A quick version of our trip

I've written about our trip in my journal, and don't intend to write a lot here, but just for posterity sake, here's a quick overview of last week's trip before I head out on another one.

I love that we got this picture right on the first day!

Dad Fifield (thanks again Dad!) organized a family reunion trip for us to Florida and the Bahamas.  We flew to Fort Laudedale, meeting the whole family at the airport.  Amazingly, we all arrived in the same hour.  We got rental cars and headed to the Ramada Inn.  In the morning, we took a tour of a nice resort and then got on a cruise ship headed to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island.  Lynea twisted my arm into entering a Karaoke "Caribbean Idol" competition with three finalists chosen that night on the ship.  Yes, I was chosen as a finalist.  That meant no more relaxing and enjoying the trip for me.  :)

The ship sailed during the night and in the morning we got off and checked into a gorgeous resort in Lucaya.  Also during the night, a cold front moved in bringing wind and brisk temperatures.  But, we didn't let that stop us from doing some parasailing, snorkeling, shopping, and of course lots of eating.  We joked through the whole trip about how much food we were always taking in.

The courtyard at "Our Lucaya" resort

This ship, labeled "Ghost" was moored near our hotel.  It was open to walk on.  Bryce found a poster from "Pirates of the Caribbean" inside.  Probably it was used on one of the films.  We watched that movie the first night in our hotel room.  Bryce told everyone that we had watched a great documentary on the Bahamas on HBO.

Bryce, Nate and Lynea keeping warm on the boat before we went snorkeling - the water was actually quite comfortable at 73 degrees.

Yup, that's Laurie up there in the air.

Ya man, we be Jammin!

After two nights in Lucaya, we were back on the ship, and I was scheduled to sing again with the other Caribbean Idol finalists in "The View," their big theater hall.  There were four of us singing (some had qualified the night before) and the audience voted.  I was the winner - winning a free cruise to come back and sing for $10,000.  I'm not going back, and if you want to know my reasons, read my journal.



After the ship arrived back in Fort Lauderdale, within hours of disembarking we got news that our little granddaughter Jayli had arrived.  We went straight from the ship to an everglades park and arranged for a ride on an airboat.  Captain Chuck obviously enjoyed his job and was pleased to come upon a couple of gators sunning themselves.  We felt a little sorry for him when an osprey diving into the water behind him stole the show - we weren't listening to him very well.  But he was also excited to hear about it. 



Captain Chuck explaining about how strong Gator tails are



Also at the everglades park, there was a little zoo of local animals and some caretakers who shared information with us and helped us learn about the local wildlife.  The next picture is dedicated to my Likin' Hikin' Ladies who think I'm fearless.



In case you're interested, it's a Ball Python, and a baby one at that.

The next morning Terry and Roxy had to fly back home.  We were sad to see them go.  The rest of us had two more nights in Fort Lauderdale. We spent the next day traveling around the area on water taxis.  This is a fun way to see the sights, but is actually a method of transportation for many of the locals.  We were able to get off the taxi and walk along the beach at one point.



View from the Water Taxi as the largest cruise ship in the world leaves Everglades Harbor

The last day in Florida dawned rainy and very wet.  We decided on an activity that would keep us dry - a day at the races. 

We had fun making pretend bets on the horses and watching how that part of the world lives.  I "won" $80,000 with my pretend bet on "Freedom Land" in the last race at 8 to 1 odds.  Not bad!

Finally, it was time to come home.  I'm grateful that we had this time with family.  Thanks again Dad for a wonderful trip!