The Sea is Calling

Have you ever seen the Royal Caribbean cruise line commercials?

The sea calls me daily! Greg and I are addicted, it's a problem...

But look at this water!  

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Once again we took journey with our best friends the Lima's!  Man do we love these guys! This time we set sail out of New Orleans and headed for paradise!  We hit up Jamaica, Cozumel and the Grand Cayman's, all the while not having a care in the world (well, except missing our little baby)  It was amazing and so relaxing and perfect and ... I want to go back.  :)

We decided to take a few days to explore New Orleans before we took off on the ship.  It's a very interesting place to say the least.  Many areas have still not been rebuilt since the hurricane and buildings just sit there empty and graffitied.  It was an eerie feeling walking past some the larger buildings like the hospital.  We met a lot of nice people there and it was fun to befriend the locals, they became protective of us and would help us get to our destination so we would not accidentally cross onto a dangerous street.  Apparently, the streets are very defined there.  We stayed at a hotel near the airport and so we had to make the trek to downtown New Orleans (We went the weekend of the BCS Championship game AND the NFL playoff game which was terrifying all in itself with all those Saints fans, so pretty much there were zero hotel rooms) It was fun though to see all the people there supporting their teams.  :)  I love college football.  Moving on....  Instead of taking a taxi to downtown from our hotel we decided to try out the public transportation.  They use two different systems for the the two different cities and it was quite the adventure, all just leave it at that.   We hit up the famous Bourbon Street which was unimpressive to 4 non-partying college kids.  Though if we were it would have been a blast I'm sure. We of course enjoyed beignets at the famous Cafe du Monde which were aaamaazzing!  Our second day in New Orleans we went on a river boat tour up the Mississippi and enjoyed local cuisine.

French Market, New Orleans

Eating Beingets at Cafe Du Monde

We loaded up on the Carnival Conquest and set sail for paradise.  

On the way...

We played Bingo

We got cute towel animals

We played miniature golf 

Relaxed at the comedy club

Enjoyed a good book.

Tested the casino.

Then we arrived in Jamaica.

We went zip lining through the jungle on all these different lines! 

On the 6 wheeler going up the mountain.

It was so much fun!

Back on the ship.. :(

The next day we arrived in the Cayman Islands

We went and swam with the sting rays on a sand bar in the middle of the ocean.  Freaking amazing!

Brandon and Jenny

Heading back to the ship.  

Our third stop was in Cozumel, Mexico.

On our boat heading to go snorkeling.

Greg got sick.... 

Shopping

Two huge ships!

Our last day was spent at sea.

Swan ice cream.

We celebrated my birthday!

Our waiter showed us some cool tricks with napkins.

We enjoyed the beautiful sunsets.

Ahh... So. Much. Fun.

I love seeing new places of the world.  There is so much beauty to see!  It amazes me how gorgeous the earth is, and how diverse!  I am a seeker of beauty, of adventure and of new experiences.  I have had the opportunity to explore many different countries and places and the beauty of this world is astounding.  Seeking out the uniqueness of this planet is something I feel like I was born to do, as corny as it may sound!  I thrive on it. The problem is, I often feel like if I am not planning my next big venture I am missing out on life or running out of time.  So to ease my anxiety I have decided that while I am in between my big adventures I am going to try more to enjoy the beauty around me, because it is every where.  oh man....