Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Thursday, May 29, 2008

There's nobody more obnoxious than a returning vacationist.

It was a long winter in many ways. Thats why Nicole and I were tickled at the offer by my parents to accompany them on a short cruise to celebrate both my graduation and our fifth anniversary. It was the first real vacation we've taken in years.

Just hours after graduation we hopped on a flight to Seattle so we could celebrate H and J's great wedding. Though we arrived a few minutes late, it was a pleasure to be there and celebrate with an intimate group of people--wonderful friends who have remained close throughout the years. On Monday we got on another plane and flew to Long Beach and boarded the "Monarch of the Seas" in San Pedro. Cruising ended up being a lot of fun. We explored the ship, watched two comedians, had fantastic food, watched the ocean, saw dolphins, tourtises, sea lions, and marine fowl, played a few casino games, listened to music, shopped, and just relaxed. Our first port was in San Diego were we spent the day with a good friend just hanging out (and having delicious tacos). Our second port was supposed to be Catalina Island, but bad weather forced us to cancel and instead we spent a day at sea. Our final port was Ensenada. It was Nicole's first trip to Mexico, and she seemed to be immediately enamored. Some people only like Mexico for its resort areas, never venturing outside the Americanized confines of resorts and beaches. Ensenada is different, more authentically Mexican--and we like that. Nicole and I enjoy Mexican food and art, as well as we encountering different cultures... so Ensenada was a highlight for us. Neither of us had yet picked out an anniversary gift for each other, so when we found an incredible piece of authentic Mexican art we decided to get it...
We returned to Los Angeles the next day and flew back to Seattle. That night we went to a wedding shower for another old friend, then we made our way down to Cascades Camp to spend a couple days with a couple of our favorite people in one of our favorite places.

It was a week packed full of activity, but for as much as we did in just 8 days, it was a very relaxing experience overall. Flying and traveling was a breeze for once! It was a little silly that we left better weather in Chicago and Seattle for overcast skies in Southern California, but that's okay. It was a great way to kick off the summer.

3 comments:

gavin said...

I didn't know Kenny Rogers was your dad! That's awesome....

That song "Reuben James" makes me cry every time.

Anonymous said...

How did you ever get that awesome and delicate piece of art back to Chicago in one piece?

Mom "K"

P.S. By the way, we had a great time too!!

Nicole said...

The salesperson at the store we bought it from wrapped it in about 10 yrds of tissue and bubblewrapped it twice! :) I kept it in my carry on bag and when it went through the x-ray machine in seattle the lady was like "What is that?" I said, "it's some art we brought from Mexico" and she was like, "um, is it a skull?" I said "Yeah. Oh! But not a real one!"

Haha. I didn't even think of that when I packed it! :)