Gillette Castle and State Park

Posted on March 26, 2013March 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The answer to Challenge #3 is….. Gillette Castle in Hamden CT.

Here is a post from March 2011 when I first saw the Castle.

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As we cruised south on the Connecticut River our guides pointed out a huge stone building on a bluff overlooking the river. With no trees to block the view it was hard to miss and certainly does look like a Medieval castle.

I had noticed signs on the way to the boat landing referring to Gillette Castle and Gillette Castle State Park but I had never heard of it before so had no idea what it might be.

According to our guides, Gillette Castle State Park is located in Haddam, Ct. The Castle was built by “William Gillette as a private residence. It is said he came to visit and was so taken with the views that he bought 184 acres and built this huge stone house.

William Gillette was an American and made his money as an actor, most notably playing Sherlock Holmes on stage.

Gillette loved showing off his estate and even had a railroad track with a working steam engine so he could show his visitors around the grounds.

In 1882 Gillette married Helen Nichols of Detroit. They were blissfully happy. She died in 1888 from peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. According to our guides, Helen , on her death bed, begged him not to remarry and he honored that request. He was grief-stricken for years and in the Spring of 1890 was struck down by tuberculosis. By the time of his death he was almost penniless but he still had his home.

When Gillette died , he had no wife or children to inherit, his will precluded possession of the castle by any (and I love this) “blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded”.

Connecticut’s government took possession of the property in 1943 and renamed the home Gillette’s Castle and the land around it Gillette State Park.

The Castle is open during the summer and can be toured while the grounds are open all year. Even if the Castle is closed you can stand on the veranda and look out over the Connecticut River, enjoying the same views that so enamored William Gillette.

Cruise Ship Nightmares

Posted on March 16, 2013March 16, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I am counting my lucky stars these days. Joe and I had a great cruise on The Carnival Imagination but Carnival is being plagued with bad news stories these days.

The string of bad luck started January 13, 2012 with the sinking of the Costa Concordia, one of the worse passenger ship disasters since the sinking of the Titanic.

At the time I wasn’t aware that Carnival Cruise Lines was the parent company for the Costa Concordia not that it would have made any difference to me when I accepted the free cruise from my time share.

Blissfully unaware of any issues at Carnival we looked forward to our mini cruise. We joked about the ships that had engine fires or became disease riddled. Stories like that were always popping up in the news. But when you consider the number of ships that are plying the seas it stands to reason that there will be a mishap now and then.

Our cruise was wonderful. In spite of less than perfect weather it was relaxing and pleasant. So it was with some surprise that I listened the horrendous reports about the Carnival Ship Triumph which became stranded in the Gulf of Mexico not far from where we had been. It was a mini cruise that followed one of the itineraries I had the option to choose. We went out of Florida, not Texas. A different choice and we could have been on that ill-fated ship. Still I felt it was just a “fluke”. Now I am beginning to wonder.

Carnival and Royal Caribbean are the largest cruise lines according to industry statistics with Carnival cornering approximately 21 % of the total cruise market worldwide with a fleet of 23 ships.

But back to the string of bad luck. Costa Concordia is by far the worse with an actual sinking and loss of life.

Then we have Triumph that drifted in the Gulf of Mexico . Passengers reported over flowing toilets, sewage in the halls, cold and spoiling food before they were towed to port.

Following the Triumph in quick succession we had the Elation…

Then , Dream

and now Legend!

Carnival Elation had to be escorted by tugboat because of a malfunction in its steering system.

Carnival Dream lost power and toilets stopped working . Even though they were in port at the time no one was allowed to get off the vessel.

Carnival Legend was on the last leg of a seven-day cruise through the Caribbean when technical problems affected its sailing speed.

It’s been reported (but I haven’t been able to verify) that in a months time 3 other Carnival Ships have reported problems.

Carnival announced this week that it is conducting a “comprehensive review” of all of its ships. Until things improve I think I’ll stay away from Carnival Cruises.

I’ll be heading off on another cruise in May, north to Alaska. I’m looking forward to seeing the glaciers and wildlife of our 49th state but we won’t be cruising with Carnival. This trip is on the Princess Cruise Line. I haven’t heard anything bad about them lately. 🙂

End of the Line

Posted on February 17, 2013February 17, 2013 by Dusty Roads

After viewing the gorgeous sunrise

as we pulled into Miami we headed into the Horizon Bar and Grill for our last breakfast while the ship docked and prepared for our disembarkation.

We’d tagged our bags and left them in the hall outside our cabin the night before. The tags had been left by the staff and each bag had a number. Ours was 23. That would determine when we could leave the ship.

Everyone congregated on the Lido deck by the pool to wait for their number to be called. It seemed to take forever to get to 23 but once it was called we were processed off the ship pretty quickly. We were disappointed that at no time did we collect a stamp in our passport. The passport was essential but I guess traveling by cruise ship accords some shortcuts and one of them is by passing the custom stamp.

One glitch. We left our cell phones in the car because I had heard that even if the phones were off if a call or text came through to voice mail that we could still be charged for international calling (roaming). Not wanting any surprises on our bills we left the phone behind. Now we were standing in front of the terminal with no way to call for the shuttle to the Park & Cruise. There were no old-fashioned pay phones anywhere and no courtesy phones either. Tensions started to rise when I had an inspiration. I approached one of the security personnel with our parking tag and explained our situation. She chuckled a little and made the call for us . Within half an hour we were back where we started, loading up Joe’s car.

Next stop is Fort Lauderdale Airport where I have a rental car waiting. That’s where Joe will drop me off and head back to Orlando and I will head into Fort Lauderdale to find my hotel. I’m going to spend a couple of days here in hopes of getting to the Everglades for some serious photo opportunities.

We found the car rental return but not the pick-up so Joe dropped me off at the return and I hoofed it to the lobby. It’s not even noon yet. With luck I’ll have most of the day to explore.

Sea Day On Carnival Imagination

Posted on February 14, 2013February 14, 2013 by Dusty Roads

As I write this post there’s another Carnival Ship being towed to Alabama from their failed Gulf Cruise. The Carnival Cruise ship Triumph was disabled on Monday by an engine fire. The ship is carrying more than 4000 people between guests and crew with some reports as high as 4500. The ship was 55 miles off the Mexican coast when the fire happened. Conditions since then have really gone downhill. I would not like to be on that ship! To think only a little more than a week ago we were on the Imagination in the same area! We could have been on there!

Luckily our ship didn’t have any problems. In fact we had an uneventful day at sea the last day. The cruise director had loads of activities planned. We watched the “Hairy Man” competition and the ice carving exhibition.

The lunch buffet was a bit fancier than usual with ice cream swans.

Sorry they melt fast and when we had them make us a fresh one we forgot to take the picture before eating it! 🙂

We finally got some sunny weather too.

There were trivia contests and time to look at all of the photos the ship-azzazzi photographers had been taking. There was even time to grab a nap in the afternoon. The evening was spent at dinner and the farewell show. It was all a nice relaxed pace but plenty to do.

One thing we never got to was the Casino. We walked by it plenty of times, talked about trying it for a bit but just never got there. I’m definitely not a gambler and I don’t think Joe is either so it wasn’t missed at all. Still I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there was a casino for those so inclined.

Arriving back at our cabin for our last night we had our last towel art. I can’t call this one an animal. But very appropriate for a Post on Valentine’s day, don’t you think?

Time to leave Mexico Behind

Posted on February 13, 2013February 13, 2013 by Dusty Roads

It was time to start back to the ship. I left the ruins through the hole in the wall and caught the tram back to the marketplace and parking area.

Now I had the most uncomfortable experience of the whole trip. I know that in many countries market places are filled with pretty aggressive stall merchants. It’s one thing to read about it but quite another to be subject to it. I don’t know if it was because I was alone when I stepped off the tram or because I was a woman or if this is just their way. It’s possible it’s all an act for the gringos but I didn’t like it.

In any case I wanted to look in the market place. I didn’t have much money on me but I was curious. Big mistake. The proprietors ran at me waving mayan calendars, or another big one was cigars. At first I tried to make light and laugh it off saying no-no I don’t smoke and things like that. But as I got away from one another was there in front of me pitching their wares and they had an answer for everything. I broke away from them with “Buy, Buy for your husband, buy for your friend, take back to America”…ringing in my ears.

I’m sure they need the money. The area is clearly poor by American standards but the aggressive approach certainly drove me away rather than encouraging me to buy anything. I was relieved to get back to the bus where they were handing out cold cloths and water.

The ride back to the docks was uneventful. It was dark by this time and I think everyone was tired. It was time to try out our guide’s advice for avoiding seasickness.

We took seats on the lower deck and waited. News finally came that another tour bus was stuck in traffic because of an accident and we had to wait for them. Once they finally arrived the crew wasted no time in casting off. I was still wearing my patch but I tried Paula’s tips and it seemed to work. The return to Cozumel was much easier than the morning trip.

We arrived back at the cruise ship about 9:30 pm ship’s time. Although we had covered many time zones the ship never changed the time. We were still on EST time. Unfortunately the delay leaving Mexico made us miss dinner. We wandered down to the Lido deck where the late night offerings were being picked through. We settled on Pizza. Not my first choice of food before bed but better than nothing.

Tomorrow would be a day at sea with no ports of call.