May 31st, 2010

In the morning, we went out on the deck and watched the ship dock at the island of Cozumel, Mexico.

At 10am, we left the boat for our excursion to the ruins of Tulum. We took a ferry ride to the mainland and then boarded a bus that took us south to a gift shop. There we changed into swimming clothes and bought a few souvenirs.

Our tour guide liked to talk a lot. He was chock full of information and wanted to make sure to pass it all onto us. This was cool at times, but he certainly went on for too long once we were inside the ruins. We wanted to walk around and explore and hit the beach, but he had a million things to tell us. The tour lasted about one and a half hours and he didn’t even take us to each building.

The ruins were surrounded by walls on three sides. The fourth side was a 40 foot cliff that ended at a nice little patch of sand by the ocean. The building on the left atop the hill in the next picture was built crooked so that it would withstand the winds coming in from the sea.

Even though the Mayans were protected on all sides, you can see that they had a nice view.

We ended up with around an hour to go swimming. The beach was amazing after standing in the sun for so long. It was really fun, I just wish we would have had more time. Especially since this was the only time we went swimming in the ocean for the whole vacation.

On the way back to the bus, we stopped at a restaurant where we bought some ice cream and I got some fish tacos. I was kind of afraid that I’d get sick from all of the heat, swimming, and moving on the bus, but it ended up being okay and the tacos were really good.

After an hour and fifteen minutes, we were back on the boat and getting changed for another excellent dinner. We ate dinner later this day and got a chance to watch the entertainment put on by the waitstaff. They stood on tables and performed the dance number from the end of Slumdog Millionaire.

For the final activity of the day, we went to see a comedian juggler. The show was both funny and impressive. Out of all the ship’s shows, we enjoyed this one the most.

May 30, 2010

Sunday was a day at sea. We got up for breakfast in the main dining room at 9:30am. Molly had some waffles and I had eggs benedict.

At 11:00am, we went to a free cooking demonstration at the steakhouse. The cooks showed us how to make mushroom cappuccino; spinach and blue cheese salad; grilled chicken, potatoes, and macaroni & cheese; and tiramisu for dessert. We were given samples of each after they were done making them. Except for the cappuccino, it sounds pretty bland, but they managed to make it all amazing. Other than the tiramisu, each course had mushrooms in the recipe. That’s not all they did to make the food flavorful, but it’s the part that I remember.

We were so stuffed from the samples at the cooking demonstration that we skipped lunch. We just relaxed on our balcony reading books and then took a nap. Afterward, Molly went to the gym for a little work out. She might have been off her diet for the duration of the trip, but she wasn’t going to completely abandon her routine.

Near dinner time, we changed clothes for one of the two dress up nights in the dining room.

After another great meal, we went to the theater to await that night’s entertainment. It ended up being a country show, so we bailed.

It was another great day of vacation and we hadn’t even reached a destination port yet!

May 29, 2010

After landing in Orlando around 11:30am, we took a one hour shuttle to Port Canaveral. We stood in lines and went through a security process similar to what we were familiar with at airports.

Then we boarded the Carnival Dream. The rooms weren’t available until 1:30pm, so we went up to deck 10 and enjoyed a buffet lunch. It was very hot, but the food was good.

Our room was on deck 2 and we had a nice cove balcony.

Molly was ready to enjoy a week of luxury, so she kicked it off with a massage at the ship spa. After that, we took a nap to try to recover from our lack of sleep on the night before.

We had open seating for our dining, so we could go to the Crimson Room any time between 5:45pm and 9:00pm. On this day, we were there when the doors opened. We were seated right away and our servers were excellent. The head waiter was Conrad and he was very friendly. We tried to get him every night. Though we ate in the dining room every night, we didn’t always make it there at the same time. So we only had Conrad for five of the seven nights. The other waiters were great too, they were just missing the personality that Conrad brought to the table.

After dinner, we explored the boat. There was a giant chess set on one of the decks, so we attempted a game. I found it humorously odd that on two separate occasions, we had children run up and steal a piece off of our board. It was as if as soon as they laid their eyes on it, they had to touch it. They were completely oblivious to the fact that the pieces were being used in an active game. Luckily, they both had good parents that told them to put the pieces back because we were using them.

Despite some interesting interruptions, we played the game for what seemed to be quite a while. Neither of us were very good, but Molly forfeited when she saw no hope of beating me. It was pretty fun playing with the warm winds blowing over us from the sea.

We then went up to deck 10 to read our books by the pool and wait for the evening entertainment. There was a dance team and then a laser show. The wind was really strong, so all of the smoke created by the smoke machines blew away pretty quickly. This resulted in a lackluster laser show.

Our first day was pretty great. We arrived prepared to dive into the vacation and enjoy ourselves and we were not disappointed.

Molly and I celebrated our 5th anniversary by going on a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean aboard the Carnival Dream.

May 28, 2010

We left work early to catch a flight to Orlando with a stop in Atlanta. Unfortunately, a storm in Atlanta caused our flight to be canceled.

By the time we found out, it was around 8pm. We were told that our replacement flight was scheduled to leave at 7am on Saturday. Rather than drive home and back again in the morning, we stayed at a hotel near the airport.

This seemed like a good idea at the time. We wouldn’t have to drive and we wouldn’t have to get up as early in the morning. Little did we know that the whole third floor was taken up by middle schoolers and we would get a room on that floor.

We tried to go to sleep around 10:30pm, but I didn’t fall asleep until well after midnight and it was a disturbed sleep. Then I got up at 3:50am to get ready and be at the airport on time.

Though we barely made our connection in Detroit, we did get to Orlando. Even if I was dead tired.

I had a dream last night that the world was going to end.

Molly and I were at my parents’ house, sitting on the front porch with my mom and dad. We knew the world was going to end, but we didn’t know when, though it would certainly be within the week, and we didn’t know how.

We were basically sitting around trying to enjoy our last days together, when suddenly a tree down at the campground burst into flames. The fire spread quickly to the grass surrounding the tree.

My dad was calm and half-jokingly said, “Maybe that’s how we’ll go. The whole Earth will burn up.”

My mom didn’t say anything, but I could tell that she was panicking.

When I noticed that the rate at which the fire was spreading was accelerating faster than any I had seen before, I realized that my dad was right. The whole Earth was going to burn. The fire was caused by the air temperature rising past the burning point. This increase in temperature was spreading rapidly and, consequently, so was the fire.

I was already holding Molly’s hand and I started to reach for my dad’s. I wanted to express my feelings for my family and then offer a prayer.

I started by saying “I love you all.”

As I said this, the fire was moving so fast, I realized I wouldn’t have time for a prayer. So I concluded my statement with an “Amen” as the fire consumed us.

At this point, I started waking up. My arms were raised above my head and I was breathing deeply and quickly. I wanted to know what came next. What happened after we died? I brought my arms down and consciously slowed my breathing. Then I fell back to sleep.

Back in the dream, I became aware of a vast whiteness. I was upright, but my head was drooping. I lifted it and found myself dropping one or two feet to the ground. Around me were rows and rows of large key-chains suspended individually in the air. Some were empty, but others had people hanging in them by their necks. I assume they had not yet woken and raised their heads to slip from their hard metal nooses.

I then woke up fully and had the following lyrics from Cloud Cult going in my mind:
“I’m just wondering what comes at the end…I hope I meet you again.”