THE trip

Here it is! The long-awaited and eagerly-anticipated post about our trip to Cali and Mexi (If you are going to call it Cali, why can't you call it Mexi?) For the uninformed, we took off for 8 days and went to LA and on a cruise down the Southern California/very Northern Mexico coast. You know what they say, carpe diem! Well we carpe'd 8 diems. WARNING: LONG POST

Our arrival in Burbank

It was over 75 degrees when we arrived! I think I even proclaimed I was excited to be sweating because of the air temperature. When McKenna and Paul arrived we went straight to...

The Santa Monica Pier
We had a scrumptious meal at a crepe restaurant. I am still craving the strawberries and Nutella crepe I devoured all by myself (on top of a meal).

We headed down to the boardwalk and analyzed our brain types. We also had fun harassing people with weird pictures. The couple above deserved to be harassed; they couldn't stop making out for long enough to notice us taking pictures of them. Even if they had noticed I would have just said "Paparazzi!" and run away. That's what happens in California, right?

Six Flags

The next day we went to Magic Mountain- 6 Flags. Again, we enjoyed making random strangers take bizarre pictures of us. The people who took these pictures for us (above) proceeded to pose in the exact same way for their own photos.

We just loved this bear! Very life-like. Or should I say beary life-like? Nope, very.

If you look closely, you can see my huge tricep muscle.

Daring! We took pictures on a roller coaster. Daring, indeed!

Again, harassing people. This couple was attempting to take a classy pic on the pink and white bench that thousands of people climb on each day. It's a photo op you can't pass up, right? Well, I thought I would class it up even more and jump in. They didn't say anything to the contrary, so I think they appreciated it.

Boarding the Ship

The foodfest began immediately. This was our first meal on the ship. I tried some of almost everything I could get my hands on. That first meal for me consisted of two different kinds of chicken, potatoes, roasted vegetables, a stuffed pepper, rice, pasta salad, salad, fresh vegetables, rolls, chocolate cake, cheesecake, cookies, and ice cream. Don't worry, I only took one bite of everything but the rolls, salad and vegetables (and the cookies and ice cream).

Catalina Island
On the boardwalk. On the boat ride from our ship to the island this kid was speaking in another language (Japanese, I think) to his mother. Then he started chanting "Mexico! Mexico!" as we approached the island. I couldn't find the words to tell him otherwise, literally.

At the beginning of our hike. We paid $4 each to get into a park we thought we had to walk through to get to the trail. It turned out we had missed the turn for our trail. We asked for our money back and the lady gave it to us! We like Catalina Islanders. Except for the creepy guy in the ice cream shop. He reminded us of the Comic Book Shop owner from the Simpsons.

About half-way up the mountain.

The beginning of our descent. If you look closely you can see the difference between the ocean and sky. It was a beautiful day! I sure hope Daniel and Nick had fun playing a $65 round of golf while Lexie and I went on a therapeutic, free hike.

Formal Night

In my attempt to not duplicate any of the pictures Lexie posted; here are some candids. It's almost as if we knew the camera was there.

Santi was the best server a girl could ask for. He brought me at least three desserts every night.

Ensenada, Mexi

That is one huge Mexi flagInstead of paying $100 for a driving tour of Ensenada so kindly offered by Carnival, we opted to go to a beach about 30 minutes away.

My wonderful, intelligent husband. Yup, they dug for over an hour.

Sometimes the best things are left unsaid. But you can write them. In the sand.

Posing by the ocean. Who doesn't want their picture taken by a drinking monkey sitting on a banana? Maybe the better question is who does? Lexie made me take it.

Idiots. That should be said out loud. Anyone want an over-sized sombrero? It doesn't fit in our apartment. It's not like a poster of Atlantic City- we don't need an over-sized version in our place.The ship. Ain't she a beauty? I just wanted to call the ship "she". I included this picture because of what is going on the background. Is that guy on the truck lift cleaning the ship windows? Look at the center of the photo below the red line on the ship.

Around Paradise
Paradise is the name of the ship. While the cruise was great, I hope that isn't what paradise really is. We forgot to take a lot of pictures of the inside of the ship, but here is the main lobby area.
Here is our room. They turned down our sheets each night and gave us a towel animal. This one was a stingray. The last day we were just on the ship. We found a less-windy spot and laid out for a few hours. Daniel and Nick spent hours trying to find each other on the ship. These ships need paging systems! There are too many places you could be: the art auction, the hairy chest contest, the gym, the casino, Rex (the disco), the soft serve ice cream machine, the library, the piano bar, the mini golf course, the shuffleboard board (?), the ping pong tables, any one of the 3 pools or hot tubs, and numerous other rooms. We actually got a lot of exercise walking up and down the stairs.

We played a lot of spades in the library. Daniel and Nick lost every game. Daniel cried.

Encino

Back at the Michels compound, we hung out around the newly-installed fire pit and had deep discussions on politics and American society. No really. We did. Things got heated and not just because of the fire pit.
I don't know if you read this McKenna, but thank you for your hospitality! You made our trip great!

All in all, our trip was just what the doctor ordered. It was our first trip not to visit family and we are still married, so I would call it a success. The only failure was not seeing the cast of "The Hills" or going to the famous Le Deux they frequent. I attempted to not duplicate any of the pictures Lexie posted. If you want to read more about our trip from a Cottle's perspective you can look at her blog.