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Vacation Shenanigans – Part 3

Our second official day on the ship found us at Grand Turk.

It’s a small island with a beautiful view.

If you ever visit Grand Turk, do not waste money on a cab tour.  It’s not worth it because there’s not much to see.  Just enjoy the beach!

Immediately upon settling in, Super Sis and I were approached by a lady offering to put braids or wraps in our hair.

We had decided that we wanted to do this, but we didn’t want to spend much money.  Everything on the islands is negotiable…this we knew from our past traveling experiences, so we began to haggle.

The Mr. had agreed to spend $20 on our wraps.  I was going to pay for hers, and she would pay me back later.

We finally got the gal down from her original price, and another girl began making the wrap…

I had chosen blues and greens because they are my favorite colors…

Super Sis got her hair done after mine was finished, and we then sat, contented, while we chatted and the boys threw a Nerf football.

The weather was absolutely divine and much appreciated after some cold temps we’d back home!  The water at Grand Turk was a gorgeous shade of blue.

After a teensy bit of shopping, I needed a bottle of water, so I headed for the bar in the pool area of the resort that is on the island.  What a lovely setting, eh?

Can you say Cabana Boy?  🙂

We eventually headed back to the ship where we enjoyed a round of trivia…our daily dose of fun.

A word about trivia.

We take it very seriously.  It’s boys vs girls.

The boys think they are smarter than we are…not that previous scores would indicate this.

:::rolling my eyes:::

Take a moment to admire my cleverly-added hats to hide the boys’ faces.  Go me.  🙂

Here’s our scorecard…please take notice of our name…because we are still have some ripening to do…

Take a look at how the boys…aka “The Lighbulbs” – gag – did…

They claimed it wasn’t a real victory for us because we gained a new partner…Eddie…a kind older gentleman who didn’t belong to a group.  We, being the friendly Southern women that we are, welcomed him with open arms.  He was our secret weapon and brought a smile to our faces each day he met with us.

After trivia, it was time to get ready for dinner.  The ship had pulled away from Grand Turk, taking to the high seas on its way to Puerto Rico…

I couldn’t help but take some time to enjoy the sunset.  If you’ve never cruised, you must.  The sight of the sun setting over the ocean is awe-inspiring and such a reminder of God’s beauty…

The day of fun wasn’t over though.  You see, cruise lines have tons and tons of activities planned.  Pick and choose according to your preference!

After dinner, we headed to the auditorium/theater for a special show…

I don’t even know what to say about this group.  It was on America’s Got Talent, and I remember watching the guys.  Seeing them in person was something else altogether.

The show was interactive with audience members picking out various pots and pans, along with ear plugs, so we could drum out a beat along with the talented artists.

Each member of the group brought his own unique flair to the performance…

What I loved about this act was the way the routines were changed up.  There was body percussion…

There were percussion duets…

There was some sort of chain saw fireworks thing going (freaked me out a bit…didn’t want anything to catch fire)…

One of funniest acts was the dueling drummers.  Oh word, but these guys were hysterical!!!!

During one part of the set, one of the percussionists got the older lady you see pictured in the bottom left to throw in a drum stick.  The poor woman’s aim was horrid, so he tried to walk her through how to properly throw a drumstick.  Her timing was off…she didn’t speak much English, I think…which made for a lot of laughter as the musician ad-libbed.

The absolute best part of the show happened when the group asked for volunteers, previously selected, to come to the stage.

The Mr. had been selected.

The men had to put on masks, and the audience was shown the following message on the mounted monitors…

We were in for a treat.

It was a training zoo.

Fortunately, the Mr. wasn’t the one who couldn’t see.  The poor guy in the middle (the one with both hands down) was the unlucky fellow.

If you want a good laugh for the day, check out this video…

http://youtu.be/rdTisyKjhYA

The Mr. is wearing the purple shirt and blue jeans.

Please note that he doesn’t usually dance in public…nor does he slow dance with other men.

Ahem.

The booty song…he’s practiced those moves at home for the family a few times…as a joke.

He got some of the loudest applause.

He did us proud.

After the guys did their thing, it was time for a cookie break…

Yes, the guys doled out cookies.  So generous of them…especially after a very filling dinner, which nearly every audience member had just emerged from…

Then, it was time for a PSA about bullying.  The group has created an anti-bullying campaign with proceeds from the sales of their merchandise on the ship going toward their nonprofit organization, Legacy X.

After one final hodgepodge of classic rock and roll songs, the group finished its performance.  Group members met members of the audience outside.  They were very friendly and more than willing to pose for pictures.  I was too shy to ask (if they had been my favorite YA authors, I would have totally gone fangirl on them).

After the show, we hit the karaoke scene and listened to my talented nephew, Music Man, belt out a couple of tunes.  This guy is amazing and had the audience cheering loudly.

Later, he and Chicky saved me from embarrassing myself when the host of the evening tagged my girl and me to do a duet.  I know I cannot carry a tune, so it would have been disastrous.  Music Man filled in for me, and he and Chicky sang “You’re the One that I Want,” from Grease.  It was hysterical!  Music Man tried, accidentally, to sing Chicky’s part, to which she waved him off.  They giggled through the entire thing but still had the crowd into it.  They were acknowledged throughout the rest of the cruise by people who had seen them.  Very funny.

I can’t remember if we hit the late night buffet after that.  All I know is that we were pretty tired.  The sun, the music fun, the dancing…they were a lot to take in for just one day, and we knew Puerto Rico was just over the horizon…

Day 3 – Grand Turk

On Day 3 of the cruise, I awoke to find the sun shining brightly.

I stepped onto the deck and saw this sign greeting the boat…

The water was absolutely GORGEOUS…

As I scanned the water, I spied this sailboat…

Grand Turk is a rather small island.  It boasts a hotel, which I easily spotted from the ship…

Looks like an oasis, eh?

My crew ate quickly.  We were eager to explore…

Yeah, the sign looked exactly like it did from my view on the ship. Imagine that.

The ship looks really big when you stand in front of it…

We walked through the “Welcome Center” and faced a courtyard of Tourist Traps…i.e. “shopping.”

I let the crew do the shopping while I took a seat outside, capturing the following pictures…

I love the palm tree in the next picture…so “island-y…”

My nephew spent some of his vacation money on this little guy…

After everyone got the tourist thing out of their systems, we were ready to tour the rest of the island.

We paid an exorbitant amount of money, splitting into two groups and climbed into our respective taxis.

The “tour” was mainly a drive across the very small island.  The driver provided various facts about the island, and I was saddened to see the state in which a majority of the population lives.

We got dropped off in the “shopping district,” which was, in reality, a few small open-air shacks.  You had to feel bad for the ladies running them.  It was, after all, about 85 degrees.  The humidity must have been near 70-80%, so it felt even hotter.

We decided to go for a stroll and saw the island’s museum…

I took the next picture to show that Grand Turkans (can you call residents of this island that?) drive on the left side of the road…

The next photo shows the famous establishment where emancipation was loudly proclaimed…

We saw real flamingos (now I know where those Miami folks get them)…

At the next sighting, we were told that John Glenn’s capsule landed about 14 miles away from the island, and he was taken to Grand Turk for physical examinations after he returned to earth.  This is something that island residents are very proud of…

After our trip back to the ship, we were ready to cool off and play trivia.  Don’t ask me how that went.

While we were gone, our room attendants had been busy…picking up discarded towels (yes, I actually showered BEFORE leaving for that hot, humid island), making up our beds, and creating this work of art…

Butterfly!

We re-visited our cabin decks, where Rooster spotted (pun intended) the following…

Yep…it was a cow…way in the middle of the island.  How he saw it is beyond me.

I filmed a bit of video (the quality isn’t the best) to give you an idea of just how small the island is…

The ship left the island fairly early in the afternoon, once again heading across the open sea…

I had my afternoon mug of peppermint tea and a cookie, which is mysteriously gone from the following picture…wonder where it went?

I did a bit of knitting…

My brother-in-law, Super D, spotted this mini-rainbow…

It was soon time to get ready for dinner…

Scallops (I think) made a delicious appetizer

Time for the entree…

Tortellini!!

Super D’s entree looked…um…interesting…

I hit the jackpot with dessert…

And yes, I did order two, thank you very much.  It’s my party, and I’ll eat two desserts if I want to…you’d order two if it happened to you (sing that to the tune of “It’s My Party”).

This was some sort of apple thing.  I took two small bites and handed it over to my nephew in a pre-arranged deal to make me look like less of an oink-oink…

Do you think I shared my chocolate mousse?

AuburnChick + chocolate = the glare of steel if you even think about it.

After that dinner, I had full belly and turned in early to prepare for the next day’s adventures…