SUMMERTIME FUN (?)

Even tho' summer is not officially here, it has been so hot I could not help thinking about vacations. The following is one of my favorite vacation stories. Notice I said “stories”, not vacation! I’ve had some not nearly so full of mishaps! This vacation took place in June of 2006.

“C.J., WE DON’T WANT TO CRUISE WITH YOU!”

(Carnival Cruise Ship Triumph -- C.J.)

That’s what my daughter Carajean’s friends have said to her when she tried to get a cruise vacation together with them and their families. Well, they don’t know what they are missing! Granted, some of her past vacation plans have gone awry. Like the time she thought the arrival time of their plane was the departure time. An hour late, they missed their connecting flight out of Dallas. Their luggage went on without them, not to be seen again until after the cruise they were taking from New Orleans. They caught a flight to Baton Rouge, and then rented a car to drive to New Orleans. Carajean had about 20 minutes at the local Wal-Mart to buy the necessary toiletries, swimsuits, underwear, clothing, etc. for herself and her three children! The girls were miffed at not having their beautiful new cruise wear bought in advance of their vacation; and Carajean said she wore a lot of clothing on that trip with “Carnival Cruises” emblazoned across her chest!

Then there was the time she, her husband Branch, and their three children arrived in Mexico for a week’s vacation sans Ashlyn’s suitcase, which was somehow left behind. Lots of “Cozumel” tee shirts on an unhappy little girl.

And how about the time Carajean left out two pair of jeans for herself and Branch to wear off the ship the next morning? Like a good passenger, she put their suitcases in the corridor to be picked up the night before they docked. Whoops! Both pairs of jeans were hers! The next morning she pleaded with the crew to let her rummage through the thousands of bags in the cargo hold trying to find their luggage – to no avail. Branch disembarked wearing a beach towel from the cabin. When a crew member told him he “couldn’t do that”, he answered, “You don’t want me to take off this towel!” And he didn’t!

I was not going to let such tales spoil my chance to cruise with four of my grandchildren! We made plans, checked, and double-checked all arrangements. Luckily, we found an error or two beforehand, such as Tanner’s name being registered differently from the name on his passport. They would not have allowed him on the ship in Miami if it hadn’t been corrected ahead of time. Both Carajean and I felt confident that there were no more mistakes.

(Ashlyn & Tanner at Miami Airport)

My only concern before setting off on our journey was the private plane we were to take from Amarillo to Miami. Even though it is a twin engine Cessna, there were seven passengers and our pilot. Weight might be a problem. We had foreseen such a requirement, but didn’t know until the day before we left exactly how much weight we would be allowed. We decided in advance to try to pack in small, lightweight duffel/sport bags. 

I really did take all the clothing I needed for the eight days in one 30” duffel bag and one small shoulder makeup bag. We rolled our clothing as I was taught for camping. My total weight for the trip was about 35-lbs, including my 5-lb purse! I did put one long formal gown into Carrie and Branch’s garment bag.

The day before we were to leave, our pilot Nick told us we were allowed a total of 250-lbs for 4 adults, 2 teenagers, and 2 children! We were frantically weighing our bags and rearranging items to see which could be left behind. I jokingly asked Branch how much his laptop weighed. He quickly replied, “Not as much as you do!” I nearly choked with laughter, but decided to let my daughter and Branch make the decisions as to what to leave behind! Later, I noticed the bag of snacks packed by Carrie was much lighter…no snacks and no bottle of wine to make the first part of the trip more relaxing! She didn’t know I had spotted the wine.

My first experience riding in the co-pilot’s seat was a little nerve-wracking, as there were storms all around us. I gladly relinquished that seat to my grandson Cameron when we picked him up in Dallas. Needless to say, any 16-year-old would love that! We made it to Montgomery, Alabama where we made the next stop. Everyone was hungry, but it was late and by the time we used the airport’s van, drove into the city and bought Subways, it was really getting late. Nick was worried about the storm systems between Alabama and Florida. As it turns out, we needn’t have worried. The plane’s engines wouldn’t start! The starter was out and there was no mechanic on duty at the small private airport at that time of night.

The kids camped out on sofas in the small airport's lounge while Nick tried to locate a mechanic. Branch went off by himself and was using his laptop. I thought he was working on the computer programming course he is taking, but no, he was trying to book all of us on a commercial flight to Miami that would get us there before our cruise ship left the next day. When he couldn’t do that, he crossed the terminal to tell Carrie he had chartered a private jet to take us the rest of the way, but it would be at least an hour before the pilot and the jet would arrive. Carajean told him not to tell her the cost or her vacation might be ruined!

The new pilot was a real Southern Gentleman. He put us right at ease – even had snacks and drinks for everyone. He informed us that the FAA won’t let the jet pilots fly more than once in a 24-hour period. Usually, he flies every day. That day, however, for some reason, he had not flown! Yayyy! We were going to make it to Miami and even get a few hours sleep before the ship sailed. Nearly everyone snoozed on this leg of our journey. It was nothing like flying in a commercial airliner. It truly felt like we were floating on the air! Our pilot Nick co-piloted for us, which was a treat for him, too! Then he flew back to Montgomery to see about repairs to our little Cessna.

Nick later told me that the starter going out caused us to miss all the bad weather between us and Florida that night. Imagine that!! He is also flying this same Cessna to Michigan in a couple of weeks to take Carajean and Audrey’s dance teachers to Interlochen to pick up Audrey, who went directly there after our cruise for a three-week ballet camp. Nick asked Carajean if he could take a co-pilot on this 1,000 mile trip! The reason could be that on our return trip from Miami, one engine went out on the Cessna. It was off only briefly, however, I wonder if he thinks trips with Carajean warrant a little extra precaution? Just kidding, C.J.

After our arrival at 3:30 in the morning in a slightly scary Miami (you wouldn’t believe the types roaming the streets in those wee hours!), about 6-hours of sleep, and a $100 breakfast, we finally boarded our ship.

We nearly drove our cabin steward crazy as she tried to figure out who was who. We swapped cabins, as the kids couldn’t be left alone with a balcony. Ahem, I got a balcony suite with a king-size bed and four wonderful down pillows! And I was alone except for a few visits from family during the daytime. Carrie and I played gin rummy and drank wine one afternoon on the balcony. What a luxurious treat for me.

Audrey and Ashlyn shared a cabin and Cameron and Tanner were next to them, all across the corridor from Branch and Carajean’s penthouse suite – which was complete with marble bath and Jacuzzi! 

The kids were assigned the buddy system and everything was okay until the second day, when Ashlyn left Tanner to retrieve something from her cabin. He was gone when she returned. This ship has twelve decks and nearly 4,000 people aboard! We sent out a search party. The Purser’s Office called to say Tanner was with them. A visibly relieved Carajean retrieved her lost little boy. Tanner is seven now, and very bright. But we hadn’t been on board long enough for him to memorize his cabin number, and the card key doesn’t contain the number. When Carrie led him by the hand and asked him what happened, she said this tiny little voice told her, “Mom, I can’t talk about it when I’m under pressure.” ‘Nuff said! Needless to say, we had two scared little kids who didn’t forget the buddy system again!

I walked the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico – our first stop, with not too much difficulty breathing. There are some pretty steep hills there, though, and I probably wouldn’t do it again. We all got rained on before we reboarded the ship. At least there were no tropical storms or hurricanes predicted!

By the time we got to St. Maarten, our final stop before returning home, we were all having a great time. Branch booked us on a catamaran tour that would anchor at a couple of places allowing folks to swim and snorkel. Having had a delicious rum punch onboard the Golden Eagle, I let the grandchildren talk Grandmama into getting into the water with one of the “noodles” that they assured me would keep me afloat. It was such a beautiful day and the beach seemed very close. I thought I could mosey on over to the beach on my “noodle”, dog paddling as I went.

Wrong! The waves were much stronger than they looked and I had not been in an ocean since being diagnosed with “mild” emphysema. When the waves would hit me, I felt like the breath was being knocked out of me. Of course, that made me panic, which made it even harder to catch my breath. I captured my granddaughter’s eye and waved her over. She tried to pull me to shore, with no success. Then she said she would swim to the boat and get my emergency inhaler. 

As she left me there with a second “noodle”, some young men playing touch football on the beach spotted my dilemma. One swam over and asked if he could help. God bless him, he was a medical student and thrilled at the prospect of “saving” someone! He got me to shore, told me to do deep breathing, and ran to get me a bottle of water. 

By now, I was thoroughly embarrassed and beginning to attract a lot of attention. I told him Audrey went for my inhaler and soon we saw my son-in-law Branch swimming towards us with one hand in the air, holding a plastic bag containing the inhaler. The young medical student asked me if he should swim after it. Between big gulps of air, I told him my son-in-law was not only a physician but also had been a competition swimmer! I hated to burst his bubble, as he was so kind and helpful.

By the time I was using the inhaler, Carajean swam over and told us that the catamaran crew was putting a rubber dinghy into the water to come rescue me! We watched as two good-looking, tanned young men dropped the dinghy over the side and did a few figure 8s with it in the water before getting down to the business of rescuing me. When C.J. saw them her eyes got big and she said, “I think I’d better go with you, Mom. This looks like fun!”

I was treated to a shower to get the sand off and then a few minutes on the oxygen tank. My humiliation was complete, but I was one grateful grandmother for all the assistance!

You know, none of these incidents could be attributed to Carajean. Why was I getting the feeling that I knew what her friends meant when they said, “We don’t want to cruise with you, C.J.”. Things just seemed to …. happen …. when you vacation with her.

(LEAVING MIAMI ~ SAN JUAN, P.R. ~ TRUNK BAY, ST. JOHNS, V.I.)

Now it’s your turn! Send me your vacation story. Pictures, too, if you have them. All of these photos I took with a disposable camera! 

There is always "good stuff" happening! Tell me about it.

Marilyn