July 5, 2008 Welcome To Steamboatin'!!!

We're off to Cincinnati, OH, for our family vacation. Not the Mississippi Riverboat cruise we expected, which was diverted due to flooding. But an Ohio Riverboat cruise instead, so we'll make the best of it!

We were up early, at 6:30 am, for our 7 am limo. Got to the airport with no problem, and checked in at a nearly empty counter. Unfortunately, they didn't give us a seat assignment--we had to wait until we got to the gate for that. So we headed through security, where I did my typical "assume the position" routine (the metal in my knees sets off the alarms every time!) It's pretty bad when I know what to do so well that I'm doing it before they tell me to! Anyway, we arrived at the gate, and there was no one there! OK, so the seat assignments can wait, let's get some breakfast. Now, airports are NOT known for having decent food, and I'm thinking I'll be lucky with a bagel and cream cheese. WRONG! Newark Liberty Airport (which has always been my favorite) is very forward thinking and smart, and they had, right at our gate, a HEALTHY FOOD KIOSK!!! I got some yummy organic blueberry yogurt, mixed in some Cheerios, and I was good to go!

Once I'd eaten, I looked up and there was a person standing at the gate counter. So I went up to get our seat assignments, hoping we'd at least have a couple of seats together so the kids didn't have to sit alone. But we were in luck-we all got to sit together! We were 2 by 2, since the plane was a 50 passenger puddle jumper, but we were together!

It was soon time to board, and when we got to the end of the jetway, we were told we'd have to gate check our carryons, because the overhead bins on our tiny little plane were, well, tiny little!! I was a bit panicky, since all of our meds and all of my dressing supplies were in one of the carryons, but it wasn't something I had any control over. So off we went to our seats. As soon as I sat down, my first thought was, "wow, the plane may be smaller, but the seats are alot bigger!" Then I noticed that the seatbelt was quite long--I actually had a good 6 inches left over! I was about to comment to my Mom about this, when it hit me--DUH!!! The seat and belt are NOT bigger, *I* am smaller!!! Apparently quite a bit smaller! So that was a great way to start off what turned out to be a great flight, with no problems at all.

At least until we landed... And then we saw that we would have to walk down the steps from the plane to the tarmac. This is always a problem for me, especially with luggage. But wait, we gate checked our carryons! There's nothing to carry down the steps! And a small plane has small steps! So I gracefully climbed down, identified my carryons, and into the terminal we went! The trip to baggage claim seemed like it took forever, but it was probably about 20 minutes. First we rode a shuttle from the gate out to the main terminal. Then we took the train to the baggage claim terminal (like the ones at the airport in Orlando). Our bags were on the baggage carousel, all by themselves! Guess most of the bags on our flight were carryons. We met up with the people from the cruise line, and settled in to wait for the bus to take us to the boat. We had a pretty long wait, but finally we boarded, our bags boarded, and we were off to the boat!

Checkin on the boat was a piece of cake, WAY better than on the big cruise liners. We went right to the dining room and had lunch. I had a turkey sandwich--the first bread I've eaten in about 6 months, and it was good! With some sliced peppers, and a bowl of fruit, it made for a nice lunch. After lunch, we booked a couple of shore tours, and took a tour of the boat. Small, but nice, easy to find our way around. We found our room--the Leonore K. Sullivan room--it's so pretty! So we got unpacked, and finished our tour. Then it was time for the life vest drill. We had to be outside our rooms with the lifevests on, and then we walked down one flight to our "muster station". Once we checked in there, we were done, and could return to our rooms. So I changed into my gym clothes, and headed up to the gym. YAY!! They have an elliptical!! I hopped on and did my 30 minutes. I could look out over the pool--it's quite small, and only has a ladder, no steps, so I won't be using it.

Went to look at Mom and Dad's room--they have a fridge!!! I brought a cooler for my protein boluses and water bottles. But a fridge! I can put my stuff in there! Better yet...I asked at the Purser's desk. Since the cruise is only 1/3 full (apparently ALOT of people decided to reschedule due to the itinerary change), I KNOW there are some suites that have fridges that are empty. Could I possibly get one of those? YES!!!! Gordan and Danny were next door to us, but their AC was not working, so they were moved down a couple rooms.

We went to dinner, and found that our table is right by the windows, so we have a great view! It's a table for 8, and there are only 6 of us, so we have a couple sitting with us, Ron and Jewel. They live in the Cayman Islands. They are so nice! We couldn't have found a better pair to join us than these two. Ron is into trains, almost as much as Daddy, and Jewel and I could talk for hours about food allergies! Dinner was really nice, and since I'd used very few calories so far, I splurged and had a little vanilla ice cream for dinner. YUMMY!

After dinner it was time to sail! We went out on deck to "supervise" the sailing. It was really cool to watch. The dock is right across from the stadium where the Cincinnati Reds play, and there was a game going on. When the calliope played "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", the crowd at the game went wild!

I checked out the show for the evening, and left after about 5 minutes. I've heard better singing at Karaoke! So I went into the store, got some bottles of water to put in my fridge, and went up on deck to watch the river for awhile. So peaceful and relaxing!! At 9 we all met in Mom and Dad's room for our first nightly viewing of "The Flame Trees of Thika". It's a 7 part miniseries that Dad brought on DVD, so we'll watch an episode each night. It was pretty good! Afterwards, I checked my calories and protein in the book I"d brought, and it seems I did quite well today. Hey, I CAN DO THIS!!!!!!

For some reason, we had to stop for fuel. We stopped for a long time. I gave up watching, and just went to bed, since tomorrow is an early day!