As promised here is a quick update on my trip.  I normally get a little sad dropping the girls off, but I have to admit, this time I had a smile.  What I'm assuming is the granddaughter/daughter (maybe 7 or 8) of the mother/son I see working there the most often was there and upon seeing them coming into the back area she starts shrieking "my favorite huskies!"  Yes, I'm confident they get lots of attention and lovin at camp :)

For a 5 hour drive it wasn't too bad.  We grubbed along the way to break up the trip and got to Elizabeth, NJ early enough to do a little shopping.  I'm going to try and erase my first visit ever to Ikea from my brain.  I simply do not understand what the fascination is people.  It wasn't quite walmart torture, but I'll pass.

I also want to note I was a very good girl, walking in the morning before we left, walking at the hotel in the morning before we went to the ship, and hitting the gym onboard all three of our days at sea!  I've taken work out gear before but in 15 cruises this was the first time I actually hit ShipShape.

Anyhow, one night's rest and to the ship and our nice 'hump' balcony cabin.  Our first day at sea was pretty busy, but we managed to hit the ice show, which featured a gal we've seen before w/ hula hoops that was fantastic.  I also had the most horrific view of my life.  If you're a dancer, gymnast, ice skater, or anything else that requires you to wear the equivalent of a bathing suit on the bottom while hiking your leg up very high I just want to say that you should VISIT BRAZIL, so I don't end up with a full view of the jungle from the second row.  *shiver*  There was the standard parades, comedians, shows, whirlpool time, and lots of food.

Our first day in Bermuda we took the ferry straight away to Hamilton where we did a little shopping (window for me).  Day two we were out early for our snorkeling trip, which was lovely as always, but it was a bit rainy with some storms popping up, so we didn't get to do the stop by the ship wreck.  After that we headed back to Hamilton and walked to Fort Hamilton.  Both days felt a little 'short' since we had the early dinner, but it was a nice relaxing pace.  On day three we stuck around near King's Wharf, walking out of the area and towards where the worlds smallest drawbridge is (didn't go the whole way).  We did however stop at the sea glass beach (yay for other people's garbage all smoothed out by the ocean and sand) and then to the Naval cemetery and back into King's Wharf for Beff to visit the glass blowing factory.

As always, we met some great folks including this guy and his lovely wife, and two sweetheart gals at dinner.  We also saw some interesting creatures onboard, like the white-trash Carnival-wannabes in the love and marriage game show.  There was also my very favorite cruise director, Richard Spacey!  Now, he's not much for socializing one on one... but on stage he can't be beat.

I learned something too.  For whatever reason I've never noticed it before on the maps they show on the one tv station onboard... did you know that in the middle of the North Atlantic is the Sargasso Sea? Ok, maybe you did, but I didn't.  So there you have it.

Creepiest event?  Day walking back from Fort Hamilton!  We saw two nicely dressed gentlemen (but that's pretty normal in Bermuda) walking with what looked like a large clear garbage bag with some trash in it from a distance.  When they crossed and I got a better look at what they had I about jumped to see the brown bags within that had bright red stripes of tape across them reading EVIDENCE.  They were heading up the hill towards some of the government buildings.

I did treat myself a little too, picking up a blue diamond ring onboard.  It's not very big, but it's a marquise and I like it so that's that.

Now for a few photos !