Cruise Ship Day 5, 6 and the Trip Home

...Opportunity knocked on my door...literally! It turned out to be mo grandfather-in-law and my mother. They were worried about me because they couldn’t find me. Of course there was nothing wrong with me, I was trying to SLEEP!!! I was perfectly fine!!! Anyway, my mother came by to tell me that she had paid for a hop-on/hop-off tour for the both of us and that I could take a relaxing tour of Halifax and wouldn’t have to worry about exhausting myself. That was good enough for me. I grabbed my sunglasses, wallet and camera and I was on my way!

Halifax if beautiful and a wonderful place to visit. For a bit of history, please visit the following links:
Titanic
Halifax Explosion
Citadel Hill
I do have to say, though, that Canada should never be allowed to become part of the United States for one very good reason...Canada is the exact opposite of the US and that is what makes Canada/Halifax so beautiful!

I have a friend, and fellow Geezer that lives in Halifax, and I was so hoping on visiting him since I was in town. The Friday before I left, I sent him a message over XBL and told him I would be there soon. I then turned off my laptop and packed it away. What I didn’t know was that he sent me his phone number and told me to call him when I docked. Not knowing this and not having internet on the ship, I arrived in Halifax and didn’t call him...I felt so bad when I checked my messages when I got back from my trip on Saturday. I sent him an apology, and he responded to me saying he hoped that I had a great time, but not being able to hear him say that to me, I can’t tell if he forgives me, or understood. If you read this NTI Admiral, please know that I’m sorry I missed that message.

Okay, when I got back from my trip, the wife still hadn’t come back from her trip, so I went back to the Lido Deck and lay out on the deck to catch a few rays. The rest of the day finished fine with the usual stop by the casino and then dinner and then bed. (I don’t think I mentioned this before, but our dinner started at 8:15 every night, and by the time we finished dinner, it was 10:30 pm.)

Friday was amusing and relaxing! The day started out with the wife and I relaxing in the hot tube for three hours off and on. It was a nice a cool day and that is why I didn’t put on any sun-tan lotion and that is the reason why I completely burnt my shoulders. Finally, my mother, her mother and father, her brother and I headed for our rooms to get ready for something (I can’t remember what) when they announced that there would be a contest for people 16-years-old or higher. The contest was: Who can slide down the slide the fastest. My wife, being the young and energetic woman she is, jumped up and down and said “I want to win!”

I turned to my mother and said, “She’s going to get 20+ seconds, I guarantee it!” My mother, being the polite and loving mother-in-law that she is said, “Be nice!” Then the contest started. I don’t know how many exactly that there were, maybe 25 people, but prior to her slide, the fastest time was 13 seconds. The slowest time, three people before my wife, was clocked at 20 seconds.

Then they announced her name. It was time. Here is how I saw it happen. They announced for her to slide and she hopped on the slide and they said, “3...2...1...go!” I had been counting for the other contestants so I decided that I would count for her. When I got to ten, I expected to see her coming around the final turn but there was no sign, so I continued to count. When I got to 20 I started to wonder. When I got to thirty, I stopped counting. Finally, I saw her head as she started to come around the final turn. She wasn’t going that fast, and I thought, “Oh, Lord! This can’t be happening.”

She finally turned the last corner and we could all see her pushing her way down the final part of the ramp. When she finally hit the water at the end, the announcer came on and said, “Good news, John, *******, has knocked you out of last place with a time of 41 seconds!” Everyone in our group started laughing hysterically, including my wife. A few more people went on and finally finished a couple minutes after that. The announcer came back on and said that they had two winners. Jason at 13 seconds and Padme at 41 seconds! They gave my wife a prize for coming in last place. I was so happy to hear that. We actually cheered her as she went up to get her prize.

The last night on the ship was kind of mix of good things/bad things. We had to pack and have our bags put outside of our cabin by 11 pm, so I had to pack after dinner. As soon as that finished though, I, alone, went down to the casino and watched people play black-jack. I think that’s the one thing that I do actually regret, not playing black-jack at any point on the cruise. Oh, well, I’m not even 30, so I’m sure I’ll get the chance to play sometime in the future.

The next morning, was a blur of the same hurry up and wait that plagued the trip from NYC to the cruise ship, but in reverse. This time I was on the cruise ship, trying to get to NYC via customs, and then getting a cab to Penn Station and then taking a leisurely train trip from NYC back to Richmond.