Let's Celebrate!

We had a welcome package waiting for us in our verandah. John had sent the water bottle holder ans bottle water. The flowers and non-alcoholic wine and picture credit were part of the Let's Celebrate package I gave Cliff for our Anniversary. We had dinner at the Pinnacle Grill also, but more about that later.

Jan 13-20, 2007 Mexico Cruise

Mexican Riviera Cruise

Jan 13-20, 2007

After weeks of anticipation of our cruise for our 36^th Anniversary, my friend Sadie Watts picked us up at 0630 on Saturday, Jan. 13^th, for our Holland America Line Mexican Riviera Cruise. Sadie drove us to drop our car off at Dr. Dan’s before going to the Lindberg Terminal at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. We got checked in with no glitches. We flew Northwest Airlines to San Diego’s Lindberg Airport. We had a great flight. It was just under four hours flying time to California. This was my first time in California. I had been invited to live in Monterey with my brother John in 1965, but I couldn’t imagine going so far from home back then. Who would have thought?

As we were flying into SAN the view was amazing, including the naval ships in the harbor. I never expected to be so excited. I wanted to call my mom and tell her all about it, but my hotline to heaven wasn’t working at that time so Cliff suggested I call my brother instead. I did...and promptly burst into tears. All the family history with San Diego and Coronado just kind of caught up with me all at once. We had a great landing and gathered our luggage with no problems. John had suggested we take a taxi rather than the HAL transfer and we were at the Port of San Diego terminal in no time. We were there before the transfer would have gotten us there. On the approach to SAN we could see the Oosterdam out our window. That in itself was neat. Check in was speedy and before we knew it we were eating lunch in the Lido on deck 9 waiting for our cabin to be ready. Cliff loved the sushi right off. I had a nice rotisserie chicken lunch with some of the best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten. The Pineapple sorbet was to knock your socks off. Before we knew it, our cabin was ready. We found welcome gifts from John in our cabin. Our luggage arrived and we were almost settled when the boat drill started. As they finished the drill we started puling out of the harbor.

Washing Windows

One of the Holland America Line's Oosterdam crew is out washing the windows and decks down before we leave San Diego Harbor. You can see the Verandah below ours. The sea salt accumulates on the windows and teak decks and they wash them down frequently. 

San Diego Skyline View

Cliff is enjoying the view from our Verandah on the Oosterdam. The San Diego Skyline is in the background along with the Sante Fe Railroad Station. The Midway Museum was directly across from our Verandah. Just above Cliff's hand you can see the bridge where the Captain stands. 

Mexican Cruise 1/13/07 -1/20/07

Just as the weather temperature dipped in Minnesota, Cliff and I headed South of the Border, down Mexico way! On Saturday morning, January 13th, myfriend and co-worker Sadie Watts made the extreme sacrifice of getting out of bed on a cold Saturday morning and picked us up at 6:30 a.m. and drove us to the Lindberg Terminal of the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. Forunately she drives a Jeep Cherokee because we had enough luggage for an army, as usual.