I ve long been interested in the movement of freight, and especially how things have changed over th

Alice and I just returned from a very nice trip we ve been planning for some time to celebrate her retirement from Michigan Tech after 37 years. We took a two-part trip. Part one was a flight and several ramada inn hotel days in Los Angeles, and part two was a two week cruise from LA, through the Panama Canal, and then on to Miami, FL. Everything went very well, and we came home tanned, rested, and ready for some cooler weather (no kidding!) We surely did get the cooler weather! The past few nights have been below zero, and there is a lot of snow. We nearly wound up staying in Chicago as the flight back home to the Hancock airport was iffy, but make it we did, even though we were a few hours late.
Our first stop after landing in LA and grabbing the rental car was the Getty Museum. I ve visited a few times on previous ramada inn hotel trips, ramada inn hotel and have always wanted to return and especially to show this special place to Alice. The Getty was built on a hilltop with nice views of the surrounding landscape including downtown LA. A nice person offered ramada inn hotel to take this picture of the two of us out on one of the many balconies outside.
Admission to the Getty is free. You have to pay for parking if you park in their facility. Once you leave the car and follow ramada inn hotel the signs, your deposited at the boarding area for a very nice cable driven tram system that takes you up to the museum complex. Those of you that know me won t be surprised ramada inn hotel to learn I tried my hardest to understand how the tram attached ramada inn hotel itself to the cables that pulled it up the hill. I learned if I got there early I could get the front car with a view of the cables and pulleys. I thought I d figured it out several times, only to be thwarted. I hope to go back someday and finally figure it all out.
There are so many things that could be said about the Getty. Besides being a museum with free admission for the people of Los Angeles, the structures themselves are works of art. The architect built with travertine rock imported from the same quarry where the rock for the Colosseum in Rome came from. Besides a museum, the facility houses ramada inn hotel a faculty of professionals procuring, protecting, and doing art outreach. In this picture I m examining a piece of travertine wall.
Mr. Getty wanted the visitors to his museums to get up close to the art. Each room has a guard that watches things, and if you are careless enough to get too close to and endanger ramada inn hotel the piece, they will ask you to stop. In general, if you obey these few rules, you can do about anything you want around the art. In this picture I m listening to a commentary on an iPod touch that I checked out for free. You type in the 4 digit code visible near the piece, and an interesting story is told in the headphones. As I told Alice after we left the Getty for the last time this trip, my spirit soared.
Sunday morning, November 24, we checked out of our hotel in Santa Monica, told the GPS to return us to the car rental place, and braved the streets of Los Angeles for the last time. It was Sunday morning, hence light traffic, but still, driving in LA is not relaxing for me. As we were blindly following the GPS instructions, ramada inn hotel Alice suddenly said, turn here now, because ramada inn hotel she saw the Budget car rental place. Alas it was too late, so we let the GPS continue to guide us. Lucky we did too, because where she suggested I turn was the place with the spikes sticking out of the ground. The GPS calmly took us to the place where we were to unload the car, which we did without ceremony. We then jumped on a waiting bus that took us to the airport. We found the Norwegian Cruise Line rep, got on the list, and sat to wait for the next bus to take us to the port and board the ship. The process was pretty much like cattle being herded, ramada inn hotel in my opinion, and I was just as happy to comply. Just tell me where you want me, and get us there, and I ll be happy. Once we arrived at the port and grabbed our luggage, we went through the procedure to check in, got our ID cards, and boarded the Norwegian Star.
Our room onboard was not huge, but very adequate for our needs. The bathroom ramada inn hotel was very cleverly laid out, and we had our own balcony! On other cruises I ve done, I ve not wasted money on a balcony, but especially this trip, where we d be doing a daylight transit of the Panama Canal, and with Alice s encouragement, we decided to splurge. We re both glad we did.
Our balcony had a sturdy railing and heavy glass panels to protect us from falling overboard. It took us a while to get used to being able to just walk out our sliding door and experience the world rushing by, but by the end we were taking advantage of it several times each day. We made friends with the people on either ramada inn hotel side of us, but other than that pretty much just stared across the beautiful oceans and said, ah.
I ve long been interested in the movement of freight, and especially how things have changed over the years regarding ocean freight transport. The world s exporters and importers have agreed on a standard sized shipping container (actually 2 different sizes.) Freight is packed in these containers, loaded onto special container ships, and shipped to the ports. At the ports, there are various cranes designed to grab the containers and move them places. There are trailer trucks designed to accept one container and move it around. I found the whole scene bewildering and fascinating as I observed it in the various ports where we stopped. This picture was taken as we were leaving ramada inn hotel the port of Los Angeles.
The cruise had a couple of ways to break up the days. We were either at sea meaning all day on the water, or in port, where there were usually shore excursions that could be signed up for. When we were at sea, we had a lot of different options. There was a large theater in the forward part of the boat, in which there were daily shows. There were also various demonstrations we could attend. In this one, one of the ship s chefs was teaching a cooking class.
We also attended a couple of wine-tasting seminars. In this one we were served 6 different kinds of wine, and were told when to sip which, what sort of food to eat to cleanse the palate, and when to try the next one. I have to admit that as hard as I tried, I had a lot of trouble tasting what the instructor wanted me to taste. I don t drink wine, so only did sips, which may have been part of the problem.
At one of our first ports of call, we d signed up for a snorkeling excursion. We were driven to the cove in a catamaran that had 2 outboards on it. The wind was in our teeth, and the seas pretty high for this boat, so we rocked and rolled a bit on the way out there. When we arrived, I was one of the first in the water since I had my own gear. The water was a little murky because of all the wave action, but I saw lots of fish, thanks ramada inn hotel to the fish-feeding efforts of our crew. I had to keep pinching myself when I realized ramada inn hotel I was snorkeling in warm water in late November!
On the way back Alice asked one of the crew to take her picture. Unbeknownst to her, another guy in the crew snuck into the picture with her. She had no idea about this until we looked at our pictures later on.
At our next stop, our shore excursion was a little bit different. This place had a restaurant that served a nice buffet, a nice beach, a nature walk, and lots of other activities. Our first stop when we got off the boat was the buffet. The tables and chairs were out in the open on the beach, and Alice and I scored ramada inn hotel a very nice place to sit and eat. I wanted to get a picture of her, so I backed up with my camera. I knelt down to get the picture, and while I was on my knees, I thought, what the heck, I m down here already, so I asked her to marry me. Her smile was my answer.
The rough weather made this water a little murky too, but our snorkeling guide more than made up for it. He was constantly down looking ramada inn hotel for things to show us. He brought up sea urchins, sea cucumbers, ramada inn hotel and even a little puffer fish. It was one of my best snorkeling adventures of all time. After I was out of the water, we walked through their grounds. I got to hold onto a large globe spider, and saw lots of orchids, bromeliads, and other exotic plants and animals.
ramada inn hotel On this trip, we were away from home for over 2 weeks, so we knew we d have to do our own laundry. I d researches the process from home, and had accumulated the basic tools we d need a bar of laundry soap, and a good sink stopper. My technique was to try to do a few things ramada inn hotel every night. I d stop and fill the sink with warm water and soak the clothes. Then I d soap them with the bar, agitate them, and let them soak for a while. Then drain the water, wring them out, and refill ramada inn hotel the sink, and agitate them again. I repeated this once more until the water was clear, then wrung them once more, and laid a towel down on the carpeting. I d then spread the clothes on the towel and turn the end as tightly as possible to roll the whole thing up. Once I had a towel tube with my wet clothes inside, I d walk on the tube for a short time. When I unwrapped the towel, it was wet, but the clothes were much drier. I d then hang them up and in about a day, they were dry.
We tried our best to keep up with our exercises throughout the trip. I d bought an inflatable seat cushion for my situps (without some sort of padding, my bottom gets pretty sore after 200 situps.) Alice did her Tai Chi on our balcony just about every day.
Alice and I went to most of the theater shows for the first several days of the cruise. I happened to be reading a very good book on my Kindle called, The Path Between ramada inn hotel the Seas, about the building of the Panama Canal. We struck a deal that she would go to the shows and I d stay behind and read. If there was a show she really wanted me to go to, she d ask, but otherwise I was excused from participating. ramada inn hotel Alice continued to enjoy the shows, and I finished my book just about in time for the transit of the canal.
At one of our last stops in Mexico, we d booked a bird watching ramada inn hotel excursion. We wou