by Jim Bellomo | Aug 20, 2021 | Photography
We just got home from our Oregon Beach Trip with the grandkids and had an awesome time. If you have grandkids like ours you totally get why we want to be around them on a regular basis. For us that means we grab a rental every summer (at least for the last couple of years) and spend a week with them. We play games, take outings and just have fun. Those VRBO commercials I am always seeing are totally on point when they show you making memories that will last a lifetime.
We got down there on Monday after about a three and a half hour drive from our place in Redmond. We stopped on the way at the kid’s house in Olympia (90 minute drive to get there) where we exchanged two bags of food and a cooler with my daughter and son-in-law for two awesome kids who rode with us another two hours to Sunset Beach, Oregon. We were totally thrilled when we arrived that the rental that was EXACTLY like the pictures we had seen online. A huge house with lots of light, a big back yard (that has deer walking through constantly—usually twice a day) and a super kitchen/dining/living area for cooking, playing games or watching Return of the Jedi with my grandson. That night we did dinner at a place I had found on line called Ruby’s Roadside Grille in Seaside. The website overstated what the place looked like (a converted gas station) but understated the food, which was awesome.
On our first full day, Grandpa (that’s me) made his world famous pancakes. Then we we went south to the community of Seaside, Oregon where we visited their aquarium (skip it—it’s sad), walked on the promenade (OK) and went to Captain Kidd’s amusement park (race the go-carts and skip the rest) and tried our hand at swan paddle boats on the river. Won’t do that again. Way too much work. Finished completely covered in sweat and with a massive back ache.
After we got off the swans, we headed back to the house for lunch. After lunch and at least three games played at the table before we got up, the kids headed down to the beach where they actually went swimming (the water here is very cold). They also did some geocaching (and there is a lot more to that subject below but first let me finish with the next two days). Of course after our dinner of Grandpa’s pizza and salad there had to be more games around the table—this family loves games.
Wednesday we went north to Astoria. First we stopped at Fort Clatsop where the Lewis and Clark expedition had ended. We were just in time to see a demonstration of old rifles. We even got to hold our ears while an old muzzle loader was fired. This was a biggie as Mason had done a big study of Lewis and Clarke and the Oregon Trail during the school year. Then we visited and climbed the Astoria Column. It’s a big giant column at the top of a hill in Astoria and there are 164 steps on a spiral staircase to the top. It’s a very cool tower (as you can see) but it was a long climb to the top. Some super views though and worth the climb. Not only that, it’s free except for $5 for parking which is good for an entire year.
After that it was back to the house where we had started playing badminton the night before and the kids were just getting good at it. We had bought a portable set from Sharper Image and this was the first time we have used it. We had a lot of fun playing in the backyard. In the later afternoon while Jenna and Joel went running, Mason and I watched Return of the Jedi. He and I have been bonding over the original Star Wars films since last summer. I shared the first one with him on our summer trip and the second when we saw them for his birthday in February. We finished just before our dinner that was some yummy carnitas and then after dinner was…MORE GAMES Playing games was so much better this year because now that Maylee is almost 8 (only two weeks) she can keep up with and sometimes beat all of us.
That was also the night we did our annual family photo shoot. Every year Jenna asks me to take pics of the their family. She actually thinks her old dad is a pretty decent photographer. So they get all dressed up and we head to the beach. We got some great shots. This one is my favorite. Aren’t they the best darned looking family you have ever seen? I know, I am prejudiced.
Day three (that’s yesterday) we didn’t really have anything planned so after breakfast we of course stayed at the table to play at least one game or two. Then it was off to do some geocaching. Kathleen stayed at the house because it was going to be mostly hiking through high grass and beach sand. We headed out to follow the GPS geocaching app which took us to Shipwreck Beach, so named because of the remains of a 1906 shipwreck that is still on the beach.
After we checked out the shipwreck we headed into the tall beach grass at the top of the dunes to search out the first of two geocache capsules. We walked about half a mile, not on any trail at all, through grass up to our waists. Finally the kids found the first one under a tree. When you find one, it’s usually in some kind of tube or watertight container. You open it and inside there’s a piece of paper with the people who have found it before. You add your name to the paper and then you put it back. We did that twice (there was another about .2 miles away). Still in deep brush and very high grass.
After we found the second one we decided to head back to the beach because we didn’t want to go all the way back the way we had come, fighting our way through the brush. Too much hassle getting through. So we turned right and headed to the beach so we could walk back on the sand. The only problem was when we got down to the end of the beach grass on the dunes, there was about a five foot drop off from the beach grass down to the beach and the beach was covered with driftwood below this drop off. I thought maybe I could kind of lower myself very carefully down to the ground but one minute I was getting ready to do that and the next thing I knew, the bank I was standing on collapsed and I fell about five feet, landed on my right side with my camera under me. Needless to say, I am banged up. Huge bruise and bump on my right arm and a badly bruised left leg that I was standing on and hit first when I fell. And my camera is damaged. Enough that it will take some serious repair. I think that hurts the most. I have been icing and stretching since I got back to the house and now at home but it is still pretty painful. I wasn’t really not looking forward to the three and a half hour drive home today but it turned out OK.
But should say that as banged up as I was, I was well enough to pile in the car and head north to Dairy Queen with the whole gang for my first ever blizzard. I had the frosted animal cookie flavor that when Mason tasted it, he said it tasted like cardboard.
So to finish the day we had a super dinner (Jenna and Joel did burgers) last night, I played video games with the kids and we all played another couple of board games after dinner. Then it was ice up again and watch some TV until bedtime. Was feeling kind of low. I know I will live. I know my camera will be OK but right now, I wish that bank had not given away.
But let’s sum this all up by saying that it was still the best week of the year so far…and we have been to the Galapagos this year. That’s how much we love traveling with this family.
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. —Lin Yutang
by Jim Bellomo | Aug 13, 2021 | Uncategorized
Just thought I would give the regulars a heads up that we will be traveling next week which means I will be posting a little more often. It’s our annual (2nd year in a row ?) trip to the Washington/Oregon Coast with our grandkids?? …and their parents. We started doing this last year so we could have them all to ourselves for a few days. Last year we did a three night stay in Ocean Shores, Washington. This year we are venturing further south to Sunset Beach, Oregon.
We have a rental that sits right between the beach and a small lake. (Click here to see where we are staying.) The rental looks really nice and for the first time we are getting it through VRBO and not AirBnB. I just could not find anything I liked on AirBnB. We usually book with them and have one set up for Palm Springs in late October. If you aren’t a regular vacation rental person, we love them. We have used AirBnB 18 times (I just counted and I was pretty surprised it was that many). We have done them all over the USA as well as one outstanding one in Edinburgh and a nice big one for three families in downtown Dublin, Ireland. If you haven’t used them, both services are pretty good. We have had only one place we didn’t like and many we loved. And the place we didn’t like just needed a good sweeping.
We have found that when we travel with the kids it is more challenging to find a place to rent because we need more. When we are by ourselves we can get anything with a bed and a bath. For me a real must is a living room so when I wake up REALLY early I can go in there and not disturb Kathleen. I also like a living room when we are traveling with friends. One of my favorite parts of getting a rental when there is more than just us is that it gives you a great place to socialize with everyone you are traveling with. Hotel lobbies are not conducive to family/friend fun. That’s another reason we cruise. Everyone has a bedroom and the entire ship is your living room.
When we book with the kids it HAS to have three bedrooms and two baths. We love them dearly but we aren’t sharing a bathroom ?. Also, for the trips with the kids, a kitchen I can cook in is a must. Grandpa loves to make pancakes for his grandkids. And we eat most of our meals at the rental. The one we have this year has a nice kitchen (according to the pictures and reviews) and unlike the one we had last year, this one has a gas BBQ as well. We also found out that there is a bakery less than 400 feet from the front of the driveway. This sounds very dangerous to us as the bakery is very well reviewed and pictures of their baked goods look awesome.
Other than pancakes, it’s everyone for themselves at breakfast, lunch wherever we are in the day. We take turns making dinner. I usually take two of them, my daughter and son-in-law take one or two. This year I have already pre-made and frozen Grandpa’s famous pizza and Grandpa’s newly famous carnitas so we can make tacos and nachos. Those will come along with us, and the kids are doing hamburgers and hot dogs since we have a grille this year.
Of course photos will be forthcoming. Especially wildlife and early morning stuff. Probably some beach stuff as well. I usually don’t post pictures of the grandkids without my daughter’s permission so you may not see any of those. Last year (because they knew they would be with Grandpa and he would have his camera) we did family portraits that came out really great (at least I think so), My guess is we are doing those again.
There’s lots to do in that area as Sunset Beach is right between the Oregon Coastal communities of Astoria and Seaside. Astoria has a famous column and Seaside in the other direction has the Seaside aquarium. Plus, last year in 4th grade, our grandson Mason studied the Oregon Trail. The class all became pioneers (he was the famous Nate Arnold?) and in a three month unit, they moved from Springfield, MO to Oregon, just like Lewis and Clark. That trip ended at Fort Clatsop which is also in Astoria so we have to stop there. These kind of things will take up our days. Last year we really couldn’t do any of that stuff due to COVID.
All this stuff sound like a bunch of fun but the most fun we will have being together and playing all the great games we bring along. If you like games or you have grandkids and want to play games, you have to see the line of games from Exploding Kittens. Between us and the kids, we own all their games. They are hilarious to play and are really fast and creative. Everyone from the two of us (68 years old) to our granddaughter who is almost eight, loves playing them. Check them out if you want to have some fun. You can get all but one of them through Amazon. Sadly we ordered the newest one that you can’t get through Amazon directly from Exploding Kittens and it is still stuck in Indiana.
So follow along as we travel south to the beautiful Oregon Coast (for those of you who don’t live in the Northwest, I have always thought it was funny that in California you go to the beach, in the Northeast, it’s the shore but here, it’s the coast) next week.
The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy. —Sam Levenson
by Jim Bellomo | Jul 23, 2021 | Uncategorized
When we were on Celebrity’s Flora two weeks ago we spent a bunch of very pleasant dinners with two new friends, Katherine and Jamie (that’s them on the right). Jamie and I (even though they are both young enough to be our children) had a lot in common. He loves beer, Formula 1 racing and octopus. All three of those interests make him a great person to have a conversation with…in my book.
Then it turned out that I had two things in common with Katherine. First, she is as big a fan of the what we (Katherine and I) consider to be the greatest television show ever made—Ted Lasso (back tonight for season 2 on Apple TV+! We can’t wait! If you haven’t seen it, go watch the first season now) and she also (like me) can’t stand to finish a vacation without having another one planned.
It just about kills either of us to have nothing coming up and booked. Thankfully for Kathleen and I, we have so much booked I don’t have that problem (but there have been times I did) with our annual beach trip with the grandkids next month, my 50th high school reunion in Palm Springs in October, our Portugal/Amsterdam/Christmas Markets cruise in December, our Pacific Coastal cruise in May 22 and our Mediterranean cruise in the fall of 22.. But Katherine had that problem—nothing booked. I told her to get going. I gave her some suggestions but sadly, I can’t be her travel agent because she works for Royal Caribbean and gets some really nice employee discounts. I am pretty sure that’s how they wound up on Flora.
But if YOU don’t have any travel plans and it’s killing you too (blatant and shameless plug coming ?), drop me a note. I have plenty of ideas of where you might be able to go and I can even help you to get there.
When you can look forward to something outside of now, then you have an open door. —Esther Peril on Armchair Expert
by Jim Bellomo | Jul 20, 2021 | Uncategorized
I know I promised that yesterday was the last post on Galapagos but I forgot to give you a link to download the PDFs I have from X.
You can click here??????? to download some Celebrity PDFs that I saved. The big one is the dailies for the entire week. Our entire schedule with other items as well. The others are menus, one is the room service lunch and dinner menu, another is a mid-week menu and the last one is the Celebrity menu choices for the pre and post hotel dinners.
Enjoy!
by Jim Bellomo | Jul 19, 2021 | Photography
This was an incredible trip. We’ve decided it was the best we’ve ever taken. On the final night onboard, Captain Patricio (one of the nicest guys you will ever meet) spoke for a few minutes about his feelings regarding the Galapagos. He mentioned, paraphrasing here, that “the Galapagos should serve as a model for the rest of the earth. It’s a place where every animal and bird has learned to coexist, and the visitors who come care about these islands and do their best to nurture them.” I loved that. It reflects how I felt walking among the albatross nests, stepping over sea lions, and watching penguins who were completely unafraid, allowing us to get within inches, and so much more.
I felt the same way when I spoke with the naturalists and crew members who lived and grew up on the islands. Their love for their home was evident in the way they protected the land, animals, birds, foliage, and geology. These islands are truly magical.
One thing I love about Celebrity Cruises is their commitment to giving back. From the perfect ship, which doesn’t run on smog-producing bunker oil, to the fact that they never drop anchor to avoid disturbing the ocean floor, along with the tree planting we did and their continued support for it, the efforts are commendable. I will admit that during our time on Santa Cruz Island, I wasn’t thrilled to stop and plant trees in the rain. However, looking back, it became clear that it was more than just a symbolic gesture on Celebrity’s part. It challenged us to reflect and provided an opportunity to give back to these incredible islands.
One aspect that makes Flora different from every other Celebrity ship (besides the other two small ships in the Galapagos) is that there is no caste system on board. I believe I mentioned that after 21 cruises with Celebrity, we are switching our cruising to Viking Ocean. This decision is due to the fact that on their other ships, if you aren’t in a suite or aqua class, you do not receive the same experience as the others on board. You have a much better trip if you’re willing to spend significantly more money. On their larger ships, you can sail in a suite without ever interacting with those in the “economy class” staterooms. They can relax in “The Retreat” and enjoy a “luxury” experience without needing to mingle with the riff-raff. However, on Flora, everyone is equal. Unless I stood outside the door of the largest suites, I would NEVER know who occupied them. That’s not the case on the other Celebrity ships, where there are many areas those in suites could access that I couldn’t. It’s disappointing.
This post summarizes this cruise and addresses some final questions while providing a few more pieces of information I missed in previous posts.
Let’s start with the questions:
- What was the weather like?
When we were there in early July, it was magnificent. The temperature was in the 70s every day and nearly every night. Before we decided to go, we did a lot of research on the weather. Our naturalists informed us that from mid-June through mid-August and mid-November through early January (the transitions between seasons) are the best times to visit. Here’s a chart on the weather:
From what I see, there may be a better time for snorkelers; you might want to go when the water is warmer.
- I like cocktails. What were they like on the ship? Are they expensive?
First, everything is included onboard, including all alcoholic beverages. That said, as much as we enjoy our wine and cocktails, we drank less on this cruise than on any of our 25+ previous cruises. Why? I think there are two reasons. We knew we had to get up early every day to meet the ship’s schedule on the islands. Being even slightly hungover or dehydrated was not an option if we wanted to be at our best for the excursions. The other reason we didn’t drink as much is that there was less time to do so. Seriously, on other cruises, we would gather in our favorite lounge before and after dinner to socialize and sip, but that’s not the case on this cruise. Before dinner, you hear about the islands and what you’ll be doing the next day, and after dinner… you go to bed.
- What was the one thing you bought for this cruise that you could not have done without?
That’s easy: my dry bag. I would have been lost without it. I owe my decision to get one to my Instagram friend, Marvic_212. He is a crew member on Flora and takes the most amazing photos of the islands. He and his family live there too, and one of my biggest regrets is not meeting him when we were there. He was supposed to come back onboard a few weeks after we left. If you love my pictures, you’ll love his. When I asked him what I needed to keep my camera dry, he said, “get a dry bag.” So I got the one I linked. I also ordered a strap so I could carry it with me. You’ll need a backpack with straps to take on the Zodiacs. The reason for the straps is that you must have both hands free to board the ship or get off at a wet or dry landing. This is the strap I got. I’m really glad I chose this because on the first Zodiac trip, the bag got soaked. If I hadn’t had it, my camera would have been wet too, and there would have been none of the great photos I captured.
- What was the best thing that Kathleen got before the cruise?
She says, “That little turtle backpack.” Celebrity gives you a small mesh backpack but it is just too small. This one was the envy of all our fellow cruisers.
- Are there bathroom facilities on the islands?
Nope, the only facilities are the bushes and trees. Seriously. I asked Ellen what people do if they have to go. She said you tell your naturalist, and they will direct you to a place (hopefully out of sight of others, but sometimes that isn’t possible) where whatever you do causes the least damage to the environment. On all our trips (always more than 2+ hours), I only saw one person “using the facilities.” It was a young lady, and I felt sorry for her because she was wearing a wetsuit and a one-piece bathing suit, so she pretty much had to change. And it was on an island with hardly any bushes or trees, just lava. Everyone just looked the other way. As for me, I stuck with one cup of coffee every morning ?.
- Can you say a little more about the motion of the ocean? Will I get seasick?
Kathleen says, “A couple of nights were rough. The wind blew in one direction while the currents moved in another. So if you struggle with motion sickness, you should consider possible preventive measures.” Kathleen always brings her “Relief Band” on any cruise. It has saved her numerous times since she learned about it from our friend Carol. The ship offers Dramamine if you need it, and some of our friends onboard used a behind-the-ear patch.
- What was the best thing about the ship?
I loved the bed that faced the ocean. That, along with deck eight, where we went to see the stars on two nights (DON’T MISS THIS!), was fantastic! Kathleen says hers was definitely the shower. It was so well equipped and designed. For example, there was a towel rack on the outside of the shower door that opened inward, so you didn’t have to reach out and get the floor wet. Brilliant!
- What was the worst thing about the ship?
Kathleen mentions the lack of electrical outlets, especially none on her side of the bed. The two that weren’t on the desk were on my side of the bed. If you ask me, I would say the pillows were an issue. I’m a side sleeper, and the two we had were just too soft. I had to use a couch pillow under one of them, or my neck would be sore all day.
- What was the most amazing you saw on the ship?
Kathleen says that for her, everything we experienced off the ship was truly magical. I completely agree with her and would add that one of the most incredible things I have ever witnessed a person do is how the crew on board managed the Zodiacs. They performed feats with them that left me in awe—such remarkable skill. You don’t realize until you ride in one that they NEVER tie them up to the ship or any dock. They control them during loading and unloading using the throttle and steering. It’s astonishing.
We are more than happy to answer any other questions, but this will be my last post about this trip. I believe I have covered everything quite thoroughly, and I cannot think of anything I might have overlooked. I hope you have enjoyed traveling with us. We have many more adventures planned, or you can browse through the archives to revisit our Iceland trip and our Mardi Gras trip from 2019. You can also visit our other website by clicking here to see all our travels since 2002. And be sure to come back after Thanksgiving when we will journey to Portugal, Amsterdam, Prague, Nuremberg, and the Christmas markets in Vienna, Krems, Passau, and Budapest.
The Galapagos Islands are probably the most famous wildlife-watching destination in the world. And no wonder – it’s almost impossible to exaggerate the sheer spectacle of the place that provided inspiration for Charles Darwin’s ground-breaking theory of natural selection. – Mark Carwardine