Here’s a shot of me and our dog Tobey:

The scenery is mostly woodland areas and every so often you cross over a wet puddle or two:

All in all, it’s a nice relaxing hike that gets you a little exercise but isn’t terribly taxing. If nothing else, it’s a little appetizer for what’s to come when we go to Lake Tahoe!

Itinerary and Length of Cruise

I chose the short itinerary (3 nights, 2 full days) for a few reasons and I was still glad at the end of the trip that we chose it! Why so short? We could have the ability to “go on a cruise” but not have to commit to a full week, and this was perfect for our friends who this was their first cruise. I wanted to see the Bahamas but I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend a lot of time there since I wasn’t sure what would be there or interesting! Also a nice short cruise allowed our friends who had less vacation time to just take a day off and join us for the cruise.

Next time, I will be interested in going on another “short” cruise but this time I’d pick one that was either a 4 day or a 5 day. I think that 4 -5 days on a decadent floating hotel is the optimal amount of time to see a few ports, lose enough money in the casino and eat enough unhealthy food to be ready to disembark. (Not that I am complaining about the abundance of crepes that I ate daily from the lunchtime buffet!).

The Bahamas were beautiful however in Nassau there isn’t much to do other than go to Atlantis. We walked a fair amount around the island until we got to the fish fry and there was an awesome modified car show going on right outside all the restaurants! It was free and lots of fun to check out the beautifully restored old cars and the updated new cars!

The one thing that I was really looking forward to was our snorkeling trip on Great Stirrup Cay, NCL’s private island. However due to high waves we were unable to travel via tender boats (which are much smaller than a cruise ship) and so had to spend a day “At Sea” instead of snorkeling. We spent the day relaxing, playing games with our friends, and checking out the activities provided by NCL in lieu of those at Great Stirrup Cay. They had lots of things to do, movies to watch, trivia games to play and of course lots of shuffleboard and other deck-game tournaments! Although I was disappointed that we couldn’t go to Great Stirrup Cay I enjoyed the day at sea and was impressed at the activities provided by the NCL Staff.

Accommodation

Our stateroom was not as nice as other interior staterooms that we’ve stayed in. Since this cruise was so short we were only planning to sleep in our room so it wasn’t that much of a disappointment. We were on the highest level of interior staterooms so it made going to the pool decks and bars quite easy!

Dining Options

The food was OK, but not as good as our previous NCL cruise to Bermuda, but it wasn’t bad. Previously I had heard this cruise’s food compared to Applebee’s, and as I’m not a fan of Applebees, I would have to say that the food was much better! The portions were small enough that you could order an appetizer, an entree and a dessert and not be too full to enjoy the rest of the evening. I found it a refreshing change from normal restaurant portion sizes were you can easily eat half an entree and be stuffed!

We only ate at the restaurant options that were already included the price of the cruise. I would like to try the additional cost restaurant options once but I heard from other passengers that though the food was better they didn’t feel that it was worth the cost! End result, we probably won’t end up eating at one of the extra cost restaurants any time soon.

Overall

Overall, I had a lovely time on the cruise. The extra day at sea because of the rough weather allowed us to spend some quality time with some friends and really enjoy the food options on the cruise! The only thing I wished was that the trip was a bit longer and we had been able to see more of the Bahamas. Maybe this is how they get you, because next cruise to the Bahamas will have to be longer than 3 days!

This year, we’ll be returning for another week of relaxation (!!!) that will, of course, include plenty of hiking and maybe some canoeing and other fun adventures. We’ll again climb up the “difficult” Mount Tallac, take plenty of photos with Martha’s new camera, and document the whole trip for all you wonderful readers!

We’ll get the cabin from Saturday to Saturday and we’ll finish off the week-long trip with a day in Reno, NV. Rooms are so cheap that we actually save money on the flights, even after adding in the cost of rooms, by waiting. We’ll probably give it all back and more at the tables but that’s how they like it.

We’re looking forward to it!

(Photo: angela7dreams)

Here another look at the castle:

As you can tell, it was a daytime wedding with a 11:30 start time followed by a delicious buffet. It was the first daytime wedding I’ve ever attended and I thought it was great. In fact, I think I prefer daytime weddings to nighttime ones and I’m not really sure why so many people choose to get married at night. I bet you’d miss half the beauty of the grounds and the castle if you had the wedding at night. Plus, with a daytime wedding, you’re done before dinner time and you can get a full night’s rest (if you choose to).

Let’s get back to the Castle…

A view of the Connecticut River and of the wedding setup (how’d those pesky people get in the way???):

There were a lot of fun little areas throughout the building, like this enormous solid wood Irish bar:

I’m not entirely sure why this little baby is on this barrel behind the bar… unfortunately the barrel is empty.

We thought this tower was pretty awesome:
One minor bummer … you can’t get up into the tower. Yeah, that ivy covered tower that looks so freaking awesome is off-limits. The guy at the front desk said that it was a liability issue, they were afraid that a drunk person would try to climb down the ivy. Someone else said that the tower was under-maintained and the stairs were dangerous. My take is that it’s probably a little of both – it’s probably not the safest stairs to get up to the tower and when you add some drunk adventurous folks, you get a recipe for disaster.

In the years since our first Wine in the Woods, we’ve visited Boordy a couple times and always loved it. We’ve been fortunate in that the weather has always cooperated and we’ve had great company to boot. Yesterday, we attended their Spring Case Club event and it was no exception! We drove up with our friends Renee and Sam, through the winding back roads, and arrived at Boordy just in time for the festivities.

Spring Case Club Event

On Saturdays in April, Boordy has a Spring Case Club event where you get to sample all their wines and have it paired with some great food by Dean and Brown Catering. The cheese spread is paired with their Chambourcin-Merlot 2009. A delicious salad of field greens, strawberries, and goat cheese is paired with their Pinot Grigio 2009. A grilled gunpowder bison sausage with orzo and spring vegetables, probably my favorite of the two “entrees,” is paired with the Petit Cabernet 2008. Then you have a chicken with Rosemary cream sauce paired with their Seyval-Chardonnay-Vidal 2008. Finally, a spread of various chocolate and fruit mini pastries enjoyed with their Eisling 2008 and Veritas Port 2006. (by the way, the Gunpowder bison sausage was absolutely delicious, they are a local producer too!)

If you’re a fan of Boordy and in the case club, this is an event you’ll want to attend if you haven’t been back in a while. It’s a smaller group, maybe a 100 people?, and my feeling is that they were more generous with the samples. I had a chance to try their Landmark Reserve 2007, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (45%), Merlot (29%), and Petit Verdot (26%), enough times to know I wanted to take a couple bottles home with me. In fact, I had a lovely chat with Rob, who I didn’t know owned Boordy, about their western Maryland growing area in the Catoctic Maryland Viticultural Area where the grapes for the wine were grown.

Good Life Thursdays

Another event we heard about several times was their Good Life Thursdays Farmer’s Markets. In talking to Joan from One Straw Farm, a local CSA we were/are thinking about joining, she said that it’s a great way to spend a Thursday night when the weather is great. She was there to talk to people about One Straw Farm CSA and we talked for a good half hour about everything from Good Life Thursdays (spend a few bucks on a local burger, buy some fresh local produce, enjoy some wine… sounds like a perfect Thursday night to me!) to CSAs to all these recipes involving kale and sweet potato leaves (Sam does a lot of work in Africa, where sweet potato leaves are a stample crop).

Boordy Case Club

The “Case Club” is their membership system where you get 10% off your first case, 15% off your 2nd and 3rd cases, and 20% for the rest of your life. There’s no membership fee and you get to attend “exclusive” events like their case club events. For $25pp, we were able to sample all the wine we wanted, eat all the great food we wanted, and learn a little bit more about the vineyard. The tour we took was slightly shorter, led by owner Rob Deford, but he treated us to a discussion on growing and grafting the grapes. I imagine many of the case club members have already taken the regular tour (which looks at the grounds, the machinery, and the aging barrels), so this one was more educational in the areas we don’t normally learn about.

One nice treat was the glasses. Whenever you visit for a tasting, which costs a mere $5 on weekends, you get to take a Boordy glass home with you. For the case club event, we were able to take a glass home with us but since we were Vintner’s Club (I think that means we bought more than three cases? we weren’t sure), we were treated to these lovely, taller, Riesling/Zinfandel glasses:

All in all, a fantastic time, I only wish someone else was the designated driver!

Overall I was very pleased with the cruise with one exception, which NCL can’t control. It was windy our entire trip, which made staying on the pool deck a lot harder, and prevented us from landing at Great Stirrup Cay, their private island.

Itinerary

The itinerary was short and simple:

• Friday – Depart Miami at 5PM
• Saturday – Arrive at Nassau at 8 AM, depart at 6 PM
• Sunday – Arrive at Great Stirrup Cay at 8AM, depart at 5 PM
• Monday – Arrive at Miami at 7AM

Stinks we didn’t get to check out Great Stirrup Cay though.

Embarkation

Getting on the ship was easy and reminded me of our NCL cruise out of Philadelphia, that time we were bound for Bermuda. Our ship departed at 5PM and we were on board by the early afternoon. You simply take your luggage (we just had carry-on, since it was a shorter cruise) into the boarding area, fill out some paper work, and walk up for processing. The waiting area is huge but there were very few people waiting and the four of us were processed in what seemed like less than 15 minutes.

Stateroom

Our stateroom was exactly what we expected out of an interior stateroom. A snug 121 square foot window-less room with a converted double bed, bathroom, fridge, minisafe, and television. I never really care about accommodations on a cruise because I feel that you shouldn’t be spending that much time in your room anyway. The fun is in exploring the ship, enjoying it’s entertainment, and running around on shore.

Dining Options

The food was OK, not as good as when we went on a 7-day cruise to Bermuda, but it wasn’t bad. The only downside to the food options on the cruise was that both “regular” sit down restaurants served the exact same menu and we heard, from other passengers, that the upcharge restaurants weren’t really worth it. Food at the restaurants was good though, with plenty of options regardless of your preferences. The buffets were convenient, tasty enough, but lacked imagination. I don’t recommend going to the buffets for dinners as the restaurants are much better.

Freestyle Cruising
I’ve only taken cruises on two cruise lines, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Carnival. On Carnival we had scheduled dinners and we prefer NCL’s Freestyle Cruising option much better. We aren’t antisocial or anything but we found that having scheduled times restricts what you can do. While on this particular cruise we were in port from 8AM to 5PM, meaning we were always on the ship at dinnertime, in the past we’ve been on cruises where you had to pick a dinner time that conflicted with port time.

Affordably Priced Beer Buckets
I was surprised how affordable the beer buckets were. It was $5 a beer, 16 oz. Bud Lights or other domestics, and you got a freebie with a purchase of five. It’s not “cheap” but it’s certainly better than you’d expect at a movie theater or ballpark. They were bar prices and we were pleased not to get ripped off while we were a captive customer!

$5 bucket deposits? Really? I understand the need to have a deposit, so that people don’t take these things (I’m not sure why anyone would but I suppose people would if it were free), but five bucks? We bought a bunch of buckets during our trip and were diligently returning them each time but we still needed to talk to the “front desk” at the end of our cruise to get a $5 deposit returned. One of the bartenders suggested that we just keep the bucket, trading it in each time, but we declined and had to wait fifteen minutes to get it cleared up. I wasn’t the only one in line.

Overall

As I wrote earlier, overall I was pleased with the trip and had a great time. Even the captive day on the ship, as we floated around and looked for sun, where we spent most of our time in the casino, sitting on the pool deck, or playing games in the buffet restaurant, were fun times. I’m glad it was a shorter cruise as I was once again reminded of how stir crazy I can get on a boat, but winning a few hundred dollars in the casino made me feel like I benefited from missing Great Stirrup Cay!

We will have a post about the various places we went to on Nassau in a future post, as well as Martha’s impressions of the cruise!

We didn’t think much of it, had a great time in the Everglades, and returned the car. As we talked to a member of the staff, he apologized for the condition of the car (they hadn’t brought it up before and I never complained, because I didn’t think much of it) and asked what he could do to make sure I had a completely satisfied experience. To be honest, I was satisfied already but not “completely” satisfied, a minor distinction in my mind.

The price of the car was going to be around $33 so I thought about asking it be knocked down to $30, but I figured if I was going to get a discount I might as well let him open with a number. So I just asked them “I’d be completely satisfied if you could take a little off the rental” and he knocked ten bucks off. An all day rental for $23 isn’t too shabby and I can confidently say I’m completely satisfied!

Flying Down on Continental

Our trip began with a slightly-more-than-two hour flight on Continental Airlines from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Miami International Airport (MIA). We usually fly out of Baltimore Washington International (BWI) because it’s much closer to our house but we had to drop off our 8 year old Beagle, named Tobey, so flying out of Dulles was more convenient. We also saved about a hundred bucks flying out at Dulles and returning to BWI, so that was an added bonus.

We are used to flying Southwest Airlines, where there is open seating, so it kind of scared us when we were told we’d be given a seat assignment at the counter when we checked in. I checked seat availability online and saw there was only one open seat on the plane. This scared me because we were traveling as a pair and, well, I know airlines overbook their planes. We arrived at the airport early, checked in, and got two seats in the back of the plane (which still reclined!). As it turns out, the flight was “full” but we had an empty seat in our row of three seats and the entire row across the aisle was empty!

We flew out Thursday night in order to make it to Miami a day before the cruise started and, if you recall, there were plenty of flights delayed by the storms rolling through the Eastern shore. Our friends, who live in New York, had their initial flight delayed, forcing them to miss their connection, and then deal with a huge ordeal getting a flight to Miami. My summary doesn’t do the whole experience any justice whatsoever but they finally made it the next day, around noon (twelve hours later than their scheduled arrival), but made it on the ship.

Norwegian Sky Cruise to Bahamas

We’ll have a more detailed review of our time on the Norwegian Sky in the coming days but overall we both had fun and you’ll hear our thoughts on the trip individually (I think it’s more fun that way!). The itinerary of the cruise was very straightforward, two stops in the Bahamas and return home. There isn’t much you can fit into a three day cruise but this gave us two full days on the islands.

• Day 1 – Miami Departure at 5 PM
• Day 2 – Nassau at 8AM until 6PM
• Day 3 – Great Stirrup Cay at 8AM to 5PM
• Return to Miami at 7 AM

When you factor in the travel time, packing in two full days is good scheduling. Unfortunately we missed out on their private island, Great Stirrup Cay, because of high winds (you know they were bad because NCL makes a ton of money on excursions and they own Great Stirrup Cay!).

Downtown Miami

Once we disembarked, we checked into the Hyatt Regency in downtown Miami for a few days of relaxing and enjoying the sights of Miami. Downtown Miami isn’t much to look at it, it’s mostly highrises of empty condos and big banks. I swear we counted about a dozen different bank buildings from big nationals such as Bank of America, SunTrust, and Chase to more regional banks like Regions and a few others I can even remember. Unfortunately, by staying in downtown Miami you subject yourself to a $25 taxi cab to South Beach and a $30 cab ride to Little Havana, which were the two places we were going. A positive was that we got a great room at a fantastic price, around $75 a night before taxes, and there was an Enterprise car rental in the lobby.

Everglades National Park

On Tuesday, we rented a car from Enterprise and drove to Everglades National Park. Martha and I are a fan of nature and though, after three days of excess and indulgence on a floating hotel, a little walking around would do us some good. A more detailed review, with pictures, of wanderings about the Everglades is forthcoming but we had a great time walking around the northern part of the Everglades. We saw a ton of birds, salamanders, and, of course, alligators!

South Beach

South Beach is a trip. After we got back from the Everglades, we took quick showers and then hopped into a cab to see the wonders of South Beach. The night before we had dinner with a friend in the area and she told us that Lincoln Road was a fun place to walk around and people watch. Lincoln Road is an 11 block outdoor pedestrian mall, with shops and restaurants on both sides of a “street” that has long since been converted into a pedestrian walkway.

We had dinner at the inexplicably named World Resource Cafe and it was absolutely delicious. We didn’t have any sushi, we just weren’t in the mood for it (though we normally are!), and instead I went with the Fisherman’s Trap and Martha enjoyed a duck with noodles type of dish, the name of which escapes me. As an appetizer, we had one of their specials which were a sweet fried shrimp we could wrap with cabbage or scallion crepes, accompanied with a sweet and spicy red sauce. If you go and you’re a fan of both Thai curry and seafood, the Fisherman’s Trap is great. You get everything from green mussels to shrimp to scallops to kanikama (ok, so it’s imitation crab, it’s still good!) and you won’t be disappointed.

After dinner, we walked down to Ocean Ave and all the way down to about 5th street, walking through all the outdoor restaurants, people watching, and just having a nice after dinner stroll. Along the way we must have seen about half a dozen cars worth more than the house we live in from Lamborghinis to Bentleys to an Aston Martin Vantage (that would be James Bond’s ride) and a few Maseratis. I’m not a big car guy but man those are beautiful machines.

Little Havana and Bayside Market

Unfortunately it rained on our last day in Miami but we still made it out to Little Havana to try some authentic cuisine. Our restaurant of choice? Another inexplicably named one, this time Versailles, the once de facto capital of France (apparently it started as a French restaurant that bombed!). It was well reviewed on all the travel sites (Urban Spoon, Chowhound) and so we had to eat there, right? Well, once again we were not disappointed.

Martha thoroughly enjoyed her Tasajo beef, which is a Cuban style jerky with a distinct flavor that’s hard to describe. It was vinegary and a little sweet, drier than she imagined but still tasty. I think she would’ve liked it more if I didn’t get something so absolutely delicious.

You can’t really go wrong braising a lamb shank in traditional Cuban spices. Let’s be honest, with fall off the bone tenderness and a flavor that opens your eyes, you can’t really find anything to complain about. The portions were very large, the prices were affordable, and if you’re a fan of lamb you will love this dish.

We were going to walk around Calle Ocho but everyone we talked to said that with the rain it wasn’t going to be that interesting. We figured we would try to hit up the Bayside Market, something that was talked up by a few passengers on our shuttle to the cruise ships, so we took a cab ride there. We would soon find out that Bayside Market is really just a mall! While that’s probably a fun touristy thing to do, see all the “I’m in Miami bitch!” t-shirts and walking turtles, it wasn’t really out thing. Fortunately the rain let up at that point and we wandered our way back to the hotel to catch our shuttle for the flight home.

Flying Home

We flew out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and our $21 a person Go Shuttle ride, which was in a shared towncar, got us through rush hour traffic with ease. When we arrived at the airport it was about dinner time and we ate at a Pasha’s healthy Mediterranean cuisine that meshes with all of the hot diet fats like the South Beach diet (duh!) and Atkins. It was good and a nice healthy alternative to all the eating out we’ve been doing.

The flight back was uneventful, thankfully and we were soooo glad to sleep in our own beds!

(Photo: Lincoln Road Theater)

We’re looking at a three-day cruise out of Miami on the Majesty of the Seas going to the Bahamas. It’s a fairly priced cruise at $328 interior cabin and $329 for an oceanview (even more for a suite). After $48.92 in taxes, it’s a so-so price per day at $122.64. My sweet spot is usually around $100 a day but the last cruise was several years ago so you figure inflation has to have kicked that bar up a notch or two (though I though travel was down because of the recession?).

The itinerary has us start in Miami, pop on over to CocoCay, Bahamas and then Nassau, Bahamas, and then back to Miami. Short and sweet!

Travelocity always offers all sorts of bonuses and credits if you buy it through them and the only one we’d qualify for is a $25 on-board credit per statement. It’s not really that great but it’s certainly better than getting nothing! (that would bring our total cost down to $710.84, as we found a $319pp oceanview stateroom, or $118.47 per day per person)

Our Lake Tahoe trip started with a ridiculously early departure from Baltimore Washington International Airport at around 7am, which meant we woke up at 4:30ish so we could grab some breakfast, leave at around 5:15, and get ourselves to the airport around 5:45. We had a layover in Las Vegas and both legs of the flight were packed and uneventful. The only thing of interest was that Southwest managed to send one of our bags, of five, to Orlando, then to Oakland, and then to Reno. Luckily it was only a hiking backpack with our camping gear that we’d only use on our overnight hike five days later.

The drive from Reno to Lake Tahoe, all of two hours, was through mostly desert, flat, and entirely unthrilling whatsoever. We did pass through Carson City, the stuff of westerns, and it was funny to see slot machines in laundromats and dumpy motels. To get up to the cabin itself, we had to take one lane roads on the side of a mountain abutting Lake Tahoe. During the day it gets a little tight getting by SUVs and Hummers towing boats but otherwise it’s a pretty scenic drive and I’m glad to take it slow through the area. The cabin itself is a little four room spot that has a very rustic feel to it. It has a great view, though somewhat obstructed by some Jeffrey pine trees, of Fallen Leaf Lake. It’s amazing out here, the air is so clear you can see for miles and the water is so clean you almost want to drink from it (but don’t, it’s got little buggies in it).

We’re close to seven thousand feet or so from sea level, the air is somewhat thinner but you wouldn’t be able to tell outside of being somewhat lethargic. They say that it takes a few days to acclimate yourself to the altitude but you don’t feel it unless you’re hiking. If you ever have the opportunity to come out here, take it, take it quick.

The first night, despite being somewhat tired, tried to make a hike to Lily Lake though Martha’s memory betrayed her and we got ourselves lost. We did see some wonderful waterfalls and their white cascades, the same waterfalls we could hear as we slept. After that detour, we ventured down through the one-lane wilderness and drove about half an hour to the casinos in Nevada. The drive down at night is much easier since the headlights of cars slice through the darkness giving fair warning about any oncoming cars, a pleasant change from turning blind corners hoping there wasn’t a biker or car riding faster than reasonable. On the way to the casinos, we pass through the shops of Heavenly Ski resort (it’s interesting seeing the brown bare ski lanes on the mountain) chock full of folks despite it being the end of July. Harrahs was filled with the usual suspects of scantily clad cocktail waitresses, dealers, and girls looking to pick up some sad rich fool.

The second day saw the first real hike of the trip as we drove to Lily Lake and hiked our way to Grass Lake, which was about two miles away. The scenery of the hike was stunning, we could see mountains for miles through crystal clear air, and everytime we passed by any sort of stream it was a wonder how it managed to remain so clean. In such an arid climate, there is hardly any grass on the ground, it’s mostly hard rock and some dry dead grasses. The trees are mostly hardy pines with enormous pinecones.. We’re talking pinecones that are larger than my hand and the sweet smelling sap permeates the air at almost every step. On our hike we saw a Soda Spring, which apparently was all the rage back in the horse and buggy era, but I took a sip and it tasted awful. It was supposedly full of minerals and all sorts of good stuff but I could live quite happily not taking another sip of that stuff.

The hike itself tiring in part because we only brought one Nalgene bottle of water, a mistake, and we weren’t used to the altitude (the hike itself took us up another 700 feet). We had to cross some fast moving creeks and even cross over a log or two before we made it to Grass Lake. Again, like everything else out here, the work was well worth it. The water itself was quite cold, especially after hiking in the sun, and it took a little while before we were brave enough to dive right in. Once in though, it felt great to float around in such a beautiful body of water. We looked towards the mountains and even saw another waterfall in the distance. After floating around for maybe fifteen minutes, we began our trek back. The hike back, which was mostly downhill, felt ten times easier than the hike up – the fact that the sun was setting likely helped as well.

Back at Lily Lake, we missed our ride back to the cabin so we took some back trails through other people’s property (happens all the time, no one cares if you trample down their rocks) which we wanted to take the first night (when we found ourselves lost near sunset). We took a few wrong turns but managed to find our way back in about ten minutes, much faster than I expected. After hiking all day were starving and devoured the spaghetti dinner that Martha’s family had prepared for everyone. Then we devoured some ice cream afterwards, our just reward for a roughly 4 hour round trip hike through Desolation Wilderness.

Day two was a relaxing day, we drove down to Zephyr Bay where we took the MS Dixie II to Emerald Bay. The two and a half hour round trip cruise featured a buffet lunch that was mostly cold cuts, some chowder, and cheesecake dessert. The cruise traversed part of Lake Tahoe and took us to Emerald Bay, home of a Viking castle/ville and a little lightly fortified “tower.” Cruising the lake was incredible because the water was so blue, the mountains so high, and the air so crisp and clear. The one thing that amazes me is the clarity of the water, the regulations here are quite strict but definitely worth it.