January 31, 2015: Royal Caribbean "Vision of the Seas".

Since they were having the Gasparillo festival, our group had to walk down with our baggage to a nearby hotel to get our shuttle.     It wasn't too bad of a walk. It was interesting to see everyone in their costumes.    

We got on the Royal Caribbean "Vision of the Seas".       Of course, the first thing we do when we get on the ship is walk around the ship to see where everything was located.      The pool area was very nice.  I like having an indoor pool for adults only.       Although, the regular pool area is great for people watching.   They usually have different activities going on at the outdoor pool area.

Marianne, Kim, my Mom, Joy, and I went down for dinner.   It was casual night which is nice, especially when you figure you may not have your luggage delivered to your room.

After dinner, Mom and I went to see the comedy routine of Wayne Cotter. He was okay.     

January 30, 2015: Michigan to Florida

We flew from Grand Rapids to Chicago, then down to Tampa, Florida, as we were going on another cruise with Marianne, Kim, and Joy. It was sure nice to leave the snow and cold behind us for the next week.     

It was so exciting for me to get to the Chicago airport and see a Garrett's Popcorn, so of course, I had to get some of the Chicago mix which is cheddar and caramel mixed.   It was about $5 which I didn't think was too bad.   

I sat by the Starbucks and spent some time typing up some old journal entries as I was behind on them for this past year.    

We took a shuttle to our hotel and were once again reminded of the traffic in the area. There were four lanes of traffic around the airport area going to Tampa.  Of course, I took a picture of it to remind us why we don't want to live there.     However, I do like the weather in Florida and would like to live in Sarasota, Wesley Chapel, or a suburb of Orlando.

I have kept in contact with my Florida friend, Todd Kramer, who lives in Brandon, FL.    I met him online on Plenty of Fish in 2008 and met him in person at a Barnes and Noble in Tallahassee in 2009.    I was pleasantly surprised when I got to our hotel in Tampa (Sheraton Riverwalk), that Todd was waiting for us in the lobby.    In fact, I was quite impressed.      

He now works for his father, who is an engineer.  His father makes prosthetic feet and Todd helps out with the business.

The Gasparilla Festival was going to be in downtown Tampa tomorrow, which is a big deal for them.   There are about 300,000 people come to Tampa to celebrate.     People come dressed up like pirates, eat, and drink.      

Todd, my mom, and I walked along the river walk over to the channel side district and had pad thai at the Thai Restaurant.  It was all very good.    I paid for Todd's meal since I was the one who invited him.   It was very nice to see him again.

January 29, 2015: Grand Rapids

We decided this time we would stay at a hotel in Grand Rapids and take the shuttle to the airport so we could save on parking at the airport.   Also, in case there was a winter storm, we wouldn't have to drive in it, as we have had bad experiences with that in the past.

Went shopping at Woodland Mall and had dinner at Olga's Kitchen.   Mom left her jacket at the restaurant and it was too late to go back to get it.  I forgot my jewelry so we are off to a good start.