Laninga's Travel Blog

Our first stop, after one sea day, was Cabo San Lucas. This is a shallow water port, so no dock, but useD life boats to tender to and from shore. It was also a short stay, we arrived at 11AM and left at 5PM. There were some pretty fancy yachts in the harbor, and traffic in the harbor entrance was heavy at dusk.

We were going to stay on board but after we waited a while, there were no crowds, so might as well. We just walked around but did find an obscure restaurant where we got a nice lunch. Then we found out this was one of Cabo’s favorite watering holes and night spots.

We keep our eyes open for any special deals in cruises. Our fall cruise was on Holland America, and they had a relatively new ship, the “Koningsdam”. It appears to be an up to date ship, with unique features, like a wraparound screen in the theater. We managed to find a relatively inexpensive cruise to Mexico out of San Diego.

We only had one other cruise out of San Diego, and never to Mexico, so that seemed like a good idea. And, we found a fairly low return air fare from Dallas, so it all came out. We booked it and flew out on December 4. We found a nice hotel, within easy walking distance from the cruise terminal. After a nice breakfast in San Diego we boarded the ship.

The ship was very nice, with new and modern features. We had a balcony to enjoy the sights and sounds. Our cruise went to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. The ports will b e detailed in future blogs.

We were seriously disappointed in the entertainment. There really wasn’t any, mostly movies, lectures and some dance numbers. And most of these were exactly the same as we had on the Zaandam, our fall cruise. I don’t think we will be on Holland America again.

Stacy had a big oak tree in her back yard that was getting old and weak. So, she had it cut down. This left a lot of fire wood, but it had to be split first. Best thing was to rent a splitter and we (Romola, John and Stacy) made short work of it.

She also built a wood rack, so she has lots of work to do to move all the wood to the rack. But she’ll be ready for the winter…

We always enjoy visiting the Dallas Arboretum, especially during the season change. They keep a remarkable range of plants growing there year round. Of course, this being October, pumpkins were the star of the show.

Wonder what they do with all the old pumpkins? Well, I heard the elephants in the Dallas Zoo consider them a real delicacy…

Well, after that slow start we boarded our cruise and prepared for a nice trip. Unfortunately, this cruise was right after hurricane Ian, and there was much damage in the ports. We had to skip one, but made up for it with an extra day in Quebec City.

Our itinerary was from Montreal, then to Quebec City (where our stay was extended from one day to two), Port aux Mueles, Boston and Fort Lauderdale. As stated, there are full photo albums on http://www.laninga.com, just go to 2022 then Cruises the Fall cruise. Here are a few pictures highlighting the trip.

Montreal

Quebec City

Cap aux Mueles

Onboard

Boston

We had booked a cruise on Holland America from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale. This would be an excellent fall trip, and we were looking forward to seeing fall colors along the Saint Lawrence Seaway. So, we flew to Montreal, where we had booked a nice hotel, had a nice dinner, and went to bed, anticipating boarding the ship the next day.

Unfortunately, Romola started feeling like something was not right in her chest. This was unexpected, and serious, so we called the hotel who called 911. The medics arrived and checked her out and were suspicious of a possible heart problem. So off we went to the McGill University Hospital. This is a huge place, we counted 54 ER rooms, and all were full. Like others, Romola was left on a gurney in the hall. But the ECG was still attached so we could monitor her heart.

The ER doctor thought it was aFib, a common condition, but decided to wait until the cardiology doctors arrived in the morning. They did, and confirmed that it was aFib, something to watch but it shouldn’t cause us to miss our cruise. They put her on some medication, but the ER can’t dispense drugs, so we walked over to the nearest pharmacy, got the meds, and ubered back to the hotel.

Well we didn’t get much sleep that night, but all is well and we made our cruise. There is a whole album on our cruise at our album site http://www.laninga.com. Just go to 2022, the cruises, then Montreal cruise.

After we got back, we met with our own cardiologist for a complete checkup. He pretty well agreed with the Montreal docs, adjusted her medication, and told us just to keep an eye out if this happens again but it shouldn’t change our life too much. So we are now aware of the issue and will live our life accordingly.

The month started with a great sunrise. Right across from our house is an open area, with a mile long walking path. We use it regularly for our walks. And, since it looks east, a good sunrise view.

When we traveled in our motor home, we liked visiting local farmers markets. Turns out there is a pretty large one in Dallas, so we finally decided to go and visit. It wasn’t fully open (the main hall was closed for a special event) but we did find some fresh veggies (and some local balsamic vinegar, which we have yet to use).

You may know Romola (as is my entire family) are pet lovers. So, when we saw a pretty white dog with no collar, we wanted to catch her and at least find some place that would care for her. But she was very skittish, never allowing us to get close. We tried several days but never got anywhere near her. Romola left food and water out but no luck. We never saw the dog again.

We (Romola, Stacy and I) went to a free concert at the Dallas arboretum. The band was a cover band for Queen, and lived up to the price we paid. But the evening was a success, with lots of families coming out with picnic baskets, food and drink. And there were several food trucks, too. And we now know how early Texans learn to drink :)….

We had some torrential rains this month. All the creeks and rivers were at max or flooding, and usually quiet little streams were dangerous currents. Debris (garbage) was washed downstream, even one of the bridges over the creek was washed away. Our back yard flooded again, but fortunately not in the house, just in the yard. It drained away in the next few days but did leave some muddy spots.

We enjoyed several concerts. The first was a pipe organ concert, given at the Myerson. Their pipe organ is world famous and can really fill the hall. Also went to a classical guitar concert, performed by the Romero family. All related, they are famous in their home country of Spain and are much in demand around the world. Then we had a violin concert given by Lucia Macarelli, who thrilled us with some spectacular music – both singing and violin. We ended the month with a Latino Fest at the AT&T Center, featuring Latino dancing, singing, and music.

We had the urge to go on a cruise (was it for the food?) so we found an inexpensive cruise out of Galveston. It went to several ports we had never been to, so we got off the ship to say we had been there. The cruise left from Galveston, so an easy drive and no airfare.

Not the best news, but I discovered a mole on my face which turned out to be cancerous. Our local dermatologist took quick care of it, but it did leave a noticeable scar. Guess that will help if I ever want to have a pirate disguise.

Tanya and Shane were here on a visit, having left their boat in the Bahamas. We had a very good family time, lots of food, and activities. I used my pellet grill to smoke a good-sized brisket, yummy. Used some typical Texas ingredients, too! One of the highlights was a visit to the House of Illusions, where we were able to play with illusions and learn how they were made. Interesting!

After our west coast trip, I have made no entries on our blog. Some of it may be laziness, but also there isn’t too much happening now. At least, not as much as we were used to, when we still lived in or motor home. There, we regularly moved from place to place, and that is mostly what my blog was about.

But now, we sold our motor home and moved into a regular house. That is, one without wheels. So, we no longer had a regular change in environment to inspire new blogs. But actually, we have done a lot of things, and are still doing them, so I will bring this blog up to date with monthly summaries from May 2022 until now (February 15, 2023). Then we can pick up the regular posts again.

Much of these posts will take pictures from our photo album at http://www.laninga.com. So, if you like a blog here but want to see more pictures, go to the album and select the year and month you are interested in.