Travel Log Day 3 Part 1

Catalina Island, California

I like water. I like boats, swimming, waves, etc. My poor husband doesn't really. He had a sea sick patch on the whole trip (which worked well - ask him if you need one).

To get to Catalina Island, you have to take little boats off the ship to the dock. This is us walking down to the little boat.

I love this picture. Things that give you a sense of size. Being up next to the cruise ship sure does make you feel small..
...you doing alright back there?


Pulling into the dock here... I like the little houses build up on the hill. Catalina lsland was actually bought by Wrigley - like Wrigley Gum. Yeah. really. Mr Wrigley paid big bucks to keep the population size (how many residents- could live there) to a minimum to preserve wild life and such. Very pretty place.
I'm sure that many of these places are rentable summer homes, but by whom.......some one with money.

Not sure what the turkey sign is about. But i'm sure a valuable standard.

Pretty flowers in October
Just a picture of the streets...There were areas that were restricted to residents. I think that's a smart idea ---

Part 2 coming soon - botanical gardens and Wrigley's monument.

...a quick side note...

Have you ever tried Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser?
See all the black scuff marks from our shoe basket on the wall? ....the ones I can't get off with ANYTHING....




.... I'll never be the same.

Day 2 part 2

\
Dancing the night away on the cruise ship. :)

Travel Log: Day 3

Day At Sea.

Day 3 was dedicated to just time on the ship. My thought was that there was going to be a lot of down time, lounging and such. Yeah..... you can do that... but there is so much you can do! Again - if you don't drink or gamble - the options are cut down some.
During the day you can go to the spa, enjoy several different performances and genre's of music, eat, watch the hairiest chest competition, mini golf, relax or swim at the pool/hot tub, eat, battle of the sexes, variety shows, the newly wed game, name the song.... did I mention EAT!!


(I don't know why this part is underlined....) This is the top view of the ship - you can lots of lounge chairs, twisty slide, kiddy pools and hot tubs, a stage behind the slide and plenty of life boats (important :))
This is Noortje. I'm not sure if it's okay to put her picture here :) but I only do so because I think she's awesome and the envious job of Cruise Director. She was in charge of our activities and well being, and the coming and goings of the guests. She MCed many shows and was fun to have around and She's from Amsterdam! Which is another fun part of a cruise - the vast majority of the crew are international! The accents, personalities, stories are interesting to get to know.


Eat. I did mention that right? There are nice dinners, cafeteria style meals, and all night buffets. Ben had a frozen yogurt about every 3 hours.


This was a Ben favorite - squash pot pie - looks not so great - but he loved it.

This is my Brazilian style spinach lasagna. Oh yeah.
Though my favorite meal.... I ate this grouper fish..... the best thing I think I've eaten for some time.... tasty.
Of course the classic towel animals... Cute Elephant.

..... and this angry seal. We also got a sting ray. Room service comes in and cleans twice a day! I was amazed how clean the place was all the time....
Aw. Mr. and Mrs. Sharples on 'Elegant Night'

Good day at Sea. Time flies so quickly! I'm telling you - cruising gives you the bang for your buck!

Travel Log: Day 1 and 2

Our October Adventure started Sunday night after Ben got off work - about 4p. We (Kim, Ben, Shelby, Jordan) drove to Las Vegas and spent the night.
An early rise the next morning - and a drove to San Diego (total about 12 hrs) to check onto the cruise ship.

Those things are huge!! There were 2000 'guests' and their check in procedure were a little long. I noticed at the last minute that my passport said "Child" instead of "Sharples" and I was fully prepared with my marriage license and both drivers licenses --- so there COULDN'T be any fuss over it.
Our room was pretty small - but very clean and nice. Here you see desk with mirror chair behind me...

Ben next to a towel animal (I'll get to that later), 2 beds pushed together but VERY VERY comfortable (I slept so good!). Ben says that one improvement was the available tv and movie channels - which is nice if you're sea sick or just want to veg...
Note the fake window - There is just the wall behind those orange curtains! But it works -
Bathroom - I was amazed how hot the shower water was - ....then to think about how BIG the generator had to be to heat water for 2000 people! ... no wait.... Where are they keeping all that water! .... wow!
I think there are 12 decks in the whole ship - bottom 2 or 3 were for crew and service things. The 'decks/floors' had everything from food, bars, stages, pools, spas, mini golf, stores, bakeries, casinos, etcs. Whoa. Again - the size of this thing....


This video is of the space running up the middle. There is a glass elevator to my right, at the bottom is the piano and bar, the service desk, the 'off shore excursion' info .... there is even a library!

That night we had dinner - explored the ship, went to the opening show ... and slept!

Travel Log Begins

Ta Da!
Ben and I just pulled up to the house 2 hours ago after a week of vacationing. A Great vacation and a exhausting vacation. "Vacationing" with my in laws is always a great experience - because we do so many things and try new things! Very exciting. On the flip side - I grew up with the understanding that a "vacation" is a break from running around -- slow and steady. So I really enjoy tagging along with their adventures but *PHEW* they sure do wear me out!

I do look forward to updating my few friends on the adventures over the next couple of days. I'm choosing to do this over a couple of days (possibly longer) because there were so many stories and photos and I do tend to make really long blog posts.....

Okay -
Travel Log begins today with the agenda:
Sunday 5pm - leave for Vegas, spend the night
Monday - Drive to San Diego, board ship
Tuesday - Day at Sea
Wednesday - Catalina Island
Thursday - Ensenada, Mexico
Friday - Off ship, San Diego Zoo
Saturday - Disney Land 8am to 11 pm
Sunday - up at 4am to drive home.

Oi. I'm tired just talking about it.
Sunday we (Kim, Ben, Shelby, and Jordan (my siblings in law)) left about 5pm from South Jordan and drove down to Las Vegas - as a pit stop on the way to San Diego.

...get a good nights rest - - tomorrow.... California! And carnival cruise ship Elation!

My puppies

All my childhood - my parents said 'when you grow up you can get a dog'.

Now I have 2. Does that mean that I'm grown up now?

Okay so in a couple of weeks we are going on a cruise! Yeah! Ben's parents are our usual grand-puppy babysitters. However since we are going on the cruise with them - I've had to find some other arrangements. It's something I'm nervous about - since these canines are my babies :).

I found Camp Barkalot :) Today we went out there to try it out and I left the pups there for 5 hours! I think they had a good time... mostly. When we got home they totally crashed on the couch...

Doesn't she look tired?

This is NOT a doctored photo. Promise. Ben is playing his computer game and Reg just snuggled on up to him. He looks like 'I'm so tired... I don't even care....

Here is just some more puppy love....