This post has taken a few weeks to get up but better late than never. In September, Jon and I went on a Carnival cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. This trip was to celebrate both of our birthdays as well as a graduation trip for me.
The trip was awesome and was definitely needed. We didn't go during the summer because I had to finish up a class at the U and Jon didn't have vacation time because he switched jobs in April. We ran into a few complications on this trip. It all began when we woke up for our 7:20am flight at around 6:00am. Our alarm didn't go off and luckily I just woke up and looked at the clock. The day before we left, the alternator in Jon's car went out and he didn't get home until 9:00pm. We didn't start packing until at least 10:00pm and went to bed really late with a list of things to do when we woke up a few hours later. When we woke up late, we threw together everything (forgetting several things including Jon's phone charger) and headed to my Grandma Hutchins' house who was taking us to the airport.
We were checking a bag and the rule is you have to get to the airport and check your bag at least 40 minutes before boarding. We made it by a couple of minutes. After arriving at LAX, we rented a car and went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Hogle who live in San Diego. We had a lovely dinner with my grandparents and my Uncle Mike and Aunt Tracy which included my grandma's famous lemon meringue pie. The next day we took our car back to the airport to catch the Carnival shuttle, which we couldn't find. We were worried we would miss the boat and customer service was no help so we took a taxi (an extra $70 and we didn't a get the $60 shuttle fair refunded) but we made it. Luckily, the cruise from then on was smooth sailing! (See what I did there... )
You are not supposed to take photos on the loading ramp but we are rebels :)
The food was good and every night there was one appetizer that was exotic and Jon got it each night (with the exception of snails). He tried rabbit, frog legs, and alligator which are featured below. I wouldn't even try it but it's cool that Jon had the opportunity. One thing that was cool about our cruise was you could order as many appetizers/entrees/sides/deserts as you wanted. My favorite dessert was the fruit and cheese plate and the chocolate lava cake. They had the best pumpkin soup ever.
On our cruise we got a couples massage and I got a bamboo massage. Jon won a $100 massage gift card on the first day from a drawing. The entertainment was good and we went to a show called Diva's and another one that was similar to Rock of Ages. We went to the comedy shows a few times and sat by the pool. In Catalina we rented a golf cart and drove around the island which was super fun. We got some really cool pictures from that trip.
Then we went snorkeling at Lover's Cove. I wish I had more photos of that but we didn't want to bring our phones and leave them unattended. We got wet suits and fins and gear. There were a ton of fish and you could reach out and touch them. I was really scared to go under the water because I've been really bad at snorkeling in the past. When I got up the nerve to finally put my face in the water, I looked down and saw this massive school of fish which freaked me out and I might have screamed a little. Once I realized that was what was supposed to be happening, I was fine but it really surprised me. Our tour guide was really cool and he even fed the fish so we could see them up close.
In Ensenada, we went on a tour of a dairy farm and got to have lunch and a cheese tasting.
It was pretty far from the boat and we got to see a lot of Ensenada. It's sad to see all of the poverty and trash in Ensenada. To get to the dairy, we had to go through a stop of the Mexican military where they checked our bus. They had some pretty serious guns. That was kind of scary but the tour was cool and lunch was good. We went shopping after our excursion in Ensenada and I bought a necklace and earrings that are turquoise. The earrings are shaped like hearts. The negotiating is pretty funny in Mexico. "I will give you this for $75" and my response was:
"I can't afford this because I only want to spend $5"
"okay, okay how about $30?"
"how about $5?"
"$20?"
"No, that's okay, I don't really want it"
"$10?"
"Ok, fine $10"
I really wasn't super interested but for the necklace and earrings I ended up spending around $25 which was good enough for me.
We took a taxi back to the boat after buying an interesting soda from a 711.
Our cruise was fun and I want to go on another one, maybe to the Bahama's this time but I would like to try another cruise line. Here are some photos of our room. We had two portholes.
When we got off the boat, we got another rental car and stayed at a really fancy hotel in Santa Monica.
We walked to the beach, built a sand castle and played in the ocean.
We found Santa Monica towels at a Walgreen's which made a pretty inexpensive souvenir.
We had food delivered from a local pizza place and I started feeling sick (with cold symptoms). The next morning before we left, we drove tot he Santa Monica pier and walked around. We sat at the end of the pier and watched people fish for awhile. We saw dolphins and this really funny duck that kept trying to steal the fish that this fisherman was using for bait.
We drove to Santa Clarita to a Marriot Residence in that I used Priceline to "Name My Own Price" on. We stayed the night and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain the next day. When booking our flights, I accidentally booked Jon to come home at 5:30pm on Saturday and for me to come home at 5:30pm on Sunday. So Jon took a shuttle at around 1:30pm from Magic Mountain back to the hotel and then caught a Supershuttle to the airport. I stayed the rest of the day by myself (Jon hates roller coasters so he probably didn't mind too much) and got to go on all the rides Jon didn't want to go on. I got a pickle because that is my favorite thing to get at theme parks.
Then I spent the night by myself and took the car back to the rental company the next day (which we were nervous about since I wasn't an authorized user on the car-being under 25). But it all turned out fine.
I met up with my cousin Tyler who I grew up with who recently moved to Santa Monica and we had lunch at a fancy restaurant near the beach. Then I took the car back and caught my airplane.
Then I was supposed to start my full time job the week I came home but by this point, my cold hit hard and I took a whole week off of work to just stay home sick. I ended up getting Jon sick too and he is still recovering.
This is a funny photo of all of the newspapers I had to deal with when I got home.
I've since started my full time job (today is day 1 of my second week). I'm adjusting to having less time but it's also nice to be at work every day and know what's going on. Life is good.
Already starting to plan my next vacation. I have a friend who is going to Hawaii in December and I'm seriously considering tagging along.
We also started construction on our yard the week we came back from our cruise. You'll have to stay tuned for the after photo but here is the before and the current photo. When it's all done there will be new sprinklers, sod and a fire pit.
Before
For right now...
Thanks for reading!
~T
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