After a restful night at the Renaissance, it was off to the Ship. Nothing has improved in the last two years so we still stood in line for an hour checking in. Once onboard we headed to the Lido deck for a quick bite (after all it had only been 4 hours since we’d last eaten). We took the time to explore the various decks and familiarize ourselves with the layout of our home for the next months. Miami, the dolphin, came with us on this trip and has a prime place looking out our window.
Tonight was the Sail Away party at the pool on the Lido. Live music by one of the groups onboard, oeuvres d’ors galore, and, what everyone came for free drinks! It was a fun time and we left Ft Lauderdale mid-party. As it had been a full day already, It was off to bed.
We are leaving at the end of January for our 113-day cruise on Holland America Line’s ship, the Amsterdam. This is the same ship we sailed on in 2017 but the staterooms and other areas on the ship have been remodeled and updated. We are anxious to see the changes.
Our luggage is being picked up tomorrow, so we only have to travel to Ft. Lauderdale with a small suitcase for the overnight stay at a hotel near the port. It seems like there are a hundred small details to deal with such as who will take care of my African violets, and how will we deal with our taxes since we won’t be back in the US until early summer.
Besides clothes, we have to pack essentials (our favorite shampoos, soap, chapstick, art supplies, charging cables and a 20-week supply of medications. I think we have everything we need. We will keep everyone informed of our travels using this Blog. We’ll be back before you even miss us.
Down the 405 Freeway about 30 minutes from our home is the Skirball Cultural Center. This complex houses many artifacts about the Jewish experience in America, but also has various exhibits on display. I was reading about an exhibition of Jim Henson and the many creative projects that go way beyond the Muppets. Ron said that there was another exhibit called Noah’s Ark at the Skirball that he had heard about so we made plans to visit the Center after our Road Trip to Utah.
Noah’s Ark was totally unexpected for me. This is actually a place designed for children, but we were fascinated by the creativity and artwork built into this explorable area. A quote on one wall sums it up: “Life is about second chances.” That is what happened with Noah’s Ark, but the animals in this exhibit/playground are made of recycled materials… a different kind of second chance. One of the first examples we came across is the Kiwi Bird made of a boxing glove, shuttlecock, oil can, and paintbrushes!
Look closely at some of the other animals in the ark.
Besides all of these clever creations made from fans and springs and rope and beads and rubber hose, the ark itself is interactive. Turning cranks and pulling levers caused rain and lightening as well as the sound of wind and caused some of the animals to move. One of my favorite creatures is this alligator made from an old violin and violin case!
In another part of the Center, there was housed a collection of artifacts, videos, notebooks, and information about Jim Henson and his long career of re-imagining the world of puppets.
His early projects included short broadcasts on community television and later many television commercials featuring puppets. As he coined the name Muppets appearances on various television variety shows became common. The link to Sesame Street and educational television was forged at this time. Later projects included The Muppet Show where two of my favorite scientists, Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, appeared.
Movies followed television and featured the Muppets and other immersive worlds such as in Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and Fraggle Rock. Seeing these actual puppets in the exhibit, flipping through some of Jim Henson’s sketch books, and realizing that Jim Henson basically figured that nothing is impossible was a great way to spend the afternoon. We grew up with many of these characters and their creator. Learning about some of the background ideas and techniques was fascinating.
We had Breakfast with Peggy and Cliff, said our goodbyes, and headed home.
About an hour after we started we arrived at the California state line. Just on the other side was the Solar Plant that I mentioned on Day 1. Took a couple more pictures.
Rather than continue down the 15, we decided to take highway 58. Along the way we stopped at the small town of Boron! It is home to the huge open pit Borax mine of “Twenty Mule Team” fame.
The picture of the badges are of workers who used to work underground in the mine before it became an open pit.
It’s a sad fact these days that towns like Boron that used to see lots of tourists for both the mine and space museum are now very seldom visited. In fact the space museum next to the mine museum was closed because they couldn’t find anyone to run it. I suspect the mine museum will follow shortly (there is a great visitors center at the mine if you’re in the area).
BTW, that block of black Stone was used by JPL to develop drill bits that are currently in use on the Martian rovers!
Paul was interested in the chemistry of the borax (sodium borate) being mined in the area. He always knew of borax as a laundry additive and it’s use to make slime from PVA (polyvinyl alcohol), but it has hundreds of other uses in industry such as a way to adjust pH, a flame retardant, a preservative just to name a few.
A short hour later, we were home!!
A couple of hours after we left Mesquite we arrived back in Vegas at Peggy and Cliff’s. We decided that was too hot to heat up house by using the kitchen (wink, wink) so we all head to the Cannery Casino and their buffet. The food was good. We stayed to gamble for about an hour and I actually came out ahead at the slots. We headed back to the house for some sleep. Tomorrow we leave for home!
