Tim And Kate's Excellent Adventures (A Travel Blog)

  Puerto Plata and Taino Bay are two ports of call in one. If your cruise ship is stopping here, you’re in for a dynamic day that blends resort-style relaxation with old-world charm. In this guide, we’re sharing our experience navigating both the Taino Bay cruise port and the historic city of Puerto Plata—plus our best tips for making the most of your time ashore. Have you ever seen the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? If you have, you might remember the scene when Eddie Valiant leaves the gritty streets of Los Angeles and suddenly steps into the vibrant, cartoonish world of Toontown. Honestly, the transition from the sleek Taino Bay Cruise Port to the colorful, colonial streets of historic Puerto Plata felt just like that. Taino Bay feels like a modern beachfront resort, while Puerto Plata feels like stepping back in time to a city shaped by decades of Caribbean-European influence. We decided to explore both areas on our own without a formal excursion. If you’re thinking of do...

Welcome aboard as we take you on an unforgettable journey to Great Stirrup Cay , Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island paradise! In this post, we’ll dive into the island’s fascinating history, share our snorkeling experiences, and discuss what we’d love to do when we return. If you’re planning a cruise on the Norwegian Encore , this guide will help you make the most of your visit. The History of Great Stirrup Cay Before it became a tropical retreat, Great Stirrup Cay had a long and eventful past: 1600s – A pirate hideout where treasure was divvied up after raids on Spanish Galleons. 1700s–1830s – A British sugar plantation until slavery was abolished. Civil War Era – A Confederate outpost used for trading cotton and sugar for armaments. World War II – A military outpost for detecting German ships approaching the U.S. 1960s – A satellite tracking station during the space race. 1970s – Miami-based Belcher Petroleum acquired an exploration permit before Norwegian Cruise Line lease...

Great music, amazing food, aromatic cigars, wonderful people, and energizing coffee—Bienvenido a Miami! Before the Cruise: A Little Havana Adventure Before embarking on the Norwegian Encore for a seven-day cruise, we took some time to explore Miami. One of the highlights of our adventure was walking up and down Calle Ocho in Little Havana. This vibrant neighborhood is filled with Cuban culture, history, and energy, and we’re excited to share our experience with you! A Brief History of Little Havana Little Havana was formed by Cuban exiles who fled to Miami after the Communist revolution in the 1950s. Today, it is home to the largest population of Cubans outside of Cuba. Named after Havana, the capital of Cuba, the neighborhood serves as a cultural hub where Cuban traditions remain alive and well. Walking through the streets, we saw monuments dedicated to the Cuban exiles who lost their lives while attempting to reclaim Cuba from Fidel Castro. In 2017, the National Trust for Historic Pr...

In August 2022, Kate traveled to Orlando for a Junior League conference. Since she was so close to her friends Eiki and Bryan (and Disney !) she spent some time with both! I landed on a Thursday with three Junior League of Lincoln members and headed to Disney Springs for shopping and dinner. It was HUGE! I honestly do not know what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting that. We found a Christmas store and I found the cutest ornament for the newest member of our family. This will be her first Christmas so I felt it would be special to have her first ornament from Disney World. In between shopping, we had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Bobbi , another member of JLL, and I split the DELICIOUS salmon pizza . The next morning was the first day of the conference. The conference was at our hotel. It was nice to be able to walk downstairs to the conference and pop upstairs to my room during breaks to use the restroom. Have you seen a line to women's bathrooms? Once...

Western Nebraska and South Dakota Day 3 Day 1 Day 2 No stop in a tourist trap is complete without doing something completely touristy. There's nothing more touristy than having your picture taken in old-timey clothes. Kate and Morgan dressed up as saloon girls. Ian didn’t want anything more than to sit with a jug and a blunderbuss gun. Tim wore a duster and looked like a cowpoke who had been on the trail for a month, enjoying a cold beer. With one of our secondary quests out of the way, we needed food. We have a rule when it comes to eating on the road: do not eat anything that’s also in Lincoln. That means we skipped Subway and Boss’s Pizza and Chicken. We found a little place upstairs from the Keystone Boardwalk called Cruizzer’s Pizza. The crust is perfect, the toppings are generous and I’m scared to ask where they get their crac—- I mean cheese. We liked it so much we forgot to take a picture of the pizza. So here's some empty pans! The Black Hills is a popular tourist dest...

Western Nebraska and South Dakota Part 2! Check out part 1! We got up early on day two to take advantage of the breakfast offered at Holiday inn Express. Ian was mesmerized by automatic the pancake baker. He even formulated plans to cobble together his own, controlled by a Raspberry Pi. We checked out of the Holiday Inn Express and realized Ian didn’t pack any socks! There’s a Bomgaar’s across the street from the Holiday Inn Express in Alliance. They had a six-pack of ankle socks for not a lot of dough. Perfect! We drove north to the Black Hills. The terrain was windswept prairie on the plateau giving way to hills and eventually Pine Ridge. Both Morgan and Ian were remarking on how the landscape reminded them of Red Dead Redemption! Me? I'm a bit older. I thought it looked like it was lifted right out of a Sergio Leone "Spaghetti Western". We kept driving through to South Dakota. We didn't get out of the car until we reached Wind Cave National Park. We arrived at the ...