Getting Acquainted With the Ship and Our Table Mates

As we awoke in New Jersey, we were anticipating the fact that soon we would be on board our cruise ship--Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas. But first--breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

Dad and Mom were happy with their meal.

I could not get anyone to fill my water glass, and poor Nani was sure she was only going to get orange juice and milk for her breakfast because she was having the hardest time getting anyone to take her omelet order.

What we saw when we arrived at the waterfront in Bayonne, New Jersey was the Teardrop Memorial given to the United States by the people of Russia to memorialize the people lost in the 9/11 attack.

Across the water from the memorial you can see New York City and the Statue of Liberty.

We checked out some of the ship. It had a very nice gym where Nani spent many of her early mornings. I went one morning with her to walk on the treadmill.

On deck we tried to get a good view of our surroundings.

The Windjammer Cafe welcomed everyone to the ship and offered not only some great food art to look at, but some tasty food to eat.

Mom decided what she wanted to eat for lunch was three desserts. Why waste stomach space on healthy food when you can go straight for the sweets?

Why not!! She's on vacation!!!

When we were cleared to go to our rooms, we tried to figure out how to remember which side and which end of the ship they were located.

We knew we were on the 7th floor at the end where the library was located. Nani made the astute observation that there was blue carpet out one side of the library and red on the other side. We lived on the red side.

This is our room?!?

Nani, which side of the bed do you want...??!!??

We were with the Legacy Family Tree group (Legacy is a genealogy computer program).

NO--I did NOT sign up for this cruise to learn more about genealogy. I was just along for the ride--and to see the beautiful changing of the leaves in the New England and Canada parts of the world.

We got our paperwork and gift (a stainless steel water jug) from Christy, our Trekalot travel agent.

And here we are wearing my favorite thing--Legacy name tag LANYARDS--around our necks.

Our dinner table in the dining room was located right next to a port hole window which made it perfect for viewing the condition of the sea.

We had some good food for dinner and some yummy desserts.

Our table mates were Stephen and Rosely Webster. Stephen is from England, Rosely is from New Zealand and they are living in Australia. When they found out we are from Utah, Stephen asked if we are members of the predominant religion there. He was kind of serious and had lowered his voice when asking the question and when we said yes, he put on a big smile and announced that they are as well.

We hit it off swimmingly (appropriate description while on a ship, don't you think??) and so much enjoyed their company each evening around the dinner table. He jokingly said they were going to adopt themselves into our family. It was a very happy "family dinner" we had each night with lots of fun conversation and lots of laughs.

We attended the Welcome Aboard Show that evening in The Palace Theatre.

One place that was very flashy and that we tried to avoid walking through, if at all possible, was the casino.

The glass walkway leading into the casino was very unique with all the money and jewels showing up through the floor.

We gathered with the rest of the people on the ship to watch the Sailaway Parade held on the Royal Promenade.

After all that excitement, it was time to retire for the evening.

This is how our room looked at bedtime after Orwin, our stateroom attendant, had worked his magic.

Hmmmm, I think I'll take the bed on the right. Good night!!

I Got Talked Into It And So I Just Had To Go

Have you ever been approached to do something you have never considered doing and the person presenting the plan makes it sound like such a great idea that despite the physical and monetary cost to participate, you feel obligated to join in?

That just recently happened to me.

My mother presented the plan of having me join in with her and Dad and Nani going on a cruise. I only had a few months' notice and I had to make a split-second decision if I was in or out. Time was running short to join in with this travel group Dad was using to book the trip.

Did I want to be Nani's traveling companion?

Was I willing to leave my husband for all that time and spend the required money to do so?

Could I make the decision immediately?

Would Glen go along with the plan?

Let's just say that within a 24-hour period, I had signed up to go. Glen so kindly let Nani and me use his frequent flyer miles to get us to the other side of the continent.

And then it really dawned on me what I'd done.

I'd signed up to go on a 10-day cruise. That's a long time! I've never even done that with my husband before. What was I thinking? This was crazy!

But, since I got talked into it--I just had to go. And I was going to have fun while doing it!

Newark, New Jersey--here we come!!

When Nani and I figured out New York City was just a mere few miles away from the Sheraton Hotel we were staying at in Newark, we decided to go on an adventure. We figured out we could hop right back on the free hotel shuttle back to the airport,

where we jumped on a New Jersey transit train which took us right into Manhattan. Plan successful!!

We were starving by that time and decided to stop at Times Square Food Court where we ate a salad and split some macaroni and cheese--a little comfort food for us in the middle of that bustling, big city.

We were both a little bitter that the only water available was a $2.50 water bottle. So annoying when we can't get free water in a cup!!

Here we are--just two small-town girls walking around the big city of New York.

Nani loves chocolate and it became quite evident when we went in the Hershey's store.

No need for ice cream when you can drink chocolate syrup straight from the container.

I thought of Mom and Glen when I saw this huge package of red Twizzlers.

Hyde Park was a beautiful place for people to enjoy a little greenery amid the concrete jungle of extra tall buildings.

We didn't have enough time to go to Central Park and didn't feel too safe about going there in the darkness anyway. Something for Nani to do and see next time she makes it to New York.

It was much more of a challenge for us to figure out how to get back to the station to catch our train and it was extra confusing trying to figure out which train to get on to take us back to the airport.

EWR is the abbreviation for Newark Airport and we were happy when we saw other passengers with EWR on their ticket riding the same train with us.

We had very happy faces when we got off the train and saw the lady welcoming us back to Newark International Airport.

We worked our way through the airport to the spot where we could catch our free hotel shuttle bus and soon we were safely tucked in bed at the Sheraton Hotel where our adventure began.

WHEW!! Mission completed!!

Performance Champion

Our last full day in Vegas began with us eating a buffet breakfast (courtesy of G&K again) almost all by ourselves. We guessed too many of our fellow G&K vacationers had stayed up too late or had drunk too much or had gambled into the wee hours of the morning and were all sleeping in.

We didn't mind. We enjoyed our breakfast despite the lack of people.

Since we had a full free day ahead of us, we decided to take advantage of our rental car and go on a driving excursion--to the Grand Canyon--2 1/2 hours away.

Neither one of us had been to the Grand Canyon and we thought it was high time we saw what it was all about.

We reached a point where all cars had to park and everyone had to board a bus that took us to the west rim of the Canyon.

First stop was Eagle Point.

If you look at the place where the rock line dips down, that is the body of the eagle and then the wings of the eagle going up from there.

Glen is standing at the tip of the right wing of the Eagle. He was giving me a heart attack, panic attack and great anxiety as he was stepping closer and closer to the rim of the Canyon.

I tell you what--one wrong step and you're a goner. It was totally freaking me out!!!!

We made our way over to the building to get on the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

It is a U-shaped glass bridge that protrudes 70 feet out from the rim of the Canyon from which you can look 4,000 feet straight down to the Canyon floor.

This was the best picture we could get because they banned cell phones and cameras on the walkway and the only bragging rights we had were the "You Did It!" poster and our wristband.

Of course we could have gotten our picture taken on the bridge using their photographer, but we did not want to shell out the $30 fee to have that done.

We walked through an area that displayed different Indian dwellings from various Indian tribes.

This man invited me into his hogan and explained that the first one is a male hogan--where the men would gather together in councils and discuss what was happening in the tribe.

The round one is a female hogan where all the women would gather to cook and care for the children.

He reminded me so much of my nephew, Zane, who absolutely loves everything having to do with the Indian culture. The necklace he was wearing looks like the beadwork necklaces Zane works on all the time and this guy even talked exactly like Zane.

The bus took us to a different part of the rim where we ate lunch under the tarp and had a great view of the Canyon while eating.

This was our view to the left, and

this was our view to the right.

Straight ahead there was a huge, round, red rock formation that came to a peak and there were many people who walked out there to hike to the top of the peak. Looked way too scary for my taste. We just looked at it from a distance.

Yet again, I kept thinking--
one ... wrong ... step ... and ...

there SHE GOES!!!!

It was fascinating to experience the grandeur, beauty and majesty of the Grand Canyon; yet, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief as we were leaving when I realized my husband would not have to balance himself atop a red rock platform, teetering on the edge of the rim of the Canyon, just for the sake of getting a great photo, ever again!

The culmination of our fabulous trip came that evening when we got all dressed up and headed down to the ballroom for the G&K Spirit of Excellence Banquet and Awards Ceremony.

As I was admiring the fancy table setting, Glen was checking his phone trying to get updates on the BYU/Utah football game; and that's just what he did throughout the whole evening.

What a fancy and delicious filet mignon meal topped off with trilogy of chocolate for dessert--which was an absolute piece of art the way it was displayed.

Let the awards ceremony begin--with all the company winners from the Gulf Plains Region up first. This award was recognizing Glen for being one of the five top performers of all the G&K general managers throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Glen is the third one from the right.

The second award Glen received was for top general manager of the Gulf Plains Region.

It was so nice having Glen be recognized for all the hard work he has done this past fiscal year. He certainly gives his whole heart and soul to the company every single year, that's for sure. And it's extra wonderful when he gets the high numbers and qualifies for the Spirit of Excellence trips.

An added bonus for me was getting to finally meet his boss, Harland, who really gushed over what a great job Glen does in Salt Lake City. The other leaders of the company were also very quick to praise him and his efforts and show their appreciation about knowing how they can rely on him to do extra things on the corporate level when they need his help on various projects. I know Glen works hard and it's nice to know others recognize his hard work as well.

Glen doesn't like to toot his own horn, so I'll toot it for him.

Congratulations, Mr. G&K Performance Champion!!! Well done!!!