2015 Cruise, Cozumel/Belize City/Roatan/Grand Cayman

 Saturday Feb 7th my wife and I arrived in Tampa FL. Once the Hilton shuttle picked us up shortly after landing(11:59pm) we learned that there was a plumbing issue in our room that they were not able to fix in time. As they did not have any other spare rooms they comped us the room and put us up in a very nice hotel for the night. The hotel's checkout was at 11am so we headed to the Carnival port earlier than we had planned. Check in for use was suppose to be at 1pm but because the lady at the front desk noticed that my birthday was the day after her sons, she upgraded us to priority boarding. My wife and I were to the port, through security and onto the ship before 11:45, a nice/lucky start to our vacation. For dinner aboard the ship that night I enjoyed a cold tomato gazpacho soup, braised brisket with mashed potatoes and a slice of chocolate cake with black cherries.
                                         

My wife and I on the Lido deck of the Carnival Pride

 Port of Tampa as well of a picture of us going under the last bridge before heading out to sea. We would spend all day Monday at sea on our way to the first port of call, Cozumel. There was a lot to do the first day at sea as Carnival Pride did their best to keep every occupied. After breakfast and some time in the sauna I sat in on a sushi demo (really I was there for the free sushi samples), followed by a cooking demo where they made a mushroom soup, blue cheese salad, beef stroganoff and a cheese cake (again got to enjoy samples of each).

 After enjoying the cooking demonstrations and enjoying all of the samples, we went off to enjoy some Disney trivia. We lost by one point because we didn't know the name of the panther in the movie the Jungle Book, I now know its Bagheera.
For some reason, after eating all day I found my self ready for dinner and more food. For dinner I ordered stuffed mushrooms, alligator fritters, lobster with shrimp and cherries jubilee. With an overly full belly and heavy eyes we called it a night and slept well with pleasure of waking up in Cozumel Mexico.

Cozumel
                                         
Linds and I had signed up for a Jose Cuervo tequila tasting and made our way to find our guide at the end of the pier. We had done lots of research with TripAdvisor before booking and had read great things about Arturo. Linds was very excited to learn that Arturo would be our guide and drinking buddy throughout the sampling process. We learned that tequila can only come form one region of Mexico, if it comes from other regions it has to be called Mezcal.

 We learned how to sip and check for quality using three different aged tequilas, Blanco, Reposado and Anejo. Blanco is aged in oak barrels for 6-8 months, Reposado is aged 1-3 years and Anejo is aged 5+ years.

 We were back on the ship by 5pm and on our way to Belize City by 5:45, only 15 minutes late due to a few stragglers getting back late.

Belize City

The waters in Belize City are not deep enough to allow the ship to tie up to a port so a 15 min boat ride is taken from the cruise ship into town. While in Belize, Linds and I thought we would give cave tubing a try. We took an hour and half bus ride from Belize City out into the jungle where we were given a tube, life jacket, helmet and head lamp. Our guide led us on a 30 min walk through the jungle educating us about vegetation until we came to the river and opening of the cave.

                                     
                                     
 The water was not cold but "shockingly refreshing". Tubing underground and through the cave lasted about 45 minutes. As there were many other groups at the same location we had to come up with a team name, some how it was decided that we would be Edwardo's Nuts. After tubing we were fed a lunch of beans and rice with chicken.

Roatan

                                          
                                          
 Our day in Roatan was short compared to the other ports so Lindsey and I just decided to relax and have a beach day. We left the ship early enough to bet the rush and were able to get a front and center beach lounger. While Lindsey soaked up the sun, I went off in search of a good snorkeling spot. I got a good hour of snorkeling in before the rush of fellow cruisers found my hidden gem and decided to stir up the water causing many of the fish to go into hiding.

                                           

   

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman was our last port city before we would head back to Tampa. The whole trip I had been looking forward to swimming with stingray's and now was my chance. Our guide took a group of us out to Stingray City to feed and swim with the friendliest stingrays ever. We learned that for ever four females are is only one male. The males only read the size of a dinner plate by the time they are 65 years old while a 65 year old female will measure 5-6 feet across form wing tip to wing tip. I had a blast swimming with the stingrays and even got to hold one.                                       

Sea day back to Tamp

We started the day off by sleeping in and enjoying a nice brunch in the dinning room. Lindsey had an egg white omelet with raisin bran crusted french toast. I opted for huevos rancheros and frosted flake crusted french toast. We then went up and took part in US state trivia (lost) and odd law trivia (we won a piece of ship on a stick). Once again Carnival does a great job offering many activities to keep guests busy if they so choose on the sea days. We spent the day doing trivia, looking at towel animals and watching ice carvings. I found it saddening and difficult to say goodbye to our AMAZING dinner servers Adnan, Angel and Uan. Soon it would be time to leave the ship for good and make a mad rush to the airport to catch our flight back to the frozen north.

Big Sky MT

New Years in Big Sky MT

 I don't have a whole lot to say about Big Sky even though it is one of my favorite places to visit. Big Sky and Bridge Bowl are only 45 min. apart and both offer great skiing and other winter outdoor activities.

 My wife's family and I decided to vacation to Big Sky this past winter to celebrate New Years. After days of snowboarding and enjoying the outdoor air, when it came time to watch the ball drop in Time Square non of us were able to stay awake long enough for the count down.

Big Sky lift tickets are around $100, this might seem expensive for a day of playing in the snow but keep in mind that as of a few years ago Moonlight Basin is also included with that price. Really you are getting to ski two different resorts for the price of one. Getting to Moonlight is very easy as you just ski your way North side of the resort and hop on a chair lift.

1 year anniversary..... Portland Oregon

For our 1 year anniversary my wife and I decided to head to Portland Oregon. I had never been to the West Coast and was hung up on visiting Seattle or Portland. After talking to a good friend about the trips they make to Portland every year we decided to see why they go back year after year.... Now I know why.

 We landed at PDX and easily got our luggage and rented our car for the next 3 days. We stayed in Portland for 5 or 6 days total but only had a car for 3 of those days because of Portland's great public transportation system.

 Our first morning in Portland we awoke to dreary drizzly weather, we would soon learn that this was normal in the mornings. By the late morning early afternoon the sun was always out keeping us warm as we made stops along a scenic highway we were instructed to follow instead of taking Interstate every where. Our first stop was at the Vista House which is just a small building on top of the World. From the Vista house you could see down into the gorges and just soak up the incredible view.

 Of the many waterfalls we stopped at to picture or hike to, this is probably the best known, Multnomah Falls. The hike to the bridge is pretty effortless and very enjoyable, it probably took my wife and I 10-15 minutes to make it to the bridge. The path was paved and a very gradual climb. If you want to continue to the top of the Falls there is another trail that visitors can take for an ever better view. This hike is much longer and a little steeper, I think it took my wife and I a solid hour+ to get to the top.

 A few other streams and waterfalls that we saw along the way to Multnomah Falls.

 One of the days we had our car we had decided to do a "Coast Loop." We visited Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach. Astoria is well known for being in a few movies, we visited the elementary school that was used in Kindergarten Cop, saw the Jetty that Willy from Free Willy jumped over and also the house from the Goonies.

 The house from the Goonies, minus Chunk and Data.

 In Cannon Beach, you can park your car and just walk the coast for ever and ever. The rock seen above in the picture was also in the movie the Goonies.

 On our way back to Portland from our "Coast Loop" we decided to stop in at Roloff Farms as it was Pumpkin Season and hoped to get a chance to see or meet the Roloff Family. Taking a tour of their farm we were able to see Matt Roloff drive past on his Mule.

 Zach Roloff was busy manning the Western Town that their father Matt had built for the kids years before.

 My wife trying to move a massive pumpkin.

 After putting on a quite a few miles the day before we decided to slow things down a bit and relax. Our friends that convinced us to visit Portland also suggested we check out their favorite vineyard just south of Portland. We took a tour of the vineyard while enjoying some great Pinot Noir.

 To continue with the relaxing portion of our trip we also visited a Japanese garden, while it was relaxing and enjoyable to see once, I personally don't think I would go back. For what you see the price of admission isn't worth it. We each still had our college ID's so were able to get in at a cheaper rate but was about the only reason we decided it would be worth it.

 For dinner one night we found a Grilled Cheese Bus, you order your grilled cheese at a little side window and then eat your delicious food inside a converted school bus with a very interesting ceiling mural.

 We ended our trip with the Portland Zoo and the Famed VooDoo Doughnuts. My wife got a Gorilla Grape and I had the ever so popular Maple Bacon doughnut.