Things out of order

I guess I forgot to add a few other items to my blog. I have not added our pictures from our cruise.
Eileen, Jeff and Mike and I took a short but very fun 4 day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico, back in September.

We started from the port in Long Beach with suitcases full of our finest to be ready for a luxury cruise.

The terminal for the Carnival Cruise Line is what used to be the home of the "Spruce Goose".

Mike and Jeff

Mike and I while boarding the ship.

Looking from the ship to the Long Beach Harbor.

We first went to our rooms and unpacked and then learned that we needed to be up on deck for a manditory lifeboat drill. We then walked around the ship for awhile and then dressed for dinner. We had a lovely dinner in the Elation Dining Room. Our table was right next to the window so we could see the coast line as we started sailing to Catalina Island. The waiters were very good and brought us everything we could ever think of. Then before dinner hour was over they sang and danced for us! We then went to the showroom for that night's entertainment. It was a song and dance show and a comedian. When we returned to our room we had towel art waiting for us.

We arrived at Catalina Island during the night. (It is only 26 miles from Long Beach so we cruised really slow that night) We woke up early and had a great breakfast and then took the "tender" a water taxi to the shore. The harbor at Catalina is not deep enough for the ship to get into so it has to anchor out a ways and we had to use the tenders.It was a typical hazy day. The island is so clean and very beautiful, even if it is very desert like.

Mike, Nancy, Eileen and Jeff as we got off the tenders at Catalina.

Mike and the local pirate

 

We had arrainged two tours for the day. The first was the glass bottom boat. They take you out in the harbor and you can drop fish food into the water and watch the fish come to feed. We saw mostly one kind of fish but there were a few different looking ones to see.

Mike was fascinated by the birds, they even came and sat on the boat!

This is the city of Avalon. It is so tiny, only one square mile. They houses are very small and have no yard. They have very few cars on the island. There is about 16 year waiting list to bring a car to the island! Most people drive golf carts, they even have license plates on them.

This is the famous "Casino" but it is not a casino like we think of them. Casino means gathering place, so this was actually a dance hall.

Our ship taken from the tender at Catalina

Our next tour was the Inside Island Tour. This was a bus tour that took us up into the hill side and eventually to the Avalon Airport. It was a little bit of a scary ride, as the roads were narrow and some unpaved and pretty much one way with some blind curve switch backs.

The start of our climb

A little higher

Avalon Airport gift store

Mike on the runway. This airport is called the "airport in the sky". It is actually on top of a mountain. There is a sheer drop off  before and after the runway.

Nancy on the runway

We returned to the ship and dressed for that night's formal captains dinner. Mike and I dresses in our finest for the dinner. Again it was a fantastic dinner and the waiters waited on us hand and foot.

Mike and I at the Captains Dinner

The show this night was a Country Review Show. I love country music but this was not my favorite. They did really old songs. This was our towel art this night.

As we slept this night the ship sailed to Ensenada, Baja, Mexico.

In Ensedada we could debark the ship right on the shore. Here we are as we exited the ship with some of the locals...

Downtown Ensenada

We walked around downtown a bit. They strongly told us that we should only shop in this area for our safety. Mike and Jeff found a husband's bench and Eileen and I wondered in and out of stores for awhile. There are pharmacy's on every corner and they are trying to sell you almost any perscription drug you can think of. It was while we were downtown that I tripped and badly sprained my foot. I miss stepped off a step and rolled my foot on a small piece of concrete that stuck out too far and I went down. I was able to get right up and did not hurt anywhere but my foot. I limped back to the bench where Mike and Jeff were waiting for us. I stopped in one of the many pharmacy stores and bought an ace bandage. I wrapped my foot up and went on. We had lunch on the ship and then went to meet our tour bus and headed for La Bufadora or "the Blow Hole". This was about an hour drive from the ship. We got to see much of the countryside. I was very surprised to see how desert like it was. We did go through some very poor areas too. La Bufadora is a natural blow hole along the shoreline. It is formed by a cove, the water pressure builds up coming in and out of the cove until it sprays out  of a hole in the rock like a geyser. To get to the blowhole we had to walk through a flee market, (an interesting experience in itself) Here is a man wanting to cook up some live lobsters for us!

the coastline

the blowhole

spray as it rose up from the blowhole

looking down into the cove

Mike, Nancy, Eileen and Jeff

We were here for a little over an hour. They were hoping that we would be free with our money at the flee market, but all I bought was a postcard and Eileen bought a hat. We rode back to the ship and again got ready for dinner. By this time my foot was so swollen that I couldn't hardly get a shoe on. So I did not dress up too much for dinner. I wore pants to try and hide my huge foot. We had a great dinner and the show was another comedian, who was very funny. He had people stand up and tell their zip code. He could then tell you what part of the country youmlived inand most of the time he could narrow it down to what part of town you lived in! He was amazing.

Our towel art this night.

The next day was our day at sea. This day the ship was anchored or floating most of the day. While out at sea the ship stores were open and the casino. (They wanted you to spend your money) We spent the morning lounging on the deck, the Mike and Jeff went to a music trivia game where Mike won a medal for the most correct answers. Eileen and I went to a sale where we each bought a few t-shirts. Mike went to another trivia game in the afternoon for sports and leizure, which he also won another medal. We watched an ice carving demonstration that day too. It was amazing to watch the shape evolve.

The ship's tail

Mike relaxing on the deck

Jeff and Mike on deck

Mike with his medals for the trivia games

Our waiter

Our last towel art

All too soon we were back in Long Beach Harbor and it was time to go home! We did have a nice surprise, we found out on the way home that Melissa and the kids would be coming for a visit for the weekend! It was hard getting back into the swing of things for a few days, and I was on crutches for about two weeks because of my foot. It has taken almost three months to heal completely. But I am not sure I can say completely yet, as it still hurts once in awhile.