details

it is impossible to relay the scale of the ship through a few photos, but i must at least try.

 lots of room to sun and splash,

 and promenade.

and the dining room.

the allure of "the allure"

the sailing date that best suited everyone's schedule was on "the allure of the sea".

i had never "cruised" so i was sure it would be just fine, regardless of its' features;

the whole thing would be such a novelty regardless.

i didn't realize that the family would be seduced by the wiles of the top rated,

 newest "megaship" on the seas today.

she certainly is an impressive feat of art, engineering, entertainment, service and snacking...

and that is a lot to tackle for an 18 month old!

florida without disney?

of course we couldn't miss disney...

(i remember my brother and i going with our grandparents almost 30 years ago.)

we stopped in orlando, where

marg and dennis treated us to the magic kingdom.

 "it's a small world" was our first ride.  it was such a hit, we went through twice!

in fact, at the end of the day, esther maintained that it was her very favourite...

the girl heard someone joke  that "disney jail" was being stuck on that ride for 4 hours;

she was not amused.
 

it truly was adorable.

~

although the haunted house was "too scary",

peter pan's ride was "amazing", and

pirates, jungles, outer space, giftshops, and pooh corner were all well explored.

 those mice really made us feel like part of the family,



and cinderella learned a thing or two from our princess.

everyone was pretty spent by the "country bear jamboree".

 we all rambled back to the van to continue the drive to the port of fort lauderdale...

field study

our junior naturalist was thrilled with florida's variety of shrubbery



and majestic palm trees!

south of the border

our family took a very important journey recently;

we joined david's extended family on a cruise-ship holiday

to mark his parent's 50th wedding anniversary year.

we had decided to drive down to meet up with the rest of the clan.

 marg and dennis, being great sports, elected to join us on our road-trip.

perhaps childhood impressions made while visiting my own grandparents in niagara falls

influenced my morbid love of roadside attractions and tourist traps,

but this one would have been compelling none-the-less...

pedro's south of the border.

(and the place was practically deserted, which enhanced the surreal atmosphere)

the highway billboards for this place started beckoning with lurid

colours and clever puns long before i realized we would really need to find a rest stop...

pedro's offered the food, gas, and well,

the toilets we were looking for.

the menu listed, alongside the usual burgers and fries, a pound worth of hot dog.

(which, of course david chose, then topped with chiili)

the girl seemed to really "get" the flourescent concrete figures and the kitch factor 11,

edgar?  maybe not so much.

~

we did return to pedro's on the trip back north...

sadly, the reptile zoo we had planned on investigating there was closed due to power outage,

and we didn't stick around for the hotdog.

pleased to meat you

scene from a meat department.

edgar:"am dat ticken?"

me:"no, it's..."

edgar (interrupting); "am dat beef?"

me:"no, it's..."

edgar, (very excited now); "am dat carrion?"

humus?

the girl loves helping out, but doesn't seem to be a big fan of garlic...