August 17 - Ullapool, Scotland

Yesterday, the 16th of August, we tendered ashore in Oban, Scotland.  I was just there a couple of months ago and had been there before that. Therefore I decided to stay on the ship.  It was also drizzling in the morning and that helped to convince me.  I did consider going into town for lunch because I ate at a great seafood restaurant last time, but my brain told me I didn’t really need to eat that much.

Today we anchored off Ullapool in Loch Broom in the Scottish counties of Ross and Cromarty.  We were unable to sail in here earlier this year, so I did go ashore with one of my friends.  Ullapool is a village with around 1600 residents. Loch Broom on whose shore the village lies is a deep-sea loch and so it is a significant ferry port for traffic to some of the Outer Hebrides islands and their towns like Stornoway. A few years ago Ullapool was named one of the 20 most beautiful villages in the British Isles by Condé Nast Traveler magazine.  I can see why.

As we got off the tender at the top of the ramp we met a delightful lady named Allison who is a local volunteer greeter to the village. She was a font of information. My friend Claudia wanted to find a yarn shop and I was looking for a bookstore.  (I love to browse in old-fashioned bookstores in these little places.  They are so much more interesting than our big stores like Barnes and Noble.) Both of us were interested in a good place for fish and chips.  We could see a couple of fancy looking places from the dock, nut Allison clued us in to one around the corner and a few doors away from those.  That’s where we went and wow, was it good!

That's Allison from Ullapool in the middle. Ignore the person on the left.

The place was called Deli-Ca-Sea Fish & Chips Café. There were perhaps six tables covered with blue and white vinyl tablecloths. They had Cullen Skink soup on the menu. That’s the soup I discovered back in the spring and absolutely loved.  It’s a creamy fish chowder made with smoked haddock and it’s divine despite its strange name.  Claudia ordered fish and chips and I ordered the soup and we shared because the servings were enormous.  The food was so good!  After lunch we walked up the little hill and found a yarn shop and a shop selling local arts and crafts.  Another friend of ours is celebrating her birthday in a few days and I found a nice little hand-made bag for her. Claudia said the wool was coarser than what she likes to knit usually so she didn’t get anything.  Next we found the bookshop which had that wonderful smell of paper and print that old bookstores have.  There was a large section of books about Scotland, both fiction and non-fiction, and I found a book that sounded interesting.  One section had only books written in Gaelic and I wished I could read that because they looked interesting.

After wandering around a little more down on Shore Street next to the Loch we headed back to the tender dock.  Allison was still there so we thanked her for the lunch recommendation.

We made it back in time for trivia.  We didn’t win, but we also didn’t come in last. I met three friends, all of us widows, for cocktails before dinner and then we ate in the alternative restaurant.  I think we were the next to the last table to leave; we were having so much fun and laughing so much.  One of the ladies, a new Aussie friend and I adjourned to the Club where we danced a little and enjoyed the bands.  How lucky I am to be able to meet so many people from all over the world and enjoy seeing all these lovely places! Life is good!

August 15 - Sliabh Liag

We docked at a small port called Killybegs off the bay of Donegal today and my tour took me to another set of cliffs, Sliabh Liag.  I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce that so I asked Michael the driver before I boarded the bus.  Sliabh Liag is “Sleeve League.”  How “bh” came to be pronounced “V” is a mystery to me.

It’s worth writing just a little about Killybegs, the town where we docked.  It is mainly a deep-sea fishing port and in the harbor next to us were many multimillion-dollar commercial fishing trawlers, all sitting idle.  Robin, our guide, told us that the fleet may only fish for 4 to 6 weeks under EU rules (Ireland is still part of the European Union unlike the UK).  I suspect the restriction and limitation is because the EU doesn’t want over-fishing to occur.  It was unclear to me what our guide thought about that because he did mention several times and emphasized that they were very expensive vessels that also cost a great deal of money to maintain even when sitting at the docks.  Hopefully they make enough money worth their catches during the short fishing season.  On our way out of town we passed processing plants where the fish are sent after being off-loaded to be cleaned and flash frozen for shipment round the world.

The fishing fleet sitting idle at Killybegs

The countryside here which is further north than yesterday is considerably rockier than down in Galway.  There were essentially no farms because of the rocky terrain so most of the land is devoted to sheep or cows.  Also because of the terrain there is a different breed of sheep here.  These are better able to graze where there is less lush grass.  A consequence of that is that the ewes of the breed raised here generally have only one lamb per year whereas the breed further south may have two or three per year.  I know nothing about raising livestock but I found that interesting.

I liked this wreck of a boat along an inlet we passed. It won't be going to sea any time soon.

After a short bus ride we arrived at the visitor center and jumping off place for viewing today’s cliffs.  (One of my friends onboard who heard I was going to see more cliffs today said “Oh, you must be a cliffhanger!”  Ha! Ha!)

We got into some very small vans and drove up a winding, steep road to the summit of Sliabh Liag.  As we wound around we passed a bunch of people who are crazy in my opinion hiking or bike-riding up and down.  It looked very daunting to me and my fellow passengers.  

The cliffs of Sliabh Liag are the highest in Ireland with the highest point being 690 meters above sea level or about 1970 feet.  Unlike the cliffs of Moher which are nearly vertical these are more at an angle and do have a little vegetation in patches of the rocks.  Once again from the viewing platform we could see the waves crashing at the foot of the cliffs and there were even a few tiny sandy beaches where the rocks had been ground into what looked like fine white sand. While on the platform an Irishman whose family is from these parts played his guitar and serenaded us with a traditional Irish folk song he’d written. If I can figure out how to upload the little video I recorded I’ll put it here, but I always have trouble with that.

One of three man-made cairns on the road to the top og the cliffs

These are different views of Sliabh Liag

I can't upload the video but here's our Irish troubador.

After our stay at the top of the cliffs we rode down to the visitor center where we had what must be the standard afternoon fare, a scone and tea. Yesterday’s in Lisdoonvarna was better, but since I’d missed breakfast and lunch and was feeling a little peckish, it still hit the spot.  

We sailed not long after I got back to the ship and our course took us out past Sliabh Liag.  I went up to the Observation Bar which has a great view through floor to ceiling windows to see the cliffs from the sea.  Everybody else had the same idea and the place was packed but a friend and I found a place to sit with a lovely couple from Chicago.  I can see that if one came to Ireland the guide was absolutely right that the best thing to do would be to take a boat trip off the coast to better grasp the majesty of the cliffs.

These are the cliffs from offshore. I'm sure they are much more dramatic from a small boat up close.

This was our last stop in Ireland and now we’re off to Scotland.  The Executive Chef, who happens to be Scottish, in anticipation of the next few days offered a main course of Haggis, neeps and tatties.  You can look up what haggis is; neeps and tatties are mashed turnips and potatoes.  The dish is cooked with and served with a delicious sauce generously flavored with whiskey.  I’d never tried haggis, which gets an undeserved reputation in my opinion, until a few cruises ago and now I can say I am always pleased when it’s on the menu.  If you haven’t tried it and you have the chance, you really should.

Before I close this entry I should say that the food has been wonderful on this cruise as it was when I was here earlier in the year. Everything that I’ve had has been very good and there have been lots of choices. Seabourn is making a real effort to introduce lots of local things so in most ports the chef is buying local fresh fish, cheeses, meats and cold cuts and sausages.  We’re in no danger of going hungry! 

So for now , slán and oíche mhaith!

August 14 - In the Land of the King with the Donkey Ears

We anchored today off the city of Galway in County Clare, Ireland.  It’s midway up the Atlantic Coast of the Republic of Ireland.  I’ve never been to this side.  This is the stepping off point to see the Cliffs of Moher, stunning sea cliffs that I’ve seen in many National Geographic and PBS documentaries, so I had booked a tour to see them.

We were scheduled to assemble in the Grand Salon at 8:45 AM to tender ashore as a group.  As everyone knows I’m a late riser so this was a real chore for me, but I was there. Unfortunately, there must have been some snags in the tendering process because we didn’t get going until nearly an hour late.  I would have loved to stay in bed an hour longer. Oh, well!

After the long delay we went ashore, boarded our bus and took off. (As an aside which I think I’ve mentioned before, I can’t sleep on a plane but put me on a bus and I doze off within five minutes.) All that I saw of the city of Galway were the brief glimpses leaving the waterfront and returning later in the day and nothing looked particularly memorable.

The Town Crier of Galway greeted us as we got off the tender with a proclamation welcoming us and declaring us Irishmen for the day.

We drove through the countryside into the neighboring County Clare to arrive at the Cliffs of Moher.  It was about an hour and a half drive.  Our guide Peter talked the whole time giving us information about the area and its history.  Of course, like all of Ireland the places we passed through were under British rule for hundreds of years, many of which were contentious.  I’ve only heard the Irish version of the stories, but I believe that the English were not good rulers and masters and the Irish were treated very poorly. At times the latter were forced en masse to move from their ancestral homes so that their British absentee landlords could appropriate and farm their land.  But that’s not what I was here to see and learn about today.

As we rode along through the countryside I did notice that despite Ireland being known as “the Emerald Isle” it didn’t look especially green today.  Apparently like much of Europe, Ireland has been going through an extended warm summer with less rain than usual.  Hence, the fields and grasses looked brown and at best pale green.   Excessive heat can be relative depending on what’s usual and our guide told us that in County Clare and Galway when the temperature is higher than 72° F a heat alert is declared.  Today we were at 72.4°.  I also noticed that the terrain is quite rocky so that interspersed in fields there are large rocks and boulders. Our guide told us that it’s difficult land to farm for that reason, and it’s even difficult to build houses because when attempting to dig to build a foundation the rock layer is close to the surface.  Another thing I found interesting is that as we drove along we would occasionally pass a tumbled-down and abandoned house made of stones.  These are called “famine houses” and were ramshackle structures made of mud and stone in which whole families lived along with any farm animals they might have during the famine years of the great potato famine in the 19th century.  Many were abandoned when the great Irish migration to North America began.  Now it’s against the law to tear them down and they serve as a reminder of an unhappy chapter in Irish history.

These next are several photos of the countryside we rode through on our way to the cliffs.  While the fields were still green, they looked no where near as lush as they did when I was here earlier this year.

An old castle along the way

This village we passed is typical of what villages along the water look like with colorful row houses along the waterfront.

Some happy cows enjoying a little siesta

More Irish countryside

Eventually we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher which are part of a Geopark. There is a visitor center built into a hillside and paths winding their way up to the top of the cliffs.  The cliffs lie at the edge of the Atlantic coast and stretch for about 9 miles.  At their highest point near O’Brien’s Tower they reach their maximum height of just over 700 feet.  They consist of layers of shale and sandstone sediment which have accrued over millennia as the ice receded following the Ice Age and erosion carried sediment down rivers and streams.  The cliffs quite literally are nearly vertical to the ocean below.  From the heights you can see the waves crashing below and as a result of the wave and wind action there are portions which are unstable and will go crashing down into the sea below.  The rock walls are great nesting places for a variety of birds.  We didn’t have the opportunity but apparently one of the best ways to see the cliffs is by boat. From the sea our guide told us one can get the best sense of their full majesty and also be able to see the variety of puffins, razorbills and other birds nesting in the rocks.  Along the base of the cliffs there is also a large population of marine life, including seals, porpoises, dolphins and whales.

These are the Cliffs of Moher.  The pictures don't really do justice to quite how dramatic they are.

O'Brien's Tower at the top of promontory where there is an excellent viewing platform.

It’s a pretty steep walk going up to the top of the cliffs, but fortunately for those of us not as fit as we once were, there are golf cart shuttles to take you up!  I hitched a ride up and down.  At the top by O’Brien’s Tower I walked around and could see the majesty of the coast.  It was a cloudy day  (thankfully not raining!) and at the top very windy and quite chilly.  The view was as impressive as I thought it would be.  These cliffs are among the highest in Europe. I took my pictures and then shuttled down because I was getting pretty cold.

My friend Stephanie got this photo of me riding up in the golf cart so I couldn't even pretend I hiked up.

We had an opportunity to look in the visitor center and browse in the gift shop and then we headed out (after one terribly rude woman came back to the bus nearly 15 minutes late) to drive to the nearby village of Lisdoonvarna where we were to have tea and scones and a musical interlude in a café.  

If you’ve watched any Hallmark Channel movies you may know of this place.  In September Lisdoonvarna holds the annual Matchmaker’s Festival with activities centered at the Matchmaker’s Bar.  Approximately 60,000 visitors come each year to participate in activities ranging from matchmaking (of course) to dancing and live music concerts.  I can’t remember the name of the movie but when I saw the place I remembered seeing the show.

This bus in the parking lot at the Cliffs just tickled me.

One of many pubs we passed.  This one was celebrating 20 years of the "Galway Hooker" and I have to wonder what or who that is.

I love all the flower boxes and baskets festooning these places.

The Matchmaker's Bar which is the headquarters of the annual festival

We had a lovely scone and some great tea  in the café.  While we enjoyed our snack a young Italian woman played us some classical pieces.  I was expecting some Irish music, but I guess for that we would have had to go to a pub and had a pint of Guiness.  I think I preferred the tea and scone.

These two lovely copper statues graced the tiny little square in Lisdoonvarna where we waited for our coach.

Ireland has many folktales and legends.  Years ago when Katie and I visited we heard the one about Finn McCool when we went to the Giant’s Causeway.  On our ride back to Galway  Peter, who clearly has kissed the Blarney Stone because he liked to talk,  told us about Lonegan, the king of County Clare who had donkey ears.  A long time ago Lonegan the king had donkey ears which he kept secret from the whole world by wearing a crown and keeping his hair cut so it covered and hid the ears.  When he got a haircut he would execute the barber so his secret wouldn’t be divulged.  Being a barber became known to be a dangerous profession despite people not knowing why.  A young lad named Donnel wanted to be a barber and trained and became quite accomplished.  Lonegan ordered Donnel to come and cut his hair.  Donnel’s mother who didn’t want to lose her beloved son went to the palace and began basically pitching a fit, wailing, moaning and carrying on so that everyone there had to plug their ears to drown out the noise.  The king asked what the horrible racket was and was told that Donnel’s mum didn’t want her son to cut the king’s hair for fear of never seeing him again.  The king promised he wouldn’t have the son killed if he swore to keep his secret from any human being.  So Donnel cut Lonegan’s hair and became privy to the secret of the donkey ears.  The king kept his word and sent Donnel on his way.  Unfortunately Donnel was terribly bothered having this terrible knowledge and began to waste away.  His mother tried to get him to divulge the secret, but her son kept his promise even though it was making him ill.  His mum told him to go down to the river and tell the secret to a tree since that wasn’t a human.  Donnel did that and shared his secret with a willow tree along the banks of the river and felt greatly relieved.  Soon after a passing Irish harpist came along, saw the fine willow tree, and cut a few branches to make a new harp.  The harpist came to the King’s palace and was invited to play for King Lonegan.  As he started to strum his harp it began to play on its own accord and sang “Oh, the king has donkey ears, the king has donkey ears!”  Lonegan’s secret was revealed to the world by the loose “lips” of the harp and he had to uncover his strange ears for everyone to see.  I think the tale had a happy ending because the king no longer had to go to great lengths to hide his ears and no more barbers had to die.  Now aren’t you glad you know this Irish tale?  

In conclusion, after rambling on so much, it was a very nice and entertaining day, even though I had to get up at the crack of dawn (by my standards at least).  TTFN!

August 13 - I heard there was an eclipse yesterday!

Well, here we are in the Atlantic on our way to Galway on the west coast of Ireland after yesterday’s day at sea to view the eclipse.  Since we boarded the ship last Saturday we had glorious weather with blue skies and wispy clouds. Wouldn’t you know that eclipse day dawned cloudy. The eclipse was scheduled to begin shortly after 6 PM and totality was to be seen between 7 and 7:15 PM.  The sun and moon were to be at about 30° above the horizon.  Around four there was a brief shower and by the time many of us got to the upper decks to stake out a spot a little after 5 PM the rain had stopped, but the clouds stubbornly refused to budge. My friends and I had gotten a table under cover near the pool and armed with our Seabourn eclipse glasses we periodically popped out to the open deck to see what we could see. The answer was not much.  We got one glimpse through the cloud cover as the moon began its passage between us and the sun, but it didn’t even show up in the photos I tried taking.  The picture I’m putting below was taken by a friend from Australia who stayed outside for the entire event.  As they say, c’est la vie!  It was still fun.  Seabourn had champagne and caviar, big shrimp and other hors d’oeuvres for us to enjoy and they had created a special cocktail.

See that crescent?  That's the sun behind the moon.

I had made reservations for Solis, the specialty restaurant on board, so after the three of us decided we’d waited long enough for the heavens to clear, we adjourned to the restaurant and had a lovely meal. After dinner there was a dance party which was moved from the pool deck to the Club and I went of course.  I danced a lot and didn’t get back to my cabin until around 1:30 AM.  Despite not having the eclipse experience I’d been waiting for, I had a wonderful day. In the late evening we were supposed to be in a position to see the Perseid meteor shower. Since it was raining we didn't even go out to try to see the stars.

This is what we should have been able to see, but alas it was not meant to be.

Today we’re on our third sea day on our way to Galway. The seas are calm but it’s still cloudy and not nearly as warm as it has been. We played trivia before lunch. Our performance has been wildly inconsistent.  Yesterday we won; today we finished in last place.  Seabourn is very diplomatic, so when the Cruise Director announces the standings of the teams, he never says a team is in last place. Instead he says to that team “Thank you for coming.”  After trivia I had arranged a Ladies’ Lunch for eight of us.  We had champagne and played a little game and had a very fun-filled lunch.  We laughed a lot and that always feels good.

The cruise director onboard is a man named Ross Roberts and he is an absolute nut.  I’m not sure how many suitcases he travels with but since he has a different suit for every different holiday known to mankind there must be many bags.  Think having a Kelly-green suit on which both jacket and trousers have shamrocks. There’s a guest entertainer on for several days who is also a nut so the two of them did a Name That Tune game after lunch. I’ve never seen so many people in attendance and the repartee between the two was hilarious. The last song teams had to guess based on just a few notes was “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera.  When Ross and Martin revealed the answers playing more of the songs, Ross cracked everybody up with his antics.  He went off-stage for a moment to get into character for the song from Phantom.  He reappeared with a Kleenex plastered on one side of his face in lieu of a mask.  You’ll have to trust me and take my word that it was hysterical.  The photo doesn’t do it justice.

This evening another group of friends has arranged for us to have Thanksgiving Dinner.  What can I say?  They like turkey with all the trimmings and the Chef is willing to accommodate us.

And that’s my report from here in the Atlantic.  Sorry that there are so few photos, but there’s not much to see on a cloudy day at sea.  I hope all are well at home.  Here at sea with no land insight it's easy to forget there's any place else in the world. Perhaps that's why I like it so much.

August 10 - Fowey, Cornwall, United Kingdom

It’s actually the 11th around 1:30 AM but I’m just getting around to writing.  I’ve had a wonderful day here in this place which looks like the name should be pronounced “Phooey” but it’s really “Foy.”  Today it was clearly evident why sailing on a small ship is good.  The anchorage was small and the inlet to get here was narrow.

Anyway, we were anchored a five-minute tender ride from the most charming little town. The downtown, if you can call it that, was a village of Georgian row houses along one main one-way street.  I had no tour booked and just went ashore and wandered.  The street was barely wide enough for one car and a local in a shop told me that until a few years ago it had two-way traffic.  As I walked along there were delivery vans bringing things to shops or pubs and a long line of cars waited patiently behind until they were finished, no honking or gesticulations.  Can you imagine that in the US?

The street was lined with little shops selling local arts and crafts, and a fair amount of usual tourist trash and trinkets as Al called them. Of course, there were pubs and bake shops selling Cornish pasties.  A Cornish pasty is sort of a turnover filled with meat or fish.  They are pretty big with a large, crimped edge.  I got an education which explained to me the origin of pasties.  Cornwall had many tin mines and the miners would bring with them or have lowered to them in buckets these pasties to eat while they worked.  They had no place to wash their hands and so the pasties had large crusts on one side so the men could hold them with their dirty hands, eat the good stuff inside, and then toss the excess pastry away. I went into a bakery and thought about buying one, but it just wasn’t a time that I felt hungry so I only looked.

Along the streets there are a multitude of shops that had big hanging baskets of flowers, mainly petunias in a multitude of colors with the blooms cascading over the sides.  It was beautiful.  Along the way I found a small square along the waterfront with lots of wrought iron benches, and I sat for a while watching the many tourists passing (many of whom were land travelers not on our ship) and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.  Next to me were a couple from Cologne, Germany visiting the UK and we had a nice conversation about sailing. I stopped in a couple of shops belonging to local artisans and found a few interesting things.

The town, I’ll call it that but it’s really more of a village, is nestled at the base of a hill and I confess that I didn’t walk to the top.  Friends did or took tours and they said it was lovely English countryside up above. I spent a couple of hours browsing and then went back to the ship.  On board I met friends by the patio and we talked and enjoyed the bright afternoon.

I haven’t written about the Club or the music or dancing, but here’s my report.  The first night I never made it to the Club.  I stopped in one of the bars and had a great evening talking with a British couple I just met and who are on my trivia team.  Last night I missed the show (again too much talking) but made it to the Club late evening.  There were at least four people besides me there (yes, four only!).  Everybody seems to go to bed with the chickens on this ship and they don’t know what they’re missing.  Both musical groups are wonderful and well worth listening to. Among the four there besides me were a couple I know who sit near the bar, nowhere near the dance floor which is not conducive to dancing and I joined them.  I am going to strive to sit closer to the dance floor because they have been playing great music and the extra steps would be good for me.  That’s my first world problem and I shall deal with it. 

Aside from that, the food has been quite good, the staff is wonderful as they always are, and I’m having a grand time. On the 12th we’ll be in position to experience the eclipse and we have an astronomer on board to talk to us about the heavens above.  The eclipse will occur around 6 PM here and later that evening there's supposed to be a meteor shower.  How lucky I am to be here to see those!  We have a Ladies’ Lunch planned for one day and other friends have asked the chef to prepare Thanksgiving for one evening.  Yes, I know it’s not November but these friends like a traditional Thanksgiving meal and here on Seabourn with 24 hours notice you can get pretty much anything you like. It will be fun.  

And that’s my report for today.  Oh, my trivia team won today. We only missed one question!  All of us play for fun, but it sure is nice to win! So, good night and God Bless as one of my favorite English friends says.

August 9 - I’m back with the Cowes in Cowes, Isle of Wight

 

Time to catch up again.  Yesterday my two friends and I were picked up at the Brown’s Hotel and we were driven together to Dover for embarkation.  The ride took a little longer than it did in June when I was going in the opposite direction, but I guess that was because we had to make it through London traffic. (The city looks absolutely full of tourists and the traffic was awful.)  Anyway, the time went fast because we talked a lot and we arrived at the terminal which was once the old railroad station.  As we waited for the luggage people to tag and pile our bags on the cart, a shoreside English lady came over to me and said that I needed to look over to the second floor of the terminal because there were people there waving like crazy.  Sure enough, several crew members still here from my last voyage were waving a welcome and when we got upstairs to check in there were lots of hugs.  It’s always nice to see old friends.

A different shot of the White Cliffs of Dover.  It was a gorgeous day!

We boarded quickly and then I went up to the Patio to find some more friends who were on with me in June and who had embarked a week ago in Copenhagen. Sure enough they were at our usual table along with some other old friends I didn’t know would be onboard.  We got the important stuff over with fast (we formed our trivia team!) and then we spent  an hour or two catching up.  I decided to skip lunch so that I could instead indulge in my first afternoon Adult Milkshake.  One of my favorite bartenders LJay was still there and she made me a delectable apricot adult shake with I don’t know what kind of spirits.  Aah!  I am home!

My suitcases were on my bed when I got back to my cabin, I unpacked, got cleaned up and met my friends for the Solo Cocktail party.  There were some people I’ve met before and a few new ones.  It seems to be a nice group.  Then we decided it was such a lovely evening we’d eat outside at the Earth and Ocean restaurant.  We had a delicious dinner and then Stephanie and Claudia went off to bed.  I went to my favorite bar to get my favorite after dinner drink and wound up staying and talking until nearly 1 AM to old and new friends.  I had fully intended to go to the Club and hear the new band and dance, but that will just have to wait until this evening.

This morning I didn’t get up until nearly 10 AM so naturally I missed breakfast.  We’re in Cowes, Isle of Wight.  I was here around this time last year and I’d been here a time before, so I’m staying onboard.  It’s a cute little town, but nothing to really  make me feel a need to tender ashore.  I will enclose a photo I took last year and actually put on the blog then, but it was so cute I feel it bears another look.  On the little cobble-stone street going up to the main street in the village you pass the Union Inn which has the only welcome sign of its kind that I’ve ever seen and it just tickles me.  Aside from writing this I’m having a pretty lazy day which I need because I’m still adjusting from the jet lag.  Anyway, all I can say is "Life is Good" here on the good ship Ovation!

The Union Inn - if you haven't read the sign before saying who (or what ) is welcome, you really must read it.

These photos are of the room at Brown's because my friend Cyndi was curious about the rooms there.  Bear in my mind they look rumpled because I'd slept there already, but the room was more than adequate.