And the cruise begins!

We bid adieu to Montreal as we boarded out ship, the Maasdam! The weather was perfect for our departure from the city. While Halley and Dan got their stuff (and I mean stuff…. Magazines, DVD’s, CD’s, cross stitch supplies and project, meds, mini-DVD player, the list goes on… I swear, that girl brings more stuff than anyone I have ever known… been like that since she was a kid) all put away in their room, Jerry and I went exploring on the ship. It’s smaller than some of the other ones we have been on, but not by much. Eventually, we too settled into our room and had a chance, before dinner, to sit on the deck and enjoy the evening breeze as we sailed away.
Dinner was superb… H and D were 30 minutes late… grrrrr… you can’t tell that kidlet anything… she said she knew where we were having dinner & so we said we would hook up at 5:30. We try so hard to give more freedom, but, always seem to have to become the nagging parents.
The evening closed with a wonderful show by Michael W Smith, Jeremy Camp, Audrey Aussad, L’Angelus, author Frank Peretti and a great comedian, John Branyan; we were laughing like crazy…. Each gave just a taste of what they will be singing and doing the rest of the week…. As Annie, from the broadway show says: “I think I’m gonna like it here!”
Tomorrow we wake up in Quebec City….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of Walking, Lots of Heat, Lots of Water!

Nice long walk, just Jerry and Jean, for about 3 hours this morning…. Warm…but not crazy warm, know what I mean! Halley said she had to rest her legs for this afternoon’s visit to all the chotzke stores… She has her priorities. We managed a mini bridge picture down by the waterfront in one of the parks. The St Lawrence River is a beautiful and clean river. I never realized how cold and how much snow they get in the winter here: parts of the river freeze over and we were told their average snowfall is in feet! And can start at the end of September. Funny how I just live in my own little world sometimes, and don’t pay so much attention to the rest… Have run into a couple ‘cruise folks’… Fun to start out early like this… and how do we know they are cruise folks? They had some shirts available that we could order… Guess what we’re wearing tonight when we go chotzke shopping… yup, our cruise shirts! I will admit, the day did get warmer and warmer… by evening, we were ready to come home. Halley and Dan found their treasures so life was all good… Tomorrow is the big day when we leave… We embark on the boat around one-ish, and then… we get waited on! How wonderful that will be!

The fountain in the underground mall under our hotel... gorgeous!

 

In the middle of the city... a nice find!
 

This was a spa called "Bota, Bota"... and it was just some sorta huge boat retrofitted likes something that I've never seen!
 

These particular locks are no longer in use, just have the constant flow of water over the gates.  This is all next to a huge abandoned Grain Silo Building... I'm talking huge... about 5 times as big as the one on the Tacoma waterfront.
 

Jerry and I have moved our yacht to Montreal for ReSale... as you can see, it's quite nice...  We are asking 1.5 million.... anyone interested!  Previous owner was a wonderful, wealthy Russian Gentleman!

 

Six Flaggs now runs the amusement center you can see under the bridge... leftover things from the Montreal Expo years ago...also, a few more added... We passed... My vertigo and these types of rides, not a good combo... Heck, I can't even do a tilt-a-whirl!
 

This was the USA's exhibit at the Expo... I think this was the model used for Disneyworld ... just a SWAG...
 

 

Halley and Dan were doing the souvenier shopping, Jerry and I found a cafe... I had some yummy Sangria... and we were blessed with a bit of a breeze... nice... No we normally don't dress alike, but, if someone from our cruise group saw us in the shirts, we are put in a drawing for front row seats at the concerts in the evening on the boat.... When we were at our hotel, they found us and we each got nabbed!  Cool! 
 

 

Bon Jour from Montreal !

And we are off again… this time to Montreal to catch a boat, the “Maasdam”, for a nice cruise down to Boston.  Lots of excitement has been building, and by the time we sat on the plane, we counted the things we forgot and felt, all in all, we were in pretty good shape!  Thanks heavens for BankCards!

Met Halley and Dan in Detroit… all seemed good till we got on the plane… Halley had a meltdown…I am learning, but not too well yet, to keep my mouth shut and just let it take it’s course with her… and to throw logic out the window!   I say that with love. 

Made it through customs without any problems and a driver took us to our hotel.  By now it’s 8:45 pm, so we were ready for dinner.  They have a great little place here in the hotel and dinner was superb!  (My Diva’s… they had really good Pinot Noir, so I was happy!)

After a good night’s rest, Thursday found us being tourists!  Took a journey all over Montreal (did you know it’s an island, about 30 sq miles?) for about 3 hours:  Old Montreal, the Olympic Stadiums, Mont Royal (Montreal’s name is derived from that ‘hill’), Notre Dame Basilica (found out that’s where Celine Dion got married… woohoo!)… just to drop a couple names!  When we were done, dropped H and D off at the hotel so they could ‘rest’ and Jerry and I took off on foot and explored the area they call Old Montreal.  It is quite quaint and very reminiscent of the Europe… it truly caters to the tourists that is for sure…We also, right in our hotel area, got to see a piece of the Berlin Wall that is set up as a memorial… pretty cool.   Not sure what is in store for tomorrow, but will certainly keep you informed… Oh.. and you will never guess what is coming back in style… I remember these horizontal strip dresses from the 70’s… Yup… saw a couple of them at different times here… I snapped a pic of one… Think I’ll skip that style!

       

 

 

This stadium with his weird appendage... I don't remember it all from the '76 Olympics;  found out most of  it was added after the Olympics: cost over-runs prevented it from being completed as planned before the Olympics.... So, even in Canada....
 

 

This is one ugly pic... but we're posting it anyway...

 

Pretty cool bike rentals throughout the city...
 

Reminds me of Europe
 

Those ugly stripe dresses....
 

The piece of the Berlin Wall... pretty cool!
 

 

 

Just a couple more days and we are off!

So, so, so excited... there's a cruise in our future... like this Saturday... From Montreal to Boston... along with Michael W Smith and Friends!

Father's Day - Portlandia - 2012

We decided to continue the tradition of traveling for the Father’s Day Celebration.  Cleaned the car, packed our bags and took off Thursday afternoon along with Jillian and Oliver.  We had reservations at the Hotel Monaco… and even Oliver got an email from ‘Timmy’ the hotel’s dog, letting him know they were excited to have him come visit! 

Thursday night, after we enjoyed some wine at the evening reception, we walked to the Pearl District and had dinner with neice, Dawn and her husband Russell and kidlet, Kelsey.  Vietnamese food.. first time, enjoyed it.  Came up during the evening, that there was a Walk/Run for Epilepsy on Saturday… Kelsey suggested we participate, her sis Jessica would also be there… Well, that’s all it took, and we registered online that night for the event.  Oliver even came along and met up with Oscar, the Campbell labradoodle.  So, all in all, the morning of Saturday was gorgeous and we ended up walking about 5 miles (the walk was 3 miles on the Portland Waterfront… gorgeous sunny warm).  When we were finished, we walked to one of the food cart blocks for replenishment!

 

 

Got ahead of myself… Let’s talk Friday…Started the day off with ‘VooDoo’ donuts…a special treat for Dad.  He had never had them before and Jillian knew just where to go.  Later, we drove to Clackamas and played a bit of puttputt at a gorgeous golf course.  Oregon and Washington: I think these two states have the corner on lush green surroundings (we better with the moisture we have!).  Anyway,  it was a comfortable temp with lots of sun---nice!  Friday evening found us at the Hotel Reception again, but this time Julie and Jens Andersen joined us and we headed off to a great dinner at the “Red Star”…. Followed by a showy presentation of a Spanish Coffee at Huber’s.  A great meal but even better people to be with!  We were quite the tired campers by now, but knew we had the walk the next morning, so we were in bed by 11.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, the walk was great as I said.  After we came back to the hotel, had our meal, Oliver and I ended up laying on the couch in our room and promptly feel asleep.  That gave Jerry and Jillian the chance to drive some go karts and mini-race cars at Malibu Raceway.  Jillian, who is a lead foot most of the time, I hear, was like a little old lady driving the course… oops, she told be not to tell… Oh Well!... Jerry also hooked up with one of his best friends from elementary school, Nick P. Later, that evening we had RSVP’s at The Urban Farm, located in “The Nines” hotel, for dinner. Very nice, but we missed having Halley along with us for the Father’s Day celebration 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning, we awoke.. and guess what.. still more adventures.  We had an Epicurean Portland Walking Tour to participate in.  Started at 10 am and ended a little after one.  We  went to a variety of places, and had a bite at each one…. Plus we learned about the history of Portland and the different areas we walked to.  Highly recommend it!  Oliver couldn’t come but he had won the hearts of the staff in the back room at the hotel, so he was having his own fun!  Oh, on top of this, unbeknownst to us when the day started,  this was the Pride Weekend… So there was a parade and other activities (now, all the rainbow balloons were making sense).  As they say, everyone loves a parade and the streets were filled with happy folks! 

All the good time in Portland had to end, so we left around 2pm for home. Jillian and Oliver got some snoozes in on the way home. But, wait, one more fun time… Dinner with Darren at Harbor Lights!  And, as they say, ‘a good time was had by all!’