In addition to our annual massage day, we learned a few things today.
1. Chickens do in fact know how to beg.
2. The airplane from the show Lost flies right over Barbados.
3. Silent disco looks really strange without the music.
Went on a day long excursion today, and while we did learn about Barbados history, I think we learned a lot more about rum. Most importantly we got out and about in Barbados. And while we spent a lot of time bouncing around on back roads, the sights were worth it.
After a brief stop at Bathsheba…
we visited the rum distillery at St. Nicholas Abbey…
then took a train ride to Cherry Tree Hill…
and finally learned about (and sampled) all sorts of rums at the Mount Gay Visitors Center.
All in all it was quite a day, click here for lots more photos!
We had a second consecutive day of hanging around the resort today. That’s rare for us, but it’s the way the schedule happened to work out this year. But we did make a new friend as we had lunch. His name is Appetizer!
And after a day of lounging around we enjoyed the show at the Beach Festival.
Click here for photos of the day, including Liz trying her best to make friends with the mannequins.
I was never much of a beach guy, but something about being here brings it out of me.
I was also never much of a painter. And let’s be honest, I don’t think Da Vinci could help me there. But Liz has the skills!
We spent a lot of the rest of the day getting re-acquainted with the resort. We’ve been here before, but it was over six years ago, so it took some wandering around to remember where everything was. Other than that, click here for the photos of some beach time and Liz becaming a minor celebrity with some spirited karaoke!
Travel is getting crazier and crazier. As a money saving option, airlines are now permitting you to check small children.
The flight was pleasant enough. Not everyone loves Jet Blue but we’ve always had good luck. Somehow I have made it this far without seeing John Wick and that was my in-flight entertainment. We took a later flight so we didn’t have a lot of time to wander around Sandals Barbados, but click here for a few photos from the day. More tomorrow!
I understand the idea of creating universally understandable signage, but sometimes a few extra words could help. If this truly means “don’t exit if the plane is on fire,” I don’t think I’m going to obey this sign.
You are the main character…But there in the background, faint and out of focus, are the extras. The random passersby. Each living a life as vivid and complex as your own. They carry on invisibly around you, bearing the accumulated weight of their own ambitions, friends, routines, mistakes, worries, triumphs, and inherited craziness. – John Koenig from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
I recognize how Gen-X it is of me to feel nostalgic upon the closing of a mall. Even this mall, which was past its prime the very first time I set foot in it a few years ago. But it harkens back to fond memories of a simpler youth. There was nothing better on the weekend than to ride bikes over to the Salisbury Mall, play free video games at Montgomery Ward, hit the bookstore, the arcade, the record store and Tony’s pizza all in one afternoon. Heck, I’d love to be able to do all of that in one place today.
But the Fox Run Mall in Newington, NH is on its last breath. I took a walk through it today out of morbid curiosity. The stores that remain (it might be at half capacity if you’re generous in counting what’s open) are moving out in January, for a planned demolition later this year. Walking the halls feels like you’re in something of a ghost town. Centralia, PA, in retail form. But for some reason they still plow the entire lot, including parking spaces that probably haven’t been used once in decades. Farewell Fox Run Mall, I wish I could have known you in better days.
We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity. – John Perry Barlow from A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
It’s a shame it didn’t ultimately work out that way.
