BACK IN FLORIDA! OCTOBER 20-31, 2014

Our first destination in Florida was to the Elks Lodge in St. Augustine. 5 days to relax, warm up and enjoy bikes and beach time.

After 5 nights at the Elks we left Saturday morning and drove I-75 to Paradise RV Park in Fort Lauderdale where we would store the RV for a week and enjoy celebrating Paul's 65th birthday with a Caribbean Cruise.  Once we got everything set up we found a great place for a special Happy Birthday Happy Hour at Flip Flops right along the Inter Coastal Waterway; sitting in the sun watching the boats and water taxi passing by, it doesn't get much better than that.

 Sunday was World Series time with the Giants playing Kansas City.

 Before the game I decided to weed the little cactus garden at out campsite.

 After about 2 hours of pulling and tugging on the weeds that were strangling the plants I had it looking pretty good.  I don't know why working in a garden give me such happiness, but it does!

 We left the motorhome at the site for the rest of the week and had found home boarding for Foster in Lake Worth with wonderful woman, Alberta.

One more afternoon at Flip Flops on Sunday once the packing was all done and Foster was settled in with his new friends, Taz and Alberta. Though it's hard to leave him, he seems so happy to be spending time with new doggies and Taz was a cutie. 

 Monday one of the ladies at the park gave us a ride to the Cruise Terminal and we boarded Royal Carribbean's Vision of the Seas for a 5 day cruise.

 Sailing out of Fort Lauderdale is always beautiful!

 Our first port of call was Roatan, Honduras. We were met at the dock with a colorful local band and dancers.

We joined a small bus tour of the island which included a little boat ride to see ship wrecks along the coast. Most of the area was flooded from rains the day before.

 Cute little bungalows at a nearby resort.

 The sky was becoming darker and we hoped we'd get out boat ride before it came down....

 but just as we were half way out to the wreck the sky let loose!

 There was a small awning on the little boat but it didn't do much to keep us dry. I think we laughed the whole way back as the boat would turn and the water on the roof would fall on all of us.

 Then the rain was over for the rest of the day and we continue on to see other parts of the island.

 Several stops to see the views and enjoy local crafts, food and more dancing.

 The beautiful thatched roof open air rooms were lovely surrounded by palm trees.

 Back at the port we found these two and listened to their music while enjoying a refreshing local beer

 The next two days were at sea which we love the most. And, we were excited to see that the cruise ship was showing the World Series games on the big screen outside by the pool. It wasn't the best weather for watching a game outdoors, but we could duck under some shelter when it started to rain.  We were one of very few SF fans out watching but what a fun experience to see the Giants win the pennant.

Our cruise only had one more port and that was Cozumel.  We got off the ship but didn't go into town.  Just found some wifi at a nearby cafe and enjoyed the view.

 Friday, Oct. 31st was our last sea day and we joined the young female Captain, the crew and others walking the deck for "Walk For Wishes". A beautiful day before returning to Ft. Lauderdale Saturday morning.

 Halloween on board our last evening was lots of fun!

We were off the ship by 8:00 Saturday and back to the RV park.  After dropping our bags we drove  a little north to pick up Foster.  We had a big drive ahead of us going further south to The Elks Lodge near Key Largo. It had been a great birthday week on the cruise and Paradise RV Park was a perfect place for the time we were gone. Gotta remember that one.