The Fun Begins! Florida Part 2.

Sunny Ft. Lauterdale. Any dreary weather is a technical malfunction of the camera. Really. . .


And for anyone who complains about Colorado gas prices:


Sunny Miami, where we boarded the ship (note, the pictures of the boat were actually taken in Cozumel - where the weather was BEAUTIFUL). A. checked to make sure the beds were properly bouncy.

The ship was wonderful! T. and I participated in a pub crawl - five drinks in 2.5 hours - in Key West (thank heavens you have a higher tolerance for alcohol when you go from a high altitude to a low altitude . . . or T. would have been carrying me back to the ship!). I enjoyed the outing far more than I expected - and our tour was chosen as one of the tours of the week - which meant Carnival sent a cameraman along who filmed the whole thing. Very cool.

Note: The last picture is not fuzzy. The camera was drunk. Of course, I blame the heavy drinking early in the day and the technical difficulties with the weather (the boat was rocking) for the light bout of seasickness that evening . . . but I REGRET NOTHING!

The ship left port (yes, we were safely on board . . . ) and we headed for Cozumel - which we explored one entire block of. Senor Frog's was at the edge of the pier, and I had no idea that their drinks came in two-foot palm tree glasses! YIKES! Luckily, I learned from M. that all the shops in Mexico carry pretty much the same items, so I didn't feel like we missed much, even though we only hit the tourist shops in the near vicinity. I purchased a Mayan calendar (very cool) and two very cute purses made entirely out of candy wrappers (way cool!).

The cruise was relaxing and wonderful . . . even if the seas were a little rough (that darned technical weather glitch again . . . ). I was vastly amused by the following yellow sign:



After Cozumel, T. began having strange pains in his ear. That night, he was in absolute agony - and stayed in the cabin the entirety of the next day (which was just the boat chugging across the gulf - the marketing department labeled it "Fun Day at Sea!"). The next day, we made port in sunny Miami, picked up the van (intact this time - HOORAY!), and drove to Florida.

By the time we checked in, it was too late for T. to hit doctor's hours, but he called to find the closest Urgent Care facility - and made plans to go there at 8:00 a.m. 8:00 a.m. - T. leaves for Urgent Care - and my mother-in-law and I leave for a second, unexpected timeshare presentation (they hit you at both ends of the cruise). When our turn came to be handed over to the timeshare representative, she huffily asked about my husband. I informed them that he was at an Urgent Care, and would try and join us later if he could. They then informed me that I was worthless without my male counterpart, and that I would not be allowed to participate in the timeshare and must reschedule. Conflicting emotions . . . vaguely . . . offended . . . at being thrown out of a timeshare. Arggghhh . . . They refused to give me tickets to Arabian Nights (whoop dee doo da) as punishment and threw my mother-in-law and I out. Luckily, the timeshare was located next to a gift store, so we shopped until T. could come pick us up.

Two intramuscular penicillin shots and four prescription medications later . . . the doctor apparently told T. that he was fairly impressed at his ability to even be functioning - considering that his ear infection was so severe it had spread down his neck and was beginning to enter his lungs - which could have led to potentially fatal issues. Which left A. and I pretty much on our own for Orlando - which will be continued in Part 3!