Sunday, August 22, 2010

Grand Cayman 2010

Grand Cayman
August 12-16, 2010

Day 1- Thursday

We left our house around 9 am to drive into Houston for our flight to Grand Cayman.
Flight was scheduled for 1:05.  It was on time...:)
Had lunch at the airport before we boarded.

Flight wasn't full.  We had an open seat between us..Nice to have extra room.  The TV's were not working on the flight.  Glad I brought a movie...:) Flight was pretty uneventful until we landed.  Pretty hard land..It knocked the panel (with air..light...oxygen) down two seats in front of us.  Good thing no one was sitting there.

We rented a car from Avis.  Convertible PT Cruiser.  Drove straight to the house were we were staying.  We stayed on the East End.  We loved the location and seclusion.  The house?  Well it was not exactly what I expected.  Could have been a little cleaner over all. Needed to be exterminated.  (I do want to note..  I guess a few creeper crawlers are expected on a beach location where the windows are open most of the time??)  No hot water either.  The AC did work good though.... However, the location and closeness to beach made up for  a lot. 

After taking inventory of the house and location. We went back to Savannah for groceries (Foster's).  We decided to get a pizza to take back to the house.

Early night.  Pretty tired after all day traveling.

Day 2 -Friday

Woke up early to the sunrise...  So pretty....had breakfast and coffee before heading out for the day.

We were planning on hiking the Majestic Trail.  So all prepared for the hike.  Just a few 100 yards into it..MUD.. ankle deep..  so we decided to turn back.  We did meet a couple on starting the trail as we were leaving, they said the back side of the trail was less muddy and they hiked it from the end.  They also said they saw 6 snakes on the trail.

From here we went to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.  We really enjoyed the gardens here.  Very pretty. A good place to see Iguana's.  We also saw 2 snakes here.

Next...  we went to Starfish beach to snorkel.  Very secluded.  We saw 5 starfish.  We know there were a lot more there because a man was collecting them for his children.  He had 13 of them.  Very sad that they were killing the starfish. 

Stopped at Rum Point to check it out.   So pretty.  Love the water.

We went back into Savannah to eat at Wendy's.  Then back to the house for the evening.  On the East End there isn't much night life (or so we think )

Day 3- Saturday
Up early again for a beautiful sunrise. Breakfast and coffee at the house.  I had a reservation at Discovery Cove to swim with the dolphins.  When we arrived I realized I was the only one there for my scheduled time.  So I got to swim in the big pool with the dolphins. It was so much fun.  They were so sweet! 
When we were checking in the girl at the front desk gave Gary (my husband) a free wrist band into the Turtle Farm (my entrance was included in the price of the swim.  So next we moved onto the Turtle farm.

Went into Georgetown for some shopping and ate at Hard Rock Cafe.

We stopped at a local fruit stand to try the apple bananas.  They were okay.  Gary liked them more than I did.

We did stop at the Bird Sanctuary near Savannah.  TO me this was a waste of time.  Didn't see any birds although we head them...LOL.

Drove back to the house for an afternoon nap (So nice). 

For sunset we were planning on driving to Starfish Beach again but saw that the gates were closed and a sign on the gate that read “no public access”.  So moved onto Rum Point.  The water here is SO PRETTY.  Also less of a crowd towards sunset.  We saw a pretty big spotted stingray from the pier. We took several sunset pictures until dark.  Then headed back to the house for the evening.

Day 4 – Sunday
Today we actually slept in a little.  After breakfast we decided to just stay at the house and snorkel off the beach there.  We loved the snorkeling here. 
Snorkeled until lunch.  We had lunch at the house.  It rained most of the afternoon so we stayed in.

Close to sunset the rain stopped.
We drove around in a few residential areas.  Saw Mango and Banana trees..   There are VERY beautiful houses on Grand Cayman and  a lot of them are for sale.  I was very surprised at all the real estate.

 We went to Starfish beach to take a few more pictures.  (it was open this time)
Then we went to Over the Edge for dinner at sunset.  A great local place.  They have delicious Key Lime Pie here.  A lady up the road form them makes them fresh. Sat outside overlooking the water.

Drove back to house to pack for flight home.

Day 5- Monday
Going home today.  We were up early and packed ready to go.  One last walk on our “private” beach.. a few more photos.  Stopped at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.
Went to Seven Mile Beach for photo's.  Walked around for awhile.  Did some last minute shopping.  Then headed to the airport for Home Sweet Home...

Overall we LOVED Grand Cayman.  We had been once before while on a cruise (we went to Sting Ray City).   I had NO complaints about the island.
This time we were able to drive around the island.  Act like locals which is what we love to do.  When I go back I will either stay on the East End again or the North Shore.
I wasn't expecting it to be so HOT.  Coming from Texas we figured the weather would be a little cooler.  We were mistaken.  One day the car thermostat read 107.  Gary asked a gas attendant if it was normally this hot in Grand Cayman.  He said it was the hottest it had ever remembered it being. So I'm guessing the heat was an exception.
As for as the prices of food and gas.  It was more expensive than the US.  However if you have been to Hawaii, I think the prices are pretty much the same for food (in the grocery store) The restaurants and gas were probably a little higher comparing to Hawaii.


It was a WONDERFUL trip!!  A great break that we really needed!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

New York City


Christmas in NYC!!!!
December-23-27, 2009

December 23, Wednesday...
Alarm went off at 4AM... did last minute packing and left 5:15AM.. hour drive to the airport.. then circled airport looking for parking... parked and had about 30 minutes before we boarded. Met my parents there who had drove in the night before.
Uneventful flight (which is always good) tried to sleep a little.
Had a service pick us up at the airport (Lincoln Limo) took us about 1 hour to get trough the traffic and onto the Waldorf. Check in was not too bad about 20 minutes. Room was nice. A little worn in some of the room... ..but clean and comfortable.
An hour later we were on our way to Rockefeller Center.. The tree was beautiful. Loved it... took A LOT of pictures!
Found a restaurant close buy had a long awaited meal. Stopped in at St Patrick's Cathedral... very pretty... Next we walked to Times Square. Fun and exciting. Loved all the lights and people everywhere... Then onto the Top of the Rock. No lines... just walked right in...We went at night because I wanted night pictures of the Empire State Building. I couldn't use the tripod, I wasn't too happy with that... managed to get a few good shots. LOVED Top of the Rock... SO PRETTY...AMAZING it was pretty cold up there... probably the coldest night of the trip. Walked back to the hotel... slept WONDEFUL. Tired after a long day!

December 24, Thursday
This morning we were off to see the Empire State Building after of course a quick breakfast at Starbucks. I didn't reserve tickets before we left...so we had to stand in line. Overall we waited about 30 minutes. Not too bad of a wait. We got a lot of good pictures there. I was so excited to see it all and take in the city! Then off to Macy's to meet mom and dad. We grabbed a quick bite at the Mc Donald's there (standing up by the trash) LOL.. we have done this on several vacations... From here we walked to Central park (Strawberry Fields). It was a LONG walk. I think we got in around 13 miles this day.. It had snowed a few days before we arrived..so Central Park was covered in snow... SO pretty! Shopped at a little open air tent sale that had hats... ornaments etc....
We decided to get a taxi and ride back to the room to get the tripod. I wanted to go to Brooklyn to get night shots of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline.
After a little research we took the subway to Brooklyn to take pictures. Stayed there about 30 minutes. It was very pretty. Back to the room for much needed rest.

December 25, Friday...Christmas Day......
Slept in a little. We had reservations at 1pm at the Park Room across from Central Park. So we got dressed and did a little window shopping (most stores were closed) took a few pictures. Met mom and dad in the lobby. The dinner was WONDERFUL. I would recommend it to anyone. After lunch we went back to Central Park to walk around, people watch, take more pictures. :)
We toured the lobby of the Plaza Hotel. Very pretty. Did more window shopping, Trump Tower then back to Rockefeller center to see the tree ON Christmas day...lol
So back in the room for the evening. Mom treated us with room service. Merry Christmas!

December 26, Saturday
Raining....
This morning up early for the MET. Walked from the hotel to the Met. We didn't have tickets for the Met so we had to get them. The line only took about 15 minutes. We were going to check our coats but the wait for that was VERY long. So we made due. We went straight to the cafeteria to have brunch. Toured the Met for about 3 hours. From here we were to meet mom and dad for shopping and dinner. We decided to take a cab to FAO Schwarz because it was raining so bad. Had fun in the toy store.. I played the BIG piano. Bought candy. Then to Tiffany's. Then to Saks.. The guys drank coffee at the Cafe in the Sky (I think that is the name) while we shopped.
From here we walked to Serendipity. I LOVE SEREDIPITY. We did have to wait a hour and a half for a table of four. If you plan on going while in NYC I would recommend making reservations and planning around them. We really enjoyed the atmosphere and the food. Took pictures in the hotel lobby of the Waldorf. SO pretty
Back to the room to pack! :(

December 27, Sunday
Decided to walk around Rockefeller Center one more time before we left. Starbucks again for breakfast. Took a few pictures. Went to Grand Central to get a few pictures also. Came back to the room and went to wait for our shuttle back to the airport.
Things I liked about NYC... EVERYTHING
Things I didn't like about NYC...... I'm not there now!!!!!!!!!!

Love to travel

I have been thinking about starting a travel blog for a year or so.  So I finally have decided to go for it.  Hope you enjoy it.