Vintage Romantic Author
Welcome to our coastal cruise! My husband Carl and I hadn’t cruised since before Covid. Things have changed, a few for the better. Many for the worse. For the good or bad, here we go! We chose to take the flyaway from Van Nuys to LAX. Because we had an international flight to Vancouver, we …
Let’s start with something good on the cruise ship—the showers. They now have a hand-held shower that is perfectly positioned. The hot water comes on quick. We’re learning what’s good to eat in the buffet and what is not. We shared our breakfast table with some lovely Canadian people who are staying in Los Angeles …
This was supposed to be a relaxing sea day. Well, we had to forget that. First order of business was showing up at 7 a.m. to stand in a line and get tickets for our face-to-face immigration interview. That information is listed in the GOOD TO KNOW section. Our original plan was to sleep in, …
I woke up as we were about to go under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was still foggy, but we could see! This is the only building remaining from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, The Palace of Fine Arts. We were scheduled for an architectural tour of San Francisco on a previous coastal cruise, but …
Today’s feature event was a shore excursion to Muir Woods and then back to Sausalito. Our guide, usually a tour bus driver, knew a lot of history. He could answer questions although he was a little snarky. Maybe that comes from having to be quiet when he drives. Muir Woods smelled so good, the way …
This was yet another early morning. Tender tickets were available at 7 a.m. No matter how management framed their ridiculous tickets from today and San Francisco, I was not impressed. We ate a late breakfast while watching the shoreline as the ship approached shallow Avalon Harbor, thus the need for tenders. Once they started calling …
Since our plane didn’t leave until later in the day, Ken and Carol drove us around a beautiful neighborhood before we stopped at—ta-da-da-da—a quilt shop. It was fabulous. Marietta’s was so close and had the best reviews of any quilt shops around—and there were a lot in the Greenville area. Marietta’s had a decent amount …
First stop in our action-packed day: Campbell’s Covered Bridge. This is the last remaining covered bridge in South Carolina. Really beautiful spot. Look at all that granite. The bridge has been closed for maintenance and painting. It looks like new. But not underneath. There’s water and green everywhere you look! Here’s a shot of Beaverdam …
We headed off to Abbeville, a tiny town off the beaten path. With Wendy and two of her children, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch at Indigenous Underground, a new hotspot recommended by local resident Brady who joined us for the day. I ordered southern eggs Benedict: biscuits and pepper gravy with pork and eggs. Oh …
Just when I thought we couldn’t do anything more challenging, we headed off to Caesar’s Head State Park. First, we did an easy loop. I’m not a car person, but this beauty was parked near the trail head. We were on a granite ledge in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The incredible view is North Carolina. …