mecllap - M E C Live Long and Prosper

My first blog is at the beginning -- a month-long trip to Europe, about two weeks in 6-7 countries on the continent, and two more in England/Scotland. Wasn't able to add photos as I was going along (and have been dreadfully slow about going back and adding them in. Then Grand Cayman, and some trips to Florida. Have made other short trips here and there as well -- travelling is my main retirement pasttime.

In my blogs, DD refers to my daughter, and DGS refers to my grandson (those are conventions used on disney forums -- the first D is "dear"). I don't know what the capacity is here for pages, but I couldn't figure out how to start a completely new separate blog, without registering under another name (I've been "mecllap" since my first Web days on Prodigy in the mid 90's). I tried the "Trips" button up top but couldn't figure out how to actually get it to work, so guess readers are stuck with all the entries I manage to plug in here.

Disney World and other early summer delights
June 5th 2009 -» June 25th 2009

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Joined on: July 26th 2008
Last Login: November 7th 2009

Blog Entries: 47
Photos: 86

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by mecllap, order by Date newest first.

By mecllap
November 7th 2009

Another road trip to Florida North America

Well, I don't want to make false promises, since I sure blew it with the totally unfinished/barely started June Florida trip. I'm in Florida again, and at least have written up some entries. Here's a quick synopsis so far: At least temporarily have internet access -- for some reason, it really bothers me to pay extra for internet when I'm travelling. Maybe it's the frugal part of my nature that allows me to watch pennies, so that I have travelling money for these kinds of trips. Have seen lots of interesting things; done way too much driving; weather has been pretty [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
July 18th 2009

T-Rex restaurant and Star Wars weekend (SWW) at Disney Hollywood Studios North America » United States » Florida » Orlando

The two-day drive (for me) between Asheville, NC and the Orlando area (actually Kissimmee/Lake Buena Vista for Walt Disney World) went fairl uneventfully -- no highway blockages or major construction. Not thrilled about DGS singing along to his i-pod -- afraid he's inherited my nonmusical gene, poor kid, fortunately he has lots of other stuff going for him. Stopped about halfway in Richmond Hill, GA -- dinner at a marginal "Mexican" restaurant and stayed in an okay Days Inn ($39.95 with coupon). Included breakfast was also fine. DGS kind of melted down when I thought we were going to end u [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
July 12th 2009

The world's slowest blogger? A June Florida timeshare trip. North America » United States » Florida » Orlando

Archway into Walt Disney World

Well, hopefully I've learned not to make promises about maintaining my Blog -- no luck with "Trips" feature, and obviously I didn't do any entries while actually on the trip. In hindsight it was a pretty good trip, but often seemed less than magical while we were there (the heat and crowds were worse than I had expected), and I'm looking foward to my next trip to Florida this Fall. Several highlights and no major problems -- some "learning experiences." If we hadn't been mostly staying in timeshare units, it probably would have been a much worse trip. Started out in [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
June 4th 2009

Disney World and other early summer delights North America » United States » Florida » Orlando

Anxious to be on the road for Florida. Tried to do the new "Trips" feature to separate this out, but wasn't successful -- so if there are any new readers -- you can just wander on into my past year as well. I pick up DGS tomorrow to begin the drive to Lake Buena Vista (aka Orlando). It's a two-day trip for me, altho most people just take one day from here. Disney Parks are nostalgic for me -- starting from my "tween" years getting to go to Disneyland with my Aunt and Uncle in the mid/late 1970's. I love the [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
January 7th 2009

Travelling home from Grand Cayman Central America Caribbean » Cayman Islands » Grand Cayman

Leaving our resort
On the way to the airport

1/2/09 - Friday - our last day, sigh. (And getting home). Have kind of fizzled out today. Kind of stiff and sore from jet ski ride yesterday, so just relaxing around the resort and thinking about packing. DD and DGS have been out and about running errands and doing some last minute shopping. I got in some hammock time and sun time by the pool. DGS had a little football and pool time. It’s a little cloudy and the effort of packing up and going to the beach, then hauling everything back and cleaning up is almost sounding like work at [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
January 5th 2009

Home from Grand Cayman Central America Caribbean » Cayman Islands » Grand Cayman

Looks like I'm behind in finishing up the report about this trip. We got home fine, on schedule Saturday evening. Will fill in some final details and add some more photos in the next few days. [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
January 2nd 2009

Happy New Year from Grand Cayman Central America Caribbean » Cayman Islands » Grand Cayman

Hanging with a sting ray

1/1/09 - My New Year’s Resolution is to never ride a jet ski again! Well, maybe not “never again” but certainly only if I am in control of it, and am not on any kind of a schedule to get somewhere and back. We had thought about doing the waverunner trip to the Stingray Sandbar because it sounded fun, and something we haven’t done before, but had second thoughts and put our name on the list for the early morning boat (we thought). Turned out with it being New Year’s Day, the boat wasn’t going out til later, so we opted [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
January 1st 2009

Happy New Year's Eve from Grand Cayman Central America Caribbean » Cayman Islands » Grand Cayman

Starfish by the dock

12/31/08 - Another Beautiful day in Grand Cayman - Happy New Year’s Eve. Pretty much the typical “eat, go to the pool, eat, go to the beach, eat, go to the hammock” day today (one of those that doesn’t involve spending much money at all). While the young’uns were at the pool, I wandered around and took some more resort photos and video, found a couple of starfish out by the dock. DGS played “football” with another boy out on the rough sand for quite awhile. We tried to work up to snorkeling out toward the dock, but decided against it. [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
December 31st 2008

A relaxing day on Grand Cayman Central America Caribbean » Cayman Islands » Grand Cayman

One of many turtles at Bird Sanctuary
Among a gazillion "guppies."

12/30/08 - A slow day checking out more sites and beaches in Grand Cayman. Some hard rain in the early morning, and a cloudy start to the day, so we got off to a slow start this morning. Balcony too wet for sitting out for breakfast. Eventually gathered up and headed out on another exploration day in late morning, with packed lunch (more turkey sandwiches, and PBJ for DGS). We headed east again on the bypass, to avoid busy cruise ship day in town. Just went to look for the small golf course that is mentioned in one of the guide [View Full Entry]

By mecllap
December 30th 2008

Grand Cayman typical day for a tourist Central America Caribbean » Cayman Islands » Grand Cayman

Another view from our balcony
DD went out to dock to work on her artisitc picture taking.

Monday, 12/29/08 -- Shopping on non-cruise ship day on Grand Cayman. Typical day on Grand Cayman: Eat, go to pool; eat, go to beach; eat, go to hammock! That was yesterday; a little variety today - we went shopping, which is another very popular activity here. We don’t do the high end duty-free shopping however. Last night I forgot to include hammock time, which is one of my favorite times at this resort, even when it’s rather windy and chilly. Something about it is very enjoyable for me. Today we had our usual pool and ray time in the morning after [View Full Entry]

The yacht in port this week in Grand Cayman

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