Day 9: Sunday - San Diego/Zoo

Sunday morning we got up early, had the great breakfast Pat had put out for us, then headed out for San Diego. The drive was nice, not much traffic on a Sunday morning, and you can see the coast from the road once you get near San Diego. Tim has always had to rush back from wherever we've been to get home for work, so when we're going somewhere, there is no stopping. Asking him to stop so I can take pictures just wasn't done. For the first time, we had no real schedule, no rush. We could even take another day in San Diego if we wanted to, he didn't have to be back to work for 3 more days. I asked him if we could stop somewhere to get a few pictures, since I'd never been to San Diego and wanted pictures of the ocean there. To my surprise, he said, "Sure we can." I was so happy! We pulled into a rest area that had great views, as well as another lookout area too. The ocean wasn't as close from there, and it looked totally different from the L.A. area beaches. After a few minutes, we were back on the road again.

We found getting to zoo really easy with the GPS. I'd been wanting to see that zoo for years! I've been to a couple of zoos in my life, but I had never seen a koala, hippo, polar bear, panda, or gorilla. I was really looking forward to seeing them. The parking lot was HUGE! I know the Phoenix Zoo lot is too, but I'm used to seeing that one. This definitely looked bigger to me. Getting in was pretty quick. They open at 9 AM, and we got there around 10, but since it was also Mother's Day, (and church day), the crowds were probably much smaller than they usually would have been. It wasn't outrageously priced, either, and of course, I brought a coupon to save us $8 on admission.

My sister had recommended the sky lift ride to see the zoo. She said it was really nice from up there. We did that first while the line was short. I forgot she went in October, and I forgot that outside of Arizona there are trees. The ride itself was nice, and there were great city views, but we couldn't see a thing below us. Nothing but green tree tops. Not a single animal - but still a fun ride to take with Tim.

The first thing we went to see after taking the sky ride was the Polar Bear exhibit. I had no idea how big they were! They had a statue outside the exhibit that stood ten feet tall. They said it's actual sized based on the boy bear they have now. They're twins, a brother and sister. I was watching for a long time, just mesmerized. What beautiful animals.

The next major sight for me (with lots of other animals in-between) was the hippo. They had a big one, and a baby one. They were huge. I knew they'd be big, but I guess I didn't realize how thick their skin was. It was like an old leather sofa. It had some deep scars in it too. Not sure if it's from other hippos or if the zoo got them that way from being rescued in the wild or something.

The koala was a must-see for me. Tim had seen koalas and even held one when he visited Australia with his family the Christmas before we got married. They eat eucalyptus leaves, which is like catnip to a cat, and being "drugged" and "high", they sleep for about 20 hours a day or more. Many didn't move much, and they seemed to sleep like my cat, with their face pushed up to something - in their case, the tree boughs. A few moved a little, but it was very difficult to get a photo of them facing us.

A really interesting thing happened while watching the koalas...we noticed a crowd gathering on just one side of the street, and people were making noises like they were startled or surprised by something (gasps, not like they were afraid). I stepped into the street to see around the crowd and there were two zoo employees walking a cheetah and a white wolf (looked just like a tall, thin dog) down the opposite sidewalk. I read later that these two became friends at the zoo (somehow), in spite of them being "a cat and a dog". They are regularly walked together from their cages to the close encounter area nearby where people can pay $100 and up to get close to a few of the animals. That was the most amazing thing to see. Cheetahs are my favorite animal ever and our zoo just lost the last 2 recently with no idea when they'll be able to get more. This was a wonderful treat for me!

The gorilla enclosure was very similar to our zoo's orangutan exhibit. There were a few in there we got to see, especially once they came near the glass. I think they like seeing all the people sometimes to avoid being lonely. They seemed to enjoy being near crowds more than away on their own.

We also saw lots of other animals and tons of birds. We saw giraffes, zebras, leopards, some similar to what the Phoenix Zoo has, and others we'd never heard of. It was a great day, we spent about 5 hours there and I'm sure there were a few areas we didn't get to see. Also, there were a few other animals that weren't on exhibit that day that we didn't see, so I think another trip someday would be great. I'd love to bring Jordan here. She loves animals and her favorites are all here (except penguins).

I saved the best for last...the PANDAS!!! The signs read that we could expect a 30 - 45 minute wait in line to get to them (mostly because people obviously linger, understandably, while photographing and videoing them). Being Mother's Day and early in the morning, our wait was only about 10 minutes, and it was through a bamboo forest type of setting. We passed a Red Panda along the way. It was about the size of a small lemur, and didn't look much like a panda, but it was still cute. Once we got into the panda viewing area I was so happy! They look like large stuffed animals come to life. We watched them eat bamboo, sleep, move around a bit, and smile at us - at least that's what it looked like. I wished Jordan could've been with us to see them! Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until next time.

Sorry this is sideways, I took it with my tablet.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, with perfect weather, but if you decide to visit the San Diego Zoo, a word of caution...it is a large zoo, and it is NOT level by any means! There are areas with very steep hills, both leading down and others leading up, and many exhibits you have to go up several flights of steps that have been built in the middle of the zoo areas (unless you have crutches or a wheelchair, then you can use the elevators). There are 2 moving sidewalk type of escalators that help, but they are pretty far apart. Also, there is the sky ride to make it shorter to get to the other side, but they're only one way. There's also a train, but you won't get to stop and get pictures when you want. Other than being quite the workout (even Tim was surprised at how tired he was from it all), and the paths are a bit confusing in places where they don't match the map quite right, it's a beautiful zoo with some reasonably priced gift items, a great selection of animals, and good food at the restaurants (or at least the one we tried). I look forward to another trip there with Jordan someday.

Day 8: Our Day in Long Beach

Saturday we woke up at our Bed & Breakfast. Pat, our hostess, told us breakfast was ready from 7 to 9 AM. We both are people who don't want to waste a vacation sleeping, so we were up around 6:30. (It was very light in our room and our curtains were only sheers over mini blinds.) We got presentable and made our way downstairs somewhere close to 7:00. The table was already set, with fresh fruit in little ramekins, plenty of muffins, bagels, and breads available, two kinds of juice, coffee, teas, milk, 3 kinds of cereals, yogurt, and Greek yogurt. And that didn't even include the hot breakfast entree that Pat makes special each day. She later added scrambled eggs and sausage to the table. Fresh fruit and Greek yogurt? That was way better than the Carnival ship's breakfast buffet. That was mostly pork (bacon, sausage, ham) and lots of carbs, like pancakes, waffles, breads, and fried potatoes. It was exactly what my body had been craving. We were very pleased with our stay here.

We didn't have anywhere to be until our business event around 1:00, so we just went back to our room, spent time on the internet, and relaxed until it was time to go. It was nice not to have anything pressuring us to go "do" anything. We took our showers, got dressed, and since we still weren't hungry, we skipped lunch and went to the meeting. It was held at the Maya Hotel, which happened to be right next to where our cruise ship had been docked. Did I mention it was next to the Queen Mary, sister ship of the Titanic, that's been turned into a hotel? Anyway, the meeting wasn't what we were used to. I felt like a Mom in that room of 200+ people, most of them under 30, many barely 20 I would guess. We had great speakers, got all the latest info, then they did something we didn't expect - they broke for a 40 minute scavenger hunt. You earned points by forming teams (we were there alone, out-of-state, so a little awkward), then you did group activities like, Have your team do 300 push ups and video it, then send it to FB with the hashtags they were looking for to earn points. Tim did over 50 and I was very impressed. They had things like video your team in a pretend earthquake, find a person to chase you but you can't ask them to do it, buy gas or dinner for a stranger, etc. If I had a day to do it, and a team, maybe - but 40 minutes with strangers...wasn't easy. Anyway, after the event, we listened to a great speaker, and before you know it, we were done.

We were done by 4:00, and by now we were hungry. We decided to go back to our room, and do some research to find a nice place. Tim spent over half an hour pouring through the local magazines' ads to research online. We hoped for a place at a marina or with a great ocean view. Then we tried someplace that maybe had live music. We also looked for someplace with nightlife going on. We also thought of maybe a Chinese buffet (so we can pick and choose what we eat). We didn't have much luck there, so we chose a nearby place called the At Last Cafe. It was originally a catering company that opened up a restaurant after a few years. The ad said it was featured on Guy Fieri's Dives, Diners, and Drive-Ins. That sounded promising. Good food, even if it didn't have a view or music. It turned out to be just a few blocks away. Again, finding parking on one-way, historic, residential streets was difficult. We finally found someone leaving, so we took their space. The place was tiny, but yes, the food was good. I ordered the Brick Chicken. It's half of a chicken breast, cooked under a brick, full of flavor, served with potatoes and veggies I think. I ordered a lemonade and it tasted homemade. It was one of the best glasses of lemonade I remember having. The staff was a little disorganized, bringing wrong items to wrong tables, but I think every table saw at least 4 different people! So you know they tried to do things quickly for the customer, they just weren't organized. Everyone was doing every job. Anyway, it was a great, peaceful final dinner in California. After dinner, we just went back to the room to enjoy our cozy inn room.

Day 7: Off the boat, onto the Bed & Breakfast

Waking up on Friday, we were a bit sad to be leaving the boat so early (they kick you off by about 8:15 AM), but again, we weren't leaving to go home, or back to work. We were leaving to stay at the Beachrunner Inn in Long Beach, a cute little Bed & Breakfast. So I guess it wasn't too sad, was it?

We got off the boat, which was easier than I would've guessed. We chose to carry our luggage off rather than leave it out the night before and claim it in a roomful of suitcases tomorrow. No inspection, no security, nothing. We walked off, no lines, no stopping, straight through to the parking garage in just a few minutes. We only had to hand in our claims form to declare what we spent and were bringing back, which was close to nothing from Mexico. Anyway, the Beachrunner was just 4 miles from the port, and check in wasn't until 3 in the afternoon. We decided to stall until 9 AM, then swing by the Bed & Breakfast to let the owner we were there, find out how early we could check in, and to ask the owner where we could grab breakfast and head to a beach nearby. You could almost see the ocean from the Inn, but it wasn't beach area. She recommended Belmont Shores just a little ways down the road. Off we went.

We headed down the street to Belmont Shores. It was a cute little beach town. Lots of surfing items, beach clothing, and seafood shacks. We were told we could check in early, but not before noon, so we went looking for a place to grab breakfast. We weren't overly hungry so we stopped at a little doughnut and coffee shop on the main street. Parking in Long Beach is different. Half the streets are one-way streets, and all the streets have signs up that say, "No parking on Thursdays (or whatever day on that sign)...street sweeping". You may find the best little shop, but parking may not be available for a long way down the street, nor on the side streets. We probably chose the coffee shop we did because we found a parking space and just tried to find what was near the car. Inside was small, but fairly clean. It was run by just one woman. She did the baking out back, and ran the front of the shop. We ordered our coffees and bagel egg sandwiches. We didn't rush through our breakfast but we didn't stay too long either. I couldn't wait to get on the sand, staring at the ocean waves breaking once again.

We headed down to the end of Belmont Shores and found a mostly empty parking lot on the beach. Perfect! We paid for our parking, opened our suitcases to pull out bathing suits and towels, then hit the restrooms to change. They were pretty much cement blocks with a door and typical side-of-the-road rest area toilets, but we just needed room to change. After putting our clothes back in the car we headed toward the water. I can't tell you how amazed I was at the empty beach. Granted, it was a Friday morning, and people are at work and kids are in school, but you always see photos of California's beaches with people packed like sardines on the sand. That morning, there were about 3 people walking the beach, and way up on the next hill a small group of people met for yoga on the beach. We had a mile long stretch of beach almost to ourselves. We could even look across the way and see a little of our ship we'd just left. I never mentioned this but Jordan collects sand from places we go. It started with my trip last year back east when I brought her back some sand from Hampton Beach, NH. She put it into a colored, old-fashioned bottle with a cork stopper. She said then she'd like to have sand from all over in different colored and shaped bottles - so on this trip, I brought her back sand. We gathered sand from Newport Beach, and Catalina Island, and now from Long Beach (the Mexican beaches were miles away so that didn't happen). The sand here amazed me. First of all, where the water receded after each wave came in, it left a black trace. The sand had lots of black minerals in it. When I looked closer, I realized it also had tons of shiny, gold glitter (looked like it) in it. When the wave came in then receded, it would leave a trail of gold behind on the sand. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. I made a short video of it for the kids to see. I collected sand for Jordan, and also some shells to add to her someday Beach Themed room (next house where we can paint). It was a beautiful morning, by a perfect beach, with the best husband I could have asked God to give me.

Once it was around noontime, we weren't really hungry, so we just snacked on our healthy snacks we'd brought along, and went to check into our room. The home is a remodeled 1913 home with lots of space. There were at least 3 bedrooms upstairs and 2 downstairs, I think, plus the areas where the owner lives. The chair rail shelves, built-in hutches and cabinets, the stone and tile fireplace, it was very inviting and warm. There was even a hot tub and sitting area out on a back patio that was covered by trees for privacy. Our room was ready when we got there, and we were more tired than we realized. We thought we'd just take a short nap, then go sightseeing or something. Well, our nap took us from about 12:30 through to suppertime. We slept great, the room was nice and cool, the ceiling fan and open windows were perfect. There was a bit of noise from the street outside, but I grew up in the city and Tim sleeps in truck stops, so it was fine. We just enjoyed the freedom to sleep all afternoon if that's what we wanted to do. There never seems to be time for naps as an adult, too much to do. This day was ours to do as we pleased, with nothing else to do.

After our extended nap, we were hungry. Tim suggested going to George's Greek Cafe. I LOVE Greek food. I wasn't sure he liked it, but if he was okay with it, I wasn't going to argue. We got ready and drove downtown to the district where all the restaurant, bars, and entertainment seemed to be. The buildings had a historic flair to them, nice architecture, high-rise buildings. It was very different from everything else we'd done so far. We ate outside on their side patio, just as the sun was getting ready to go down. We enjoyed the special, roasted lamb, baked potatoes, Greek salad, it was better than the cruise dinner. All homemade, no artificial ingredients, just good food. For dessert we tried a warm vanilla custard with vanilla ice cream (again, I'm not a chocolate fan). It was pretty good too. What a great dining experience - yes, we were still on vacation.

After dinner, we just went back to enjoy our Bed & Breakfast, and spent the evening relaxing.

Day 6: Ensenada, Mexico

Again I woke up and turned on the "window" to see if we were in port, and what it looked like. It's odd to use a television that way, but for a claustrophobic without a window, it worked. It was a sunny day, the wind had died down, the forecast was for the low to mid 80s,...a perfect

We went to the morning buffet and I was surprised to see land on 3 sides of the ship. We had land on our starboard side, which continued around the back of the ship, and on the port side, the land seemed to continue, but beyond the harbor, around a bunch of docks, it eventually opened to the ocean. Having never left the U.S. before (except for a long weekend in Montreal, Canada), I didn't know what to expect. In my school books growing up, they always depicted Mexico with old cars of the 1970s that didn't look like American cars. The photos typically shown of Mexico look like Indian Reservation land, with beat up pickup trucks, and building shanty's made with pieces of scrap metal leaning together. I know there's some poverty-stricken areas that may actually look like that, but where we were in Ensenada, it looked like a typical lower-income city. We could see a McDonald's and other familiar fast food and cheap type of businesses. I was surprised that the cars were modern and looked like those on an American street. I already knew people dressed in jeans and T-shirts and sneakers - not the souvenir type of garb they sell to tourists, with over-sized sombreros and sarapes draped over them. After breakfast, we went down to the gangway to do some shopping. I was hoping to find souvenirs for all the kids there too.

This was the strangest day. We got off the boat, went through a little building with about half a dozen mini shops of souvenirs, and one pharmacy. Yeah, like a Walgreen's in a 10' x 10' area, strange. The first thing that told us we weren't in America anymore was the style of souvenirs. I searched high and low for those little mini collector spoons for my Grandmother. I try to get one everywhere I go. I expected shot glasses, but not ones with clay body parts sticking out in 3D fashion. Seriously, who wants to do a shot with "one of those" poking you on the bridge of your nose? And there were skulls...lots of skulls. Not typical Harley Davidson skulls, these were Day of the Dead skulls, styled with flowers for eyes, and all kinds of intricate patterns on and around them. They just don't match our decor...There were lots of jewelry cases and stands, silver being the main focus it would seem. Not what I was looking for. They had clothes, but again, nothing they would wear, so nothing I felt the need to wear to remind me of our visit. We didn't find anything worth parting with our money there, so we got on the $2 bus to get to "downtown" safely. It has no route other than ship to downtown center and back. Little did we realize until afterwards that the center of downtown was about 2 blocks from the ship. Oh well. It was a nice bus with clean, new-looking upholstery. Not some broken down 1960s thing with a lady and chickens on it like they portray in movies.

Once you're off the bus, you're in it. You're in the center of the main street filled with literally hundreds of tiny stores, all sharing walls, that have open fronts and go very deep into a dark back of the store. The owners sit across from their stores putting you in-between the store front and themselves, with the street behind them. There's also dozens of people with stands of junk to buy on the sidewalk itself. It's a bit claustrophobic, but I love learning about cultures so I had a great plan to be friendly, and see what the Mexican people are like. Well, all I really encountered were the salesmen and saleswomen. It's like going to a huge car dealership to find out what Americans are like. It's not really a representative picture of the whole. Every single person you pass has their routine down, "Good morning amigos! Go into my store and see all the great deals we have for you today! See if there's something you like, no pressure. Here, let me have a 'Mexican Minute' of your time to show you something..." And you heard it every 10 feet down a half mile long street. Over and over and over. We must've said, "No thank you." at least 100 times while still smiling. Then we got all Boston on them and just stopped making eye contact and stopped smiling. We did great for about an hour. We even figured out what a Mexican Minute was. Apparently, it's as long as it takes a Mexican merchant to make his sales pitch. We went into one store followed by an adolescent who asked us, "Do you speak Spanish?" Tim said, "No." He then asked if we came in off the ship. When we told him we did, he replied, "Ah, mas barrato." (Oh, very cheap). I stopped, looked right at him, and he looked like the kid caught in the cookie jar. I told Tim we were leaving, and we walked out. If his mind is already made up that ship people are cheap because they don't buy from his one store, among the hundreds, all selling the same thing - we don't need to change his paradigm. The nicest guy we met was one of the first. He took about five or six no's and was still just as nice, pleasant, and excited to show what he had. It was a great lesson for us to learn. He didn't let the no's stop him from doing what he had to do to make a living. There were also several shopkeepers that tried to show us how to not be fooled into buying fake silver or fake leather. It was to buy their real wares but it was still a learning experience. The funniest was when one asked me what I was looking for. I told him, "One of those little silver spoons" and he said, "Coke spoon (cocaine spoon)?" I then had to explain further. It was a good laugh for us but he was just as serious either way. Getting back to pharmacies...just like it was strange seeing liquor sold in normal stores in Arizona (you can only buy them from liquor, state liquor, or "package" stores in New England), it was just as strange seeing that every 20 mini stores or so was a pharmacy. NOT like a Walgreens. These were stores that had huge signs directed to Americans. You could buy Viagra, Antibiotics, pain pills, sleeping pills, whatever you needed, right there in the streets. They let Americans know that, "The U.S. Law allows you to enter the states with up to a 3 month supply of drugs as "personal use" so you can buy them today and take them home." Our public service messages are a little different...

After an hour, we were done, SO done. We took the return bus back to the ship so we had visited and returned, all by 11:30 AM. We experienced it. We found 2 necklaces for the guys - a guitar and a cross, both with the Lord's Prayer in Spanish - no souvenir spoon for Grandma. On the boat, we relaxed by the pool, sunning ourselves until we got hungry for the lunch buffet. It took a few hours to just decompress from the pressure in the market. After lunch, we returned to the top sun deck where we'd found quiet the day before and found it even more secluded. We spent all afternoon there. It really struck me how industrious and hard-working the Mexicans we met really were. They get up every day, get told "no" by hundreds, if not thousands of people. They sit out in the hot sun on the sidewalk. And they do it with a smile, handshake, and kind words. They pay around 20% in taxes, they told us, so they do whatever they can and do most of their deals under the table to survive. It's not easy, but at least they work. They aren't sitting home on public benefits (at least the ones we talked to said they were able to work, thankful to be able to own a business, so benefits were not an option). I really think if you put 100 Americans on that routine, they'd quit, give up, or walk away. Then I started thinking about the ship's staff - no Americans that we encountered. They put their country of origin on their name tags. They work harder than anyone I've seen in years! I see our evening waiter working in another part of the ship in the morning, then doing another job in the afternoon, they wait on us for dinner (handling several tables of 10 at a time), then they do it again for the late seating dinner. When in port, you see dozens of Asians scrubbing the decks, washing all the windows, doing all the unseen jobs that don't get credit or tips. They looked to be in their teens, for the most part. It really made an impression on me what good workers come from other countries and how lazy the typical Walmart employee and cashier seems to be in comparison.

Our last dinner was fun. I ordered the steak, Greek salad, and Bread Pudding with Coconut sorbet. The staff did another rehearsed song & dance, including a part 2 which was the Gungham Style dance. We said goodbye to our table-mates, and exchanged facebook information. We agreed to go see another family-friendly comedian with Christopher and Kerri. He was funny, but not as good as the first guy. Wanting to make the most of our evening, Tim and I returned to the Violin Bar before going to bed on our last night.

We knew the Sea Ninjas were playing again, and tonight was 80's Night. They were all decked out like the cast of Saved by the Bell. They did a good job, just missed the words a few times, but that's okay, we understood...some of them weren't even born when the song was popular! They played well and people clapped after each song, but there was a strange, new excitement in the area. There were two waitresses who'd been there all trip, but were very serious and quiet until tonight. One was named Aimee, she was very sweet. The other was named Kajka and she could've been Cameron Diaz' twin sister from about 10 years ago. She's Russian, and seemed so stern before, I just guessed maybe she was tired of being hit on by the drunks in and out of the casino right there. On Thursday night though, she was a whole new person. She and Aimee were dancing, singing along, interacting with customers with laughs, and they made it a fun, party atmosphere. Kajka came out from behind the counter several times, grabbing the hands of all the patrons on the barstools to lead them to the dance floor, then she'd stay with us for a few minutes so we'd be comfortable staying out there. As I mentioned before, this bar area was an open concept with the main deck's walkway crossing straight through the middle of it, and through the "dance floor". The most heart-warming thing I saw Kajka do was grab the hands of a man in a wheelchair passing through, and she gave him her full attention and danced with him for a whole song. He looked so happy, and she made him feel like part of the party. Warm fuzzy feelings! We stayed until the very last song, around 1 AM, then went back to the room full of happiness and joy. And although the cruise was over, we weren't sad because we weren't leaving to go home. We still had a few days at a Bed & Breakfast, more beach time, a great business event, and the San Diego Zoo - so after the cruise, we were going "on vacation". What a great trip.

Day 5: Catalina Island

Sorry I missed a day in there...
We woke up in the dark and I noticed we had a signal on our cell phones so I knew we must be in port at Catalina Island. We turned on the television to the station showing the view off the front of the boat and I got excited. We were about to spend time on an island. Now THAT'S a vacation!

We quickly ate breakfast at the buffet again, then headed down to get on the tender (boat) that would transport us to the island. It was too shallow for the cruise ship to pull up to a dock. The ride on the tender was fun. It was a fairly empty boat, and the edge was barely up out of the water. It made for a great ride. Our welcoming symbol was a seal sunning himself on one of the buoys near the marina. Then as we got closer, the ship's captain told us a little about Catalina Island. He said that 90% of it was reserve land and off-limits to the public. The island is privately owned by the Wrigley family, yes, the chewing gum family. They still have a mansion on the hill but you can't get too close to it. The island is 22 miles long, and over 2,000 feet at its highest point. I won't bore you with the details, you can look up more on Wikipedia if you're interested.
When we exited the tender, we were on the dock by a bright green-blue structure. We were officially on the island! We got there early and at least half the shops weren't open yet, so we had another idea...we rented a golf cart to see the island ourselves, following the map they gave us, and it was only $40/hr. Since it was all uphill, very twisty roads, and we'd never be able to see a fraction of that walking, we took the deal. We barely got to the next block when a couple stopped us and asked where we rented the golf cart. The entrepreneurial bug kicked in and we offered them a business proposal. We told them that since it was just the two of us, and there was just two of them, and we just got started, and were given a 4-person cart, how about they just jump in and see the island with us and we'll split the cost at the end. They accepted.
We found out their names were Tony and Erica. They were from California and were also on our boat. We talked about baseball, football, the ship, and the island. They seemed perfectly fine traveling with us and we told them we'd stop for pictures wherever they wanted. It was all good until I found out Tony was a Yankees fan, and being a Red Sox fan, I then turned my conversation to Erica and let the guys talk about jobs. It wasn't as cold as it sounds, it just sort of unfolded that way, and we all were temporary friends for the whole island adventure. We saw luxury homes, shacks in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods, and everything in-between. We drove by the entrance to the Wrigley Mansion, the botanical gardens, the golf course, and some really pretty scenic views. There were lots of seals popping their heads up out of the water in the cove as we took pictures from the hills above. It really is a wonderful little island, but I wouldn't want to be one of their 3500 permanent residents. Maybe a long weekend, but most hotels there I found were around $299/night, plus the $85 per person ferry charge to get there from the coast. It was a great little trek in our golf cart, which only ended up costing half as much. Definitely worth doing.

After returning the cart, we found all the shops were now open, so we went looking for things to bring back for the kids. All the shops seemed to have very similar things, and at close to the same prices. We got Adam a shot glass. He's 20 now and he collects them. We got Logan a coffee/tea mug. He has a favorite one he bought at the Dollar Tree that's all black and he doesn't like sharing it. His favorite colors are black and dark blue. We found a new mug for him in his two colors that says, "Catalina Island" on it. Now no one else will use it because it's his gift cup, not just "the black mug in the cupboard". Jordan is into pirates, so we found a cute necklace and earring set with pirate heads and the hat is made of a blue opal-looking stone. She's very picky since gifts is her Love Language (great book, by the way). I knew we couldn't go wrong with pirates.
After we were done shopping it was around lunch time. There were many cute little cafes the island with cheap deals. Tim wanted to try a cheap drink special so we stopped into The Galleon. It was decorated half like a pirate ship, and half like Mardi Gras. Their drinks were almost half what they were on the cruise ship, so we made one quick stop there, then got back on the tender to have lunch on the ship. Although the little restaurants were cute, the cruise's lunch was free (or at least, already paid for).
After lunch, we went to the sun deck at the back of the ship, at the very top. It's the area where kids play in the water slide area, but with everyone on the island, we had it all to ourselves for most of the afternoon. We must've been out there for about 3 hours, totally at peace, watching the seagulls, and the boats, and the seals. It was the most relaxing day I remember having ever. Again, nowhere to be, no one to answer to, no responsibilities except to each other. It was amazing. It was on that back deck that I really felt close to Tim like we used to be. So many rough things have happened in our lives and our marriage, but this, this made all that fade away. I finally could stop the stress and planning and to-do list-making. It was the first time I can remember just living IN THE MOMENT. The one thing I had really hoped for was to see a whale. I heard they were running this time of year, and off the coast of Catalina Island too. I've never seen one in real life and I know they won't be around forever. Seeing a whale is something I've wanted to do for my entire life. That's why I love boats, deep-sea fishing and 3 hour tour boats alike. It's in the hopes of seeing a whale. I mentioned it to Tim so we stood up and looked off the back railing out into the water behind us. Sure enough, within just a few minutes, we saw the white big splash of where a whale had just jumped! Tim's great at spotting things like that and God's good enough to grant my little requests to see stuff like that. I tried to get the camera focused and ready for the next jump, if there was one. I wasn't able to capture anything but the next and final white splash, but I did see the tail before it disappeared. For someone who's waited her whole life to see a whale, it was enough (this time). I was very thankful for that little experience. It made the rest of the afternoon that much better.
Dinner that night was fun. We had Italian night. I ordered the roasted broccoli for an appetizer (needed vegetables!). It was funny, one single "tree" with grill marks, nothing else. Tim got the special appetizer that night, frogs' legs. My entree was veal parmesan over spaghetti with a Greek salad as my side dish. It was okay, and it was great to taste veal for the first time in a long time, but the spaghetti was NOT made by Italians! Again the desserts were centered around chocolate, so I ordered the carrot cake. It turned out to be the best dessert on the menu. The staff performed a song and dance routine for us too. That was fun.
Later that night we went to the Candlelight Lounge for karaoke. We met our dinner friends, Christopher and Kerri, there to enjoy it with us. The guy hosting was from India and was great! He had a great singing voice and made the experience fun and encouraging. After about 4 or 5 singers, all but one was pretty bad, but then Tim got up to sing. He used to sing, so I wasn't too worried. I knew he'd do great. He sang a song by Brooks & Dunn, and yes, he did awesome. Unfortunately, both Kerri and myself were soooooo tired, and I started feeling really sick (like maybe something from dinner didn't sit right). Tim (and Christopher) were kind enough to call it an early night so we could go back to the room and sleep. Tim was my hero getting me back to our room feeling as bad as I did.

Day 4: Tuesday

I woke up and it was really dark in the room. No, I mean REALLY dark! I couldn't tell if it was 2 AM or 8 AM. Having no window makes it really hard to tell. I fumbled around the edge of the bed, it was so close to the wall, and made it to the desk to check the time on my cell phone. Know what I discovered? When you're spending a day "at sea" there's no phone signal so your cell's clock is way off. It said it was 3:30 in the afternoon, or something like that. I then had to turn on the bathroom light and wedge the door to get a little light, without it swinging wide open (still rough seas), and without waking up Tim in case it was still the middle of the night. With that little bit of light, I fumbled over to my purse, dug out my tablet without service, to see that it was almost 6 AM. I quietly gathered my things together, and took a shower to let Tim sleep a bit longer before I turned on all the lights. When I was done, he was mostly awake, he turned on the TV, and went to the two channels with views of the pool deck and off the front of the boat. It was light out, sunny, and windy - but it looked warm. It was weird...you could watch a big wave approaching the boat, then feel it as it came under us (our room was at the front of the boat). It was like watching a 3D movie of a roller coaster and you can feel your stomach drop just as the movie shows your car going down the big hill. It was exactly like that. Tim got up, got dressed, and we headed out to the breakfast buffet.

The breakfast buffet was where you ate. They didn't have a sit-down, planned breakfast or lunch on this ship. The buffet had eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, french toast or pancakes, waffles, yogurt, chocolate milk, juice, coffee, but instead of fruit cups or mixed fruit, it was just an unappealing, non-organic apple or banana. Non-organic ones have almost no nutrition and no flavor, so I skipped that fruit. Back in the room I had some organic fruit "rope" snacks with zero ingredients except fruit, fruit juice, and pectin. That would be better. I also don't eat pork, so no bacon or sausage. Eggs work just fine. I was really missing some good green veggies though. I eat tons of them every day, and with vacation and traveling, I hadn't really had much in about 4 days. It was a little chilly since it was the open deck of the ship, but the view was still pretty, the sun was warm, and if you could keep out of the wind, it wasn't bad at all.

After breakfast, Tim's shoulder had been really bothering him so he wanted to soak in the hot tub. I couldn't imagine how cold getting OUT would be, so I declined. I decided instead to lie in a sun deck chair near the hot tub. He met a guy in there that was a little redneck, but pleasant and friendly. Although it was pretty cold when the sun went behind a cloud, sunning myself is one of my favorite things, so I just waited it out, happy that we had nowhere to be again. We spent a few hours there, then got changed and went to look for something to do, since we'd stay at sea all day without getting off at any ports.
We went to the Violin Bar area again where a woman was hosting a trivia game to pass the time. The first one was a Name that Song game, we got about 3/4 of them. Then they did a second guess the song game with Movie Themes. I think we got about 12 or 13 of those. The ones we missed were movies we don't generally pay money to see, like Blades of Glory, Dumb & Dumber, The Hangover, etc. The winners got a tacky little plastic black and gold colored trophy shaped like the ship on top of a V. We had fun and it killed an hour.

After that we went to the lunch buffet, which was the same as yesterday's lunch buffet. We figured out we'd get the same foods at that location. There was a place you could get pizza and ice cream 24/7 but we never did manage to get over to it. We later heard it wasn't good pizza anyway, so nothing lost there. We hurried through lunch a bit because we got an invitation to the ship's Art Auction. We had never been to one, and I was curious how they work, what to look for with an artist that makes some of his/her work worth more or less, etc. The gallery was a mix of different things. Nothing that really caught my eye. They offered free champagne and a free piece of artwork to everyone who went, and we had to fill the day aboard, so why not? I had no idea it was going to be a two hour event. It was pretty slow, although they tried hard to make it fun. It seemed to take all afternoon, but we'd survived this long, might as well wait it out and get the free art. They spoke a bit about 4 or 5 artists, told their stories, explained what was unusual about each piece of art compared to their other works, and offered "free, no interest financing for any amount with up to two years to pay it back - we PAY YOU to take art home." Yeah, not interested in that. If we don't have the cash to buy it, we don't buy it. The only debt we're interested in having is a mortgage when we buy our next (and hopefully last) permanent home. Anyway, the interesting highlight was getting to see Peter Max's artwork. He inspired the Yellow Submarine art of the Beatles, although he wasn't the actual artist. His works go for anywhere from $5000 to over $100,000. It was still nice to see some of his work. My favorite was a close up of the statue of liberty he did. We did get a piece of unframed art to take home, the champagne wasn't bad, and it was a good learning experience.
We had about two hours to kill after the art auction and before getting ready for dinner, so we just wandered the ship, looked out at the ocean, walked through some of the on board shops, and went back to our room. When we went to dinner the second night, it was supposed to be a dressy evening, not casual. I was looking forward to seeing our table friends again, and having the luxury of ordering whatever I wanted without the prices being a decision-making factor. I started the evening with the Cream of Mushroom soup. At least it was similar to a vegetable, right? Not sure what the theme was for the night. We also ordered the flatbread for the table. That's something I need to make at home. It was about 6" wide and 10" long, super thin and crispy, topped with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and some kind of butter or oil, topped with cheese. It was really good and looked really easy to make. I just never think about rolls and breads - too close to baking I guess. I cook but I do NOT bake. One's an art, one's a science. I'll stick to cooking. I think Tim's special appetizer was calamari, we're not sure. They served Calamari every night after that, so not sure if that was it or not. Anyway, for the entree, I wasn't in the mood for heavy pasta, nor seafood. When our Chinese friends found out I grew up near Boston and didn't eat "the best lobster there is", they were shocked. Sorry, but I had a bad experience with lobster, I've tried it a dozen times over the years, made every way possible, dipping it in everything you can think of, I just don't like it. Anyway...I ordered the lamb shank over roasted cauliflower with a Greek Salad on the side. Finally veggies! Well, the lamb tasted more like an old sheep than a young lamb. It tasted nothing like the lamb you make at home. It was missing that slight aftertaste that makes lamb so good. Tons of fat on it too. My roasted cauliflower was, I kid you not, the very end florets, about the size of a quarter, and I think there were only two of them in the big, deep bowl with my massive lamb shank. Disappointing when you hear cruise food is like a 4 star restaurant, but being Carnival, and a cheap cruise, it was okay. Maybe 3 out of 5 stars. Hey, at least I didn't have to cook or do dishes, right? Now the Greek Salad, THAT I loved! It was fresh, crisp, lots of kalamata olives, feta cheese, not too much dressing. That was worth waiting for. It probably sounds strange hearing someone so excited about a salad, but I really do love vegetables. For dessert, I had no interest in chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, pumpkin pie, or a dessert with artificial sweeteners, so I just got a scoop of Butter Pecan and a scoop of Vanilla ice cream. They're very small scoops, so no guilt there. They're about the size, if not smaller, than the palette cleansing sorbet you get between courses at weddings. The conversation was good, we all got to know each other a little better, and we had a good time.

After dinner we stopped back by the nearby Violin Bar. There were about 10 places with things going on, but this one seemed to fit our likes the best (and the nightclubs were closed if there wasn't a specific event happening). We again listened to the Sea Ninjas. They were doing a 70s tribute, in full 70's costumes. They were a lot of fun. During the break, we got to talk to a few of them. Their 18 or 19 year old bass player is a musical genius at such a young age. They were really enjoying their first cruise gig too. I asked if they had a Facebook page and they said not yet, it was a good idea. I couldn't believe they hadn't thought of it.
We ended the night watching a "family friendly" comedian named Dougie Doug (or Doug E. Doug), but he's not the same guy from Cool Runnings by the same name. This guy was funny. We watched the show with Christopher and Kerry from dinner. It was nice to hear some comedy that isn't all f-bombs, body parts, and centering around women's cycles. Just for the record...If a joke isn't funny to start with, adding f-bombs all throughout the joke does NOT make it magically funny. Just sayin'

After our long day at sea, we went back to our room, a little later than last night, and went to bed excited to see Catalina Island in the morning.

Day 3: Cruise Day/Cinco de Mayo

Talk about waking up with anticipation...how do you contain your joy of waiting 20+ years to do a cruise alone with your spouse? Something you've dreamed about for decades? It's not easy. When we woke up around 7:30 or so, we knew the paperwork said we couldn't board before 1:30 PM, but waiting around all morning was going to be very difficult. We couldn't wait to get on the ship! We decided to leave our room before noon, figuring we'd get close, then eat lunch nearby. The GPS talked us straight into the parking area, and once there, we couldn't really leave port and there wasn't any restaurants or shops around. We were there by noon...now what would we do?
We talked to one of the Carnival employees helping direct people to the right places. He told us that even though it was very early, they were allowing people to board and had a nice lunch buffet already prepared on board for us. We quickly got our suitcases checked and headed through security to board. I remember walking up the gangway thinking, "This could go either way. Either we'll argue over something and have a miserable time, or else we'll find out just how much we love each other and it'll be the best thing to happen to our marriage in a very long time. I left determined not to argue about anything, as far as it was up to me. Tim has been under so much pressure for the past 5 months, I just wasn't sure where he was at. Would all the recent pressure cause him to compare this to some great cruise from his past and he'll complain the whole time, or will I get to see a side of him I've waited years to see, the wonderful husband I believed him to be."

As we entered the ship, we were told the rooms wouldn't be released for another hour or so, and we should go enjoy the buffet by the pool. That's what we did. The atrium where we entered was just like I remember the pictures and videos from when this group of ships was new, about 20 years ago. I remember thinking back then what it would be like to stand in a multi-level atrium, all lit up, with the smoky glass elevator, and grandiose furnishings all around. It was everything I hoped it would be, and that was just the beginning. We rode the elevator up 3 decks to the pool area and buffet. Sliding brass and glass doors opened automatically to reveal the Lido Deck. It was just like the pictures! I know it sounds strange that I was surprised at this, but after staying in dozens and dozens of hotels that weren't quite as nice as their photos made it seem, this was amazing! I also remember being among a mostly un-American staff. Everyone is from another country, bringing with them their wonderful accents. For people like me who love to listen to accents, it was so much fun!
We walked over to the lunch buffet and found burgers, coleslaw, potato salad, french fries, chicken nuggets, and more. We both knew we were returning from this vacation and starting our 8 week CORE weight loss program, so individually, we'd both decided to not worry about calories and to just enjoy the experience. I did do pretty well at choosing healthier options and avoiding the choices that were absolute junk food, though. The food was good, but it was the atmosphere that really got me excited. We were sailing to Catalina Island, Ensenada, Mexico, and spending a day at sea before returning on Friday morning. It was Cinco de Mayo as we left for a Mexican cruise. There was a party atmosphere right from the start, but it sort of eased its way in, allowing plenty of quiet time to soak in the surroundings.
After getting to our room, we got changed to head back to the pool area. I'm very claustrophobic so I was happy that our inside stateroom had a fake window for me. It's an indentation to look like a window with a curtain closed in it. It resembles a real window with closed curtains so I never felt like I was in a box (until nighttime when it was pitch dark and you couldn't tell if it was day or night outside that room). The queen sized bed was pretty comfortable and there was a desk, and a chair, and the bathroom wasn't as tiny as I expected. It was a great value. By the way, did I mention we only had to pay $685 total for this cruise?! That's for BOTH of us, all charges & fees. You can't even stay in a regular hotel and eat for 4 or 5 days for that little amount. Anyway, back to the pool we went.

We found two chairs beside each other, kicked off our shoes, and just soaked up the sun, enjoying the cool sea breeze, the sounds of the music starting to pick up around the area, the murmur of passengers making their way to the buffet, and the seagulls flying around. It was an afternoon filled with joy and peace. Knowing we had nowhere to be, no one to be responsible for, no one to answer to but each other, and we were in charge of our day...something we've never been able to both experience together before. We also didn't have to worry about looking at prices on the menu, considering cover or ticket charges for the entertainment, or worry about drinking and driving. All our cares melted away as we experienced what it was like to be "on vacation".
A little while later the captain announced we were making changes to the itinerary. There was a hurricane and bad weather in the southwest area around Mexico that was causing high winds and rough sees, so we were going to avoid it. Instead of Catalina Island, then Mexico, then the day at sea, we would do our day at sea first, then the island, then Mexico, then book it from there for home the next morning. We didn't care either way, but we did have pretty rough sees all that first day. You could really feel it on every part of the boat. By the end of the second night, everyone felt a little off, but we got through it. It was still better than sitting home watching television.
We showed up to the dining room for the early seating, around 6 PM. We were travelling alone, so we had no idea what to expect from our soon-to-be dinner friends at our assigned table. The first couple to show up was Christopher and Kerry. They were a very nice couple, about 10 years younger than me, with similar likes/dislikes. We got along great with them. Then the women showed up. We had the absolute privilege of dining with 6 beautiful ladies. Sally was the head of their group, she was born in China but moved to the states for college and opportunity. She's a smart, successful business woman. She was so much fun, had a great sense of humor, and appreciated everything in her life, taking nothing for granted as we Americans often do. She was traveling with her mother and 4 cousins, I think (unless she said one was her aunt, hard to tell, they all look so much younger!). Her mother and 2 of the cousins came from China for the cruise, the others live in the states. Oddly enough, the one sitting next to Tim lives literally the next town over from us. What are the odds? I enjoyed our first dinner on the cruise very much and was very happy we had who we did at our table. I felt very blessed.
When dinner came, we were taken care of by Tuty, Imarte, and another guy I can't remember his name. They were of Asian descent. I ordered the Spring Rolls with a Vietnam sauce for my appetizer. The special appetizer of the day was Alligator. Tim ordered that, along with most everyone at our table. Not me. Sorry, but I was not going to blow the vacation of a lifetime by taking chances eating strange foods that might make me sick. I ordered the steak with roasted garlic and mashed potatoes for my entree. When it came, the roasted garlic clove was the size of a tennis ball. I'd never had a roasted bulb of garlic before. I wasn't sure what to expect, nor what to do with it. I poked it with my knife to see it was soft like a spread. Ooohhh, that opened up LOTS of new possibilities in my world of cooking! I took out a clove and spread it on my steak. It was like a soft butter. It tasted like nothing else I'd ever had before. The steak was okay, flavored well, but it was the garlic bulb I was most excited over. I put some into my mashed potatoes too and it melted almost instantly into them. Kerry, who I had only known about 20 minutes, asked if she could try it. Being my usual self, I said, "Sure, just go ahead and take what you want." Only after she reached onto my plate with her knife did it occur to me that this should feel weird, letting a stranger eat something off my plate, but it didn't. It was like we were old friends, cruising together, enjoying an adventure. Dessert was a bit hard for me since I'm not a fan of chocolate. I don't eat chocolate ice cream, or chocolate cake, and I don't like chocolate milk. The only time I may eat it is in a choc. chip brownie, in choc. chip ice cream, on top of a Boston Cream Cake or eclair, and maybe a brownie or two a year. Everything on the menu seemed to either have chocolate or artificial sweetener in their "healthy low sugar choice". I chose a Fig Pudding with Passion Fruit Custard with Pumpkin Seed Crunch. How's that for healthy? It was a baked/steamed pudding like a sponge cake, with a thin, liquid-y spread Tuty poured over it for me. The "Crunch" was a single baked chip of sorts made from pumpkin seeds and probably sugar to hold it together. It also came with a cute, petite scoop of Rum Raisin ice cream. It was the healthiest choice, and it was actually pretty good. Glad I'd made the choice to get it.

After dinner, we roamed the ship to see what there was to do. The casino was jumping, but Tim works hard for his money and gambling isn't something we enjoy doing. We don't give others a hard time about the enjoyment of casinos, it's just not for us. We found the tail end of a party in the atrium area. They had an employee directing some line dancing to music that wasn't country. It looked fun, but as I said, it was the tail end of it when we got out of dinner. We did find the Violin Bar, where we ended up spending most of our evening time during the cruise. The actual bar is on one side, there's a small stage across the open-concept walk through area, and lots of tables and chairs along the side. We heard a cover band playing called The Sea Ninjas. It was their first set of their first cruise gig ever. The first night they were doing songs of Motown from the 1960s and 1970s. We knew almost all of them, the band was good, so we stayed there but went back to the room to retire early.

We returned to our room to see the dog on our bed made from rolled towels. Housekeeping had gotten our room picked up and ready for us to get some sleep. Although the seas were rough, lying down, it wasn't so bad - except for not knowing when it was morning from the darkness of our room.