Lobster and Baked Alaska

Saturday April 11, 1992

I awake. Frank is up. It's 8 a.m. I feel I could sleep 2 more hours but I get up. Frank goes to breakfast at The Red Apple and later brings me ham, bacon, eggs, OJ, rolls and juice, plus banana and grapefuit. No help on eating light from Frank. Frank takes his usual 3-4 mile walk and we meet in the Cabaret Lounge for debarkation talk and stay for Bingo. Then we go to lunch.

In our cabin I write in the journal and then head up to do some sunbathing even though I'm not supposed to sunbathe. I get a little red in a short time. I have 6 attacks of chest pain in the afternoon. Aches alot 1-2 minutes.

Frank has held his weight. I feel and look 10 pounds heavier. Lobster and baked Alaska for dinner. The dance and song review is great at 9:15. We're packed and ready to go home and looking forward to it.

With 3 huge meals per day, including this night's lobster and baked Alaska, no wonder Mom gained 10 pounds. From what I have heard about cruising, that is actually a typical weight gain. Kudos to Frank for keeping up with his 3-4 mile walks. Assuming they were on the Norwegian Pearl, the length of the ship was 965 feet, so he could easily get his miles in on the deck or on a treadmill. Assuming the deck is not too crowded, I would much rather walk outside and enjoy the view.

The Florida Keys

Wednesday April 1, 1992

Landed in Miami 6:30 a.m. very tired. Slept very little sitting up on the plane. Four-hour flight, maybe slept one hour. We pick up our rental car and have breakfast at Denny's. The car has a broken tail light so we go back to get another car. The 3-hour drive south through the Florida Keys is very pleasant but I cannot stay awake. I sleep off and on all the way. About 10:30 Frank finally pulls off to nap a bit. We both sleep soundly. We arrive at Bucky and Inys after lunch at 1 p.m. Their home is lovely. They have a canal at the back of their home where their boat is docked. They have 3 bedrooms upstairs. We sleep downstairs in a bedroom with bath, TV, phone. Nice.

We have a fabulous lobster tail dinner, 7 of them--huge! They catch them near here. We go to bed early.

My cold is pretty good except sore throat.

Wow, only 4 hours from Los Angeles to Miami? That's a quick flight. As I suspected yesterday, Mom and Frank were not able to sleep on the plane. One thing she was always able to do though, was sleep in the car. I can remember so many times I would be in the back seat, and Mom was a passenger in the front seat with Frank driving. She would be talking away, when suddenly it would get quiet. I would look over the top of the seat and she was sleeping. Still, I am surprised that they were able to sleep soundly in the car (on the side of the road?) to take a nap. Otherwise, I'm sure they would not have been good company when they arrived at her cousin Bucky's. That lobster dinner sounds fabulous. It sounds like a beautiful place to live. That is one place I would like to visit before I die, but it would have to be in the winter. The furthest south I have been on the east coast was Virginia, and it was stifling hot there in July. Florida would be much worse with the humidity and heat.