A cruising we did go

Warning: The following post may be a tad lengthy.

We returned about a month ago from our cruise to the Mexican Riviera in celebration of our 15th anniversary. We had a really great time with lots of adventures. To begin with, a huge thank you to my Mom and Dad for driving from California to Utah to stay with our kids while we were gone. We couldn't have done this without your help. The kids had a blast and the house was spotless when we got home. You guys are awesome! Zaron and I drove to L.A. on Friday (all by ourselves). Wow, 10 hours goes by so fast when you're not listening to "Are we there yet?" every 5 seconds. We, of course stopped at In-n-out in St. George. I love In-n-out so much. We stayed with Zaron's sister and her husband at their apartment in L.A. that night. Thanks guys for your hospitality. You're great!

Here we are Saturday morning getting ready to head to the ship

Nice hair! Don't be jealous of my Tuffy Tooth T-shirt.

Zaron's sister and husband and daughter and daughter #2 soon to arrive.

We cruised on the Sapphire Princess

This was the only picture that we were able to get of the whole ship. It was ginormous!

Formal night #1
We went the conservative route and took our own picture. I was amazed with all the pictures they wanted to take of you and then charge you 20 bucks per picture. Are you kidding me? We did buy the picture that they took of us as we were getting on the ship the first day.

Our 1st stop: Puerto Vallarta and a ride on the zip line.
We got off the ship and they took us to this tiny motorized row boat which took us through this canal past some very nice yachts and boats to these WWII jeeps. All 14 of us in our group climbed in the back and then we held on for dear life. It was so cool! We drove through some very poor areas of Puerto Vallarta. It was very humbling to see how some of the world has to live. It made me very grateful for all that we have in our country.

After a 45 minute ride in the jeep, we arrived in the jungles of Puerto Vallarta, where we were outfitted with hard hats and harnesses. Don't be jealous, I know we look "so fine". We had such an adventure on the zip line; definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. We had the best guides ever; they were so hilarious. They certainly made the experience a blast. I can't say that I wasn't scared at practically every platform, which was the equivalent of being 20 stories off the ground, but it was so exhilarating. I'm actually proud that we were able to accomplish this. We're now ready for the next "Amazing Race".

Who is that fine guy?

Next stop: Mazatlan, the most beautiful place I've seen so far
Here, we are taking the tram from the ship to the open aired taxis.

The taxis took us to the Golden zone and to this quaint amphitheatre where we saw some amazing dancers and performers. These guys climbed this pole that was at least 75 feet tall and they sat on the square at the top. The guy in the middle stood up and started dancing as he was also playing a whistle type instrument. The other four were then extended by a rope and they all circled the pole. It was amazing. I have never seen anything like this before.

After the show and shopping (we actually did some pretty good bargaining),we walked to the Playa Mazatlan, a super nice resort right on the beach. It was here that we had the most delicious Mexican food that I have ever tasted. It was the best food that we had on the whole cruise. One of these days, Zaron and I are going to fly to Mazatlan and stay at this resort. It was great!

We forgot to get a picture of our cabin, so this is the hallway just outside our room. We were on the Aloha deck. We were shocked at how long the hallways were on the ship. They went on forever and ever.

On the first day of the cruise, we purchased drink cards. This was by far the best purchase we made. These cards entitled us to all the soda, ice cream, smoothies, and non-alcoholic drinks we wanted. My drink of choice was the virgin pina colada. I consumed at least 5 a day. By the end of the cruise, I knew which bar made the best pina coladas.

Final stop: Cabo San Lucas and a ride with the horses

On our itinerary, it said that in Cabo, tender was required. I assumed that tender meant money. Boy was I wrong. It meant that the ship couldn't dock close enough for us to walk off, so we had to ride to shore in the tender boats (life boats). I always wanted to ride in the life boats, but then I also didn't want to, because if we were riding in the life boats then it meant the ship was sinking. And that wouldn't be very fun. So, this was so cool to ride in the life boats and not have to reenact the sinking of the Titanic.

Here is our authentic Mexican cowboy on his authentic Mexican ranch with his authentic Mexican horses and funny dogs. I'm not sure why, but it was so shocking to me to hear him speak Spanish to his dogs and they understood him.

We were able to ride through the desert on horseback.

It was cool to see real cactus in the real Mexican desert.

After the desert, we rode right along the Pacific ocean. Wow!!

Zaron - the natural born horse rider. Ride 'em cowboy.

Cabo is really beautiful and such gorgeous weather.

This is the life!

Our 2nd and final formal night

This anniversary was one to be remembered - Great fun, good memories!

Now, on to our next adventure - Life!