17 Wonderful Days .......

We left Salt Lake to go to LA to board the cruise ship for the Panama Canal. We went with the Stewies and the Moonies and it was incredible. I can't say enough about how great it was to get away with just Steve and see some beautiful places. In the beginning my arm was sore and my face was still scabbed but I knew the cruise would be relaxing and the only thing I was worried about was not being able to get my face in the sun. That worry didn't last long, I figured I am almost 50 so after the first day of putting suntan lotion on my scrapes I just said what the heck and off I went to enjoy the sunshine and there was plenty of it!!!


Park in LA where girls were dancing.


Can you say Muster Station?

Our first day at sea was awesome, sat by the pool and loved listening to the steel pan music of the carribean.

Our first port of call was Cabo San Lucas and it was awesome. The pictures don't do it justice.


You can only walk thru this arch every 4 years because of the tides.


Acapulco and the pals.




You know it's famous for the cliff divers. Steve insisted on taking pictures!

It was off to Huatulco (waa-tool-co). It was a very small island, we found a guy to take us in his boat around the island. Note the iguana, Steve was in heaven when he saw it.




We celebrated Halloween on the ship. We got our costumes at Walmart in Acapulco. Jim Carey aka "The Mask" won first place. This guy had all his mannerisms down and really did a great job. He deserved to win!






We are in Costa Rica where Steve served his mission and it was so awesome to just be there. Of course it has changed alot but I could tell Steve was so happy. We decided to do the zip lines in the rain forest. I didn't overcome my fear of heights but I dealt with it as we went from one zip line to the next (9 total) and then we rapelled down the last one. It was awesome!!





Then it was off to the Canal. The ship went thru at 5 in the morning and since I had grown used to sleeping in I was not getting up that early. Steve however was to excited to sleep and was up on deck in the early morning hours.

These are the Cuna indians that met us at the port. The men are in loin cloths and the womens usually don't have tops on and they are covered in tattoos. These girls were so excited to see themselves on Steves camera after he took their picture.


Kayaking on Gantun Lake. I was told to hold the oar steady, don't move because if we tipped Steve wouldn't be able to get me back in the boat.


The temple picture doesn't do it justice but I had to include it anyway.



Then we were off to Aruba. This was the only port where we had the whole day. In the morning we went to the beach and rented a hobie cat catamaran. The Stewies and us went sailing for about an hour. It was way fun. We met up with the Moonies at lunch and they wanted to go shopping and we went horseback riding. I am scared to death of horses but yet I love the idea of riding a horse on the beach so off we went. My horses name was Antonio Banderas. Supposedly Mel's horse (Party Boy) was the one that likes to lead but not this time and needless to say I was way freaked out when my horse took off. It turned out to be everything I had thought it would and I felt like a little kid in a candy store or maybe even at Disneyland. I was so excited. Aruba was the first place that we went that we could find a Mountain Dew for Criddy. After we were done riding we felt the need to wash our hands. Criddy grabbed his Dew, went for the first sink he could find and well the picture says it all.





Our last port was Puerto Rico where we got off the ship and stayed in a hotel for a couple of days. It was way awesome, I don't know why we didn't take many pictures, maybe cuz we had been there before but we went to Old San Juan, Barrachina (the first place the pina colada was made)and spent one day sailing and snorkeling on a catamaran. They provided lunch and drinks and fruit and took us to 2 different spots. The first wasn't that great as far as visibility, but I did get to see a purple jelly fish up close. The second spot was more colorful. Our pals (the stewies) saw a barracuda but we weren't so lucky. It was way fun!






I must admit as we flew away in our big ol plane I was sad. I realized how much I enjoyed being around the ocean and the beautiful water of the carribean and really didn't want my trip to end even though I missed my kids terribly. As we got further away I became antsy to get home but of course we had to go thru atlanta first. About an hour before we were ready to land Steve told me he was short of breath and still had the pain in his left side. (He had complained of that when we got to Puerto Rico, but thought he had pulled a muscle.) He said he was light headed and felt like he was going to pass out and just in case anything happened he wanted me to know his symptoms. I told him to put his head down but there wasn't any room. About 5 minutes later he told the lady in the aisle seat to move and took off for the back of the plane. I don't know that he actually passed out but ended up on the floor of the plane with an IV in his arm. His blood pressure had dropped. There happened to be a nurse and a cardiology Dr. on the plane as well as my friend Mel (who stayed in the back of the plane with Steve. I was pretty much helpless and emotional during the whole thing. After the plane landed Steve and I took an ambulance ride to an Atlanta Hospital. After running tons of tests, chest xrays and urine samples they felt he could fly home. So Steve and I flew home on Tuesday. My pals the Moons and the Stewies are incredible. Criddy and Moonie gave Steve a blessing on the plane, Mel stayed with him and even offered to stay behind with us in Atlanta and they all took care of getting my luggage in Salt Lake.



The doctor sitting on the plane during the landing. Not sure what the IV was hanging from!




Thanks guys for 17 wonderful days of fun in the sun. Can't wait for the next cruise!!!