Across the Atlantic and New York to Virginia

 

I'm playing some catch-up again.

We left you last as we had just boarded the Queen Mary2 for our crossing to New York.

Our first morning at sea dawned clear and calm.      We rushed up to the kennels at 0800 to break the dogs out of jail, and they were extremely happy to see us.

We've done this rodeo enough times now to fall right into our routine.

Breakfast at 0700 at the buffet

Kennels 0800-12noon

12-3 free time

3-6 Kennels

630p to 730p cocktails and starters in Queens Grill Resturant.

730 - 830 kennels - tuck the dogs in for the night

830p back to Queens Grill for Dinner.

It is quite a lot of running around between our kennel duty and meal times.   Frankly, we both got to the point where we just couldn't handle the food anymore...  no matter how good it is.

The maitre d and waitstaff are like crack dealers...  "Have some of this...  try some of that...  how about I make this tableside for you tonight...

Osso Bucco for dinner

Lamb Chops for dinner

I did have one excellent Vegetarian dinner one night.   Kung Pao Califlower.   It was off the charts!   I need to try and make it.    Topped with lightly pickled  julienne vegetables.    Serious yum yum!

Kun Pao Cauliflower

Then there was formal night.    We had shipped our nice clothes over, and it was waiting for us in our stateroom.    So we had to do at least one night.    The second formal night we played hookie and stayed casual and went to the buffet instead for a lighter dinner for a change.

Cherries Jubilee made tableside

Lots of time was spent (like always) in the kennels hanging out with the dogs and other owners.

We had a great bunch of people and dogs, so the dogs got to play loose off of the leash.

The days are long.   I say that "each day goes slow but the week goes fast."

It was a pretty rough crossing.    At times the wind on the deck was approaching 70mph adding in the ships forward motion.    We had to leash the dogs just to keep them from getting blown away.

Mid week we had a nice enough day to do the normal photo shoot.

Olliver (L) and John (R) the Kennelmaster and assistant

We've made the crossing several times with Oliver and John.   Both are perfectly suited for the job and a joy to work with.

One interesting point was during Covid, when the ship was anchored for over a year, a skeleton crew of about 120 people remained onboard to keep the ship in working order.   Things like running all the faucets and appliances needed to take place.   John was one of those 120 and had some great stories about what it was like.

The ship was darkened to save energy and it was real spooky.   Crew would hide on each other and jump out at the right moment to spook each other.

Kate on Photoday with Paul McCartney

The night before arrival all the luggage is packed up and placed outside before retiring for the night.

Our luggage outside our stateroom

Arrival in NYC is about 5am.    We pass under the Verazzano and by the Statue of Liberty, and are tied up at the terminal before daybreak.

Staten Island Ferry passes by the Statue of Liberty

Around 8a we were released from the kennels and proceed as a group to disembark.

Off the ship, I left Kate, the dogs, and the luggage at the terminal, and shared an Uber with a fellow Kennelmate to Enterprise to pick up our rental.

I had a large Jeep Grand Wagoneer.   I pickup of my precious cargo and proceeded to make the 3+ hr drive up to Northern NY.    On the way we detoured to Oakland, NJ to stop at our favorite bagel shop to pick up some of those round beauties.

The dogs were so excited to get off the ship.   I know they could sense that life was going to return back to normal...  (them spending all their time with us)

The dogs slept all the way north

Back in the bus.... they quickly fell into PartyBus Mode

By our 2nd morning on the ship, I had a scratchy throat and knew that I was coming down with something.

Long story short...  by the 2nd morning in NY I was at an Urgent Care facility being diagnosed with Pneumonia.    Kate followed a few days behind me.

The 10 days that we spent in our old stomping grounds were mostly spent on our back.   All our plans were eventually cancelled and we got to do almost nothing while there.   A full course of 2 types of antibiotics had us recovering from the worst of it quickly, but we were still under the weather for a couple of weeks and are only feeling somewhat normal now.   (Still have a lingering cough)

On October 13 we packed up and finally got the bus back on the road.   It had spent 7 months in Saratoga Springs, NY

Southbound on the NYS Thruway

Our next stop for 6 nights was Artillery Ridge RV Park in Gettysburg, Pa.   We enjoy spending time there but again...  due to our recuperation we had to cancel visits with friends.   We finally were able to get our Covid Boosters and Flu shots, and on our last day there we felt good enought to walk around the battlefield a bit with the dogs as it was a warm sunny day.

Artillery Ridge RV Park Site 406

The pups at the Pennsylvania Monument Gettysburg

We've now moved further south and currently I write from Shenandoah River State Park.   We enjoy this campground and at this time of year it is well positioned to enjoy all that the fall season offers up in this neck of the woods.

Our nearby town is Front Royal, Va which has a small but quaint main st.

Main St Front Royal

Main St Front Royal

We also took a ride up to Winchester to visit an Apple Orchard.   We stocked up on 4 types of Apples plus they actually had some fresh picked corn.   The corn was so good we drove back yesterday (45 min each way) to get some more.

Today we took a ride up onto Skyline Drive.   Running for 105 miles along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is scenic any time of year but fall brings out the best IMO.

This year has been very dry along the east coast and as a result the colors are a bit muted but still pretty.

2 years ago we were here and the colors were just off the charts.

This is our spot at Shenandoah River State Park.   Site #1.  It is 50a and water pull-thru and must be 150' long.   The pull thru sites here are huge.

Shenandoah River SP site #1

Shenandoah River SP site #1

We are here until Monday, at which point we move to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield (near Richmond) Va.   It's another fall favorite of ours.     After that we have a few days in NC near our old home, then off to SC for maintenance at Freightliner in Gaffney before we start slowly working our way west.   

We have a wedding to attend in Austin Texas mid November after which we'll make the final push to Arizona.

January we are already back on the road for our usual winter time get togethers.   Sadly our Canadian friends are all (understandably) not coming down to the US this winter for the second year in a row, so our winter get togethers will be missing a core component.

See you down the road.

Southern England - Boarding the Queen Mary2

 

Our last post had us in the quaint village of Broadway in The idyllic Cotswolds.

Since then we stayed in 2 more AirBnb's and are currently in a Hotel a mile or so from the dock where we will board the QM2 tomorrow.     The map below will show the travels from our last post up to now.

Starting with our last post... 

Our 2-weeks having come to a close, we moved south to the Atlantic Coast to the small town of West Bay.

Our time on this side of the Atlantic is drawing quickly to a close and I had scheduled 6 nights at a very nice condo next to a marina and just steps from the Ocean.    Unfortunately, the weather was quite uncooperative with rain and really strong winds.    This and a recovering dog kept us mostly close to home.

The view from our condo

The winds reached up to 70 mph while here.

along the seawall in West Bay

From West Bay - we moved to a really nice barn conversion outside of Melksham, UK.

On the way we made a slight detour to visit the Caen Hill locks.

There are 29 locks in total, divided into 3 groups, the largest of which contains 16 and is the one that we visited.

Caen Hill Locks

Caen Hill Locks - view from the top

Barge Boats above the Caen Hill Locks

Our home for the next 5 nights - our final AirBnb of the trip was a really nice barn conversion.   Surrounded by gardens, fruit trees and fields, it was a nice restful place to get regrouped and ship shape for our transition from shoreside life to getting on board.

Our home in Melksham, UK

While here we visited the nearby picture postcard village of Lacock.

The town has been the filming location for many films, the most notable being the Harry Potter Series.

Lacock, UK

As soon as we arrived here, we realized that we'd been here back in 2018 with our friends from Switzerland.

Lacock, UK

Lacock, UK

We had previously had lunch in the Red Lion Pub.

The Red Lion - Lacock, UK

We took a stroll around the grounds of Lacock Abbey.

Lacock Abbey

And finally a stroll around the grounds at home.

Grounds around our home in Melksham

Grounds around our home in Melksham

Soon it was time to move on to our final stop of the trip.   A hotel in Southampton for 2 nights about a mile from the dock.     Haveing a couple of hours to kill, we made a detour to Bournemouth, UK to get our last UK seashore fix.

Bournemouth UK

With a huge sandy beach - we could see that this place must be hopping in the summer.   Being a mid week day in the fall, it was nice and quiet.

Bournemouth UK

Riding the range inBournemouth UK

Finally it was time to check into the hotel.    We unloaded the luggage, and then I took the car back to Volkswagen.   It was hard to belived that I'd picked it up there over 5 months earlier!

Hotel in Southampton

Hotel in Southampton

Today being our final day on shore, we took a walk thru town.

Southampton, UK

There is an old defensive wall around the town.   The current one dates to the 1300's.    It's not as complete or ancient as the one in Chester, but still is an interesting structure.

Defensive Wall in Southampton

Finally came boarding day....

Time to shift gears and say goodbye to Europe and reset our sights westward.

Our Ubers came right on time and we took the 5 minute drive to the terminal.

The great thing about having dogs is that they always wave you right to the front of the line.

We checked in and waited about 15 min for Olliver & John the Kennelmasters to come down to escourt us onto the ship.

Then we passed thru security and waited for the rest of the pack to clear thru.

Our Queens Grill Suite

Then we made the mad dash thru the ship up to the kennels on deck 12 where we went over procedures for the "newbies" and soon it was time to tuck the dogs into bed till we go back up at 5 pm.

Normal visiting hours will be 8a-12p. 3p-6p abd 7:30 to 8:30.   As you can see - with the exeption of the 12-3pm shift, most of the day will be kennel time or rushing to and from feedings,

After dropping of the dogs we went down to our stateroom to check on luggage and get our key cards so that we could check into our muster stations.

Our Queens Grill Suite

After taking care of business we went down to the Queens Grill Restaurant for lunch.   

On Cunard there are 3 basic levels of service.    Think coach, coach premium, business, and first class on an airline.    Queens Grill is first class with it's own resturant, lounge, outdoor area etc.    Sort of an old left over from the Titanic days.    The rooms are much larger and have a butler, but the real draw is the Queens Grill Resturant.    The daily menu is extensive and you are not limited to what is on the menu...   If they have the ingredients on the ship, they will make whatever you ask for.

Having sailed QG a number of times before we have gotten to know Osman, the matre d quite well.    This time he reserved us a great window table right overlooking the stern of the ship!   One of the nicest tables in the whole restaurant.   This table is ours for the entire trip - breakfast, lunch, dinner.

 

Lunch at our great table

QG Restaurant seen from our table looking forward

We both opted for the Soup (vegetable) and Sandwich (Roast beef hoagie with horseradish mayo)

Kate washed it all down with a brownie and vanilla ice cream and I had the strawberry crumble with a vanilla sauce.

Then I took a couple of laps on the promenade deck and went to check out the aqua spa,    

I like to sign up for the weekly pass and go take advantage of the hot pools, steam rooms saunas etc.   We usually squeeze that in each day during the 12-3 kennel break and mix in some deck laps followed by lunch and return to the kennel at 3.

I discovered that I forgot a bathing suit...   When the shops open I'll have to see if they have something for me.

Lastly - I checked the marine weather maps for the week.   It looks like we might have a bit of weather Sunday into Monday, but then later thursday there appears to be some sort of tropical event coming up the coast and right into our path.    Should be an interesting ride.

Just as I was finishing up this post, the Queen Anne - Cunards newest ship was departing Southampton.   We will be leaving in an hour or so.    Anytime these ships get together, horns start blowing and people start cheering.