And with the blink of an eye it’s over and now it’s back to reality. Our vacation was so much more than we could have imagined and was exactly what A & I needed. We had a blast and can’t wait to do it again! It was definitely an eventful vacation and one that A & I will always remember.
After a very early morning on Friday, to catch our 6 AM flight, we enjoyed some much needed R & R time. We had a great day at the hotel napping by the pool and enjoying the beach. It was nice to get away and enjoy some “us/couple” time. We met up with Aunt Terri and Uncle Dave at our motel, where we enjoyed a nice dinner over looking the beach and ocean.
Saturday was the first time I’ve slept in 7.5 months! We enjoyed some breakfast and a nice walk on the beach. While we were eating I thought I recognized someone who was eating across from us. Sure enough after a quick question of where are you from and an answer of Ogallala, NE, we (Missy Zimmerman) and I both just laughed about what a small world it is. We loaded ship around one and headed to get our work out done. This is the first time we’ve cruised on Celebrity (Century) and really liked everything it had to offer. We went to eat at our assigned time and table, of which we met the nicest waiters we’ve ever had on a cruise. The night entertainment was fun and showcased what the ship was going to offer for our vacation.
Sunday we spent the day at sea, resting (sleeping) most of the day. I told A that I didn’t realize just how exhausted my body was until all my stress and demands were taken away from me and I could truly relax. I knew everything back home was taken care of and I really didn’t have a thing to worry about, so I just kicked back and relaxed to the fullest. We soaked up some sun rays and enjoyed the view of the beautiful sea all around us. I did squeeze another work out in, which made me feel good about my preparation for my run on Saturday. The night entertainment (comedian James Stephens III), left me crying because I was laughing so hard. It was a great relaxing day and just what I needed.
Monday morning we woke up in beautiful Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We headed to Dunn’s Fall, where we climbed up this huge waterfall. Before we started to climb, they told us we needed to leave everything on the boat except for your aqua shoes and anything that wasn’t waterproof, because you’re going to get soaked. We were beyond soaked in the first couple minutes. Between going head first climbing up a wall with water gushing in your face, sliding down natural made water slides, and jumping in pools of water, we had a blast getting soaked and climbing the falls. We took loads of pics and even got a video of the whole adventure, of which captured A falling with amazing grace and athletic ability and popping up before anybody in our group saw him. After a great time at Dunn’s Fall, we headed to snorkel with the beautiful fish. In all the times we’ve snorkeled, I’ve never been as close to the coral and fish as we were this time. The fish ate right out of our hand and the coral was just inches from touching us. We saw a small stingray, which wouldn’t even come close to the stingrays we would encounter later. It was beautiful and is always so much fun to check out where Nemo and his friends hang out. It was back to the boat after a very eventful day. Despite not wanting to get more miles in, I did manage to get another good run in. We went to the evening entertainment, A Taste of Broadway, which is normally not something we would go to, but with nothing else to really do we decided to check it out. The show actually turned out to be really good and was exactly what the title implied, a touch of many different Broadway shows. They ended the show by doing some scenes from The Lion King (one of my favs). It was really neat to watch, because we had actually seen that Broadway show in Vegas just a year ago. A & I ended the evening by trying a Martini for the first time. It was terrible, but we wanted to try the fountain out. They carved a fountain out of ice and would pore the drink (that would be cooled as it goes down this fountain) into your glass. It was actually really neat and worth the pic! The sip of Martini was terrible and was yet another reminder why I don’t drink.
Tuesday was another fun filled day, except this time we hung out in Grand Cayman. We went to a turtle-breeding farm, where we got to hold a baby sea turtle. We saw everything from the baby ones to a 78 year old turtle. The oldest turtle there has produced more than 25, 000 eggs in her breeding years and weighed over 750 lbs. There was only one group of turtles that were considered “snapping” and if you put your finger in/fell in, they would definitely latch on. As for the other sea turtles, if you fell in with them, they would simply put you on their back and carry you to shore. After a quick drive through part of the island, we ended up in “Hell”. “Hell,” Grand Cayman, that is. It is a small city on the island that has a lot of dead coral and it looks like lava coal. There also used to be a man of royalty who used to go and hunt there, apparently he wasn’t a good shot because every time he missed he would say “ah hell”, or “bloody hell,” so that mixed with the dead coral earned the town the name of hell. After a breath visit to Hell, it was off to a 30 min boat trip and then to Stingray City. Anytime somebody heard you talking about stingrays and going to “play/pet” them, they would chime in without missing a beat, “Isn’t that what killed the Crocodile Hunter?!” and then give you the look of disbelief and “You’re CRAZY!” So after our 30 min boat ride, we arrived in the middle of the ocean on a sand bar, where some stingrays hang out. I was the first in the water and ready to feed/touch the stingrays. I’ve never seen so many people hesitate about getting into the water. This was probably one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done out of all the excursions we’ve done thus far. It was really neat how we played with them in the ocean, in their own environment and not in a controlled environment. They simply hangout in this area because they know they’re going to get fed, but they are free to come and go as they wish. It was so crazy to be in waist high deep water and have ten or so stingrays all around you. It was fun feeding them and watching them under the water with our snorkel gear. One latched onto my arm for a second or two, but then let up when it realized I had no food. They don’t have teeth, they suck up their food like a vacuum. I fed them some squid, of which they vacuumed right up. Nonetheless, after a kiss from a stingray the day on the island was almost complete and we headed back to the port. We shopped around briefly right by the pier and then it was time to sail away to Miami. There was a Harley Davidson store right by the port, so we decided to stop in and get the lil guy his first Harley shirt. It has a little motorcycle with training wheels on it and says, “Biker in training,” perfect shirt! After our busy day playing with turtles, stingrays, and a quick trip to Hell, we were shot and ready to take a nap. It was late afternoon when we got back onto the ship, so we decided to lay low for the night and not do too much. We topped the whole day off by tasting way too many desserts. And even after trying on the deliciously made desserts, I would still prefer a simple dish of ice cream to any of them.
Wednesday we slept in, worked out, played volleyball against the officers on the ship, played in a shuffle board tournament (we should have won or at least got second, but we had to play on a terrible board and the other team got lucky….boo), watched a really good juggler/comedian, and watched JS III perform one last time on the ship. It was a great way to end a wonderful vacation and as we packed our bags, the reality that our get away was coming to an end really started to settle in. Although it was sad getting off the ship and sitting in the airport forever, I can’t wait to get home and see the lil guy. It really does make it easier saying good-bye to a tropical paradise when you know you’re coming home to a lil smiling paradise! I miss him so much and can’t wait to get my big gummy, drooly kiss!
A & I always do high/low every night before bed and anytime we go on a vacation we do the same for the whole trip. So the highs for the trip would have to be taking time to be a couple again, sleeping in, relaxing, staying up late, playing with stingrays, climbing a water fall, snorkeling with the fish, holding a sea turtle, playing games on the ship, going to shows, eating way too much delicious food and desserts, and pretty much having a trip of a life time!
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