Sapphire Princess June 3, 2006 The Odyssey

[bdwyer]

Pam - you are so helping me get through the next 9 days...you are a riot! And obviously, Rex loves you the way you are, so skip the nose surgery and take a couple of extra cruises.

Wow, what a great day, weather-wise, it was in Alaska. The bridge cam pics were stunning for all of the ships. Hope it holds up! I'd love to throw you questions, but I think I'm finally all questioned out and just trying to get through the days until we get on board. If I think of something, I'll post it here.

Take care of your bee sting, your ugly new shoes and the Sapphire Princess (get the names of those crew members who were snickering at you and our CC group will "take care" of them while we're on board :D) Keep having a great time! B

[cactusrose]

Pam . . .you are so funny. It's so nice to see someone else who can laugh at yourself. All of your escapades are sooooo human. Thanks for the entertaining post.

 

Quick question. . . has the ship been late to any of the ports?

[Julia’s Journey’s]

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time..............:D

 

Thanks for the trip report, it has made me look more forward to our trip in September not that I plan on getting stung or buying funny shoes.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Waiting for the next installment, both DH and myself were in tears from laughing so much when I reread this to him last night.

 

Hope you are having a great day today.

[alwayscoldmom]

Pam,

Thanks so much for answering my questions! I am sorry about your mishap. I wish I could have your great sense of humor :D Keen's are really popular in Anchorage, you will fit right in. Enjoy the rest of your cruise! I am looking forward to the next installment.

[cactusrose]

Pam. . .from you description I'm sure I found your Keens on the Internet. They are a little unusual looking but those are usually the ones that are super comfortable. There are times when comfort is so much more important than looks. Kind of like a good marriage:) .

[pamwinn]

Quick question. . . has the ship been late to any of the ports?

 

We have been late departing from some ports...awaiting the stragglers but we arrived on time to every port....a little early mostly.

[Plant]

Pam,

 

What a wonderful "odyssey"! I can't wait to read the next chapter!

 

I'm also sitting here laughing out loud. The cat is looking at me like I've lost whatever mind I still have left!:D !

[pamwinn]

It was the worst of times….What I didn’t tell you

 

Prior to the Most Traveled Passenger Cocktail party on Wednesday, Rex started feeling a little odd, which is why we left early. That night Rex was sicker than I have ever seen him. I have now witnessed Norwalk first hand. No, we did not have this diagnosed by the ship’s doctor because I am not ill but was afraid I would be quarantined anyway. Rex was quarantined by the illness. Believe me, when you have it, you are not going anywhere. It was approaching noon on Thursday so I knew we had to get out of the cabin for Jose to clean it. We made sure everything was clean with the antibacterial wipes after every trip Rex took to the bathroom. Rex was able to take a shower and I arranged with Jose to immediately clean our room….told him we were going to entertain some friends. Rex and I went down half a flight of stairs and just sat there for about 10 minutes and then returned to the cabin. We had to do the same thing for turndown. He still managed to get a pretty good photo of a calving glacier today.

 

Rex was able to eat a small piece of watermelon and a half-cup of chicken broth for dinner. So far, he has kept it down. He is sleeping as I type this. By tomorrow, the 48-hour self-imposed quarantine will hopefully end. He looks horrible…pale, thin and dehydrated. He has a pretty good fever going. This is a really severe illness. It is not like any stomach flu I have ever seen. It’s ironic that an obsessive-compulsive hand washing sanitize every surface person like Rex would be the one to come down with this. Rex has been in bed for 23.5 of the last 24 hours. I’ve tried to take it all in stride, but I could not really just leave him here while I went out and enjoyed myself so the only time I’ve been out of the cabin is to get him stuff to try to get fluids in him. However, if you have to be stuck on a balcony in Glacier Bay, I don’t think there are any finer to be had.

 

Entertainment: Thursday 6/8

 

Undercover “Never Miss a Good Mission”

Starring Laurie Toole, Shawn Kilpatrick, Lainie Gulliksen and Clint Clark

Dancing to Walking Miracles & The Bruce Gordon Trio

At Crooners- Greg Watson

Resident Band- Amante

Cabaret Showtime Starring Ventriloquist Dan Horn

Champagne Waterfall

Karaoke Krazy

Jokers Wild Open Mike

 

June 9, 2006 Friday- College Fjord

 

Rex is better! Hooray! In celebration Virge and Nancy came to our cabin for screwdrivers on the balcony. Rex couldn’t really drink his though. We have a lot of booze to dispose of. We haven’t done much on-balcony drinking so we have one of the small bottles of Smirnoff we ordered from room service and the 750ml bottle we smuggled on in Ketchikan. Later today, our steward is going to deliver all the duty free stuff we ordered. We are going to have to invite strangers to our cabin to finish all this off. We do not intend to take any back to Georgia with us. Rex has managed to eat some fruit today. He also managed to get down a single piece of pizza so he really is on the road to recovery.

 

Still a couple of hours from College Fjord, I am afraid it is not going to be a pleasant as Glacier Bay. The seas are rough (13” waves) and barf bags are out. It is very cold, windy and foggy. I don’t think we will be able to see anything.

 

We were able to see quite a bit as we got close to the Glacier end of the Fjord. We stayed and viewed from our balcony, which was perfect. I needed gloves and earmuffs…brrrrrrrrr. Port side is definitely the favored side in College Fjord as you enter. Aft is the best on exit as you can see Harvard Glacier the entire time, so we had the best of both worlds with this cabin. At one point we could see all of the glaciers simultaneously. It was beautiful. My only regret is the fog. Then, there is always Sunday. Here is the surprise. We are not getting off the ship. Some friends are joining the ship in Whittier and we are all sailing back to Vancouver together. We can’t seem to find anyone who can give us information on the move to our other cabin…well, they give us info, it just doesn’t jive with the info we were previously given. We aren’t concerned though…these things tend to work themselves out as I am sure Jose will want to help get us out of here so he can make ready for the next lucky residents. We will book this cabin again.

 

Rex had a slight relapse after eating the small amount he did. One thing we did not bring from home is scales but the weight loss is dramatic he looks to have lost 15 lbs in the last few days.

 

Here is the background on our upcoming cruise. Keith and Diane will be joining us. We were next-door neighbors for more than 10 years. Even though we’ve both moved from the old neighborhood, we are still within 10 or so miles of each other. Keith and Diane are our Party friends. Diane and I earned our Masters Degrees together…cussing all the while. They come to our house every couple of weeks or so and spend the entire weekend. It would not be prudent to drive home. We have a guesthouse out back (we call it the party barn) and inside we have a fantastic Karaoke setup. Many a fool has been born there. We all have a ball singing and laughing at each other. Keith says he is going to compete in Princess Pop Star. He sings hard rock classics by Queen, Aerosmith, Pearl Jam and the like. He and Diane do “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” by Meatloaf fairly well. I enjoy watching them sing that song. Keith’s greatest talent though is air guitar. We are about to kick the cruise up a notch. I can’t wait until they get onboard. Both couples will be celebrating wedding anniversaries and our twenty years of friendship anniversary. We have never cruised together before. Keith and Diane booked less than a month ago and while the best available cabin was a fully obstructed outside, it is right next to us. We move to E711 tomorrow. They will be in E709. I hope they don’t kick us off the ship because we can easily get rowdier than college kids on spring break and we’ve had many years of practice.

 

Entertainment: Friday 6/9

 

Early Evening Movie “Matador” Starring Pierce Brosnan

Farewell Variety Showtime Starring Dan Horn, Other Brothers and Donnie Abraham

Late Night Movie “Mrs. Henderson Presents” Starring Judy Dench and Bob Hoskins

Resident Band- Amante

Team Trivia

Dancing to Walking Miracles & The Bruce Gordon Trio

At Crooners- Greg Watson

Impulse

Passenger Feud

Princess Pop Star Final

[CassCruise]

Thanks for the update Pamwinn have been hanging out for the next update!!! Hopefully Rex has turned the corner !!!! can you tell me what the procedure is on turnaround day - we have the same cabin so that won't be a prob - just wondering whether anything else has to be done - when we can disembark for the day etc..... again thanks for sharing!

[kaykay51]

HI Pam

I have thoroughly enjoyed your postings. Hope Rex is feeling better by now.

My DH and I are booked in the same cabin in Sept. 07. I can hardly wait!!

Enjoy your second week aboard the Sapphire. Wish we were cruising with you.

Kay

[skarletohara]

Hope Rex is 100% soon!

Hope you've recovered from your bee sting

Hope there is no Norwalk aboard when we board in two weeks.....

 

Not liking the movie choices. Hopefully those will change in the next

two weeks as well.

 

Guess we'll be bringing a lot of warm clothes and books...

[Lynda90]

Pam, certainly hope Rex feels better and can have a good time on the rest of your cruise. Looking forward to your next installment.

BTW, in case you haven't seen it, "Mrs. Henderson Presents" is an excellent movie. Love Judi Densch.

I am also interested in hearing what you have to do on turnaround day.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Hope Rex is feeling better and I'm another cruising B2B with Casscruise and Lynda and hoping to hear about turn around day and what you do today. Glad to hear that you are doing the B2B so Rex can have more enjoyment after his recovery.

Are the newly married couple also doing the B2B???

[Mirage3232]

Hi Pamwinn,

Happy to hear that Rex is feeling a little better. I hope he is 100% perfect for when Keith and Diane arrive. It sounds like you are going to have a fun week coming up. Thanks for the postings! I think we are all enjoying hearing about your adventures on board the Sapphire. ;)

 

Hope you are able to find Stefan in the Savory for me.

 

Enjoy your cruise and I'll look forward to your next posting!

 

-Deanna

 

Caribbean Vacation Guide

[pamwinn]

June 10, 2006- Whittier

 

There were many errors in yesterday’s post so I’m going to try to write the next set at the end of each day instead of off and on so I can keep up with what I say a little better. Of course, there are some memory issues, which come into play so I won’t be perfect as far as the repetition thing goes.

 

For those interested, we received our new cruise cards and a little in transit pass before 10PM on the last night of the first cruise. The included letter tells us to use the Passenger in Transit card at the gangway and for Security in the terminal. The letter further states that we must carry photo ID with us if we go ashore. There will not be any Customs or Immigration Formalities. If we choose to go ashore in the AM, we will not be permitted to return to the ship until after 12:00 noon. At some time during the day we must go to the gangway to register our new card.

 

Around 9:00 AM hotel services sent someone to our cabin to move us. We immediately sterilized the entire cabin prior to unpacking. While we don’t have the vista view we had in C748, we do greatly prefer a minisuite. I even look better in the mirror as I type this. I look damn good in red and my Keens match my sweater…in an odd sort of way. The balcony is only slightly smaller than the one we just left behind. Our new steward is named Thanong and it appears he may have taken a few shortcuts to ready our cabin for the move…understandable I suppose. Some of the transfers both to and from Anchorage were delayed due to a car accident. Some of the passengers had not disembarked at noon.

 

We walked down to have our new cards activated at the same instant that Keith and Diane boarded the ship. After showing them where are cabins were, we did what all people do after boarding on the first day…head for the buffet. After the buffet we christened Crooners and then returned to our cabins and set about to disposing of this accumulation of booze. Half-lit, we went to Vivaldi’s for dinner. We returned once more to our balcony and disposed of 2 bottles of wine. I know we must be annoying anyone within earshot of our balcony...no way around it, we laugh too much, too heartily. I don’t think we are as annoying as a crying baby though…but that’s just me. I would love to overhear someone having as much fun as we did.

 

After late sail away, Rex wanted to take “just a nap, I’ll be awake when you get back”, while we went to test the old loose slots on the first night theory. It wasn’t happening for us so we went to the Horizon Court around midnight “just for some water", Keith said. Half a buffet later we returned. Keith and I sat out on the balcony for a while repeating over and over, “this is what it’s all about”, while Rex and Diane counted Dall sheep.

[pamwinn]

Are the newly married couple also doing the B2B???

 

Virge and Nancy are still with us. They are still on Southeastern US time so they tend to "nap" a lot during the day and they go to bed very early. I have completely adjusted to Alaska time now and no longer need a midday nap to make it past midnight. Today was a much better day in College Fjord than friday. Starboard was the favored side this time. I'll post the details later.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Virge and Nancy are still with us. They are still on Southeastern US time so they tend to "nap" a lot during the day and they go to bed very early. I have completely adjusted to Alaska time now and no longer need a midday nap to make it past midnight. Today was a much better day in College Fjord than friday. Starboard was the favored side this time. I'll post the details later.

 

I don't think they are still suffering from Southeastern US Time, more from Honeymoon zone and too be expected, are they enjoying the cruise, did Princess do anything special for them being newly weds???

[DrD]

Thanks for the great posts.

 

You are now one of my official ship warmers, meaning you are keeping the ship warm for DW and I who will be on the very next one!

[Lynda90]

Can't wait until your next installment!

[K8sMom]

Pamwinn - I am enjoying your descriptions of your adventures on this cruise.

 

If you have an extra minute, would you mind e-mailing me with the name and contact information of your TA. We are trying to book this same V-W-V B2B cruise for next May on the Island Princess, and have been told by an "experienced" TA and by a Princess rep. that it voilates the Passenger Services Act and that if they book it, they can be fined, we can be fined and denied boarding on the second leg of the cruise. I know it can be done since so many people here on the Boards are doing it. I have received e-mail from several who have used the same TA that gave me this strange information. And received an e-mail from another couple trying to book this cruise who were given this same information by the same TA that gave it to me.

 

my e-mail address is shellseekr@mindspring.com

 

Continue to enjoy the second week of your cruise.

[californiagirl]

Pamwinn, I hope you have not come down with the Norovirus and have taken a break from posting because you are having too much fun! I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts. You have such a great way of expressing yourself, you should write a book. Take care.

 

Lisa

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We know you are having such a blast with your friends that have forgotten to post and we are all sitting waiting for your next post.

Let us know what excursions you are all doing and your thoughts on them.

[pamwinn]

Entertainment Saturday 6/10/06

 

Welcome Aboard Showtime Ventriloquist Dan Horn

The Sapphire Princess Singers and Dancers

Tony Isabel & The Sapphire Princess Orchestra

Dancing to Walking Miracles & The Bruce Gordon Trio

Resident band- Amante

Team Trivia

Late Night Movie- “Good Night & Good Luck” starring George Clooney

At Crooners- La Passione & Pavlo

Resident showband- Impulse

 

June 11, 2006, College Fjord- Formal Night

 

The weather was more cooperative. It did not rain. It was still overcast but not as much as Friday. The sun was shining on Yale Glacier and it was really beautiful. Starboard was the side that received the show this time. We saw harbor seals and a few humpbacks. I had room service deliver the coffee, OJ and tomato juice at six AM as agreed but Keith changed his time when he schlepped next door after our late night “this is what it’s all about “ party. So I stood outside the door when his coffee was delivered to snap his picture…pretty good one I might add. It was not near as good as the one I saw Rex snap a little later though.

 

We drank coffee, bloody marys and screwdrivers. This seemed fairly normal to me. We are on a cruise after all. Keith was drinking wine because he doesn’t really care for liquor (except BM’s) and I guess he thought room service would think he was strange ordering beer at 6:30 AM. Wine at the crack of dawn seems rotgut to me…especially if it is rotgut wine. A little later, I came out of the bathroom and starboard was parallel to and facing Harvard Glacier. Diane had stepped next door for a minute. There on my balcony was Keith, butt naked with Rex taking his picture against the Glacier. So I grabbed my camera and took a picture of Rex taking a picture of Keith naked. I can’t even guess at the wind chill. It’s probably the best glacier shot I’ve ever captured!. You may, gentle reader, find this behavior bizarre, lewd and totally unacceptable, but Rex and Keith tend to act like teenaged boys when they get together and who am I to chastise? I’m just the photographer.

 

We always get the cards to attend the free wine tasting and never go…this time we decided to since Nancy has some training in that area. We had a nice time and enjoyed the wines…and you can’t beat the price. But what is with those people who take a teeny sip out of each glass and then put it aside? I drank all mine…in an attempt to better comprehend the connoisseurs’ take on wines. I felt really happy yet intelligent, sophisticated yet pretty, refined yet redneck when I left. We were allowed to take the dessert wine/tequila shot glasses with us.

 

Entertainment Sunday 6/11/06

 

Piano Man

The Sapphire Princess Dancers & The Sapphire Princess Orchestra

Dancing to Walking Miracles & The Bruce Gordon Trio

Resident band- Amante

The Antics Arts Show Starring Other Brothers

Late Night Movie- “Rumor Has it” starring Jennifer Anniston

At Crooners- Greg Watson

Resident showband- Impulse

Liars Club

Princess Pop Star (Heat #1)

 

We came up with another excuse for missing formal night. Rex is still basically eating fruit and soup and they didn’t have king crab or lobster so we skipped it. I didn’t feel like plucking out the whiskers that are starting to reappear. Nor did I want to put on something that is not warm and cozy as it’s still frigid here. We spent time on the balcony looking for sea life and saw some…dolphins, whales (from afar) and otters.

 

We went looking for entertainment in areas that were not full of formally dressed people. We ended up in the Explorer’s Lounge because it was almost empty. We listened to Amante and then stayed for part of the Other Brothers Vaudeville act. We couldn’t take too much of that however. Their greatest talent is hat flipping. I’m sorry but this isn’t 4H camp and hat flipping is idiocy to me.

 

We shared more quality time on the balcony, shivering, while trying desperately to get the booze down to a more manageable amount and then went to Princess Pop Star. Keith and I checked out the songbook and made note of a few songs but decided to pass on the first night to check out the competition. It seems most people who are not tone deaf decided to do the same. A young man who did an Elvis impersonation won because of the ten who competed, he was the only one who could carry a tune. I am sure that on the last night, all the talented people will step forward. It was a rocky night at sea and that may be the reason for the small turnout. There were not many in attendance and it was easy to walk in at the last minute and have choice seating.

 

This is what it’s all about…..

 

June 12, 2006, Glacier Bay

 

The weather was magnificent…not a cloud in the sky…sunny and warm as we viewed sights so stunning that there are no words to adequately describe the beauty. I can only hope that everyone can have a day as glorious as this one. If there are other places on earth so beautiful. so remote, so raw, so untouched by humanity, I hope I live to see them.

 

We spent the greatest portion of the day on the decks or on our balcony…starboard being the winning side…maybe the captain knows where we are staying. Keith likes going to shows so we tried to please him. We went to Crooners to hear Greg Watson, moved down to the Explorer’s Lounge to hear Amante sing oldies, checked out Piano Man and finished up with Karaoke. I don’t enjoy shipboard entertainment much, the view outside is vastly superior in my opinion, so I don’t really think it’s fair for me to critique these entertainers…except for the Other Brothers the other night…unbelievably lacking in talent…my opinion only.

 

I stayed up later than all in the group, as is typical for me (you miss things when you sleep) and finally fell asleep listening to the ocean in the cabin. It was finally warm enough to keep the balcony door open without risk of frostbite.

 

June 13, 2006, Skagway- A Drive into the Yukon Territory

 

Dragging my butt out of bed after a night of manhattans and old fashions was not easy but I had no choice. We were all set to go on safari. We rented a car (Toyota Sienna) and drove into the Yukon. Many people consider the view from the train to be superior but not me. There are things in the Yukon that you just don’t see on the train. There is terrain out there that looks other worldly. Take the train for the history. Take the car for the scenery. Nancy now has a severe cold…please don’t let me catch it. I couldn’t tell whether she didn’t feel like going but felt obligated or she didn’t want to expose us so I asked her if she wanted to come and she said she did. I am sure she didn’t regret it.

 

We went to Carcross and then on to Emerald Lake…the usual cruiser Yukon drive. We saw all we hoped for. The last time we were in Alaska Rex was desperate to see a bear and we saw one upclose and personal on the return from Emerald Lake. This year, it is a Moose hunt, and bear of course. We drove a little past Emerald Lake, maybe five miles and then turned around. Rex and I saw the moose at the same time. We stopped and took a lot of pictures. The Moose was swimming. Rex was grinning from ear to ear. We saw a Princess bus broken down along the way. Later, there was another Princess bus in the middle of the highway. We just assumed it was also broken down…then we saw it. A Bear. This was a spectacular encounter with a bear in the wild. It was no more than 6 feet from us, eating berries on the side of the road. We took many, many pictures. We watched the bear for at least ten minutes. Keith flipped out just like Rex did before him and wanted out of the car. Diane and I put on our teacher faces and nipped it. The bear was right beside the car. Only a crazy person would get out there.

 

In Frasier, which apparently consists of a convenience store and an RV park, we were lucky for a third time. Diane does not like mountains and those leading to White Pass can be scary. She wanted to get some beer to make the journey back a little easier to deal with. Of course, there are no bathrooms out there which means beer might not be a good choice. Then I saw it…on the shelf of a convenience store in the middle of nowhere…dusty….lonely….spicy hot Clamato Juice. We have been trying to talk the ship out of Clamato for a week and a half now. The quest is over.

 

June 14, 2006, Juneau

 

The weather in Juneau was flawless…warm and sunny. Once again the six of us embarked on a trip together. This time it was “The Best of Juneau” tour including Mendenhall Glacier, whale watching and the salmon bake. This is not something Rex and I would normally do but Keith and Diane booked so late, we did not have a lot of choice. First of all, on a cruise, an excursion that includes food is redundant and we are a little weird about food and with it sitting out in the open air with people milling all around it is not really appetizing…that is no one’s fault. We knew what we were getting into there. The whale watch consisted mostly of looking at a lone eagle perched in a tree on shore and some sea lions on a buoy. While technically we did see three whales, what we saw was no different than what we have seen from the cruise ship except on the cruise ship, we saw more. I strongly advise that you book whale-watching excursions through a private company on a small boat. We’ve been on a couple of Orca Enterprises (Captain Larry) excursions and his tour is vastly superior…not even the same product really.

 

It was king crab night. We missed it last week when Rex was sick. He didn’t do quite as well as he did on the Caribbean Princess because he became embarrassed. He consumed 5.5 servings of crab legs. On top of that, he ate the veggies that came with each one. Diane and I are running out of clothes. I keep spilling stuff on myself and then the ship’s laundry sets it permanently…sort of a free souvenir of our trip. Someone put a burned marshmallow on the bench at the salmon bake and I think it ruined the outfit Diane was wearing.

 

Diane is asleep and I think Keith and I just managed to get Rex back up. So we are going to look at the pictures we’ve had taken…much to the chagrin of the photographers. Rex is driving them insane telling them how pictures should be composed.

 

We are having a blast which is why I have not kept up with the journal and am kind of hacking it out before I forget everything. There are some things…so many that I want to tell…but can’t. My mother is reading this.

[alaswhales]

Wow PAMWINN,

So many things were the same for us (imagine that! HAHA) You were right down the hall from us. I was hoping to hear from you so we could meet! Mark came down with the norovirus also, on Thursday morning. The only excursion he did was in Skagway (the White Pass Railroad) First he thought it was the chicken he had eaten the previous night, but I ate the same thing and was fine. Since he is prone to motion sickness, we thought it could be that also. When he was still sick the following day, I knew he was REALLY sick when he told me to call the Dr on board. He won't even see one at home!!!!! The nurse came and gave him a shot to stop the vomiting and told him to take the anti diarhea pills I had brought (just in case) She laughed at my "suitcase pharmacy", but I was prepared for anything!! LOL Even had the presription filled for Tamiflu in caase the Avian flu erupted (since Alsaka will be the first state it hits) Due to Mark being sick, we were told we could not take the train we paid for from Whittier to Anchorage. Now even though I understand the why of it, I am still very upset!!!! The nurse had told us that he would be quarantined for 24 hours (he was already sick for 24 before we called) No worries to other passengers though, as you said, with this virus you CAN'T get out of bed. He made it to the balcony for a couple of minutes to view the glaciers at Glacier Bay and that was it. Slept most of the 2 days. I went and played bingo for the jackpot (only needed three more numbers when the famous "BINGO" was loudly heard by all.:( I had called the medical office and asked for an explaination why we still could not board the train even though his time was up being held in the room. As it turned out, it would have been more of a fiasco the morning of disembarkation, since at 2 am, I awoke with the same thing. We were escorted off the ship by guys with walkie talkies and taken off the ship and put in a van. I have to talk to Princess yet on what happened when we arrived at "the" hotel they use and we were supposed to be taken care of. Yeah, right, we were dumped. I do not blame Princess for this. I blame the hotel for there behavior. I have to try to get our money back for the train. The number that was given to me is a fax number, so I must try again. I wanted to be taken off the ship in a wheelchair, and I am not a wus, but that thing kicks your BUTT big time!!!! The plus about being in the van was that we happened upon 2 moose (a mom and baby) right in front a a waterfall, so we pulled over, got out and took pictures. They were right at the road. I will try to post the picture if I figure out how to do it. Anyway, sorry we didn't get to meet. Would have been cool to meet someone else that lived in Daleville!!! More to follow later.