November 19 – 6:15am flight on Delta to Atlanta. Atlanta to Barcelona on Air France. We made it to Barcelona at 8:40 am after a very long flight. Considering that we had virtually no sleep in over a day, I think we did remarkably well.
We met up with our friends Ken and Nancy in Atlanta and along with my brother Larry and his wife, Penny, we took the Aerobus to Plaza Cataluna where we went our separate ways. The Aerobus was 5 Euros/person and dropped us right around the corner from our hotel. Once we got to our hotel, we took off running. We spent the day touring Barcelona on the HOP ON/HOP OFF bus since Larry and Penny had never been to Spain.
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On October 4, 2009, we commenced back-to-back 5 day cruises aboard Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas. The first 5 days were just Jackie and Jim. The second 5 days, we were joined by our kids Jessica and Jeremy, their significant others, Justin and Olga, and Justin's parents, Pete and JoAnn. The itnerary for both cruises started in San Diego and stopped in Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas.
We started the morning by driving from Jessica and Justin's house in Costa Mesa to the Amtrak train station in Santa Ana. We caught the 9:20AM train for the two hour ride to San Diego. The ride was very smooth, quiet, relaxing and on time. The round trip cost $75 and included free parking. Had we driven to San Diego, it would have cost $40 in gas and $150 for parking. The only hitch was the temporary loss of Jackie's large suitcase. We had checked our two large suitcases in Santa Ana and when they were unloaded at the San Diego station, one was missing. We mentioned the missing luggage to the porter. He got really surly, but went back to train and found the bag. It is about a half mile from the train station to the ship. At first we were going to lug our baggage to the ship. Then, we were going to take a taxi. Finally, we ended up riding a bicycle/rickshaw to the ship for $10.
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When my younger sister Barbara invited me to join her in New York when she took her daughter back to Siena College near Albany, I jumped at the chance. It was even better when my twin Jeri decided to join us also.
With a route planned ahead of time, our goal was to visit 5 states and pick up geocaches in each of them as well as capture the sights that each had to offer.
I was the first to arrive in Albany, NY at 5:30 in the evening and didn’t have long to wait until Barbara and Traci showed up. Off to the hotel and check in before hitting the storage locker that contained Traci’s prized possessions. Unfortunately, it was pretty dark by then so a second trip was necessary the next day. Back to the airport at 11:30 pm to pick up Jeri and then back to the hotel to get some sleep.
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Jessica Marie Spriggs was married to Justin Christensen Kirk on June 13, 2009 in Tustin, California. Family and friends had a great time sharing this wonderful occasion. Please click on "Photos" in the column to the right to visit the gallery of the wedding and related events.
Our adventure began on Friday, April 23, 2009. We left Sacramento en route to Santiago, Chile via Dallas. After a two day stay in Santiago, we would transfer to Valparaiso and catch the Radiance of the Seas to begin our cruise up the Pacific coast of South America. This is always the worst part of a trip; the long agonizing flight. It was four hours to Dallas and then nine hours to Santiago. We arrived in Chile at 8:00AM and caught our transfer to the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Wow! A well deserved five star rated hotel. After greeting old friends who would join us on the 15 night cruise, we settled in our room and then took a walk around the area. We were all hungry and wanted to get a quick bite to eat before we took a scheduled city tour and dinner show that night. So, where do displaced Americans go for a quick bite to eat in a foreign country? McDonalds, of course. With lunch completed, we found a store to buy some wine and headed back to our hotel to clean up and have a glass or two before our evening tour.
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