Southern Bound Snow-Birds

North America » United States » California
February 13th 2016

Published: February 14th 2016

We’ve just moved into our new home in Las Vegas; still trying to sell the old home in Ohio, and thankful that we’re not there anymore. I lived there just five winters… does that give you an inkling of what it’s like to live in Ohio? The locals recollect time by the winters. I know that there are much more severe winter climates that people seem to be willing to endure; but, then I spent most of my life in Southern California where I would chuckle on New Year’s Day as people would tune in to watch the Rose Bowl parade and games and envy our 70-degree temperatures. It seems that each year I would spend in Ohio she would say to me each winter as spring would loom ahead, “Babe, It’s never been this bad before.” Sharon had also spent most of her life in Southern California before moving to Kentucky, and then Ohio with her first husband. So why is it we would choose to leave the quite pleasant temperatures of our new home and venture on a Caribbean cruise to join all of those other snowbirds seeking refuge from the chill of their frozen homes has to do more with a celebration of life than an escape from it.

A couple of years ago we took both of our mothers on an Alaskan Adventure, a one-week cruise out of Seattle that included some glacier watching and a dog-sled ride for my mother and me. We posed the question to my mother if she would consider another cruise, possibly to the Panama Canal, which we were considering for the Christmas Holidays. But she insisted that she was too old to go cruising anymore and so we dropped that idea. A bit later she calls me on the phone and is excited about some neat “water-sneakers” that she found in one of her many catalogues. She seemed quite eager to get my opinion on whether she should get them. I asked her, what she would use them for. I could hear the gears turning in her mind over the phone, and she finally came up with, “I might go on a cruise.” I asked her if she wanted to go on a cruise. She said, maybe to the Caribbean. And so the long and the short of it is that we are going on a cruise because my mother needs somewhere to go to wear the water sneakers she wanted to buy. But really, we chose this cruise because we will be celebrating her 85^th birthday on the cruise with a dinner in the Pinnacle on the final night.

The drive to LA is seeming shorter and shorter. The longest part seems to be driving from the north-east side of Las Vegas and getting over to the Westside, passing the South Point casino, then on to the single lone casino left at Jean and on to Primm at the state line. A couple weeks back locals from Las Vegas streamed to Primm to buy the Mega Lottery tickets (on the California side) for their chance to become billionaires. The lines were about four hours waiting in line to buy tickets when the jackpot was approaching half a billion dollars; so, when nobody won that jackpot, then lines got even longer (over six hours) probably for the worst odds in Las Vegas… but, nonetheless, a chance to become billionaires. Someone in those lines in Primm did win a million dollars though! We did get caught up in all of the hoopla for the final lottery, and we had my mother join us with 10 picks. As they say, if you want a chance to play, you at least need to buy a ticket. Even our friend Ron who arranged for our trip to the airport this morning chose to buy a single ticket. He also subscribes to that adage that if you want to win, you must first meet God halfway (and buy the ticket). Needless to say, we’re among the many who didn’t win.

Brandon is a friend of Ron’s, whom he met at the gym. Ron suggested that he take us to the airport this morning, and rather than pay to park the car and deal with that hassle, to let Brandon chauffeur us with his van. My mom has met Brandon when she had dinner out with Ron, and says that he’s quite nice. It works for me, and I’m guessing that Brandon can use the money I would have spent on the long-term parking at LAX. I checked online and it’s now at $12/day in Lot C. We get picked up in 3 hours, and our flight leaves about 11:30 AM this morning for Florida. Sharon booked us on a non-stop to Miami where we will stay in a hotel overnight before returning to the airport to board a Holland America transfer from the Miami airport to the Fort Lauderdale port where we will board the Zuiderdam for our 11-day cruise. The transfer cost just $25 so was by far the best way to get to the ship from Miami.

Still, I wonder what the real “Snowbirds” will think of us leaving the pleasant weather in our western abodes to join them on their southerly migration.

Southern Bound Snow-Birds

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