We Did It Again!!!

13.5-Mile 500 Mini-Marathon  [see map] [video below]

After a 8 year absence Kelly & I completed our 5th Mini-Marathon together. With a new hip(2012) for me, and both of us being 7 years older, and little preparation by either of us, we had little expectations and goals in this year’s marathon. As it turned out we did finish the mini without any disasters, and for the first time since 2007 we finished together.

• 2007 Actual time: 3 hours 21 min. [Kelly & Glenn]
• 2008 Actual Time: 3 hours 24 minutes [Glenn]
• 2008 Actual Time: 3 hours 31 minutes [Kelly]
• 2008 Actual Time: 3 hours 15 minutes [Glenn @the Geist Mini]
• 2009 Actual Time: 3 hours 37 minutes [Kelly]
• 2009 Actual Time: 3 hours 57 minutes [Glenn]
• 2010 Actual Time: 3 hours 42 minutes [Kelly]
• 2010 Actual Time: 3 hours 46 minutes [Glenn]
• 2018 Actual Time: 4 hours 3 minutes [Glenn & Kelly] 

 

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2008 From Static Pictures

Cruising: My Favorites

Best on shore excursion:

1. Dunn's River Falls, Ocho Rios, Jamaica: Phil Lafayette
2. Zip-Line Canopy Tour, Roatan, Honduras
3. Jet Ski, Coco Cay Island, Bahamas: Royal Caribbean [Sorry, no pictures.]
4. Sting Ray City, Grand Cayman Island: Native Water Sports
5. Stewards Cove Snorkeling, Bahamas: Swimming with the sharks
6. Tubing White River, Ocho Rios, Jamaica: Phil Lafayette
7. White Water Rafting, Limon, Costa Rica
8. Panama Canal Excursion, Colon, Panama
9. White Knuckle Thrill Ride, Key West, FL.
10. Gatorland, Orlando, Florida
11. Three Reef Snorkel, Cozumel, Mexico
12. Mayan Cave Tour, Belize
13. Port Calica, Mexico: Lagoon Snorkeling, Ceynote Snorkeling, Swimming with the Sea Turtles, Zip Line
14. ATV Jungle Adventure, Cozumel, Mexico
15. Jungle Queen River Boat, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
16. Ruins of Tulum, Cozumel, Mexico

Best Entertainment:

1. Holiday [Carnival]: Multi talented Cruise Director was surprisingly talented. Great floorshow and comedians.
2. Freedom [Carnival]: Great floorshow and comedians.  Big Screen TV on Promenade Deck

Best Food:

1. Sovereign of the Seas [Royal Caribbean]: The buffet seemed to always be open, variety & flavor
2. Shockies, Ocho Rios, Jamaica: Jerk Pork, Chicken and Festival Bread
3. Jungle Queen River Boat, Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Chicken, Ribs, Cole Slaw [not to thrilled with the Shrimp though]
4. Rays Rum Point, Grand Cayman: Hot Wings and Fries
5. Freedom [Carnival]: But do you not have a burger on the room service menu?
6. Triumph [Carnival]

Best Bingo:

1. MS Holiday [Carnival]: c’mon Becka… When this girl inevitably makes Cruise Director the world of Bingo will suffer a great loss, and I’m not just saying that because We won on the first three days of the cruise.
2. Freedom [Carnival]
3. Sovereign of the Seas [Royal Caribbean]
4. Triumph [Carnival]

Best Casino:

1. Sovereign of the Seas [Royal Caribbean]: Live dealer at the Texas Hold’em table, daily hold’em tournament.  Carnival and their electronic ‘Poker Pro’ is more like staying home and playing on the internet than being in a Casino.

Best Ship:

1. Sovereign of the Seas [Royal Caribbean]
2. Freedom [Carnival]
3. MS Holiday [Carnival]
4. Triumph [Carnival]

2014 Kayaking on White River (Yorktown-Chesterfield, Indiana):

Kelly McKinney                                                                                     MAP IT

18 hrs · Edited ·

Allowed on Timeline

Yesterday my dad and I went on a four hour kayaking trip down the White River. It was a beautiful day and I had a great time! It also happened to be the 2 month anniversary of his hip replacement surgery. Would highly recommend it to anyone. The company offers Groupons often and provides everything that you need.

Cataract Falls: updated 2014

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2007 -- Visited during something of a drought so the water level was pretty low, Little Sister Falls was bone dry (it is a little spring fed falls that has some visual appeal even dry).  Got some great pictures until I fell in the water and soaked two cameras (see the note below on drying out electronics).  That and time constraints kept us (Troy, Kelly and I) from getting any pictures from the covered bridge.

2014 – Visited with Tracy, Sierra and Shilyn after doing the McCormack State Park ‘Volkssport’ walk. The water levels were higher than in 2007.  Ignore the dates on the picture, it defaulted to 2007 when I changed the batteries.

Visit the Cataract Falls website at: http://www.cataractfalls.com/

    There are three falls; upper, lower and Little Sister. There is a trail between the upper and lower falls, but you can also drive.  All three falls are in walking distance of each other.

Cozumel 2011: Three Reef Snorkel

Spent a day living a dream aboard the vessel Miguelito in the turquoise water off of the western side of the island.
The 3-Reef trip was relaxing as we would plunge into the waters with our snorkel guide and instead of swimming around you let the currents move you along above the reefs as our guide would swim down to the reef to point out the fish and sometimes ‘scoot’ them out from their hidden spots for us to see them.

 

Afterwards the Miquelito dropped us off at a great beach clubs for lunch [included in fee] where we had an awesome beef burrito that was a struggle to finish…big, meaty, fresh cut vegetables.

http://www.eagleraydivers.com/Snorkel.htm 

We booked this tour ourselves before boarding our cruise ship, well worth the price. We caught a short [$8] cab ride to the marina and found the Miquelito easily.

Find on map

 

More 2011 Cruise Adventures:

• Carnival Freedom: Rescue at Sea
• Costa Rica: White Water Rafting Class III
• Panama: Colon, Panama Canal Tour

 

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2011 Cruise: Rescue at Sea

2011 cruise aboard the Carnival Freedom. This was our second cruise on the freedom, the first being 2009 [my favorite] to the Grand Cayman and Jamaica. We got an ocean view room this time and took the behind the scenes tour: below decks, crew areas, galley, steak house, the bridge, laundry, food prep, marshaling area, etc.
As usual had lots of fun and 'decompressed' completely.

On our first day at sea we had too course changes. The first turned out to be a bunch of red balloons floating on the water but the second was a Cuban refugee in a small blue raft with homemade oars. We picked him up and then turned around and took him back to Key West where he was turned over to the US Coastguard .
I'll never understand the logic of a policy that encourages Cubans to flee an oppressive regime, but we will only accept them if they actually set foot on dry land, sometimes actually stopping and arresting them in the shallows of a beach, mere feet from dry land. At which point we return them to the oppressive regime we encouraged them to flee from. Which is what will happen to this refugee.

Judging from where we picked this guy up [red dot] either he was way off course and in trouble or he had never seen a map and set sail from a bad location.

More 2011 Cruise Adventures:

• Cozumel: Three Reef Snorkel
• Costa Rica: White Water Rafting Class III
• Panama: Colon, Panama Canal Tour

Wolf Park, Indiana

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Wolf Park is a nonprofit education and research center, founded in 1972 and located in Battle Ground, Indiana, USA. Its captive gray wolves, red foxes, coyotes and bison serve as ambassador animals, helping to educate the public about wolves, their relatives and prey, and their behavior.

Pictures and video from our 2010 re-visit to Wolf Park. We got to go into the enclosure with Tristan, Renki and Ayla for our 'sponsor' visit. My wolf, Wolfgang, wasn't in a good mood so I went in with Kelly to visit her wolf, Ayla, who also had Tristan and Renki with her. The visit was awesome.

“This one-of-a-kind demonstration is offered each Sunday afternoon during open season. Guests have the opportunity to watch what happens when predator meets prey. Bison are some of the most formidable prey wolves will meet in the wild, and healthy bison, like those at the Park, have nothing to fear. Visitors will be able to see how wolves test their prey for weakness and how the bison defend themselves and their calves by chasing the wolves away. Although no animals are ever injured, you will be given unique insight into how wolves hunt and how difficult it is to be a predator in the wild.”

Visit the Wolf Park website at:   www.wolfpark.org

Located in north central Indiana near Lafayette/West Lafayette Wolf Park is a Wolf preserve with a varied collection of North American animals.  Wolfs are observed in a compound with bleacher settings for demonstrations, lectures and observations.  Two or three wolfs are released [during presentations] into the very large Buffalo Compound so that their predatory behavior can be observed.  Don't worry the wolfs are at a distinct disadvantage as the herd contains many full grown bulls.  As a natter of fact the young bulls in the heard usually forget who is supposed to be the hunter and hunted.

Seminars~Gift shop~Wolfdog Hybreds~Wolf Park Kids~Wolf Park on Myspace~Newsletter

New Orleans: 2010 Cruise

We drove straight through from Indy in about 12-13 hours. Were really tired by the time we got checked into the hotel but we were also hungry so we forced ourselves to go out to the River Walk on the Mississippi River. We had planned on going to the Jazz Festival in the French Quarter and the Aquarium but were just to wore out. We were right downtown less than a block from the River Walk and a couple of blocks from the cruise terminal.

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Roatan, Honduras, C.A.

In Roatan we met our tour guide just outside the port [Mahogany Bay] where he drove us to the Pirates Of The Caribbean Canopy Tour where we took the extreme tour which included ‘zips’ of over 1,800 feet at altitudes of over 300 feet. Our guides on the zip-lines were Dwayne and Bud.

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Please be patient. I will be completing the videos and pictures from the cruise [Honduras, New Orleans and the Carnival Triumph] and posting them soon.

After the zip-line we visited a local ‘zoo’ were we were allowed into the enclosures with some of the animals.

Links to some of the animals pictured:

• Agouti
• Scarlet Macaw
• Toucan
• Coatimundi [White Nosed]
• Capuchin Monkeys

I wasn’t feeling well that day [sinus infection] so we cut the rest of our tour short and returned to Mahogany Bay and the ship. We would recommend Tony’s Independent Tours in Roatan for their personal and flexible service.

Belize 2010:

After anchoring of shore we ‘tendered’ to the dock [video below @bottom] and met our tour guide. We took a bus ride to the location, ‘harnessed up’ and preceded on our descent into caves once used by ancient Mayans.

We hiked, crawled, climbed, repelled and ‘zip lined’ through the various caves while viewing artifacts and learning some things about the Mayans.

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Triumph: Carnival Cruise

Jamaica:

Thursday: Jamaica Mon!

 

 

Kelly booked our day with ‘Phil Lafayette, Ocho Rios Tours’ which was to include The Dunn River Falls, White River Tubing and an optional lunch.  Phil was great. His knowledge of the islands history, flora and fauna was impressive.  He was entertaining, informative and industrious in his presentation.  He made sure we had a full day and we got more than our moneys worth.  At the Dunn's River Falls he got us very capable guides in ‘Big Daddy’ and Orville and at the White river the trio of guides led by Dwight  made sure we got the most out of our experience.

“…the Dunn’s River Falls, one of Jamaica’s famous attractions. The Falls are comprised of 600 feet cascades, which flows over and through the rocky terrains, creating an ideal climbing environment with great panoramic views. Each day scores of people climb the falls wearing swimwear, aqua socks and taking along water cameras with the assistance of experience guides.”

Once again we were a small group [12] with plenty of attention from Phil and the guides as we enjoyed a beautiful day with some beautiful people.

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Climbing the falls was awesome, or as Phil taught us ‘Irie Mon’, 600 foot climb in clear mountain water was so much fun that by the time we got to the top we were having to much fun to be tired or aware of the chilly waters.

After the lunch stop at Scotchies, Phil drove us to the White River where he turned us over to three guides who would take us on our tubing experience down the beautiful river.  Led by Dwight who sang, danced and entertained us as we floated effortless down the sometimes swift, sometimes tranquil, always clear and shallow river.  At a rest stop we dived off a platform, swung from a rope swing, talked, sang, and relaxed to the sounds of the Jamaican beat before continuing down the river.

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After we dried off Phil took us thru the hills of Ocho Rios before dropping us off back at the shopping district, near the pier, where everyone had just enough time to wrap up some shopping before re-boarding our Ship.
Walking slow and talking fast, Mon.

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During the course of the day Phil gave us the options of stopping for lunch and/or shopping and managed to squeeze it into our itinerary.  The lunch stop was at a little local restaurant, Scotchies, off the beaten path where we had jerk pork, chicken, and a Festival Bread with a drink for a simple $6 each. Sitting in outside huts with that warm Jamaican breeze it was ‘Irie Mon’ *

* Irie Mon= Jamaican for ‘awesome man’

Grand Cayman Island

Wednesday: Grand Cayman Island

The port in Georgetown is too shallow for our cruise ship which means we disembark by ‘tender’.  In other words we anchor offshore and board ‘shuttles’ to and from the dock throughout the day.

 

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The water is is so blue its unbelievable.  Our Itinerary for the day included Stingray City [Sandbar], Barrier Reef & Rum Point Beach.  Kelly booked our day with Native Way Watersports.

Our guide was Captain Chris and our boat was the ‘Trippin Out’, a 43 foot torres vessel.  There were only a couple, a family of 5 [from England], Kelly, me and Chris so we had plenty of room on the boat.  As you can see some of the other boats at the sandbar were packed, standing room only and didn’t have a enough guides to assist them in handling the rays.

Stingray Sandbar: The Stingray City Sandbar, located inside the Barrier Reef, is teeming with 30 to 40 Southern Atlantic stingrays. The only place in the world where you can enjoy the thrill of swimming with and feeding the ‘rays.

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When we first pulled up to the sandbar I was like a little kid, I had expected those little stingrays that we used to accidently hook when fishing at Uncle Rubin’s in Fort Meyers.  But these things were huge, 4 to 5 feet across and they were everywhere, gliding by individually and in pairs. As we were all climbing into the water, only waste deep in spite of how far away from shore we were, Chris jumped in and caught a stingray by hand for us to handle it, feed it, hold it, etc.  IT WAS AWSOME!

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After we had played with and fed the rays we cruised around over to the reef which was about a hundred yards away and snorkeled for about an hour.  We have visited ‘better’ reefs before but the smallness of our group made for a much more relaxed and un-crowded experience.

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After snorkeling we cruised over to the pier at Rays Rum Point shopped and ate lunch on the beach [included in our tour]. The beach was beautiful, the shopping was decent and the food good and they had hammocks.  Did I mention we ate there?

Some of in our group walked around, some took a nap on the ‘Trippin Out until it as time to go.  We had such complete run of the boat that it was no problem for some of us to lay out either napping or sunning.

We did some more shopping back at the ships dock and then returned to the boat, exhausted and happy.  Then to be safe we ate some more.  Love Grand Cayman.

Key West, Florida:

Monday: Key West

We got off the boat and walked the port area until it was time to meet for our white knuckle speed boat ride.

Crowded little streets in the bar/shopping district.  Kelly bought some sandals at a little shop [Kino Sandals] where 50 years ago a Cuban couple escaped Castro’s Cuba and started a little shop where they hand make leather sandals right there.  Supporting American made products!!!!  I got some shades for my glasses because the sunlight here is nearly blinding.  This place is wall to wall shops and booths, trolleys, tours, rent a this and rent a that.  Every house has been turned into a museum to something or another to the point that some don’t even seem to have a Florida connection.

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There’s this little island that visible from the pier where Oprah and other millionaires have a house.  I’ve seen this referred to as Tank Island, Sunset Island and Sunset Key. They aren't allowed boats and the only way to get to the island is by a specific ferry that stops running at 10pm and if they don’t make it their out of luck.  Why live on an island if you aren't allowed a boat?  Can’t figure out where their waste goes, water and electricity comes from?  The island is man made.

These three pictures are from the first 360 spin near the docks. We were still dry here but when we got out into open water we got soaked good!

The boat ride was wild, we got soaked!  Saw two sharks resting on the bottom.  The boat goes at full speed [about 50 mph] then makes a sharp turn while killing the motor which results in a 360 degree spin and the boat ends up going backward to a stop.  The boat also does fish tails and side way slides.  We were the only ones on the boat because everyone else booked through the cruise lines and went earlier, as usual by booking ourselves online previous to the cruise we got a better deal and more personal service.  Normally the ride is 30 minutes but we were out about 45-60 minutes.  The business is owned and operated by a Michigan family that migrated to Key West to open it a few years ago.
If your ever in Key West, it doesn’t matter if your on a cruise or not, the kids will love this.

Kelly’s down at the crap table and I haven’t even come close at bingo. Tomorrow I’m trying the Slot Tournament.  Still haven’t stopped eating, got a sunburned nose and forearms and feet but not too bad.

Freedom: Carnival Cruise

We checked out of the hotel about 11 and onto the boat, uh ship, thereafter.  The line at the cruise terminal wasn’t too bad even though there were traffic jams all over from one ship to the next.  After we got on we got something to eat and haven’t stopped eating since then, food everywhere.
Its about 10pm now.  I struck out at bingo tonight and Kelly’s still at the crap table.  She looked like she had doubled up when I left the casino to watch the stage show in the theater.  Our cabin is really nice but its a long walk from the elevators, but we are right above the casino which is cool.  Gotta go, its time for my late night snack on the promenade deck…

952'long X 116'across
21max knots
1,150crew
2,974guest

There are buffets and grills everywhere as well as a sit down dinning room.  All are included in the cabin price. Also free 24 hour: Pizzeria, ice-cream and yogurt machines as well as tea and lemonade fountains.  Free room service is also included! In addition there are pay as you go restaurants and bars galore.

Carnival Website

This boat is a huge as our first ship, Sovereign of the Seas, if not bigger. It has basketball and volley ball courts, putt-putt golf, a three story water slide and a giant screen TV that they show movies and concerts on at night, which is so cool watching outside in a deck chair with a warm sea breeze blowing over you next to the pool.  There are four pools and at least six Jacuzzis' on deck.

Tuesday: Full Day at Sea

First full day at sea as we sail from Key West southwest around the western coast of Cuba then south/southeast to the Grand Cayman Island.

Still discovering spots on the boat.  We ate in the dinning room last night.  Usually we don’t make the time since it so fancy and you have to wait for your food.
I ordered some cured salmon and tiger shrimp.  Both were good but I obviously didn’t know what cured salmon was.  Tiger shrimp is all right but I think I prefer your normally curly tailed shrimp.

Today I ate, and then I ate some more.
Still not winning at bingo, not even coming close.
Ate some more.
Nice breeze, not wind, but a breeze.  It just seems like no matter how strong the breeze may get its not wind, just nice.
I ate again.

Attended the adult comedian and the floorshow.  Kelly’s still playing craps and oh yeah, she's eating too

Friday: Second Full Day at Sea

Like our first full day at sea, and all our evenings, we filled our time with onboard activities, naps, walking, people watching, shows, swimming, the hot tubs, bingo, the casino, eating, shopping, twilight movies on the deck, and anything we wanted. Including an occasional nothing.

The day for Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which has become a nationwide event, occurred during our cruise so the cruise line sponsored an onboard ‘On Deck For The Cure’ event.

Our Port Of Calls were:

Key West, Fl.
Grand Cayman
Jamaica

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Saturday: Ft. Lauderdale
2009 Cruise

We got into Ft. Lauderdale about eleven AM, checked into the hotel and walked around the area for a little.  We then caught city busses and made our way to the beach where we caught the Jungle Queen for a three hour tour [no professor or Mary Ann, just Kelly Ann].  The river boat took us up the New River past million dollar mansions and million dollar boats.  We saw Al Pacino, Hyzengar, Nick Saban, Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s and David Sterns mansion, also the Vanderbilt mansion.  David Sterns mansion and boat cost over $50 million dollars!  I don’t want to here anything from these people about excessive taxes or whining about troubled franchises when they waste fortunes on ‘second homes and boats that are idle and vacant for months out of the year!

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The riverboat dropped us off at an island for dinner, entertainment and animal exhibits.  The food was great: the ribs and chicken just fell off the meat and the coleslaw was the best I every had [I need to get that recipe].  A huge Peacock got on top of one of the huts and was crowing all over the place.

Marengo Caves: Dripstone Trail

link to Marengo Caves Website

Marengo Caves: Crystal Palace

Marengo Indiana

Blowing Bat Crawl: On June 14, 1992 experienced cave explorers dug through the final tight spot in the 'Bat Crawl' to discover the largest cave passage ever found in an Indiana cave.  This effort culminated many years of sporadic digging to enlarge this passage to follow the strong air flow which indicated the large cave system beyond.

link to Marengo Caves Website

Marengo Caves:

Marengo Indiana

Discovered September 6, 1883 by Blanche & Orris Heistand who descended into the first room. The following Sunday, Mitch Stewart and friends explored the main passageways.

 

The next day, local residents descended in mass on the cave. Owner Samuel Stewart, recognizing the commercial potential, secured the entrance and immediately opened the cave to the public. The Marengo Cave Company was formed in 1900 to operate the cave. The cave became popular destination for railroad excursions prior to the great depression.

Local residents used their wagons to haul visitors to and from the train depot. As transportation changed from automobiles, the business languished yet survived on word of mouth advertising. The cave was sold to Floyd Denton in 1995.

Floyd had big plans for redevelopment but died in 1960 before he could realize many of his plans. The cave was sold to a group of avid cave explorers in `973. Designated a National Landmark in1984, the cave business has steadily increased since 1973 to become Indiana's #1 natural attraction.

Click to see Crystal Palace Cave

Click to see Dripstone Trail Caves

 

link to Marengo Caves Website

Cozumel: Mexico

Cozumel, like Nassau, had a lot going on at the port.  If you liked shopping the and some nearby shopping centers were easy access.  We did an ATV adventure with Wildtours [link to the left] which included a beachside restaurant with pool, hammocks, shops and massages.
The ATV adventure included a sinkhole and a ceynote.  Prepare to eat dust.