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Published: January 9th 2015
How is it that 2014 flew by in the blink of an eye? And now here it is 2015 and that means it’s time to go on a world cruise.
We disembarked the Silver Whisper in Hong Kong last February and after a week’s stay in an apartment, we flew to California to drop off our cruise clothes and then on to Florida. We had left our van in Ft Myers in December 2014 and we were going back to pick it up and drive home. What had intended to be a one month trip turned into a seven month journey. Over that time period we rented houses in four places on the Florida west coast. Against everyone’s advice, we ended up spending the summer there and enjoyed it very much. Every house we rented had its own swimming pool and screened-in lanai. So we were able to avoid the Florida bugs and keep cool in the pool. It was great exploring the off-shore islands like Boca Grande and Gasparilla and beach combing for sharks teeth and sand dollars. We spent many lovely days with our good friends, Sue and Curt, boating on the warm waters of the Gulf of
LAGRAFF FAMILY REUNION
Karen, Dan, Susan, Kevin, Susie, Arnie, JeannieMexico.
We had a great LaGraff family reunion in Rotonda West in June and in the process made plans for a bigger family reunion in 2015 in the same area. In August we started driving north up the Ohio Valley and ending on the shores of Lake Ontario. It was Kevin’s 50
th De Sales High School reunion in Lockport, New York. It was endless fun seeing all the old classmates and traipsing down memory lane. A boat cruise through the locks of the Erie Canal was fascinating and harbor hopping on Lake Ontario with Brad and Judy was perfect for us water loving people.
We took a side trip to Niagara Falls and met up with world cruise friends, Hilda and Jarmo. Such a beautiful spot and we had a bird’s eye view from our hotel of the thundering falls.
Then it was time to start the drive west to California. We spent several days in Des Moines with Atkins sisters and spouses for a mini-reunion and then made our way across Kansas to visit my school mates, Sandy and Mike and another cruise friend, Mary in her beautiful home in Russell.
We also made stops
OUR VACATION HOME IN FLORIDA
Pool, grill and cage... Perfect! in Vail to see my niece Julie, and visit with Ted and Joanne in Carbondale, CO. We spent our last night of the cross-country drive with the Carlisles at Lake Tahoe. So after 11 months on the road we returned to our home on the water, the m/v Mana...just in time to enjoy the SF Giants’ great run to the World Series Championship. Our Honda Odyssey ran smoothly for the 8,500 mile road trip around the USA.
November and December found us at our house in Pacific Grove. Our renter Gladys had recently moved out so we did a modified remodel of our circa 1898 Victorian and caught up with friends on the Monterey Peninsula.
Answering the call of the sea, we boarded the Silver Whisper in Los Angeles for a 115 day cruise leaving on 1/5/15. After circumnavigating the globe, we will complete our 15th world cruise ending in Ft Lauderdale on 5/1/15. We hope 1s and 5s are our lucky numbers this year.
Please join us on our blog as we round the earth visiting 50 ports in 30 countries and crossing the great oceans of the world
BOATING BUDDIES
Curt and Sue in Ft Myers on a beautiful ship. We’re looking forward to an exciting adventure.
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Bev and Jim carroll
non-member comment
Catching up
Hi Kevin and Susan...so wonderful to hear from you. I'm sorry we missed you on your trek this summer. We are in South Carolina. Have a fabulous cruise...it looks a,azing. We just returned from a regent cruise...Dubai to Capetown. It was great the Indian ocean is so beautiful. Happy sailing...smooth seas...happy new year!