Ray and group with one of our dolphins in Puerto Vallarta.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Back from Vacation!
I’m baaacck! Actually have been back since late Sunday, but between unpacking and going back to work (for my final week with Sprint) and then rehearsals for Seussical, I haven’t had much time to sit down and blog.
Soooo…let me tell you about my trip! First of all, we left on Friday the 14th around 7:45 in the a.m. We arrived at John Wayne airport about 9:20 and got our checked baggage within 10 minutes of getting off of the plane. I fell in love with that airport. Normally, I fly into LAX, but after this trip I will start going into John Wayne. There were no huge crowds and I walked straight up to the car rental counter and had my rental car within 15 minutes. Plus, Enterprise gave us a free upgrade to a mini-van which was excellent for getting my Mom and Aunt Sandra in and out of since it was higher off the ground.
We had checked into the Howard Johnson’s across from Disneyland in Anaheim by 10:30am and proceeded to drive over to Universal Studios for the day. I bought the VIP tickets and had front of the line access for all of the attractions. We did the tram tour first thing…which was a little boring for me since I’ve been there 5 or 6 times in the last 10 years. But, it was still fun because I knew what was coming up and it was a hoot to watch my Aunt Sandra scream when the shark from Jaws came up next to the tram.
We rode everything we could ride for the day and did some shopping and got out of there about 5:30pm. We headed back to the hotel, went to Mimi’s next door and had dinner, and I was asleep by 10pm. I was very tired that evening.
Next morning, we hit Disneyland about 10am and spent the day riding and sight-seeing. Mom ran out of steam by 2pm and had to head back to the hotel. Sandra and I stayed until about 7:30pm and hit all the rides we could. There weren’t many people at either Disneyland or California Adventure, so we only needed one FastPass for the day. That was for Soaring Over California. Even the relatively new Tower of Terror was only a 20 minute wait. I was surprised being there on a Saturday with so few people in the park, but it was also the first weekend after all of the rain in the L.A. area, so we may have timed it just right being there that week.
I do have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Tower of Terror ride in California Adventure. It had some awesome visuals and the scream factor is pretty high. Several of my favorite rides in Disneyland were closed…the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain among them. Space Mountain will be reopening during their 50th Anniversary celebration in May. I’ll be heading down again that month sometime.
Sunday morning, we slept in until 10 or so, and then had lunch with my friend Marina Campana. Marina moved down to southern California a year or so ago to break into the acting biz. She’s doing very well…already has earned her SAG card (Screen Actor’s Guild) and has an agent. She’s done some extra work on Will and Grace and some other shows. I think she will be a force to be reckoned with in the next few years. I wish her well and it was such a treat to spend time with her.
After lunch, we made the drive over to San Pedro Harbor to board our ship, the Vision of the Seas. It took us a couple of hours to get checked in and go through security, but we were finally exploring the ship around 4pm.
Let me first say that this was my 6th cruise, but it was my first since 1985. Royal Caribbean had excellent service and the Vision of the Seas has only been in commission since 1998. It was beautiful! The architecture was amazing and we were all in awe as we strolled through the entire ship checking things out. It had a beautiful theater at the front of the ship (I was having major theater envy at that point) and we had a wonderful stateroom with a private balcony. We spent nearly every morning on the balcony having coffee and listening to the waves.
Anyway, after we got our luggage and were in the process of unpacking, we had a visit from our cabin steward team, Theresita and Jose. What a pair! They were wonderfully sweet and took very good care of us while we were there. And every evening, they made new animals for us out of towels, washcloths, and bed pillows. I took pictures of each one and will be posting those and other pics from the trip once I have time to sit down and go through all of the 300 shots I took!
At dinner, we had the team of Kheng (our head waiter), Charles (our waiter) and Filrandy (our assistant waiter) who catered to our every whim. The food was incredible and I managed to get Mom and Sandra to take some chances and try new things on board. Everything that we ordered was cooked to perfection and was absolutely delicious! The desserts were orgasmic from tiramisu to baked Alaska. There was prime rib and lobster and chicken Marsala and so many other things to choose from, I can’t go into all of the detail. But if you ever get a chance to go on a cruise, I guarantee you that you will rave about the food more than anything else! The midnight buffets were served by waiters strolling on deck and we had our choice of formal meals in the Aquarius dining room or casual meals in the Windjammer Café. Overall, we had breakfast and lunch in the café and all our dinner meals in the dining room.
We spent all day Monday at sea and spent time in the casino, lounging in deck chairs on deck soaking in some sun, and then went to a Captain’s welcome aboard gala prior to dinner. On Tuesday morning, we boarded a tender boat and went ashore in Cabo San Lucas. The moment you step onto the dock, you are bombarded with locals trying to sell you t-shirts, jewelry, and a host of other things. We maneuvered through the endless parade of souvenir pushers and went for lunch at a little local café called Margaritaville. The waiter was a hoot. I was the typical tourist carrying my still camera and my video camera, so he knew right away it was my first trip to Mexico. I also looked at the menu and had an audible gasp when I saw the prices. I didn’t realize they were in pesos! When you see $180 for a meal, you do a double take. But, in US dollars, it was only $18. So, I got over that pretty quickly.
After lunch, we made our way to a shopping mecca and proceeded to spend several hundred dollars…mostly on trinkets and souvenirs for other people. I did buy a shirt and a pair of shorts for myself. We had to be back to the ship by 5:30pm and made it back with time to spare and prepared for dinner and then went to listen to a piano and strings concert in the Champagne lounge before going to our second seating dinner at 8:30.
The next morning we disembarked in Mazatlan. Not as many souvenir dealers here, but we did browse the little shops at the pier before catching a taxi to the Zona Dorado (Golden Zone) for shopping and lunch. We took a stroll on the beach and did have lunch at a small café called Anthony’s. Did some shopping at Senor Frog’s and walked another short distance to a little jewelry store recommended by the cruise director. I bought Quanna a silver and turquoise bracelet and my Mom got my niece a pair of earrings. Sandra took off on her own to buy some things for her kids and grandkids and we met up in time to catch a taxi back to the ship in time to leave port at 6pm. That evening after dinner, we hit the casino for a while and lost a few bucks before having drinks and going to bed.
Thursday morning, Sandra was not feeling well. I had pre-paid for a dolphin adventure, so I had to be down at the pier in Puerto Vallarta by 8am. I left and spent the day with dolphin trainers at a local SeaWorld-type place. I was there for 8 hours and got to learn what it takes to take care of dolphins and what goes into training them. It was a wonderful experience and I spent several hours playing with four baby dolphins between the ages of 3 and 6 months. These little guys were so cute! And they were teething! They loved getting petted and were very competitive for your attention. And they all kept trying to bite my hand from time to time. They didn’t hurt unless I tried to yank my hand away. But, mostly they just wanted me to rub their snout or their belly.
Then we got to see how the trainers prepare the meals for the dolphins. This was a trip to the fish room. What a smell! But, it was very educational to see how detailed each individual dolphin’s diet was planned down to the ounce! Then, we got an overview and a demonstration of how the trainers work with the dolphins and how all of their ‘tricks’ are extensions of natural behaviors. The most fun of the day, though, was swimming with the dolphins and getting play with and feed them. They gave me a DVD of the experience for the day and they treated me very well. Definitely the highlight of the trip for me! Even though it was an expensive excursion, I would do it again in a heartbeat!
I got back to the ship around 5pm to find Mom and Sandra still in the stateroom. They hadn’t left all day since Sandra was suffering from a sore throat and a fever. She decided not to do dinner that evening, so Mom and I went without her and we came back to the room after dinner and watched from the balcony as we left port. She was feeling much better by Friday and we spent the next two days at sea…seeing the Broadway revue show in the theater, losing some more money in the casino, trying the new drink of the day and watching the Mr. International Belly Flop competition at the pool followed by the Mr. Sexy Legs contest.
Sunday morning, we arrived back in San Pedro at 7am and managed to finally get through customs at 10:30. We jumped in the rental car and ran to our flight that afternoon and made it home late Sunday.
Soooo…let me tell you about my trip! First of all, we left on Friday the 14th around 7:45 in the a.m. We arrived at John Wayne airport about 9:20 and got our checked baggage within 10 minutes of getting off of the plane. I fell in love with that airport. Normally, I fly into LAX, but after this trip I will start going into John Wayne. There were no huge crowds and I walked straight up to the car rental counter and had my rental car within 15 minutes. Plus, Enterprise gave us a free upgrade to a mini-van which was excellent for getting my Mom and Aunt Sandra in and out of since it was higher off the ground.
We had checked into the Howard Johnson’s across from Disneyland in Anaheim by 10:30am and proceeded to drive over to Universal Studios for the day. I bought the VIP tickets and had front of the line access for all of the attractions. We did the tram tour first thing…which was a little boring for me since I’ve been there 5 or 6 times in the last 10 years. But, it was still fun because I knew what was coming up and it was a hoot to watch my Aunt Sandra scream when the shark from Jaws came up next to the tram.
We rode everything we could ride for the day and did some shopping and got out of there about 5:30pm. We headed back to the hotel, went to Mimi’s next door and had dinner, and I was asleep by 10pm. I was very tired that evening.
Next morning, we hit Disneyland about 10am and spent the day riding and sight-seeing. Mom ran out of steam by 2pm and had to head back to the hotel. Sandra and I stayed until about 7:30pm and hit all the rides we could. There weren’t many people at either Disneyland or California Adventure, so we only needed one FastPass for the day. That was for Soaring Over California. Even the relatively new Tower of Terror was only a 20 minute wait. I was surprised being there on a Saturday with so few people in the park, but it was also the first weekend after all of the rain in the L.A. area, so we may have timed it just right being there that week.
I do have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Tower of Terror ride in California Adventure. It had some awesome visuals and the scream factor is pretty high. Several of my favorite rides in Disneyland were closed…the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain among them. Space Mountain will be reopening during their 50th Anniversary celebration in May. I’ll be heading down again that month sometime.
Sunday morning, we slept in until 10 or so, and then had lunch with my friend Marina Campana. Marina moved down to southern California a year or so ago to break into the acting biz. She’s doing very well…already has earned her SAG card (Screen Actor’s Guild) and has an agent. She’s done some extra work on Will and Grace and some other shows. I think she will be a force to be reckoned with in the next few years. I wish her well and it was such a treat to spend time with her.
After lunch, we made the drive over to San Pedro Harbor to board our ship, the Vision of the Seas. It took us a couple of hours to get checked in and go through security, but we were finally exploring the ship around 4pm.
Let me first say that this was my 6th cruise, but it was my first since 1985. Royal Caribbean had excellent service and the Vision of the Seas has only been in commission since 1998. It was beautiful! The architecture was amazing and we were all in awe as we strolled through the entire ship checking things out. It had a beautiful theater at the front of the ship (I was having major theater envy at that point) and we had a wonderful stateroom with a private balcony. We spent nearly every morning on the balcony having coffee and listening to the waves.
Anyway, after we got our luggage and were in the process of unpacking, we had a visit from our cabin steward team, Theresita and Jose. What a pair! They were wonderfully sweet and took very good care of us while we were there. And every evening, they made new animals for us out of towels, washcloths, and bed pillows. I took pictures of each one and will be posting those and other pics from the trip once I have time to sit down and go through all of the 300 shots I took!
At dinner, we had the team of Kheng (our head waiter), Charles (our waiter) and Filrandy (our assistant waiter) who catered to our every whim. The food was incredible and I managed to get Mom and Sandra to take some chances and try new things on board. Everything that we ordered was cooked to perfection and was absolutely delicious! The desserts were orgasmic from tiramisu to baked Alaska. There was prime rib and lobster and chicken Marsala and so many other things to choose from, I can’t go into all of the detail. But if you ever get a chance to go on a cruise, I guarantee you that you will rave about the food more than anything else! The midnight buffets were served by waiters strolling on deck and we had our choice of formal meals in the Aquarius dining room or casual meals in the Windjammer Café. Overall, we had breakfast and lunch in the café and all our dinner meals in the dining room.
We spent all day Monday at sea and spent time in the casino, lounging in deck chairs on deck soaking in some sun, and then went to a Captain’s welcome aboard gala prior to dinner. On Tuesday morning, we boarded a tender boat and went ashore in Cabo San Lucas. The moment you step onto the dock, you are bombarded with locals trying to sell you t-shirts, jewelry, and a host of other things. We maneuvered through the endless parade of souvenir pushers and went for lunch at a little local café called Margaritaville. The waiter was a hoot. I was the typical tourist carrying my still camera and my video camera, so he knew right away it was my first trip to Mexico. I also looked at the menu and had an audible gasp when I saw the prices. I didn’t realize they were in pesos! When you see $180 for a meal, you do a double take. But, in US dollars, it was only $18. So, I got over that pretty quickly.
After lunch, we made our way to a shopping mecca and proceeded to spend several hundred dollars…mostly on trinkets and souvenirs for other people. I did buy a shirt and a pair of shorts for myself. We had to be back to the ship by 5:30pm and made it back with time to spare and prepared for dinner and then went to listen to a piano and strings concert in the Champagne lounge before going to our second seating dinner at 8:30.
The next morning we disembarked in Mazatlan. Not as many souvenir dealers here, but we did browse the little shops at the pier before catching a taxi to the Zona Dorado (Golden Zone) for shopping and lunch. We took a stroll on the beach and did have lunch at a small café called Anthony’s. Did some shopping at Senor Frog’s and walked another short distance to a little jewelry store recommended by the cruise director. I bought Quanna a silver and turquoise bracelet and my Mom got my niece a pair of earrings. Sandra took off on her own to buy some things for her kids and grandkids and we met up in time to catch a taxi back to the ship in time to leave port at 6pm. That evening after dinner, we hit the casino for a while and lost a few bucks before having drinks and going to bed.
Thursday morning, Sandra was not feeling well. I had pre-paid for a dolphin adventure, so I had to be down at the pier in Puerto Vallarta by 8am. I left and spent the day with dolphin trainers at a local SeaWorld-type place. I was there for 8 hours and got to learn what it takes to take care of dolphins and what goes into training them. It was a wonderful experience and I spent several hours playing with four baby dolphins between the ages of 3 and 6 months. These little guys were so cute! And they were teething! They loved getting petted and were very competitive for your attention. And they all kept trying to bite my hand from time to time. They didn’t hurt unless I tried to yank my hand away. But, mostly they just wanted me to rub their snout or their belly.
Then we got to see how the trainers prepare the meals for the dolphins. This was a trip to the fish room. What a smell! But, it was very educational to see how detailed each individual dolphin’s diet was planned down to the ounce! Then, we got an overview and a demonstration of how the trainers work with the dolphins and how all of their ‘tricks’ are extensions of natural behaviors. The most fun of the day, though, was swimming with the dolphins and getting play with and feed them. They gave me a DVD of the experience for the day and they treated me very well. Definitely the highlight of the trip for me! Even though it was an expensive excursion, I would do it again in a heartbeat!
I got back to the ship around 5pm to find Mom and Sandra still in the stateroom. They hadn’t left all day since Sandra was suffering from a sore throat and a fever. She decided not to do dinner that evening, so Mom and I went without her and we came back to the room after dinner and watched from the balcony as we left port. She was feeling much better by Friday and we spent the next two days at sea…seeing the Broadway revue show in the theater, losing some more money in the casino, trying the new drink of the day and watching the Mr. International Belly Flop competition at the pool followed by the Mr. Sexy Legs contest.
Sunday morning, we arrived back in San Pedro at 7am and managed to finally get through customs at 10:30. We jumped in the rental car and ran to our flight that afternoon and made it home late Sunday.
Work is winding down…Monday is my last official day and I have my exit interview at 9am with human resources. It still feels strange to be leaving, but I am really getting excited about the time off.
Hope all of you are doing well! I will get more on top of updating this blog now that Mom and Sandra flew home this morning.
Have a great day!
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Leaving tomorrow...
My Mexican Riviera cruise is this weekend. I'll be leaving in the morning at 6am for the airport and will be returning on the 23rd. I have a house sitter watching the homestead, but my dogs are staying with Quanna for the week. I dropped them off tonight and they cried when I left. I could hear them 0utside her door. It almost brought me to tears! I'm sure they'll be fine. Quanna is really good with them.
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So, needless to say that I will not be posting for a while because I refuse to take my lap top on this trip!
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Stay safe and be excellent to each other until I return!
Ray
Monday, January 10, 2005
Mexico Fast Approaching
My Mexican Riviera cruise is fast approaching! So much shopping and packing to do this week it's crazy!
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Work is so boring and unmotivating now...my last day is actually going to be January 31st. I'm happy that it will soon be over, but I am going to miss so many people there it's not even funny. I was walking through the office today looking at name plates of people who aren't there any more and it seems like the end of an era. I've had some good times at Sprint through the years and it seemed like so many of us were family. Now we're all going our separate ways after 18 years. Funny how life goes through major changes from time to time.
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I was thinking also how complacent I have become over the years as well. After high school, I moved to Atlanta in 1980 from North Carolina and it was so incredible touring as a professional musician at such a young age. Then going to the Grammy Awards when the band I was with was nominated in 1982. And then leaving the music business all together to get a 'real' job and then moving to Sacramento in 1988 to start a brand new life and career. It happened and life was exciting and new for many years after that. Then I started in theater in 1997, and I still love it. It's my passion in life these days.
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So, with the new changes in my life I'm hoping the excitement and passion will build again with the new challenges.
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I've posted some photos of Seussical rehearsals over at my Yahoo group. Go check them out!
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