Our trek began at 8:30 with the lower falls trail and then upper trail. Spectacular views of the water falls and a bit of the flora and fawna
We didn’t see any mammals, but we were fortunate to see a couple toucans
Morning at the Falls trails
Iguazu Falls
We flew today to Iguazu Falls for our pre cruise extension. Our hotel, the Gran Melia is beautiful! And the view is spectacular.
When we entered our room, we found Santa had arrived first with Champagne. Panecotta, nuts, chocolate, and nougat goodies! And the hotel has a beautiful tree. This will be a different kind of. CHRISTMAS for us!
Our room has a view of the jungle only, but we are told there are capuchin 🐒 monkeys close! We have seen a few birds and will be in the lookout for Toucans!
Some of the scenes around the hotel, the infinity pool, patio restaurants, and vegetation
Christmas eve buffet at the Gran Melia
Tango
Fabulous dinner and show. We each had the octopus appetizer and the steak, which was fabulous! Dessert was chessecake with berries or flan
The dancers portrayed tango thry the ages, in period costumes and styles. Fabulous show
Buena Aires
We have arrived! No long flight delays ( a short 1 since a passenger didn’t board, but his luggage did ! Of course it had to be removed before we could fly!) We were able to go to our hotel to check in and had 3 hours to have a shower, lunch and even rest a couple minutes before our 3.5 hr city panoramic tour.
We walked around a couple beautiful parks
and rose garden
We had a treat of a hot drink and croissant at the oldest Cafe in Buenas Aires.
We visited the cathedral where Pope Francis officiated before becoming pontif. The Tomb of national hero of their independence struggle, General Jose de San Martin, is guarded inside the cathedral
and the main square, Plaza de Mayo.
Other city monuments, the oblesk, BA, once covered in plants until the soccer fans celebrating the World Cup 2 days ago destroyed the plants! The city has many Beautiful sections, government buildings, opera house, over 120 parks, and many lovely monuments to the history of the country.
Very soon, we have the great treat of dinner and a tango show! If photos are allowed, I will post some! Great first day in Argentina.
The adventure begins
Early pick up, 7 AM for our flight to Miami, then on to Buenas Aires. At the gate at LAX
T minus 2 days!
T minus 2 days and counting down! Both tested negative, medications and supplements counted out and packaged, suitcases packed. Personal uber scheduled!
Tomorrow we do the last laundry, make sure all the plants are watered, kitchen clean and leftovers frozen or tossed! The last days to launch are always hectic. But the anticipation grows!
We fly Thursday to Buenas Aires for a 4 day excursion to Iguazu Falls before our Cruise. After Antarctica we will be in Patagonia for 4 days. I will try to document day by day our experiences with pictures but my first goal is to be there in the moment, experiencing this trip of a lifetime! I hope I can share some of the excitement and fun with you in this blog!
Today in the Antarctic the 2 Viking ships meet, bow to bow for 2 hours! I hope we get to see them both together! Our ship, Polaris from the bow of the Octantis!
Almost ready!
Hi everyone,
Bags are packed! In 10 days we will be in Buenas Aires! Then a flight to Iguazu Falls … stay tuned!
Great last night in Nebraska
Sorry, this post disappeared…I must have hit a wrong button! So here is a repost!
Homecoming football game and dance made a great play night for us in Nebraska. The game didn’t go as planned or hoped, but Dawson # 36 had several great carries! Tucker #24 was on the punt return team but, sorry Tuck, I didn’t get a good pic.
The guys and their days all looked great for the dance!
Changing plans
As many of you may know, we had planned a 180 day Around the World cruise on Oceania in January. We had planned to use our investments to cover the costs, but with the stock market tanking since Biden’s administration began, we decided to keep those in safer investments for a while. We were also going to cash in a voucher we had on Viking for 3 River cruises, Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, which had been canceled 2x by COVID and which, obviously, has been canceled again by the war in Ukraine! By hanging in there with Viking, they rewarded us with a 25% bonus! We decided to take advantage of that offer and use our voucher on one of Viking’ brand new excursion ships! We will be cruising the Antarctic instead in late December and January, Including 2 extensions, before in Iguazu Falls and after in Patagonia! Watch for more on this exciting “trip of a lifetime” in December!
https://www.vikingcruises.com/expeditions/video/ships/discover-our-expedition-ships/play.html
Harvest continues
The team, daughter Liz, son in law David, and Jake, their help, are harvesting the field right behind the house today! Great time to ride along and get photos of the operation.
