In order to get to San Diego, CA –where the cruise was leaving from- we determined since there were 7 of us going –my parents, sister, other sister and her husband, and Ben and I- it would be substantially cheaper if we drove down. So we rented a van and left at 2pm on Thursday February 10, 2011.
We arrived in San Diego 17 hours later to board the Carnival Spirit.
Once on the ship the first two days were spent at sea. There were plenty of activities for us to do like play mini golf...
and play cards...
play dodgeball (actually only Ben and my dad did this activity). Here my dad was the last man standing on his team. Ben and my dad were on the same team and their team ended up being cruise ship champions and they got cool medals.
We saw beautiful sunsets...
had cool towel animals in our room each night...
we dressed up...
And had fantastic service by these two men...
who fed us delicious food like this...
Then we arrived at our first port, Puerto Vallarta. We had decided to do an “Extreme Canopy Adventure” and let me tell you this was so much fun!
We zip lined (here Ben and I were racing; the guides say it was a tie but I say I won)
We also repelled down a rock wall with a waterfall...
And Maxx held up this building.
Next was Mazatlan where we did a lot of this (walking)...
but we made friends with statues...
and the locals...
and saw cool sites like this...
and this.
Then onto La Paz where we stood under this arch...
and saw this beautiful beach...
and this cool looking church.
Next was Cabo San Lucas. We took a water taxi…
to see this site...
and play on this beach.
Finally we went to Ensenada. We had to walk through this market…
to see this “natural phenomenon” (as our guide called it). It was a blowhole.
Then on Sunday February 20 we drove another 17 hours to arrive home on Monday February 21 at 3:30am. We had such a good time with family and the weather was a nice break from this cold Oregon winter.
