Home Again And News of Our Trips
11:48AM on October 15, 2008
So we're home again (in case you hadn't noticed, lol). You will recall I mentioned my stepmom had a heart attack and was sent 6 hrs away from her home with my dad to get a pacemaker because my lame-ass hometown doesn't have a cardiac unit. Well, she's fine, she got it, and was sent home and we went down just this past weekend for 4 days.
It was Joe's first time in the Maritimes (specifically New Brunswick, CANADA not New Jersey) and he seems to have enjoyed it. Previously, in his mind, I think the Atlantic provinces were just one big wasteland of fishing boats and forests mentally lumped together (and gleefully snickered over) as Newfoundland (no, he was patiently informed when we first got together....I am NOT a Newfie, although he did have fun for awhile callling me his "Little Newfie." Until I roared that is, lol).
I warned him: it's quite a bit further north than Montreal, there is fuck-all to do there, but it is pretty. We got some great shots I'll probably want enlarged into 8x10s for the house and once they're downloaded I'll give you a peek. Climate-wise, it's about 3 - 4 weeks further along than the rest of the country. Whereas Montreal and the surrounding region is still a blaze of fall color and the leaves are just beginning to fall from the trees, "down home", they've already fallen, the colors are turning the grey-brown of dead leaves and it about looks ready for its first snowfall. Which could happen at anytime, but thankfully did not.
Mostly it was a few days of hanging out, catching up, and trying to come up with things to do and to show him.
On a bright note, this is the second major trip Joe and I have taken together and I'm pleased to report he's an awesome travel buddy. You can love someone to death, shack up, declare lifelong fidelity, and all that good shit, but you never reeeeeeeally know what they're going to be like during certain situations until you're there. The most loving, amiable couple in the world can fall apart during serious illnesses, times of stress and boring nine-hour roadtrips (like the one we just took. Yep. Nine hours. EACH way. And I don't drive).
But certainly during the previously mentioned AMAZINGLY cool cruise we took (which I'll get to soon. I know I never really blogged much about it), and again during this past weekend's trip, we had a great time together. He's all about taking weird side roads to see where they go (fuckit, we've got a GPS), maintains the determined stance that "we're on vacation" and approaches every venture out the door with that in mind. We roam, we look for neat stuff to do, we see a road sign with a weird logo on it and decide to follow it see where it goes and what those little squiggly lines mean. It rocks!
We found a fabulous trail leading to a gorgeous little waterfall doing just that the other day. We found a museum, met an interesting chick who worked there and smoked a cigarette with her. We found a way to drive about half-way up the mountain in my hometown (Sugarloaf Mountain, that is btw...) doing that, and he even initiated a trip to the local mall of his own volition giving me the opportunity to see if they're made it into the 21st century yet (meh...sorta...) and snicker (because after all, "I'm from Montreal now," she said in her snootiest voice). And we've found a hundred fabulous little side roads and hidden forested clearings in which to shoot sneaky outdoor smut doing just that over the last 2 years or so.
In this case, during this trip, we didn't shoot much. A couple of smoking videos in some gorgeously woodsy spots on one of the trails up the mountain, but other than that, it was frankly just too goddamn cold for our usual forest fucks and I don't remember the area well enough to know where it's "safe" to play. Believe me, we wanted to. We've both been horny as hell for ummm....weeks, now...but haven't been able to do anything about it because the guest room is right across the hall from my dad's room. Nope, sorry, can't do it, I was informed. Wow, I found the ONE sexual limitation Joe has! And since it involves the presence of my father, well, who could blame him? Lol...
Ought to make for some good LiveHouse action this week though, boys and girls (and you saw how hard I got off last night during my group show, hehehe), considering we didn't get much of a chance to do it last week either (post-cruise exhaustion), and the week before, which was the cruise itself (which you'd THINK would have been the perfect time, but frankly there was just too much to do and see for us to spend enough time in our room to remember that we like to fuck). Our sex drives are SERIOUSLY backed up. Hilariously enough, we were actually to the point of staring speculatively at cheap roadside motels during some of our New Brunswick outings and the drive back, then giggling because we were both thinking "Quickie?" We didn't actually do it, unfortunately, for various reasons, but man, when we finally do......I think it's going to be a big one, boys and girls. Stay tuned and you'll want to keep it on MinaTV.
More good stuff:
* I managed to get in and out of my hometown without once encountering my mother. KICKASS. If you're a new buddy/fan/reader and you're wondering what the fuck I mean by that, it's a long story. Suffice to say, it's a good thing.
* While visiting an aunt, I saw cousins I hadn't seen in literally YEARS. That rocked.
* I only ran into one highschool acquaintance and she was on the Neutral List (as opposed to the I Hate You And Always Have List).
* We found a bunch of neat places and will likely revisit them with the intention of definitely shooting when we go down again at a warmer time of year (probably next summer).
* Despite familial tensions and nine-hour drives each way, Joe and I got along fabulously.
But yeah! About the cruise of a couple of weeks ago! I've told some of you a few things, either during random tweets or groupshows, but holy Jesus. YES, we had a fabulous time, we would totally do it again, we have never been that relaxed in our lives, and we were actually "homesick" for the ship, after we got home. We were joking, actually, that smoking on my father's deck was NOTHING like hanging out to smoke on Deck 4 of the ship, lol.
The line was Royal Caribbean, it was a 7-day cruise, and it began in Miami, with stops in ports at Labadee, Haiti (the cruise line has a private resort there), in Jamaica, in Grand Cayman, and on the island of Cozumel, Mexico, and then went back to Miami. For both of us, it was our first time anywhere tropical and the climate alone knocked us out. The vibes everywhere we went, constant infusions of music.... by the time we got to Jamaica, I was asking people how they ever got anything done! All I ever wanted to do, everywhere we went, was dance, lol.
I got the most amazing tan of my life and Joe looks like an Italian again. Before that trip, I'd be waiting for his mother to accuse me of keeping him locked up in a basement at some point, hahaha...
The ship itself is the coolest, biggest thing we've ever seen. It was the LIberty of the Seas, and the biggest one in their line, until 2009, at least. Then they'll be launching the Oasis of the Seas and it was EXTREMELY difficult to keep from booking another cruise on that one. If you did it during your current trip, you apparently saved hundreds of bucks, and two of our group (of 12 people) did so, which was pretty tempting, but just not feasible.
Fourteen decks, a theater, a gym, a spa, hell if I know know how many bars and pubs, dance clubs, an ice skating rink, a casino, 6 or 7 pools with a huge kiddie/family section, hot tubs, an art gallery, a movie theater, an entire deck of shopping with everything from designer perfumes to jewels, a bunch of restaurants ranging from fast food to casual buffet-style layouts to fine dining in a three level dining room. Service like we've never seen before, and even our "economy" level cabin was like a room in a great hotel. The sheer size of it was mind-boggling, and technologically-speaking, I would imagine the bridge looking rather similar to the control room at one of NASA's installation.
There was daily delivery of The Cruise Compass, which was a little flyer distributed outlining daily activities and events. There was literally something for everyone and every age group: kids' activities, senior activities, singles' activities, midnight buffets, wine-tastings, movie theater schedules, comics appearing in the theater, films showing in the movie theater, ice shows, casino contests, dance contests, seminars, spa specials, art exhibits, jewelry exhibits, you name it. Honestly, you could have spent the entire 7 days remaining on the ship and not have gotten bored. There was one guy in our group who just isn't much for walking tours or stuff like that, and a couple of senior ladies, and even staying mostly on ship, they had a great time. One of the couples with us had their son and there was a ton of stuff for him to do, too. Every base and every activity level and age group was covered.
We, of course, did go on shore whenever the ship docked and had a fabulous time everywhere we went.
In Haiti, you couldn't leave the resort of course (local military or police -- not sure which -- were everywhere -- armed, yes -- and the Word is that, while they will be polite about it, guests are very STRONGLY encouraged to just stay away from the fence, please), but there was really no need to. Gorgeous white-sand beaches, a local craft market, another market with higher-end dealers, a huge buffet, a bunch of other stuff to do was fine with us.
In Jamaica, the ship docked at Montego Bay, but we took a tour bus to Negril (there were guided excursions at every port and you could choose from a ton of stuff to do. Everything from exploring ruins, to snorkeling, to walking tours and shopping trips) with another couple from our group to see one of Jimmy Buffet's MargaritaVille clubs for lunch, drinks, a hilarious moment of dancing in our bikinis with the waitresses and the DJ (yes we got video, lol) which, by the way, I sucked at, and some beach time, then on to Times' Square (I think it was called) for some shopping. The whole thing was about 4 or 5 hours long, and we loved just driving through the country and seeing the "real" Jamaica. It's gorgeous, it's beautifully warm, but outside of the "touristy" areas, it's also as poor as hell. We think to ourselves, "Wow, wouldn't it be great to live here?" and I bet the locals would have a few things to say about that. We passed Hedonism, saw mango plantations, and I had my first Margarita and the most amazing shrimp and calamari.
In Grand Cayman, we docked at Georgetown. We'd already spent several days playing in the pools on the ship, tanning on the decks, and had had two beach days in Haiti and Jamaica, so here we just walked off the ship and explored the shopping district. There were several blocks right around the terminal, that day's Cruise Compass contained a map of it all, and so we walked and wandered and shopped with one of the girls from the group. We bought silly souvenirs for our families, jewelry, RayBans for Joe, cigars, and laughed our asses off over the fact that there were live chickens and roosters just roaming the streets and sidewalks EVERYWHERE (and one of the group got hilarious pix of one of them wandering as it pleased in and out of the local KFC's kitchen -- Peta would FREAK! Lol!). It's a gorgeous little town and judging from the diamond and gemstone shops everywhere, there's some serious money there. The powers that be were really playing up the pirate history of the place too, and I'd have loved to take one of the tours outlining the history, but alas, we didn't get around to it. All the guided shore excursions did, of course, cost money and we were trying to be good, while still maintaining the freedom of a "vacation" mindset. We wanted to just wander around on our own when we could anyway.
In Cozumel, an island off the coast of Mexico, we did the same thing. The ship docked, we'd already had some beach and pool time, so we went wandering, this time alone. Again, there were jewelry retailers everywhere but this time, the pitch was WAY more direct, lol. Not only did they all have a "free gift" for all cruise passengers (and there were two other lines with ships in port, too, one of which was a Carnival ship and BOTH of which looked like dinky cars compared to RC's Liberty of the Seas), which was a cheap fake gold charm bracelet with their logo dangling off it (I ended up with three, lol) but they also had free tequila shots for customers, or beer if you preferred that, and "of course, Signora, you can smoke in here! Please, please, bring ceegaratte!" They had their sexiest female employees at the doors of each shop to try and call you in, and while no one QUITE offered us their seesters, we weren't sure that that wasn't next, lol. We had lunch at a great little bistro (mmm, more shrimp and a real Mexican fajita for Joe), I bought gorgeous local silver (huge hoops, a marcasite ring, and a bracelet), a huge blanket, bought Joe a great leather cowboy hat (which made him friends among Americans whenever we encountered them. The first amazingly LOUD Texas-accented bray of "Howdy, Cowboy!" we encountered in an elevator one sleepy morning scared the crap out of us both, lol. It looks pretty hot on him....and it's even hot on ME! Yes, I will have to shoot in it, lol), bought me fake Oakley shades after my own fell broken, right off my face, and more cigars and local Mexican brand cigarettes (which, disappointingly, tasted like nothing in particular).
You've already got a pic gallery of some of highlights and bikini shots, but Joe shot an assload of video too. AgaIn, there was too much to do and see for us to shoot "for work" but every day he had me doing a little video "blogging," outlining what we did the day before and what we had planned for that day. Most of which will only be interesting to our friends and family, but I'll likely put a fun little bit of something together for you at some point.
So yeah..that's been the last few weeks. We're about traveled out now, though (unless someone was to throw another cruise our way, lol), and I do want to thank everyone for their patience with my absences. After four days of smoking mostly outside in the cold fall air at my father's house, we've sworn not to leave our house now until at least May, which means we're back to immersing ourselves fully into a life of hot amateur indie porn action!
And of course, I'll have all the details and some hot sneak peeks for you, Dear Readers, about what we've done and what you can expect in the days ahead.
Mina xoxoxo
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