Celebrity Constellation–Amsterdam to Barcelona!

Hello Everyone, and Happy Friday!

Last night in Fort Garland, CO (pop. 400) we had dinner with a couple from Silver Spring, MD, that we met in China! That’s one of the things we love most about travel, you meet some great people from all over the world. Some are great one-time meetings, and others become friends for life! So…time to broaden your horizons and plan a great trip!

We’ve found just the one, especially for those of you who can be pretty spontaneous with your planning. This cruise is aboard the CELEBRITY CONSTELLATION, sailing on September 3rd, 2010, from Amsterdam to Barcelona.

The Constellation is Millennium Class ship, entered service in 2002, with a passenger capacity of just over 2000 souls. She offers lots of entertainment and dining venues, including the Ocean Liners Specialty Restaurant, where you can enjoy a 5-star meal for a modest surcharge. She also offers Celebrity’s “Star Treatment”, with onboard service geared towards making each passenger feel extra-special, a new dress code encouraging folks to dress for dinner (flip-flops are for the beach, after all!), and a new smoking policy that limits onboard smoking to designated spots, with all staterooms and verandahs designated as non-smoking. Clean air for everyone!

But the best part about this offer (besides the LOW fares) is the itinerary: Starting in Amsterdam, where you can tour the tiny apartment where Anne Frank and her family took refuge, you’ll cruise to some of the prettiest and most interesting places in Europe. Check out the handmade lace in Bruges, or some of that amazing Belgian chocolate!  Museum lovers and history buffs will enjoy Cherbourg, and in Vigo, take a shore excursion to the pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostella, explore an Iberian Celtic hill fort, bask on a beach or feast on a paella of Spanish shellfish.

We loved touring the narrow streets and alley-ways of Lisbon, with the antique tile covering homes and apartments, and had fun in Gibraltar dodging the Barbary Apes!  And Barcelona, what can we say? The Gothic area, Las Ramblas, museums, cathedrals…better plan an extra night there to see it all! This is a great itinerary!

Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Constellation
Day	Date	Port	Arv	Dep
Fri	09/03	Amsterdam, Netherlands – Embark – Time subject to change		04:30 PM
Sat	09/04	Brugge, Belgium	07:00 AM	05:00 PM
Sun	09/05	Cherbourg, France	07:30 AM	06:00 PM
Mon	09/06	At Sea
Tue	09/07	Vigo, Spain	07:00 AM	05:00 PM
Wed	09/08	Lisbon, Portugal	09:00 AM	05:00 PM
Thu	09/09	Gibraltar	02:00 PM	08:00 PM
Fri	09/10	At Sea
Sat	09/11	Barcelona, Spain – Disembark – Time subject to change	06:00 AM

 And you can book this cruise for a SONG! With UPGRADES!  Interior staterooms start at just $599* per person, with a 2 category auto-upgrade! Ocean views start at just $699* per person, and you can even get an upgrade on a balcony (while they are available) for only $899*! These fares INCLUDE port fees; government taxes are an additional $142.93 per person.

This Celebrity “Exiting Deals” offer is only good until August 2nd though, and these rates are even better than resident specials or senior rates, so don’t wait! Give us a call at 1-800-267-7613 ASAP to book your passage on this beautiful cruise, and then call your friends and let them know what a savvy cruiser you are!

Until then, enjoy your Friday afternoon, and have a great weekend!

Darlene & Mike

*Fares are based on double occupancy and include port fees. Tax, airfare, transfers and insurance are additional. Fares and upgrades are subject to change and availability, this is a limited time offer!

Bless the Organizers

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

Every neighborhood has its organizers. You know, those folks who like to plan gatherings and outings for those of us who want to socialize but aren’t organizers. Thank goodness for them; if they weren’t around nobody would know anybody. It’s especially true in our area where the nearest neighbor is at least a half-mile away; close friends may be 5 or 6 miles away.

Where we live the group of organizers has the unfortunate acronym of NAG. (Neighborhood Activities Group). They don’t nag, though. They let us know what’s happening and it’s up to us to get there.

The highlight of each year is the trip the group plans for the Repertory Theatre in Creede, Colorado. We’ve missed this one the last couple of years because of a conflict, and this year we almost missed it again, save for one last vacancy in the 4-room Creede Hotel Bed & Breakfast right next door to the theater.

If you’ve never been to Creede, you’ve missed one of Colorado’s true gems. First of all, the drive is spectacular. You get the beautiful La Veta Pass followed by the incredible views of cliffs and rock formations as you drive north from South Fork along the Rio Grande River to Creede.

A true old Colorado silver mining town, Creede was founded in the late 1800’s and boomed until the Silver Panic of 1893. Unlike many mining towns of the era, Creede managed to survive and today is home to a thriving arts community, tourist stop, and sightseers dream. Huge cliffs rise from the end of Main Street marking the entrance to the scenic byway known as the Bachelor Loop. Parts of the drive are narrow and steep, but the road is well maintained, at least during the summer. We don’t recommend driving the over the loop without a fairly high clearance SUV, though. Along the way, you’ll see the ghost town of Bachelor (or what’s left of it), numerous old mines, some that produced silver ore as recently as 1985.

On this visit, though, we were in Creede to see the play. Now in its 45 season, the Creede Repertory Theatre is a nationally acclaimed troupe whose 7 to 10 play season lasts from the end of May through September. We saw their production of the contemporary comedy This Day and Age, a show we described as a “horror” play about grown children who decide to come home to live with their recently widowed mother. The production was excellent as has been every show we’ve seen in Creede, and we’re sure we’ll see many more.

The play was followed by an excellent dinner at the Antlers Inn, a hotel/cabin/RV Park located on the banks of the Rio Grande about 5 miles out of town on the way to Lake City. Most of our group of 46 stayed there, rather than in town as we did.

On Sunday, we headed toward home, but explored (as we are wont to do) a beautiful wildlife management area just east of South Fork. The drive through the mountains was beautiful although we did see a large area of burned timber left over from a wildfire that burned there several years ago. There are several hiking trails in the area including one to Lost Lake. It truly is lost…we saw the sign but never found the trail.

A visit to Creede is always a treat and there’s so much to see and do along the way.

Try a little trip to the past. All you have to do is get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc., and are based here in Southern Colorado. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at cruisesinc@gojade.org.

Get Out The Map–A View to the Past

By Mike & Darlene Jordan

We feel absolutely blessed to live in the Southwest; opportunities to see spectacular scenery abound, especially if you’re willing to go out of your way a little; or, a lot. Darlene’s birthday horseback ride into Canyon de Chelly was something we’ll never forget, but the weekend wasn’t over. We’d seen the canyon, the pool was closed and, as much as we enjoyed our visit, we were ready to move on. A look at the map reminded us that Chaco Canyon was only a few hours away, so we hit the road—both literally and figuratively.

Chaco Canyon is located in northwestern New Mexico. If Canyon de Chelly was just to left of the middle of nowhere, Chaco Canyon is right in the center. Although Chinle, Arizona, isn’t far from Chaco as the crow flies, it’s kind of a round-about drive over remote roads through the Navajo reservation. The final 30 or so miles to the park (Chaco Culture National Historic Park) is over some of the worst dirt road we’ve ever traveled. It’s not scary; the area is as flat as a pancake. It’s just that it’s rough and slow going. It’s a long 30 miles, but it’s worth it—especially if you’re interested in Anasazi culture and ruins.

Unlike Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon does charge a park fee of $8 per person. We arrived fairly late in the afternoon, but with the long days of June we had plenty of time to see the major attractions of the park so we paid the fee. Chaco Canyon isn’t scenic the way Canyon de Chelly is. It’s a beautiful place, but the main attractions are the many large and well preserved ruins contained within a relatively small area. The loop drive around the area is fairly short and the trails to the ruins are short as well, easy to follow, and well marked with interesting factoids about the things you are seeing.

There are several ruins areas, almost like small towns or villages within short walking distance of each other. Each has multiple kivas, multi-roomed “apartment” buildings, and common areas with a distinctive architectural style and evidence of complex planning. Archaeologists have even been able to determine that dozens of these “Great Houses” in the canyon were connected by an elaborate road system to more than 150 similar villages throughout the region, indicating that Chaco Canyon may have been a trading and cultural hub.

The largest of the ruins, Pueblo Bonito, occupied from the mid-800s until the mid-1200s, had over 600 rooms, 40 kivas, and rose 4 stories high during the peak of its occupancy. Visitors can follow a trail that takes them past a number of the kivas and into and through the buildings with their many rooms, and they are free to roam in the public areas of the pueblo.

We stayed until the light was nearly gone and began to work our way north toward Farmington, where we spent our last night of the trip. The following morning, a stop at the Ute Mountain casino in Ignacio, Colorado, was followed by a roundabout back road drive along the San Juan River, then north to Pagosa Springs and home.

Birthdays are a great time to give each other something we know we both love—travel to a surprise destination. It’s a tradition we’ll keep until we’re too old to hop in the car.

Until next time…get out the map!

Mike and Darlene Jordan are registered agents of Cruises Inc. You can contact them at 800-267-7613 or by email at mjordan@cruisesinc.com .