Houston-Day 3

I think I woke up around 7 for the 7 Line Run around downtown Houston. Truthfully, I was about fed up with driving in this city and with my rental car.

So after a 15 minute drive without much traffic (for a change), I parked on the street near the right field gate. Though I may have been the only one, as it seemed like everyone else was walking. Actually, I should clarify. I parked under the overpass next to the stadium, where a bunch of homeless people were camping out. And the parking meter wasn't even working so I did the whole run worries a cop would come along and give me a ticket.

But there were  about 80 or 90 of us and the run got off to a good start on a comfortable, yet another cloudy day. And I was off to a pretty solid pace as we headed west on Congress St and then south on Harris St. After about mile 2.5, I would up around Polk St, near the Toyota Center. Except I was all but alone. the first 5 or 6 people were way ahead and I out outpaced the rest of the group. And I took a wrong turn to the right on Polk St even though that's what was in my turn directions. When I started to go under the overpass...I knew I was off! Eventually I figured my way back to Avenue of the Americas and finished the race though I ran more like a 3.25m instead of 3.1m. One guy brought a case of water and a case of Lone Star beer. I took down two of each. Chatted with a few people there too, it was fun.

By now the sun was shining, and after going back to the room and cleaning up, I had to make a stop at Jiffy Lube, since my right rear tire had been running low for the last 24 hours. 5 minutes, in and out of there. I hit up Costco for gas, and I think it was about $2.65/gallon. 

And then it was food time. I didn't do BBQ again, didn't do Mexican either. It was Kenny and Ziggy's, a NY Jewish deli that I had seen featured on DDD. The tables were most filled up. But they have two bars/counters, one for the alcohol and one for the desserts/coffees/shakes. I took a stool at the latter and immediately was served a bowl of sour and half sour pickles. Very good start. I ordered the #1 sandwich: pastrami, corned beef, Russian dressing, and cole slaw on crusty double baked seeded rye bread. Oh my goodness. Plenty of meat inside, super seasoned. Not too much slaw and Russian but enough to add flavor. Of course, I added brown mustard as I went along. But the bread was perfect. I have eaten at too many NY delis where the rye bread is soft on the outside. The double bakes process gets it crusty on the outside and that makes the sandwich so much better. For the included side, they had a few salad options, but they were all lathered in mayo. For $2.75 more, I added French fries, which were thick like steak fries. Super brown and crispy on the outside.

The dessert selection is amazing with oversized cheesecake a huge variety of cookies, old school ice cream sodas, and milkshakes. But in their cookie display, they had the man-shaped sandwich cookies with the chocolate in between two vanilla cookies. And those are mom's favorites, so I got a half dozen to bring back.

Then it was time to drink. the spot was St Arnold, just north of downtown and it was packed. They had live music playing, a flea market going on, tons of tables both inside and outside and it was till hard to find a spot. I got a flight and a draft, and I would say the beers were mostly fine. I wouldn't call them the best I've ever had, but it was fun for an hour.

Tailgate time with the 7 Line at Pitch 25. Shockingly, I get a free space on the street about a half mile from the stadium. At the bar though. the lines were always 30-40 people long for all 3 hours that we were tailgating. I drank a couple of Sun Cruiser cans, which are basically just vodka, iced tea, and some lemon juice. I felt so bloated from the beer that it was pleasant to sip a lighter alternative.

We marched to the stadium around 5:30 for the rubber game, about 1,000 Mets fans strong. It was a 2-1 loss, the Mets had one lousy hit all game. I had checked out after the top of the 8th and left. Now it was 3 games into the season, I'm not panicking, but it was a disappointing start for the offense. I didn't even eat dinner after the game, I was too aggravated. So I still have never tried Whattaburger. But hey, they'll be in Raleigh come 2026.

Next morning, 35 minute drive to the airport at 5 am. Two brief mechanical delays, but I was back in Raleigh around 3 pm. 

The trip was very up and down. The highs were high and the lows were low. Plus my rental car got a tiny bit of damage in the back on Day 2. I didn't want to mention that though. 

Houston-Day 2

Several inches of rain was forecasted for Friday. Not to mention 5-6 inches south of Houston. There was some rain that fell, but nowhere near what was expected. Mom left early in the morning as expected, and I took her to Hobby Airport, which is much closer to downtown. It's basically the Midway of Houston... the secondary airport in the hood. 

From there, I drove to the Museum District, which is a really nice section, I think Mom would've liked it. There is a large arch and statue dedicated to Sam Houston. They also have a rectangular reflection pool, similar to the Washington Monument. They have a couple of smaller parking lots and I was able to score a free parking space. I visited the Museum of Natural Science, but what I didn't know is it was also Field Day. So as I'm walking up to the entrance, I see a line of 8 or 9 school buses and the kids are all getting out. I maneuvered my way through them and inside, and saw a huge line of people waiting to buy tickets. As it turned out, there was a kiosk for it as well, and I got my tickets there with no wait whatsoever.

At 10:30, I saw a 3D film about the discovery and life of Wyrex, which is one of the most complete T-Rex dinosaur skeletons ever discovered, aside from its missing tail. It cost an extra 12 bucks, and I was a little scared of how graphic it could get, but it was really well done between the filmography and the storytelling. But the best part was I walked out of the theater and there must have been 200 kids waiting to get in for the next showing. 

Their paleontology section had several dozen dinosaur skeletons, including Wyrex as well as a few other T-Rexs, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus. But they had sections for so many kinds of science including outer space, Egyptian tombs, alchemy, jewelry, even lifting a 500-pound piano. I also like the periodic table of elements that you could walk on and it would light up. 

To be fair, the kids were so rampant that I was basically ready to go after about 90 minutes. I was hungry. And I needed to try some Texas BBQ so I went to Pinkerton's. It was not a huge place, there is a bar to the left and then the ordering area to the right with several long tables. So the patrons are basically in a position where they are going to strike up a conversation with strangers. I ordered a half pound of sliced brisket, after all, it's Texas. Amazing bark on it, plenty of salt and pepper, full of flavor. Maybe the meat was just a touch overdone, but their original sauce took care of that. And it's more a of a rusty orange color, I'm pretty sure it's mustard based but with some vinegar and tomato as well. So it's the best of all worlds. I also got about 3/4 pound of glazed ribs, which had just a little touch of sweetness to them. Wonderfully juicy and easy to eat.

My first side was bacon mac and cheese. I liked that it wasn't soupy. I don't like mac and cheese where the mac and basically swimming in a pool of cheese. The cheese should stay on the mac. The South Texas beans had a whole bunch in there, several kinds of beans, onions, peppers, several spices. I think the cumin was really shining through. They also asked me if I wanted to add pickle slices, sliced white onions, a whole jalapeno, and a slice of white bread. Yes to all 4! I had a really special bite when I took some brisket, added an onion slice, and some of that original sauce.

After that, the rain still wasn't falling, so I drove to Buffalo Bayou, which is a walking area and park just west of downtown Houston. A lot of trees, pedestrian bridges, they also have a dog park. I also passed by a Houston police sculpture that was kind of confusing, it was just several sections of concrete. But I guess it's meant to pay tribute to the local cops who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Later that night was Game 2 of the season, Mets vs Astros. I parked in a garage downtown for about 16 bucks and it was about a 15 minute walk to the stadium, now known as Daikin Park, or it may as well be Dike Park. Terrible name! 

Food-wise, I tried the Crawford dog, which is two split top hot dogs topped with bacon onion jam and yellow mustard on a Martin's potato hamburger roll. Pretty heavy, but still really good for $13. I walked around concourse and got a Karbach Hazy IPA in the upper deck. Really good beer. 

Thankfully, the Mets won 3-1, highlighted by a Juan Soto HR off the facing of the upper deck. And the way the Houston fans were booing him, it felt a little extra good. 

To finish the night, I drove to Portillo's in Katy, a bougie suburb about 30 minutes west of the hotel. Hey when I get a chance to get Portillo's, I take advantage of it. I got my big beef sandwich with sweet peepers, hot peppers, and cheddar cheese. So good. I even added a Chicago hot dog for dessert. I was avoiding the fried food, and I added the vegetables that come on a Chicago dog. So I had it for health reasons, thank you. 

Houston-Day 1

I woke up at 3am Thursday morning on mom's couch. After I showered and dressed, I realized I didn't have a belt. Truthfully, I kind of felt naked without it...sorry for the mage. But I have 8 or 9 belts and not one was in my luggage. 

The Lyft got us to RDU on time and security and boarding went about as smoothly as possible. I have to give RDU credit, they don't even have a Starbucks anymore. They're making an effort to add as many local businesses as possible. I think that's rather admirable. 

As we got on the plane, I took my middle seat, and I felt an aggressive allergy attack coming on. I guess it's no surprise considering Carolina is now entering pollen season. Seemed like I spent almost the whole 3 hour ride wiping my nose with a thin, worn out handkerchief. During final descent, all the cabin pressure went right to my head. It was that feeling of squeezing all the juice out of on orange, a slow build up of pounding tension. 

We only had about 30 minutes in DFW, but wow, Terminal C looks amazing. Big LED gate signs, checkout-less shops, even a restaurant and bar named after Dirk Nowitzki. But this may be the coolest and weirdest feature that I saw. The restrooms have signs outside how many stalls are open and how far the walk is to the next restroom.

We landed in the middle of a Houston rainstorm. After collecting luggage, we took a shuttle van to the rental car center. Now we were renting with York car rental. If you're wondering what that is, I was wondering the same thing when I made the reservation. But again, $372 for 3 days and nights of a hotel and car is pretty good. The legitimate companies like Avis, Dollar, and Budget all have their own sections in the center. Not York. We had to go to the off site desk where a totally disinterested woman was holding a QR code for us to scan. A father and son were right in front of us and doing the same thing. The code brought up a 3 minute video on where to walk to get the next shuttle. So we go down the escalator and walk about 5 minutes while moving our luggage to get to the unmarked outdoor spot. I tried calling a provided number and it didn't work. There was even a rental car courtesy phone... and it didn't work either. So they're are 4 of us wondering what the hell we're supposed to do. Eventually, a white Stride van drove by. He picked us up and drove out to the site... right next to the garbage dump. And it's only appropriate because their center was a dump as well. Two desks, a vending machine, a few travel brochures, about 20 uncomfortable seats that probably came from the local dmv, some collapsing sheet rock for good measure. 

We let the other 2 go first, they had to drive to Austin. Then my turn. Now I've only rented a few cars, but I didn't foresee any issues. But then they try to upsell me on pre paying tolls. Almost to the point of manipulating me. I explained I would not use tolls and the guy was pissed about it. I guess I cost him a bonus or something.  Then I gave them my credit card for the deposit and it didn't go through. I never really use it anyway. But it hadn't expired, there were no issues to my knowledge. But they wouldn't accept a debit card, which was never explained in the reservation. And even though my mother was there, they would not accept her card because my name was on the reservation. Just completely absurd. Even when my mother explained to them about her years in the travel industry, he responds by saying then she should know how these systems work. He flat out disrespected her. I wanted to strangle that son of a bitch, I had to walk away to try to calm down. But they basically had me by the balls, they had the power to refuse me. I was going to have to rent a vehicle somewhere else. So we got a ride back to the center and mom had to rent a car. I then filed a report with Priceline to make them aware of the rude service and try to get some money back. 

Mom was gracious enough to rent the car from Budget and it was about $310 for 72 hours. That was with 2 drivers and an airline discount. I felt absolutely sick over it. But we went to Pappadeaux, probably mom's favorite restaurant that we used frequent in Chicago. But it's Houston based, along with several other restaurants in the Pappas family. We had the seafood Cobb salad and an order of fried octopus and calamari. It's not cheap, but mom loves it. And we'd been through enough distress that morning, also factoring in a certain medical email that she received. 

The rain increased, so we went to the Galleria, the bougie mall near where my hotel was. They have all the rich stores from Nordstrom to Neiman Marcus. I purchased a crimson colored neck t-shirt at a store called True Classic, which specializes in men's clothes with older looks but made of nicer materials. 

Around 3 pm, we checked into the Best Western hotel. I think we were the only white guests there. After such a rough day, we rested for a bit before going to King Ranch. The restaurant stood out to me because it's a local steakhouse with an impressive Happy Hour. Of course we arrived just in time to watch the end of the Mets loss to Houston. Anyway we ordered brisket taquitos with pico, queso fresco, picked onions, and a little guacamole. Excellent. We also had the French dip sliders with caramelized onions. Two might not be a lot, but they were really good as well. Mom was full but not me, I had a bowl of prime rib chili. Excellent flavor, super meaty, just a little touch of spice. All I needed was some oyster crackers or some cornbread. But the highlight was dessert. The pecan pie was probably the best I've ever had. It was served in a hot cast iron skillet. The warm butter flaky crust...I couldn't get enough of it. Plenty of pecans in the goo with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a caramel drizzle on top. I promised myself I would not have another dessert all weekend because nothing could live up to that. Their grilled pineapple margarita was quite good too.

After dropping mom off, I drove to Neon Boots, a small local honky tonk that's been around for decades under various names. But legends like Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline used to frequent it. I was late for the line dancing class so I just sat and watched. I didn't even feel like drinking, I just felt numb on the inside after everything that had gone on. Maybe I stayed an hour and that was it. Before heading back, I made a stop at Target. I got a lame belt, the type where the cloth goes through the plastic loops. I also got a couple of waters and a USB-C outlet. 

Blackhawk setlist

Venue: Weldon Mills Theater

8:04 start time 

Down In Flames

Goodbye Says It All

Every Once In a While

Love Like This

Let Em Whirl

Big Dreams In a Small Town

Almost a Memory Now

Down From the Mountain

Wichita

I'm Not Strong Enough To Say No

The Bluest Eyes In Texas

Like There Ain't No Yesterday

King of the World

I Sure Can Smell the Rain

There You Have It

That's Just About Right

Postmarked Brimingham

Big Guitar

Live From Laurel Canyon setlist

Venue: DPAC
Set 1
California Dreaming
Mr. Tambourine Man
For What It's Worth
Light My Fire
Helplessly Hoping
Woodstock
Cinnamon Girl

Set 2

It's Too Late
Fire and Rain
Ventura Highway
Running On Empty
You're No Good
Hotel California

NOLA and Cruise-Day 8 & 9

Friday was our final full day on board. I actually started with breakfast, yes, a custom omelet, French toast, bacon, and fruit. An hour later, I lifted a few weights for about a half hour. I was actually there for the 9:30 stretch class. About 7 or 8 of us were on the floor doing our own stretches, waiting for the instructor. Well 9:30 came. Then 9:35 and 9:40. No one came to lead. So we kept doing our own stretching. I guess that's why it was free.

 

I then went to the Captains corner in the Pacifica Theater, where three of the senior officers answered questions about the inner workings of the ship, life on a cruise ship, etc. I was ready for some sun, and I spent about 90 minutes by the pool. I downed a Corona and two pain killers. Not a pill. It's a cocktail with dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, coconut syrup, and a dash of nutmeg. Hey when the beverage package costs $76 a day, you have to get your money's worth. And you can't do that on water, coke, coffee, and tea.

Lunch was only going to be in the solarium, I didn't want to eat in Windjammer, didn't want to eat in Minstrel either. It was s going to be one last roast beef sandwich with horseradish and mustard on the kummelweck roll. 

2 pm marked an exciting event. The Love and Marriage in the Pacifica theater, for 18+. Couldn't wait for that one. The three couples who were selected had been married 1 month, 36 years, and 46 years, respectively. It was hysterical. The younger guy was a bit of an ass on stage, basically implying he had no annoying habits. Well I could see one right there. But he got a hot wife so... Anyway, the older two couples were great. The women had no filters at all. Just a great time.

I finished most of my packing and then played 90s music trivia and went 20 for 20. OK granted, I did not know the song Closing Time, but enough people around me said the name out loud where I was able to write it down! One last general trivia, and then dinner with a Mediterranean app plate, braised lamb, and an excellent peach berry trifle. 

Music was what I wanted to hear on my final night. In Colony Club, I listened to some jazz, but then it was 45 minutes of Dixieland. The band was amazing, it was a 4 piece horn section, piano, banjo, bass, and drums. Man I could have listened to that all night, it definitely got my NOLA vibe going.

The Mardi Gras party in the Centrum was fun. The four piece band played great 50s and 60s music most of the week, but this time, they even did a great version of Free Bird with only one guitar! Hundreds of green and purple balloons fell from the ceiling as the part carried on for about an hour.

I listened to Nathan in King and Country play guitar for about another half hour. Thought about karaoke, but it was just too much. A little more classic guitar from Andres in a quiet Schooner Bar, and that was it for the night.

Departure day, oh my goodness. We grabbed a quick breakfast, and took our bags down to the 5th deck, where the gangway is located. We prepared to grab a cab, go right to the airport, and get the earliest flights to Charlotte that we could before going on to our respective destinations. However, the wonderful security team of RC had other ideas. We had to scan our pass cards to leave. I got through fine, but mom didn't. Apparently it was reflecting an unpaid credit card balance and they insisted she go down to Guest Services to clear it. The problem was she had a new card mailed to her and hadn't had a chance to activate it yet. Well there was no way she was going downstairs to resolve this and wait in line again to depart. We were put on the phone with one of the security big shots and they even tried to convince me to go down alone and pay the balance. No effing way.

After the guy on the phone hung up on my mother out of frustration, we just left. We got off with our luggage, did the whole passport scanning process, and began a walk down a long corridor to get to the taxi stand. But on the way, a guy holding a sign that said Airport $15 stopped us. It caught our attention. Next thing we know, for 15 bucks per person, we're sitting in a minivan with five others and on our way to MSY. 

Check in and security were super easy to get through in New Orleans. We got to our gate about a half hour ahead of schedule. I had actually listed myself for a 10:57 flight, but we were there for the 9:44. Mom then asked me to get her a coffee at Starbucks. So I'm on line, and all of a sudden, out go the lights. I've been flying for 40 years, and this was the first time I was in an airport that experienced a power surge. 

So we got to Charlotte, pulling into Gate C10. Mom was going to Phoenix at Gate C14 and I was going back to Raleigh, my gate was C12. So if we stood in the right place, we could monitor both standby list screens. Super strange situation. Despite the terminal being packed, we had a good feeling about my flight because with some weather issues in the south, flights were getting delayed and people were missing their connections in Charlotte. Plus, only 4 standby passengers were listed for my flight and I was #2. Not bad for a mid morning trip.

Phoenix did not look so good for Mom though. She was #10 on the list and after both jump seats had been assigned, 4 standbys had been given seats. Sure enough, I boarded my plane, and I was sitting in seat 31B on my flight when she texted me a picture of seat 35C. So we both made our flights.

I Ubered back to mom's house to get my car and on the way home, I stopped at Harris Teeter, because I was in the mood for my first pizza in 2 weeks. I guess my cruise diet was still in effect for the rest of the day. Home Run Inn with pepperoni.

NOLA and Cruise-Day 7

Back on the ship we go for the first of 2 more full days on the water. Dec 26 was a gray cloudy day but at least it was warm. The first thing that was strange was the confusion over time. Our cell phones thought we were still in Jamaica on Eastern time, but the ship time was on Central. Once that all got figured out, I did a 4 mile run and got in a shoulder workout. Breakfast, breakfast. It is so hard to stick to one piece of French toast! 

With the weather not so great, mom and I went into the cinema to watch the Super/Man movie, which is basically the new Christopher Reeve documentary. It was super emotional, pun intended. And certainly it was inspiring in some ways. But the CNN influence was there, and when the opening titles revealed it was a CNN film, I should have known there would be some liberal bullshit working its way in. John Kerry was interviewed, Susan Sarandon was talking about toxic masculinity, which is a farce anyway. 

Whoopi Goldberg was interviewed, who I definitely didn't need to see. 

After that, we tried Dollar origami in Schooner Bar. The seats were packed, especially with no excursions, leaving everybody on the boat. Apparently the dollar bill was supposed to be folded into a t shirt. For me, it came out looking like George Washington was the victim of a tragic farming accident. That's what happens with Chris and his gay Filipino accent, doing a subpar job at describing steps. And it's the same crap with trivia. I got one step done, folding the bill in half. After that, no idea. And instead, I just drank a Corona.

I went downstairs to watch The Parent Trap in the Centrum. Yep, another event in the area where there is so little room. While sitting up two floors with mom, I noticed on Facebook that Mookie's Deli in Raleigh had closed. I was not a frequenter of it, but I was sad because it's yet another Jewish deli that had closed. Mom's response was three words. "I'm not surprised." She had one sandwich there and didn't care for it. But I thought the comment was rather inappropriate and I mentioned as much. She left and I chose to walk off as well.

Lunch was in main dining room by myself. Chicken Caesar salad, rolls, fried seafood sandwich with truffle fries, and a fruit plate. 

Getting some sun would have been nice but a little drizzle was falling so that wasn't happening

I decided to have some quiet time with a cocktail or two. Mojito plus margarita.

I thought at 2 pm, I'd play outdoor volleyball. By the way, no pool volleyball, since the one pool on board isn't big enough for sports. But about 30 people showed up, most of them were kids. I decided it wasn't worth it. I think I showered and relaxed by the balcony. I had dinner by myself and believe me, it wasn't my preference to do so. But mom decided to let me do my thing, but truthfully, she probably just didn't want me around. So it was shrimp cocktail, two orders of chicken marsala, and a great strawberry shortcake. 

I just wanted to kill time, so I planned to go the Broadway show. This time, I decided to sit in the balcony. And I was promptly kicked out because I didn't have a high enough RC membership. Never mind that 80 percent of the seats up top were empty. I couldn't be there. I probably cussed the usher out under my breath and stormed off. 

Then came some game shows. One was If you know it, dance it, the other was Blankety-blank, which is the Match Game. I don't know, I used to be the willing contestant and I'm just not that guy now. Off I went to King and Country for the Johnny Cash tribute. This bar is primarily beers of the world and gin cocktails. I'm just not a gin guy, I tried it again on this trip once, and that was the end of that. But Nathan, who was the acoustic guitar player on board, did the Cash show. And he had some trivia for us, such as who wrote A Boy Named Sue. I knew it was Shel Silverstein. What was Johnny Cash's first single...I said Hey Porter. I clearly have too much time on my hands.

Also during the show, we watched the end of a terrible football game with the Bears and Seahawks. But the music went for 45 minutes and I would have taken 90 minutes. 

Back to Colony Club I went to watch Crazy Quest, which is 18+. This is a game show where anything can happen. Three teams all asked to do crazy things as fast as possible. It was a pretty wacky time with guys getting dressed up to look like women, wild selfies, everyone doing the baby shark, gathering bras. I don't know, I just wasn't feeling it. Bedtime.

NOLA and Cruise-Day 6

Christmas morning had arrived and it was Jamaica Day! Since church wasn't possible, I played a Tony Evans sermon in the room. Breakfast had to be handled kind of fast, but I have my routine down now. Custom bacon and veggie omelet with a slice of thick cinnamon French toast plus some pineapple and cantaloupe. 

We who were taking excursions all met in the Pacifica Theater and we were the second group off the ship in Falmouth, which is located on the north coast of Jamaica. Blue Hole and River Tubing 23 of us. 90 minute ride, and the first half was smooth, the second half was bumpy as can be. It took half an hour maybe to go one mile. With some of these elevated Jamaican backroads, there's barely enough room for two way traffic. And the potholes are brutal. We did pass a Wicker shop, sadly I couldn't stop there. But we started with tubing the White River. We got our helmets and life vests and jumped into the tubes and began floating down the river.

Our tour guide was Warren, super nice local guy. The trip took about 45 minutes. There were a couple of rapids to navigate. But the water was so clean, no salt, no chlorine, no chemicals. Not that it was clear though! Then we  got back in the mini bus and it took 25 minutes to drive 2 miles to Blue Hole. The roads are that beat up and narrow. 

Anyway, onto Blue Hole. We had to drive up some hills to get there. It's basically a swimming hole with caverns and mountains. You walk up and jump into the different pools from different heights. There were 4 total, culminating with the rope swing, called the Tarzan swing. And I did all 4 high ones. And I was a kid who was afraid to dive growing up all those years in summer camp. So it was a pretty amazing accomplishment for me. Yes, some of them were a little bit scary when I looked down at the water 20 or 25 feet below, but I'm glad I did them. Also, I was surprised to see so many stray dogs. One cute one got in the park and kept following me. I pet him briefly before he went off his own way. Now the park does have a few um, vendors. Brownies, funny cigarettes, rum, yeh-mon. On the way back, a lot of people were sleeping. We had Bob Marley music playing in the bus. For lunch, we went to Plantation Smokehouse for Jerk chicken and rice and beans. I added a Red Stripe, because, why not? 

A few things about the island. I should first point out we didn't get into Kingston or Montego Bay; we basically covered a northern parish. But It's pretty dirty with a lot of abandoned tires and cars, homes in disrepair. Also they drive really aggressively. They're called CJs, or Crazy Jamaicans. The island has different license plates for different kind of vehicles. For instance, a red plate represents a tourist vehicle, whereas a white plate represents a privately owned vehicle. And the drivers drive on the left side of the road, it's like being in Europe. There is a ton of produce around, especially bananas and coconuts, but sugarcane is king for sugar, medicine, rum, etc. 

We got back at the ship around 3pm and had Italian for dinner. I started with the arancini, or fried rice ball before having lasagna (no ricotta). It was too small a portion, so I added a breast of chicken parm. 

I wish I knew I could add extra entrees for no charge. Dessert was a nut and oat bar. It was fine, but for some reason, there was no cheesecake after Night 1. Would have been a good way to finish off the meal. 

Off I went to the Colony club for some Karaoke. In a corner table, I saw three people I recognized from the Jamaica excursion: Addison Madison and Jake. Jake is engaged to Addison and Madison is his sister; they are from Wisconsin. So of course when they found out I'm a Jets fan, we talked for a long time about Aaron Rodgers. We chatted for about two hours about all kinds of random stuff. But we spent 30 minutes just on alarm clocks. Great random conversation, and they all subscribed to my channel. So close to 1,000....

I finished the night having some more scotch, listening to Tiago play the piano. I was done at 11 and I have to say the ship felt tired. It might be three straight excursion days. I think it's better when cruise days and excursion days can be alternated.

NOLA and Cruise-Day 5

And so it was Christmas Eve. Hard to imagine when you're on the ocean and it's 80 degrees out. then again, Jesus was born in the desert so maybe it's not quite so far-fetched. The excursion was Georgetown on Grand Cayman Island. We had no excursions planned at all, plus it was hot, cloudy, and sticky out, so we decided to stay on the ship. And Mom would later tell me she appreciated that I was willing to stay. For the gym, it was legs and abs, and it was nine to have the hip abduction and seated press machines again. Then breakfast with the custom omelet and their amazing thick cut cinnamon French toast. Unfortunately, I had to sit on a stairway, since every table in Windjammer was occupied. 

Then it was morning general trivia. When there are so many subjects, I'm usually good with getting more than half the questions. Then we had to solve anagrams of Christmas movies. It was harder than expected. One of the movies included Trading Places. Who thought of that as a Christmas film? 

Lunch was in the solarium, which is the 18+ screened pool area. Every day, the staff cooks huge roast beefs and they carve it freshly for sandwiches. They serve it on crispy kummelweck rolls with spicy yellow mustard and horseradish. Plus they have a salad bar. I could eat that every day and be totally happy.

I rested most of the afternoon, I may have actually napped. I did play the mini golf course up top the ship and it was nice to see it empty. Plus I got a putter that actually fits me where I didn't have to be on my knees to use it. I did do some more trivia including songs with colors. I got 14 of 15 right and won. The only one I missed was a Coldplay song called Yellow.

For dinner, I opted for a traditional turkey meal. Excellent. Also the Josh Pinot Noir complemented the turkey quite nicely. It's so nice having that window view every night. I went into the theater for the Christmas show with the singers and dancers. I guess after being on the whip all day, I was feeling a little restless. I even stayed in the casino for 5 minutes. I'm not a gambler, but I figured it could be entertaining as long as I could avoid the smoke. 

Well I had enough of it quickly, and so I checked out the Michael Jackson trivia which was a joke. Apparently certain people don't know that when the music stops, you don't sing or you give the answer away. In the club, I tried Dewars scotch on the rocks for the first time. I have to say it was pretty darn good. I think I took down three in two hours.

Maybe I needed a distraction, even though it was Christmas Eve night. I went down to the R bar and Centrum on the 4th floor. But I'm just not a fan, because there are so few seats available. But at least the view is great because the holiday decorations are all there. Plus, you can see upward ten floors and it's well lit. I finished the night with more classic guitar in Schooner. 

NOLA and Cruise-Day 4

It was the second full day on board the Brilliance of the Seas. And our first excursion day was in Cozumel, Mexico, a town I had never visited. All of a sudden, it was warm outside. I think the temperature hit the 70s; I was glad I wouldn't need a hoodie or joggers for a couple of days. Also, we were back to Eastern time. 

I started the gym with 20 minutes on the elliptical before doing my arms circuit. Off to breakfast and it was straight to the omelet bar. This would become my go to nearly every day on board. Cheese, bacon, spinach, tomato, mushroom. They gave me my pager and about 5 minutes later, breakfast was ready. 

I saw there was a family shuffleboard competition on the sports deck near the top of the ship. So I headed on up. And no one showed up except Jonathan, the sports director. So we played for about 20 minutes, and since no one else came, I was declared the champion. Funny, that's the same way I won the mini golf competition back in 2021 and came out of it with a wine stopper.

Our Cozumel excursion was to begin at 12 noon. So we had enough time to get in a game of Scattergories in the Schooner Bar. Most people had already departed the ship so there were only 4 or 5 teams. We had categories like food and drink starting with w or brands starting with m and we kept going around the circle to see who was the last team standing. We were one of only two teams to even win a category. 

So then it was off the gangway into Cozumel. We signed up to do a farm to table tour at noon. Now the excursion was not with the cruise line, it was with Viator, which has worked well for us in the past. We save a little cash, and the options are still really good. We shuffled our way through the marketplace, which is deliberately designed to confuse tourists so they can't get out; it's just like an outdoor casino. We found our way out and across the street, we were told to hang by the 7-11 and the gas station. There was a little plaza there with some small restaurants and shops, plus tourist booths. And we know the deal in Mexico, the store employees are very pushy, and always trying to recruit tourists who don't know what they are doing. There was even a guy with a monkey trying to get people to pay to take pictures with the monkey. 

But as the time ticked away, we had this sinking feeling. By 12:10, we pretty much gave up. The guy never showed up for the tour. We were disappointed, but we knew we'd get our money back, which we did a week later. So we went over to Margaritaville, which is right near the boat. It's kind of like a tiki hut, but whoever the manager is, jut does not know what the hell they are doing. Even though it was only 12:30, the TVs were showing music videos, and one was Toby Keith. there was no Jimmy Buffett. Everything else was this loud contra music or hip hop and the volume was at the level usually reserved for movie theater trailers. If that wasn't bad enough, onto the order. For two average sized cocktails and an order of nachos, we paid $64. And the merch was limited and even the t-shirts were all made of heavy cotton. Disgraceful. I've been to some good Buffet places, but this was by far the worst.

I guess the one good side is I got back on the boat and the sun was out and I tanned by the pool for 2 hours. Probably took down 2 or 3 mojitos in that time too. We skipped dinner because there was some trivia I wanted do. Beatles, NFL, country music. I wasn't missing those.

The first two were located in the King and Country pub. Gay Chris led both. The Beatles one was heavily attended. Glad I had mom to help out. I think we got 16 of the 20, but again, strength in numbers. Some of these teams were made up 5 or 6 people all working together. Then came NFL trivia. Now it was termed The Big Game trivia, so I thought it would be all about the Super Bowl. When the first question was name the NFL's current commissioner, I knew it would not be what I expected. But some of the questions were nuts. For instance, what's the average salary of an NFL player. Apparently, it's $2 million, I said $1.2 million. But the issue was on the question of name the oldest NFL stadium still being used. I knew it was Soldier Field, it had been around since the 1920s. Well Chris said it was Lambeau Field in Green Bay. I knew it could not be right, it wasn't built the 50s. Soldier Field is older! And I made my case, I pulled up Fox Sports and showed him. And oh did I get booed by the crowd. One drunk asshole screamed "Beat it nerd." That's what set me off. I'm no fighter, but I couldn't stomach the thought of being in that room being mocked and booed. It brought back to mind being bullied and even though I'm better with it, those feelings just don't fully go away. So I told mom I was leaving. And I did just that. As it turns out Soldier Field is older, but wasn't used for football until 1971. So in truth, both answers could have been correct. It was a bad question from a guy who doesn't know football and doesn't speak English clearly. But over the next few days, 2 people came up to me about it asking what happened. Not the guy who got on me though. They were people who I'd watched games with on Sunday, so they already knew me. I explained and I guess I was glad I could tell my side of the story. 

I took off for Schooner Bar for country music trivia. And I was feeling really upset in the moment. Took down two Jack and ginger ales. The bar seats were all filled, so I knew it wouldn't be easy. Javier played about 2-3 seconds have a song and we had to guess it. I got 18 of 20 and it was enough for a victory. I guess it was a redemption moment. It wasn't about winning, it was about the credit, about the respect. 

Dinner was in Windjammer, so it was not going to be on the level of the main dining room. I had a baked potato and two burger patties. The taco bar looked horrible, I steered clear. I passed mom in the room and she was clearly upset I left. But I had to protect myself mentally. If she doesn't understand that, well, I'm sorry.

Back to Schooner bar for classical guitar with Andres. I was going to see Darryl Williams, an R&B singer, in the Pacifica Theater. But I passed since mom didn't care for the early show, mostly because it was too loud in the theater. So instead, I watched a couple of game shows in the Colony Club: Friendly Feud (our team won 5 of 6 questions) and the Perfect Couple. To me, there are few things funnier than couples being put in awkward situations. People go out of the way to put up these perfect perceptions, but those moments where they have to be vulnerable and let their guards down...it's so funny to me. 

They were timed how fast they could switch into each other's clothes backstage. But the best was the finale. The woman was blindfolded with a golf club between her legs, with the butt of the club out in front. The guy had to walk to the other side of the room and he had a roll of toilet paper between his legs. He had to guide the woman to walk where he was and then she had to insert the end of the club into the roll hole. And the woman was allowed only one adjustment of the club. The last couple was a big black guy and a white woman from Kentucky. She tried to bend down to lower the club, but she bent so far back, that she fell back to the floor. And he basically tried to get on top of her standing and insert the hole into the club...I am pretty sure I cried from laughing. I think I was even jumping in the air. 

NOLA and Cruise-Day 3

We were fortunate to have a balcony attached to our room. It was on the 7th deck, towards the very back of the ship. The only issue with it was there were no stairs or elevators where we were located. To get to an elevator or anything at all, we had to walk down the very long hallway to the center of the ship. And that walk took me a full minute and that's saying something. 

I kept the shade open just a little bit so the sun would find its way in, mainly since I wanted to get the gym in early every day before breakfast. I knew I would eat and drink a lot so I was going to get my workouts in. 

The gym is on the 12th deck. It's shaped like a letter U except the entire inside of the U is a hardwood floor set aside for classes. So the cardio machines are in the middle with free weights on one side of the U and the machines on the other. Plenty of towels, but no water fountains. It was actually pretty crazy, there was no water refill stations that I could find anywhere. Often times, I'd get bottles of water from the bar and keep them in our fridge or I would take two glasses o ice water from the Windjammer Cafe and pour them in my blender bottle. 

I started with a 20 minute run before doing chest and back. Then came breakfast in Windjammer.

Sadly I didn't notice the omelet station until I had already eaten my eggs and bacon and fruit. I took a shower in what was of course a very small space where you can't stretch out. But I loved that water pressure, I wish I could take that home! Then I did some trivia, there was a Sudoku challenge, Christmas trivia, and a Christmas dilitoid challenge, which was brutally hard. For instance 12 D of C is 12 Days of Christmas. But they came up with some brutal ones,

 

Lunch was a burger salad. Then since it was Sunday, I walked to King and Country pub, which is the British themed pub on board to watch some football. I ended up at a table surrounded by Lions fans. It was fun, talked to some cool people and they were very interested when they realized I'm a Jets fan. That led to a 20 minute discussion about Aaron Rodgers. I was probably in there about 4 hours.

I tried playing mini golf on the top deck (13th), but most of the putters were designed for kids and there must have been 20 kids all over the 9 holes. I got through 3 holes before I finally had enough. Pretty cool that they have an actual course and not just a green. 

For dinner, it was formal night. And I should give a shoutout to Maria and Rey, our servers. Both are from the Philippines, I would say half the staff on board was Filipino. I went with the French onion soup, which was super hot, to start. Then a very nice beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes and two mere spears of asparagus, finished off with an apple cobbler and ice cream for dessert.

Back in Schooner, I had a peanut butter tropic. It had skrewball, pineapple juice and a couple of other ingredients. Really weird, a little sweet for me. I don't tend to prefer sweet drinks later in the evening. I went to the 50s and 60s music party in the Colony Club, where the game shows take place. Only about 45 minutes, but really fun, I also watched the Miss Brilliance pageant, located in the Centrum, which is in the open space in the middle of the ship on the 4th floor. My issue with the Centrum is it's too small, there's so little room to stand when there's an event or party there. Anyway, the final 4 was three black women and a 65 year old white woman. The elderly women had some attitude and sass, and she won. I was kinda bored at this point, so I listened to some classical guitar by a guy named Andres and I turned it in for the night.

NOLA and Cruise-Day 2

So it was the beginning of the cruise. We started with breakfast in the hotel, after all, it was included. I opted for an Egg Mcmuffin and I added several sausage patties. Despite the temperatures hovering around the high 40s, I really wanted to explore the city. Mom didn't care to, she's been down to that town a number of times for work. I hadn't been there since January 2012 with my ex. Yes, there are reasons I remember the month and year, but we don't have to go there. 

So I started my travel with a walk north to Louis Armstrong Park. The wind plus the shade made my thankful I had on my Knicks hoodie and black sweatpants. It was pretty cold out, maybe high 40s, but gradually climbing to the low 50s. The park was pretty nice, there's a huge statue of Satchmo overlooking the small pond. That's Armstrong's nickname, by the way. I only wish there was a way to play his music there. It also houses Congo Square, which is a spot where blacks used to gather, dance, and drum back in the 1800's It's widely believed these Sunday gatherings helped form the bases for what would become jazz music. I was also thankful the town had restrictions on homeless sleeping there. Because there certainly are many homeless people in downtown NOLA.

Then I walked 25 minutes south to the Superdome, home of the Saints and many other notable events. It's actually more impressive in person with the bronze colored aluminum tiles on the outside. I like that they have various statues ranging from the Steve Gleason blocked punt following Hurricane Katrina to Saints owner Tom Benson to a former governor of Louisiana. 

Finally it was back to the hotel, I'd guess I had an hour and 15 minute walk total. After packing up, we headed to the cruise terminal on Julia Street. We had to take an Uber since the Julia St station on the RTA is closed. Now this Uber guy was terrible. The only thing he did right was arrive on time. But he played his own hip hop music. That's the first major strike. But the big thing was he left us off at the wrong spot at the terminal, so we wound up not checking our bags in at all. Yeah, we hauled them all the way through security. And these weren't carry on bags, these were holding 8 or 9 days' worth of clothes. Safe to say he did not get a tip.

Our ship was the Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. It is an older ship, it was built in 2002, so it may have cost a little less for that reason. But we had to hold our bags until the rooms opened at 1. And it was cold outside, maybe back to the high 40s. Mom and I were pretty upset about the bag situation, well she was upset with me, because I just wanted to get on board. I figured the bag check was coming up, yet it never did. So we separated for a while. And I had lunch. Freshly carved roast beef, how can you go wrong?! I stuffed one of the two slices into a hard roll for a sandwich. Excellent. I also had a cheeseburger patty and garbanzo beans salad. Tried to behave with the carbs, at least a little bit.

So at 1 pm, the rooms were opened and we unpacked. Thank goodness. At 4 pm came the Sail Away party. We did all the classic white people dances. There was the electric side to the Everybody Clap Your Hands song. 

We arranged for all our dinners to happen at 5pm in the main dining room, we decided to not splurge on any of the private restaurants. I'd been to one of the steakhouses on a prior cruise and to be honest, I was not pleased. We got our personal table and it was right next to the window so every night we could view the sky go from light to dark. First night's dinner was shrimp cocktail, NY strip, and a great key lime pie. The steak was very thin but cooked how I wanted it. Truthfully I could have had two or three! Had I known they would bring more if I wanted, I would have started doing that immediately. 

I'm always big on trivia and game shows on these cruise trips. The first trivia I played was Name That Tune: Movies. I got 12 out of 22 points. I think I came in 2nd or 3rd, but I was a team of 1 going against teams of 6. This does tend to be the issue for me. Weakness in numbers. And even though I'm competitive in the moment, I get over it quickly. I guess I'm testing myself on how much knowledge I actually have. 

Then it was classical music in the Schooner bar, which is also where most of the trivias were held. Two good looking blonde girls played piano and violin, respectively. By that point, I think I was on drink number 8. Red wine, mojitos, maybe a margarita. At the bar, I tried the Irish Peach with Jameson, peach juice, lemon juice, bitters, and a little black pepper. It certainly became one of my go-to cocktails throughout the week.  

9 pm was the Christmas tree lighting. It had all white lights. As someone who's seen the trees in Rockefeller Center, downtown Chicago, and DC, this wasn't overly impressive. But I'm glad they had a nice big tree throughout the week. But there was also a menorah and a banner for Kwanzah, which is only fair. 

In the main theater, the Pacifica, there was a comedian. He was ok, most of his routine was about misheard lyrics. He came back for the final night, and I didn't feel compelled to go back and see him. The end of the night was karaoke, which is always hit or miss. It seemed that karaoke was every night, and I'm not so much into it especially when kids are around. And that's only because they will tend to sing Disney songs or newer pop numbers. 

Not sure what time I crashed, but I'm sure it was by 11 pm. Onto a full day of cruising, before all three excursion days, and then two more full days of sailing. Not the ideal setup, but that's the way it was set up. 

NOLA and Cruise-Day 1

I had the pleasure of waking up at 2:30 am just to get to RDU to try to get the 5 am flight to Charlotte. Truthfully, all I really wanted was to make either the 5 am or 6 am flight to Charlotte, since the flights to New Orleans were looking to be widely available.  Our Lyft driver actually came on time, 3 am. I think deep down that was my biggest worry. I have to say Mom still has this early morning energy, even at 70 years young. Maybe it's the mindset of going to the airport early for four decades. I just didn't have it. I didn't want to talk all that much. But I pulled myself up and we were foff at 3 am. Even at 3:15, the airport was already packed. Now in the security line, I got felt up by the TSA agent! In the x ray, I could see I had a yellow dot and a red dot around my belt line, so apparently, I was packing something!

We actually got our seats for the 5 am quite quickly, and considering that flight was booked at 188/190, it was a very pleasant surprise. Some people just can't get up or security becomes an issue, who knows. I ended up with seat 14E. Hey a middle seat is never ideal, but a seat is a seat. 

In Charlotte, we wanted breakfast, but no place would cut a sandwich in half.  They couldn't even give us a pathetic plastic knife to cut it ourselves. Absurd. So instead, it was Starbucks drinks. I tried the iced gingerbread oatmilk chai latte. The only reason I did is because it was advertised on the board. And it was so so good. Forget pumpkin spice, give me more gingerbread!

The NOLA flight was wide open as expected; we got the second row of coach. After collecting our bags, we took the 202 bus to get downtown. It cost only $1.25 whereas an Uber would have cost us close to 40 bucks. We probably sat on the bus for 25 minutes waiting to go, but once we did go, it only took about 20 minutes to get downtown. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which looks like it used to be a bank judging by the stately looking exterior. It was in between the Central Business District and the French Quarter, so it was a good location to get to a lot of places.

We were hungry! So once we checked in early and dropped off our bags in the 4th floor room (Yes!), we walked uptown to Central Grocery for a muffaleta, one of the staples of New Orleans cuisine. The sandwich or round Italian bread with cold cuts and olive salad. Of course along the way, we did some observing in the little shops. I even purchased a colorful New Orleans themed spoon rest for my kitchen. It took a little over a mile and 30 minutes to walk to Central Grocery. But the sandwich was great, which is amazing for me since I don't even eat olives. And Zapps sweet onion potato chips, those are some of the best I've ever had. 

From there, we continued north to the New Orleans Jazz museum, which is housed in the former US Mint. It wasn't huge, but there were some nice artifacts like a Fats Domino home piano. They also had a full exhibit for drumming as well as the roots of Louis Armstrong. Not the best museum I've ever seen, but as someone who appreciates jazz, I'm all for learning all the history about it that I can. They also have a downstairs section for the US Mint days and they even have a jukebox dedicated to songs about money. Everything from The Gambler to Money For Nothing to a bunch of older songs that I can't remember!

We walked back through the French Market and made our way to the Sazerac House on Canal St. It was a huge building that offers free tours with three cocktail samples included, one of which is the classic Sazerac with whiskey, lemon juice, Peychaud bitters, and Herbsaint. Very classy place with a huge wall of bottles that they sell. There's no bar, just the bottles and the samples. Even the merchandise was made of high quality materials but was available for fair prices. I didn't purchase anything, but gosh, it was some of the best merch I saw on the whole trip.

With our appetites coming on strong again, we walked back across Canal St to the Creole House. Two seats were available at the bar and we knew quickly we found a good spot. I took down a 22 ounce Abita Jockamo IPA, which was excellent. Then the food. Those charbroiled oysters. We could actually see the cook at the grill next to the bar cooking then up for us. He even threw down a little French bread on the grill too. He always makes a little fire. And once one table gets them, folks at the other tables can't help but want to order them too. I keep saying, you don't just taste with your mouth, you taste with your eyes, your nose, your ears. And the oysters came to our bartop still sizzling, we had to wait a few minutes to indulge. A little lemon and melted cheese on top, just remarkable. Then we split the alligator po boy, and I had to cut that in half myself. But at least we got the knife this time...

Next to us at the bar was three guys, in town for the Knicks vs Pelicans game. One was named. Vincent, who turned out to be a personal chef in NYC. We all had a great chat and he even bought mom another glad of wine and he bought me a shot of Woodford. Stiff drink, but smooth as can be! Craziness kept happening, Santa and the elves even made a quick visit into the kitchen. Just a cool time. I've had so much frustration with people lately that I kind of needed this. 

On our way back, we wound up walking with a Jets fan, it was the 3rd time I'd seen the logo in one day. He was a big black guy and such a down to earth guy. I didn't even pack any Jets stuff because I'm too ashamed! But we vented about the frustrating season. Those kinds of interactions are so good to have. 

Back in the room, we both needed a nap. Woke up, all of a sudden it was dark outside! But Canal St was all lit up. The palm trees were wrapped in diagonally hanging Christmas lights that gave off a white hue.

For dinner, we went to Snapper's, located on Canal St. It was a small, casual place, nothing too flashy. We took two seats at the bar which holds maybe 8 people. Being that it was a pretty cool night out, we each got a cup of crawfish etoufee. I hadn't had it before, but I enjoyed it. The etoufee came with a scoop of white rice and side of garlic bread. There was plenty of crawfish tails in the cup too.

For an entree, we split the grilled red snapper filet, which is usually one of my favorite fishes. Not this one. It didn't taste all that fresh, and it was smothered with a white creamy crawfish sauce. But it was way too heavy and creamy that it overpowered the fish. Very disappointing. It did come with two sides, we had a house salad and Caesar salad. The house salad was fine, it had some spring greens, which gave it a nice touch. The Italian dressing was your standard thick golden Kraft. Come on Snapper's, do better than that please. You are in New Orleans, certain standards are required. I wish we had returned to the Creole House.

We went back to the hotel for the rest of the night. Part of me felt guilty about not going to Bourbon St and partying on my one night in town. At the same time, I'll be doing it for a full week on the ship. So nothing to feel guilty about.

Midland setlist

The Ritz, Raleigh

Barely Blue

Mr. Lonely

Playboys

Lone Star State of Mind

Vegas

The Dance

Sunrise Tells the Story

Old Fashioned Feeling

Boot Scootin Boogie

Cheatin Songs

Burn Out

Halfway to Heaven

Set 2

Interstate Love Song

Lucky Sometimes

Longneck Way to Go

Drinking Problem

14 Gears

Like A Rock 

Encore

Wicked Game

Stayin' Alive setlist

Carolina Theater, Durham NC

You Should Be Dancing

Massachusetts

Islands In the Stream

I Just Want To Be Your Everything

Shadow Dancing

Emotion

I've Gotta Get a Message To You

Too Much Heaven

Wind of Change

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart

Lonely Days

Nights on Broadway

Jive Talkin'

More Than a Woman

How Deep Is Your Love?

To Love Somebody

If I Can't Have You
I Started a Joke

Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)

Night Fever

Grease

Stayin' Alive

Tragedy

You Should Be Dancing