Sunday, May 3, 2009

Permanent Vacation

I've had a little trouble easing back into the real world after such a fabulous vacation. Of course, I came home to a house where an unattended husband lived for a week... and all of the messes that go along with that. LOL! It took me all week to unpack, clean, and get back into the swing of things. But, I think I'm ready to be back. Well, at least until my next vacation! So, how about some photos from my little cruise get-away?

Our first stop was in Key West, where we visited "The Smallest Bar." Literally. It was a counter under an awning, carefully squeezed between two buildings. Kinda' like a guy with a cooler and a liquor license.



They made the most amazing concoction of I-don't-know-what. All I know was that it had a lot of rum, and I was feeling no pain. The Jamaican bartender was pretty nice...



You had your choice of a coconut or pineapple for a "glass." At $17, the pineapple wasn't a bargain... but that didn't stop us.



The Custom House Museum had some nifty sculptures surrounding the outside of the building...







The next day was an "at-sea" day. Loved it. Massage in the morning, drinks by the pool in the afternoon, good food at night... relaxing at it's best.



The 3rd day was the BEST by far. We were in Grand Cayman, and took a day-long excursion to Hell's post office, Tortuga Rum Cake factory (the chocolate rum cake was AMAZING... a couple made it home in my suitcase), the turtle farm, and to Sting Ray City to swim with the stingrays.

The turtles were just so adorable...



And, I was amazed that they actually let you catch one in the tank and even hold it for a couple of minutes!



Isn't he the cutest?!? Surprisingly, they weren't at all aggressive and seemed to enjoy being held. The stingrays, although loving to be played with as well, were a little more intimidating. It took me a couple of minutes to warm up to them. But, I eventually got used to it.



If you ever plan to swim with the rays, I highly recommend leaving any jewelry behind... especially rings... especially if you want to feed them. Those things have some insanely strong suction in their mouths. You might just pull you hand out to find some bling missing. I was glad I had enough foresight to leave my wedding ring in the safe on the ship.

All in all, it was a fabulous vacation. I can't wait to do another cruise... hopefully when Bryan comes back from his next deployment. In the meantime, I have a trip to Alaska next week, and a trip to Disney World in June to look forward to. Yup... this summer is shaping up to be filled with lots of photos to keep me busy scrapping through winter! I'll be back in the next couple of days with some Label Tulip sneaks for May! Until then...

17 comments:

bethchien said...

FUN, FUN PICS! Good girl on leaving the ring behind. lol

Ayesha said...

wow seems like heaps of fun maybe when my lil girl is abit older i may go away with a friend you have inspired me to do so hmmmmm lets wait till the swine flu cools down first though lol

Janine said...

Ok so here I am at Barnes and Noble and looking at Artful Blogging. Lo and behold there is this beautiful picture of clam chowder and I buy the magazine and take it home log onto hollyscharmedlife, etc. Scroll, scroll, scroll down...finally the beautiful picture of the clam chowder and no recipe!!!! Please share?

mushroommeadows said...

Whoa, it looks like you had a blast!!! Oh yeah, I saw you in the Artful Blogging magazine, too!!! SOOOO AWESOME! :)

~just me said...

soo much fun! i should have stolen that smallest bar pic from you it is better than the one i got. i'm so glad that you wanted to do the stingrays, cause i would not have done that on my own! as my co-worker pointed out the turtle looked MUCH happier when you were holding it than me..maybe i held it too tight because i was terrified of dropping it and going to jail?lol =0)

Nicole said...

Oh Holly! Looks like such a CRAZY AWESOME vacation! Glad you had a great time!

Unknown said...

WOW- looks like a great time was had! LOVELY pictures!

Can't wait for those sneek peeks!

Danielle Flanders said...

holy cow you are a brave girl!! I would be so scared to do the stingray thing! loved your photos!
danielle

Melonie said...

Really fun pics! Glad you had a great time.

metrochic said...

amazing pictures! i wish i were checking out cool turtles and drinking out of a pineapple! whee!

rosedale's 4head said...

i've been here...similar pics as a matter of fact...i didn't want to come back to the states...hope you partied with the locals...at the time (2003), they were the best hosts...such hospitality...we stayed at the C. Columbus right on the beach side....

great pics!

Sasha Farina said...

OMG>.. looks like an amazing time!! gorgeous photos Holly!

Michelle said...

WOW! Looks like you had an amazing time. So glad you shared such fun photos. Sounds like a fun summer ahead of you. Totally love the turtle photos!

Unknown said...

Fabulous picts!! We went to the Cayman's a few years ago and got to hold the turtles too. So cool!! Did you see the baby turtles?

Steph said...

Wow, great pics! Seems like you had a great vacation!

Erica said...

We loved the turtle farm and the sting ray visit. Very cool to see them up close. I freaked out the first time one of them swam by my ankle and jumped on DH's shoulders. That was it for me. He even kissed one. Brave man.

And we just got back from Alaska. We did a cruise though and the weather was gorgeous. Can't wait to go back!

Unknown said...

wow it looks like you had a blast on your vaca, i loooove all the fun pics!! I cant believe youre going to ak and disney world too, you lucky girl! :) I hope you have tons of fun!!