Birthday Cruise 2011...

Happy Happy Birthday to Lance today!!!

For his birthday this year we went on a weekend cruise! It was so great to get away to some warmth. We left on Thursday and drove to Long Beach and stayed in the Queen Mary, which was built in the 20's (i think :) and turned into a floating hotel in the 60's. So it was really neat to stay in such a piece of history.

We didn't take any pictures while we were there though, so we hurried and got a few with the Queen Mary in the background while we were getting on our cruise ship.

We were docked in Long Beach, we got on the boat on Friday afternoon. We got there right at 12:30 as the boarding was just starting and it was so so nice, there weren't any lines and we just walked right on and of course headed up to the buffet for some lunch. :)

Saturday morning we pulled into Ensenada, Mexico. I was trying really hard to just be relaxed, so I didn't have any shore excursions planned for us. We just decided to get off the boat and see what our options were.

We ended up renting a 4-wheeler to drive around and see the sights. It was really nice weather, but we were dressed for a day at the beach not really for a day of 4-wheeler riding. So it was a little cold zooming around the city. The traffic was super fast it was like driving a 4-wheeler down Bangeter Highway. Lance of course did great driving around and even found a wal-mart so we could get some sweaters (which they didn't end up having).

Then we turned down a little road to get to some sand dunes and the beach, it was then that we discovered that our 4-wheeler wasn't 4 wheel drive :) I so wish I had taken a picture of Lance up to his knees in mud without his shirt on, trying to get the 4-wheeler unstuck. Hahaha. eventually a guy who spoke a little English came by in his truck and pulled us out.

Lance didn't want to return the 4-wheeler to the rental place all covered in mud so we found a little car wash. All they had was a little low pressure hose, it took them like an hour to get it cleaned off.

While we waited for it to get washed, we found a place for lunch. Very much a local spot, not geared for tourists at all. :)

 After we cracked the code and figured out (kind-of) what were were ordering. We had hands down the best Mexican food we have EVER had, Lance got a beef burrito and I got a Hawaiian empanada. I have been craving another one ever since!

The waves were huge, again the biggest waves I have ever seen. We were still freezing so we didn't get in the water, we just soaked up some sun and watched the surfers.

Sunday was the "day at sea" we did lots of laying around. In the 3 days were were gone I read 2 books. Which is heaven for me, Lance was content to watch the football games that were on.

It was also the formal night, there are little portrait studios set up all over the boat, so of course we had to stop and get a quick picture. :)

Everyone knows that the best part of cruising is the food. Our dinners were always amazing, but I look forward to dessert the most. Every night I get the warm chocolate melting cake, I know its a little 2001. But that doesn't bother me :) it is DIVINE!!!



This is just a picture of the deck on the last night, it always makes me so sad to leave. :( 

Our boat. "Carnival Paradise"

We had such a great time, thanks so much to our parents for the present! We LOVED it!!!