Geo: 17.1185, -61.8462Wednesday, March 12, 2014Antigua, West IndiesOur first port day is a stop in Antigua. Antigua is the largest of the British Leeward Islands. Together with its sister island, Barbuda, they are an independent nation and are part of the British Commonwealth. Antigua was under British control from 1667 until it's independence in 1981.We have never been here before and despite the fact that Antigua advertises 365 beaches,one for every day of the year, decided that instead of snorkeling we will go to historic Nelson's Dockyard. After breakfast we went ashore and got a cab to the Dockyard.Nelson's Dockyard is the world's only Gregorian dockyard still in use. English Harbour is landlocked which was a great advantage to the British navy and they began using the area in 1704. In 1784, Horatio Nelson sailed in ... read more

Geo: 17.31, -62.73Monday, March 10thAt SeaLast night we sailed through the Straits of Florida, past Great Isaac Island into the Northwest Providence Channel and past Great Stirrup Cay (pronounced "key") in the Bahamas.Today is a day at sea and days at seas are probably our favorite part of cruising. They are sooo relaxing. The gentle ocean swells rocked us to sleep (seriously) and we didn't wake up until after 10 am. Glorious!Jeff went up to the buffet for coffee, yogurt and fruit and we had breakfast on our balcony. We are almost directly below the Bridge at the very front of the ship. Check out these huge windshield wipers!This afternoon we walked 5 miles which is 15 laps around the Promenade deck. While walking I spotted a whale off in the distance. We called to people ... read more

Geo: 39.74, -104.992Today we leave on vacation! Tom Delaney is going to be at our house at 6:15 a.m.; we'll leave the house at 6:30. That's the plan, anyway. Last minute stuff... turn off our home wireless, empty the dishwasher, turn off the water. We travel enough that a lot of this is simply routine, so why do we always feel as though we're in a mad rush? Tom is right on time - it takes a good friend to drag himself out of bed on a COLD Saturday morning to drive someone to Denver. Thanks, Tom!Despite the fact that last night Denver was predicted to get 4-6 inches of snow, the roads are clear and we're at DIA (Denver International Airport) in no time. We leave our coats, hats and gloves in the car, (pretty ... read more

Geo: 40.1456, 26.4064We spent last night at the Iris Hotel in Canakkale - right on the Aegean Sea. I have been looking forward to today's sightseeing more than any other. We've all heard the story of the Trojan horse and today we're going to Troy.Troy (Truva in Turkish) is the site of the decade long Trojan War (1200 BC) and is the pivotal point of Homer's lIiad, which I'm reading now. Being here makes the Iliad sooo fascinating!Troy is actually nine different sites, one built over top of the other, so its timeline is something like 4000 BC to 300AD. Here is a signpost showing visitors the way to Troy 7B, Troy 8 and Troy 9. As you walk around the site(s) you can see obvious differences in the ruins - like how the walls were ... read more

Geo: 37.96, 27.35 Every day at the end of our touring I think to myself, "That was the best!" and every day it's true. Therefore, today was the BEST.The title of this post "The Mother Goddeses" is a bit obscure (and inaccurate) but here's what I was thinking. Today we're exploring Ephesus, built about 1000 BC, and which became a center of worship of Cybele, the Anatolian Mother Goddess. After Ephesus we're going to the final home of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. Two Mother figures...get it?When we got on the bus this morning, Ender told us that he had some bad news from a friend he had dinner with last night. His friend, also a guide, told him that there were 7 cruise ships in Izmir today. YIKES! All those people swarming to Ephesus ... read more