"The Cruise" Part III

Land Ahoy!

The United States of America!!

How sweet to see the beautiful view as we approached

Key West, Florida!

I know we weren't explorers by any stretch of the 

imagination, and we hadn't voyaged from far across the sea,

and we hadn't suffered at all during our voyage...

but for just a moment I felt just a vapor of what 

the early settlers must have felt!

We watched with wonder and amazement as we approached!

 The immigration officers waited patiently far below as our captain maneuvered this huge ship sideways to our dock.

 The immigration officers came on board and we were assigned numbers and times to go through customs.  

We had to have our papers in hand, Sea Pass cards punched, 

and then we were free to go out and tour Key West.

It was rainy so we chose to rent these limousines

for our tour of Key West.

We rented two of them and they served us perfectly!

 Much of what happened here will have to stay on the island!

We walked through a lot of shops with crazy things for sale,

we ate lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, 

we saw the southern most point of Key  West,

and tasted the tropical drinks.

We raced to return our limousines

 in order not to miss our last call back on the ship.  

It was good to be back in our homeland again.

Back on the ship, we quickly clean up,
 and were off to the dining room for dinner

where we received a special number from the chefs, 

waiters, and waitresses.

They sang and marched around the room for us while

we all applauded them for a job WELL DONE!

 I loved how this Amish man swung his white napkin in honor and applause for the serving staff!  I was so blessed and impressed through this whole trip with the Amish and Mennonites.  They offered their friendship to  any and all...regardless of race, color, and dress.  They took pictures and greeted by name their staff each evening.  They made friends with them and invited them to their homes if they should ever visit their state and country.  They sat with people from all over the world and many shared their faith.  What an opportunity and blessing!  We, too, had numerous people from all over the world ask...and we were able to share about our God!

 We cherished our dinner chats with

 Marv & Sharon and Lloyd & Sandra .

 Our evening table servers.

The last night was the latest of them all!

We stayed up til the wee hours of the night

chatting over coffee and tea.

Lots and lots of luggage as we wait to depart the ship in Miami.  It was such a good experience and we would do it again!  We would highly recommend the Sail and Sing Christian Cruise to whoever may be considering it...to have Christian entertainment was worth so much on a ship that is definitely geared for the world.  The last evening we noticed different times the ship's entertainment staff coming in and out of our Christian gathering...they were trying to figure out what was drawing hundreds of people to these gatherings every night.  If only they would come to know our Jesus, too!

After finding all our luggage, the van, etc. we headed to Marathon, Florida for a fish fry and visit with some friends of the LaRaviere family.  It was some of the best fish we have had and we all ate until we were stuffed full!  Back to Miami where we delivered Isaiah to his Pollard family and then set out to find a hotel for the night, with plans to explore the Everglades the next day. Interestingly enough we made several trips through toll booths without knowing we needed to stop until it was too late, and feared there would be an alert on the evening news for a white, 15-passenger van passing through numerous toll booths  without paying (and the tickets did catch up with the driver at a later date!).  We called and called and called and called hotels... desperately searching for a hotel with rooms available.  The cheapest one we found that had rooms available was priced at $700.00 per night per room!!  "Uh, thank you but we'll keep looking."   What's with Miami on a Thursday night?!!  

The later it got the sillier the people in the white, 15-passenger van got!  With all due respect, we'll have to close the story now before it's actually finished....

because what happened in Miami that night

will have to stay in Miami!  

We had an amazing time!!

 ...but we still don't know who the person or persons is/are 

that blessed us with this incredible gift!!  

We feel incredibly unworthy of such a gift, 

it far exceeded any expectations we had,

and we pray God's blessing upon 

whoever the donor was!  

May God return 100-fold what was 

so graciously given to us!

We will always treasure the memories of this trip!

THANK - YOU!!