2025 Travels on One Map

Went a bit further in 2025, here's the map with all our trips! Twice to Utah.

Christmas Dinner

Dinner with the family, and also Anton and family. Christmas pup!! 🐶 Bill was driving earlier in his Tesla with the Christmas theme. 🎅🤶

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Australia/New Zealand Trip - + One Week - Bondi Beach Shooting

And today, a week after our trip to Bondi Beach, there's been a shooting at Bondi Beach. Horrible news, a lot of people are dead and many are injured. Praying for them.

Shooting on Bondi Beach

Grandkids!

These are some happy little boys!

Australia/New Zealand Trip - Day 16 - The Long Day Home

Getting packed up and ready to go early this morning. Will be grabbing some coffee from the Espresso Shop downstairs and heating up the pizza thing from last night for breakfast. Then off to the airport. Chris was chatting me up this morning but it was still last night for him. Sent him our flight home information. Leaving Sydney at 9am and getting home at 4:49pm the same day. That's like a 34 hour day!

Virginia Snow

Jamie and Kat show off the snow at their new house in Richmond, VA. Looks like fun!

Australia/New Zealand Trip - Day 15 - Mascot and Bondi Beach

Early morning, and I want to list a few things we’ve learned on this trip.

1. Juicy Juicy! (from the morning juice guy on the ship)
2. How to speak Orca
3. We love the Fortune of War Restaurant!

Going to the Fortune of War in Circular Quay for breakfast this morning then on to Bondi Beach. Took the bus out - long ride! The beach itself was pretty, but very small compared to our expansive Florida beaches. The South Pacific water was soooo cold!! 🌡🥶 The shopping was pretty good, got some stuff for the Utah folks and a Bondi Beach bucket hat for me.

Had lunch at a public bar just up from the beach. It was pretty good, and there was a cute dog there! We had the fried calamari (looked like French fries, tasted good) and a little pizza concoction that we took home for breakfast.

Did some resting in the afternoon, then we had the Real History Walking tour with Ned. We went to take the train, but there was some kind of incident which had shut it down. So we Ubered and got there late. But he was a fantastic guide and told us all about the historic buildings and history of Sydney. Would def go on one of this other tours! He took us through the city, including the Customs House Bar which is part of the Marriott hotel we stayed in the beginning! We ended up at Hyde Park, and there was a little beer garden next to it so we had pizza there for dinner.

Then Uber back to the Air BnB because the trains were still not right. Then finished off the beer and wine with cards and then bed.

Australia/New Zealand Trip - Day 14 - Sydney - Debarkation

I did get some phenomenal photos of the Southern Cross this morning! Crux (the Southern Cross) is within the Centaurus constellation in the feet.

Sadly, today is the day we get off the ship. Breakfast on the ship on a very rainy morning, then we got off and collected our luggage. Hung around in Circular Quay for a short bit and it started to clear up, then took the T8 train down to Mascot to find our Air BnB. It was just around the corner from the train station. Darto met us and let us in. It’s not what I booked, it's smaller. He claimed that it was a three bedroom luxury apartment, but there’s two bedrooms and a bed in the center of the living room. Oh well.

We decided to go to the Grounds of Alexandria for lunch, about a mile away. It was so hot walking over, and the route was sketchy. The GoA was good, but it reminded me of the Magnolia place in Waco, TX including a large tower! But, the charcuterie board and drinks were pretty good and the atmosphere was nice. We took an Uber back. :)

Most people took naps, then we headed out to Chinatown for a look around and dinner. It was China-ey, but also very modern. We stopped at Starbucks for pick me up espressos, then wandered the streets for a few hours. Saw the Haymarket Mall and lots of restaurants. Had drinks in an old Irish Pub that used to be a bank. Found the restaurant for dinner, but it was kind of pricey. So we ended up at a noodle bar where there was tons (and I mean TONS) of stuff you could add. There was like 8 different stalls of various stuff. Tasty!

Headed back to the Air BnB, and bought some wine and beer. Played several games of Skull King before bed.

Australia/New Zealand Trip - Day 13 - Sea Day

After breakfast, we tried the trivia. General Knowledge - terrible because it was all about Australia. Then we moved over to the Movie Quotes. Did much better at this, but still didn’t win. Then we came back to the room to pack. Met down at the Serenity Bar for lunch.

Then, the super fun Alchemy Bar Martini Class. Arron was very informative and funny, and his helper Veronica was working the hardest! All the drinks were very good. Expressotini, Mohitotini, Perfect Storm, Martini Seduction two ways. All were very good.

Then up to shower and change for the Diamond/Platinum party and then dinner. Hard to believe this is the last day.

Took a quick look outside at dusk. Could just barely see the top of the Southern Cross coming up from the west. Will try to get a good look at it in the early morning.

Australia/New Zealand Trip - Day 12 - Sea Day

So we’ve started the trip back to Australia. Still super cold and sort of overcast. We sat in the hot tub for a bit in the morning. Then Bill took a very long nap, as well as JL and V. I took a very short nap and got ready for dinner when I got up. We passed a ship going the other way, I think it was Celebrity?

When everyone else was finally awake, we had a fantastic dinner at the steak house Fahrenheit. I had the Lobster, while Bill and JL had Steak and Lobster and V had Pink Snapper. Everything was delicious! Then back to the Alchemy Bar for a drink. The kids peeled off for a movie out on deck, and Bill and I went downstairs and listened to the band for a bit before bed.

Australia/New Zealand Trip - Day 11 - Fiordland National Park

Today was a nice, slow day since we weren’t getting off the boat. Spent the morning without the kids since they decided to sleep in late. Called in the A/C engineers to fix our cabin temperature. It has been freezing in our cabin since the beginning. They found out that the fuse had blown, and it wasn’t even running in our room.

We were at the Fiordland National Park. The whole lower left half of New Zealand is a giant “park”. We went into several of the Fiords with the ship. It was AWESOME!! The beauty of it all was so quiet and peaceful and unbelievably beautiful! The last one we went through had some pretty spectacular waterfalls!

Hung out at the Alchemy Bar for a short bit before dinner. Then after dinner, we did the Rock Show. It was very good! While we were waiting for the show, I noticed a plaque from Puerto Vallarta for the Carnival Splendor! Then after the show - one final drink before bed.

Meanwhile, I went to the doctor this afternoon for the numbness and pain in my left arm. He told me that I had some nerve issue either in my neck or left shoulder. They took X-rays of my neck. He was able to see some reduction in the space between the C5/C6/C7 vertebra which was potentially causing the issue. He gave me some medicine for it (Tylenol/Steroid/GabaPentan) and said to follow up when I get home. And no more high pillows. … That last part was devastating. 🙁 Fortunately, I was able to grab some pictures of the park through the medical porthole.