Warning: Ensuing Travel Log

The following chronicles--day by day--the seven day cruise we embarked on last week. Skip this entry if you don't want to hear about the sun or fun I encountered.




Day 1--Sunday, January 6

Wade's dad shows up a teensy bit early (read: 30 minutes) to drive us to the airport. In normal circumstances this would be okay, but seeing at it was 4:00 in the morning, he catches us sleeping.

We drag ourselves to the airport, say our goodbyes (Josh [age 2] starts to understand what all the prepping we've been doing was and is not happy about still being strapped in his carseat as grandpa takes off for home), and make our way to the gate. Who would've guessed that 5 am on a Sunday would be such a busy time, but we make it to the plane with minutes to spare.



We enjoy a rather uneventful (considered a good thing) flight to the Long Beach Trailer. It could be the smallest airport in the United States. But the flight was cheap, so I'm not complaining. However, since we did start off at such an ungodly hour, we are in California at 7 am. We aren't suppose to board the ship until 1:30. With no place to go and 5 bags of luggage, we settle onto stained couches Wade has found on the second floor (who knew there was a second floor) and try to fall asleep.

After being rudely awakened by pilots wandering about trying to locate a restaurant, we reassess our situation. It's nearing 9 am. California is cold. Not as cold as Utah, but still chilly. I'm hungry. I'm cold. And I'm bored. I am, however, quite pleased with myself that I thought to pack my fleece jacket. I'm not as cold as I could be. In fact, I'm thinking this very thought as I unwrap a smores granola bar. A few minutes later, after devouring every last crumb, I reach down to retrieve my book from my bag and Wade asks what is all over my (white) fleece jacket. I look down and gasp. A wayward chunk of chocolate managed to smear itself all over the front of my coat. I try to clean it up in the bathroom, but it's a futile attempt. I trick myself into thinking that it's not that bad.



Wade thinks to call the cruise hotline and is told they indeed have a preboarding place at the dock that will also store our luggage. Bonus. We hail a cab (a first for both of us and a first of many cabs rides over the course of the next week) and head to the pier. We check in and walk around outside for a bit. Everyone walking by is staring at the stains on my coat. I quickly go from this:





to this:



But there's not much I can do. It's too cold not to wear the jacket, so I press forward.

They let us on the boat at 11:30 on the condition that we don't go to our stateroom until 1:30. By now, I'm ready to gnaw off my own arm and start chewing on it, so it's all right by me to go eat lunch first.

The boat is HUGE. It's 12 stories high and has a mini golf area, a jogging track, a basketball court, 3 pools and a waterslide.

We are eventually let into our cabins, which are roughly the size of my walk-in closet. There's a desk, two night tables and twin beds pushed together with a queen fitted sheet over them. And a small bathroom. We don't have a window overlooking the granduer of the ocean. I'm a bit sad about this, but I figure we won't be in the room a lot, so I'm not too worried.

At 4:30, we set sail. Wade is immediately motion sick. I'm feeling pretty good, but really tired. So I take a nap while he explores further. Our scheduled dining time isn't until 8:15.

At 8:15, we head to the dining room where we are seated with another couple, Daniel and Erin. To maximize space in the dining room, the tables are filled to their capacity. It's a little awkward eating dinner with complete strangers. Luckily, they are close to our age, so we have a little in common. The food is great and you can eat as much as you want. There's an appetizer, salad, main course and dessert. You can order as many entrees or desserts as you would like. Wade isn't feeling very good, but he sticks it out.

After dinner we head to the show. It's about what you'd expect on a cruise ship. The comedian that was on afterwards was hilarious. Wade is feeling really sick and we head back to our closet. I stay up late reading. When I turn out the light, it's pitch black. Not a single light can be seen.

DAY 2--At Sea, January 7

I wake up early, don my running gear and head to the jogging track. **Blonde Moment** I turn on my GPS watch and start off. I check my pace and stop in a heap of confusion. I'm running at a 2:50 min/mile pace? I'm Superman? It takes me a second longer than it should to realize that it's catching the boat's speed, not mine. Oiy! A mile is 15 times around the track, and while it's warm it's not perfect weather and in any case I lose count of how many times I've gone around and so I quit embarrasingly early. I get some food for Wade and head back downstairs. We reemerge at 11:00 to eat breakfast. Wade is feeling better, but this epitomizes how we spend the afternoon:

I just cart my book around and enjoy the peace while I read.

There's an ice carving demonstration going on. Very cool.

Then a rousing game of Scattergories. I take a nap and then we lounge around until dinner time. It's formal night, so we get all dolled up. It's not as awkward eating with Daniel and Erin tonight as it was last night. I was surveying the boat earlier during the day and I was happy that we ended up with them and not some of the other people on baord.

After dinner we go to a cheesy show and then the comic did an "adults only" show at midnight that was pretty funny.


DAY 3--At Sea, January 8


We awake at 11:00 and make our way up to breakfast at noon. It's a hard life, but someone has to live it. We're passing by Cabo and the weather is PERFECT. We lay out on the deck...the entire afternoon. Read a little bit. Talk with some people for a while. But mostly just look out at the ocean and land. We even saw some whales and dolphins. It was awesome to see them in their natural habitat. I got brave and did the waterslide. It was okay. I guess I did it wrong, because Wade said if you lifted your butt off the slide you'd go a lot faster. Since we left our camera in the room, we have no pictures of us doing the waterslide or the whales and dolphins.


DAY 4--Puerto Vallarta, January 9


We have to meet our tour out on the pier at 8:00, so we actually have to get up at a decent time this morning. We head up to breakfast and look out at Puerto Vallarta. Here's what we see:

It's like we haven't left the U.S. at all. There's a Walmart and a Sam's Club right off the dock.

We head off to our hike, which was a blast. We hike through the rain forest. It's a little warm, but heck it's January 9. This is our guide Jerry. He's a little weird, but he has a really good attitude and some interesting stories. He apparently really likes Tequila.

At the top of the "hill" there's a natural hot minerals spring. We sit in the pools for a little bit and then head back to the starting point where we're given a small tour of the tequila making process. We're offered free shots, but of course, we decline. It was hard to convey "we don't drink" to a tequila-loving native, but we are successful and avoid a potentially embarrassing situation (your first ever shot of tequila should probably not be in the presence of drinking naturals, much like smoking cigarettes).



After the hike we're taken back to the ship. We eat lunch and head out to explore the town. We first stop at an internet cafe, where for a $1 and hour, we get internet access. Compared with $1 a minute on the ship, this is a good deal. We also get to call Josh for 33 cents a minute. He doesn't talk much, but all is going well there.




Next, we take a cab downtown and look around. The beach is gorgeous and we stop in at a restaurant for dinner since we don't have to be back to the ship until 9:30.

We unknowingly order $8 in soda pops since free refills are not a given in Mexico. We also order an appetizer and our main meal. We want more chips to go along with our appetizer and so we inadvertently order a second appetizer. We end up plopping down nearly $60 for dinner. It was a bit of a sticker shock to see the final tab because while it was good, it was not $60 good.

We head back to the boat and enjoy the nice air outside while we watch the ship take off. We made it about 15 minutes through a lame-o show and then head to our room to go to sleep.

DAY 5--Mazatlan, January 10

We don't have a planned activity for Mazatlan, but we head out early anyways. It's really chaotic at the pier. There are people trying to get you to sign into a time share or get into their cab. It was all very overwhelming, especially since I don't speak the language. A van tour guide and a taxi driver were going at it over us, and I was afraid we weren't going to make it to the shopping district. We managed to convey our intentions to the cab driver and he takes us to the right place. We go to a diamond jewerly place and Wade picks out some earrings for me. He says he wants me to have something to remember our trip by. How cute. :) They are made from a rare gem found only in the southern tip of Canada called Ammonite. They're very pretty.

Mazatlan is a little more third worldy than Puerto Vallarta. We go to a "back alley" flea shop looking thing and barter our way through. We come out with a marble chess set for Wade that he's always wanted. I'd looked for one for Christmas for him and couldn't find one in our budget. Unfortunately, I'm slated to carry the sucker around for the rest of the day. It's feels like it's 40 pounds. It's not that heavy, but it was wearing on me towards the end of the day.

Our original plans were to go in the ocean but it was too cold, so we just sat on the beach and watched everything going on. Every five minutes, a vendor would try to hit us up to buy something and it became very tiresome after awhile. We ate nachos at a restaurant off the main drag. They were really good. Now accustomed with the local culture, we don't buy nearly as much soda pop.

We had to be back on the boat by 5:30, so we got there early and sat in the hot tub for a while. It was our first time getting in. It was a little chilly by now, so it felt really good.

DAY 5--Cabo San Lucas, January 11

We arrive in Cabo at 7:00 am and it is GORGEOUS. It's unbelievable what a change Cabo is from the other two ports. We're going sea kayaking (number 35 on the list) and snorkeling (number 80 on the list) in the Sea of Cortez.

Since the ship is so big, it has to hang out off the dock and we're ferried over to land. Our tour starts at 9:30, so it's another early morning for us. We make it over and call my mom (who now has Josh) to see how things are going. All is well on the home front.

We meet our guide and are taken on a glass bottom boat over to the kayaks on a beach around the bay. There's ten of us and we're given a short lesson on kayaking and take off. It's amazingly easy to get a hang of and we paddle around for a long time. The guide takes us over to this arch that separates the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. He asks if we want to head through. Of course! We have to time the waves just right so we don't crash into the side, but off we go. It's breathtaking. The coolest part of the entire trip by far. We paddle about a mile into the Pacific and then head back to Lover's Beach. Lover's Beach is only accessed by boat or kayak, so there isn't anything on it. We get out of our kayaks and he asks how many want to go snorkeling. Five people stay behind and Wade tries to convince me not to go. It's a tad bit chilly in the water, but I don't care. I'm here to snorkel so I'll brave it for 30 minutes. I tell Wade that he can stay back on the beach, but I really want to go. He reluctantly gets into the snorkeling boat and we take off.

It's a bit of a shock to jump in, but the water isn't all that bad. What an incredible experience. I've never been snorkeling before so it was awesome to see all those fish and the water was so clear. It was great! Wade was very happy that I insisted on going.

We were led back to the beach to pick up our fellow kayakers. We were given a few minutes to explore Lover's Beach, so Wade and I walked over to the Pacific Ocean side. Amazing.

We kayak back to get our stuff and Wade and I spend some time on that beach enjoying the view. We take off on foot to walk back to the ferry dock. We have to walk around the entire marina, but it's a nice day. I don't mind at all. We stop and eat stale cinnamon rolls and continue on. We end up buying a wooden snake for Josh, a stone mask for my mom, and a Christmas ornament for me before heading to the ferry. We have to be on the boat by 3:30 so we don't miss them taking off.

We both end up taking long naps and bumming around until dinner. It's another formal night so we have to get all dolled up again. Additionally, it's also the Grand Gala Buffet. We eat a wonderful meal and then head to the comedian's last show. Afterwards, we go to the buffet, but neither one of us is very hungry, so we end up leaving early and going to bed.

DAY 7--At Sea, January 12

We are hauling butt back to LA. It takes us 2 days to get to Cabo but only 1 1/2 days to get back? Even I'm feeling a little sick.

We don't even get up on deck until 1:00. We are so lazy, but it feels great. We eat lunch and then play ping pong for a while. Not a lot going on today and it's pretty chilly so there's no lounging outside. We just enjoy the last day of our cruise. We pack our stuff and get ready for tomorrow.

Last Day--LA, January 13

When we originally booked our airline flights, JetBlue had a flight leaving Long Beach at 12:30. Perfect timing to get us off the boat, through customs and to the airport. In December they emailed us to say that the flight had been rescheduled for the new year to leave at 11:30. After talking with the cruise people, we decided it was too risky and instead moved our reservation to the 8:30 pm departure time.

Come to find out, if we play our cards right, we can actually get off the ship early enough to catch the 11:30 flight. A good plan as we don't have anything to do in Long Beach until 8:30 pm. As soon as Wade gets up, he runs up to the top deck to call JetBlue to rearrange our flight. He gets us guaranteed seats on the 11:30 flight out of Long Beach.

We grab our baggage and get in line to deembark. It's a long process and going through customs is a hassle. Since we carried all our own luggage off the ship, we don't have to waste time searching for our bags after getting through customs. We are probably in the first 10 people to get out of the terminal. We grab a cab and head to the airport, arriving with 3 hours to spare.

The plane is on time and I get to sit next to a funny smelling Catholic Priest eating a ham sandwich. It's a little weird, but it is what it is.

We arrive home safely and my parents pick us up at the airport with Josh in tow. He's pretty excited to see us, but more excited to be going home. My mom proudly announces that he's 100 percent potty trained. Seeing as he was before we left, I figure there isn't much news there, but she's insistent that it was all her doing. I'm just happy he didn't revert back to diapers while we were gone.

All in all, it was such a blast. The cruise was so much fun and I'm glad to say I finally did one. I can cross that (number 6 on the list) off and move on with my life. Wade and I didn't fight at all, which I was afraid of, being in such tight quarters. The food was getting tiresome and I was getting restless on the boat, so I think 7 days was perfect.

It took me until Wednesday of this week to finally feel like I wasn't still on the ship. Weird. Wade didn't have any trouble readjusting, but I was really sick on Monday. Less so on Tuesday and Wednesday, but still feeling a little wobbly.

Brief Interlude on Cruise

So we found an internet cafe in Mexico. $1 for 1 hour of time. Awesome. And it beats the ship´s price. So here I sit.

The cruise is awesome. Yesterday, we sat around and did nothing. Just lounged in the sun watching whales and dolphins. Life doesn´t get much better. 80 degrees. This is Heaven.

Having never been to Mexico aside from the border towns, I must say, I´m not as impressed as I thought I´d be. It´s still pretty dirty and people are always haggling you to buy crap. Much like the border. The difference being that you have the coast to look at.

Stay tuned for when I post the entire trip. There´s been some interesting things that have happened.

Keep digging yourselves out of the snow. Eventually it will stop. :)

Farewell My Fair Weather Friends

Tomorrow we embark on a 7 day, 7 night cruise to the Mexican Riveria. The current temperature in Puerto Vallarta, our first stop is 73 degrees. Current temperature here is 38 degrees. It may be dang near heaven when we get there. We might not come home until July, when our insides are simmering in their own juices.

What's our biggest task? Trying to pack clothes meant for fair weather while also be conscious of the fact that fair weather doesn't exist in Utah in January. We can't very well ride to the airport at 6 am wearing linen pants and short sleeves. We have to wear something a little bit heavier. And who knows what California is going to be like. And coming home presents it's own problems.

Also, we were unaware how "old" cruises are. We can't wear jeans to the dining room. We have to bring nice clothes just to eat dinner. It's a small price to pay, but good thing we looked it up. We would've been really embarrassed to be the only people in the dining room wearing jeans or *gasp* be denied entry.

In any case, I'll be gone all next week, so no witticisms from here, but I'll be sure to update you all when I return.

Until then, enjoy the cold and snow.

Book Review Friday 1/04/08

Book: A Girl, In Parts
Author: Jasmine Paul
Pages: 240

Um...what to say about a book where you can't relate with the character much because her experience of growing up a girl was a lot different then your experience. This is a coming of age story written in hard to follow vignettes--little snipets, much like diary entries. I'm sure we all felt the awkwardness of adolescence, some more than others. However, I would venture that most of us didn't have the associated gender-identity issues that Dottie, the main character had. In the middle of the book, Dottie actually starts refering to herself as a boy. Somewhere in the second half of the story she reverts back to being a girl, but there didn't seem to be much of a turning point as to why she did that. She still has a crush on her best friend (a girl) but she also has the hots for her Chemistry teacher. It's sort of a strange tale. There was some swearing, but a lot of drinking. Lots. I was surprised. The most disconcerting part I found was the introduction of two Mormon characters. Rarely do I read a mainstream book where there is a Mormon at all, let alone two. It tells me that the author has a score to settle with Mormonism. These two characters embodied the stereotypes that LDS people have been trying to disown for years. In a heated argument between Dottie and Beth, a Mormon classmate, Dottie yells that Beth is a overzealous member of a religion founded by a racist, horny teenager. Beth even gives a speech on a "dead mormon guy who had, like, a hundred wives." Later on, Dottie's best friend Dawn meets a high school guy at the carnival. She invites him over for a bbq and Dawn's mom offers him a beer from the cooler. He says it's against his religion to drink and they talk a little about his religion. The next night, Dottie follows him and Dawn to the movies. She's upset because she sees them kiss. Later on that night, Dawn sneaks into Dottie's bedroom and says it's over between the Mormon guy and her. "He says that women should just stay home and have babies. That they can't race BMX bikes." Nice.

I probably wouldn't recommend this book to even the most avid reader, but I didn't totally hate it either.

How Come They Never Tell You About THIS

My perfect baby boy; the envy of the other new mom's in the neighborhood who layed awake with screaming newborns. He slept through the night at 6 weeks. Has never had an entire night where I've paced the floor with him, praying he would just sleep for a few hours so I could too. When he's sick, he sleeps. As he got older, he would play in his crib and then sleep. Every night I would boast to my husband how lucky we were that we could put him in his crib at 8:30 and he would happily play until he got tired and fell asleep. When we removed the crib and put up the racecar bed, we had a rough few nights. He didn't want to sleep in his bed. We finally caved, and he sleeps on the floor. But he would stay in his room, at the threshold of his door, and joyfully await slumber.

Do you hear that sound? That's the sound of reality slamming into our sleeping skulls at midnight. The kid will not go to sleep. Doesn't like the dark, so mommy and daddy don't go to sleep either. Scared of monsters. Scared of bunnies. Scared of his own freakin' shadow. In and out all night. I need this. I need that. Potty. Water. Cheetoes. We pray he falls asleep in front of the television so we can carry him to his room. Rarely happens. On the off chance he does stay in his room, we can't watch tv in the tv room because he insists on eating our snacks. He whines over the sound of the movie. He stands at his doorway and looks pleadingly into our eyes. He even says "please." How can you refuse a 2 1/2 year old "please"?

We capitalize on his fear of darkness--exploiting him to get our sleep. If he comes out, we close the door. There's a child-proof doorknob on his side of the door. Two days ago, he figured it out. Now it doesn't work. We've removed the lightbulbs so he can't turn on the light. But it's such a pain, and makes it difficult to find anything in there after 5:00 pm. We talk to him. We don't talk to him. We pick him up and heave (ever so gently) him into his room. We read stories and play games. Nothing works!

We're tired. We're cranky. But, our mom's will be taking Josh next week during our cruise, so they'll have to deal with it. We thought it best not to inform them of his erratic sleep patterns. Maybe they have some better ideas.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina

Today is Thursday. Bowling. I've been looking forward to bowling for 2 weeks because it was cancelled last week for the holidays. Sadie got us matching bowling shirts and we were the envy of the league. That envy soon turned to pity when we started to bowl. We couldn't buy a strike to save our lives. We did horrible. We were able to take the first game, but blew the final two games. It's hard when you have to bowl sooooo well to even compete. It's hardly fair.

I think my caloric consumption has drastically decreased since the official ending of the holidays. I probably went from 4500 calories to 2500 calories a day and that was probably why I bowled so bad. Not enough energy. We had to go to lunch at Pizza Hut to console ourselves after our horrible bowling.

We'll be back next week with a score to settle. Well, Kandiss and Sadie will be back next week to settle scores. I'll be lounging on a beach somewhere in Mexico. I need to find a substitute that will pull us out of our rut.

The List Revamped

I was looking over "the list" and realized that I only had 75 entries. Then I got to thinking. I made this list right after I ran my marathon in October, and so it really should be things I have yet to accommplish. So, I added entries and took away some. I guess it's not far to put #39, get married, because I did that some time ago. And things like "do this 2 times a year" or "do this once a week" are more for the resolution list. So those got omitted. My new, improved list are the things I would like to accomplish--or have accomplished--since October 2007:

1. Run a marathon--Done 10/6/07
2. Get a bachelor's degree--Done 12/19/08
3. Get a master's degree
4. Read 1000 books
5. Write a novel Done 11/30/10
6. Go on a cruise--Done 01/06/08
7. Go to Hawaii
8. Go to a sport's championship game
9. Qualify for Boston
10. Win a 5k
11. Win a triathlon
12. Join Toastmasters--Done 03/04/09
13. Work in a bookstore
14. Pull an all nighter  Done 11/25/10
15. Make a spectacular scrapbook
16. Make an entire Christmas of homemade gifts
17. Sponsor a missionary from the ward
18. Join a recreation team--Done May 2008
19. Hit my target weight (and stay there)
20. Do an entire crossword puzzle book without cheating
21. Enter a writing contest--Done 01/20/09
22. Learn the guitar
23. Get out of debt
24. Buy a new car with cash
25. Custom design a home
26. Own a season ski pass
27. Own a pair of designer jeans
28. Visit every state in the union
29. Take a rubbing of monument in D.C. for Grandpa
30. Participate in (and finish) NaNoMo Done 11/30/10
31. Run the Utah Grand Slam
32. Get my name in the newspaper (not in the obits or the crime page) Done Summer 2010
33. Shop once with abandonment
34. Volunteer for a good cause
35. Go sea kayaking--Done 1/11/08
36. Go skydiving
37. Go scuba diving
38. Learn to ballroom dance
39. Obtain a patent
40. Make a family cookbook--done 12/25/07
41. Write my own obituary
42. Plan my own funeral
43. Go to a crossword convention
44. Win a speech contest 3/10/11
45. Decorate the house
46. Run a sub-4 hour marathon
47. Participate in a talent show Done 9/18/10
48. Make a wedding cake
49. Sell something on ebay
50. Go spelunking
51. Be part of a bowling league--Done 9/6/2007 (not technically October, but ongoing so I'm letting it go)
52. Sew an outfit
53. Make a quilt
54. Do the "Young Love" cross stitches
55. Read the classics
56. Be president of an organization
57. Backpack the Western Trail
58. Hike King's Peak--Done 7/30/10
59. Meet a celebrity
60. Memorize the Gettysburg Address
61. Go super short with hair--Done 12/28/07
62. Go super long with hair
63. Go funky with hair
64. Own an evening gown--Done 11/23/07
65. Own a home with a swimming pool
66. Become Java certified
67. Start a business
68. Take the Actuarial Exam
69. Return to the workforce
70. Own a pair of designer shoes
71. Teach school
72. Own a dog
73. Spend the day at the spa
74. Go on a retreat
75. Eat at a five star restaurant
76. Do an Ironman (or half Ironman) Done 8/25/12 (half)
77. Read the Book of Mormon
78. Read the Bible
79. Do karaoke
80. Go snorkeling--Done 1/11/08
81. Hike Mount Timpanogas
82. Get published
83. Take a cake decorating class
84. Take a road trip with just girls
85. Keep a running log for a whole year--Done 8/28/2010
86. Surprise Wade with a trip
87. Take a self defense class
88. Take a spinning class--Done February 2009
89. Learn the flip turn for swimming
90. See the Great Wall of China
91. Do a Century Ride--Done 6/04/2011
92. Do Lotoja
93. Take a yoga class
94. Take a photography class
95. Be a "blog of note"
96. Participate on The Moth
97. Buy dinner for a stranger at a restaurant
98. Do the Wasatch Back Relay with just girls
99. Run Boston
100. Run a sub-2 hour half marathon Done 6/23/2012