19. Go on a Cruise

(Geneticists are just five years away of making this an actual thing. I swear it!)

I forgot I had a blog.

And then I unforgot.

So I went on a cruise a couple months ago and never posted about it, which is a shame because it was one of the items on my 30 Before 30 list. So time to fix that!

Once upon a December 1, 2014,  I went to California and got on a giant ship named "Inspiration", probably. I can't remember because it's been a few months since the trip and the name of the ship really isn't important. The bigness, however, is important and the ship was big and that was cool because I paid money to be on something big. Not a lot of money, relatively speaking, because it was a Carnival Cruise filled with old people. But that's okay.

This was my room. It wasn't big, but I didn't spend a whole lot of time in it anyway. (Except for Thursday, when I spent almost all day in my bed because I had a headache and a copy of The Half-Blood Prince. Side note: Book 6 is now my favorite.) I also got to share my room with the beloved Dave Vance, room mate/life coach extraordinaire. That was a special treat because Dave moved to Texas in October (I assume because of blackmail), so it had been a while since I got to loom over him in his sleep. 

Magic towel animals kept appearing on my bed while I was away. Witchcraft? Maybe. 

I think I just took this picture thinking it would be more interesting than it actually is. And now the more I look at it, the more I want to invest some time learning how to fold towels into pleasant shapes. Maybe one day I will dry off using a towel-Taj Mahal... Towelj Mahal. ... ... Great. In the course of this paragraph, I've confined myself to be a master towel folder. Moving on.

Most places, including cruise ships and Catalina Island, are infested with people. Here is a picture of some of them.

We stopped on Catalina Island. It was rainy, but pleasant, because I'm one of those people who loves rain and overcast weather and a general gloomy atmosphere. It calms me. And while Catalina is  a pretty place, there isn't a whole lot to do. I didn't even eat on the island. I assume the food was good, but it was expensive - especially compared to the free food on the ship. Instead, we hiked up to a bell tower that chimed every 15 minutes or so. There aren't many things worth the exercise you put into them, but hiking up to the tower was. See?

After Catalina, we made one other stop: Ensenada. I had been to Mexico once before. In 2005, my family went to Cancun. It was great - but a very different Mexico. And while I love to travel, especially internationally, I find that dirt is the same everywhere, but the people are different. So, in Ensenada, I had one goal: talk to someone in Spanish.

I succeeded, solely due to the fact that I bought a sweater. It was one of those poncho-sweater Mexican dealios that I don't know the actual name of. But I had wanted one for a really long time and they were everywhere in Ensenada. I found a shop that sold them for $10 (which was not uncommon). An old man, showed me the selection. I tried a few on. I bought a green one, because it's my favorite color. And at some magical point in the conversation, we switched from English to Spanish. I loooooved it. I find it hard initiating conversation in Spanish or Chinese when the other person speaks English. Most often, they want to speak English. And then we do a weird little dance, because I want to not speak English and we both want to talk, but we don't know which language to use. Ugh. I always feel awkward. I'd rather just talk to someone who doesn't speak English.

Anyway - my encounter with this man was brief, but I was very pleased to have used my Spanish. I don't get to do that a lot and I'm getting rusty.

I assumed that would be the highlight of that particular excursion, but it was not. This was:

That's right. I got to hold a lion. While we were walking down the street, someone said there was a lion cub in the shop and you could hold it. I instantly turned around, dug $25 out of my pocket and swooped up that lion cub as quickly as I could (while also bringing Whitney along with me). It was cute and soft and young and sleepy and I couldn't figure out how I was going to steal it and get it past customs. I had wanted to hold a baby tiger, lion, leopard, big-cat-whatever for as long as I could remember and I finally did. Plus, the money I paid to hold the cub was donated to help preserve them. Probably. I don't actually care.

And those were pretty much the highlights of the cruise. Hanging out on a giant ship with a lot of your friends is as great as you would expect. The food wasn't great, but I ate a lot of eat - especially their Mongolian BBQ (a staple in heaven, for sure - not the cruise variety though. Actual Mongolian BBQ.) I even got to try rabbit and frog legs for the first time. Both were good.

And that was my cruise.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! 

The cruise was only part of my super magical week that kicked off December '14.

We also went to Disneyland (always fun) and then Matt picked us up a new room mate on the way home. His name is Mycroft and he's the best. 

He may not be my dog, but he's totally mine and I claim him and no one can refute me!!!!!