Geo: 20.4286, -86.8792Last night we sailed a south-easterly course across the Gulf of Mexico to the northern coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula then a south-westerly course across the Caribbean Sea to the Isla of Cozumel. Because we were delayed leaving Houston, we are about an hour behind schedule arriving here. No matter to us. Our first port of call is a place we've visited before and are comfortable doing our own thing. We had a leisurely breakfast, packed up our snorkeling gear, grabbed a couple of extra pool towels and walked ashore. A cab ride later, and less than 5 miles from the ship, we were at Chankanaab "Adventure Beach Park". It is actually a state park with a lot of stuff to do. There is a sea lion show and education area, a crocodile exhibit ... read more

Geo: 29.7605, -95.3698Jeff woke me at 7:50 this morning. "I have something to show you" he said. I replied "This had better be good..." I tried not to sound threatening. He held out his IPad and I saw that our cruise ship, the Emerald Princess, was in port and it was sunny out. Yippee! Okay, true confessions time. My husband has a minor obsessive streak, and he has the Port of Houston, Port of Ft Lauderdale and the Port of Miami webcams bookmarked on his iPad. He enjoys watching the cruise ships sail in and out of port and has, occasionally, hooked his iPad up to our TV so we can watch on the big screen. I admit it. I enjoy watching the ships as well. A couple of weeks ago he was monitoring this very ... read more

Geo: 29.7605, -95.3698My brain is tired. Today we spent 7 hours at the Johnson Space Center and now my brain is tired. I won't even attempt to describe all we did and all we learned but I assure you - it was an interesting, educational and inspirational day!After walking past the space shuttle, the REAL space shuttle (!) and realizing Jeff had forgotten to put the recharged battery back into the camera (oops), we entered the building.Yikes! The noise level was incredible - there were kids everywhere - ah...Spring Break! This area was definitely geared to children - the brightly colored "Angry Birds" marquee was one of the clues that drew me to this conclusion...that and the Ripley's Believe It or Not" area.I admit to being a little concerned about our day, but it was great.We ... read more

Geo: 29.6567, -95.0284Last night in Loveland, Jeff and I were frantically cooking all the veggies in the refrigerator. 2 pounds of spinach steamed, 12 cups of red lentil carrot soup made, 3 pounds of potatoes peeled and mashed - all destined for our freezer. Trash taken to the curb, cat boxes cleaned, laundry done and hung up, dishwasher run. Mission accomplished!We were up later than we had intended to be and knew 6am would arrive MUCH too soon.Our good friend, Tom, rang the doorbell at exactly 7:15, about the time I was thinking of drying my hair. Poor Tom has a terrible cold but he remained good humor as Jeff and I made coffee, ate breakfast and finally Jeff went into the crawl space to turn off the water. I guess it's apparent that we didn't ... read more

Geo: 34.1472, -118.144Rose Parade day!As expected our alarm went off at 5am, and as expected we hit the snooze button twice before finally muddling ourselves out of bed and into clothes. Lots of clothes. Layers of clothes. The low 30s isn't that cold, especially if you're moving, but we are going to be sitting for hours.Dressed in my outdoor jacket over a fleece jacket over a long-sleeved t-shirt over a turtleneck my upper body was thoroughly encased and almost immobilized. Jeans and wool socks completed my ensemble. Glasses, sunglasses, hats, scarves, gloves? Ready to go!The hotel, which offers a free breakfast beginning at 6:30am also has free coffee 24 hours a day, so we headed down to the lobby to fill up our thermal coffee cups. Whoa! Look at all the people!! Looks like the hotel ... read more