Wisdom on a Plate

Brain cancer is...

...taking wisdom where we find it.

We aren't big shoppers on our trips, but we were glad we happened into a San Diego shop that offered a plate with a wise reminder.

We also celebrated the day with Summer's first Colorado rainbow, which she said was just for us.

By "us" we are sure she means "us plural."

Here's to the little things, Team D.

If You Love Something, Set it Free...

Brain cancer is...

  ...sad to say good-bye to the Dole ship. 

In sitting down to work, I asked Darrell how he would spend the morning.  Dah!  He needed to finish loading the Dole ship.

When we left for lunch at Seaport Village, the Dole ship was still in port.  And then, as we signed the bill, the ship sailed by (above). Oh no.

Sure enough, we raced home to Window One and caught this empty port.

Sigh.  Good work, Darrell.  If you love something, set it free...

By the way...

...this hotel has 30 floors.  We are on 21.  Windows Two through Six are on the facing side, somewhere above.  Window One is on the adjacent face.

Darrell's work here is nearly complete.  We come home tomorrow. 

Little Italy

Brain cancer is...

...having new adventures in familiar spaces.

This morning we got our steps in by visiting Little Italy...thanks to a recommendation from Franceen.  Darrell and I both graduated from SDSU in 1983/84, and we come down here frequently, but we didn't know Little Italy.  Thanks for the new adventure in a (partially) familiar space, Franceen!

Lunch was at the Edgewater Grill in Seaport Village, in honor of a memorable day trip that Denise and Andrea made with the kids oh so many years ago.

Darrell enjoyed his view...

...which was nice, but not as nice as Andi's view.

Back in our room, sitting by Window One, we worked more on loading the Dole ship, as you see in this time lapse video.

 Alternate YouTube Video Link

We've been working on it since we've been here, and we're not sure if there's much progress.  Discouraged by our efforts, we turned to Window Four.  Wow! We were surprised to see a beautiful boat parade.

Hope your Wednesday views were great, Team D.

Darrell's Trip

Brain cancer is...

 ...back on the train.

Sure, we've seen plenty of places in the past couple months, but is it really vacation if you're not on the train?

Darrell booked this train trip to San Diego months ago, writing "Darrell's Trip" on our calendar.  I'm not sure who owned all the other trips, but I'm certainly not turning down a trip to San Diego with Darrell.

He greeted me this morning at 6 in his requisite shorts and tennis shoes but also a Hawaiian shirt and cologne.  Hellooo Darrell's Trip!

Our room has six windows, wrapping around a corner.  Here are views out three of them (south to north):

 

 

We are enjoying watching the water, road, and air traffic out all of our windows.

If you need a train trip booked, Team D., you know whom to contact.  

Happy Memorial Day 2019

Brain cancer is...

 ...hanging with the Welshons.

On this fine Memorial Day we had the pleasure of walking at the park with Barb and Curt and then enjoying a backyard barbecue.

We are grateful for friends and special holidays to enjoy with them.

Thirty Five Years

Brain cancer is...

...married for 35 years.

Today's the official date of our anniversary.  Yay for anniversaries! Yay for celebrations!

Above is pre dinner with Beth and Geoff.

In honor of the occasion, we made highlight videos of our British Isles trip (Parts One and Two).  Feel no pressure to watch; you've seen plenty of the trip.  If you watch just one, might we recommend Part Two? 

Part One:

 

Part Two:

Alternate Links:

• Part One of the trip (4:18; Click here.)
• Part Two of the trip (5: 17; Click here.)

To say it just one more time, one thing our trip really taught us is how much we've come to rely on you, Friends, and Family, over the past few years. 

We hope your Sunday is as wonderful as you are.

--Darrell and Andi

Soaking up Friends and Family

Brain cancer is...

 ...drinking up our peeps.

Upon return, we got right to the business of reconnecting.  Above was happy hour with the Mayfields yesterday.

Here's today:

 

Off camera but also present at various times today were Gary, Alex, and Tiana.  We also talked with Zach.  It's great to be back.

More connections forthcoming!

"What's Wrong with the Sun Here?"

Brain cancer is...

 ...Adjusting to life on land.

The trip home yesterday was smooth.  We traveled Delta's Delta One class (check it out here), which includes space pod sleeping arrangements--seats that fold flat as beds--and more amenities.  Above is our final champagne "cheers" onboard in Dublin.

In first class on the final leg of the journey, our Delta One seats were "suites" with doors that close.  Here's Darrell, demonstrating the partition between our suites:

 Alternate YouTube Link

 Is this really necessary?  No.  Certainly not.  But such nice service definitely made the final phase of our adventure--the flights home--more fun.

We Ubered from LAX and were home by 10 pm.

This morning we slept until 6, which we think is a great start to re acclimating to Pacific Time.

Today's transition to life on land continued with Darrell's first words this morning.  He opened the bedroom curtain and said, "What's wrong with the sun here?"

Our at-sea mornings all began with lots of bright sun, and the sun didn't set until 10 pm.  Darrell judged our So Cal sun this morning as watery and wimpy.  Funny! 

We're noticing other things as we transition too.  For instance, we haven't seen a Starbucks for two weeks. (No evaluation, just an observation.)

Darrell's first diet Mountain Dew in weeks?  Nothing better!

Welcome to the weekend, Team D.  Nothing better!

PS...Apparently the birds at the park need some transition time too.

See how it looks like this Egyptian goose is about to attack our car?  In a first, it attacked our car!  Let's all just calm down.

Showers Predicted

Brain cancer is...

Really, we need to disembark?

 ...ready for a traveling day in Dublin.

Finally showers are predicted!  What would Irish holiday be without rain?

We disembark at 8 am (in 45 minutes) with the Silversea transfer to Dublin Airport. We fly Delta, with a connection in Atlanta.

Darrell can relax as soon as he makes it through the dreaded airport security pat down.


See you in So Cal, Loved Ones!

Good to the Last Drop

Brain cancer is...

...enjoying happy surprises...even to the end.

It's pretty hard to get out of bed in Suite 618 on the last day aboard, it's been so wonderful.  But we are glad we did get up and out because the day was (and is) full of happy surprises.  Above is Chokhoni's parting gift.  It's easier to pack suitcases in the presence of blooms and bubbly.

Our excursions today were also stunning surprises.  The Giant's Causeway?  Who knew? 

It was caused either by volcanic activity or by a giant named Finn McCool.  Finn was an Irish giant who chased away a horrid Scottish giant named Benandonnar.  There is evidence of Finn's doings throughout the UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We saw his boot, pipe organ,chimneys, camel, and his haystacks. 

Here are just a couple pics to show the hexagonal columns of basalt and the grandeur of the place.

This is a movie, but I'll insert it properly later.

You see the causeway jutting out into the ocean.  Take another look at the people on the path, for scale.

What a happy surprise to see such a natural wonder...and to live in a world that has room for giants.

Castle Dunluce was beautiful.

Our surprise here was that the castle was probably a whitewashed manor house in the 1600s (artist's recreation above.)  I like it better as a stony skeleton.

Life back on deck was also a great surprise.  Christine (from Belgium; we met at the Hotel Director's dinner) invited us to her table, and we enjoyed getting to know her.  She was a pilot.  We had a lovely conversation with Louise and Steve, from Australia.  Louise is a professional painter and showed us inspirational mages of some of her works.

 Dinner with Drew and Susan was full of laughter and stories.

It was a great day (surprise!).

We leave in the morning from Dublin airport...and arrive tomorrow evening at LAX.  (Back to the past with us.)

Thanks for being here every step of the way.  Thoughts of you draw us home.

Kicking Back in Killybegs

Brain cancer is...

Coming into port.  We docked right behind this ship.

 ...doing nothing at all.

Precap 10 a.m.

We made port in Killybegs this morning. Killybegs is in the north of Ireland and is the country's and island's biggest fishing port.

Darrell's day off is off to a great start.  We slept until 7 am.  Sleeping at night is better than not sleeping at night.

Breakfast was leisurely at the Restaurant.  We happened across Susan and Drew and made plans for dinner tomorrow night.  Yay.

Darrell scheduled his entire day aboard until the expedition leader announced that we are at port today...able to walk right off the ship rather than tendering or taking Zodiacs in.  This announcement changed Darrell's plans considerably.

He's planning some walking in Killybegs, lunch at the pool, maybe a nap, and cancelling our 8:00 dinner reservations.  He's a happy man.

Enjoy your Tuesday, Team D!

Recap 9:35 p.m. (Photos loaded above and below.) 

Darrell's Day was a(nother) amazing day.  We went ashore and visited historic sites, came aboard and did in fact spend the afternoon at the pool deck, took a nap, ate dinner (more pizza) in our suite, and set sail for Northern Ireland.  Some details:

No rain today either.  We made it out of the Republic of Ireland without a drop.  Should we ask for our money back?

When I relinquished my responsibility to finish reading A Brief History of Ireland before coming aboard, we read concise websites about what to know when visiting Ireland.  We haven't had much experience, but many tips from the websites have held true.  Drivers approaching us walkers on roads have indeed lifted an index finger from the wheel in greeting.  We have responded.

And locals have indeed approached us for conversation.  Here's one example.

In visiting St. Catherine's well today, this local told us the story of St. Catherine, a shipwreck, a tradition of wells, contested Protestant land, and the healing potential of the waters of the well.

Here's St. Catherine's well.

Just 125 treacherous steps up the hill from the well we had another great conversation with a local.  His dog's name was Murphy. We met them near Kit's Castle (another fort).

Down the hill and beyond was the stone church and graveyard, with sailors lost in the big shipwreck. (Sensing a theme?)

Back on board:  Lunch as planned near the pool.  Plus some walking on the Deck 9 track, where Darrell was reminded that Cloud 9 is, in fact, just a Zodiac ride away.

After a great "holiday" (says Chokhoni.  Love it...a holiday from our holiday), we set sail for Northern Ireland.  Tomorrow we visit the Giant's Causeway and Dunluce Castle.

This one's for you, Game of Throne's master, Alex Guillaume. (Dunluce Castle is Game of Throne's seat for House of Greyjoy.)

Tomorrow is our last full day at sea.  We have seen much, celebrated much, and learned much on this trip...about faraway places and about ourselves.

We hope your day is a good one.

The Aran Islands

Brain cancer is...

...up early off the coast of the Aran Islands.

We haven't mastered the time difference fully, and we aren't good sleepers to start with, so at 4 this morning we changed Darrell's arrays. His only Irish array change!  Maybe we've evolved beyond the need for sleep.

Fun Fact for Aran Islands knits:  You know those gorgeous Aran Isles sweaters? They were intended to keep fishermen nice and dry with their oily wool. Different regions use different, highly protected, patterns in their knitting.  We heard that the purpose of the patterns was so that if some fisherman was pulled, dead and facially unrecognizable, from the sea, you could at least tell which village he was from and take his body home.  That's our kind of story:  Sweater forensics.

Precap posting:  6:45 a.m.

Today we visit two of the Aran Islands:  Inis Mor this morning and then Clare Island this afternoon. These islands are off the west coast of Ireland, far from England, and thus they are the least influenced by English ways than any other part of Irelands (we hear).

We'll see Dun Aengus (the fort of Angus) this morning. On Clare Island, we're joining the "fast walk" group to hike a few miles to the lighthouse.

We have not seen one drop of rain in Ireland...yet.

Update on last evening:  The tenors were terrific.  They made us appreciate anew Irish musical traditions.  We thought of your dad, Beth and Barb.

Recap Postings

Inis Mor

Absolutely stunning!  Check out the weather in these pics. 

A traditional thatched roof house...and one for the fairies. (Do well by the fairies, and they will do well by you.)

Thousands of stone walls on the island.  Many content cows.

Up we go.

The view at the top

This fort is one of many ancient ring forts in Ireland.  They were for living, not defending.  Chunks keep breaking off and falling into the sea.

The light was beautiful, and the water was truly like glass.

You can see that Zodiac conditions were perfect.

 Clare Island

The weather held.  The out-and-back walk to the lighthouse was 10K (6 miles).  We put in a total of 10 miles before heading to La Terrazza for dinner.  Except for the totally clear sky, this is what we pictured in our minds' eye when we thought about Ireland.

This road was our trail.  You can see bogs, more stone walls, and maybe wildflowers.

Our trail ended at the light house, then people walked to a higher peak for the view. The steepness of the slope, the sameness of the rolling green, and our close proximity to the sky were a bit disorienting to us, people with sea legs.

The view from the top.

Darrell makes his way down, back to the road.

Still to come:  We want to put together some of our nature photos (very wooly sheep, Irish wild flowers, etc) and maybe some historical notes.

Today's adventures were for me. Tomorrow is for Darrell.  He plans on us doing nothing at all for our last day in the Republic of Ireland (before heading to Northern Ireland).  Our feet are happy with this plan.

We love you and miss you.