"Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me"

I am sure many of you know by now that Jon and I went on our first vacation ever (just the two of us.) We cruised to Baja Mexico.
It was actually kind of an impulse decision. For about a week or so, Jon and I were looking at vacation spots and cruises we could go on for cheap. During that week my good friend Rachel called to let me know that she had just booked a cruise. And believe it or not, it was the exact cruise Jon and I were considering. So without thinking more then twice, Jon booked the same cruise so we could go with them.
Jon and I had a blast, and are ready to go again....












Every night, our stateroom steward would "tuck us in" and leave animals made out of towels. I was excited to go into our room each evening wondering what new and exciting towel animal would be on the bed. Aren't they so cute?

Catalina Island

On our second day on the cruise, we ported at Catalina Island. The city of Avalon is a cute little town with shops and cafes; It is a very touristy place. While we were there, we decided to go on a bus tour to Catalina's airport. During the bus ride, we got to see what the island actually looks like, which is not much, hills, bushes, shrubbery...we did see some buffaloes, and I think I saw a fox.

Cute city of Avalon

The scenery

The buffaloes

Jon and I after some souvenir shopping.

The FOOD!!!

The food was definitely five star. The evening dinners were succulent; some of the best food I have ever tasted. During dinner, I would have 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 2 deserts. No Joke! (The number on the scale testified of that when we got home.)

Jon posing with some of the chocolate buffet treats. They even had CHOCOLATE SUSHI!
Can you believe it?

Some of our appetizers, entrees, and deserts: Shrimp cocktail, minestrone soup, ribs, prime rib, salmon, lobster, vegetarian eggplant and zucchini (seen above), and check this out, our head chef was from India, so Jon and I were in heaven when he made West Indian grilled pumpkin soup, and Indian stuffed baked mushrooms with a white sauce (mouth watering right!). Our favorite desert was by far, the chocolate melting cake; Rachel, Rod, Jon, and I had it every night.

Our two waiters for the duration for the cruise during our evening dinning services were Mario, and Jenila. Mario was from India. He truly was a great person. He was so funny, nice, and considerate. He made our stay on the cruise ship memorable. Jon and I hope to stay in contact with him. Jenila was from Nepal. She too was very very nice, always smiling and talking to us.

Mario was always entertaining us by teaching us some of his dance moves, cracking jokes, making animals with napkins. He even made Rachel a bikini bottom out of a napkin. It was pretty hilarious.

Here is a picture of our table during our evening dinner. Gina, Grasshoppa, Cameron, Kristal, Rachel, me, Rod, Jon, Mario, Jenila (front to back, left to right). Our table was awesome! Everybody was so funny and nice. We all got along very well. Rachel, Rod, Jon, and I even went clubbing with Cameron and Kristal one night so they could teach us some sweet moves. It was so much fun. We hope to keep in touch with them too.

The remainder of our time on the cruise mostly consisted of laying out for hours since we were not able to port at Ensenada, Mexico because of the swine flu.

Jon and I soaking up the sun's rays.

We did play mini golf once. It was definitely harder then on land.

One of the evenings we were there, they had a hypnotist show. It was hilarious. We enjoyed it so much that we went to see it twice that night. The boys were hoping to get hypnotized the second time around. Jon actually fell asleep. During the first show, one of the persons getting hypnotized was Brad. Brad had gotten hypnotized with Jon and my brother Thiefaine at the Salt Lake county fair three years back. (What a small world!)

Captain's Cocktail Party

Jon and I, Rachel and Rod

I am so glad we were able to go with Rachel and Rod. We had so much fun hanging out with them. It was truly a vacation to remember. Thanks Rach for letting us tag along.

Jon and I

Rod and Rachel

Rachel and I

PS: Thanks to my mom for watching Julien and Logan while we were cruising. It was really nice to get a break.