JD Tribute Concert

This concert was as good as expected, and in some ways even better!  It opened with an entirely new orchestral arrangement which is the Late Winter to Early Spring from the Season Suite. It was all instrumental and was accompanied by some new video which set the tone for the entire concert.  Most of the songs had a video of John singing, with four sung by Mack Bailey. 

The set list included some new songs not performed in prior Tribute concerts like "Druthers'" and "Feather Bed".  The final encore was Rocky Mountain High which, being n Colorado, was very well received.

After the concert we talked to Mack's wife Rachel for a while then headed out to the Meet and Greet to chat with Mack and Chris Nole.  

Mary spotted John's son, Zak, in the crowd so we chatted with him for a bit. 

All in all, a great evening!  Heading home tomorrow with a few weeks before our next trip. 

Rocky Mountain National Park

How nice it is to be back in the mountains!!  Our day started with a beautiful drive through the foothills to Estes Park.  We could even see the foothills as we headed out as you can see in the picture on the left.  US-36 is a very nice 2 lane road with wonderful scenery.

As we entered Rocky Mountain National Park, what came on the radio but Rocky Mountain High!  How appropriate!!   It's been way too long.  We drove as far as the Alpine Visitor Center, then drove back to Denver to get ready for tonight's concert.  Along the way we took quite a few pictures.   Here are four of them. 

Top Left is looking toward the park from Estes Park.

Top right shows snow on the mountains.

The bottom two show some of the high range.

As we were driving out of the park, we were surprised to see a fox just off the road! Since you can only stop at turnouts, by the time I stopped and walked back to the spot, he was heading down the hill.  But by then he was far down the hill. If you click on picture on the right, look for the white spot in the center.   The only other wildlife we saw were a few chipmunks. 8-)

After visiting the park we had a nice outdoor lunch in Estes Park.  That was until we had an unexpected visitor jump up on our table! No need for zoom on this picture since he was only 18" away!!  

I'm doing a separate post for tonight's concert.   More to come!!

Quick Travel Turnaround

Mary and I are in Longmont, Co tonight.  Yes, it's rue that we just got home last Friday, and today we flew to Denver to attend a Mack Bailey and Chirs Nole  performing John Denver Rocky mountain celebration concert tomorrow evening.  No pictures today (I would have posted on of the Rockies, but the haze was too thick to take a picture), just a travel day consisting of a flight and drive to our hotel.

We plan to visit Rocky Mountain National Park tomorrow before heading to Denver for the concert. Lots of pictures tomorrow!!

Last Sea Day

We are well on our way to New York City and going about 19 mph. The sea was pretty calm this morning, but at noon it was "glassy smooth" as you can see in the picture on the right.  The only time I recall experiencing seas this smooth was in the Baltic Sea where there are no ocean swells.  By 4pm we are seeing some small swells, but the ship is riding very smooth with no noticeable motion.

We completed our initial packing this afternoon.  That task was completed after dinner when we added our dressy clothes to the suitcases before setting them out.  We have Princess transfers to the airport and a mid-afternoon flight, so we will not be rushed in the morning.  We just need to get to the ship's departure lounge by 9:00 am.  

Dinner tonight was fabulous!  Shrimp cooked in a garlic-butter sauce, followed by prime rib, with baked Alaska for dessert!  The prime rib portion was huge and we both forgot about taking a picture.  Oh well. What a nice send off dinner.  Much better than the landfall turkey dinner we've had so many times in the past.  

We are scheduled to arrive at 7am tomorrow morning.  Suitcases are packed and put in the hallway where we will next see them on shore. It's been a very interesting 10 day cruise, with 5 of those days in port!  But we got to see Bermuda, enjoyed great service on the ship and smooth sailing.  What more could we ask for?  

Bye, Bye Bermuda

Today was originally scheduled to be our only full day in Bermuda so nearly everyone had excursions booked.  Ours was a boat ride to Hamilton with a walking tour and time for shopping. The picture on the top right is the famous Bermuda Clock tower on their Parliament building. 

We also visited a beautiful  Anglican cathedral (bottom left)  and enjoyed a Rum Twizzler (the national drink of Bermuda) on the ride back to our ship.

In general it was a pleasant ride to town and a pretty good walking tour, but it was hot and we had already done our shopping yesterday, but we looked and did buy a couple more gifts and souvenirs. 

After we got back to the ship we enjoyed a pizza lunch. 

Sail Away was scheduled for 4pm with All Aboard at 3:30.  From our balcony we watched late comers heading for the gangway. An excursion bus rolled in at 3:25 so those passengers made it on OK. However at 3:35, they announced that two passengers on one cabin were not on board!   So we watched - and waited - and watched some more.  But they never did show up!  Shortly after 4pm, the ship cast off lines and headed for New York.   I feel sorry for the couple that missed the boat, but the ship did all they could to accommodate them.  

This evening's dinner was Surf and Turf.  YUM!  Steak and Lobster, and both were excellent.  As s special dessert, the restaurant manager made Cherries Jubilee for the passengers in Reserved Dining.  

What a nice way to end the day.  

Tomorrow is a sea day as we said at near full speed (21 mph) for New York City. 

Bermuda, Day 2

We had a simple plan for the day :  Buy two all day transportation passes and "see the island".  This turned into taking two busses all the way from  where we are docked at the Royal Naval Dockyards to St George's in the east.  Getting there would involve taking the #7 and #1 busses, then returning using the #10 or 11 busses to Hamilton, then a bus or ferry back to the ship. We expected this to take about 5 hours. 

On the menu at breakfast, we were pleasantly surprised to see Princess' special french toast, which we both loved in the past - and did again today.  

Next we bought our transportation passes and headed out.   It's very hard to describe the roads in Bermuda. Very narrow and nearly all are lined by greenery including flowering shrubs.  At times it appears you are driving in a rain forest!   Unfortunately pictures of these roads were not possible. 

We made it to St George's OK in time for lunch.  It was a very quiet town and we ended up being the only patrons at a restaurant.  We then headed back to Hamilton, the capital city.  Here are a couple of scenic pictures.  It's hard to get good pictures from a moving bus!  We passed some pretty, and, due to the hilly terrain, very challenging golf courses.

Hamilton was nice.  Since we'd been on  busses all day, we decided to take the ferry back to the ship.   We were able to do some shopping while we waited for over an hour for the ferry, having not checked the ferry schedule before making this decision.   The picture on the right is the waterfront, and I think you know the two people on the left. 

Tomorrow we have a morning catamaran excursion, then at 4pm we start to head back to New Your City. 

Arriving at Bermuda

We were greeted by smooth seas this morning.  No special activities on the agenda, just breakfast and Sudoku, followed by lunch.    At 1pm we could finally see Bermuda.  As I wrote this at 3pm, we were waiting for a ship to leave so we could dock.  The NCL Aqua and Virgin of the Seas were taking up the two dock locations.  The Aqua finally departed so we were docked and cleared to go ashore by 4:30. 

Once ashore, we walked to the shopping area, visited a few stores, and bought some souvenirs. It was nice to get ashore, but it was very hot, near 90 with 82% humidity.  Quite the change from the air conditioned ship! Unfortunately the next 2 days will be similar.  Temp just over 90, but heat index of around 96.  

We took new pictures of our ship (love the palm trees!) and I was able to get one of our balcony.  Look for the curved balconies and we're the second one from the top.  Being rear facing it is partially sheltered from the wind when the ship is moving. 

That's it for today.  Tomorrow we are taking public busses to see Bermuda, going from one end to the other, visiting both Hamilton and St George's.