Caribbean Cruise with Friends

In October 2003 we organized our first group vacation with some friends and decided that a cruise would be a perfect idea since they are said to be more fun when traveling in a group. It is also something that I had never done, and Andrew had not done since he was a child, and is a pretty reasonably priced vacation. We chose Carnival's Triumph cruiseship and the western Caribbean itinerary that stopped in Cozumel, Mexico; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Accompanying us on the trip were Mark and Heather Ferrence, Steve and Amy Kriebel, Chad and Aimee Saunders, and Ray and Missy Greenley.

Here's our ship (well, some of it!). It is hard to imagine just how big a cruiseship is until you are standing next to it!

Our first night onboard, we went to the Captain's Welcome Dinner, which was one of our two formal nights. It started as a complimentary cocktail hour followed by dinner in the main dining hall. We all dressed up in our finest threads and enjoyed a great first night at sea!

Our first port stop was in Cozumel, Mexico and the Saunders, Greenleys and we decided to take one of the Carnival excursions to visit the Ruins at Tulum. It was a fairly long bus ride followed by some time at the ruins before we headed back. It was a good experience and something both of us had always wanted to see, but hot is not even the right word to describe just how "warm" it was inland in Mexico. And this was in October, we couldn't even imagine what it would have felt like had we been there in the summer.

Some photos of the ruins:

The neat thing about the Ruins at Tulum was that they are located on a cliff overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. So, the scenery was phenomenal and the contrast between the ancient ruins and the picturesque seascape made for some really neat photos.

Our next stop was on the Cayman Islands and this was by far our favorite port stop. Grand Cayman is breathtaking - perfectly clear blue water, white sand, one of the cleanest cities you can visit. We took an outside excursion on Captain Bryan's Tours, which included a catamaran cruise to the famous Sting Ray City and some time to go snorkeling as well. Here's one photo of the sting rays. They are SO slippery and fast-moving, but really rather friendly. They like to brush up against your legs just like a friendly dog would. They're not quite as cute though!

Our last port stop was in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and here we walked around on our own and also went to Dunn's River Falls to climb up a waterfall. For some reason I can't seem to find our photos from Dunn's, and am thinking that we may have used (God forbid!) a regular 35mm camera for these photos since I do have them scrapbooked. Here, though, is a photo of some random parrots we met in town. We thought it was funny that they were just hanging out around the city.

Finally, our last night onboard was really a fiesta in the dining hall and the cruiseship went all out to make our final dinner on the Triumph a memorable experience. There was entertainment and a special dinner and dessert. We had THE best wait staff during our time on the Triumph so here we are posing with them.

California Here We Come!

My cousin Neil got married in May 2003 so my parents and brother headed out to San Francisco with us for the event and we all decided to stay a week and make a vacation out of it. We spent some time in San Francisco and then also spent some time in the Napa Valley to do some wine tasting. It was the first time any of us had ever been to California and we had a great time.

Here are Andrew and I on the Powell-Hyde trolley line, which is the famous San Francisco trolley car that still has the original old-fashioned look. We took a trip through the hilly city and it was often a bit of thrill ride when the trolley needed to stop midway up a steep incline or coasted down one of the streets.

I loved visiting Fisherman's Wharf and we tried to do all of the touristy things while in the area - Ghirardelli Chocolate Square, Alcatraz Island, Pier 39, and I made sure to sample some of San Francisco's famous seafood. That clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl was my warm welcome to the city!

Here are Mike and I in one of the jail cells on Alcatraz Island. We took the nighttime ferry over to the island for a tour and the dark, foggy night definitely added to the creepy feeling of that place!

The three of us visited an arboretum one day while my parents went shopping and Andrew was able to take a photograph with the giant redwoods that he had been wanting to see. We walked through the botanical gardens and loved seeing all of the different foliage and fauna in bloom.

Our camera's highlight of this trip was definitely on our last morning in San Francisco, actually on our car ride out of the city to the Napa Valley. We had had nice weather while in the city, but as it was San Francisco, there was not a day that was perfectly clear without any fog. In fact, the fog was so heavy for two of the days that we were there that we could not even see the Golden Gate or Oakland Bay Bridges! However, on our last day, we had a beautiful, clear blue day and we hoped that we would be able to catch a glimpse of The Golden Gate Bridge since you have to see this landmark while in northern California! So, we rounded a curve in the road and immediately we saw it clear as day. It's amazing that just the day before this bright orange bridge wasn't viewable at all!

The second half of our trip was devoid of many photos since it basically constituted eating, drinking and relaxing at the pool and in the spa, but we did capture a photo of our favorite vineyard along the way, a small family-owned winery in the Sonoma Valley en route to Napa. It is called Viansa and the wines there were fabulous. Apart from this winery, we also had a good time at some of the larger wineries in the Napa Valley such as Rutherford Hill, Domaine Chandon, Beringer and Robert Mondavi. Viansa: