Did you miss me?

I think this is the longest I have ever gone between posts in the 3 years I've been writing this blog, so I'm going to make up for it with a BIG post tonight.  The last time you heard from me, we were unexpectedly sitting in the Philadelphia airport after bad weather diverted our flight to Washington DC, en route to our Bahamian vacation.  I want you to know, before I get into the details of this post, that we did eventually make it safely to the Bahamas, had a wonderful time, and made it safely back home.

 

We were in the Philly airport for many hours.  One of the things we discovered there was this cool art display called "Diva Dolls" by Philadephia artist Ellen Benson, using common household objects, broken doll parts, and all sorts of recycled materials.  Aren't they amazing?.  

While we were in the Bahamas, however, we learned of the horrific event at the Boston Marathon, and since our son lives and works in Boston, we were very worried.  Our phones were not sending or receiving, so we couldn't talk to him, but thankfully he did let us know via Facebook that he'd tried to text me, to let me know he and his friends were all OK.  He knew we'd be scared.

Last year, one of his best friends ran the marathon, but thankfully she opted not to run this year.  None of them went to their jobs on Friday, as the city was on lock-down, and I wondered about his plans for the weekend that involved leaving Boston after work on Friday and driving with friends to attend an event in Rochester, where they had attended college.  So when the suspect was finally caught, they were able to head out of town immediately, and not miss ArtAwake.

Now on to our trip.  This is the view from our balcony, day (above) and night (below), from where we stayed at the Pelican Bay Hotel at Lucaya on the island of Grand Bahama.  At the little dock near the pool, we could take a free ferry boat to beautiful Taino beach, just five minutes door to door!  Which, of course, we did.

I didn't blog from the Bahamas; I was too busy basking in the sunshine, taking pictures, eating fresh seafood, drinking tropical cocktails, and just generally relaxing and having a great time.  And when we got home, our eyes were glued to the TV news, and I only now have finally narrowed down about 600 photos to a few to show you.  Next post will be an art teacher-y thing, I promise.  This time it's all about showing off vacay photos taken with my newish camera.   So here's a bunch, starting with some flora.  We had some rain our first day, so the first flower below is wet with fresh raindrops. I had others I wanted to show you, but since they loaded sideways, I deleted them. 

 If we have flora, we should also have fauna, right?

 These cute little lizards were everywhere, but very evasive when I tried to take photos!

 These raccoons live by Gold Rock Beach (more about that later) and are very friendly, and don't worry, they are not rabid!  They were waiting for handouts. 

There were lots of birds, everywhere, but this bird was our favorite.  He lived in a tree that we passed on the balcony walkway between the elevator and our room, and he was almost always there.  But he (or she?) was great at evading photos too!  Below is the walkway I am referring to.  We just walked past his tree.

Next to our hotel was the Port Lucaya Marketplace, a charming little mix of straw market, touristy stores, and wonderful eateries, right on the marina.  In a central area was a bandstand where there was nightly live music, usually reggae of some sort.  Kids and adults would dance and/or listen, and it's a lovely festive charming place to spend an evening, while sipping a Bahama Mama.

 I have a thing for funky phone booths!

Below, some of fabulous eateries in the marketplace.  These staff members insisted I take this photo of them!  They were as sweet as they look, and yes, there is Greek dining in the Bahamas.  It didn't matter the nationality of the restaurant, they all served fresh seafood including cracked conch or conch fritters, grouper, snapper, stone crabs (exquisite), mahi mahi, and more.  We ate nothing but seafood, and prices were very reasonable.  We never had a bad meal!  And by the way, they called the crabs 'stoned crabs'.  Ha ha!

 

 

 The photo above was shot from my seat at dinner.  We didn't eat a meal inside the whole time we were there!  It was so nice dining in fresh air.  Below, another view from the marketplace in the evening. 

 Below, two views of the entry to our hotel. 

 

 And a view of our hotel from the ferry to Taino Beach.

 Oh, did I say beach??  I mustn't forget those photos!  Below is lovely Taino Beach.

 

 

 On another day, we kayaked a couple of miles through a canopy of mangroves.

 

 

After kayaking through the Lucayan National Park, we visited some caves, took a nature walk, and also spentsome time at Gold Rock Beach.  My computer is fighting uploading the photos from this gorgeous beach, so you'll have to do with these two sideways images for now.  The weather got rainy while we were there.  This beach was used in the filming of the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies!  I looked, but Captain Jack Sparrow was nowhere in sight..   My  husband and I both agreed, if we returned to the island, we'd rent a car and drive to this beach every day.  It was quiet, calm, and spectacular, and the turquoise water was amazing.  These photos aren't doing it justice. 

OK, I've probably bored you enough with my vacation photos!  Now it's back to real life...