Just another day in Paradise

It's been a long time since Dave and I had a vacation without the kids. Sure, we've been away for a night or two here and there, but it was our 10 year anniversary and we wanted to do a big vacation with just the two of us. We decided that a week-long cruise was just the thing for us and have been planning this for months. My mom came in from Utah and took great care of the kids, and Dave and I had a fabulous adventure together in the Caribbean.

We drove down to Galveston on a Sunday and had a great time reading the signs along the way. Texas has a big conservative Christian population and they use road signs to combat the sin and degeneracy so common along major highways. Here are a few examples that kept us laughing. Billboard for Heartbreakers Gentleman's Club followed by billboard proclaiming "Jesus heals the Brokenhearted". A billboard proclaiming "Stop the Porn, be Reborn!" in front of an adult video store. And so on. I love Texas. I also had to laugh at a orange warning sign stating "Watch for smoke on the road". You bet! If I see smoke on the road, you can be sure I'll keep my eye on it! Random.

Anyway, we made it onto the cruise ship and sailed away. The first two days at sea were so relaxing. We were able to sleep in together, we would eat breakfast on the deck and sunbathe, we got to read, eat, and relax...so nice!



Monday we were on the front of the ship and looked over the edge and say whole flocks of flying fish skimming the waves away from the ship. It was pretty awesome! They would travel for 60 to 100 feet before disappearing back beneath the waves.

Every night we would go to dinner and enjoy some family-friendly comedy or watch a show then sit out on deck or grab some late-night pizza and pineapple. We would go back to our room and be greeted by a freshly turned-down bed and a towel animal and chocolates. It just doesn't get better than that.



On Wednesday we pulled into Montego Bay, Jamaica.



We caught a bus to do some shopping and then go to the beach. It was an eye-opening tour of the country as we were driven around. There is a lot of poverty and people live in structures that would be condemned in the US. Our bus driver got pulled over by the police for speeding (no problem mon!)and I snapped this picture while we waited. This is oceanfront property people! In the US the land alone would be worth probably several hundred thousand dollars. It was a beautiful country but sad to see that the average citizen obviously doesn't profit much from all the tourism money that comes there.



We went to Doctor's Cave Beach after shopping and had a great time. The water is crystal clear and we ate jerk chicken and enjoyed the sea breeze and read our books in the shade of our beach umbrella. Look, we are who we are. And we were sunburned already.



Our next stop was Grand Caymen. This picture is us on the dock in front of our ship.




Caymen was cool. We did a snorkeling excursion and had an awesome time. Snorkeling at those coral reefs was like being able to stick our faces in an aquarium. Dozens of varieties of tropical fish and awesome coral formations. Sadly my underwater camera was worthless but I was able to get pictures of Dave petting the sting rays. For decades fishermen have cleaned their catch by these reefs so these sting rays are pretty tame and come whenever they hear boats anchoring in hopes of getting fed. I got to hold one and we both got to stroke their fins. It felt like a wet mushroom.



Our last stop was Cozumel, Mexico. There we took a bus to Tulum to see Mayan ruins. Our tour guide gave us some history and background on the Mayans and we got to hike around the ruins and see what they left behind. It was impressive and beautiful and a neat feeling to be where people had lived hundreds of years ago.



These lizards were everywhere- I wouldn't want to run into one on a dark night!


Location location location- the Mayans sure picked a good one!


After Mexico the boat headed back to Galveston. This picture is of our friends, Brad and Linda who shared our table in the dining room every night and hung out with us in the evenings. We all tried to be adventurous with the menu (I tried a snail!) but for dessert every night we would order this amazing Chocolate Melting Cake. (Except Brad, he didn't like chocolate. Crazy.) Anyway, Young, our waiter, figured us out pretty quickly and by the end of the cruise he would just bring us what we wanted for dessert without us having to order. Darn it, now I'm hungry for chocolate melting cake.


It was wonderful for Dave and I to be able to spend so much time together and we had such a great time and some great adventures. We definitely won't wait another ten years before we do this again!