Chicago to Florida

It just wouldn’t be a vacation unless:

* The flight was moved to different gate, the gate clear across the entire airport. Of course we missed the announcement and first tried to board the wrong plane, logically, we nearly missed our flight as we don’t run as fast as we used to.

*The flight was completely booked and I had a center seat near the rear of the plane. I set between husb and a very large man who smelled of a heavy load of cheap cologne and salami. The kid in the seat a head of me reclined his seat just after I got my computer out (a distraction to keep me sane as I’m a horrible flyer), the kid (young teen) proceeded to confuse the plane seat with a rocking chair for the remainder of the flight. Away went the computer as I couldn’t even open the top, out came the ativan.

*We left at 6:00 in the morning and finally arrived at our hotel around 11:30pm. On our west coast stomachs, that’s dinner time. After settling in we took off on foot as there are a few fast food restaurants very near by. All of which closed at 11:00, except the drive thru. Oddly enough, they will not let you walk thru a drive thru, regardless of how good your story is. The hotel offered to have their shuttle driver take us to a near by restaurant. After getting into the van, we bribed him into just taking us to McDonalds instead. He thinks we’re crazy. I think we spent more on the tip than the meal just to make it up to him.

This is just the lead in… the *real* vacation begins tomorrow!

I’m leaving on a jet plane…

Quick… who sang it??

So tonight I’m packing, tomorrow after work we’re going to Portland. Saturday we fly to Florida and Sunday we catch a ship!
I am so ready for this vacation. The last one sucked… not the vacation but the timing was bad and it was difficult to enjoy.

I’m bringing the computer (or else I’d die) and will make posts and catch up with you when I can. I haven’t picked up my camera in what feels like months, so I’m looking forward to spending some time behind a lens as well.
I bought a low cut swim suit to show off the new floatation devices. Safety first, even while on vacation!

Flikr photos

The vacation photos are up… just click *more photos* in the sidebar!

The end…

At sea today… airport’s all day tomorrow, home Sunday night.

What a blast.  Pictures to follow!

Cozumel

What a blast… I want to spend more time here too!!!

I got wayyyy too much sun (again), my tattoo artist is going to kill me.
The highlight was taking ATV’s into the jungle through Mayan ruins (well not *through* them).
The ATV’s were a gas… there were lots of rocks and ruts to go through. My favorite was a huge mud puddle that I took about sideways, drenched myself and the poor lady behind me!
Went shopping directly after, covered in mud. I did find an ocean though to cool off/clean up in
The color of the water in Cozumel is beyond description.

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman is AMAZING…

I really want to come back and spend more time here… The water is beautiful, there is alot to do, or nothing to do… depending.  People are warm and welcoming.

We went snorkling today and saw a huge (HUGE) eel then we fed (and held) stingrays.  They are pretty damn big too.

Got a monumental sunburn and a bruise the size of a small island on my hip (small boating mishap, but well worth it!)

Jamaica

What a trip!

Went onto the island early… it’s a good thing, it’s storming like crazy now. On my way for a hot stone massage to warm back up!
I should have some good pictures to flikr when we get home!

We went into a “craft market”, I thought sales was aggressive in Mexico but the Jamaicans win

The Great Balcony Debate 1

Today we are at sea! Sitting on the balcony near sunset, husb and I both notice the same thing.
Small creatures flying above the ocean, then going into the water (50+ feet at a stretch before going in). Small… with wings.

The debate?
Husb says they are flying fish.
I say they are feeding birds (because they have wings for God’s sake).
(we are on the 9th floor… and we both wear glasses)

The debate continues…

To celebrate husb’s half-centenial…

I bought him one of *these* today…

We’ll be taking her out for a spin in May…

Honey… I’m home!

What a great trip!

I had some apprehensions about traveling with husb. I’d really gotten to the point where I didn’t due to some, um, behaviors. Not that the behavior was bad, just the absolute dependence on it. It’s been a weird couple of years, we really needed some time to re-focus. Some time that wasn’t mired in the day to day. This trip was it.

We arrived on Oahu where #3 met us at the dock and expidited our boarding proceedure. Our cabin was wonderful. It had a balcony and was decorated with a “happy anniversary” banner, balloons and lei’s shaped into hearts on the pillows. A bottle of wine and chocolate dipped strawberrys awaited in our cabin. After getting settled, we still had time to walk around the harbor.

Sailing around the islands is a bit differnet than other cruises we’d been on. Mostly, we would sail at night and spend the day in port, free to wander off of the ship. Our first port was Hilo, on the Big Island. We’d lived near Hilo, and it was a little like going home. In a matter of hours we had already picked up the lingo again, I knew we were “back” the first time husb called a tourist driver a “lolo”. The highlights of Hilo were going to the lava flows that wiped out a portion of the Island and most of the black sand beach. We also went into a lava tube… much like a very deep cave.

The next port was Maui. We rented a jeep for a day as we spent the night in port. First we went to Kihei the next day Lahaina.

Next we went back to the Big Island, for Kona. We started the day with a horse back ride followed by wandering the streets and beach of Kona.
Husb and I both “forgot” how to ride a horse and ended up with some impressive :neither region: bruises.

Next stop is Kauai, another over night port. The highlight was going mud bugging with #3

We left the island of Kauai via the NaPali coast.

We toured the ships bridge, which was impressive!

The cruise ended back on Oahu. We stayed an extra night in Waikiki before flying home.

Lastly… the cruise offered some amazing food, excellent service and great shows (got to meet Bud Andersun after a show). There are more (larger) pictures in my flickr too!