Christmas, 2011

This Christmas is certainly different from last years when we were stuck on top of the mountain in Spruce Pine by a Christmas Eve snowstorm.

We had picked up Dad earlier in the week and he had spent the week before Christmas with us in Beaufort.

On Saturday, we went to Slades for the traditional Christmas Eve opening of presents with the kids.


This year, we gave Anna and Evan a 2 day trip to Great Wolf Lodge.  This will be our third year doing this.  In the past, we have surprised them, but this year we wanted them to have something to look forward to.

We're going to Great Wolf Lodge!!!!!!

4 Generations that carry the Inscoe name to the future!

Four proud generations!

Bahamas - On the Sailboat

Thursday, Dec 8

Bill, Jan, Clara and I got on a 36' Sunsail sailboat in Marsh Harbor for a few days exploring the Northern Bahama waters.

We were able to get an early briefing and get on board “Cloudy Bay”, a 36 foot Jenneau early and get all our briefings out of the way.

Thursday night we stayed on the dock in the harbor.

Friday, Dec 9

This morning we had a brisk sail in unsettled and rainy conditions to Man of War Harbor.  We found a good deal on dockage and stayed on the dock for Friday night.

We arrived early afternoon on the docks at Man of War Marina and checked out the little village.

We had a fun dinner with John and Sally Lincoln of Liliana (Pearson 365) from South Freeport, Maine who are on the dock with us.  They leave their boat here in the harbor on a mooring and travel here a couple times a year for a month or so.



Saturday, Dec 10

Jan tries to see over the helm!

A leisurely departure with a brisk sail to Bakers Bay where we anchored out for the evening. This is one of the most beautiful beaches we've seen and we enjoyed walking on the beach and I got a nice swim from the boat to shore and back several times.

Jan and Clara look for shells at Bakers Bay

Beautiful Bakers Bay

We hunkered down for a rather eventful night. It rained and the wind picked up during the night. Our anchor snubber didn't work real well and kept the crew up a lot of the night with the banging as we swung on anchor.

Sunday, Dec 11

Another leisurely start to the day and motored to a small island for some shelling. We were very successful in finding some unusual and interesting shells.

Shelling

Today the winds have held constant between 18 and 25 knots most of the day. We had another very brisk, reefed sail to Orchard Bay Yacht Club and Marina. We decided that we'd like to spend another evening on the dock after a restless night on the anchor.

Cloudy Bay in beautiful Bahama Waters

Coming back to the boat from shelling

Orchard Bay is interesting because it is a beautiful marina, but no one is here. We have consistently been surprise at the lack of boats and people in these waters. They are beautiful waters and great sailing (if you like brisk sailing). However, it has remain relatively cool and the waters have been to cool to really enjoy snorkeling. We wonder when the place is busy.

Tonight we went to dinner at Grabber's Bed, Bar and Grill. The dinner was surprising good and we enjoyed a nice evening in a beautiful location.

Dinner at Grabbers

Monday, Dec 12

The wind picked up overnight and this morning it's 20+ knots. We decide to sail with reefed main and jib and head back to Marsh Harbor. It was a vigorous sail, but quite enjoyable. We are getting very use to the relatively warm weather and beginning to realize that we will soon be back in much cooler climates, so we enjoy and relish every moment of warmth.

Clara fights the autopilot

Star Fish at Bakers Bay

We arrived back at the Sunsail base early afternoon and get settled into a slip and enjoy a leisurely afternoon packing, eating and drinking – for tomorrow will end another journey.

Bahama - Phase 1

Abaco Island - The Reef House

After relatively uneventful flight from Raleigh via Miami, we all arrived at Abaco Airport.

Joe and Vickey Barwick, Les and Carol Sadler, Bill and Jan Bass and Clara and I have a week planned at "The Reef House", a very isolated 4 bedroom home on a very nice beach about 18 miles South of Marsh Harbor.

The Reef House

On Saturday, we rode the ferry to Hopetown for nice day.

This is what needs to be close by any place that women like to shop

The Crew for the week

We all had a relaxing week at the Reef House, reading, talking, walking the beach, eating and drinking.  The first part of the week the winds blew strong and we weren't able to enjoy snorkeling and swimming, but by the end of the week, we were really enjoying the water.

On Thursday, Dec 8, the Sadler's and Barwick's departed and the Inscoe's and Bass's got on a sailboat for a few more days.

Pictures from the week are at https://picasaweb.google.com/103547083335306738471/BahamasDec2011#

Thanksgiving in Spruce Pine

Nov 22 - 29

We picked up Dad and headed for the mountain house.

Had a couple of beautiful warm days.  Got the grass mowed and a few other minor things around the house.

The week was mostly relaxing, reading and swimming at the Marion and Linville Y's.

Tuesday night before leaving we had Will and Bonnie, Barb from next door, Kit, and Beth over for dinner.

We left Wednesday, Nov 30, dropped Dad at home and went to Raleigh at La Quinta, where we met Joe and Vickey, Les and Carole for our planned trip to the Bahamas.

Spruce Pine - Aug 12-20

Spruce Pine in October

On Wednesday, Slade met us at the airport for our return home from Albuquerque.  We spent the night with he and the kids. 

Thursday afternoon when Slade got off work, we headed for the mountains to celebrate Slades birthday and spend a week with the grandchildren.

Friday, we went for a hike to Crabtree Falls on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

• Dad and the kids

Anna tries out Papa's walking sticks and hat



Evan and Slade cross the river the hard way.

Friday evening, we celebrated Slade's birthday in a fine fashion

Saturday, Slade and Evan took off for a father/son event camping. 

We met them in Hickory Sunday afternoon and picked up Evan for a fun week at the mountain house.

We hiked to Linville Falls, one of our regular hikes we take every year.

Mimi and Anna and Evan had fun with lots of crafts.

The leaves peaked this week and were among the best we've ever seen. 

A great week of birthday celebrations and fun with the Grandkids.

We're headed home

Monday and Tuesday, October 9 and 10

We've moved to Kirtland Air Force Base on Monday.  We spent the day cleaning the RV, washing Clothes, packing two boxes of (mostly Clara's) clothes to send back home, and generally getting ready to leave.

Tuesday, we will put the RV in storage and spend Tuesday night at a hotel (which I really don't look forward to).  Wednesday morning to fly back to Raleigh to pick up the Grandkids and go to Spruce Pine for a week, then back to Beaufort.

It's been a great trip.  We've learned a lot. 

One of the main things we've learned is that we think we need to bring our own car the next time.  We can get the RV and car rigged to tow.  Then we have much more flexibility as to when we come, when we leave, and what we can do while traveling.   I had initially thought that renting a car would work, but there is a lot of inconvenience.  Primarily, I hate to be tied down to a schedule and making an airline flight.

We've covered 4095.5 miles since leaving Beaufort, NC.

We have experienced temperatures that range from 105 degrees to the high 30's. We have seen and done some amazing things. We have renewed acquaintances with some great friends from the past and met many wonderful people. We have learned a lot about traveling in an RV (both of us love it, that's the reason we're leaving the RV in Albuquerque). We will be back soon for more exploration of this wonderful country and its incredible beauty. I don't know how many years it will take us to see it all, but until we either get tired of it or get to old to do it, we will continue to explore and experience.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Thursday, Oct 6

We are arriving near the end of this journey - The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

We follow the signs and find the largest RV park I've ever seen - supposedly over 2,800 RVs of one sort or another, maybe more.

We're parked about the middle of 1 of 3 RV sites at the festival.  I took this from the roof of our RV.  The view is only a small fraction of the RVs in this one part.

Thursday, the weather was cloudy and windy, so we picked up our rental car and started checking out places to store the RV.  We found what we are satisfied with and will check the RV in next Tuesday.

Thursday evening, we took the shuttle over to the main part of the festivities (about a mile away) and walked around for a while.  It was nothing like I expected.  It resembled a fair more than anything, with all kinds of food and  vendors.

Friday, October 7

Clara went back to the fair and I stayed at the motorhome.  In the last few miles before we got here, something threw a pebble against the front windshield and put a little dent.  Luckily, there is a mobile glass repair vendor here on site and I made arrangements for him to fix it this morning (it was covered by insurance).

This afternoon we went to a huge crafts fair a few miles from here.  It had some of the most original and interesting arts and crafts I've ever seen.

The weather has been rainy both last night and today.  No balloons flying.

Friday night, we crashed at the RV and watched a couple movies.

Saturday, October 8

Today is the day.  The weather is perfect and we were excited to see our first ever dawn patrol and mass ascension. 

We got up well before sunrise and took the shuttle to the main launch field.

It was worth the trip!!!!!

Dawn Patrol

Then the Mass Ascension!!!!

Over 300-400 (we heard that there were 480 balloons registered) balloons of all sizes and shapes took to the air.  All launching within about an hour!

Some of the balloons were "special shape".   They were really crowd pleasers.

One of my favorites. 

The stagecoach got inflated, but for some reason never flew.

The whale eats the balloon

Who says Pigs can't Fly
The crowds were incredible.  Thousands of people got up before sunrise to see this.



Two balloons kissing!


Now I understand what all the hoopla about this festival is all about.  This mornings launch was an incredible spectacle with drama, color, beauty and absurdity. 

This afternoon we rode our bikes to the Balloon Museum and joined a group on a fascinating tour of the place.  It was a great museum.

Saturday night we went back for the "AfterGlow" and fireworks show.  It was beyond incredible.  We took hundreds of pictures - and then Sunday morning, we went back for the "Farewell Mass Ascension". 

I have no idea how many balloons went up in this mornings ascension, but there were a lot more than Saturdays.

There is no way that I could show the incredible spectacle through pictures on the blog - it would never load.

I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed being in a position to take them.  The Fiesta is an incredible event and an absolutely perfect way to top off this incredible journey of two months.  And the journey to get here has been the trip of a lifetime. 

We've covered 4095.5 miles since leaving Beaufort, NC. 

To help top off this journey, this afternoon we were driving to Kirtland AFB to check out the RV park where we will stay our final night in the RV on this trip, and suddenly we started seeing jets flying around.  I quickly recognized them as the Air Force Thunderbirds.  They are having an airshow at Kirkland today, and we've been so involved and so busy doing all the great things we've done, we never heard about it.

Bucket List - So Far!