I want to have a record of my life. I want to record all the things I see and feel and experience. this is a daunting task. Blogs can help a little. So in the words of Maria in the Sound of Music "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start."
I was tired of deciding. I think that was the hardest part of planning a wedding. I did not want to make one more decision about anything. When Shea asked me about a honeymoon, I just told him I wanted it to be somewhere warm, and I wanted to be relaxing. He asked where and I told him to surprise me. After our wedding reception on our way to the hotel he told me we were leaving for San Diego the next day! I was so excited! I had only been to San Diego a couple of times when I was younger, so I was happy to visit. The next morning before we headed to the airport Shea gave me a camera as a wedding gift. I was thrilled! This was something I had always wanted to give myself but never found an excuse to because of tight funds for school. I love Shea so much. I love that he wants me to pursue things I love like photography. I couldn't wait to use it on our honeymoon.
When we arrived to San Diego, I can't remember when Shea told me, but he told me we were leaving on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. I was so excited! This was my first cruise, and I couldn't wait to relax on the boat and see Mexico. I also had never been to Mexico and I was so excited to visit.
Shea's best friend, Scott served his mission in San Diego, and Scott also has really good taste in food, so we had to get his advice on some places to eat. We ate at Cautros Milpas which was delicious! We picnicked in Chicano park, which was phenomenal! The park was under a freeway overpass. The place was so urban, with lots of cool murals, and a handball court. We met a homeless guy named Emillio who when he found out we were Mormon, told us a story about how he too had a "tree of life" dream. It was bizarre and fascinating. I loved already that Shea was fun enough to have crazy adventures with me talking to homeless people about the tree of life.
Yummy food!
Our picnic table aka the Mexican flag!
The sweet mural/handball court
Shea and Emillio, the storyteller
When we were in San Diego we stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado island. When I was a little girl, probably about 10, I visited this hotel with my family. I loved its turn-of-the century charm, and I knew I wanted to come back there one day to stay! Little did Shea know this, when he booked the hotel for our honeymoon. I was so happy and surprised when I learned we were staying there. I also loved finding out that a Marilyn Monroe movie I love, called "Some like it hot" was filmed there. Here are some pics:
Hotel del
Amazing San Diego sunset on Coronado beach
(gotta love the palm tree coming out of Shea's head, oops)
At 2:00 in the morning Shea and I decided we were going to break into a hot tub, and we chickened out and decided to go get California burritos at a place Scott told us about.
Yum!
We went on a little bike driven tour of the city before we went on the cruise. Shea was excited to go to the gas lamp district, because he learned about it in his urban planning class. It was a fun way to see the city!
Then we embarked to Mexico! We were on the sea for 3 days before we got to Puerto Vallerta. It was nice to just be lazy and relax. I got roped in to doing this jewelry fashion show on the ship, which was highly entertaining, and we also took a tango class.
Like my earings? Thanks I was modeling them.
Formal dinner night on the boat.
The classic towel animals.
Demonstrating the tango we learned in our class.
We arrived at Puerto Vallerta on Christmas Day. We wanted to find a scooter and drive around but everywhere that rented scooters was closed for the holidays, so we had to settle for a 4 wheeler drive in the jungle. We decided to go swimming in the river and we met some locals. It was fun to practice our spanish skills and learn more about Mexico.
In the jungle! Dusty from the 4-wheelers
After our four wheeling, we walked along the beach and tried to find the best Mexican food possible. This was hard in a tourist town but we did try these weird sea food items with Mexican hot sauce. It was crazy!
At the beach
On the beach walk. We gave this poor girl money because she looked cold, and she let me take my pic with her.
The weird, raw oysters.
The oyster with the sauce on it.
Here's the video of me eating it:
Other yummy food we ate (most of this was in San Diego):
At Marisco's food cart. We searched for this and after several failed attempts we found the cart. It was worth the hunt.
Best ceviche ever. hands down.
The next day we went on the zipline with our friends we met on the cruise, Tony and Chaipin. Tony's son is going to BYU Hawaii and he saw Shea's sweater and told us so. We struck up conversation and soon became quick friends. At the the zipline they had this swimming hole we had to check out. After we went to a beach some locals told us about and then we were back on the boat.
The swimmin' hole.
Tony, Chaipin, and Jess.
Our next port was Cabo. Shea and I both loved Cabo! We took a bus to a beach some locals told us about, and laid out, and just relaxed. We wanted to snorkel but we ran out of time. We hitch hiked our way back into town with this nice guy named Pedro. I loved talking about salsa dancing with him!
On the beach at Cabo
Shea on the boat with Cabo in the background.
Cabo from the boat.
On our last formal night on the cruise we hung out with some friends we had made. Tony, Chaipen, and Joseph Tran (the cruise magician) and his sweet girlfriend who's name escapes me. Our honeymoon was perfect! It was so relaxing, and I loved being with Shea, soaking up the sun, being on the water, and lazing the days away. It was perfect.
Last dinner with our cruise besties.
