It's strange it has been a week since we got home from our cruise.
Last week we got home from a greatly needed and greatly appreciated vacation. While we feel a little awkward telling the world that we went on a cruise, we will say that we've worked hard to earn it and had it not been for our motivation to give us a reward for obtaining an insurmountable goal we probably wouldn't have otherwise done it.
That being said, here these next few posts will be about our vacation/cruise to the Caribbean.
We left the Port of Miami on Saturday, sea on Sunday, Cozumel on Monday, Belize on Tuesday, Roatan island (off the Honduras coast) Wednesday, Grand Cayman Thursday, sea on Friday, Miami and home on Saturday.
We met some great people, ignored quite a few drunk people, and all in all tried to appreciate everyone on board as equals with us in trying in their own way to get away from the world and relax from the woes of modern life. It's funny, most of the people on the ship were from Canada, Michigan (area), or the northeast coast. Very few (two or three that we met) were from the westerly states. Given the incredibly difficult winter we see on the news for those folks, I can understand how muchly needed their vacation was and it made me appreciate Portland even more.
A slight disclaimer about the pictures. One thing we regret about our trip was not investing in a waterproof (and sand proof) camera. Most of the activities that were the funnest for us were either on a boat, in the water, or on the beach. Also being away from our life gave stark realization to what I feel to be a truism; you can experience something or you can capture the moment but you can't do both. Nonetheless we tried to take as many pictures as we could to remember our trip.
In the Portland airport there was this fake aquarium filled with fabric jellyfish, it was pretty cool. The vacation really did start for us on the plane. Traveling cross country without kids? Yes, that is relaxation and I will take it!
In the Atlanta airport they have this corridor of African inspired art. We laid down in front of this one for awhile. It felt good to stretch out our backs.
We decided to catch the sunrise on the beach, and actually were able to watch quite a few sunsets on the boat.
It's the 'I just slept in a van for the night look.'
I look much more homeless in person than this picture shows. :)
Probably an illegal picture of a picture, but we couldn't help how cheesy we look.
I loved the towel animals we got each night on the ship. So cute!
We were at sea all of Sunday, so we ate some AMAZING food! Fish tacos, some of the best cheeseburgers we have ever had, and big tasty salads.
We then went to a private beach called Chankanaab. It was great!
The water and beach was beautiful. This was my very first experience snorkeling, and it was so fun!
They also have an alligator farm and dolphins and sea lions, but we mainly hung out at the beach.
They let Eric do a dive with just the instructor instead of with all the other scuba newbies since he has done several intro dives before. He loved it!
They also have fake Mayan ruins, and an educational center to show you all the different kinds of ruins you can find in Mexico and when they were created. It was interesting to look at.
We then went to "real" Mayan ruins, San Cedral. But we had got them mixed up with the ruins we REALLY wanted to see the San Gabriel ones. They were honestly not that amazing. Just one little pile of rocks and a whole bunch of people trying to sell stuff to us. And then we had to go back to the ship, so we missed the other ones, oh well!
Our ships!
The sunset Monday night.
Last week we got home from a greatly needed and greatly appreciated vacation. While we feel a little awkward telling the world that we went on a cruise, we will say that we've worked hard to earn it and had it not been for our motivation to give us a reward for obtaining an insurmountable goal we probably wouldn't have otherwise done it.
That being said, here these next few posts will be about our vacation/cruise to the Caribbean.
We left the Port of Miami on Saturday, sea on Sunday, Cozumel on Monday, Belize on Tuesday, Roatan island (off the Honduras coast) Wednesday, Grand Cayman Thursday, sea on Friday, Miami and home on Saturday.
We met some great people, ignored quite a few drunk people, and all in all tried to appreciate everyone on board as equals with us in trying in their own way to get away from the world and relax from the woes of modern life. It's funny, most of the people on the ship were from Canada, Michigan (area), or the northeast coast. Very few (two or three that we met) were from the westerly states. Given the incredibly difficult winter we see on the news for those folks, I can understand how muchly needed their vacation was and it made me appreciate Portland even more.
A slight disclaimer about the pictures. One thing we regret about our trip was not investing in a waterproof (and sand proof) camera. Most of the activities that were the funnest for us were either on a boat, in the water, or on the beach. Also being away from our life gave stark realization to what I feel to be a truism; you can experience something or you can capture the moment but you can't do both. Nonetheless we tried to take as many pictures as we could to remember our trip.
Miami
Hotel de Walmart.
We got into Fort Lauderdale pretty late Friday and rented a car to just sleep in a Walmart parking lot to save money on a hotel. While checking out I (Eric) hit it off pretty well with Rafael at Budget rent-a-car, so much so the guy offered me a Corona (beer) he had stashed away under his desk (it was as sketchy as it sounds), after telling him I don't drink and that my fun is inside of me in a jokingly missionary tone, he offered to upgrade us to a minivan since he knew we were staying in a parking lot for the night. Then he told us how awesome he thinks the Fort Lauderdale temple is, which is currently under construction by his house. We told him when it's finished he should go through it and they would have free tours for him. He was great. Then we drove to the Walmart closest to Miami Beach and slept for a couple of hours.
We then did some shopping at Ross and took our luggage to the cruise ship before we dropped our van off at the car rental place. All of a sudden this big tire flew up and almost crashed into our car. Eric did some quick driving and thinking and so kept the tire from hitting the rental van, it was exciting.
We then ran back to the cruise ship after dropping off the van. We have to make room for that food somehow!
Our first picture of our ship the Carnival Liberty.
Our first dinner!!! I found out by the third dinner you could order AS MUCH FOOD AS YOU WANTED! So I averaged two appetizers, and two desserts every night. (and sometimes two entrees) I love trying new food and I love eating food, so this was a great part of the trip.
We had some quiet Sunday time off one side of the ship, no music or dancing, or even very many people, just us sitting watching us sail by Cuba.
We also saw an ice sculpture demonstration. He sculpted a native american head in about 15 min, it was pretty amazing.
We even won an excursion to Cozumel for the next day, but it didn't have scuba diving and Eric really wanted to dive, so we ended up not using it, but I never win anything, so it was still pretty cool.
My mom had been showing my kids pictures of the ship and places we could go, and Avey really wanted to see a picture of the captain, so my mom asked if we could take a picture of the captain. There just happened to be a captain's reception that night before dinner, and so we got her the picture.
Cozumel
We started our excursion here by renting a scooter.
We then went to a private beach called Chankanaab. It was great!
Another towel animal.
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