6 Day Western Caribbean...

...AKA Heaven!

Bryce and I were lucky enough to take the trip of a life time with some friends during the month of May.

We drove to Las Vegas and caught a flight to Fort Lauderdale, FL on May 15, 2010. When we got the Florida we boarded the Carnival Freedom, our home for the next 6 days!

Our travel party: Kaylee and Bryce (obviously); Jamie and Derek Freckleton; Sara and Kenny Turley; Melissa and Mario Chavez; Melissa and Dallon Freckleton.

The cruise was great! We stopped at Key West, Grand Cayman, and Ocho Rios (Jamaica). It was a first for both me and Bryce and it was a blast! Here are some trip highlights:

Day 2: Key West, FL

Jamie and Sara spent several months working in Key West not too long ago. So, it was as if we had our own personal tour guides! We looked around all the fun tourist shops on Duval Street, hit the local pirate museum, and RENTED SCOOTERS! The scooters were a blast! Jamie took us to a fun beach and Bryce saw the ocean for the first time (that he could remember)!

Day 4: Grand Cayman Island

I think it is safe to say this was our favorite stop on the trip. We did some really cool things! The first thing we did was swim with, feed, hold, and KISS stingray! There is a sand bar in the middle of the ocean, and for years people have been going there to see the stingray that live there. We had 2 local islanders with us that showed us what to do. We fed them squid and got 7 years of good luck when we kissed them!! So scary! But SO cool! Our next stop on the excursion was snorkeling. We went to 2 places on a reef. The water was rough and the sky was overcast, but we were still able to see some cool things. It was a beautiful island!

Day 5: Ocho Rios, Jamaica

This is the stop that we were most excited for...but this is the stop we liked the least. We did some sweet things, but the island was dirty and we just kinda felt unsafe. We had several warnings to trust no one...yikes! Luckily, we found a nice local to take us in his van/bus around the area. Mr. Cool, our tour guide, first took us through the Fern Gully Rain Forest. The trees were amazing! The whole island was thick with them! He also showed us some typical Jamaican housing. Pretty much it was cinder blocks with tin roofs! They had water jugs on the top of their houses for their indoor water source! It was a humbling experience to see really how lucky we are to have so much. Our next stop on the tour was Dunn's River Falls. We had to pay to get into the park then we joined a group to start our journey up the falls. It was kind of intense in places but totally enjoyable! We had a lot of fun swimming in the pool and under the waterfalls with the Turleys. Mr. Cool ended our Jamaican tour by showing us more of the island and taking us shopping. Here is a word to the wise, ALL Jamaicans want your money! They will hound you until you want to cry to get something out of you! Jamaica is a barterers dream worked! It was totally ridiculous! They also have plenty of weed to offer :) No wonder Bob Marley always sang "Lets get together and feel alright!"

Days 3 & 6: Sea Days

The ship was amazing! There were multiple swimming pools, multiple hot tubs, a water slide, mini golf, a running track, a basketball court, a casino, bars around every corner, dance clubs, and just about anything else you could think of on board. The dinners we yummy and the live entertainment at night was great! We also enjoyed the famous towel animals that ended up on our bed each evening. We had a lot of fun doing whatever we wanted and eating whatever we wanted on our sea days :)

Day 7: Sawgrass Recreation Park, FL

We had some time to kill between the boat docking and catching our plane. We decided we would spend it in the Everglades. Bryce and I ate breakfast with a couple that told us about Sawgrass Recreation Park and we decided that's what we wanted to do too. We rented 2 cars and found our way around Fort Lauderdale to the park. A crazy, old Florida native took us on an air boat ride. It was totally different than any other boat ride I had ever been on. We were all shocked how it seemed to glide across what we all thought was pure mud. We saw a lot of interesting critters including a HUGE male gator! He came right up to our boat and it looked like he was going to climb on in! He was way cool to see! After our boat ride we checked out the zoo on site. They had a lot of random animals and a lot of gators. We even held some little babies! Kind of nerve racking but fun!

Our trip was a great success! We tried some fancy new foods, saw critters that we had never seen before, visited places we'd only dreamed about, and had a lot of cool experiences. The trip was totally a sporadic thing and we are so glad our friends talked us into it. Thanks Bryce for the fun memories!!