We're Back

Actually - we've been back about 12 days now but it's been a bit of a rat-race.

We arrived in NY, fired up the bus and headed off down the road.

Stops at Freightliner in Gaffney, SC followed by

another stop in Red Bay, Alabama completed the maintenance I wanted to have

done to the coach, and then we were westbound, hurtling towards Arizona.

Below is a map of the last 3 weeks of our travels.

We are currently spending the night in Las Cruces, NM and will be back in

Catalina State State Park near Tucson. tomorrow.

We've got reservations there for 2 weeks.

We closed on our new house on Halloween so Tuesday we'll pick up our keys,

Weds, do a walk thru and intro to all the systems  (its a "smart house" with a lot of electronics)

and then we'll be busy getting stuff delivered and setting up our temporary desert nest.

More on all of this later...

First lets get caught up on our departure from England and arrival back in the States.

We left you last at Thornbury Castle in England.

After two quick days - it was again time to pack up and head down the road

as we had a date with a big ship headed to the new world.

Thornbury Castle Garden

Our last night in England was to be spent at the Holiday Inn in Southampton near the docks.

On the way to Southampton, we stopped again in Castle Combe as it was on the way and I wanted

to show it to our Swiss Friends.

Coffeetime Castle Inn - Castle Combe England

Finally we arrived at our last night in the UK.

We had drinks in the bar and true to form - Dog Friendly as is most of the UK.

After turning in the rental car - all that was left was saying goodbye and boarding the Queen Mary2

for our return voyage to the US.

Queen Mary 2 at Ocean Terminal in Southampton

It's always sad to say goodbye - but as Marcel says "the end is just the beginning of the next"
Till next time my friends....  More adventures await us down the road.

Goodbyes on the dock.

Having the dogs pushes us to the head of the line everywhere we go.

Boarding the ship, leaving the ship and clearing customs...

Each time we show up with the dogs they move us along.

Cleared thru Security in the Ocean Terminal

Up the gangway onto the ship

The welcome aboard

After dropping the dogs off at the kennel, it was back to the room to unpack and store luggage.

QM2 Stateroom 6248

We had a welcome bottle of Prosecco, a Sauvignon Blanc, and some Godiva Strawberries.

Our welcome aboard goodies in our stateroom

Back up the the kennels to greet old friends and new

Around 5pm we pushed off from the dock.

Below the photo shows the wake kicked up the exact second the engines were put into forward

for our transatlantic crossing.

QM2 wake as the transatlantic to the US begins

Oliver - the Kennel master is a true gem.

Personable, knowledgable, and one who truly loves his job and the animals in his care. 

Below he temps Gracie & Lucy with the evening cuisine.

Dinner time in the Kennel

This crossing seemed to be much less stressful on all of the dogs.

I wonder if the fact that many of them knew each other from the Eastbound in May helped.

Big and small dogs in the kennels all got along great

Kate & Craig surprised us with an afternoon tea!

Tea time in the QM2 Kennel

Big and small - we had 13+ dogs in this small room and they all got along just fine. 

Since we knew many of our Kennel Mates from our eastbound crossing - this westbound turned into

a party cruise of sorts.

The troublemakers all posed during the "dog photoshoot".

Does it look like we are having fun?

I can't say enough about the group in the photo above.   What a great group of people!
Without sounding overly melodramatic - they are friends who I think
we'll be seeing alot more of as time goes on....
Both on this side - and the other side of the pond.

Kate toasts...  Toast.    It's 5pm somewhere...   Dilly Dilly!

It was not all fun and games for the dogs however...

At times they had to go back into their little prisons and get some sleep.

The doodles say goodnight in the Qm2 Kennel

Kate & Ken enjoy a cocktail at the Commodore Club - 

a beautiful bar on the 10th deck overlooking the bow.

Commodore Club on the Queen Mary 2

Ken is a man who wrote the book on style...

Check out his shoes and socks!

And then check out the view of my feet as I relax in the Canyon Ranch Spa "relaxation Room"

Each day around noon we headed to the aqua therapy pools and steam rooms prior to some time

in the relaxation room.

QM2 Canyon Ranch Spa Relaxation Room

No Ocean Crossing is complete without sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, storms, and moonlit nights.

Sunrise from our balcony on the QM2

Moonrise in the east as we steam west.

Moonrise over the stern of the QM2

A moonlit sky from our balcony

Midway across the Atlantic we had a run in with some weather.

Nothing major for the North Atlantic but it still made for some nice variety in the trip.

Force 9 Gale on the North Atlantic

Thursday morning - October 25, 2018 we steamed under the Verrazano Bridge and into

New York Harbor about 0445

QM2 Approaches the Verrazano Bridge entering NY Harbor

The HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier was anchored in the harbor

The lower Manhattan Skyline at dawn on a crisp clear late October morning.

Lower Manhattan at dawn

The moon setting over the harbor and Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty with setting moon

Arriving in Brooklyn, due to the dogs - we were among the first off of the ship.

We then went to the head of the line and wisked thru immigration and customs.

By 915am we were meeting our limo driver who was waiting for us and by 930 we were on our

way back to the bus in south Jersey.

Arriving at the bus - everything was in perfect order and after turning on systems,

connecting the batteries etc - the car and bus fired up as if they had been sitting for

5 days instead of 5 months.

While Kate went food shopping I started the process of disinfecting the water system,

installing new water filters, and getting the bus ready for departure.

By 2:30pm we had shopped for food, and were hooked up and on our way.

It was the perfect end - to a perfect crossing - capping off a brilliant 5 month trip.

In the not too distant future I want to do a recap of the trip but first we have a ton

of things to get done in Arizona.

Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did.

Stay tuned - retirement comes in less than 90 days and then

we kick it up a notch!

Cornwall

This is going to be a bit of a rushed post.
We've covered a lot of ground the past 11 days or so and time is running out on my
ability to get this out before we are back onboard the Queen Mary headed West.

After leaving Bath, we headed south west to the end of England, where it juts
out into the North Atlantic.
This area of the country is called Cornwall.

Our friends from Switzerland flew into London and drove over to Cornwall to
spend our final days in Europe with us.

This would be our third, and final, visit with them this trip and the last time we
would see each other until.....

We stayed at a very large home (5 beds - 6 baths) situated in the side of a hill overlooking
an estuary on the Pentire Peninsula in Newquay.

The view from our home

It was a beautiful place for all of us to spend 8 days together.

Its a huge surfing area as the large North Atlantic Swell rolls in from the West.

The waves here are impressive

The Harbor in Newquay

One day we drove north up the coast to Padstow, England.
Along the way we stopped to admire the view at the Bedruthan Steps

Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall

It reminds us a lot of the Oregon Coast.

Us and our very well traveled Doodles.

The doodles in Cornwall

Another stop just outside of Padstow was Prideaux Place, an Elizabethan Home dating
back to the 1500's.

Unfortunately the house was not open but the grounds were - so we had fun
checking out the estate on a fine autumn day.

Prideaux House

The Doodles in the Rose Garden

Prideaux House Rose Garden

Prideaux House Temple

There was a fair amount of large game wandering out the grounds.
This big buck took particular interest in the Doodles

Prideaux Place Gardens

We stopped in Padstow, a quaint village along the coast north of Newquay

We had lunch in the Old Custom House Pub

Dog friendly England.

The doodles have become quite used to Pub Life

Another days trip was to Lanhydrock House - a Victorian Era home with sections dating back
to the 1600's - now owned by the National Trust.

The kitchen and other cooking areas were massive.

Lanhydrock House Kitchen

The House Bakery

Lanhydrock House Bakery

The Dining Room

Lanhydrock House Dining Room

Lanhydrock House Billiard Room

Lanhydrock House Smoking Room

A view thru the windows out to one of the gardens.

The Gallery.
35 meters in length, the ceiling contains 24  plasterwork panels depicting stories from the Bible.
The Gallery is a part of the house dating back to the 1600's

Lanhydrock House Gallery

Walking back up the hill to the carpark.

Another fine day comes to a beautiful conclusion.

As our time is running out and its now just a few days till we get back on the
ship - we took the dogs to the self service doodle wash in Saltash.

Gracie gets a batch

Lucy gets a bath

The girls came along to help.

The girls holding a clean Gracie

Another days trip was to St Mawes Castle on the southern coast of the Cornwall Peninsula.

Ship departs port behind St Mawes Castle

The castle was built by Henry VIII to guard the entrence to the port of Falmouth.

Unlike many castles which were a place where Royals or Nobles would live,

St Maws was purely a military installation.

One of the gun Batteries. 

St Mawes Castle Guns

The Castle is in very good shape.

St Mawes Castle

Just down the hill from the Castle is the quaint harbor side village of St. Mawes. 

Note the Thatched Roofs in St Mawes

Another day the Gang went to the Eden Project.

On this day I stayed behind as I had a bunch of work to get caught up on prior to our

travel across the Atlantic.

The Eden Projects consists of two large biomes formed by adjoining large domes.

The scale of the biomes are evident by looking at the people on the platform 

viewing location below the roof.

Before we knew it - our 8 days in Cornwall was over and we were down to only 3

more nights left in the UK.

For two of our final nights I had selected a special location.

Thornbury Castle.

The castle - now a hotel - is considered one of the finest surviving examples of

Tudor age architecture in England.

It was started in 1511 as a Tudor Country Home and as such had minimal defensive

features built into the home.

The original builder - Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, was beheaded in 1521

for Treason by King Henry VIII (his distant cousin), and the

home was confiscated by the King.

Henry and Anne Boleyn stayed here for 10 days on thier Honeymoon in August 1535.

Thornbury Castle Front

One of Thornbury Castles side wings

Our room in the castle. 

A popular venue for weddings, the castle has several dining rooms.

One of Thornbury Castles Dining Rooms

Another dog-friendly location, the doodles joined us for breakfast.

The castle vineyard is showing its fall colors.

Thornbury Castle Vineyard

Our package included breakfast & dinner each day. 

Thornbury is an ancient market town and its status as such continues today.

Thornbury, England

There are many restaurants, pubs, and coffee shops in town. 

Fresh produce (The Britts call it "Veg") outside one of the local markets

Fresh Veg in Thornbury

The doodles have become a fixture in the pubs in the UK.

Always great travelers - they have really added some new dimensions to their

repertoire this trip and take everything in stride.

Pub Doodles in Thornbury, England

It's now Oct 17 early morning here in Thornbury.

Today marks 5 months since we set sail from NY on the Queen Mary 2, and

tomorrow we will again board for our 7 day crossing of the North Atlantic

back to the New World and some exciting new adventures in our lives.

Soon we pack up and head to the Holiday Inn Express in Southampton

where we will spend our final night on this side of the pond.

Perhaps I'll get to send a quick update after we board the ship,

if not, then we'll see you on the other side.

Hope that you all have enjoyed riding along.