15 + 40 = Fun!

On January 10, Mike and I celebrated 15 years of (mostly) blissful marriage!  As is tradition every 5 years, we commemorated with a trip on the high seas.  On this trip we shared the journey with our good friends, Steve and Alison, who were celebrating Steve's 40th birthday!

Our trip began with a day and night in Charleston, SC and then we set sail and enjoyed a 5 night cruise to Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas.  Steve and Alison were great cruise companions and we had a fun and relaxing time with them.

Charleston:
Mike had never been before so we drove to town and found a parking spot (after many turn-arounds and some questionable directions from Jen's uncle who works at College of Charleston) then spent the afternoon meandering through the straw market, walking along Bay Street and King Street and enjoying the historic buildings.  Finally, we met Uncle John and Aunt Birgit for dinner at California Dreaming.  There was a note of tragedy along the way to the restaurant...poor Mike felt a squish underfoot and realized that he had stepped on a baby turtle.  Mike LOVES turtles.  :-(  We spent the rest of the vacation reminding him of his transgression sympathizing with him in his sorrow.

Charleston in the background

Carnival Fantasy:
Thanks to Steve and Alison's superior cab-booking abilities, we were one of the first groups of people to make it to the port and board the ship.  We missed all the check-in lines, all the picture lines, all the guest services lines, and all the buffet lunch lines!  Score! 

While we were at sea we had beautiful, warm weather (apart from the last day) and we loved grabbing a lounge chair on an upper deck to do some reading, catch some rays and some zzzz's.  We went to the dining room for a fun dinner every night and got to be seated with some interesting folks.  Most evenings we hung out with Steve and Alison and played euchre on the Lido deck.

Our ship is 2nd from the right

Steve getting ready to enjoy frog legs at dinner!

Cindy and Aunt Carol - they were crazy and fun!

Glenda (or was it Linda??) and Phyllis - quiet but full of spirit!

Just a glimpse of our 80's Vegas style dining room.  It was very...ORANGE!

Euchre! 

Nassau, Bahamas:
Here we took a mile or so walk through the city to find Fort Charlotte.  When we arrived we were greeting with a beautiful view from the top of the barracks!  We opted to not pay the admission fee to tour the fort proper, but I am glad we went to the top of the barracks.  One of the highlights of being there was seeing life in the Bahamas.  As we were climbing the hills we noticed a driver's ed course with several cars snaking through it - seems they were learning to parallel park.  Then, at the bottom of the barracks there was an elementary PE class stretching and running laps.

At the bottom of the barracks.  Mike loved that it says "a conservation center for metal objects"!

At the top of the barracks.  What a view!

A coke and a smile!

After heading back towards town, we stopped at McDonald's to get some sodas (they are sweeter there than in the US) and walked along one of the main streets to do some souvenir shopping.  Mike surprised me with a gorgeous anniversary present - a blue diamond ring!   

I can't let this post go without a little bartering banter.  One of the places we shopped was the Nassau straw market.  It was booth upon booth of very narrow walkways and very crowded souvenir displays.  At one point we decided to get a little drum for Seth and talked the lady down to $15.  She was trying hard to get me to buy a bag as well for $12.  I told her we would do both for $20.  She was a sneaky one and said no - but took the $20 "to hold it and decide".  Then, with the $20 in her hand, she tells Mike, "You give me $10 more and we have a deal.  Mike happily agreed, handed her the money and we were on our way.  Yes, that is right, he successfully bartered UP and paid more than originally asked.  :-)  But, no worries, he was successful in bartering the correct direction when it came to my ring and more than made up for our loss at the straw market!

Freeport, Bahamas:
We discovered in Freeport that there is nothing really to do in Freeport.  So, we took a taxi to Junkanoo beach and spent a couple of hours hanging out in the sand and surf.  Only Mike was willing to get into the water further than ankle-deep as it was a little chilly.  We did walk along the beach and enjoyed sitting in the warm sun.  The other "highlights" of the day were - a very slow taxi driver, a very fast taxi driver and a very topless sunbather.  What?!?!

As I mentioned, our last day at sea was cold (and overcast).  The water was dark except off the back of the ship where it was a beautiful two-toned blue.  We spent most of the day inside, reading and napping - the perfect last day of vacation!!  The waters were choppy that night and we got to experience the fun of being tossed about a little as well as the difficulty of walking a straight line in conditions like that! 

We had a wonderful 6 days away and that was due, in part, to knowing that our kids were being well loved and well taken care of at home.  Mike's parents came to spend the week here and did lots of fun things with Katey and Seth.  We are very thankful for their willingness to give up a week so we could get away!