Jiggety jig
We're home. I'm not sure I can even remember everything we did, every amazing experience, but I'll try to set it down here.
We made it to Fort Lauderdale, rented our car, and drove to our downtown Miami hotel. After a quick shower, we drove out to the pre-party, where we met several message-boarders, and got to listen to Edie Carey perform. We were wiped out from traveling, though, and headed back to the hotel to sleep.
We woke, bathed, and met more Cayamo folks while loading up the rental car. After returning the rental and a taxi drive to the port, we surrendered our suitcase and Todd's guitar to the porters, who were aggressive about taking it. He was vibrating and ticked off that they had confiscated his guitar since we saw a ton of people carrying on guitars later.
The embarkation process was relatively easy. We found some friends in line, and boarded the ship. It was overwhelmingly huge. We popped over to the Venetian for lunch, and listened to Jeff Holmes' music while we waited to be allowed in our room. Todd's guitar turned up and was fine, along with our suitcase. I unpacked, he mingled. We watched our boat pull away from port from our "window", which was the TV tuned to the camera mounted at the bow of the boat, but later headed up to the pool deck for yet more music. Dinner the first night was at Cagney's, the steakhouse on board with a "cover charge". Lyle Lovett sat directly behind Todd, and we basked in his reflected glory but didn't bug him. The food was fantastic.
Our first show in the main room was our "Twice as Nice" show with The Indigo Girls. Our seats were in the "nosehair" section, second row, center, and we could see the steam coming off of the cups of tea the IGs had. We had traded our late show tickets to see Lyle Lovett for the next day, so we headed up to the Spinnaker Lounge to watch Marc Broussard and Shawn Mullins. I drifted in and out of sleep due to the rocking of the boat during Mullins' show. We headed back to bed and comfortably slept.
Up early on Sunday morning for Stitch & Bitch, though I ran out of yarn and was waylaid by friends, where we stayed to watch the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile perform on the pool deck. After their show, we had our formal picture taken with Amy & Emily. I tried to talk them into a Charlie's Angels pose, but they weren't into the idea so much. There was a nap somewhere in there, but I saw the first of the three Girlyman shows on the pool deck. The music was great, but it was windy and that kept the harmonies from being as impressive as they were in greater shows. We caught Lyle Lovett's 8:30 show and then Shawn Colvin in the Stardust, where she tuned between each song. It was charming, though. Todd went to see Mindy Smith in the Spinnaker late, but I turned in. Not impressed.
Monday we stopped in Samana, Dominican Republic. We went whale watching and saw amazing mom/calf interactions, got some good pictures. This was the only time I was seasick, despite very choppy seas later in the trip. I think it was the diesel fumes. We tendered ashore and wandered a bit. The DR is a third world country, and it showed. There were people begging everywhere, and I know that's how they make a living, but it certainly made me uncomfortable as a decadent American on a cruise to see people scraping together a living by selling us junk and especially the children, painted with tribal markings, aggressively begging for tips. We bought sodas and tendered back to the ship. We watched Glen Phillips (whose music is great, but schtick is amazing) for the first of three shows, had supper, and the third Indigo Girls show of the trip. Again, just awe inspiring. We popped in on both the Zac Brown Band and Oakhurst, but didn't stay for the duration of either show.
Tuesday was in St. Thomas. We stopped ashore to check e-mail and wander the mall. We didn't have the kind of money they wanted us to spend there, and got back to the boat relatively early to nap and play in the Open Jam room. Todd was playing the piano when Vienna Teng wandered by and settled in to join the sing-along. She ended up hanging out with us a bunch on the ship, along with Alex, her backup dude. We saw Girlyman in the Atrium, a much better show without crosswinds, a little bit of Joe Ely, and saw Brandi Carlile's headliner show. It started late and I took off about halfway through it for Glen Phillips' late night show. It was hilariously funny, and he detailed the future in which the zombies will all go to Seattle and Brandi Carlile will be their queen for 5,000 years, stage a zombie renaissance which will be known throughout the universe, and eat lots of brains. I went to bed, Todd hung out at the jam room late, playing piano. At one point, during the afternoon, I was heading back to the jam room to see what Todd was doing, and for like three minutes, I saw Emily Saliers watching over the balcony at him playing. She smiled and took her luggage off the ship. It turned out that he had figured out an elusive chord during "Kid Fears" at Monday night's show and was banging through it over and over while she watched.
Wednesday was Tortola. We wandered the city for a while and dodged traffic and beggars. Bought t-shirts for the kids, and had yet more open jam room and naps. Shawn Mullins played as we pulled away, and we caught the third Girlyman show. I'm in love. We saw Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies play a fantastic show, skipped John Hiatt's headliner show and saw Vienna Teng at a hugely packed show. We wandered later that night and ate at the buffet super late, with Vienna. Fangirl!
Thursday was at sea, and we caught music on the pool deck, Kathleen Edwards in the Spinnaker, and after dinner caught the end of Joe Ely and Glen Phillips' last show. Less zombie talk, but better music, so it evened out. Patty Griffin was our headliner that night, and she was wonderful despite a rolling deck to perform on and hugely high heels. There was more Jam Room in there, too. We were in bed when we heard cheering from below us (where the open jam room was). We dressed and headed down to find Brandi Carlile, Vienna Teng, and others performing. Todd got to do a song with Vienna, which was a huge highlight, at 4 a.m.
Friday we were supposed to go to the private island owned by Norwegian, but the ocean was too rough for us to tender ashore, so we went to Nassau instead. There was a harrowing cab ride, I got sunburned on the beach and had to borrow $10 from other people from the boat to get back to the ship, but it all turned out fine in the end. We saw Edie Carey and Over The Rhine (WOW), and I packed up for us to leave while Todd caught a few final shows, and the last jam.
Saturday, we made it off the ship and sat through the planes to get home. I'd missed the kids and cat, and I am happy to be home, but it was a really magical, amazing experience. I know this reads more like a "what I did on vacation" log than an explanation of how I felt, surrounded by people who really love music, new friends, and magic. When I can get through the pictures, maybe you'll be able to understand.
We made it to Fort Lauderdale, rented our car, and drove to our downtown Miami hotel. After a quick shower, we drove out to the pre-party, where we met several message-boarders, and got to listen to Edie Carey perform. We were wiped out from traveling, though, and headed back to the hotel to sleep.
We woke, bathed, and met more Cayamo folks while loading up the rental car. After returning the rental and a taxi drive to the port, we surrendered our suitcase and Todd's guitar to the porters, who were aggressive about taking it. He was vibrating and ticked off that they had confiscated his guitar since we saw a ton of people carrying on guitars later.
The embarkation process was relatively easy. We found some friends in line, and boarded the ship. It was overwhelmingly huge. We popped over to the Venetian for lunch, and listened to Jeff Holmes' music while we waited to be allowed in our room. Todd's guitar turned up and was fine, along with our suitcase. I unpacked, he mingled. We watched our boat pull away from port from our "window", which was the TV tuned to the camera mounted at the bow of the boat, but later headed up to the pool deck for yet more music. Dinner the first night was at Cagney's, the steakhouse on board with a "cover charge". Lyle Lovett sat directly behind Todd, and we basked in his reflected glory but didn't bug him. The food was fantastic.
Our first show in the main room was our "Twice as Nice" show with The Indigo Girls. Our seats were in the "nosehair" section, second row, center, and we could see the steam coming off of the cups of tea the IGs had. We had traded our late show tickets to see Lyle Lovett for the next day, so we headed up to the Spinnaker Lounge to watch Marc Broussard and Shawn Mullins. I drifted in and out of sleep due to the rocking of the boat during Mullins' show. We headed back to bed and comfortably slept.
Up early on Sunday morning for Stitch & Bitch, though I ran out of yarn and was waylaid by friends, where we stayed to watch the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile perform on the pool deck. After their show, we had our formal picture taken with Amy & Emily. I tried to talk them into a Charlie's Angels pose, but they weren't into the idea so much. There was a nap somewhere in there, but I saw the first of the three Girlyman shows on the pool deck. The music was great, but it was windy and that kept the harmonies from being as impressive as they were in greater shows. We caught Lyle Lovett's 8:30 show and then Shawn Colvin in the Stardust, where she tuned between each song. It was charming, though. Todd went to see Mindy Smith in the Spinnaker late, but I turned in. Not impressed.
Monday we stopped in Samana, Dominican Republic. We went whale watching and saw amazing mom/calf interactions, got some good pictures. This was the only time I was seasick, despite very choppy seas later in the trip. I think it was the diesel fumes. We tendered ashore and wandered a bit. The DR is a third world country, and it showed. There were people begging everywhere, and I know that's how they make a living, but it certainly made me uncomfortable as a decadent American on a cruise to see people scraping together a living by selling us junk and especially the children, painted with tribal markings, aggressively begging for tips. We bought sodas and tendered back to the ship. We watched Glen Phillips (whose music is great, but schtick is amazing) for the first of three shows, had supper, and the third Indigo Girls show of the trip. Again, just awe inspiring. We popped in on both the Zac Brown Band and Oakhurst, but didn't stay for the duration of either show.
Tuesday was in St. Thomas. We stopped ashore to check e-mail and wander the mall. We didn't have the kind of money they wanted us to spend there, and got back to the boat relatively early to nap and play in the Open Jam room. Todd was playing the piano when Vienna Teng wandered by and settled in to join the sing-along. She ended up hanging out with us a bunch on the ship, along with Alex, her backup dude. We saw Girlyman in the Atrium, a much better show without crosswinds, a little bit of Joe Ely, and saw Brandi Carlile's headliner show. It started late and I took off about halfway through it for Glen Phillips' late night show. It was hilariously funny, and he detailed the future in which the zombies will all go to Seattle and Brandi Carlile will be their queen for 5,000 years, stage a zombie renaissance which will be known throughout the universe, and eat lots of brains. I went to bed, Todd hung out at the jam room late, playing piano. At one point, during the afternoon, I was heading back to the jam room to see what Todd was doing, and for like three minutes, I saw Emily Saliers watching over the balcony at him playing. She smiled and took her luggage off the ship. It turned out that he had figured out an elusive chord during "Kid Fears" at Monday night's show and was banging through it over and over while she watched.
Wednesday was Tortola. We wandered the city for a while and dodged traffic and beggars. Bought t-shirts for the kids, and had yet more open jam room and naps. Shawn Mullins played as we pulled away, and we caught the third Girlyman show. I'm in love. We saw Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies play a fantastic show, skipped John Hiatt's headliner show and saw Vienna Teng at a hugely packed show. We wandered later that night and ate at the buffet super late, with Vienna. Fangirl!
Thursday was at sea, and we caught music on the pool deck, Kathleen Edwards in the Spinnaker, and after dinner caught the end of Joe Ely and Glen Phillips' last show. Less zombie talk, but better music, so it evened out. Patty Griffin was our headliner that night, and she was wonderful despite a rolling deck to perform on and hugely high heels. There was more Jam Room in there, too. We were in bed when we heard cheering from below us (where the open jam room was). We dressed and headed down to find Brandi Carlile, Vienna Teng, and others performing. Todd got to do a song with Vienna, which was a huge highlight, at 4 a.m.
Friday we were supposed to go to the private island owned by Norwegian, but the ocean was too rough for us to tender ashore, so we went to Nassau instead. There was a harrowing cab ride, I got sunburned on the beach and had to borrow $10 from other people from the boat to get back to the ship, but it all turned out fine in the end. We saw Edie Carey and Over The Rhine (WOW), and I packed up for us to leave while Todd caught a few final shows, and the last jam.
Saturday, we made it off the ship and sat through the planes to get home. I'd missed the kids and cat, and I am happy to be home, but it was a really magical, amazing experience. I know this reads more like a "what I did on vacation" log than an explanation of how I felt, surrounded by people who really love music, new friends, and magic. When I can get through the pictures, maybe you'll be able to understand.