Subject: Merry Christmas
Aloha Everyone,
I’ve been meaning to send out an email of Mike’s and my latest cruise through the Panama Canal and now it’s going to be a Merry Christmas letter as well. Two birds, one stone.
So, this time last year we were in California, in our camper, on the way to Mexico. Most of you probably received emails of that trip so I won’t bore you with the details. It was to be our last trip in the truck and camper as we sold them in May when we got back to the Seattle area. We’re still good with that decision but it sure was fun to be able to get out and see so much of the mainland. We will figure out other ways to do so in the future. Another thing we will miss is visiting so many of you, along the way, in our travels. I’m afraid that you must now come to Kauai to be blessed with our presence in future. Please do. We’re really going to miss seeing everyone.
We were ready to be home after our seven month trip and enjoyed doing very little of substance through the summer months. We’ve become real homebodies I fear. Aja really liked the camper and I had to tear her out of there when it was time but she’s happy to be home as well.
Speaking of Aja....many of you follow me on Facebook and know that she had a tumor on her tummy that was found to be cancer after removal. Well, it appears that she is totally fine and it didn’t metastasize as feared. She’s very spunky and feeling great. She had her eighth birthday in November and we’re planning on having her for another decade at least....I hope.
After being home for six months we decided it was time to take a cruise. Mike hadn’t been on one for a while and he chose to go through the Panama Canal. Great choice. I searched for an itinerary that would take us to some new places and some familiar favorites and this one fit the bill perfectly. We departed from Fort Lauderdale on the Westerdam November 8th for the desert island Aruba. Aruba is known as “One Happy Island” and you see this written on hats and shirts and license plate frames. And it is happy. We really enjoyed the tour we took around the entire island with a fun guide and only one other couple. We even went for a swim, our first time to actually do so in Caribbean waters.
The Panama Canal is remarkable and the ship did a really good job of giving us the history of the building of this almost impossible project beforehand. We already knew a lot but they really had a couple great presentations that made the transit all the more enjoyable. We made stops in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala before several more in Mexico. Of the three, we agreed that we liked Nicaragua the best. We took tours in all three so covered quite a bit of ground. There are sure a lot of active volcanoes in Central America. And lots of rain!!
Sunny Mexico is a place we never get tired of. Our first stop was at Puerto Chiapas in Chiapas State which is right next to Guatemala. We’d been to the state before but not on the coast. Chiapas is very interesting and very Mayan. It’s really more like Central America than Mexico. We loved it when we visited there in the camper and saw so many gigantic ruins and monkeys in the trees. This time was great but no monkeys and the ruins were much smaller. We next visited Huatulco, where we had camped years ago and also to Puerto Vallarta before our return to San Diego on Nov. 24th. Fun trip. Aja stayed with our friend, Greg, and now they’re close buddies. He almost didn’t give her back!!
I had a surprise visit from my daughter, Krysten, a couple weeks ago. That was such a wonderful gift for me to have her here for a few days. She fits right in and feels at “home” and I wish she could be here always. Never know.....never say never!!
My grandkids are doing great. Bryce is working for Airstream and enjoys it. Rachel is zipping around the world but spends time at home and some of the U-tube videos she posts have her brother in them so I get to “see” what they’re up to. My mom is happy in her retirement home and is well at 93. Mike is doing fine though we aren’t without some old people stuff that I’d just as soon not dwell on much.
On January 1st I’m leaving for a very long cruise, as some of you may know. It’s an opportunity that I can’t pass up and Mike is cool with it....so I’m off for four months and heading around the world!! I won’t be in contact much until my return on April 28th. Round trip Fort Lauderdale on the Amsterdam for 113 days headed west. I can’t believe it! Gonna miss my man and my Aja a bunch but hey, you only live once they say!! Should be quite the adventure.
It’s only a couple more days until Christmas. It never feels like it here in Hawaii even though we’ve had really cold weather for a month or so. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the best of New Year’s. I’d love to hear back from any and all of you before I go. Much ALOHA.
Gayle......and Mike sends his best as well
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