Cruise and Florida

We got back from our trip on Sunday evening after a six hour flight from Miami to Seattle, a one hour flight from Seattle to Spokane, and a two hour drive from Spokane to Moses Lake, and then a five minute drive from my parents to our house. It was a long day. But really I have no room to complain because I would do it all over again for a vacation like that. Our voyage was to start Saturday the 9th at 10 am, however the flight got canceled due to mechanical problems with the plane. So Jeff and I went to Star Trek at the movies. Loved it! *****, total new respect for the Star Trek series. Our rescheduled flight was for Sunday at 11 am. The flight was long and I get anxious sitting that long, surrounded by people. Once we stepped off the plane, we were instantly wet from the humidity in Miami. It was interesting that although we were still in the U.S we were in completely different cultures. It really is the melting pot of the U.S. Jeff served a two year mission for our church in Miami, Fl. So once we got into the town and walked the streets he really had memories come back to him. It talked more about his mission during that time than I have ever heard him say before. I wanted him to take advantage of every opportunity he could while there because who knows when an opportunity like this will happen again. We ate lunch one day at a street vendor selling Chilean hot dogs. Jeff said he ate this all the time. Chilean hot dogs have all the fixings, onions, coleslaw, relish, mustard, ketchup, homemade mayo, salsa, banana peppers, sauerkraut and on and on. We also had corn on the cob dipped in butter covered with salt and Parmesan cheese. Delicious! We saw the Art Deco, and Miami beach, and alligators in the Everglades. There were 15 alligators that we could see in our little corner, just think how many there would be in the entire Everglades. They go all along the eastern coast of Florida. Scary thought. But enough about Miami, lets talk CRUISE!
Our cruise started Monday. We arrived and boarded the boat at about 3:00 pm. The place was like a 5 Star hotel, only better. Beautifully decorated, entertainment from one room to the next going on at all times morning and night. Comfortable rooms with comfortable beds. Food everywhere. Prepared and presented amazingly. Every three hours you ate for at least an hour. 24 hour soft serve ice cream cones. 3 pools, 6 hot tubs, climbing wall, a jump-0-lene, shuffle board, and a different entertainment every night. Every night I would get dressed up to go to dinner, enjoy some of the best food I have ever tasted in my life. Unique ways of preparing ordinary food, and unique food prepared in comforting ways, and unique food prepared in not so comforting ways. I am not much of a food connoisseur, but Jeff's family is very much into new foods, textures, flavors. Jeff's favorite thing about the cruise was the food. Top quality service by our wonderful waiter Warren. Jeff's most favorite dish was a dessert, it was an egg souffle with some sort of cream. He can't get over it. My favorite dessert was a mango custard. It was so good, best mango flavor I have ever had. The salad bar was fantastic, tons of options, professionally tossed together, beautifully served. Yum, I miss the salad bar. We ate things like Prime Rib, Duck, Lobster tail, Escargot, Spaghetti, Tilapia, Curry dishes, Salmon, pastas, fruit soups, Shrimp, the list goes on and on. Dinner was a three course meal or more if you wanted more. Dinner was covered by the cost of the cruise, so we could eat anything we wanted on the menu. A few times Warren would bring us all the desserts on the menu for the night. Each evening we had a different entertainer, we had a comedian- hilarious, an illustionist- entertaining, an impressionist- awesome, and singers and dancers performing songs from broadway shows, and movie tunes- fun. Our ports consisted of Key West, Florida, where we walked around town, went to an aquarium, went to the beach, snorkeled, drank from a coconut, saw the Southern most tip of the U.S., had the worlds best key lime pie dipped in chocolate and served on a stick; and Belize City, Belize where the girls went on an excursion to go cave tubing, and the boys went snorkeling. We, most everyone but me, ate rice and beans, got some change colors in the sun fingernail polish, saw the depth of Belize and some ruins.
I think for Kelly and Tony, their favorite thing would be meeting all different people on the boat, every day you would meet probably 4 to 6 new people. I bet for my mother in law the best part was physically being able to experience all of this. For my father in law, it was knowing that he was getting the best bang for his buck. He had a friend calculate how much it would cost to do all the things you do on cruises, in parts and it was hundreds to thousands of dollars, way more than we spent. For Jeff first the food, and second seeing how much being on the cruise made me feel great about myself, I was so comfortable in my own skin. Not once did I feel inadequate or underdressed, or unattractive. Not that I have issues with that or anything, its just you can get a little unsecure being around 2,300 people in swimsuites all day long, but I felt great and looked great. Jeff says he'd gladly take me on a cruise any time if it always made me feel that way. For me, my favorite thing, was to experience what I got to experience, share it with my husband and recconnect, and come home to my little girl who I missed so much!
(Pictures to come)