It was a tremendous vacation and I thank my beautiful and talented wife for the opportunity. I think this was definitely the nicest room that we have stayed in on all of the incentive trips that we have been on. The resort was beautiful and one of the nicest, but the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas with it's water slides, shark tanks and casino on site was by far the fanciest. The room that we stayed in was priced at $1100 a night and, as you can see above, the place was huge with a large living room a nice sized separate bedroom and a large oversized bathroom with separate bath tub and shower. The large balcony that overlooked the ocean and a private beach behind us had two chaise lounges and a full sized table and chairs. It was a nice home away from home for us.
The red eye flight to Charlotte was brutal and I ended up in a middle seat next to a large guy who had no boundary. He had pulled the armrest up and had overflowed into my area. I tried to sleep, but every time I started to drift off, he would shift or blow his nose and it was useless. Darla has a picture from breakfast in Charlotte of us and I look like death warmed over. I was so tired and slept the entire three hour hop over to Montego Bay.
We landed in Charlotte at 6:15 and were on the flight to Jamaica by 7:30 and landed in Montego Bay by 10:15. We arrived at the resort at about 11:30 and had a reception and orientation by the hotel staff and Touchstone officials. They had cash for us that worked out to $75 a day for each of us, but didn't go far as the cost of drinks and meals at the resort were high and the country has a 15% GST and the resort charged a 10% service charge on every meal or drink (25% , that's right). We had one meal with Darla's extended teammates and the cost for a dinner buffet was $58 per person and with drinks and tax we spent almost $175 just for dinner and drinks that night. The company sponsored two dinners, a welcome reception and farewell dinner on the last night.
We had a ball and took a tour of Bob Marley's hometown and childhood home and his mausoleum in Nine Mile. The trip was about two hours up in the mountains and through several small towns and villages. We drove through Usain Bolt's hometown and saw where he went to high school. We also heard tales of Harry Belafonte and his growth years working on a banana farm. The guide was very good and told the story of Bob Marley and how he came to the world of music. Marley's mother was 14 and his father was a British military man aged 60. Marley was defined by his religion of Rastafarianism and it also lead to his ultimate death. The Rastafarian faith does not allow mutilation, tattoos or amputation. Marley was a soccer player and injured his toe during a game and it soon got much worse. His doctor diagnosed him with melanoma of the big toe and suggested amputation. Marley turned him down and asked to treat the cancer. He finally relented and allowed a skin graft, but by then the cancer had spread and went to his blood stream and to his brain. He became ill in France and tried to get home to Jamaica, but he was rushed to the hospital when his plane stopped in Miami and he died there. He was 35. His boyhood home has been turned into a museum and the compound is now huge and includes a huge gift shop, bar, restaurant and outdoor pavilion with a stage. It was Bob's birthday when we were there and it was a party with two bands and some of Bob's family on hand.
We met a Canadian couple from Alberta and you can see their picture above with us on the tour. They lived in a town close to Ft. McMurray where they had the huge wild fire last year. It is a blended family and the wife owns what she called a "home hardware store". Their town doubled in size when some of the 88,000 evacuees moved in and her business doubled in size and was getting three rail shipments of goods a week during the worst of the fire and months following the fire. It was interesting to talk to them. Her husband is an industrial equipment mechanic and was wearing a regular shirt with the arms cut off. Interesting look.
Darla and I had a great trip and enjoyed the included breakfasts every morning where we could sit and plan our day. We spent one day at the beach and the next on the tour, nursing a sunburn. The temperature was 86 degrees during the day and 77 degrees overnight. The ocean temperature was close to 80 degrees and it was the beautiful green and blue waters and white sands that define that part of the Caribbean.
We came home to more rain and some flooding. The Dam up at Lake Oroville is threatening to overflow tonight as the spillway has a crack in it and the earthen spillway is now handling the runoff and is threatening to collapse and flood towns downstream, including Oroville, Yuba City and Marysville. This state is absolutely ridiculous with billions spent on some high speed rail system from Northern to Southern California. The infrastructure of roads, hospitals, airports and (yes) dams and levees have gone without needed updating and maintenance. The Oroville spillway was found to have cracks in it last year, but we were in the middle of a drought and no one worried. Until now. The main spillway is cracking and may give way at any time. The lake flowed over into the auxiliary spillway yesterday and it is an earthen dam that may give way. There are 100's of thousands of gallons a minute flowing over the spillway. Currently 130,000 people have been asked to evacuate their homes.
I have my Personal Lines underwriter already headed up to the area to bring her elderly parents to her home in Lincoln as they are being evacuated. Her mother has Parkinson's and her father has Alzheimer's. There will be a lot of stories coming from this.
Pete and I hosted a couple of our agents at the AT&T Pebble Beach national Pro Am Golf Tournament on Friday. I picked Ron up at his house at 6 AM and we picked up Tabb from Woodland in Sacramento at 6:30. We drove to Pete's and he drove from Elk Grove to Monterey. We took a shuttle from CSU Monterey Bay, which is located at the Old Fort Ord facility. It was raining most of the trip up, but quit short of Hollister. We got a few spritz during the day, but it was cold and dry mostly. I got the tickets at will call and they were provided by Jimmy Walker. We picked up the tickets at Will Call at Pebble Beach and took the shuttle over to Spyglass Hill. We wanted to meet Webb Simpson, the newest brand ambassador for Burns and Wilcox. He was playing with Peyton Manning, his amateur partner. The group behind them had Phil Mickelson and the group behind them was Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson. We spent the morning moving between all three groups. Webb came over and gave his wife a bottle of water and we met him then. His wife thanked us for "helping them pay their bills". Webb said that he'd meet us after the round, but he ended up blowing us off as he went in to sign his scorecard and left in one of the courtesy cars right after. Too bad, I had hoped to have him meet our agents. Peyton was very accommodating to us and everyone around him. He signed Pete's hat and posed for pictures with everyone. What a great guy. We had lunch on the course and walked the entire course, front and back nine. We stayed until all three groups finished their rounds. I got quite a few pictures and we finally headed back to the car and then to dinner. We ate at the Tides Hotel in Sand City. The drive home was great until we got back to the Sacramento area and then the Cosumnes River went over it's banks and flooded Highway 99. We got stuck in an hour long backlog of traffic and the roadway was down to one lane that was flooded. We finally got home at 11 PM.
I played my last game of golf on Saturday and really struggled with my arm. I shot 50+43=93 and know that I need this surgery on Friday. John Parola, Rico and Paul all were there to send me off to my 4 month hiatus from golf. We had a good time, but the course was soaked. The number 15 par three is now an island green as the water is pooled up around the raised green. Camille (John's wife) came over and had lunch with us afterward. I invited Darla to join us, but she had plans with another girlfriend and suggested we all go to dinner. They have been raving about the Tokyo House restaurant and wanted us to go. Unfortunately, the restaurant was booked and we couldn't get in. Apparently it is Valentines Day this week. We met them today after church and went to the restaurant. They opened at 11 and we got there at noon and there was a ninety minute wait. John and I sat at the bar and had a big Asahi and watched the golf tournament. The girls went shopping and met us back at 1 PM. They were able to seat us earlier and we had a great Teppanyaki meal and enjoyed their company. They are good Christians and good friends.
Well, that is about it for this week. lots of pictures and a fun couple of weeks. I have surgery on Friday and check in at 11 AM and go under the knife at 1 PM. Darla has a party that night, so I guess she dumps me back at home and off she goes. I expect to be off work for a couple of days and may work from home until a week from Friday. I won't be able to drive as I'll be in a sling and not able to use my right hand for four weeks. The surgery is orthoscopic and they will reattach the supraspinatus tendon to my humerus on my right arm. Wish me well and I will be hunting and pecking away next weekend and will update the blog. Be well. Ciao.
No comments:
Post a Comment