Weekend Red-Eye and Oasis of the Seas

I am off again… and when I say off… I only mean in the “off on another trip” way.  Again I am  being sent by my company but this time it is for “play” and not for work.   My company is sending me on a 7 night (find it funny that they sell by the “night”) Caribbean cruise on the Oasis of the Seas.   Which is the second biggest cruise ship in the world. (I often tell my wife that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better). The largest, Allure of the Seas, is 2 inches longer (5 centimeters). This is somewhat debated because size can change depending upon ambient temperature.  (Another thing I have had to frequently explain to my wife.. like with George Costanza and the Seinfeld “shrinkage” episode)

This is only our second trip without the kids and you can see that within the first hour we are already getting a call from them…

This work sponsored trip is going to be wonderful… not only because I wont be “working” but I am also able to take Isabelle along.   Unfortunately we are not taking the kids…for them that is… not for us.  They are upset of course, especially since I am leaving again and taking mom.   I was able to make it ok with my littlest (Ben) by promising a hat and a t-shirt.  (he is so gullible)  The other two were not so easily appeased but the “spending time” with Grandma (thanks mom) and a promised “overnighter” with their older sister and cousin helped a little.

Isabelle and I left on a red eye (11:55 am) and arrived in Orlando, Florida around 6:00 a.m.  We were put in a bus and drove to an IHOP in Cocoa Beach. (there are about 50 employees with all of their spouses… and some kids… shhhh… good thing my kids find my blog “boring” and dont read it!)   Isabelle and I had already stayed in Cocoa Beach and we had four hours to spare so we skipped the now incredibly crowded IHOP and went directly to the beach. (Isabelle has never eaten at an IHOP – International House of Pancakes… but I told her she was not missing out on anything… plus I think the whole “international” title is a bit deceptive.)

There is something oddly compelling about birds on a beach… or I am just weird.

 

Heron waiting for some treats… or for the fisherman to turn his head and an opportunity to steal bait

I felt incredibly clever having ditched our work crowd and taken the scenic option… that is until we were caught in a down pour.   I ran to a pier (under the pier) and waited there for Isabelle to catch up.  I told her that I didn’t leave her but went ahead to scout the pier for any danger.  We were drenched and our clothes were on the way to the cruise ship.   We had to air dry and fortunately the sun came out almost as quickly as the storm had started.

Isabelle in the rain and my foot prints leading the way to shelter. As you may have noted,  I think of her before myself

Even from under the pier, the ocean and view are amazing

After the rain ended we noticed that the beach became incredibly crowded.  I thought this to be unusual for a winter day.  Almost everyone was looking north and in my usual way of searching for meaning… I decided that this was a supernatural event.   If you have seen the movie “City of Angels” there is a scene where all of the angels gather on the beach to view the sun rise.  I quickly surmised that I am in the middle of some mystical life changing event… unfortunately this idea didn’t last long since  I couldn’t hear any “celestial music” and well some of the others were not really angelic.  (Of course Isabelle is angelic… and I become angelic just because I am with her)… how disappointing.

I then learned that this was a rocket launch and my disappointment became anticipation again.    I starting thinking how cool it would be to share pictures of a rocket launch on my blog.  (I think I am becoming a bit blog obsessed).   The rocket launched… and well I caught glimpses of it as it passed in the spaces between clouds.  I took picture after picture and now in review I have lots of nice cloud pictures…none of them show the rocket and I didn’t get the sonic boom recorded either. (jesh I am such an amateur)

We soon left and headed towards Port Canaveral and our ship.  I started looking for my type of tourist pictures… and well… it is hard when you are in a bus.  (that is the excuse I am going to use… ) Here is one and it is weird if you haven’t seen  pink elephants with blue glasses before.  I offer an almost sincere apology for those of you who are use to seeing pink elephants and find this picture not weird or uncommon.   (you are also the same people that buy the unlimited drink packages on the cruise)

When we arrived at the ship I realized that I would be travelling in an apartment building.   The ship is huge.   I am going to share a couple of pictures of my favorite part of this ship. In the next post I will share more pictures of the ship.  Monday is a “sea” day.. so we will not be stopping at any ports. There will be lots of time to exploring the ship and work on the blog.   (It is also cool when the occasional co-worker walks by  and sees me on the computer.  I have heard twice…  you are always working… and as far as they know I am.)

My favorite part of this ship is the garden area in the middle.  It is nice to have a place where you can pretend you are not in the middle of the ocean and about to hopelessly drown.

Picture mid point of the garden.   I love the park like feel.

 

Looking down from the top deck of the ship.

Thanks you for taking the time to read this.  As mentioned earlier in the next post I will share our departure along with pictures of the ship.  I am also desperately searching weird pictures… more precisely weird pictures that are not of people. (lots of weird people here… just don’t want to hurt any feelings)