Ryan & Jaclyn's World

Honeymoon Day 6: Blue Springs State Park and Daytona Beach

Gramma let us borrow her Seabring convertible for a few days so we could get around Florida!

We went to Blue Springs State Park - winter home of the manatee - to spend our Sabbath.

This spider was getting a tasty snack. It was huge with a body about the size of a quarter!

Hmmm... maybe we could find ourselves a house like this

Yep, we like the porch

Getting hot and ready to jump in

The source of the spring
The water was chilly but it was fun to float and let the current pull you out toward the ocean.

We got back to the car just in time for a deluge! After a quick snack at a table outside a Subway, we headed for Daytona to the condo the Kretchmars so generously let us use.

Our wonderful wrap around balcony!

A very competitive shuffle board match - we're practiced and ready to take the title away from Stanley and Valeri in a few weeks!

Our condo was in the middle building on the 12th floor

This is life at its best!
One of my favorites from the honeymoon - taken by setting the camera on a sign sitting on the beach.

Honeymoon Day 5: Miami to Orlando

We took a taxi back to the airport where we picked up our rental car!

We got upgraded to a Toyota Corolla since they took so long finding us a car. We both liked it a lot.

We stopped at a gas station to get some hydration - this is quite possibly the biggest drink I've ever seen

Shock and horror

Drivin' along in our automobile...
I decided south Florida is way too FLAT. I was so glad to return to the mountains!

We met Gramma Johnson at the airport in Orlando, dropped of our car, and headed to their house for supper.

Papaw finding something to read for sundown worship

Somebody is telling a knee-slapper

Looking at pictures from the good ol' days

Honeymoon Day 4: Key West, FL

Back in the USA, we had to go through customs... which was really quite a joke. We walked in a line up to a customs official in the theater who glanced at our passports and said, "Thank-you, have a nice day" and walked right on through.

Our ship was always the tallest thing anywhere we went which made it easy to get back to the boat!

Since we hadn't been able to go snorkeling in CocoCay, we decided we'd try our luck in Key West.

Ryan found some spear guns at a water gear store along with some great water shoes that he would have loved to have later in the trip.

Key West reminded me of New England - the natives look like they've been outside on a fishing boat all day and the harbor is just beautiful and quaint. The water was not quite as beautiful as the Bahamas but still beautiful.

A man was sitting by the dock throwing pieces of hotdog to the tarpin. Ryan threw in a few pieces. They are HUGE!

A place to get out of the sun on the catamaran

See what I mean about the ship being tall?

Hoisting the sail

We were very glad we weren't on one of the cruise affiliated trips - they looked awfully crowded.

Your nose gets sore after an hour of wearing this contraption

One of my favorites of the whole trip - there are 4 more of these if you ever want a smile!

Ryan ready to take the plunge

We don't have any pictures of us in the water because neither of us got back in the boat in time to snap one! We were enjoying the fish over the ship wreck below us so much that we were almost the last people back on the boat. It was like being in an aquarium. We even saw a few tiny jelly fish and I caught a glimpse of an eel.

My face has been sucked inside plastic for far too long.

Ryan got to drive the boat!

Would you like to pay $80 for 8 minutes of parasailing? We decided not to.

Home sweet home and time to hit the buffet

The tug boats guide us out of the harbor

Dressed and ready for our last dinner onboard

Towel buddy #3: we almost missed him hanging next to the bathroom

Farewell breakfast
The man with the cap on the right is the head chef. The ship makes 15,000 meals a day!

Honeymoon Day 3: Majesty Explorers

If you look closely you can see the raindrops on the window

We were supposed to stop at CocoCay, Bahamas on this day but since the weather was terrible, we had to stay onboard the ship. We spent the day exploring! We were glad the captain took us out to calmer waters because the ship was moving around more than usual first thing in the morning when we were in a few squalls.

Enjoying pineapple at breakfast

Time for a little Uno

Lounging in the Spectrum

Learning to do the "John Tra-vol-TA!" part of the electric slide. This was a little bit of a work out and quite funny! I think Ryan was entertainment for many of the ladies!

Walking the track on the main deck

Coming inside for a quick look down on a cooking show in the main lobby area

And back outside again

The Schooner bar: all of the curtains were sails and the piano had a bar that wrapped all around it.

We felt right at home in the small bathroom, just like the one at our house!

Watching the waves from the Windjammer after lunch

Ryan in the library with the Queen of Norway for whom the ship was named. The library had games and books to borrow as well as daily crossword puzzles and sodoku!