Laughlin is situated along the banks of the Colorado River which divides the states of Arizona and Nevada. Bullhead City occupies the east banks (Arizona) and Laughlin the west. In 1964, Don Laughlin bought a boarded-up eight-room hotel room and opened the Riverside Resort, offering 98 cent all-you-can-eat chicken dinners, a few slot machines, and two gaming tables. Four of the rooms in the hotel were used by the Laughlin family leaving the remaining for visitors.

Originally, the area was known as Tri State. The story goes that it was a U.S. Postal Service inspector that required Don to give it a name in order to have th email delivered. According to the resorts welcome materials, Don Laughlin responded to this demand, “I followed his advice,” he said laughing. “He suggested ‘Laughlin’ because it was a good Irish name. His name was O’Neill.”

Pat and Lisa were on the 4th floor and I on the 23rd. Lisa took this picture from their balcony.

We spent the night talking and reminiscing about the old times teaching back in Colorado Springs. This lead to our call to Gary, another friend back in the Springs. We had a good talk with him and exchanged pictures using our cell phones (Gary had grown his hair out — a very surprising move as he is a retired Air Force pilot and one to always have given me grief about needing a hair cut.) We have now committed to tradition that whenever and where ever we meet, we will partake in the calling of Gary. Funny how traditions are made. And even though it seems frivolous, that call was and is meaningful as it also was time spent re-connecting and realizing the friends you make are important.

The taking of a knee has also become somewhat of a tradition. Not sure it it has to do with the refreshments, but it might. There is always a story behind the picture. What I will say here is this shot had to be done TWICE as Pat raised his beverage in the first one in such a way it completely blocked his face! He blames the mild palsy that likely runs in his genes.

The Riverside offers a lot of different entertainment including gaming, bingo, first run movies shown in six THX surround sound cinemas, a championship bowling center, karaoke, celebrity concerts, various restaurants, and water sports on the Colorado River. It is family friendly and I even saw numerous guests that had their dogs with them.

Here’s a picture of the resort from the air.

Of course, everyone always wants to know if we won any money. Yes. I won by losing! I was playing in a $2 Texas Hold’em game (that’s about my speed) and was just about even after a couple of hours. I looked at my cards and found pocket aces, Ad and Ah. Being the best starting hand you can have, I was feeling pretty good when a couple of players called my $4 pre-flop raise. Long story short, it came down to one of those players rivering a flush on me. I turned over the Red Aces to show I had had a good hand and the whole table responded in shock as I had just won $500 for having red aces cracked, as they call getting beat. What a surprise. As it turned out, I was just 30 minutes from that promotion ending for that day.

Laughlin is a decent get-away from Phoenix. It’s a short 4 to 5 hour drive or when available, Vision Air offers charters from Williams/Gateway airport in Mesa and can get you there in about 50 minutes. Pat and Lisa find it a great trip for them to get out of the cold winters of Minnesota. Our next trip to meet up on is an attempt to take a visit in the summer to the Land of 10,000 lakes. We’ll be sure to give Gary a call.

I have to thank my brother Scott and his wife Melanie for gifting us the tour. It was a very memorable way to see this national park.

We arrived at the Westwind Tour building at Deer Valley and met our pilot, Jeff Larson. He explained our itinerary. It was going to be about an hour and a half flight which included flying into and over the Grand Canyon. I was thinking this sure beat the five plus hour drive it would have been just to get to the South Rim!

We took off just before 8 A.M. Our group was just my daughter Beth, me, Jeff, and Sue, a visitor from Canada. Here is our arrival into the airport at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a great flight.

Part 2 will include some of the highlights from the flight.

After living in Colorado for over 38 years, I find myself often thinking about the friends, places, and scenery there. Waking up on the first morning on the Carnival Glory, look at what was on the morning news!

This was a kick. It was 47 in Colorado Springs. It was about 80 in the Caribbean that morning. All week we enjoyed the satellite feed of the Denver television stations.

Leaving the beach on St. Thomas I was waiting for a cab. I shared the ride back to the ship with a friendly couple. I asked them if they were on the ship and they said yes. I asked them if they were enjoying it and they kind of looked at each other. The young woman said that actually, they worked on the ship. I thought cool. I asked what they did and found that he (Scotty) ran sound and lights for the shows and was from New York City. She, (Adriane), was the lead entertainer/singer/dancer for the main show room, the Glory Dancers.

Talking further, Adriane asks if I had seen any shows, and I hadn’t! So she invites me to her Thursday evening show as it was the main one of the week. She must have sensed my hesitation as I am not a big show goer. So she says, “Phil, it will only be 45 minutes out of your life!” I had to laugh and of course, went. It was a great show with fantastic props and songs, sung by her and a lead guy, whose name I can’t remember!

Adriane is the one second from the left in this picture in the floor length dress, which was taken after the show Thursday night. She has been doing this for a number of years, and I hope to be able to share her story in the future. Both her and Scotty were some of the nicest people I met on the cruise.

Anyone who has cruised looks forward to the towel animals found in your room each evening. It’s a fun touch. I have to note that the cabin stewards we had were outstanding. Sentana knew both Beth’s and my name by the end of the first day and was there to take care of anything we needed. It was like having a butler, much like some cruise lines offer in their suites, for additional cost.

I had asked Scotty and Adriane where the best beach to visit on St. Maarten would be. (Pointer: Ask the crew for recommendations on things like this as they know the best spots to check out.) They said Bikini Beach, which is on the French side would be perfect, and it was. The whole group went there and it was beautiful. I overdid it in the sun that day and the peeling on my shoulders is only now stopping!

Here’s a shot of the area we hung out in that day. Two chairs and an umbrella was $18 bucks. I sat ON the beach that day or was in the water. That $18 went toward a few Presidente’s! a beer from Santa Dominica. They are only sold in the Caribbean, from what I understand. Julian introduced me to them.

For those of you who missed me, I did try to call as I was thinking about all of you, especially those back in cold Colorado. From the beautiful Bikini Beach. By the way, you didn’t find many bikini’s to the far left or right of where we were. Up the beach a ways was topless and down aways was — . Noooo, I can not confirm that, but other’s did. I’m just sayin’ I stayed where I belonged! (Look at the color of that water — it really is that stunning.)

I can’t say my kids don’t have a sense of humor. Beth took this picture. I couldn’t put the side view up — this kiddo had a gut that would put a summo to shame. I think maybe that Ginger beer might have just been taken from him and he was looking for it.

Lastly, we said our goodbye’s at the pier. My kids headed out for a long drive back to Louisville and I to the Orlando airport for a flight that would take me to Charleston and then on to Phoenix.

It was a fantastic trip.

Here’s a first hand report on the Rum Shack’s recommended drink, the Painkiller. I had just spent a few hours at the beach on St. Thomas and was heading back to the ship (which you can see in the background) when I found this cool little place. And now I know why I was calling it the Rum Shack! The bartender called it that!

You can’t take a cruise without coming back with some stories. Here’s a few I’ll choose to share. First, this cruise became a reality when in thinking about how to celebrate Beth’s graduation from college, there was a consensus that taking a cruise would be a great way to do that and at the same time involve the whole family. And so began the plans to do that in the fall of 2007.

As I’ve noted, Beth is just the second member of the family to accomplish this. Here we are at dinner the second night out. Celebrating our kids accomplishments is something all parents can take joy in. It was just a moment ago that we stood together at her high school graduation and took a picture that I posted with a caption: HS grad — Soon to be college grad. Life moves, quickly. Here is that picture:

Al, my brother’s Father-in-Law, had the idea that we should have made a t-shirt that noted that we were all traveling with the graduate. That could have been funny.

I have three younger brothers, Steve and Barry were able to make it while Scott could not, unfortunately. We all spent a day at Bikini Beach on St. Maarten and our faces show it here!

As a matter of fact, my shoulders got such a burn that they are still peeling! Now both of these guys are pretty funny. The night they did karaoke is a good story and I may be able to post the video of it in a later post. Steve sang Neil Diamond’s Hello My Friend, and found after each refrain of singing “Hello” to hear a crowd heckler belt out “HELLLOOH!” At first he thought it was some guy that had had one too many Caribbean rum and Cokes. As it turned out, he realized half way through it was Greg, my son! Not a drunk heckler.

But it was Barry that had the biggest faux pas. They were on a shore tour and he observed a teenager giving a terrible attitude to what appeared to be her grand parents. She was rude. So Barry, embarrassed for them, goes over and tries to say something encouraging like she will grow out of it and how some day she will really appreciate the cruise her grandparents had taken her on. With a somewhat disgusted look, the man looked at him and, yes, you know it, says, “THAT is my DAUGHTER.”

So Barry quickly comes back with a line he remembers from Saturday Night Live and says, “Yeah, that’s what I’m SAYIN’! I wish I could have had parents or grand parents that would have taken me on a cruise. I would have appreciated it!” The guy just kind of looked at him as he walked away. For the rest of the cruise, when anyone would say something a bit off or in disagreement, we would respond with, “Yeah, THAT’s what I’m sayin’!”

Click here to read about the Rum House …..

The Sweetwater Rum House on St. Thomas was a little outside place that I found and had a great time at as I spent about an hour or so before having to re-board the ship. I realized as I sat down, everyone there was a local and knew each other.

I asked what they would recommend and their response was that since I was in the Caribbean, I had to try the rum. The bartender made me a Caribbean favorite called the Painkiller with St. Croix rum. It was a tasty combo of rum and pineapple juice topped with a little nutmeg.

I think Megan was the bartender’s name. It was a cool group of people and I decided to buy a round for the locals. My total tab came to just $33. I tipped the bartender and headed back to the ship, after having two more. I will say I did not feel any pain, so I will agree that the drink is appropriately named —- and I incorrectly told everyone about the Rum SHACK for the next couple of days, until I looked at the picture I had taken and realized it was the Rum HOUSE. Maybe that drink should be re-named the mind scrambler!

To Be continued.

Sunrise and sunsets from sea are indescribable, much like those here in Arizona. For me, they are as important on a cruise as the destinations, and I made every effort to see them. Who can watch one without thinking they themselves are proof of an awesome Creator.

Here is the sunset from the first evening. We had just gone to the dining room when I looked out and saw it starting. I ran up to the Lido deck and caught it.

Next, this was a couple hours prior to sunset from St. Thomas. I think I missed the actual setting because of the fact it was starting to happen at a different time than previous nights and the couple hours I had had at the Rum Shack!

A crazy thing happened and it took me a couple days to realize that as we cruised, we were actually heading further East, so each evening the sunset actually happened earlier. I couldn’t just plan each night at dinner to see it. Our position was changing the time it set each night. Here is night three.

Click here to see more…

A vertical of the same night three.

Approaching St. Maarten, about 6:15 A.M. A beautiful SUNRISE!

As we came closer to St. Maarten, there was a short but steady shower. This rainbow was the result.

And her is sunrise of the morning arriving back into Pt. Canaveral, Florida. The beginning of a new day but the end of our Caribbean cruise vacation.

The sunsets and sunrises were great. As I think back on them, we should have made at least one of them a family thing to do!

NOTE: All pictures on this vacation were taken with my new Canon Powershot SD1000. I wanted a camera that would comfortably fit in my pocket. After reading the reviews, I chose the Powershot and LOVED it.

The Carnival Glory is part of the largest class of ship in the Carnival fleet. It is 110,000 gross tons. That’s pretty big! The Glory’s statistics are as follows: Length 952 feet (almost a quarter of a mile), beam 116 feet(this is the width at its widest). Passenger capacity is 3,700 with an average of 2,974 per cruise. Not sure the total on our cruise but I do believe it was sold out. The Glory was commissioned in 2003. We picked this particular cruise for its combination of price, itinerary (it had stops in both St. Thomas and St. Maarten) and the wide choice of on-board activities.

I was up at or close to sunrise EVERY morning and would head to the Lido deck, grab some coffee and take a walk around the ship, outside. These pictures were taken at that time.

Here’s a reflective shot with one of the yellow Carnival drink glasses I found set on an upper deck rail. Each day there was a drink of the day offered in these cups/glasses which you kept. They would range in price from 6 to 8 dollars with the glass becoming a souvenir. I got mine for free and no headache!

Here is the Glory at the pier in Nassau, Bahamas, as we head out on a water taxi to see the Atlantis Hotel Resort.

Laura, my brother’s Mother-in-law, kept this quiet spot on the ship to herself for a few days! This is Deck 3, just off of the lobby and was a wonderful spot to read and enjoy a peaceful break from the ship’s activities.

In St.Thomas, I was returning from the beach and a place called the Rum Shack (story to follow soon) and noticed just how the ship dwarfs nearby shops at the pier.

Click here to see more pictures.

I think there are some four different pool areas on the ship. This one is located aft (back of ship) on the Lido deck. If the weather were to turn bad, they can cover this with a movable top, located just to the left in this picture. I took a Flip video of them opening it up one morning. A high tech motor operates the cover and opens or closes it in just a couple of minutes.

The middle area of the ship, with the longest water slide in cruising. This area is pretty packed by mid-morning, but empty at 7 A.M.

Another shot from Deck 3. The water was stunning that day.

Here is what a Category 8 cabin looks like. It’s 220 square feet with the balcony adding an additional 35+ sf. The fantail balcony we had was almost twice that size, another advantage to that location.

The back of the ship at St. Maarten. Our cabin was located directly above the Carnival “N”.

I was really pleased with the ship. We found that the crew was very attentive and service oriented. As a matter of fact, the dining room staff was on an 8 week straight streak having the highest rating in all the Carnival fleet for passenger satisfaction. Another thing this picture reminds me of is the unbelievable accuracy that the crew has in maneuvering this huge vessel. They literally stopped it on a dime, turned it around and backed it right in to this peer! A perfect park job, the first time.