Florida & California
11/07/2007 to 11/26/2007
Flying from NZ to the east coast of the US can make you pull your hair out. Even though our flight from LA to Florida was cancelled, we made the best of it. Actually, Robin just needs a decent haircut.
Ft. Myers, Florida
Duncan's parent's 50th wedding anniversary inspired us to make a "quick" trip back to the U.S. to participate in the celebration. Flying from New Zealand to Florida is a bit of a marathon travel situation. Auckland to Los Angeles is a thirteen hour flight, yet we arrived only a couple hours after we left Auckland due to the confusing dateline thing. Our connecting flight was cancelled, so we took advantage of the situation by getting a hotel room and grabbing a nap before catching the red-eye in to Orlando. We hopped in the rental car and drove over to Ft. Myers Beach, Florida.
Not only do Duncan's parents and grandfather live in Ft. Myers, but Robin's folks live in the same area. Midwesterners seem to like to retire to this area. Duncan's sister, Susan, and our niece and nephew, Samara and Kyle, came in from Seattle for the anniversary celebration. And, Robin's sister and brother-in-law, Kari and Bruce, flew down from Chicago to catch up. A veritable family reunion ensued.
Cocktail parties and the big anniversary-do kept us quite busy for the ten days we spent in Florida.
Ft. Myers Beach never disappoints with its wide, white beach. We awoke to the sight of this beach for five mornings.
The annual Ft. Myers beach sand castle competition resulted in some elaborate sand castles. What happened to the simple bucket castle and moat design?
Duncan parents, Bob & Judy, celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
Duncan, Judy, Bob & Susan threw a fun anniversary party. Many friends from all over the U.S. congregated in Ft. Myers to celebrate the big event.
Bob & Judy celebrated their 50th with around 60 family and friends. At our table sat Adrian (Duncan's uncle), Hannah (Adrian's wife), Bruce (cousin), Conrad (another uncle), us (us), and Robin's folks (Kathy & Dave).
Uncle Conrad and cousin Bruce came down from South Carolina. Here, Bruce confirms their "odd couple" status according to the placecard.
Dave & Kath came in from the golf course to join the beach party.
A scrumptious carrot cake gets cut by the anniversary couple.
Our niece, Samara, and her boyfriend, Bryan, came in from Seattle.
Duncan's grandfather, Bob, is in very good shape for 90 years old. Robin takes any chance she can get to grab a hug.
Duncan's sis, Susan, and her partner, Kevin also in from Seattle.
Here's sis Susan and her "kids" - Samara & Kyle.
The day after the party, most of the guests joined in on a boat-ride up to Cabbage Key for lunch. Mark and Teresa - good friends of Bob & Judy - took some folks on their power catamaran. Wow, going 30 knots is quite different than Whisper's usual 6 or 7 knots.
Duncan's dad took a group of folks on his boat for the trip up to Cabbage Key.
Simple fact -dolphins like to play around boats.
Duncan and his mom, Judy, both have had "blonde hair" for quite some time.
We stayed in a condo on the beach for a few days. Whenever Robin gets near a bath tub, she must jump in. With the infrequency of the occurrence, the quantity of bubbles is always up for grabs. Is this too many bubbles for a spa tub? This is definitely not too many bubbles for a photograph.
After the anniversary party festivities on the beach, we moved over to the golf course to visit with Robin's family.
Lots of our favorite foods including this platter of lobster, stone crab and shrimp - were delivered by the chef for the cocktail party. Don't tell the chef, but Robin ate most of the lobster before any of the guests arrived.
As always, it is great to catch up with Robin's sis, Kari, and brother-in-law, Bruce. Looks like we did not get a photo of Bruce.
Between the various family parties, we met over 100 new people in a couple days. Don't ask us to remember all of their names.
Green flash? Nope, not this time. Where is this elusive flash?
Richard, Marianne and Robin at the Kona Kai marina gate. Now that is an impressive marina gate!
San Diego, California
We wrapped up in Florida and moved on to visit friends in California. Good friends, Richard & Marianne, live on their boat, Wavefarer, in San Diego. We spent several days catching up with them in San Diego.
Poor San Diego was just recovering from the devastating wildfires. Luckily, most of the smoke had cleared before we arrived. While in San Diego, we visited the Wild Animal Park and celebrated our first Thanksgiving in the U.S. since 2001.
En route to the Wild Animal park, the tire on Marianne's car decided to exhale. No worries, Duncan and Richard can fix it.
Wah Lah! On the road again...
The expansive Wild Animal park required a planning session prior to departing the entrance. And, the flat tire and a little bit of confusion on directions to the park put us a bit behind schedule. Efficiency in exploring the park was of the essence.
Looks a bit like a movie set. Apparently this lion agrees with keeping SUVs off the California highways.
What is under the tail of the rhino? Is that the right place for them?
Besides seeing Richard and Marianne, we were quite excited to visit the West Marine. A cruising friend from Mexico, Dick from Dunamis, works at the store. Luckily for us, we received a "Friends and Family" discount voucher. We bought seven pairs of shoes between the two of us. Seven pair of shoes at West Marine? Yep, shoes and various other bits.
Dick and Dotti came over to our hotel room to catch up and munch on a bit of pizza. We got the scoop on several cruisers we met in Mexico.
We spent lots of time with Richard and Marianne catching up, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, playing at the pool and drinking wine. Very relaxing and fun.
California still feels like home even though we have been gone for over five years. But, Auckland is starting to feel like home, too. Goodbye U.S. - for now.
We drove up to Los Angeles in preparation for the return flight to Auckland. Thanks to way too many movies on the flight back to Auckland, we were home before we knew it. The U.S. trip was quick and focused. We enjoyed the trip, but it was way too fast and we missed seeing many friends.
We now move back to getting ready to start the cruising season. Let's go!