Cruise Cancelled

 

We were expected to leave in 7 days.  It seemed like fate that we were supposed to be on this cruise. Our room number was our wedding date scrambled. My husband and I never talked about going on a cruise until this last Summer. We were camping with a camping group when someone had mentioned that they had returned from a cruise and wanted to get together for a cruise instead of camping. We thought,  "why sure it sounds like it would be a lot of fun." When we returned home my hubby realized he new several people through work that had been on cruises and before we new it we were going on a cruise sooner than we had planned. As the days were nearer to departure my hubby being the business owner he is began to stress about leaving when work is going so well. He decided we should hold off until next year. I was extremely nervous, but yet very excited about going on a cruise for the first time in my life. I went shopping for what I called cruise wear. I was ready to go, have my passport, all I need is a suitcase! So I thought. I needed someone besides myself  to tell my hubby that it will be okay if we go out of town. Business will be fine. We will only be gone a week. But there was no one telling him. 
So as the days get closer to departure the search to find someone to fill in for us continues. We will not get a refund but can have the names changed on our tickets for a fee. It seems everything is pointing us in the direction that we should go now. But for some reason my husband isn't feeling right about it. Unfortunately now that we have already paid 1700 to reserve our room Carnival Cruise lines would not let us reschedule the dates for a later time, and even though we found another couple to go in our place all that would be needed to do is change the names for the room and Carnival Cruise lines will not change but one person's name for the room, which leads us to our 1700 donation to  Carnival Cruise Lines. Geez I hope they enjoy the empty room and the money they are losing by not allowing us to change the dates or the names of the occupants. I have never been on a cruise and after this fiasco I WILL NEVER CRUISE CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES!!

Camping Missouri

What a vacation! First stop was Pomme De Terre Lake State Park, MO on our way to our final destination. We attended a Pop Up camper rally that we have been going to every year for the past 3 years. This year the rally was held at Mark Twain Lake the Ray Behrens Recreation area. We owned the whole loop! It was the most humid of all the rallies we have attended, not to mention the deer flies were larger than nickle sized in some cases and hovered in mid flight only to dive bomb you with numerous bites. I think the heat was more bearable than the flies! We toured the boyhood home of Mark Twain, took a Riverboat ride on the Mississippi River, cooled off on a tour of the Mark Twain Cave, squeezed in some Antique shopping and photographed many historical buildings in the town of Hannibal. MO. While camping at the lake we were asked by complete strangers if we would be witnesses for their marriage that was to take place in a Gazebo behind our campsite. We agreed and my husband and I officially became a part of the wedding party. We also celebrated 5 birthdays and a 35th wedding Anniversary during the rally! What an experience we will never forget!

 

I decided to play with some of my camping rally pics from our trip to Mark Twain Lake - Ray Behren's recreation area. Here's the collage I came up with from our excursions to the Mark Twain Boyhood home, Mark Twain Riverboat,  the Mark Twain Cave to our fine dining at the rally potlucks, outdoor games, and activities! 

Taylor Park, CO

 

We are back from our 2 week vacation to Taylor Park, CO! What a great vacation we had. We camped in states we hadn't camped in before. We started our journey out of Oklahoma to south of Amarillo. We stayed in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas! I was a bit taken back upon arrival when I had called a week before our arrival to confirm my reservation and double check how much I would owe on arrival. I was told I would owe $22 the reservation fee, but when I arrived and was asked how many children I brought and their ages I was given another daily fee of $5 per child for bringing my teen aged children, plus another 5$ a day a piece for my husband and I. We stayed here 2 nights! I was not happy to say the least, I am glad I didn't decide to let my kids bring friends!  We had a deer come into our campsite while my husband was playing a washers game with our son. The deer thought he was throwing it food. This deer was starving, I have never seen a deer so skinny. I thought state parks feed the wildlife, apparently not at the Palo Duro Canyon.  I understand not wanting to feed them but in my opinion it also helps maintain some wildlife in the park if it is regulated by the park. Beats them dying of starvation. We did see some pretty plump Wild Turkeys however.

Our 2nd stop was Sugarite Canyon State Park, NM! We were now in black bear country! How exciting! Or is it? We were a bit nervous, didn't much care for trying to keep anything with a scent out of the camper. We didn't remove everything we should have, but we were lucky we never seen a bear in our campground. Lake Alice Campground was known for frequent bear visits in the past. The Mesa's and Volcanic mountains were beautiful! I never seen anything like it!

Our Destination! Taylor Park, CO! All I can say is Heavenly! Just beautiful! We caught so much trout & ate it that I was getting tired of eating trout! That's about the time we sent my husband off with our new camping friend Kim and they together went with a fishing guide into the catch & release areas of fishing like true fly fisherman & fisher women. :) The remainder of our stay we filled with ATV riding through the mountains, camping rally activities and potlucks! We cannot wait to camp with all of them again next year! The downfall for Colorado Dream Ranch RV park where we stayed was the fact that we were slammed with another daily fee of $7 a day for having our children stay with us. We camped here a little over a week, but the campgrounds made up for it by supplying us with unlimited firewood,  & free homemade ice cream!! Mmmmmm!

Our first stop for the trip home we camped in Trinidad Lake State Park. We were given an extra $5 a day charge  to place the ticket in your vehicle window. Which they call a park pass. We had a great view of a mesa over the town of Trinidad, CO. This was a great place to relax for our trip home. Trinidad is such a nice historic town. I could have taken photographs all day of the buildings here.

We decided to drive straight to Oklahoma from Trinidad, CO. Our final camping spot was in Boiling Springs State Park, OK! Unfortunately, they were renovating the area that accesses the springs. I took some pictures of the campground. The stickers were unbearable I could not take my Pomeranian's 2 feet out of the gravel or they would have so many stickers in their fur. We were just a few hours from home and decided to cut out a day short of what we paid for. The family was tired and not resting well so we were home bound!

Now we are home and planning our next camping trip. We will be camping a week in Missouri!

Oklahoma Rally 2009 - Lake Eufaula