Refilling the Well...aka, my first cruise! - Holly Jacobs

I've been under back-to-back contracts for the last couple years. And for a writer, that's great news! It means I've been employed for the last few years. Fantastic. But that also means, as I've finished one book, I've moved straight onto the next. That doesn't leave a lot of time to refill the creative well. So, on the fifteenth I finished next February's book and on the 16th, my dh and I left for Florida to start our very late 25th anniversary celebration!

Our first stop was Cocoa Beach . Our plane didn't touch down until after six, so we picked up our rental car at the Orlando airport, headed to the La Quinta Hotel right on the ocean in Cocoa Beach (see that sunrise...that's from our balcony) then headed to the boardwalk next door for dinner...yum. It was a great hotel right next to the Cocoa Beach Boardwalk. We grabbed dinner there and took a walk on the beach before bed!

Friday, we went to Nasa. Oh, sooooooo cool for the geek in me! We saw the Endeavor on the launchpad. There was a second shuttle out as well, but we couldn't see it. It's probably the last time they'll have two shuttles out together. We listened to an astronaut, Susan Kilrain speak. She's been in space twice! That's me with her.

Saturday, we just kicked around Cocoa Beach. Took long walks on the beach, and in local neighborhoods. We even found I Dream of Jeannie Lane! It's a beautiful city!

Sunday...we boarded Disney's Wonder for our cruise. We went to Nassau in the Bahamas, and Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. They have the Black Pearl from the movie there in the bay. Of course, we had a lot of pictures taken with our favorite characters...

Now, on the Disney Cruises you sit with the same people each night, and you have the same waitstaff. Now, my dh's name is DJ (short for Don) and how weird is it that two of our tablemates were a Holly and Don? They live in central PA even (we live in PA too). And we had Mark and Jo, then Barb and her daughter Kate. Then come our waiters, Ricardo and Cristain. They were wonderful!

Now, I need to mention our room steward Sonia...she was absolutely lovely. We never saw here when she didn't have a smile! Plus, she left us the coolest towel animals every night when she turned down the bed!

One of the highlights of the trip was meeting new friends. We met Caroline and Jay along with their gorgeous little girls as we waited to board the ship. (We all had a camera karma moment!) And we saw them all over the ship. Our last night there, we met on deck nine and shared a bottle of asti spumanti!! I really we hope we keep in touch!

Our last night, I caught a beautiful sunset from the ship.

Thursday morning, we left the Wonder. It was really a magical trip. I read a ton of books while I sat on our private balcony. We did a lot of the activities (I won an airline blanket set...I really like winning!) and watched shows and movies! When we left Thursday, we went back to the Cocoa Beach La Quinta (and if you're ever down there, it's a great hotel). Lovely staff, every room has an ocean view, and it was fairly inexpensive! We went to Fish Lips for dinner and sat on the deck...and watched the wonder leave with a new group of people. SIGH. I'm pretty sure we'll be going on another cruise soon!

Friday morning we flew home. I spent the weekend doing laundry and basically catching up after my eight days away. Yesterday, the house was clean and I...pulled out the project I'd been thinking about during the cruise. Thinking, not writing. There were so many ideas and thoughts, that my fingers had a hard time keeping up! LOL I think that's a good sign that the well's been refilled! It was a very lovely week. It was great to be unplugged. No internet, no cell phone while we were out of the country. But it's very nice to be home, to be back to work...to writing!

I think everyone needs to occasionally take a break and just reload. Wishing you a break soon!

Holly