Back in town

I took a cruise with my family.  I was supposed to be in the eastern Caribbean, but because of Hurricane Dorian, our itinerary was changed at the last minute to a number of western destinations (Labadee, Haiti; Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico—although for the latter, we took a bus to Tulum.)  Because the hurricane was camped on Ft. Lauderdale when we were supposed to disembark, we couldn't—the cruise was extended for an additional three days while we wandered around in the southwestern Caribbean waiting for it to blow out of the way.  We also stopped at Roatan, Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico. Because of the last minute nature of all of these stops, we didn't necessarily get great shore excursions for most of them.  Anyway, almost a week overdue, we're home.  I've got loads of work to catch up on, I came back with a pretty miserable cold, and of course we've got other things going on too—my youngest started school (late), my second to youngest is off to Peru in less than two months for his mission service, my wife and two of my kids are off again in a few weeks for another trip--me and the son who's in school can't get away from our commitments, so we're here (which is OK.  We'll have fun together eating out, watching guy movies, and relaxing with the house to ourselves.)  Anyhoo, that doesn't mean that my hobbies didn't get some attention while I was away; being on a cruise ship (we sprung for the wi-fi package this time around) meant I had some time to read, and some time to think while sitting around listening to music, etc.

I brought a few model railroading magazines with me (the latest special issue of Model Railroader as well as the latest regular issue of Railroad Model Craftsman, it's main competitor, and one that I'm less familiar with in general.  Those were fun, and I'm finding that my interest in rekindling the love of that hobby is going stronger than it has in a long time (I also discovered only a couple of weeks or so ago that my public library maintains a subscription to Model Railroader, so I'm going to go check out more issues on my way home, I think, today.  There should be enough back issues there to keep me busy for quite some time.)

Of course, I also gave quite a bit of thought to RPGs.  I found, for instance, that one of my friends from church linked to this page on Facebook.  I knew he was into historical miniature wargaming, but apparently his interest in gaming extends to Warhammer and to RPGs, although be professes never to have played 5e (to be fair, neither have I).  When I pointed out that this seemed like a Warhammer in 5e kind of setting (referencing the vibe and tone, and the unironic use of the word Grim Dark to describe Grim Hollow) he thought that was kinda funny—but again, I expect he's more of a wargamer than a RPGer, which means that we might have less in common about what we want out of the system than I'd have hoped.  Sigh.  I liked the idea of gaming with this guy; I like him a lot.  But I wouldn't want to subject us both to the type of gaming that isn't compatible either, and honestly the tactical wargamey legacy in D&D is one of my least liked part of the whole.  So, unless something coalesces there, I'll probably still be without a group for the near term future.  Oh, well.

I did, however, give some more thought to the Hill Country, and I have some more updates coming... soon, after I get unburied.

In the meantime, here's a few pictures from our trip, just for the heckuvit.

About to zipline in Haiti.  Look at the size of the ship behind the peninsula!

Our crew, just ziplined.

One of many obligatory shots of the port's marquee.

Trying to keep busy after ten days on a cruise can be challenging, even on a ship of this staggering size.

Another obligatory shot.  This port was disappointing.

That's actually me under the waterfall.  Everybody else is my family.

Yet again... 

Most of the crew at the Tulum ruins.

On the beach in Jamaica about to eat jerk chicken.