Now I Know

Driving in the Bahamas is quite an experience. For one, they drive on the left side of the road and the majority of cars there are left-hand drive automobiles. Wierd, huh? Then they beep their horns at each other constantly. Mostly two beeps, sometimes one beep, occassionally 3 beeps. Our Bahamian Taxi driver, Donald, explained the method to their honking.

One night Donald picked us up and took us across the bridge to Nassau in search of a restaurant. He highly recommended Seafood Haven and while enroute to said restaurant he called ahead and reserved a table for us. After ending the call and managing to get through a roundabout he explained what all the beeping is about.

"I'll tell you what all da beeps on da island mean. One beep means 'Hello'; two beeps mean 'Tank You'; three beeps mean 'get outta my way' den next you get da finger."

I began to pay attention to all of this interaction among drivers, and it began to make sense.

Three days later, Donald drove us to the airport and pointed out the cemetary where Anna Nicole Smith is buried. He drove Anna's family in his taxi a couple of times when they were in town for the funeral. (I have not reason not to believe him but I have been known to be gullible.)

Donald is a taxi driver by profession. He is constantly on the make for his next cab fare. As he unloads us he hands his business cards to several people nearby. Somehow he knows that Americans don't like to wait for much of anything. He made sure we didn't have to wait for our table at Seafood Haven and we did not have to wait for curbside assistance at the airport. He hops out of the taxi and takes care of securing any assistance we need. Then he's on his way for his next fare.

So, now I know a little more about the Bahamian ways and life on da island.

The Lazy River is Sooooo Much Fun

On a small island in the Bahamas there is a resort called Atlantis. It is the home of the mile-long Lazy River water ride.

You grab an innertube at one of four locations long the mile loop and plop your hinney in the middle of the tube, hang your legs over the front and let the water take you away. You wind around the resort under a bridge, through a cave, through three crazy, fast paced water rapids sections and laugh your heart out.

You bump into everyone else in the river and then say "excuse me" or "sorry" but we all know it's unavoidable. Exit the stream on the right and the river takes you to an uphill conveyor belt which you ride to the top of a tower with 3 water slides. Ride on down on your innertube and your will be dumped out in a small pool that will take you back to the lazy river loop.

Ride the loop again and again. It's so much fun, I wanna go again!

We Are Back With da Island Hangover

We are home from a fantastic week on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Mark and Cathy invited us to spend a week at their time-share with them and it was everything we thought it would be.

Beautiful blue water, temperature in the low 80's and a slow pace of island life. We did many fun things which I will post about this week.

We are experiencing what I call "island hangover" or sometimes known as vaca hangover. Our reality isn't that bad but we're trying to get our mojo back. We came home to a yard that needs major attention, laundry that needs to be dealt with and an empty refrigerator. Not too bad, we can handle it because we are all together again. Murray, Me, Emma and the $#%*! dog, Rusty. There really is love at home.

More details to follow.

4 Things About Utard

Last week I flew into Salt Lake City and was reminded why I love Utard.

1. The Child's Play Area in Concourse B at the SLC airport. It's the only airport I know of that has a play area for kids.

2. The Y Mountain. Go Cougars!

3. Zions Bank. Why isn't it Zion's Bank?

5. The Posh Spice angled bob haircut. 50% of adult females in Utah Valley have this haircut. Seriously.

4. The desecration of the English language and it's attendant grammar. Consider the following:
The moun-unns are beautiful.

"These ones" as opposed to "these".

Please order some saltsa. Don't you mean salsa?

Flip

Fetch

Damage

Patriarticle

I could go on and on. Those Utards give me so much to laugh about every time I visit.

Blue Emergency Telephones

I remember when blue emergency telephones were installed on campus at Brigham Young University. They are located all over campus to provide a quick call to the campus police should the guy, who is walking you home, turn out to be an octopus who just had a dream that "you are the one I'm supposed to marry".

Last week I spotted this blue telephone with an "Out of Order" sticker pasted across the front. Just too funny! Luckily for the BYU coeds, this particular blue phone is located in a populated and well lit area of campus.

On Our Way to Atlantis

I was in town today running errands and my cell phone rang. It was Cathy, one of my favorite friends. She asked "Are you up for a little vacation?" My reply was something like "You know me, I'm always up for a vacation, what ya got in mind?"

She and her husband, Mark, are scheduling their time-share vacation for the year and are going to the Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas and invited Murray and I to join them.

Oh, yes!! I quickly called Murray on his cell, good timing because he just landed in Phoenix. I passed the details by him. He quickly entered the trip on his work schedule, so this means the trip to Nassau will trump anything else that may come up. :) I am already so excited, we have never been on a vacation like this. It will be like the honeymoon we never had. Yes, we will have a seperate room from Mark and Cathy. But, having great friends like them makes trips like this very fun.

More details to follow I promise.