So we ended up losing power around 3:30-4AM. It hasn't come back yet. We decided to head to Dallas this afternoon and did so. We took the one wya that wasn't obstructed - Highway 290 to Hempstead. It was actually a nice drive, not much traffic.
We got pounded around 4AM pretty bad as the worst part of hte storm passed through. Windows bowed outward, the house shaked, it was bad, but not nearly like what happened to those on the coast. Our only damage is some roof damage, fence damage. That was about it.
I wish I got more pictures on Saturday, especiallyu driving through the dark. But I was exhausted as I only slept maybe 30 minutes the night before nad we worked chopping branches and clearing drains for a few hours.
The most ironic moment - before our power went out we were watching one of the local news stations. They broke for a commercial break where an Oreck Vacuum commercial came on. The older guy who does the commercials, I think Oreck himself, said that his vacuum "packs the power of a category 2 hurricane." I thought it was a joke at first, but realized it was just bad timing.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Hurricane Ike - Rough and He hasn't started yet
So its been pretty bad and the hurricane hasn't even made landfall. In fact, my area of town is just at the outer bands. The eye will be passing either through where we live or just at hte edge. They are expecting upper winds downtown at 130mph when it hits downtown, about 3-4AM.
Wow, in the past 3 minutes the lights have flickered 5 times. I have a feeling we may be losing power soon. Hopefully not! News is saying 2-3 weeks for power resotration. So far, 700K are without power. Winds slowed down the past 10 minutes or so. But are picking up again. They say if you lose power, you'll be out of luck for 2-3 weeks. So I don't know if we'll get lucky or not. Its weird, the lights keep flickering, but the computer and TV don't seem to be affected. I"ll have to google that later to see why.
No new pictures yet. Nothing too interesting plus its been too rainy. I went outside a few minutes ago and was a bit spooked, afraid something would fly and hit me so i went back in. But so far, we have been very lucky. We'll see if that luck continues. Still have at least 4 hours of really bad stuff and probably more.
Wow, in the past 3 minutes the lights have flickered 5 times. I have a feeling we may be losing power soon. Hopefully not! News is saying 2-3 weeks for power resotration. So far, 700K are without power. Winds slowed down the past 10 minutes or so. But are picking up again. They say if you lose power, you'll be out of luck for 2-3 weeks. So I don't know if we'll get lucky or not. Its weird, the lights keep flickering, but the computer and TV don't seem to be affected. I"ll have to google that later to see why.
No new pictures yet. Nothing too interesting plus its been too rainy. I went outside a few minutes ago and was a bit spooked, afraid something would fly and hit me so i went back in. But so far, we have been very lucky. We'll see if that luck continues. Still have at least 4 hours of really bad stuff and probably more.
Hurricane Ike
Well, its 10:15 right now. 200K+ are without power in Houston. We are lucky thus far and have power. We've noticed power surges or tiny power interruptions - where the lights go really dim or almost out for a second. But TV stays on so its not a complete interuption.
Here are some new pics of our backyard.
Trying to get a decent shot, tried the flash. Knew this wouldn't look great
Above two are slow shutter speeds, resting on our small picket fence. I think they are 10 second exposures. I was lucky to even get this as I had to guess on focusing and shot on manual mode. Think they turned out okay. Notice how the trees are "ghosting" from the motion.
Here are some new pics of our backyard.
Trying to get a decent shot, tried the flash. Knew this wouldn't look great
Above two are slow shutter speeds, resting on our small picket fence. I think they are 10 second exposures. I was lucky to even get this as I had to guess on focusing and shot on manual mode. Think they turned out okay. Notice how the trees are "ghosting" from the motion.
Hurricane Ike
So looks like Hurricane Ike took a turn right towards Galveston. We decided to stay put and ride it out, considering our last experience with Hurricane Rita and the evacuation, which was far more dangerous than the storm. Galveston will be decimated and there are still idiots out there who think they can outride the 20 foot storm surge!
Anyway, the last two days were spent just gathering a few supplies. We didn't need much. We got more bottled water and we had already filled up on gasoline, so we were good there. Grocery stores have been packed, but I went to Kroger's today and was in and out. I couldn't believe it.
At the moment, the winds are really picking up, but this is nothing. The storm will hit Galveston at 1AM and hit Houston around 6-7AM I believe, but that could have changed. Of course its a little eerie outside as there are very few cars and people out. Normally, the streets are packed on a Friday evening. Gas is gone from the 2 close gas stations. This should be interesting.
View of Westpark and the sunset. The west side was nice and bright while the storms were forming to the east.
View of Westpark towards the east. You can see the dark clouds forming.
Normally a very busy street on a Friday evening (and most every evening). Virtually empty.
Another view of Weslayan, facing north. Highway 59 is just beyond the Shell station
No more gas. No prices and tanks are covered. This place was jammed packed the past two days.
I'll be adding more pictures and blogging as long as I have power and internet. The exciting stuff won't come until the early morning hours.
Anyway, the last two days were spent just gathering a few supplies. We didn't need much. We got more bottled water and we had already filled up on gasoline, so we were good there. Grocery stores have been packed, but I went to Kroger's today and was in and out. I couldn't believe it.
At the moment, the winds are really picking up, but this is nothing. The storm will hit Galveston at 1AM and hit Houston around 6-7AM I believe, but that could have changed. Of course its a little eerie outside as there are very few cars and people out. Normally, the streets are packed on a Friday evening. Gas is gone from the 2 close gas stations. This should be interesting.
View of Westpark and the sunset. The west side was nice and bright while the storms were forming to the east.
View of Westpark towards the east. You can see the dark clouds forming.
Normally a very busy street on a Friday evening (and most every evening). Virtually empty.
Another view of Weslayan, facing north. Highway 59 is just beyond the Shell station
No more gas. No prices and tanks are covered. This place was jammed packed the past two days.
I'll be adding more pictures and blogging as long as I have power and internet. The exciting stuff won't come until the early morning hours.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Cruise Tips
Bring a Small Cooler
We brought a small, collapsible cooler along with us and this ended up to be an excellent idea. Some of the tours do not provide lunch, so it comes in handy. We brought a small, probably an 8"x6" cooler with us, the type made of fabric with a plastic lining inside. That way its portable and easy to carry. You fill it with ice on the ship, put a bottle or two of water in there along with food and you are good to go.
Don't Forget Lunch!
This is related to the cooler too. The first two tours, we didn't even think of lunch. Lunch was not provided and thus we were hungry when we got back to ship. I made the mistake of not eating breakfast too those mornings. My breakfast was black coffee and a cigarette. Needless to say, I was starving and moody when I got back to the ship. This is what you do for lunch: On our ship at least, they didn't really serve lunch in the morning. BUT, they will make you BLT sandwiches. So we ordered room service for the morning and ordered each of us a BLT sandwich, packed it in the cooler, and we were good to go. In St. Thomas, we could have stopped for lunch if we wanted, but time was short. In Dominica, it wasn't a choice, there wasn't food around at all. Land tours that don't provide lunch won't be stopping for it either. Of course, the more touristy islands do have restaurants on the beach and all, but the tours are often quick paced and you don't want to waste time eating or ordering food. Get the sandwiches and you can eat on the bus or van.
We brought a small, collapsible cooler along with us and this ended up to be an excellent idea. Some of the tours do not provide lunch, so it comes in handy. We brought a small, probably an 8"x6" cooler with us, the type made of fabric with a plastic lining inside. That way its portable and easy to carry. You fill it with ice on the ship, put a bottle or two of water in there along with food and you are good to go.
Don't Forget Lunch!
This is related to the cooler too. The first two tours, we didn't even think of lunch. Lunch was not provided and thus we were hungry when we got back to ship. I made the mistake of not eating breakfast too those mornings. My breakfast was black coffee and a cigarette. Needless to say, I was starving and moody when I got back to the ship. This is what you do for lunch: On our ship at least, they didn't really serve lunch in the morning. BUT, they will make you BLT sandwiches. So we ordered room service for the morning and ordered each of us a BLT sandwich, packed it in the cooler, and we were good to go. In St. Thomas, we could have stopped for lunch if we wanted, but time was short. In Dominica, it wasn't a choice, there wasn't food around at all. Land tours that don't provide lunch won't be stopping for it either. Of course, the more touristy islands do have restaurants on the beach and all, but the tours are often quick paced and you don't want to waste time eating or ordering food. Get the sandwiches and you can eat on the bus or van.
Carnival Destiny - Day 3 - Dominica
Rain forest: Notice the waterfall in center
tour offered by Bumpiing Tours, which I highly recommend. The guide was extraordinary and probably the best tour guide on our whole trip. Our tour consisted of a drive up to the rain forest.To get to the cold springs where we would do some cave swimming required a drive up the rain forest, then a short hike to the location. The drive was very scenic. Our driver stopped many times to get us some samples of the various foliage and plant life. Being a rain forest, the weather would turn quickly - from sunny and nice, to cloudy and rainy. Luckily, we were spared any bad rain and whenever we were out and about, it was fine. The hikes were easy and not too difficult at all. We had KK along on this tour and she did wonderful, although she was testy at times. The tour guide was excel
lent with her: patient and helpful, so she had a great experience. I'm glad she went along. After crossing the bridge, we were just about at the site. The bridge wasn't bad, but when you have a 6 year old with you, you do kind of worry. Its entirely possible for her to slip through or something terrible like that. But she was fine of course and we just made sure she held onto the rain and we held onto her.The cold springs lived up to its name, it was very chilly and very cold. But well worth it. Again, I really regretted not bringing our waterproof camera along for the swim. We went "cave" swimming at this location. Its not quite a cave though. Basically the spring goes in between two mountains and the pathway is probably about 10 feet wide. There was a waterfall at the end of it. The only semi-hard part is that once you start the swim, you have nowhere to rest or stop. The water is too deep and its probably a good 30-50 foot swim, maybe more, I'm bad at judging distance, especially swimming distance. We strapped KK into a life vest and Melissa and I went without, which turned out to be kind of a mistake. Ironically, on the way up, which is against current, we had no problems. I'd swim behind KK and give her some pushes while we paddled towards the waterfall. At the end of the swim was a very small area for us to get on and rest. We all crunched in there. It was about 7-10 feet from the waterfall. After that, the tour guide swam up and got under the waterfall. I did the same thing and that was a tough swim, very strong current, but I made it. Now, I figured the swim back should be easy, going downstream and all. This is where the problems came in. We all started back, KK was floating down in her life vest and all was good. Unfortunately, for some reason KK got scared and
grabbed onto Melissa and was pushing her underwater. Again, the area we are at, basically, you have to swim it, no choices. The sides are too smooth to grip onto. So I swam to help out. I was wearing Aqua Socks which I never swim that well in (for some reason they feel like I'm hauling parachutes on my feet, they have a lot of drag, at least for me). Well, KK didn't want to go with me and was kind of freaking out. I started getting really, really tired and nervous. Anyway, I luckily found a little notch on the side of the cave and held on to rest. I had probably 15 feet to go, not far at all, so I started to swim it and man, I barely made it! I was dead tired. I think I just got nervous though. ANyway, I looked like a terrible swimmer, although I'm not great at all, I can hold my own usually.
After that, we made a drive, then a hike to Trafalgar Falls. That was a pretty cool water fall, nice
photo stop. The hike wasn't long at all and it was pretty quick. After the falls we headed to some hot springs which was the perfect stop after the swimming and hiking. The water temp must have been near or a little above 100 degrees. It was really relaxing and nice. There was also a "natural rock slide" that you could take off the main pool to go lower. The pools go pretty low and end up cold of course as it gets further away. The water doesn't look that great in the pics, but it wasn't that bad at all. Melissa had a pretty nasty looking fall. She was walking along some of the rocks right by the spring and they were covered in moss. She flew in the air and landed on her hip/side. She was fine though, dunno how!After this, we headed to the Botanical Gardens, that was set up years ago by the British to experiment growing different kinds of plants. Unfortunately we didn't stay and look around as everyone in our tour group wanted to go snorkeling, which wasn't originally planned. So we just drove through.
The snorkeling was pretty fun. Melissa didn't go though and I didn't go for long. I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day. The cool thing about it was the little bubbles coming up from the bottom, like champagne. In fact, I think it was called Champagne Bay or something like that. It was pretty cool. That wrapped up a pretty long day!
Some miscellaneous pictures:
The above picture was taken in the botanical gardens. The tree fell over on the bus during their last major hurricane. Luckily nobody was in the bus, so nobody was hurt. Shows the destructive force of that tree!
I jokingly refer to that as a "Dominican Guard Rail." But its not really a joke, as its real. Unfortunately the picture doesn't tell the real story. This is basically a guard rail along the narrow, windy, moutain road we were travelling. What the picture doesn't show is the 100 foot or so drop/cliff right beyond it. It is a trusty bamboo guard rail.
Now, if you plan on staying overnight in Dominica, the above is what you'd expect to be sleeping in. As far as I know, there are no major hotel chains or resorts on Dominica. All of the hotels and lodging were pretty much as above. With this blog, the "Cake Trail Lodge" now has an internet presence. So this is for those who really are rustic and don't need modern day luxuries.In closing, this was my favorite island. I'm not sure I could do the overnight thing, but it was a very fun trip. If you go, definitely go with Bumpiing Tours, they are a non-Carnival touring company, BUT so much better (from what I heard) than Carnival. I have nothing but fantastic things to say about Bumpiing and our tour guide Gerry. The snorkeling was also cool too. If you are looking for sandy beaches, I'm not sure they exist here. I didn't see any at least, but I don't claim to be an expert. Also, the water wasn't as blue/turquoise as the otehr islands we visited. Now, this could be due to the overcast day, but the water is clear as you could snorkel. Its less touristy and gimmicky. You don't have aggressive vendors or people selling you stuff every 5 feet. The people are genuine and friendly. Overall, just a great place.
The Pros
- Beautiful and majestic rain forests and scenary
- People are ultra friendly
- Much to do
- If you are looking to stay overnight and must have an upscale hotel or resort, you won't find it here
- As far as I know, no traditional, sandy beaches to just chill on
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Carnival Destiny - Day 2 - St. Thomas
St. Thomas was our first port of call. To the left, you'll see a nice view from atop of a mountain of the port. Our ship is to the left of center. St. Thomas was a nice place, not my favorite, but I'm really comparing "very good" to "awesome" so its not necessarily downing the island at all. We arranged for a land tour that consisted of shopping in the morning and free time. We spent that free time walking up the "99 Steps" and to Blackbeard's castle. They offered a tour at Blackbeard's castle, but we didn't take it since we had to meet back up with the tour and didn't have time to do so. After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at Megan's Bay. Very beautiful water and sand and very calm. There are no waves, so its perfect for just swimming or relaxing in the water.
The Port the Destiny Docked AtUpon arrival, it was gray and overcast. Luckily as the day wore on, the skies opened up and it was a nice, hot
day. There was a short shower as we were shopping though. Luckily we happened to be under a veranda so the camera didn't get soaked. It was raining pretty hard for a good 10 minutes or so before it cleared up. We did a little shopping initially, then decided to make our way to the "99 Steps" where we'd climb that, and then head to Blackbeard's castle. Below you'll find some flowers captured on the walk up "99 Steps."
Which Way to Blackbeard's Castle?
Signage is pointing us in the right direction. We are heading to Blackbeard's castle. We really can't do much there as we aren't going on the tour, but we can go on the outskirts and take some photos. THey said there was a spring that you could swim in if you decided you wanted to take the tour. That's the one thing about cruising, you see a lot of different islands, but really only get a slice of all that you could be doing. But its fun nonetheless.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a much better picture of it than this. It was tough since we couldn't go inside and our access was restricted since we weren't taking the tour. Anyway, we make the trek back down to do a little more shopping and then its off for some swimming.
When Do We Swim??
I believe the picture is of Megan's Bay. If not, its close enough right? Megan's Bay was a very calm, peaceful bay. It was nice to swim in but obviously surfers won't like it too much. The water was a nice turquoise and crystal clear. The sand was nice as well. We really enjoyed our time here. We spent probably close to two hours swimming and relaxing. I made the mistake and didn't bring my flip flops or aqua socks, and instead brought my tennis shoes because of the walking before. That only sucked because it sucks to have tennis shoes at the beach, but it worked out alright. Below is another view of Megan's Bay, on the beach.
The picture looks a little grainy because I massively underexposed all the beach shots. It was bad. So I had to fix the photos but I was probably 2-3 stops underexposed at least. At least they were somewhat salvaged - thank God for shooting in R
The Good and The Bad
The Good:
day. There was a short shower as we were shopping though. Luckily we happened to be under a veranda so the camera didn't get soaked. It was raining pretty hard for a good 10 minutes or so before it cleared up. We did a little shopping initially, then decided to make our way to the "99 Steps" where we'd climb that, and then head to Blackbeard's castle. Below you'll find some flowers captured on the walk up "99 Steps."
Which Way to Blackbeard's Castle?
Signage is pointing us in the right direction. We are heading to Blackbeard's castle. We really can't do much there as we aren't going on the tour, but we can go on the outskirts and take some photos. THey said there was a spring that you could swim in if you decided you wanted to take the tour. That's the one thing about cruising, you see a lot of different islands, but really only get a slice of all that you could be doing. But its fun nonetheless.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a much better picture of it than this. It was tough since we couldn't go inside and our access was restricted since we weren't taking the tour. Anyway, we make the trek back down to do a little more shopping and then its off for some swimming.
When Do We Swim??
I believe the picture is of Megan's Bay. If not, its close enough right? Megan's Bay was a very calm, peaceful bay. It was nice to swim in but obviously surfers won't like it too much. The water was a nice turquoise and crystal clear. The sand was nice as well. We really enjoyed our time here. We spent probably close to two hours swimming and relaxing. I made the mistake and didn't bring my flip flops or aqua socks, and instead brought my tennis shoes because of the walking before. That only sucked because it sucks to have tennis shoes at the beach, but it worked out alright. Below is another view of Megan's Bay, on the beach.
The picture looks a little grainy because I massively underexposed all the beach shots. It was bad. So I had to fix the photos but I was probably 2-3 stops underexposed at least. At least they were somewhat salvaged - thank God for shooting in RThe Good and The Bad
The Good:
- Friendly People
- No aggressive vendors on the beach
- Scenic and pretty
- I wouldn't say there is anything necessarily bad about the island, except it was pretty touristy, it was a nice place, but didn't have the "umph" that some of the other islands had, at least from what I say.
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