Our 2017 Travel Year in Review

WOW… What a year! We traveled somewhere almost every month and often more than once in that month. It made for an exciting and adventurous 2017 and we’ve set a goal to continue our monthly travels again in 2018. We love exploring new places and often are in awe of all that God has provided us with here on earth. There is so much to do and see. In January, we went to Florida. My brother and sister-in-law met us there while mom spent some one on one quality time with baby Cash. We went to the gulf coast and visited Sarasota, Siesta Keys, Long Boat key, Santa Ana, and a number of the beaches along the coast up to and including St. Petersburg, Florida. It was lots of fun but we did encounter red tide in Siesta Key and were only able to hang out on the beach for a little while. As we moved up the coast, the red tide got better and we didn’t see dead fish washed up on the shore as much. Siesta Key was by far the most beautiful powdery sand I’ve ever seen. In February, we went to New Orleans for Valentine’s Day weekend. We love New Orleans’ cuisine, music, people, history, and art. My favorite thing to do is walk around and visit a number of the art galleries on Royal Street. We always make it a point to visit the French Market, Bourbon Street, and Frenchman Street. We stayed in the French Quarter and enjoyed a night at the House of Blues. In March, we flew over to Cuba. It was an amazing experience and it inspired me to write a book. I know!!! Can you believe it? I hope to have it finished in the next few weeks and published in early 2018. There will be more on this trip in a separate blog. In April, Lisa and I flew to Raleigh, North Carolina for the Women’s Empowerment Conference. It was a fun girl’s weekend celebrating my sister’s birthday. We met up with two other lovely ladies there and had a very nice time. You need that girl time every so often! The conference was nice and had a number of gospel artists performing. It was a blessed time! May was a busy month. The first week we went on a 5 day family cruise to Cozumel and Key West. We have been to these places but enjoyed introducing 6 newbies to cruising. We went to Senor Sancho in Cozumel which was an all-inclusive spot that included food and drinks in your day pass. This was our first time to Senor Sancho and we enjoyed the water, food, and drinks very much. Antonio was our go to guy there and he took wonderful care of us and of course we took care of him in return. The water was wonderful and the water sports were reasonable priced. A few of the guys rented jet skis and we all had a blast. I also spent a week with my mom and family in New Jersey before Cash’s baptism. We had a nice time and especially enjoyed all the cuddle time with Cash, AKA Bam Bam. June was a busy work month with some travel required to both San Francisco and Kansas City. In July, we crossed off a bucket list experience by returned to our beloved Jamaica for Reggae Sumfest 2017. We stayed at the all-inclusive resort we got married at Secrets St. James/Wild Orchid. It was awesome to be back there again and to attend Sumfest. We love reggae and this was something we always wanted to do. We loved it so much we decided we need to make this a yearly trip. The resort changed a bit and now have acquired the Breathless resort next door. We attended our first foam party and that was quite different than I had ever experienced. Although it was a lot of fun, the soap used for the foam was very strong and made my eyes water. In September, we traveled up to the Jersey Shore for Cash’s 1st birthday and then flew to Portugal and Spain to visit with mom and extended family. This trip was special in that all my uncles on my mom’s side were also there vacationing. Kevin and I were able to visit with each of them and indulge in fabulous Portuguese food and wine. We took a day trip over to Salamanca, Spain. What a beautiful city. We are only about a 2 hour drive from the village and always make it a point to go over to Spain when visiting Portugal. We also went to Figeira da Foz to visit with extended family and took the opportunity to go for a long walk on the beach. It sure has changed from what I remembered as a child when my dad would take us there. The marketplace is now little stores and some fruit and fish vendors in the middle. We took my father in law to New Orleans for his birthday in October and stayed in the garden district. What a great time! Pops thoroughly enjoyed himself and we enjoyed a whole new part of the city. The mansions were all decorated for Halloween and it was a treat riding the street car back and forth around the city. I introduced Pops to raw oysters and Louisiana gumbo. We also found out that my great friend Frank and his beautiful girlfriend (now fiancé, YEAH!) were in town and so we met up with them for a little while on Bourbon Street. There was quite a bit of construction happening on Bourbon Street that closed off the road so that caused for extra crowds and confusion so we avoided that area some this time around. In November, we flew up to Buffallo, NY and visited Niagara Falls. We crossed the Rainbow Bridge both by car and walking and visited both the US and Canada sides. In fact, we straddled both countries on the bridge. It was breath taking but extremely cold. We will need to return in warmer months. We visited the Fort Niagara State Park, the overlooks on both sides, and the Street of Fun in Ontario, Canada. It was too cold to do the boat rides but when we return; that will be a priority. In December, we celebrated our 5th anniversary with a 10 day Princess Cruise on the Royal Princess. We visited Princesss Cay, St. Thomas, La Martinique, Grenada, Bonaire, and Curacao. Four of these were new to us but we have been to St. Thomas and to Bonaire. We spent most of our time snorkeling and gazing into the beautiful horizon on the beaches of these beautiful islands. The highlight was finding a starfish in Grenada and meeting my 8 year old Trinidadian buddy Robin. Robin and I snorkeled all day and really enjoyed each other’s company. This was our first time on Princess and we found the crowd to be a lot older than we are used to and the ship was a ghost ship after 10:30pm. The itinerary was amazing! August was the only month we did not travel as we were preparing for Julia’s baptism and our Portugal/Spain trip. Frankly, we also wanted to stay home, catch up on yard work, and enjoy some time in our pool. Looking forward to more wonderful travel adventures in 2018!