History Hound Travels

Because cruising is so much fun! This site is fun because you can pick where you want to go first, and then it finds cruises to take you there. You can also search by duration, cruise line and date. IMO, you need not go much beyond the “hot deals” to find a dream vacation. Do check out the Premiere Cruise Event Series at just $599 per couple.

I was thinking this evening, as I read the ingredients list for Orovo detox, that we as a nation were not quite a portly when we still ate the types of food that comprise this new “miracle diet”. It’s mostly plant material, you know. It contains:

1. Aloe Vera
2. Alpha Lipoic Acid
3. Apple Cider Vinegar
4. B6
5. Buchu Leaves
6. Couch Grass
7. Dandelion
8. DMAE
9. Ginger
10. Grape Seed
11. Grapefruit Seed
12. Green Tea
13. Idebenone
14. Juniper Berries
15. Lemon
16. Licorice Root
17. Magnesium Stearate
18. Mangosteen
19. Milk Thistle
20. Noni Fruit
21. Papaya Fruit
22. Parsley Leaves
23. Peppermint Leaves
24. Pomegranate
25. Pomegranate Leaves
26. Potassium Gluconate
27. Raspberry
28. Red Clover
29. Sage Leaf
30. Senna Leaf
31. Uva Ursi

Plants, most of which we used to eat regularly before twinkies and potato chips became staples.

And that thought was followed closely by this one: it is only relatively recently that rail thin has become the standard by which we judge ourselves. It’s an unhealthy fixation, IMO. Not that obesity is healthy, but there should be moderation. Did you know that in some places, even today, that having a “fat wife” is a status symbol? It means you are making enough money to feed her well, and she doesn’t have to do much work. A man with a skinny wife is thought to be less financially stable. Interesting, no?

One thing I have always wanted to do is go on a cruise. Of course, that will have to wait until after the children are grown, I may think I am Super Woman, but trying to keep my eye on 7 children at sea would surely drive me batty! I count them constantly on dry land, in the house, let alone…. no, just no cruises. However, they will not be little forever, and then I can go.

Have you heard about the new Oasis of the Seas? She’ll be the largest in the line when she launches in December of 2009. It’s hard to imagine a ship that carries 5,400 passengers, isn’t it? That’s just huge. That’s more people than lived in this town when I graduated high school!

Royal Caribbean Cruises will start selling tickets for the maiden voyage in on September 3rd, and I am sure they will sell out quickly. With activities like rock climbing and a zip line, and attractions like an aqua theater and a boardwalk, I’m sure it will sell out quickly. In fact, now might be a good time to join the Crown & Anchor so you can buy tickets a couple of weeks ahead of the general public. Oh, and those “on sale” dates are this year, ya’ll. I had no idea that they sold cruise tickets a year in advance!

I was doing some thinking this morning about the role increased prosperity has played in our gift giving and celebrations. For instance, I never remember my Grandmother mentioning a baby shower, but my mother had one, and I’ve had several. Surely people were just as excited about new babies 60 years ago as they are today, and yet the love wasn’t measured by unique baby gifts.

And speaking of baby gifts, did you know that in some cultures, such as Judaism, it is considered bad luck to buy gifts for a child before it is born? OTOH, some cultures, like Hinduism, ritualize the pre-birth showers, prescribing the exact timing for them.

And isn’t it funny that the baby doesn’t care at all?

One of the things I want to do in the next couple of years is to play tourist in my own home town. There are so many attractions here, and places of historical significance that I have heard about and never visited. And of course, the places that I have visited, I want to share with my children. One could easily spend a couple of months just seeing what there is to see within 60 miles of my home, and that would not include the seasonal attractions, such as festivals.

I’ve already started on my jaunts with a trip to Bannerman’s Vineyard, which I will have to tell you about. I think that today, I want to print a map of North and South Carolina and draw a partial circle depicting that 60 mile radius I talked about. It has to be a partial circle, because I am just that close to the coast.

Because of football season, I won’t be able to start my adventures until November. If you’d like to join me, come on! Make sure you get a couple of auto insurance quotes and that you have good coverage. Every year, this area creeps up in the “worst places to drive” lists. It’s quite an achievement, don’t you think?