Spring Break was Smooth Sailing

Yes, I took a picture of the picture. No, I don't know if that is allowed or not. Yes, I'm too cheap to buy the picture. In my defense, we don't look our best because we had been standing in line for a good six hours by the time we took this picture. I love cruises but the line to get on the cruise can be a pain. But I'm not going to complain about that because I went on a cruise over spring break which was very cool.

We set off on the Carnival Miracle to the magical lands of Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. It was a two-day journey to get to Cabo, which was filled with dancing at the night club and watching funny comedians. I was a bit worried when I first heard we were going on a cruise because I feel like my twin brother, Ryan, and I are at this awkward age where they wouldn't let us into the teen club yet we also were under 21 so we couldn't go into the bars but luckily the Frankenstein Club was open for anyone 18 and over, which was awesome. My brother is not a club person, though I did make him come with me a couple times, but I love to dance. I go all out when it comes to dancing, unlike a lot of the girls on the dance floor who are worried about messing up their hair or looking stupid. I mean, it would be a plus if I didn't look stupid, but I figured that after the cruise, I would never have to see these people again. And most of them were probably drunk anyways.

(For the record, I don't drink, but I like going to parties. My friends love me cause then I'm always the DD.)

I was also able to make a lot of good friends on the cruise whom I could run around with. We would all go see the comedy shows together and try to sit in the front where we could get roasted by the comedians. Sadly, they never picked on me. I think I looked too eager to be picked on.

In Cabo, we took a boat tour to go to a nice snorkeling location. It was nice to get out in the sun and seawater and see some fish. I'm always the first person to jump into the water with snorkel gear; it's how I was raised. Well, maybe second person to jump in because my dad is very gung-ho too.

One of my goals on the trip was to look healthy again because the lack of sun in Oregon paled me out...but I think I went a little overboard with that. I forgot on the first day that, in fact, I don't tan and that the sun and my skin do not get along at all. So, I became a lobster for a while. I have a bit of a tan line from it now, but, honestly, when I came back, no one noticed that I had gotten any tanner. Oh well.

Anyways, the climax of the trip was in Puerto Vallarta. There, we took a half an hour speed boat ride to a part of the coast and then took a VERY off road, Indiana Jones kind of truck ride up to this ranch. From there we road mules further up a mountain to the location where we would go zip lining through the canopies. My mule was very competitive. She/he kept trying to pass the other mules on the way up the hill, which I encouraged because I can be a bit of competitive too. At the end of the trail, we were leading the pack.

This wasn't the first time that I had gone zip lining through canopy. My first time was in Costa Rica a few years back. But I do have to say that this trip had EVERYTHING. It had seven different zip lines through the forest along with two repels down waterfalls. We splashed into the ice-cold water which felt good cause it was a warm day. And to finish it off, we went down a gigantic waterslide to get back to base. The whole time they just kept us moving. The next thing we knew five hours had passed. It was amazing. Look up Extreme Canopy because I HIGHLY recommend it. I know I just turned into an ad, but seriously.

During the trip, I had made the mistake of telling our tour guides that I spoke a little bit of Spanish. Now we're talking three years of Spanish in high school kind of thing. I wish I was good at picking up languages but, sadly, it is not one of my strong suits. But because I told them, they kept speaking to me in Spanish and asking me what they had said. They also made me read things in Spanish and respond in Spanish. I was honestly very happy that they did that because by the end I was remembering a bit more than I had thought I had known before. They were very kind and funny. AMAZING tour guides.

So, overall, I had a very nice trip. We also kind of used this trip to celebrate my parents 30th anniversary next month. My dad took us to the nice steakhouse restaurant on the cruise ship to celebrate. I know daughters have this fear that they will marry guys like their fathers someday, but honestly, I would be lucky to find someone who loves me like my dad loves my mom. Currently, it seems to get harder and harder for couples to stay married and I'm proud of my parents for beating those odds.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I love you guys!