Cruisen'

Sometime back in January we decided with our friends, Kitch and Angela, that we wanted to take a vacation together, so after great debate we decided to go on a Mexican cruise. Then we had to decide on which one, Baja or Rivera and after much debate we choose Baja. A Baja Mexican cruise includes Catalina Island and Ensenada. So, we booked it for May, that way everyone would be out of school and would have no excuse not to go.

Sunday May 23, 2010 at 5:30am we put our car in drive and headed for California. We arrived in the Sunshine state about 5:00pm, Utah time, checked into our hotel room and headed to Shoreline pier. For a Long Beach, California pier, I have to admit that I was disappointed. I thought it would be somewhere that we could waste a few hours and eat some amazing food, but it failed on all levels. The food was not good and the pier itself seemed run down, needless to say we didn't stay long. We headed back to our hotel room around 7:30pm, Utah time. We decided a couple hours later that we were hungry, since I didn't eat more than a couple of my dinner. So we googled good places to get some dessert in/near Long Beach and we found Jongwaard's Bake-n-Broil and decided it couldn't be any worse then dinner. To our surprise it was amazing! I don't know if it was amazing just because our dinner was so bad or if it was just plain amazing.

Monday May 24, we couldn't board our ship til 1:30pm, California time, so we went down to the beach and played in the sand and took pictures. At 12:00pm, California time, we headed back to our hotel, we parked our car there for the week we were gone, and called a taxi to pick us up. We boarded our ship just after 1:30pm, California time. That day and night consisted of finding our way around the ship, some on board entertainment and karaoke.

Tuesday May 25 was our Catalina port. We got off the ship that morning after Angela and I went for a run, the boys went to the buffet while we were running, and after Angela and I ate breakfast. We really didn't have anything we wanted to do that day besides lay on the beach, so we found the beach and laid there. After getting back on the ship and eating lunch we again found our way to the sun. If you can't tell we wanted to soak up some Vitamin D and natural serotonin. After a day in the sun and a nice sun burn later, we headed in to clean up and eat some dinner. After dinner we went and took some classic sunset pictures.

Wednesday May 26 was our Ensenada port. I forgot to take my camera off the ship this day so no pictures, sorry. When we got off the ship this day, we didn't have a clue what to do, all we knew was the excursions were super expensive and we didn't like the idea of spending 100's of dollars. So the plan was to get off the ship, do a little shopping and get back on the ship. I don't think Mexico is the place to be walking around with the look of boredom on your face. But to our surprise, as we were walking towards downtown, we found a wine country tour for $15 per person round trip and decided to do it. The winery we went to has been around since 1982, it was cool to hear how nothing changed as far as their wine making goes in all these years. After the wine tasting tour our taxi driver, Ben, dropped us off at a really good Mexican restaurant that was right down town, so after lunch and after doing some shopping we headed back to the ship. After we got back on the ship, we found ourselves again basking in the sun.

Thursday May 27 was our day at sea. We didn't do much this day, we spent some time in our room, I did some homework and we both took a nap. We felt that we had spent enough time in the sun so we tried to avoid it or at least stayed covered up as much as possible. We did however play some mini golf. That night we packed our bags so we could disembark early the next morning.

Friday May 28, time to head home. After the long 12 hours car ride home, getting home around 8:00pm, we picked up our dogs from my mom's house, told her about our trip and after hearing about her week, we returned home unpacked our bags and went to bed. The best part of this day was getting home and seeing our friends, Kitch and Angela, reunited with their kids after a week of separation. It is crazy how much, not only did Kitch and Angela missed their kids, but how much their kids missed them. I have to admit, I pray that someday I will have that feeling of seeing my babies after I have been away from them, but until then, I will be an onlooker of someone else's joy. All in all it was a very good and much needed vacation.