distance from Fenway (but it is not inexpensive)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Anita Latte]

Fun photos Sally!! Sounds like you had a great Cuba vacation! Yay! I had no idea about all the cars. Really fun to see!

 

DH had to attend a sort of conference meeting thing in Virginia Beach today from 8am-12noon. I tagged along on his trip! He and I drove there yesterday...company paid for the Westin hotel which was very nice. I hung out in the room this morning...took a BATH (something very difficult to do in our apt as DS is the only one with a tub...'nuff said)...did my own pedicure!

 

This afternoon we went down to the beach at Virginia Beach. Great weather! I figured that I hadn't been to the ocean in about 2 years! Here I am in one of my new SmartWool shirts. It's a very lightweight hoodie in a kind of peachy pinky pattern. These are also my new polarized sunglasses! I'm carrying my yoga sling sandals...

 

[Sailor_Sally]

Anita , I love your sun glasses . What brand are they ? I need new sun glasses . You look like you are having a nice time .

[Anita Latte]

Suncloud!

 

They were $50...so a bit of a splurge for me with sun glasses, but I've been wearing them regularly since purchasing and I really like them a lot. They came with a little bag and I've found that very convenient to use...

 

There was a sale on some pairs in our local Mast General store...they were $29.97, but of course I didn't like any of those pairs as much!

 

This is the pair I got:

 

https://www.suncloudoptics.com/SUNGLASSES/Injection-Molded/LOVESEAT-%28MEDIUM-FIT%29/p/S-LOPPSVMBF?

 

They are like an animal print at the top fading to blue on the bottom.

[awhfy]

Those are cute sunglasses Anita. I love your SmartWool shirt.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[MJC]

Sally, that looks like a fun trip! Love the cars. I'm originally from Michigan, and DH says we are all born driving. :)

 

Anita, you look lovely. Just lovely.

 

I snagged two green performance tees at Marshalls for our safari. Green is not a popular color right now, apparently, particularly for active wear, given how hard it's been to find anything. One was only 7.99 and the other 12.99. I just don't like to spend a lot on clothes that I don't think will be permanent additions to my wardrobe , so I was very happy.

 

We were in wildlife heaven today. We had an eagle fly over our kayaks this morning carrying a fish in its talons. I saw my first falcon at the grocery store parking lot. Later in the day a fox ran around our yard chasing a squirrel (unsuccessfully). I have to get my game on because we had two cameras in the house and didn't get any pictures.:o

 

Melody, extra thanks for posting the lacing diagrams. I think I've completely eliminated the issues I was having with my right foot! Yay!

[awhfy]

Glad your foot is doing better Margaret. I leave a camera by our deck door, sometimes I actually remember it’s there when our falcon comes to visit [emoji849]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Sailor_Sally]

The best wildlife we saw from our deck were a family of mantees . The baby was adorable .

[awhfy]

We used to have a family of manatees that would swim by in the evening & the kids would run out with lettuce to feed them. This was on the Banana River in Satellite Beach

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[laurspag]

I'm back! So much to catch up on, even though I was only gone a few days. This went waaaaaay too fast. We talked about it a bit yesterday, and next year, I think we are going to plan out a bit more of a vacation to Boston, rather than just a weekend. I took today off because I had the time available and thought it would be good for me to be able to get home, refresh, take care of little things, etc. But really, I could have easily stayed another night!

 

 

For next year, we are thinking of something like a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and maybe Wednesday. If we take a full week's vacation, we have a few other days for other things. If not, then we still have a few vacation days to use at another time!

 

 

But getting back to our weekend, we had a fabulous time. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that we didn't have more time! We decided that when leaving Friday, we weren't going to rush. I'm a morning person, so taking my time going somewhere is hard to do, but I tried. So we got there later than planned, because the drive is pretty much 5 hours. We checked in, and decided to head out to explore. Based on the time, and the fact that we were hungry, we decided we wanted to go to the Fenway area, and get a bite to eat at the Cask N' Flagon, where we knew we could catch some of the game, and just wander around and see what was where. We did not take the train at all this time, and we were about a mile from Fenway. Long story short, we got a lot of exercise!!!

 

 

 

The next day was game day. At the time my husband purchased the tickets, game time was TBD. Last year, it was a 7:10 game, I think. This year, it was 4:00 game. As a result, we knew we would not have as much leisurely time to explore the Freedom Trail. I have a thing about scheduling - I have to be everywhere early, it seems. I don't like feeling rushed. We actually left the hotel without a firm plan, but we knew there was this lovely bakery & coffee shop on the way, so that is where we went fro breakfast. I gotta say, the place was fabulous! We continued on, and realized that we were walking to the Fenway area again. We started to walk into one of the stores that sells all the Red Sox stuff, when I told my husband there are tours of Fenway. And just like that, there was a tour info booth in front of us :-) Now, there are a few types, none of which go behind the score board anymore. Pretty much there was an outside option and an inside option. We chose the inside option.

 

 

They start by taking you down to the field. They have it roped off, but you are on the field, watching practice. This was a lot of fun, seeing all this up close. I would have been thrilled if they had arranged for one player to give autographs, but I understand that it is game day, and there are a number of tours and what not. That would mean a lot of time.

 

 

Then they took us to some seats behind home plate, and then up to the monster seats. I have to say, I always thought the monster seat looked like a weird angle, and up too high to see good. I was totally wrong. I found them to be really neat.

 

 

We then went on to have lunch, and went back to the store where we had seen a few things we were looking to purchase. It was then time to go find our seats for the game!

 

 

 

Since we were walking everywhere, there is quite a bit of time involved in travel, I guess you could say. After the game, we headed back to the hotel and were thinking we could use the pool and hot tub before it closed at 9:00.

 

 

But then, in our room, my husband says...."the fire alarm is going off". So we evacuated. Now, we were pretty sure there was nothing major going on, but it is my pet peeve when people disregard a fire alarm. There was a wedding going on, and there were people in the lobby area, just standing there. Soon there were people running around, and the fire trucks arrived. My husband is a former volunteer fire fighter, and his job relates to emergency management, so he was chatting with the firemen. Apparently, someone forgot that when you use a smoke or fog machine, you have to turn off the smoke alarm system. And to do that, you have to have extra security on staff to literally stare at the fire panel. Anywho, they reset the alarm and were on their way! But it was then after 9 so we couldn't use the hot tub or pool. Darn.

 

 

 

We relaxed, and then in the morning it was time to pack for the trip home. That was sad, we were having such a good time, and I felt like it all went way too quick. Your day of travel is most that - travel. If you don't leave by 7 or 8 AM, I feel like you lose a lot.

 

 

We are looking for a new hotel for next year, not because of the fire alarm, but we were in a different area of the hotel this time. It was okay, not great, and it felt really out of the way to get from the lobby to our room. We used the stairs, because there was always a long wait for the elevator, and with the fire alarm, ironically, I didn't feel like it would have been easy to get out in a real emergency. (I say ironically, because we decided to look at a different hotel prior to this happening)

 

 

That didn't take away from our enjoyment at all though. It was a casual, fun weekend where we had a great time! I'll post pictures from my phone shortly. I don't have a ton, and since they are mostly baseball, they probably wouldn't interest you all that much.

 

 

Sally, your vacation looks like it was great! My husband is a huge car buff, so I think he would love seeing Cuba. I am very interested in seeing it, and you have given us some good information to think about. The currency thing, knowing where to go and not to go, tours, etc...

 

 

Margaret, I am always missing things with my camera. I'm trying to find a happy medium. I used to take so many pictures, and I found that I was so focused on getting pictures, that I was not letting myself enjoy the moment. Then the opposite happened, where I was enjoying myself so much I forgot to take pictures of something. With wildlife, it's so hard because they don't wait for you. We've had some great birds as of late. In the back, behind our yard, is a field. Possum, deer, fox, coyote, woodchucks, rabbits, skunk - they're all there on a regular basis. Right now, the field needs cutting so we just see the grass moving but don't see the animals, lol.

 

 

There is a hawk's nest up at the university, and they have a camera on it. Last year, a baby went missing and they thought it was trapped and my husband was up there with a few other volunteers to try and find it, with no luck.

 

 

Anita, you look wonderful! I'm trying to wrap my head around wearing something called smart wool in the summer! I think I've asked this before, but is it actually wool? Melody, I know you said it isn't itchy, but sometimes I have trouble even with products that have lanolin in them.

 

 

I'm very limited with sunglasses, because they have to be prescription. I am going to get new ones soon, since I don't replace them every time I replace my eyeglasses. It's just too expensive. My current ones are five years old, and they are okay in general, but fuzzy for reading so it's time. I'm not sure if I'm going to reuse the frames. They are okay looking, I guess. The thing is with sunglasses, you need good coverage.

[laurspag]

Some random pictures.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Forums mobile app

[Anita Latte]

So glad you had a great weekend Laurie!

 

I wonder...were you born on time? As in, in relation to your due date? Or early? Or late? I've read that when you are born compared to when you were expected...this correlates to whether or not you tend to be an early arrival kind of person. Like being on time makes you feel late even. Or an on time person. Or a typically running late person.

 

DS and I are like to get there early to be on time people.

 

DH isn't late, errs on the side of arriving early, but shoots for not too early.

 

Great photos of you and DH!

 

We're going to have our short Boston weekend later in July.

[Anita Latte]

I meant to say...

 

About SmartWool. That is just one brand of clothing based on merino wool. You can read all about what makes merino wool so special. SmartWool brand has a least two different weights of fabric...one is much lighter and thinner...geared toward summer weight.

 

I was very reluctant to even try wool in the summer but I knew how much I liked it for winter. I was convinced to try it after reading an funny account of sheep...and how sheep wear wool year round. It's breathable and temperature management qualities make it ideal for the sheep to wear wool in the winter AND summer. I can't recall the exact wording but the tongue in cheek sales pitch was enough for me to say...ok, I'll try it.

 

Having tried it now...I really like it a lot. It's like cotton, which is weird to say but what I mean is that it's more like cotton than nylon or polyester. Technical synthetics are great and I like wearing them too...but I do find the wool to be more comfortable from the breathability stand point. And it isn't hot.

 

I was wearing that long sleeved hoodie shirt all along the beach and it was so very comfortable. I felt protected from the sun but cooler than I normally do wearing my Athleta rash guards.

[awhfy]

Laurie sounds like you had a great time.

 

We just booked 5 days in York Beach Maine when we’re back for our reunion. I’ll get my ocean (& lobster fix). Coming in the day after Labor Day reduced the rate for an oceanfront room with private balcony from $399 a night to $119 a night. One day! We just found out that a grand niece is getting married in Kennebunkport on 2 Sep. A formal reunion & a down east wedding I’ll really need to think what I’m going to wear. M planning on black jumpsuit & white sparkly jacket for reunion but I don’t like black for weddings (unless that’s what she’s picked for colors...). Getting excited

 

Anita, you leave next week?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums