So... We're back! And I bet you didn't even know we were gone! :) I didn't want to post about us being away from home beforehand, in the off chance that some weirdo might come and rob our house or whatever. But Gus and I just got back today from a 4-day cruise down to Mexico and back. I have this entire week off from school, and we thought it would be nice to get away for a bit before baby #2 arrived-- a "babymoon," so to speak. Neither one of us had never been on a cruise before, and the prices were too good to resist. So we dropped Nikos off at Yia-yia and Pappou's house, off we went!
We left on a cold and cloudy Sunday, and were fully prepared for the cruise to be chilly. We knew there was a huge storm coming (the forecast said it would dump 2-4 inches), and that we'd be sailing right into it. And that's exactly what we did! As we cruised out of the San Diego harbor, things were fine... But by bedtime, the ship was rocking pretty significantly. It was hard to sleep, because I kept thinking that we were having an earthquake! When we finally rolled out of bed in the morning, it was awful. Here's what we saw out of our window:
Yup: whitecaps. Not exactly what you want to see out in the open ocean. Everyone was staggering around the ship like they were drunk (though some of them definitely were). The staff members were passing out barf bags all over the place. Gus (who gets sea sick to begin with) and I were not feeling so hot. We bundled up in our warmest clothes and sat for a long time at a table on the upper deck, so we could get some fresh (freezing) air. After about lunchtime, things started to settle down and we were feeling a lot better. We even got dressed up for "formal night," and had our picture taken together!
Actually, we were supposed to stop at Catalina Island for the day, but that had to be postponed because the port was closed down. We ended up having our "fun day at sea" a few days earlier than planned, and then going to Catalina the next day.
Catalina was an experience, too! We'd been there before, a few years ago, so we knew what to expect as far as what the town of Avalon had to offer. We did not, however, know what to expect when it came to getting from the cruise ship to the island. The Port of Catalina is way too small for the cruise ship to dock there, so we dropped anchor outside the harbor and had to take small boats, or "tenders," in to the pier. There was quite a wait to get onto the tenders, since the water was still pretty rough and there were some strong currents to contend with. At one point, the tender service was shut down entirely while the cruise ship turned to face a different direction. When we finally got onto the island in the afternoon, we looked around in the little shops for about an hour before it started to rain again. We didn't know how long the rain would last, or if it would start to pour, so we got back in line to take a tender back to the ship.
The next day (yesterday), we woke up in Ensenada to find (gasp!) a blue, sunny sky overhead! Eager to explore someplace we'd never been before, we showered, wolfed down a quick breakfast from the omelet bar, and headed down to the gangway. Though the weather was great, Ensenada was... Ensenada. Pretty typical Mexican tourist city: lots of grubby little kids trying to sell you Chiclets, panhandlers (all children), street vendors trying to sell the same exact items on every corner (a bracelet with your name on it! sunglasses! your name on a grain of rice!), street taco stands, and drugstores everywhere advertising pain killers, muscle relaxants, and all sorts of prescription-only items in the U.S.
We walked up and down the length of Avenida Lopez Mateos (the main drag), got a t-shirt for Nikos and an ornament for our Christmas tree, and then walked back to the boat for lunch. We then opted to spend our afternoon enjoying the warm weather by laying out in the sunshine up by the pool. That, I think, was the best part of the entire trip! Whenever we got too hot, we could pop in and grab some lemonade or some ice cream at the buffet. We definitely didn't go hungry, that's for sure!
Then, last night, we were packing our suitcase and getting it ready to put in the hallway outside our stateroom for collection. I went to zip up one side and POP! The zipper came off in my hand. Gus was carefully zipping up the other side, and made it more than halfway, when POP! The other zipper came off. Talk about an "oh crap!" moment... I found our cabin steward and asked him if he had rope or twine or something, and he was able to procure some masking tape. We wound tape all around the bag, but there was no way we could let the baggage handlers take it (I could just envision my dirty underwear floating in the harbor... doh!). Gus ended up carrying that massive suitcase down six flights of stairs to the gangway when it was time to get off the boat, and we managed to make it home without further incident.
Anyway... We're home now and, even though we had fun, it feels good to be back on land. I missed our baby boy like crazy, and can't wait to see him again tomorrow!!
And on a completely different note, my sweet, darling daughter has given me the gift of a lifetime: stretch marks! They seem to have appeared overnight. Aaack! And I still have 3.5 weeks to go! I am posting just a little picture of them for your viewing pleasure (schadenfreude?)-- click to enlarge, if you dare!
