A whole slew of firsts...

First...
            ...experience with the Atlanta airport.  Have you seen that thing?  The terminals are so incredibly massive that they had to build their own underground subway just so people could make their transfers in time.  I'd be willing to bet that it takes at least twenty five minutes to cross an entire terminal.  Two words for you: slightly insane.

First...
             ...time ever in Florida.  Luckily, we made our connecting flight in Atlanta, and I remember the moment I realized we were flying over Florida we had just dropped through the clouds and I thought "huh, looks like one big swamp."  Yeah, it was only the Everglades--the third biggest national park in the US.  Guess which ones hit number one and two? Death Valley and Yellowstone.  Crazy cool.

Random side note: Living in Utah, I know I take the incredible scenery and opportunities here for granted.  Think about it. When was the last time you took a trip to the Grand Canyon or camped down in Zion's?  Dal and I have recently resolved to make this summer one of soaking up Utah's amazing beauty--so if you're up for hiking the Subway, going rock-climbing, or river rafting, call us up!

We step off the plane and I immediately fell in love with the climate.  It was a perfect 70 degrees at night, and the humidity did wonders for my skin and hair.  Not gonna lie, I could definitely live with that.

First...
           ...step on a cruise ship.

 

Obviously, these things are huge! Ours wasn't even the biggest one, and we could fit about one and  a half Titanics in it.  Eleven floors, and I don't think we even saw the entire ship within the 7 days that we had.  For any of you who've been on a cruise, one of the first things you think of when you get to your room is "man, this thing is huge!"  OK, so maybe if you had a suite you might've thought that, but we were definitely in the bargain cruisers area, where the rooms were all bed, and the bathrooms barely fit a shower and a toilet in.  But come on, when the price is free.99, you can't complain too much right?

One last cruise ship comment--get a load of those halls! It was like those nightmares when you're running as fast as you can away from some murderer or natural disaster and wherever you're trying to get to keeps getting farther and farther away or you don't seem to move though you're trying as hard as you can.  Hate those!

First...
          ...attempt at scrapbooking.  This needs a little background.  So.  Dal won this cruise at work, and it was part of a huge promotion almost identical to Willy Wonka's "Golden Ticket" search.  Six customers ended up finding these golden tickets, and about twenty five employees of Provo Craft and Michael's were chosen to go as well.  As you can imagine, the employees had the awesome opportunity to hold scrapbooking events all week to kind of congratulate all the customer winners.  Luckily, I got to go.  All the packets were already put together--all I had to do was cut and paste--now, that's my kind of scrapbooking.

I really don't have anything against it, I just don't have the creative capacity to come up with 40+ pages worth of cute, relevant decorations.  Forget about coordinating colors and penmanship!  The cricut "makes it so easy", but all it does for me is give me way too many options, so this whole show-up-we've-decided-everything-for-you-already thing was heaven!

 First...
           ...time knowing the people who clean my hotel room.  OK cruise stateroom, not hotel, but it felt exactly the same.  That was a little strange.  Riston.  Great guy, but it was weird knowing that every day when we left, he was coming in and cleaning up after us.  He did leave us little presents though...

 

At one of the nightly game shows, the couple that won got a book on how to make these towel animals.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous.


First...
          ...dine n' dash.  OK, so the food is included in the fare, but it felt almost dirty to order an appetizer, two entree's, and dessert, and just get up and leave without taking a check. 

Quick side note: Our cruise line was Holland America, and I have to say I don't think I'll ever go on another cruise line.  The passengers were probably 93% senior citizen's, and then the Cricut group.  There were only a handful of people from ages 5-30, so Dal and I stuck out like sore thumbs everywhere we went.  I love old people!

First...
          ...karaoke competition.  Savannah may need to jog my memory, but I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd ever done a legit karaoke competition.  Advanced to the final round baby!

 

First...

          ...beach walk being married!  I am such a beach body.  I would live in CA in a heartbeat to have the soothing sound of waves, the totally tubular experience of surfing, and lounging on a beach towel every Saturday, jamming to classic rock.  Our first beach walk happened at the first cruise stop--Grand Turk.  The port there was really lame, but we found a side-beach to explore.  We happened upon the coolest site, a conch graveyard.  I felt like Nala and Simba. Disney has so infiltrated my life. 

 

First...

          ...cricket kiss.  Being an employee, Dal got the very coveted chance to be the company's mascot--Cricut.  During his shift, he got to walk all around the ship, to "advertise."  You wouldn't believe the groping he got from all those sweet ol' gals. Hands off ladies, this Cricut's mine!

 

First...

          ...but definitely not last trip to St. John's.  This was the first time I had actually seen the blue-green of tropical water.  I couldn't get enough of it!  We'll definitely be going back there, to stay for a week or so instead of eight hours.

 

Forgive me, but I saw this sign at St. John's and couldn't help but make Dal get in there.  Perfect, in my opinion. That's my husband!

First...

          ...touch of iguana.  St. Thomas wildlife loves me!

 First...

           ...sea-sickness.  I've gone to Lake Powell almost every single year of my life, and have never been bothered by rough waters or the rocking of the houseboat as I fall asleep.  That changes drastically when your houseboat is over 200 feet tall.  We didn't even think about buying motion-sickness pills until the night before we left--good thing we did, I would've been puking all week.   Bonine all the way! 

First...

           ...rainforest!  Puerto Rico was great; the freeways were madness, the mosquito's annoying, but the experience turns to beautiful when you experience the lush climate of their rainforest.  What made it even better is that we got to experience it on 4-wheelers! 

 

We stopped at a river, and our guides pulled out some rocks--we thought they were just going to skip them across the water or something, but they bent down and started scraping them on other rocks.  Apparently, the aboriginal Puerto Ricans used rock paint.  Sweet huh?

 

Got aboriginee?

First...

          ...lounge in flour-soft sand.  Enter: Half Moon Cay.  This place is a privately island owned by Holland America.  One word: Paradise. There was a barbeque on the beach, mat floaties for enjoying the water, and Provo Craft fitted the bill for the most incredible pina colada smoothies we've ever had--complete with a Holland America canteen souvenir!  (Provo-style, don't get too excited) 

 

 

 in the famous words of one of Dal's favorite country songs: 

"Bring me two pina coladas, gotta have one for each hand..."

We had an absolute blast.  We made so many friends, and have expanded our "To Travel" list significantly.  We'd definitely recommend cruising to anyone looking to travel, and look forward to our next one!