Arriving home in a snow storm after almost two weeks in the tropics wass a bummer, but other than that, it was a great trip. We drove the length of the Flordia Peninsula, visiting friends and relatives on the way. A fair portion of the trip was off the freeways, so that was a plus. Inland Florida is very picturesque with palms, live oaks, orange groves, Spanish moss, big white birds, and lots of cattle. Even swamps have a beauty all their own when viewed from a moving car.

Speaking of the car. We traveled nearly 2000 miles in our 10-year-old Toyota with no trouble. It turned up 190,000 miles somewhere in central Florida.

But the main feature of the trip was a cruise on Celebrity's new mega ship, Solstice. She was on her 8th cruise of her maiden season. We were seasoned cruisers on a rookie ship. This was our 19th cruise.

We left Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades and sailed to San Juan, one of my favorite tropical cities. That leg took two sea days. After a bus tour, and some tropical sun, we sailed for St.Kitts, a picturesque tropical island that reminds me of Hawaii, and the color episodes of "Gilligan's Island." We saw old sugar mills and an ancient fort.

The geology of the island is mostly volcanic, but there were layers of limestone that had been tilted by ignious material pushing up from below.

After St. Kitts, we sailed to St. Martin, a Dutch/French island with beautiful beaches, fine hotels, and ancient salt ponds. We saw a rusting ship in a lagoon that was there the last time we visited St. Martin. It was the victim of a hurricane. Some more recent hurricane damage was also visible on the island. I believe this was our third visit to St.Martin, a place that is worth a return visit.

After leaving St. Martin, we sailed north and west, weaving through islands to avoid rough seas in the open Atlantic. The Solstice is over 1000 feet long and 120,000 tons, so avoiding rough seas is just for the comfort of the passengers, not for safety. Like all modern cruise ships, she was designed to be stable. It's amazing how little wake a modern hull design produces.

We never saw a single dolphin or flying fish. Maybe we spent too much time in the dining room.

The trip home was uneventful except for a truck pileup that happened right in front of us. Somehow I got by the accident by driving on the left sholder. I think it started when the driver of an SUV towing a jeep lost control on a wet curve and hit a guard rail. The driver of an empty flatbed trailer truck braked to miss him and jack-knifed his truck blocking all lanes.

Back home, Tennessee never felt so cold.
Howard