Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Anniversary On The Elation

We just got back from a really special vacation to celebrate being married for 20 years (gasp! Wow!). This was our ship, The Elation which sailed out of San Diego and took us down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and back again.
It was our first time going on a cruise or even on such a large ship. I was really fascinated with the wake as we moved through the water and took many many pictures of it. All those swirls and curves and colors.
Here we are as we leave San Diego. My husband, Marc was already there for a work conference so he was really glad to be going on vacation.
Our state room had a window, which kept surprising me. Because the room was just a smallish hotel room, but then you'd look out the window, and wow, you're at sea!
Every night we'd come back to our room after stuffing ourselves at another wonderful dinner to a different towel animal. This one was hanging from the light fixture and wearing my sunglasses. Kinda freaky. They had a class on how to do the towel folding and a book you could buy too, but I wasn't into learning this skill I guess.
This was a sign that just cracked me up. I know it was an international ship with an international crew, so it probably doesn't mean what it says, but still, good advice to remember!
I loved the nautical flags above the main deck. One of the days at sea was super windy and these flags were impossible to photograph, they were moving so much.
The stairways and elevators had these panels with these funny faces. Sometimes the eyes seemed to follow you.

And here's the carpet pattern which echoed the panels above and the staircase railings (the squiggly bit), reminds me of squids.
After a couple of days we arrived in Cabo San Lucas. We were up early to go on an excursion, so I took this 7am shot as we pulled in near the shore. I love how the seagull ended up in this picture (it was a surprise!).We went out on a whale watching trip in a Zodiac motorboat. Oh boy was it ever a blast! Like a two hour long really speedy, roller coaster ride.
Yes it was windy, check out my crazy hair. We saw three humpback whales, one of which breached right next to our boat. We also heard it singing which was super cool! And there was a big pod of dolphins and of course a whole lot of vast, empty, endless ocean.
We then ambled into the town of Cabo. You know you are in a foreign country when the stop sign says: "ALTO". Here are some luchadores masks hanging up for sale. I almost bought some for our sons, but talked myself out of it, turns out they would have worn them as costumes in their band (like Los Straitjackets). There were a whole lot of touristy and rude tshirts for sale. But this one really made me laugh.And to end the fun, we woke up very early to this sight out our window as the ship pulled back into the San Diego harbor. The moon setting on the horizon. Yes it is orange. Not sure why it was orange (pollution? Sea haze?), but that is the color that our eyes saw, not a trick of the camera or software.
Thanks for letting me bore you with my vacation pictures! :-)

4 comments:

LINDA BYLSMA said...

What a beautiful vacation. The towel are cracks me up. What a surprise to walk in and see that character hanging there!
Great photos, and not at all boring.

Jaye said...

Fabulous! I am so glad you got to go on such a nice trip. Looks like you had great weather and NO pirates as well! Happy anniversary!

Julie Zaccone Stiller said...

Yes Linda, those towel animals were hilarious, definitely not something you'd expect on your bed or in your room!
Jaye, yes hooray for no pirates, or rogue waves, or noro-virus for that matter. Thanks for anniversary wishes :-)

:-D eirdre said...

Belated wishes - we celebrate our 20th this year too! Quite an accomplishment.

:-D eirdre