Queen Mary 2

Well we are back from the crossing and had a wonderful time. I will talk a bit about the Queen Mary part of the trip in this blog. The ship was absolutely beautiful. We flew to New York on Thursday the 8th of June. After arriving in New York we checked into the Hudson (see hotel reviews for info) and napped. Then Jim met us for dinner and drinks. We had Thai and then drinks and a late night visit to the 5th Avenue Apple Store. Jim claimed he was converted. Friday we saw Tiffany then took a cab to the ship. The cabby was terrible and got lost. But after a bit of a scuffle we were there, checked in and were on board. The ship was again beautiful. I can't say too many times what an experience she was and how grande she is. The look, lines, accommodations, everything about her is great. We had an obstructed view balcony view and the room was large. After looking at the pictures I am disappointed I did not get a more representative look of the ship. My favorite rooms included the Commodore Club, the Chart Room, the Britannia Dinning Room, and the Library. But really the ship is best viewed from the promenade deck. Its is such fun to walk around its 1/3rd mile and just watch the sea. The ship left New York around 5pm. We passed by the Statue of Liberty and under the Verrazano bridge. While I loved the crossing- I did love leaving and pulling into port and wish we had more port calls just for that. Next time we do this I think we will do a Mediterranean cruise. After we hit the open seas entertainment was to be had in the ship. I went to many Oxford lectures. Staci ran. I also went to see the various planetarium shows. We saw one other live show though there were many. Never went to a movie but those were also shown. As those who know me would guess a fav. was drinking at the cool bars. The ship also has a museum type display about old Cunard ships and ocean crossings. I enjoyed that quite a bit. Other highlights included the formal nights. My new Brooks Brothers Tux came in handy... and Staci looked better than anyone else on board in her dashing dresses. The most emotional part of the trip was disposing of my uncle. When he died 2 years ago most of him made it into the pacific ocean when we dumped his ashes at the Oceanside pier. But some were left, so I brought him along. (the last email I got from him was about this trip. originally he and I were going to make the crossing together.) So on one night I brought his ashes out to the aft of the ship to let him go. It was the part of the trip when we were in heavy fog. You could not see more than 50 feet. It was dark and and spooky with the ship's fog horn going every 5 minutes or so. I got a bit vechlempt as I readied the bag with his ashes. But in a typical John "don't get mushy on me way" when I dumped him the strong north atlantic wind blew him up into my face. It made the experience moving but nearly as funny as the pacific dumping of ash. One last comment today about the crossing (I will blog about specific stuff later)... food. My only complaint about the ship is food. It was good, but not great. Specifically the buffet place on deck 7 (Kings Court) was a disappointment. Just not what I have been told other ships have as buffets. The main dining was also less of but still a disappointment. It was very pretty and that is important to me, but not tasty as it could be. I blame the british influence. Anyhow... I will blog about specific stuff as the days pass. But over all 4.5 stars!!!

A Quick Blog from Liverpool

Enjoyed a nice day in Liverpool learning more about the best band from this land.. or any other. Have also seen York, and London. Tonight we catch a ferry to Dublin. The QM2 was great and more stories and pictures will follow. But I was just reading a friend's blog on dirt and it remined me of our mud treatment. It sounds odd and is dirty in a way. But I suggest you all get a mud treatment. Espcially with a partner. SO fun. Our muds were colored... red, white (yes white dirt), yellow, brown, blue.... all natural. Anyhow blog more when we return.

New Website Look

As you can see I have done a website redesign using Apple's new iWeb program. In the future rather than replacing old event pictures with new ones, I will just create new pages. Hopefully this will create a better archive of the exciting life of Staci & Todd. Of course after the move to Merced it may not be necessary until we find some friends.