Vacation 2017

Today is September 8th, 2017. As I started writing this, i had started to remember i never finished the video or second post about our Vacation of 2016. So i will try to complete everything in one post this time. There is alot going on today here at the Lewis homestead, around the state and even more in the nation and across the world. So in-between my breaks of doing our hurricane preparedness checks and inventory checks here at home, i will try to write a little bit. It’s actually kind of surreal in a way because i’m fixing to write an article about our family vacation, yet in the background on the TV i hear the weather channel’s Jim Cantore talk about how bad hurricane Irma is, how devastated the Leeward islands, Turks & Caicos are and how bad it is going to be for the Bahamas and Florida. Not to mention Jose was upgraded to a Cat4. I was just in the Bahamas two days ago. Enjoying the local streets of Nassau, enjoying the cool and clear waters of Princess Cays, and to think currently they are getting 150+ mph winds, rain and storm surges that could level the very places we were just standing. Mother Nature is very unpredictable, so lets recap on a happy note, hope for the best for those affected by both Hurricane Harvey and those in the direct path of Irma. 

Friday, 1 September 2017, this was the start of everything. It would start at 5pm when we parked in the VIP parking lot at Walnut Creek Ampitheater to see Green Day in concert! This was actually a gift to Jesse for making AB honor roll, having honor classes, earning his way into the Duke TIP program and National Juniors Honor Society. So Becke, Jesse, Damien, my mom and I went to Green Day! Section 8, Row GG seats 17-21 . The good news is we started our family vacation, the bad news is the kids would miss the second full week of school starting back and it was a monsoon pouring down rain. Heres a few pictures of us waiting to get into the show, for your entertainment. Or just skip the pictures and read the blog..all the way … at the bottom… and maybe some along the middle too!

Alright so, to be honest, the vacation started off at the end of July. We planned my new tattoo, Fishing trip with my best friend Nick and to go see Social Distortion in concert as part of our vacation, 1 or 2 weeks apart from each one so here are some snippets of those events, because Social D was amazing live. They had Jade Jackson with them and she was awesome live as well.

Next up we have some pics from the fishing trip. Nick lives near Chicago so when he came down for the wedding we had already talked about an offshore fishing trip. So he took some time off and brought the family down and we went fishing. Wilmington.Fish is a fantastic charter, Captain Mike was great, even though the fish and weather didn’t want to cooperate, he had us on the fish, they just didn’t want to bite.

Next up we have Social Distortion at The Ritz in Raleigh, NC. We were parked in the front Handicap parking, and when we got to it, i saw the giant teal blue tour bus, i assumed it was for Social D as it was directly next to the back stage door. Mike Ness came walking out of the building with his two dogs and walked them around outside before heading into the bus.

So lets get back to the main vacation shall we? After the Green Day concert we started driving to Florida to board the ship. So here it is, 1230am Saturday, Sept 2, 2017 and we’re sitting at Waffle House along I-40 in Clayton. Now that the show was over, we dealt with the rain storms and non stop rain during the show. It did stop raining for about 45 min during the middle of the show at least, but at this point we’re already soaking wet as the ponchos didn’t really help that much. We’re sitting here eating, cold, starving, and running out of adrenalin from the show. We packed into the car, and started the long 8hr drive to Florida. We planned on stopping half way and sleeping but to be honest, by the time I got tired, Becke was waking up, and we were probably 15 miles from Florida. So she started driving and I decided i was going to sleep some now that it was 9 something in the morning. Somewhere near Orlando I finally woke up. Changed drivers again and now Mom, and the kids are all awake so we stop for a snack. We decided to head to Downtown Disney as our hotel wasn’t going to be ready until around 3pm. So we went to Old Raglan Rd Irish pub for lunch, they even had a live band playing from Ireland. We took the ferry boat around the lake and headed to the car so we could drive to Cocoa Beach and get to the hotel. This is where we made some crazy changes, I don’t even know how we managed to even survive the situation, it was totally insane and lets just make it clear, if i didn’t make that final choice at the last second we might not even be alive today. We are driving down the road towards our hotel, i wanted to shower and lay down, i was exhausted, Becke was needing to change her bag so we kinda dealt with a crappy sleep deprived day until the room was ready. We type in the address to Fawlty Towers Hotel, its bright pink, i mean its pinker than a prom queen losing her, right you get the point. We pull into the parking lot, i drive around the lot towards the front office, and a woman was trying to.. okay straight up, she was a meth head, and she was in the middle of breaking into the hotel room. Right then, that very moment time froze and i knew deep inside that if we stayed the night, we would be murdered and turned into the next side show for Captain Spaulding with Fish-boy (House of 1000 corpses reference people, keep up, c’mon). So I looked at the crack head, looked at Becke, and we both said “Nope, not today” at the exact same time. When we came fully around the corner, she stopped mid stroke trying to break the window open, looked at us and walked out of the bushes, It was right then, we knew we had to let our online reservation cancel it self by not checking in and going to a better establishment. We stayed at the Best America Inn, it was 10$ more a night but included breakfast, and much better sleeping arrangements in the room. Once in the room we ate some food, showered and everyone pretty much went to bed.

Sunday, 3 Sept.

Well the day is here and we finally get to board our ship! We love to cruise and its one of the few inexpensive vacations you can have as a family and get to travel at the same time. When you look at flying, hotels, food, and everything in-between, for us as a family, taking a cruise is much cheaper of an option, especially when we are willing to drive within so many hours of home. So with Becke’s medical issues we were boarded with the first group of Diamond and Platinum guests (those who have been on 75+ nights worth of cruises) and the Special Assistance guests. It was 1130 in the morning, we were on board, and lunch was already being served, which was great because we don’t eat breakfast that much on a embarkation day because, well, buffet! We got settled into our room, got all of Becke’s TPN sorted into the fridge and everything ready so it was checked, stored and ready for the trip. After all of that, i went to my favorite spot on the ship, The Blue Iguana Catina. Something about those little tacos and burritos they make are just fantastic and delicious. Over the next few days it was really smooth sailing. Beautiful weather, clear blue skies, and tons of fun onboard the ship that Becke wasn’t able to do last time. Last year when we went on a cruise, she was extremely sick, wheelchair bound and unfortunately didn’t get to enjoy the ship or the cruise as much as she could. Shortly after our last cruise, she had her major operation (The Longest Day ) and it was at that moment her true healing had began for her. We booked a dinner for her and I at the Diamonds Steakhouse on the ship, it has a dress code so we got all fancy dressed and headed out, however it costs extra for those wondering, it was 35$ per person, but the service and food were second to none. Our headwaiter Tamas, who was from Hungary was amazing, he was very knowledgable and we spoke for quite some time about world events, where he was from, our customs vs his homeland, in fact he brought us a free bottle of wine, which was very nice of him. It was a Santa Carolina Merlot, which Becke wasn’t to fond of, a bit dry for her as she likes them sweet and fruity, just wait for the picture to show up later 😉 Becke started off with a nice shrimp platter, i had a Ceasar salad, Becke got the Lobster tail, i got the 20oz NY Strip, for dessert Tamas brought Becke a tasty ice cream sampler, five kinds to try in little shot glasses with chocolates and etc, I told him to surprise me as on this trip i wanted to try some new foods, and not have the same ole, as i am a picky eater i was willing to try it. Luckily i got a very good hazelnut cheesecake, with chocolate and caramel drizzle. By far, that was the best dinner we had the whole trip, mostly because we were alone, just the two of us, being ourselves. We had a 9pm table and very little people inside, in fact there was one other couple in another corner of the room, and a bunch of the ships crew officers in the middle at another table. So it was very nice to have a dim lit, wine infused, 5 star chef cooked dinner with my wife after everything she’s been through. While dressed up we went walking about and had pictures taken of just us, which is something that I rarely like to do. Then we retired the evening by heading back to our suite and siting on the balcony and drinking what was left, very little thanks to Becke, of the wine we got at dinner. Later that night we went to the 18+ Adult Lounge Comedy show, and let me tell you, the comedian we had, his name is Michael Macy, he is frigging hilarious! They warn you before they start, this is a very Adult, no censored show, anything can be said about anything and if you cannot handle then you need to please leave. So i was excited because at this point who knows what the hell was going to happen! But he was great! We went back to his PG-13 show with the kids so they could enjoy a comedy show and they loved it too, so much so we saw all 4 of his next shows (both PG and 18+), the other guy was “Killa Beas” and he was funny, to me, but not many others got his sense of dry humor so it kinda made the show boring and dull for most of my group. We ended up meeting Michael Macy at the end of his last show and got his stand up cd and he signed it too.

Monday, 4 Sept.

We were in Nassau, Bahamas. I’ve been here on my third trip now and while Nassau is very old, rich in history, its also fairly dirty visually. The buildings are decades old, its overly crowded and the roads are not in the best of conditions however, thats part of her natural charm of the Bahamas, Its old, slightly dirty and not in the best of conditions in most places not suited for tourism. We literately disembarked the ship around 10:00am, walked a few blocks from the ships port, went to Hard Rock Cafe (anyone who knows us, knows we collect the pins of all the locations we visit, we have a board full of pins from places we go to all over), got our few pins and were back on the ship and eating brunch by 11:15am. I personally like to stay on the ship at ports I’ve been to as most people disembark to spend the day at port doing activities or whatever they had planned, and thats great, but its usually not within our budget so we enjoy the stuff onboard we usually don’t do other wise. Water slides, exploring, game shows (Sorry!, Clue (we almost won this missed out by 1 round after being down 0-3 in a best of 5 so we pushed for the tie and lost on the last), trivia (we did alot of trivia on the trip so i don’t remember which order but we did Michael Jackson Music trivia guessing the song name from a 10-15 second sample, we also did Movie/TV Show theme song trivia, again, almost won we missed out by 1 point, Harry Potter Trivia (poor Jesse thought he knew everything until this guy knew everything ever about it, sadly he worked for Universal Studios as a marketing director which he told us after he won), US History (Which we WON! Sike, just kidding, as much as i love history, some of these i had no clue on), 80s Song Trivia (Which we WON! Only because Becke cheated! but we did tie with one person and they gave us both a trophy, so we’re the proud owners of a 24k gold, Carnival branded, plastic, ship on a stick. No its not really gold but its hilarious listening to our entertainer Martin from England say it, “tis a Twen’ee Foour Carrot gold, Caknee-val, bran’end, PLASTEEK, ship on-a-stick” he was awesome!). More comedy shows this night and movies at the pool,

Tuesday, 5 Sept.

Princess Cays, Bahamas. Apparently Carnival purchased its own area of the island and made a private stop. Many cruise companies have done this, but Princess Cays was newly built (within the last 2-3 years at most) and it was absolutely stunning. The Ship was obviously too large to dock, so we dropped anchor just off shore and took a smaller “Tinder Boat” from the cruise ship to the docks. Walked around the sand, got in the crystal clear waters, enjoyed some music and headed back to the ship as Becke was starting to get sunburnt and she was pretty exhausted from the walking and heat. We left the boys on the island so they could enjoy it and hang out with kids and get into whatever they could. Thats partially why we like cruises, you can set basic rules and let the kids come and go as they want. No physical cash is used, you can allow or decline to let their room keys be used for purchases and they have their own age friendly “night clubs” on the ship that involves tons of activities. We did some more trivia and live game shows. We did Dinner in the Main Dining Room which on our last cruise never got to do. This time, we wanted to go and check out what we missed out on, so for dinner (which is included in the trips prices), Becke got a infamous Carnival Chocolate melting lava cake and i gave mine to Becke because she loved hers. Nice dinner and setup in the MDR, not as nice or quality of food as the Diamonds steakhouse but thats the difference between a 5 star chef preparing one table at a time for 50 whereas the MDR seats about 350 guests, so not quite the same but still, much better than you would expect. In fact the quality of food is on par and slightly better than most chain restaurants that charge 10-15$ a plate.

Wednesday, 6 Sept.

Today was our Sea Day, so we had no ports of call and this is one of my favorite parts, because i know everyone will be on the ship, I wake up go watch the sunrise from the “hidden” areas on Decks 7, 8 and 9. Not many if anyone is ever out there which means you get the whole area to your self to just enjoy. Then i’ll head back to our cabin and usually like to sleep a little bit extra, then have my continental breakfast, and slowly stroll around and people watch. Makes the day go by slower and this is when i do my shopping on the ship, best deals are there as the cruise is almost over. We also go to the Pixels gallery and view our pictures we took throughout the trip. So this is our lazy day. Kids usually go to the pool, water slides, and we never see them, so we went to the Casino and won a little money. Luckily i’ve had good luck the last two times as i put in 20$ and the cruise in 2016 i won almost 210$, and this year i put in 10$ and won 60$ all of which was paid out in cash on board which makes for gas money on the drive home! Its always good times on the Sea Day because the live shows are really good, more interaction with other guests and things alike. 

Thursday, 7 Sept.

This was Disembarkation day, which means pack up and get off the ship, because vacation is officially over and reality is already at the port to welcome you back home, with a giant banner with a big F-U on it. So we packed up everything the night before as we pull in to port around 5am, they make wake up announcements around 630am and start unloading at 7am, we went through customs, back to the car and started driving by 745am. By this point in our trip, Hurricane Jose was a Category 3 and well offshore, Hurricane Irma was following us and gaining grounds and a Cat 5, Florida was already under mandatory evacuations, toll roads were now free, and Irma was 1.5 days behind us. It takes us from Fayetteville, with normal a single gas stop (takes 1-1/2 tanks to get to Port Canaveral from home for us) 7 and a half to 8 hours. Which is great considering we split it up into two 4 hour driving segments. We start driving, take the 528 across the island into i95 North, and start the journey and thats when it went downhill. Traffic was more than normal and that was expected with the evacuations, what we did not expect was just north of Orlando, I95 went from 80mph flow of traffic to 45mph, at times we were stopped completely. We figured no big deal, we’re not in a rush, everyone is off work the next day and we’ll enjoy the slower trip home until we get to Georgia when it should pick back up. Mind you, I95 in Georgia and Florida is 3 lanes wide in both directions, and most people drive 85-100mph (70mph posted) (not even joking). South Carolina and everything up North its all 2 Lanes of travel and 55mph posted with people doing 70 maximum. No problem, we’ll ride this out until Georgia, until we get to Georgia and the radio and twitter were now making sure everyone knew that anything from I95 and East was a mandatory evacuation for the state of Georgia for Irma. Freaking seriously… well okay, no problem, we’re all most half way by this point and we have not seen

anything past 50mph for a few miles at a time in hours. The average speed on the car was showing 42.3mph, and has been for many many miles. We use Waze gps app, the live traffic updates are amazing, plus it reroutes based on accidents, traffic flow, shows alerts for police, cars on side of the road, construction zones, etc. Great app if you don’t already have it, Becke and I highly recommend it. Even with Waze, taking some exits, going back roads, getting back on 95, going more back roads, it didn’t help shave off time but only by 2 hours. We got home at 935pm Thursday night, a road trip that normally takes 8 hours, now took 14. This was the worst trip driving back than anything else we have done. I understand the circumstances but man o man, it was bad. 

So thats a recap of our trip, here are some videos and pictures i’ve put together for your viewing pleasure. Becke and I are going to try to save up and take another trip in April 2018 for our anniversary, but she has more surgeries scheduled and depending on the outcome of those and how the recovery goes will determine if we’re able to. By the time i got done with video editing, writing, proof reading, re-writing, and hospital visits, Hurricane Jose became a Cat5, went to sea, did a few loops and twirls and dissipated, meanwhile, Hurricane Maria turned into a Cat 5 making a following path of Irma and destroyed more of what was already damaged before.

-C