Practicing Retirement!

 On October 1, Steve and I flew to Baltimore to begin a long-planned pre-retirement trip.  Question #1-Can we spend more than a week in very close proximity together with minimal interruptions and little outside work involvement? We arrived late in the afternoon and checked into our hotel.  Then we took a shuttle to the famous Inner Harbor area to check out the sights and have some dinner.  It was dark by the time we arrived so most of our photos were lame.  We walked around and had a light supper then waited an hour for the shuttle driver who said he would be back in 10 minutes.

 The next morning after lounging around in our room, checking last minute emails and having breakfast, we were shuttled to the dock to board our cruise ship, Grandeur of the Sea, for our cruise to ports in Maine and Canada.  The sail away is always exciting from this port as we sailed under the Chesapeake bridge and gazed back on the city.  It was very picturesque and we were filled with pleasant anticipation.  Steve was able to leave his work thoughts behind quite quickly.  It was a little more difficult for me to part with the phone and internet as we were sailing all day the next day and I wouldn't be able to communicate for about 40 hours.  I had two transactions that would be closing in my absence and there are usually last minute issues no matter how much we try to prepare.

 We sailed all night and all day the next day prior to arriving at our next port which was Portland, Maine.  That was the most challenging part of the cruise in several ways.  The weather turned stormy and the waves had us rocking and rolling.  Our room was a small inside unit in the middle of the ship.  In middle rooms occupants are supposed to be less likely to feel severe movement in rough seas.  We took our anti-seasick pills and managed pretty well.  We ate a lot of yummy meals and didn't lose a single one.

 It was rainy and cloudy as we disembarked the next morning in Portland.  We hadn't scheduled a specific tour in Portland as we wanted to walk around the town and it appeared on the map that we would be able to walk to the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow house.  So that was our plan.

 Here is a pretty little light house at the entrance to the harbor.  We were ready for our first adventure.