Here’s the Story – Part 2

Back in February 2020, right before the world got super duper weird, Rob gave me one of the best gifts EVER. He drove me to North Hollywood to see the Brady Bunch house.

I won’t go into detail – my February 6, 2020 blog about that visit can fill you in. Suffice it to say, I am a HUGE Brady Bunch fan. HUGE. Enormous. Big Time Brady Fan Girl right here.

Back in 2020, the best a superfan could do was drive up to the house and gaze at it from across the street. There was a security guard positioned in the driveway preventing any lingering, and absolutely no approaching the front door. But that was good enough, since visiting the interior was completely incomprehensible.  

Fast-forward to September 2023. HGTV decided it had gotten all the ratings it could from totally renovating the house’s interior to match the studio sets the series had been filmed on. The network put the iconic house on the market and a fellow Brady Bunch Superfan named Tina snatched it up for a groovy $3.2 million. Reportedly Tina’s husband, the former CEO of HBO, had only one question for her: “Have you lost your mind?” Apparently he thought his Gen X wife wanted to live in the house.

Oh, to be so lucky!

So what did Tina actually want to do with the house? Well, first she got it designated as a Historical-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles. Then she decided to share it with fellow Brady Superfans.

The Bradys' house is the first property in
Los Angeles to get this protection
as a filming location outside of a studio lot.
The designation protects the outside AND
the inside. How groovy is that?!

WHAT?!?

Yes, you can buy tickets – with proceeds going to Tina’s favorite animal shelter – for a one-hour visit inside the totally furnished Brady Bunch house!! Truly! Yes, I pretty much bounced off the couch chanting, "Take my money!" when I learned this.

When I first read about this opportunity, I thought for sure it was only for fancy people. Connected people. Industry people. Not for a 58-year-old woman whose only Hollywood connection is once posing for a photo with Ted Danson and an alpaca.

Back in 2011 when we were all
much younger.

Because I have the most amazing and supportive husband EVER, today I was a passenger princess as Rob drove across the trafficky Los Angeles metro to make my dreams come true.

Yes, we spent an hour INSIDE the Brady Bunch House today! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!

I was just a few yards ahead of Rob out of 
unbridled excitement to GET INSIDE!!

When I knocked on the front door as instructed, it slowly opened to reveal a friendly woman in a blue maid’s dress welcoming us inside. We were asked to take off our shoes, wear provided socks and booties, and not touch anything or sit on the furniture. “Treat it as a museum.” We could, however, take photos with abandon and wander on our own.

The door knobs are PERFECT!
It felt surreal just standing there.

Fortunately, all of this information had been provided ahead of time via email. Because once I was inside The Bradys’ house, my listening ears turned off. Instead, I heard the voices of my adopted TV family speaking a mishmash of dialogue from 117 memorized episodes. I spent the next hour walking around with an enormous smile, wide eyes, and a couple of times, tears.

OH. MY. GOSH!!!!!!!!!

I was not expecting to feel so emotional in The Bradys’ house.

I gasped at the sight of The Staircase. I smiled at the couch in Mike’s den where Jan sat and lamented, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” I stared at the groovy 1960s rectangular art at the foot of the staircase, realizing how it is instantly identifiable by any fan. It was all absolutely perfect.

I wanted to touch EVERYTHING!

There it is!! Every Brady fan knows
that paneling!

The tears came when I entered the Brady girls’ bedroom upstairs. I stood in the middle of the room, taking in the three pink bedspreads, the giraffe stuffed animal in the corner, Kitty Karry-All on Cindy’s bed. It was so familiar, so comfortable, so nostalgic. Suddenly, it struck me.

“Oh my gosh. I grew up in this bedroom.”

This was after the tears. And please ignore
the fashion booties.

And that was it. That was the emotion. The Brady House was home. My home. I grew up there. I watched multiple episodes every day after school for years. When I told my mother-in-law a few days ago that we were going to see the inside of the Brady Bunch house, she asked if there would be a tour guide. My reply? “I don’t need one!”

It was fascinating to me which rooms I felt the most drawn to. The girls’ bedroom was the strongest. The kitchen, too. And Mike and Carol’s bedroom. And the dining room table. And the couch in the living room.

I hate to cook and yet, I totally
wanted to hang out in this kitchen.

The screen behind us really got me. I have
no idea why. But wow, it was important
to me to see it.

Sadly, the best photo I have of the
dining room table. It was hard to balance
being present, being in awe, and being 
a photographer.

I wasn’t as emotionally drawn to Greg’s attic bedroom or the family room or the boys’ bedroom or the backyard. I have no idea why.

It took me about 30 minutes to take my first lap. I then sat on a step in the entryway and tried to be fully present in one of the most surreal moments of my life. It sort of worked.

I still can't believe I was there.

On my second lap, I tried to notice all the little Easter Eggs that were scattered around the house, each a reference to a well-known storyline.

The architectural drawings of Beebe Gallini’s powder puff-shaped factory. Marcia’s drawing of George Washington that was mistaken for Mrs. Denton. The box of Safe Detergent in the laundry room. The egg on the pylon at the front of Mike’s convertible. The stack of letters to “Dear Libby.” The book about Jesse James that got Bobby in trouble. The typewritten gossip column written by Peter. The silver anniversary platter. Alice’s white sneakers. Jan’s wig.

Mike's drafting table in his den!
The powder puff is on the left, the
plans on the right are HGTV's plans
for renovating the original structure.

Marcia drew George Washington.
Then Paula found it and added the unflattering
note about Mrs. Denton. Marcia was in 
BIG trouble when the teacher found it.
Luckily, Paula fessed up and all was well
within 24 minutes.

The letters each of the kids and Alice
wrote to an advice columnist.

Alice's Keds!

The recreation of the Bradys’ house was astounding. The attention to detail was incredible. I kept forgetting the series was not actually filmed in the house. It was so real, so perfect, so complete. I was even more incredulous when I was told that there was only one original item in the entire house; everything else had been tracked down through antique stores and online searches to replicate what had appeared on the show. The Love of Brady runs deep.

The red sleeping bag is the only 
original item. It was in the episode
where Marcia has a slumber party.

Rob and I were the last to leave. We found out that Tina allows a maximum of 8 people to come inside the house each day from 12:30-1:30pm. There were just two other couples walking around with us, equally mesmerized and lost in memories. We all looked about the same age, all giddy and appreciative. We were mostly quiet, with whispered, “OH, WOW!” and “Come look at this!” One woman softly laughed and asked, “Why are we so quiet?”

I smiled at her and answered, “Reverence.”

My 8-year-old and my 58-year-old
brains are both utterly flabbergasted
by this photo!!!

A Week At Sea

Prior to this cruise, the longest Rob and I had ever been “At Sea” was five days. We quite enjoyed the leisurely treks across the Pacific to Hawaii and the North Atlantic to Iceland. So we were excited about the prospect of seven uninterrupted days surrounded by nothing but deep blue South Atlantic waters. And we were right to be!

It was so blissfully relaxing! So much much-needed sleep. And reading. And staring out at the endless, lightly undulating ocean waters. And breathing. And not worry about much of anything (eventually).

So what else did we do to entertain ourselves?

We walked laps around the Promenade (2.8 laps equals 1 mile), and kept an eye out for flying fish.

We started off with Australian 
bottled water. They just started
handing out South African bottles.

I streamed “The Longest Day” about D-Day thanks to Amazon Prime, a Wifi package, and 3 hours to fill.

I gave myself a manicure.

I wrote a couple of blogs.

I caught up on a 2-month backlog of our local newspaper. I hadn’t read the newspaper since April 8 because these days, that’s about as current as I can stomach. Nevertheless, I skimmed along and - for better or worse - I am all caught up.

The news on April 9

We tried the Irish Lunch at the onboard pub (O’Malleys), whereupon I remembered I don’t like Guinness out of a can.

We checked out the tablecloth-and-linens lunch in the dining room. I felt so rogue wearing shorts and sneakers in there (allowed at lunch).

I wandered many upper decks looking for a lounge chair in the shade. I learned shade is very hard to come by near the equator.

Tiny bit of shade at the bar. And
those smart folks weren't budging.

I browsed the ship’s boutiques and did not buy the lovely scarf for $70.48 US. I did, however, buy the colorful, breezy pool cover-up for $10.54 US that I can use as a head covering as needed in upcoming places of worship.

Follow me for style tips.

We attended several destination talks about upcoming ports.

We transitioned from Pollywogs to Shellbacks upon crossing the equator on the morning of June 9, 2026.

I've got some tweaking to do before I print it out,
but not too bad! HA on you, joyless Guest Services Desk.

We did our best to comfort Patricia, who was having a heat-related seizure on a stairway as we awaited so many of the ship’s medical and officer staffs. Her late-arriving husband, Phillip, gave Rob a hearty, “Good on ya!” as we confirmed Patricia was in trained hands and our presence was no longer needed.

We attended two wine tasting events, including one at which Rob won a raffle. Cheers to that!

He got to choose the bottle, so he
selected a red from Italy. Dedicated
to not bringing any wine home with 
us, we shall enjoy this with dinner
sometime soon. Hopefully there's
no corkage fee.

We got to play a short game of Laundry Switcheroo. One of Rob’s t-shirts is still enjoying an unsanctioned tour of the ship.

These fine shirts belong to a 
Mr. Woodcroft

Thanks to the wonders of technology, we got to virtually celebrate the arrival of a new nephew! Welcome to the world and family, Henry!

Trust me when I say that William, James, and
Henry are absolutely adorable!

While we are eager to explore land and remember what it is like to walk without swaying, we are both sort of sad that our week of lazing about the ship has ended. We truly could have used a few more days of blissful nothingness. But onward we go! To Cape Verde!

No Longer Pollywogs

Apparently the ceremony – in some form – dates back to the late 1400s but it wasn’t really “a thing” until the 1700s. Charles Darwin wrote about his participation in 1832 while on the HMS Beagle. The ceremony morphed into a pretty brutal hazing event at one point, but now it’s more of a fun, memorable rite of passage amongst sailors who are commemorating their first sailing across the equator. Sailors, and cruise ship passengers.

The ceremony involves a loose storyline of Pollywogs (people who have never sailed across the equator) seeking the favor of King Neptune for safe passage. There’s a trial in which the Pollywogs are accused of various misbehaviors and are found guilty by the attending Shellbacks (people who have crossed the equator before). 

The Shellbacks exert punishment on the Pollywogs until King Neptune decides they have properly atoned for their bad deeds. There is much celebration and, in the case of cruise line passengers, photo ops and commemorative certificates. One US Naval Officer I know suggested his ceremony started in the weeeee hours and lasted until nearly lunch. Our ceremony was about 45 minutes and ended just as the buffet was opening. 

We weren't going to buy any overpriced
Princess photos and yet...

Rob and I (and Piglet, who shall have his own certificate thanks to photo editing trickery, no thanks to the Guest Services Desk who has no sense of fun and whimsy) became Shellbacks on June 9, 2026. We celebrated a bit before noon and it was HOT. And humid. Without much shade to be found.

We were slathered with SPF 50 and 
we still felt exposed. So we repurposed
a pool towel and a napkin on the fly.
Equatorial sun is no joke!

Two tables of colorful goop and a dead fish were set up, along with a LOT of plastic sheeting and towels placed on a large swath of the Lido Deck to assist with clean-up. A number of the ship’s junior crew (i.e. those who were voluntold they would be participating) dressed up in togas and formed The Court. Two others dressed as King Neptune and Queen Neptuna. Our cruise director was a lawyer of sorts. The Captain dropped by and gave a short speech.

The Queen and King

About 50 passengers volunteered to be tried. They were all found guilty of their misdeeds, which included complaining a lot, pushing all the buttons on the elevators, and going back for fourths at the buffet. As punishment, the Court threw goop and noodles and flour at them in a one-sided food fight.

The Court and good-sports 
passengers. We were not among them.
Someone needed to take photos, right?

It might have been pudding or whipped
cream. And then cooked noodles, topped
with flour to make it all stick.

The Court kicked into Revenge Gear when the Pollywogs among the ship’s Officers lined up in front of King Neptune. With the-tables-have-turned gusto, the Shellback junior crew doused their superiors in foodstuffs without any effort to contain their glee. This was after the Pollywogs had been forced to kiss the dead fish.

The fish was very floppy. And oozy. ICK!

The most proximate swimming pool
was closed the rest of the day for
extensive cleaning.

The ceremony ended with King Neptune proclaiming all in attendance to now be Shellbacks, regardless of whether they were wearing pink pudding and spaghetti. Rob and I quickly retreated to the blissful air conditioning of Sabatini’s for an international wine tasting event and to toast our newly bequeathed Shellbackery. 

Huzzah!

Back in our natural habitat.
The Austrian Grüner Veltliner was
my favorite. Rob liked the Italian
Nebbiolo.

 

 

Traveling with Aussies - Volume 1

Cruise Day 6

This 114-day ' round-the-world cruise started 34 days ago in Auckland, New Zealand. Although we just hopped on for a month-long segment, most of the passengers in for the long haul joined in Sydney, Australia. I suspect many of them caught Ubers to the cruise terminal. 

As a result, this cruise is VERY Australian even though Princess is typically predominantly American. The "Good day, Mate!" accent is everywhere! To the point that apparently Rob and I are the ones with the accent, not the rest of the passengers. The cruise is so heavily Australian, all the prices onboard are in Australian dollars. This works out great for us few Americans. Given the current exchange rate, everything is about 25% cheaper than listed. Score!

There’s a list posted of the nationality composition of this second segment of the cruise (33 days long). A full 67% of the passengers we are sailing with are Aussies (13% are Kiwis, 11% are Americans). I’ve never vacationed with so many Australians before, even when Rob and I took a tour of Oz in the mid-1990s (WE were on vacation; they weren’t).

It’s…loud.

Despite signage, these groups were
neither reading nor quiet. 

It’s early yet, so I plan to write again later, but my first impression of So Many Australians is that they are – generally speaking, as a herd of 1,816 – similar to what American tourists get stereotyped as. Loud, big, extroverted, bordering on annoying. They seem to have little awareness of their impact on others around them, often chatting (loudly) in the middle of stateroom hallways, blocking stairwells, and shouting out to friends across dining rooms.

They also – again, generally speaking – seem to not be terribly pleased when things don’t go their way. They are quick to complain, huff, and ask for accommodation. The Guest Services desk is pretty busy. The Aussies know what they want and they aren’t shy about trying to make it happen. Among the things that have been requested of Lloyd the Cruise Director (as posted on a cruise-specific Facebook page):

• New bath towels, as the current ones are like sandpaper (we hadn't noticed)
• More variety of songs played in the pool area
• Sharper knives in the dining room
• Installation of a shelf next to the communal sink at the buffet for placing cell phones when washing hands

Today I watched a man put a bowl of soup and a full plate of food on a table next to a window in the buffet. While he was getting a beverage, an Aussie woman decided she wanted his table. So she unabashedly picked up his food and moved it to a different table and commandeered the prime window seat as her own. Who does that?!

The man was suitably confused but politely quiet when he returned and moved his food elsewhere.

So, yeah, so far I’m surprised by how “Senior Citizen Frat Party with a Kicky Accent and an Attitude” this cruise feels like at the moment. We’ll see if/how my opinions change over the next few weeks.

Surprised by Namibia!

When I read “Namibia” on the cruise itinerary, I have to admit my first thought was, “Where – and what – is a Namibia?” I’m not certain I had ever heard of the loosely populated Southern African country. And I’m sure I would have needed to study a map to find it.

The only sign we could find somehow
proving we were in Namibia.
Thank you, big bus!

Located about 900 miles north of Cape Town on the western (Atlantic Ocean) coast of Africa, Namibia is about the size of Texas with a population of about 3 million people. This works out to about 8 people per square mile. It is an independent country as of 1990, with history going back to Germany and South Africa ownership.

Tourism is a growing industry in Namibia, behind the exports of uranium, lithium, and salt. Electricity is very expensive, as they have to import it from South Africa. We were told a number of the people selling their services and crafts in the port/tourist towns (Walvis Bay and Swakopmund) while we were in town had bumped along primitive roads for about 6 hours to greet us and our wallets. I did my best to purchase some meaningful souvenirs and tip appreciatively.

The white pyramids are salt. I kept an eye out
for an opportunity to buy some Namibian salt,
but never saw any. I guess it all leaves the country?

Namibian singers on the pier just passed our ship.

This gemstone - called Pietersite - is
unique to Namibia (a redder version
can be found in China). I loved its 
swirls of dark blue and gold. I 
bought a small pill box with Pietersite
on the top as a souvenir. It's gorgeous!

Getting into Namibia was quite a process. A few months ago, I spent some quality time on our bed cracking the code on acquiring the proper entry visas. We then had to provide the visas and our passports to Namibian Immigration Officials in Club Fusion on Deck 7. Both before we left the ship and when we returned. Score some more cool passport stamps!

A day trip to Namibia!
And blessedly a lot less angsty than
for passengers who waited until they
were on the cruise to try to get the visa.

The excursion we booked for Namibia was one of the more expensive tours on our cruise. Not because it was very involved, but because the required staffing and operable buses are in short supply. Indeed, we were about an hour late leaving the cruise terminal because Bus #1’s door was not working.

Neither Rob nor I had any expectations for the day. As a result, we had a great time in Namibia!

Our first stop was Walvis Bay, moderately famous for large flocks of flamingos that hang out next to the shore. But, as luck would have it, apparently Walvis Bay got some of its annual 1-inch of rain recently and the birds left in search of less diluted water. So, we only saw a few flamingos, and they were more white than pink.

We were told that the flamingos like salty water because the saltwater produces a pink algae that the birds like to snack on. That algae gives their feathers the iconic pink hue. So diluted water meant meh algae and therefore only a handful of lazy non-pink flamingos that were awaiting the return of the good pink stuff.

A flock of white-ish flamingos

Flamingo footprints!

There were gorgeous palm trees
all over the place! We were told
the trees were imported from the
Canary Islands.

With only about 1 inch of rain per year,
the palm trees in Namibia are watered by
daily fog and a LOT of irrigation. You
can see the drip line tubes at the base
 of the tree trunk.

The bulk of our tour was spent in a town called Swakopmund about 45 minutes north. Founded in 1892, the town reflects Namibia’s German roots with its architecture, names, and food. We walked around a bit. There was a museum that Rob spent quite a bit of time perusing. I did my typical Museum Fly By (watched a video, admired the collection of historic beer bottles), and then wandered outside to enjoy the coastal air and live music.

Already a cherished memory, I spent about 30-45 minutes sitting on a stone wall listening to the 8th Octaves A Cappella Band. The six t-shirt-wearing singers in their 20s stood under a palm tree next to the water, with only a drum and one maraca accompanying them. They sang some of the most joyful, happy, beautiful music I’ve ever heard.

The voices of the two women and four men blended with ease and precision. I have no idea what they were singing about. But much like Julia Roberts at the opera in “Pretty Woman,” the purity of their voices moved me deeply. Their singing filled my spirit with hope and gratitude. Although I quickly found and purchased 8th Octaves’ one album on iTunes before we set sail last night, it’s just not the same. I’m grateful I snagged some video of them singing live outside the Swakopmund Museum; I desperately wish I had more. THIS is why I love to travel.

Click here to listen to a far too short video
of these beautiful voices!

On our drive back to the ship, our tour stopped for a few minutes to admire the non-coastal part of Namibia. In other words, the rest of the country aka the Namib Desert. We were told there’s a lot of interesting wildlife in the sand (including snakes – no thank you!), and we saw imprinted evidence of popular ATV dune running and sand surfing (sliding down the dunes on a board).

That's A LOT of sand...

Walking on the sand was a lot easier than I expected. It was pretty firm, and it did not fill my shoes. We were told the lighter the sand’s color, the younger the dune. I have no idea how old the dune that we walked on was; I and my knee just appreciated its stability.

Piglet for perspective. Still A LOT of sand.

Us for perspective. Still sandy...

As we got closer to town (Walvis Bay),
I noticed a lot of locals just walking through
the sand dunes. No need for sidewalks?

We are now at sea for 7 days. We’ve never been on a ship for that many days in a row. We’re looking forward to it! We need some forced boredom and relaxation. By all reports, Tim back at Woodhaven is going along quite well. Inspections have been successfully concluded, so now insulation and drywall get to start. Nice and boring!

Next stop: Cape Verde!

The fluorescent tubes are gone!! 
Canned recessed lighting for the win!