Written on July 19th:
I’m on our flight home from San Jose to Houston, enjoying the last of our scheduled vacations for this year. My $5 Jack and Coke has me in the mood to blog and catch everyone up on our last month of life…especially our traveling.
Cozumel Cruise
Justin & Katie, Brent & Sarah, and of course Jessica and I spent our 4th of July weekend on my first ever cruise. We left Galveston on July 2nd, arrived in Cozumel, Mexico on July 4th, and ported again in Galveston on the 6th of July.
Overall, the cruise was great. The girls spent most of the sailing days out on the top deck tanning, reading, gossiping, and whatever else girls do when they’re all together. The guys had a much better (and more expensive) time down below deck…usually sharing a bucket of beer, or gambling…or both. In the afternoon we’d meet for drinks with the ladies, usually more beer for us and the daily drink special for the girls. We’d follow that up with our scheduled formal dinner. The food was fantastic (it always seems to be that way after a couple drinks), especially the Lobster and Steak on formal night.
After dinner we usually went to the nightly show or the piano bar. The night time entertainment, along with the dinner, was generally the highlight of the night.
Although we didn’t have anything scheduled on July 4th when we got off the ship in Cozumel, we ended up having a full day on shore. We took the cab to “downtown” Cozumel, where Brent, Justin, and I promptly found a store selling $1 cans of Mexican beer (do you notice a theme for the guys). The girls tried to do a little shopping up until the point where we found a special restaurant… “Carlos & Charlie’s”. To most people “Carlos & Charlie’s” is just a normal American tourist restaurant, but to Sarah, it had a more special meaning. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say that Sarah’s parents had been there about 23 years before.
Another special thing about “Carlos & Charlie’s” is the amount of alcohol that fills girls’ yard long drinks. For only $13, you too could be dancing in the streets of Cozumel.
One hour later we were boarding a smaller boat, I was one of two “no” votes to take our scuba tour, but the other four insisted that we all do it together. Brent and I were outnumbered so we soon found ourselves snorkeling in not so smooth waters between Cozumel and the Mexican mainland. Too bad my vote didn’t count more, because I was sick after about 4 minutes in the water. I spent the rest of our tour seasick in our glass bottomed boat. No hard feelings, but next time I’m going to opt for a small Mexican bar while everyone else snorkels.
The cruise home was much of the same; lots of open Gulf, late night shows, a little gambling, a little more alcohol, and generally a good time by everyone involved.
You can find the cruise pictures here… http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2772858&id=8308156&l=cb67adfafa
California Trip
They always say, ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’, and that saying worked out well for everyone this weekend. Jessica and I love to travel, but as with most young married people our age, money can keep us from going somewhere every single weekend. Jessica’s grandmother (Nannie) wanted to go to Carmel, California for a family wedding, but doesn’t like to travel by herself. It worked out perfectly when she asked us to go with her and take care of her on the trip. We made sure that she made it on and off of the airplane, as well as from San Jose, CA. to Carmel, CA. and we got to spend our free time touring San Francisco, Carmel, and everywhere between.
We spent the first evening on an amazing vineyard property in Carmel Valley. The deck where we ate dinner overlooked the valley and provided a great view of the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
Early the next morning, Jessica, Kayla and I got in our white mini-van and traveled up Hwy 1 North to San Francisco. We took a double-decker bus around town to see the Golden Gate Bridge, China Town, and the rest of the city.
The rest of the trip was spent eating at nice restaurants in Monterrey and south of Carmel (thanks Lewis), driving on the 17 mile road, and walking on the 1st and 18th holes of Pebble Beach Golf Course (home of next year’s US Open).
Check out the pictures here… http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2781154&id=8308156&l=9c25fc55be
Now What?
We’ve spent so much of this year traveling, that now we really have to think and plan about what we’re going to do next. We don’t have any major vacations planned until next year, we’re not planning on having kids for a couple more years, and we’re pretty settled in our house.
I guess the next step is to get ahead in life. I’m sure I’ll spend an entire blog post in the near future about what my professional and life plans are over the next year or two. If we can repeat our successes from last year and this year, we should be living nicely soon enough…it’s been a great year.