After about a week driving down the coastal highway enjoying links golf in Tacoma, the Lewis and Clark National Park and haystacks in Oregon, the redwood trees in California and many seafood dinners all along the way, we arrived in Walnut Creek, CA. How lucky are we that Elizabeth lives near San Francisco. We were able to leave our minivan with her and head to The Huntington Hotel on Nob Hill. We had a day and a half to do all the tourist things in San Francisco, ride the cable car, go to Fisherman's Wharf, see fortune cookies being made in Chinatown and ride the top of the doubledecker tour bus across the Golden Gate Bridge (where we just about froze to death). September 9 we left the San Francisco harbor aboard the beautiful Oceania Regatta. We were happy to have 2 days at sea before our first stop to get rested up and unpack the suitcases. There were 600 guests and probably that many staff so we were pampered for the next 21 days. The food and service were outstanding. We knew it was going to get hotter the further south we went but I'm not sure we realized it was going to be in the 90 degree range with humidity to the point that our glasses fogged up when we went out. We tried to stay hydrated with many cervasas. Our Mexican stops included Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco and Puerto Chiapas. Then it was on to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. There we boarded a bus and went into the mountains where we got to walk on suspension bridges above the rain forest. It is a beautiful country and we would definitely go back. After another sea day we reached Panama City and the entrance to the Panama Canal at 8:00 in the morning. We were lucky enough to meet a couple who had a suite on the front of the ship and invited us to watch the canal crossing. It was a wonderful experience made even better by a lecture before from a retired coast guard commander and running commentary throughout the day. It was 4:30 pm by the time we got through the 3 sets of locks and Gatun Lake. The next day we arrived in Cartagena, Columbia. We had arranged to take a walking tour of historic Cartagena but the tour had to be cut short because of a torrential rain and thunder storm. Georgetown, Grand Cayman was our last Caribbean stop. Knowing that Georgetown is a financial centre, we thought there would be a bank on every corner and were disappointed to find that is not the case. Our last stop was Charleston, SC. We were lucky enough to spend a week there last year and the Greens have also been there before. It is one of our favorite places and we were glad to have 2 days at this port. We rented a car and organized our own tour. Because we didn't have a chance to see a plantation last time, we visited Middleton Place, a rice plantation once owned by a very prominent Charleston family. Then we spent time in the historic part of Charleston touring the Edmondston Alston House, one of the many historic homes, and revisiting many of the places Pat Conroy mentions in his novels including the Citadel. We always like to see the bookstore when we visit a campus but at the Citadel we noticed some merchandise not usually sold at U of C, anything a student would need to keep his shoes polished to a mirror shine. When it comes to food in Charleston they believe that "if in ain't fried, it ain't cooked" so, of course, we had to have Jestine's chicken and fried green tomatoes with pecan pie to go. At Jestine's I also learned that mac 'n cheese is considered to be a vegetable. Then we headed to our final destination, New York City. I will leave that for the next blog entry. Are you asleep yet?
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