We’re off again!…Minnesota, here we come!…Photo of dear friends!…

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This photo of our booked house in Ecuador is the only one we’re posting today. With limited time today, since we’re leaving soon, we didn’t have adequate time for the entire story with photos. Please check back in the next few days for more photos, pricing, and details.

Note: The main photo shown on our main webpage of all posts is different from what is shown above here. Based on a lack of time, I wasn’t able to get the above photo to post due to its unusual format, which won’t upload on our website. The owner will be sending me the photos in a format I can use.

The nine nights in Henderson, Nevada, flew by in a blur of good times, good food, and, above all, good people. It was our most fun visit to Nevada that we can recall. Now, we’re off to Minnesota for more of the same. No doubt, it will be wonderful to see more family members, and this time, with this extended stay, getting together with more friends than ever.

Last night, we had an excellent evening with my son and his girlfriend. After a good quick dinner at Red Rock Casino in Summerlin at the Yard House restaurant, we walked through the casino to the movie theatre and watched Denzel Washington in the latest movie, Equalizer 3. It was entertaining, albeit a bit gory, but we’ve watched plenty of gory films over the years.

The half-hour drive to Summerlin flew by in a flash as we all engaged in lively conversation. By 9:30 pm, we were back at our hotel and ready for a good night’s sleep, which we both easily achieved without awakening during the night. We languished until 8:00 am and finally bolted out of bed to begin the busy travel day.

At the moment, at 11:00 am, our bags are packed, weighed, and waiting by the door for the bellman to pick them up close to noon when we have to check out. We couldn’t get a late checkout due to how busy the resort is. So, at noon, we’ll head to the airport and wait for our 3:45 pm flight rather than stay in the lobby here.

This way, we won’t be rushed at all, and once we’ve checked our bags and found our boarding gate. We’ll most likely have at least a two-hour wait until we board the Southwest flight to Minneapolis. We are used to long waits at airports, so this is nothing new to us.

We’ll easily entertain ourselves by playing with our phones and people-watching. I hope to upload today’s post before we leave for the airport. This way, we won’t have to take out laptops again after going through security.

Lovely photos of our friends Marilyn and Gary, who visited us here in Henderson on Thursday. It was great to see them both! We will see them again in Marloth Park in July.

I intended to post photos of our newly arranged holiday rental in Ecuador, but it takes a while to upload photos from VRBO, and we didn’t have much time today. Also, uploading many photos using the airport WiFi is not easy, so we’ll post them in a few days at the latest.

As for tomorrow, we have arranged plans with the family beginning at 10:00 am and ending well into the evening, leaving little time for much of a post tomorrow. Most likely, we’ll post that we’ve arrived and do the best we can with the limited time in the morning before we head out from the hotel. By Monday, we’ll have more time to post the photos and information about the house in Ecuador that we’re excited to share.

It’s a massive relief that we could find a house at this short notice, with only about six weeks until we finish the Galapagos cruise and hotel stays associated with the cruise. Not only did we find a lovely modern property on the beach with a pool, but we could book it at a great price. This above photo reminds us of the villa in Bali in 2016. Quite lovely.

That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow. Have a fantastic weekend.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 9, 2013:

This fantastic array of seafood was all grilled and seasoned to perfection at dinner in Diani Beach, Kenya. It contained lobster, prawns, octopus, squid, snapper, and a few chewy, wormy-looking items I didn’t recognize but ate anyway. Need I say that I cleaned this plate as well? For more photos, please click here.

Day 9…Henderson, Nevada.. Posting photos from “White Night” on Azamara Journey…One day and counting…

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We won’t post more photos from our Norway cruise going forward other than today’s posting from the fabulous “White Night” aboard Azamara Journey, as shown on this post, not in a separate post. I appreciate your patience while we shared photos from our first cruise when the WiFi signal was too weak to post photos. We excluded a few ports of call for expediency.

The decor by the pool was decorative and festive for the occasion of “White Night.”

Day 11…Norway Cruise…Last night’s fantastic “White Night”…Today…Alta, Norway…

We were looking forward to posting the photos from the Azamara “White Night” but had decided to post them after we’d posted them from the ports of call on the Norway cruise. Now that it is completed, I can relax and return to preparing one post each day.

This was my delicious plate! It was amazing that there were many items I could eat.

We hope you enjoy the photos from that night, which we consider our favorite event on the two cruises. It wasn’t so much about the socialization, which was great, but more about the festive atmosphere on a night that put the Azamara staff to work on many aspects of the event.

There was plenty of seating for the ship’s 578 passengers.

Officers were serving food, and it appeared most of the staff was in attendance, ensuring it was a memorable night for each one of its passengers. It was flawless, with every aspect prepared and executed to the most finite detail. We couldn’t have asked for more.

The food was not only delicious but also presented beautifully.

We’ve had a busy morning. We slept until around 8:00, and by 9:00 am, we were comfortably seated in a booth in the restaurant for our usual delicious breakfast. There’s only one more breakfast, and we’ve both loved our delightful meal. Over the years, it has been a real highlight for us when we’ve stayed at the Green Valley Ranch Spa Resort and Casino in Henderson, Nevada.

There were more options than I had room for.

Once we finished breakfast, we headed back to our room to put together a pile of clothing to donate to the Goodwill store close to the DMV, where we went on Tuesday to renew our driver’s licenses. The licenses will be sent to our mailing service in a few weeks, and we’ll have them forwarded to us at the hotel in Minnesota where we’ll be staying for the next month.

We didn’t eat any of these items.

Next, we headed to Richard’s office to scan a pile of documents left from the mailing service pickup a few days ago, none of which we needed to keep hard copies. We don’t carry “papers” with us, adding to the weight of our bags. After we left Richard’s office, we drove to the Goodwill store, a 15-minute drive. Then, we filled the rental car with petrol and returned to the hotel.

Neither of us selected cheese with so many other exciting options.

Once back in our room, I completed communication with the owners of a house we’re renting in Ecuador, beginning on October 24, after the Galapagos cruise. Negotiating a reasonable price, details we’ll share with photos tomorrow. We’re excited about this new place where we’ll live until January 8, 2024.

Mouth-watering offerings.

From there, we have nothing booked at this time. However, in Ecuador, we’ll decide on future plans in South America or wherever we may travel. It’s all up for grabs. Since the pandemic, we feel comfortable not booking too far into the future, based on the hassles we experienced when we had to cancel many trips, flights, cruises, rental cars, and holiday homes.

The white theme was visually appealing to everyone.

I picked up a copy of our hotel bill so far and found an error this morning. They hadn’t credited us the 50% off we got on the resort fee when we first checked in. A few minutes ago, I received a call from the VIP reception staff, and she’s since made the corrections that will show up on our bill when we check out tomorrow at noon.

As we looked around, we realized how many wonderful people we’d met, all of whom were having a great time. Six sat at our table for more lively conversation.

Late this afternoon at 4:30, my son and his girlfriend will pick us up at the entrance to the resort to head to Summerlin for dinner and a movie. It’s been fun hanging out with them several times since our arrival. This has been a fantastic stay in Nevada, with quality time with family and friends. I am getting a few things done and enjoying this lovely resort.

There were many items I didn’t try when I didn’t want to bother the staff enquiring about ingredients.

Tomorrow, we fly to Minnesota and will attempt to get a new post uploaded before we fly away at 3:45 pm. Thanks for “traveling along with us” on these past journeys. We look forward to more in the future.

Be well.

Photo from ten years ago today, September 8, 2013:

Our new vegetable stand in Diani Beach, Kenya, is a short walk from our holiday home. Notice the motorcycle. The produce is delivered by motorcycle each day! For more photos, please click here.