Monday, May 7, 2018

Escaping Insanity: A Cruising Trip Report. Day 6: Ropin’ and Glowin’…the beginning of the end…



Need to see what happened on the previous day?  Click HERE to go to the start of Day 5.




I woke up a bit before the other three, but I just laid in bed, enjoying the slight rocking motion of the ship as it was steaming west back towards the Bahamas.  The westward portion of the trip definitely seemed to be less choppy than the eastern portion for this particular cruise.


Eventually, we all were up – we were not in any real hurry today, as there were no major plans.  We all hoped that the ropes course would be open, and, at first glance on the balcony, the winds didn’t seem too bad.  Despite having no plans and not needing to be anywhere, we were all up and ready for breakfast by 7:30.  We decided Savor for breakfast.
















Breakfast was done quickly, so we decided to venture up to the Sports area to see how busy the mini golf course was.  It was DEAD!!!  I strapped on the GoPro and made a complete fool of myself videoing the entire round.  I’ll save you the gruesome documentation (think Happy Gilmore meets Blair Witch).




After we finished, we checked the clock to make sure we were doing good on time; we decided to stop by the 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar to do a little pre-Glow Party painting on the t-shirts that we brought.  We played a bit of lawn bowling and then headed down to get in line.  At 9:15,  several members from the event staff showed up with shirts, paint, and brushes/toothpicks.  Jackie was among them, and, as I got up to where he was in the line, I asked how he was still standing after doing the 70s/80s Dance the previous night.  He smiled and admitted that he was dragging a little bit.  I told him how great of a job he and the rest of the staff were doing as I grabbed some paint and made my way to where the others were.


Most of the Mushfam was putting their names/nicknames on their t-shirts.  I opted for something more sentimental…a tribute to Bob Ross.  I put a happy little tree on the front and, after realizing just how bad/ugly/forlorn it was, put an arrow pointing up to the neck with the words “NOT Bob Ross” underneath.


We took our shirts back to our stateroom to dry. The time was just before 10:00…the time that the ropes course was to open.  Sheri determined around the time that we booked the cruise that she was definitely not doing the ropes course, so she became the de facto photographer.  I again played the role of “guy-that-looks-like-an-idiot-with-a-Go-Pro-strapped-to-his-forehead” and got harnessed up with Aaron and Eric. 



I won’t bore you with the details….WHAT A RUSH!!!  I’ll admit here and now that our boys know no fear, and they displayed that as they walked out on the plank that hung over the ship (with only water below you).  Neither of them blinked when the photographer asked them to let go:









I made it out on the plank, too, and got a picture, but remember the role I was playing (yeah, it was THAT bad). 



I had a couple of women behind me that were probably 5-10 years older than me, and, while we waited to cross the various beams/ropes/etc., we talked quite a bit to each other.  One of them got stuck on the first zipline right after I crossed, and it became the talk of the rest of their time up on the course!


If you can handle heights, I strongly recommend that you do the ropes course – it is about as high on the ship as you can go, and the views are simply breath-taking on the top level!!



We did pretty much the entire course in about 30 minutes.  There were some places where you had to wait, but that is to be expected.  For something included in the cruise fare, oh yeah….definitely a thumbs-up from me!





Hi Mom (literally)









Show-off!



Aaron flying through the course



Never looked worse! (but the view up there!!!)



Seriously...quit showing off!









After the ropes course, we headed back to the room to drop off a couple of items and then made our way to the atrium.  It was close enough to noon (about 10:45), so Sheri and I got a couple of drinks at O’Sheehan’s while we sat around and people-watched for a while.  The boys made their way to the arcade for a bit.  At 11:15, we grabbed some chairs at the edge of the Atrium to watch master pastry chef Jackie do a cupcake decorating demonstration. 


Let’s just say that there were a lot of laughs at that one!


After that was TV trivia, so we had to stay and try our hand at that (we didn’t win).  Once the trivia was over, we all realized that we were getting hungry (though, knowing the boys, they likely had already been in the buffet twice since breakfast).  The weather was beautiful…actually, I guess I should say that “The Weather is Here…I Wish You Were Beautiful!” (it’s one of my favorite Buffett songs).


Yep – we opted for lunch at Margaritaville! 


Why?


We haven’t had a Cheeseburger in Paradise yet!


(plus, Orly was playing up there)


We walked in and exchanged big smiles with Orly as we were seated.  Sheri opted for a Landshark Lager, while the License to Chill called to me (silver tequila, blue curacao, and margarita mix).  The server accidentally called it a License to Kill, and, based on the amount of tequila, it may have been a better name.  It was GOOD, but it had some power in it!





Of course, I ordered another one later on (insert evil grin here)








The burgers were good…really good!  The boys ended up running out after a while, and Sheri and I just sat and enjoyed being there.  Good food, great music, amazing surroundings, and I was with the love of my life.


I might have actually started to relax for a bit around this time.

(Continued...HERE!)

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