Last week was the first vacation I've had from work in about a year and a half. It was SO so so nice and very much needed! The whole trip went down with out a flaw...tell me how often than happens?!
We left Sunday morning from Boise and headed out to Salt Lake. The nice thing about no snow yet, is the roads were clear and dry. Prefect! We drove about 4 hours before we headed to Malad, ID to pick up Eric. (population about 2,100) There were many jokes on the way about how Malad was so small, the road would probably come to an end and there Eric would be with his bags in his hands waiting for us. haha We picked him up and headed to Utah. We flew out of the SLC airport because it saved us about $100 each. We stayed the night there at Ivy's cousins house, then the next morning (very bright and early) drove to the airport. We had a connecting flight in Phoenix, and from there to the LAX airport in Cali.
(the guy in the background cracks me up every time)
From the LAX we hopped on carnivals bus and headed to the Long Beach, California port.
Once we got to the port we got off the bus and could instantly feel the warmth! I think when we arrived it was about 70 degrees there. AHHHH!
While we were waiting in line to check in we were comparing passports and who had been where. Eric and Ivy defiantly won.
Our ship. The Carnival Inspiration
We got a rooms with a joining door in the middle. Super smart on our part.
It made the cabins seem larger.
Mine and Ivy's room. See anything wrong with this? How do you lay in bed and watch tv?
A little of our ship....
The first night we were on board we just explored the ship and all there was to do...which was a lot!
(Long Beach as we set sail)
Even tho we are LDS, we sorta spent a lot of time in the casino. I'm happy to say all i gambled was 25 cents! I can't say the same for everyone else...Eric!
(This is Ivy losing her money, it happened a lot, haha)
Day 2...
The second day we arrived at Catalina Island at about 9am and were there till 4:30pm.
It was about 65 degrees and Sunny!!
This is a huge casino. It was really pretty on the outside.
Unfortunately the water was to cold to swim in, so we stayed clear of the water except about ankle deep. This was the only picture we got in the water.
After walking into the shops for a little while we decided we had to do something fun! At first we looked at renting a golf cart that was $40 an hour for 4 people. Which wasn't bad but we decided to walk around a little more first. Then we saw this golf cart place that rented bikes for $5 an hour. DONE! It was fun to cruise around the island on bikes and see more than we could have on foot.
Eric
Jason
Me
And Ivy
The gang on bikes with the ship in the back ground.
I also took these while Bike riding.......
After all that hard work of biking, we just had to get some ice cream!
Gosh I wish i lived somewhere where I could look at palm trees all day!
This was big Ben. Cant remember why but apparently he's famous here.
After a few more hours of shopping we got back on the ship to sail off to the next destination.
Eric and I went to the deck to watch the ship leave.
(Again the Lady next to me cracks me up)
Catalina Island just as the sun was setting.
Top of the deck
Ok so everyone thought Eric and I were together. WE ARE NOT! And I say that not to be rude but I say it for his girlfriend. haha But every time he would take a picture of me or I would take a picture of him, someone walking by would be kind enough to ask if we wanted a picture together. This is the only one where we said sure why not...we can be in one picture together.
Dinner this night was our formal Night. All dressed up and lookin good!
Alright the high light for Jason and Ivy of the whole cruise. While on the way to pick Ivy up before we left, Jason told me he was going to propose to Ivy on the cruise and showed me the ring. He asked for mine and Eric's help figuring out where and how to do it. After our first night of walking around the ship secretly scoping out places, We found the PERFECT spot. It was on the very front of the ship and NOBODY was there. So on the formal night (which was our second night) Jason told Eric he was going to do it after we had dinner. He made up a sign to give Eric meaning they were headed there to do it and Eric and I were to go to the above deck to spy on them and take pictures...So here ya go.
Best part...Ivy had no idea! But secretly every time I wasn't with her, I was jumping up and down for her!
It was a great ending to a great day!!!
Day 3...
We arrived in Ensenada, Mexico at about 9am and were there until 10pm. It was 72 degrees, a little over cast, and windy. It didn't feel like 72 degrees actually. We were a little cold walking around all day and would have been good with wearing long pants and jackets. But we stuck it out with our shorts and tshirts.
Im not sure why but there were lots of weird statue things on the buildings there in Ensenada.
Something I learned on my cruise to the Bahama's about 5 years ago, is DON'T book the excursions through the cruise line cause they will charge 2 to 3 times the cost that the natives will charge for the same thing. Which was true again! We talked about Horseback riding, which Ivy and I wanted to do but ended up with just the blow hole, the flea or straw market, and main street.
The Blow Hole...
We found out there are only 3 blow holes in the world, one of which is here. Wikipedia defines a blow hole as "The spout of sea water is the result of air, trapped in a sea cave, exploding upwards. Air is forced into the cave by wave action and is released when the water recedes. This interaction not only creates the spout, but a thunderous noise as well. The phenomena repeats every minute or so with its volume depending on the strength of the waves."
It was pretty cool! The pictures we took in front of the water were funny because you could see everyone's faces that were looking at the water shooting up and they were like ahhhh your going to get wet. haha
And the coastal line was still really pretty!
After the blow hole was the straw market! I thought it was fun to barter with the Mexicans! We got some cool stuff! Bracelets, sombrero, a back pack made out of the same stuff a poncho is made from, some more food, shirt, and Ivy and I got matching dresses. Just like they say, a whole bunch of stuff you don't need.
The Market...
On Main Street after having lunch, I got a bracelet for a friend, and here
Jason bought a poncho.
After Main Street we were burned out. So we got back on the boat around 5ish?
These were our matching dresses we bought. We didn't wear them because they smelt bad!
Later that night before we took off from Ensenada, we went up on the deck to check out the sky line. It was prettier at night. haha
We loved the night shots so much we set the timer and did one of all of us.
The pool area at night.
So anyone who has been on a cruise knows they have soft serve ice cream open 24 hours. haha We decided later we should have taken all of Eric's pictures with a cone in his hand. We all had a ton of ice cream, but I think Eric ate the most.
We had to fit in with everyone else who was drinking so we got some virgin daiquiri's a couple nights while watching some of the shows. They were pretty good!
Well if the boat is going down, and least I'm going down in style. Got my life jacket with my robe and my hot chocolate. Life is good!
Day 4...At sea all day
We decided to sleep in this day since every day before we were up early. We got up ate breakfast, went back to the rooms and got ready for the lazy day ahead.
First thing on the list...Mini Golf
Eric won by 1 point.
After golfing we ate lunch then headed on deck to lay in the sun. The sun eventually came out but here we look freezing.
*Note the ice cream cone*
After this we went to another show in one of the rooms that was the dating game show. They had the newest married couple, a middle one, and the couple that had been married the longest. It was really funny! After that we went back to our rooms and took naps. We were out for a while. When I woke up it was about time for the sun to set, so I woke everyone up and we hurried out to see it. It was a good night to go check it out because it was really pretty!
One thing we loved doing every night while on the ship was hot tubing! We went to the back of the ship where it was 21 and older so no little kids to annoy us.
No one asked Ivy how old she was, so i guess she passed as over 21.
Haha don't ask about Jason...
Ice cream cones in the hot tub! haha
This was our last night on our cruise.
Day 5...
We had to be out of our rooms by 8:30am and we actually all woke up early enough to get off the ship by 8:30. So we got back on the bus to go to the airport. We figured since our flight wasn't until 7:30pm we could get transferred to an earlier one. Well we were wrong, we could have if we wanted to pay an extra $140. So we opted out of that. So that meant we had about 10 hours in the LAX airport....GROSS!!!
We sat around for a few hours and talked about leaving but we were nervous of getting lost and not getting back in time. Finally Eric and I went to check out what was around. We found this cool restaurant within walking distance that was like a miniature space needle. You take an elevator up to get to the restaurant and the whole thing was a over look of the airport. It was pretty cool.
This was what it looked like from where we were sitting.
After we were there for a few more hours eating, playing cards, charging phones, and hanging out, we decided that since it was almost 80 degrees we would go out side and lay in the sun on the grass. It was SOO nice outside!
This was the restaurant sign on the ground. You can tell its beautiful outside.
While hanging out there I was walking around I found these pretty flowers. As I got closer to them I found out it was my all time FAVORITE flower! Hibiscus. Its a tropical flower so I don't see them...ever. And I LOVED them! They were so BEAUTIFUL!
They were as big as my hand. Ahh I wanna live somewhere tropical.
Well after a few more hours there we finally could check our bags in. So we did that and sat in the airport for about 4 and 1/2 more hours until our delayed flight came in. We flew out of the 80 degree weather and got back to Salt Lake after 10pm into the 20 degree weather. It was a harsh shock of "welcome back to reality" haha.
All in all the trip was a BLAST! It was so fun and I want to do fun stuff like this more often!
*Just a few more pictures from another camera to come and some scanned
ones of the ones we bought on the ship*
