CRUISIN'

To celebrate our one year anniversary/belated honeymoon/my graduation we went on a seven night cruise to Mexico and it was absolute heaven...

Our ship (the Carnival Splendor) left out of Long Beach, CA. We drove down the day before it left and met up with our friends Stuart and Emily for dinner at the legendary BJ's Pizza. I was determined to show Michael an authentic Southern California time, but one night just wasn't enough to fit in my entire growing-up, so barbecue pizza and a pizooki in Balboa was all he got for now. It was so much fun to see the Lange's - hopefully we can meet up again soon!! 

We stayed in a hotel that night close to the Long Beach port. Sunday morning we boarded the ship and were at sea Sunday night and all of Monday. Our boat was parked right next to the Queen Mary; it was really neat to be able to see the two side by side.

On the Boat:

We enjoyed four days at sea and had a really great time on the boat! The best thing was just relaxing by the pool with a good book, but they had lots of other options as well. 

We had "chocolate melting cakes" for dessert seven nights in a row...Michael was in utter bliss! 

Each night our little room guy left us a different towel animal. I don't even know how they do this! I was amazed each night!

There was a little miniature golf course on the top deck. We literally played a round everyday and kept very strict score each time. Michael beat me every single time (of course!), even when I played in more of a golf/hockey style. 

We were able to sit a a table for two each night at dinner and most of the time at a window table. The food was fabulous! We were able to try some fun/scary things: alligator, frog legs, and shark! 

This little Asian man may have given us one of our favorite moments of the whole trip. We loved having him as our waiter because he was pretty fast and all business. One night, he announced to all the tables that if we didn't dance when the music came on that "Dinner, over!" and that we had to get "low, low, low, low". The music started and he started bustin' his moves and I was crying I was laughing so hard! And then as soon as the music stopped, he was right back to business. Hilarious!! 

We got invited to a "free drinks" party because I was a returning cruiser with Carnival. This was also a funny experience! The alcohol was free and so all the people around us were just downing whatever they could get their hands on. When we asked the waiter for something nonalcoholic he gave us a very confused look, and then gave us these pretty pink drinks. They were just some juices, but they tasted great and made us feel fancy! 

We went to all the different shows for entertainment; there were "Vegas style" shows each night, a different comedy show each night, and lots of other little things, but our favorite was listening to an acoustic guitarist play covers/his own stuff, and tell stories. He was really entertaining and very talented. Tommy Green Jr. - watch for him in the big leagues! 

 Each night they played different movies on the big screen outside by the pool. We loved getting cozy with blankets and hot chocolate! We enjoyed both Remember the Titians and Casino Royale.  

Cabo San Lucas: 

We spent two days in Cabo and it was wonderful!

The first day we took a boat tour of the rock formations and then the boat dropped us off at Pelican and Lover's Beaches to snorkel. The water here was so crystal clear, warm, and gorgeous! Unfortunately the fish weren't super cool to look at, but it was fun to swim around. Michael loved snorkeling and trying to touch the fish. 

It was so so so hot on the sand! I was amazed! We rented a little umbrella for the
day to try to save our skin.
Michael loved jumping off those big rocks, and somehow he convinced me to do it with him
once. I did it, but totally screamed the whole way into the water!

On our second day in Cabo, we went on a zip lining adventure in the desert canyon. It was scary and so amazing at the same time. We had to do lots of hiking between stations; we're glad we made it to the end alive! It was a really neat experience and I would totally love to do it again! We we not allowed to take any pictures in the gear, so this is all we have.

Puerto Vallarta:
We spent one day in Puerto Vallarta. After we got off the ship we hopped in a cab and headed to the beach. Puerto Vallarta was not as nice as Cabo, but it was still really nice to just hang
on the beach. We found a little cafe that had nice beach chairs in front of it and camped
there for the day. We ordered some refreshing drinks and just relaxed.
About every five seconds a new little salesperson walked by trying to sell us their hammocks, blankets, jewelry, tattoos, figurines, or massages - it was kinda crazy!

Michael had tons of fun playing in the waves - he was like a little kid! I got in with him
for a while, but definitely he outlasted me.

We got of the ship the following Sunday morning and drove right back to Utah.
This was the perfect vacation! We had so much fun not having a schedule to follow and spending every minute of the entire week together! We are already on the look-out for our next fun adventure!!