Pi Day

 I am working backwards through the month of March. This post is from March 14, Pi Day, another geocaching big deal day. The day started with a Cache In - Trash Out event at the Apache Junction rodeo grounds which hosted a large event the weekend before, but strong winds for two days moved most of the trash out of the area and into New Mexico!

8:00 AM - donuts to feed the geocachers

not a large pile of trash bags and only about a fourth of the group

who participated

our geocaching reward for our clean-up efforts

We met Jon and Sherry for lunch (fish and chips at the Rusty Buckle) and ended lunch with apple pie for Pi Day.

bathroom signs for my collection

After lunch we did some geocaching with Jon & Sherry. We needed a special cache for the day and this was it. I did the mental work, Hubby and Sherry opened the container.

Our geocaching reward for the solving, finding and signing the Mystery Cache.

another cache and another Mystery Cache

This cache was a tribute to a geocaching friend, Don of the team cardon. The cache was placed by Tic Toc Turtle.

Every one of his caches has a turtle on it or in it. A tiny turtle was attached to the bison tube.

we will miss these geocaching friends!

not my photo, but seen somewhere in the AJ area on Pi Day by a caching friend

Superstition Mountain

St. Patrick's Day Tradition

 For a number of years we have attended a geocaching event in Fountain Hills at noon on St. Patrick's Day. The city of Fountain Hills adds green dye to the water that is pumped to the fountain for a fun display of shades of green.

11:16 AM the fountain is quiet

12:01.11 PM - Where's the green?

12:01.35 PM - Thar she blows!

getting ready for the second push of green

12:04 PM

The Fountain Turns Green  March 2022 Blog Post 

has all the details of the fountain's height

the event host and hostess

caching friends

some of the geocaching group

not many desert flowers this year

but this Redflower False Yucca had flower stems

the lake at Fountain Hills

(lady laying on a blanket on the right)

ducks at the lake

statues around the lake 

completed some geocaching with Sherry

1:00 PM

the fountain from the other side of the lake

the green water is only at the 12:00 PM spouting

we grabbed some lunch before leaving Fountain Hills

interesting decor in the bar and grill

the pistol was the door handle in the women's restroom

"Don't squat with your spurs on"

Irish Stew for lunch

a little eye candy in the restrooms

Sunday in San Juan

 Our ship docked early Sunday morning but our flights home were not until after 4 PM. What to do??? Take a bus tour of Old San Juan! We had not seen much of the city before the cruise so an NCL tour of Old San Juan was the perfect answer. NCL took care of our luggage, getting it to the airport and guarding it until we arrived to collect it. Our tour bus was a 20-30 passenger van with a very knowledgable driver and tour guide. Here are some of the photos we took after visiting the fort and on our way to the airport.

Their new convention center is behind the "I heart PR" sign. The convention center roof line is shaped like a wave.

A statue of St. John the Baptist. According to our guide, the island was name St. John by its Spanish discoverer, Christopher Columbus in 1493.

Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, while the capital city was named Ciudad de Puerto Rico ("Rich Port City"). ~ Wikipedia

The island's name was changed to Porto Rico by the United States after the Treaty of Paris of 1898. ~ Wikipedia

The statue stands between the sea and the capitol building.

some of the colorful buildings and narrow streets of Old San Juan

the capitol building

Statues of visiting US presidents line the street across from the capitol building. FDR, sitting in a wheel chair with his dog at his side, is on the left and Harry Truman is on the left. There were other, more current presidential statues, including the current president who visited during his first term.

colorful sign on the capitol grounds

Across the street were other statues in a memorial park inviting visitors to reflect on the past and honor those who have suffered.

Holocaust Memorial Monument

it is shaped like a scroll

Inscription: Let six million candles glow against the darkness of these unfinished lives

monument to honor teachers and education

view from the other side

lion statue 

Saturday on St. Kitts

 The island of St. Kitts was our final stop before returning to San Juan, Puerto Rico on Sunday and flying back to AZ.

We did not see much of St. Kitts from our balcony. Instead we saw another HUGE cruise ship on the other side of the pier. In fact, we were looking into the balcony rooms on the P & O Icon. Pastel painted buildings were also very common in Basseterre just as they were in Aruba, Curacao and Saint Lucia.

some of the flowers we saw as we walked about 

On the pier walking into Basseterre we realized there were three cruise ships docked at the port. That meant the town would be very busy. The Queen Mary 2 is on the left. Icon from P & O Cruises in the middle and the Norwegian Viva is on the right. The Icon had room for 5000+ passengers!

the selfie sign just through the terminal building

As is most ports there is a geocache near the terminal and that was the case on Saturday. The geocache was on the side of terminal building and near the St. Kitts Chocolate Factory. Once the cache was found and signed we checked out the chocolates.

country #29

St. Kitts had the most shops and eating places near the port of any of our island stops. We found the prices to be very reasonable. Even with three cruise ships I did not feel like there were that many people looking for bargains in the shopping area. The space of the shopping easily handled the three cruise ships. There were lots of benches for sitting and resting and waiting in the area, but not a lot of shade.

There was music and dancing on one of the streets. There were also a couple of guys carrying small monkeys. The idea being if you wanted to hold a monkey for a photo, you paid the guy holding the cute monkeys. I did not see them approaching and pestering people. It seemed people had to stop them and ask. 

Basseterre had a small black sand beach not far from the tourist shopping area, but definitely in the town where the locals shopped and hung out. OFD and I walked to the beach and got the information and photos needed to complete the geocache requirements. While OFD checked out a grocery store, I sat on a bench in the shade and had a lovely conversation with a gentleman from Basseterre. He was on the bench to visit and greet folks he knew; a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning.

the Viva on the left and the Icon, a British cruise ship, on the right

tourists returning to their ships

I took this photo from our balcony. It shows the forward four (only 3 in the photo) moorings used to secure our ship to the pier. (There were mornings at the aft port side.) Watching the process of tying up and later untethering the ship is always interesting. Our ship was the first of the three to leave St. Kitts.

passing through the channel

another cloudy Caribbean sunset