(no subject)
I'm finally back and I'm good and blistered. I'm also completely broke, my credit card is at its max, and I am NOT looking forward to getting back to work. I had such a relaxing week and my mom and I got along almost perfectly well. I guess I'll shall get started on the details:
Warning: This will be VERY long so I'm lj-cutting it...
Sunday, April 24th:
Mama and I left her house about 6:30 a.m. and dropped her car off at June's. We got to Ft. Lauderdale around 5:30 p.m. CDT and checked into the hotel. It wasn't exactly a Hilton or Ritz hotel. The water in the shower wasn't hot enough, the beds were skanky looking and smelling, the lighting was crap, the pool was TINY and had stuff floating on top of it, and there were holes in the wall so if you run across any videos of my mom or me showering or anything, let me know. After dropping our stuff off in the hotel room, we decided to go to the beach. We basically paid $4 to park and have some creepy, highly intoxicated, Hispanic man try to hit on us (mostly hit on my mom) so we'd buy a picture of us he wanted to take with his Polaroid camera while we ate a sandwich that consisted of canned chicken spread and spray cheese and Cheez-its. After he left us alone, the two of us (totally creeped out) decided to leave as it was getting dark and my weird gut feeling (Nina knows about this one) started kicking in. As we were about to get into the car and leave, my mom and I looked out at the water and thought we saw a boat lit up over the water. We kept looking because it seemed to be getting bigger and finally realized it was the moon rising. I tried to take pictures of it with my digital camera but they came out blurry. After we watched that, we went back to our hotel room, watched television, and went to bed.
Monday, April 25th:
We got up about noon, dressed, and went to eat lunch at this place called Miami Subs and Grill. After we ate lunch, we went to the beach and laid out on the sand for a couple of hours. Then, we decided to take a walk on the beach. Now, I've been working out, eating right, and losing weight since around the first of the year and I'd like to think I'm in pretty good shape. Well, that sand was thick and I hobbled up and down in about a foot of sand for about half a mile down the beach and back. My mom didn't seem to be stepping down in the deep sand like I was. I managed to keep up with her but boy, did I have sore calf muscles for the next few days after that. After we left the beach, we went to Quiznos and had dinner. Then we went to K-Mart where I got some clothes. After that, we headed to the mall and went to Old Navy where I managed to get some more clothes. Lastly, we went to Target where I got a swimsuit and a couple of other things. After we left the mall, we headed back to the hotel room where we sorted through our new stuff and re-packed our suitcases while watching "Starsky & Hutch" on HBO. We went to bed around midnight.
Tuesday, April 26th:
We got up, showered and got ready about 5:30 a.m. EDT and got on the shuttle to Port Everglades about 6:30 a.m. Once we got to the port, we went through security and customs and got our embarkation information and whatnot. We got on the ship about 8 a.m., I think it was, where they had a breakfast buffet awaiting us. We ate with a couple other families who mistook my mom and I for students, thinking that we were both younger than we actually are. Of course, I ran my big mouth and practically had to swallow it with my breakfast. When the woman seated across from me asked my age and I told her I was 22, she told me that I sure didn't look it. I then said, "Yeah, well, my mom doesn't look 46 either, does she?" to which they replied that she didn't. That's when the woman seated to the left of me made sure to let everyone know SHE was 46 as well. She looked her age and also looked like she'd had some unsuccessful work to make herself look younger while my mom looked at least 5-10 years younger than her without any work done. I felt kinda bad then. The people we sat with were really nice and we chatted with them throughout breakfast. After breakfast, we put my mom's carry-on bag in a locker, used the restroom, and went out on the deck to find a seat and watch the ship take off. The ship finally left around 8:30 a.m. and we headed out to sea. The boat rocked and swayed the whole way there, throwing our equilibrium off and I just knew I was going to fall on someone while walking around. Up on the deck, my mom and I napped in the sunlight, where my chest managed to get sunburnt. When we went to eat lunch about 1:30 p.m., we both felt sick because the motion of the boat on the ocean was extremely more noticeable inside the ship. After eating, we both felt nauseous and tried to head back outside to watch the ship come into port in the Bahamas. Let me just say, the food was not great. The food that was supposed to be cold was warm and vice versa. It was also very bland as well. And the boat had a damp musky smell that only added to the nausea I felt. Otherwise, the boat ride was fair.
Once we docked at the port, we went through customs, retrieved our luggage, and got a taxi with a couple of other people to our hotel, the Island Seas Resort. After taking forever to check in, we got pulled over to the side by this woman asking my mom if we would like to participate in a timeshare presentation where there would be free lunch and complimentary shuttle rides for the remainder of our stay. We agreed and was told to meet her at 2 p.m. the next day. After that, we went to our room which was in a new section across the street from the main part of the resort, unpacked, and relaxed some before putting on our swimsuits and walking across the street to go to the beach. When we got on the beach, we got hounded by these ladies trying to get us to let them braid our hair and trying to sell us some shell jewelry. We kept trying to tell them to leave us alone and they finally did when we told them we didn't have any money. We laid out on the beach chairs for a little while, then tested the waters before heading back towards the resort. My mom talked me into getting some alcohol so she'd have a reason to drink too, I guess, so we went over to the bar and got margaritas. The maragarita was okay but didn't really do anything for me. I decided to get a piña colada instead. It was heavenly. Perfect amount of alcohol mixed with the perfect amount of sweet coconut taste. During the ingestion of this concotion, I spotted the only attractive boy I'd see throughout the whole trip who just happened to be the spitting image of Prince William. Now, sometimes I think people look like certain people and I'm alone in this comparison but even my mom believed he looked like Prince William so we took to calling him "Wills" for the remainder of his trip. His dad (grandpa?) was white-headed and tan all over and his mum (grandmum?) was so leathery and tan that if she closed her eyes and mouth, it'd look like she had no facial features. Anyway, after staring at him and trying to look sexy and seductive while sipping my drink (though I'm sure I just looked retarded), my mom dragged me away to the pool where we sat first on the ledge. I can't wait to show everyone pictures of this place because the pool was so awesome. The pool was a lounge pool with the deepest part being 3'8'' deep, most likely to keep the drunk people from drowning so easily when they get away from the swim-up bar.
My mom had a simultaneous "blonde" moment. We heard some guy talking about the hot tub and how it was so hot that he couldn't stand it and decided we could handle that with the pool water being absolutely frigid. We don't see anything that looks like a hot tub so we decide that the little attachment on the side of the pool with the bubbles and about three inches of water is the hot tub. Yes. My mom and I not-so-gracefully push ourselves up out of the pool and into the attachment. "This isn't hot!" both of us exclaim. We sit there for a second then decide to crawl back into the pool and swim back over to where our stuff is. We then get out and go back to the room. After we both shower, we went to bed. I slept so well that night.
I will write about the rest of the week tomorrow. It's just too much to write in one sitting and I've got to go to work in the morning. Good night.
Warning: This will be VERY long so I'm lj-cutting it...
Sunday, April 24th:
Mama and I left her house about 6:30 a.m. and dropped her car off at June's. We got to Ft. Lauderdale around 5:30 p.m. CDT and checked into the hotel. It wasn't exactly a Hilton or Ritz hotel. The water in the shower wasn't hot enough, the beds were skanky looking and smelling, the lighting was crap, the pool was TINY and had stuff floating on top of it, and there were holes in the wall so if you run across any videos of my mom or me showering or anything, let me know. After dropping our stuff off in the hotel room, we decided to go to the beach. We basically paid $4 to park and have some creepy, highly intoxicated, Hispanic man try to hit on us (mostly hit on my mom) so we'd buy a picture of us he wanted to take with his Polaroid camera while we ate a sandwich that consisted of canned chicken spread and spray cheese and Cheez-its. After he left us alone, the two of us (totally creeped out) decided to leave as it was getting dark and my weird gut feeling (Nina knows about this one) started kicking in. As we were about to get into the car and leave, my mom and I looked out at the water and thought we saw a boat lit up over the water. We kept looking because it seemed to be getting bigger and finally realized it was the moon rising. I tried to take pictures of it with my digital camera but they came out blurry. After we watched that, we went back to our hotel room, watched television, and went to bed.
Monday, April 25th:
We got up about noon, dressed, and went to eat lunch at this place called Miami Subs and Grill. After we ate lunch, we went to the beach and laid out on the sand for a couple of hours. Then, we decided to take a walk on the beach. Now, I've been working out, eating right, and losing weight since around the first of the year and I'd like to think I'm in pretty good shape. Well, that sand was thick and I hobbled up and down in about a foot of sand for about half a mile down the beach and back. My mom didn't seem to be stepping down in the deep sand like I was. I managed to keep up with her but boy, did I have sore calf muscles for the next few days after that. After we left the beach, we went to Quiznos and had dinner. Then we went to K-Mart where I got some clothes. After that, we headed to the mall and went to Old Navy where I managed to get some more clothes. Lastly, we went to Target where I got a swimsuit and a couple of other things. After we left the mall, we headed back to the hotel room where we sorted through our new stuff and re-packed our suitcases while watching "Starsky & Hutch" on HBO. We went to bed around midnight.
Tuesday, April 26th:
We got up, showered and got ready about 5:30 a.m. EDT and got on the shuttle to Port Everglades about 6:30 a.m. Once we got to the port, we went through security and customs and got our embarkation information and whatnot. We got on the ship about 8 a.m., I think it was, where they had a breakfast buffet awaiting us. We ate with a couple other families who mistook my mom and I for students, thinking that we were both younger than we actually are. Of course, I ran my big mouth and practically had to swallow it with my breakfast. When the woman seated across from me asked my age and I told her I was 22, she told me that I sure didn't look it. I then said, "Yeah, well, my mom doesn't look 46 either, does she?" to which they replied that she didn't. That's when the woman seated to the left of me made sure to let everyone know SHE was 46 as well. She looked her age and also looked like she'd had some unsuccessful work to make herself look younger while my mom looked at least 5-10 years younger than her without any work done. I felt kinda bad then. The people we sat with were really nice and we chatted with them throughout breakfast. After breakfast, we put my mom's carry-on bag in a locker, used the restroom, and went out on the deck to find a seat and watch the ship take off. The ship finally left around 8:30 a.m. and we headed out to sea. The boat rocked and swayed the whole way there, throwing our equilibrium off and I just knew I was going to fall on someone while walking around. Up on the deck, my mom and I napped in the sunlight, where my chest managed to get sunburnt. When we went to eat lunch about 1:30 p.m., we both felt sick because the motion of the boat on the ocean was extremely more noticeable inside the ship. After eating, we both felt nauseous and tried to head back outside to watch the ship come into port in the Bahamas. Let me just say, the food was not great. The food that was supposed to be cold was warm and vice versa. It was also very bland as well. And the boat had a damp musky smell that only added to the nausea I felt. Otherwise, the boat ride was fair.
Once we docked at the port, we went through customs, retrieved our luggage, and got a taxi with a couple of other people to our hotel, the Island Seas Resort. After taking forever to check in, we got pulled over to the side by this woman asking my mom if we would like to participate in a timeshare presentation where there would be free lunch and complimentary shuttle rides for the remainder of our stay. We agreed and was told to meet her at 2 p.m. the next day. After that, we went to our room which was in a new section across the street from the main part of the resort, unpacked, and relaxed some before putting on our swimsuits and walking across the street to go to the beach. When we got on the beach, we got hounded by these ladies trying to get us to let them braid our hair and trying to sell us some shell jewelry. We kept trying to tell them to leave us alone and they finally did when we told them we didn't have any money. We laid out on the beach chairs for a little while, then tested the waters before heading back towards the resort. My mom talked me into getting some alcohol so she'd have a reason to drink too, I guess, so we went over to the bar and got margaritas. The maragarita was okay but didn't really do anything for me. I decided to get a piña colada instead. It was heavenly. Perfect amount of alcohol mixed with the perfect amount of sweet coconut taste. During the ingestion of this concotion, I spotted the only attractive boy I'd see throughout the whole trip who just happened to be the spitting image of Prince William. Now, sometimes I think people look like certain people and I'm alone in this comparison but even my mom believed he looked like Prince William so we took to calling him "Wills" for the remainder of his trip. His dad (grandpa?) was white-headed and tan all over and his mum (grandmum?) was so leathery and tan that if she closed her eyes and mouth, it'd look like she had no facial features. Anyway, after staring at him and trying to look sexy and seductive while sipping my drink (though I'm sure I just looked retarded), my mom dragged me away to the pool where we sat first on the ledge. I can't wait to show everyone pictures of this place because the pool was so awesome. The pool was a lounge pool with the deepest part being 3'8'' deep, most likely to keep the drunk people from drowning so easily when they get away from the swim-up bar.
My mom had a simultaneous "blonde" moment. We heard some guy talking about the hot tub and how it was so hot that he couldn't stand it and decided we could handle that with the pool water being absolutely frigid. We don't see anything that looks like a hot tub so we decide that the little attachment on the side of the pool with the bubbles and about three inches of water is the hot tub. Yes. My mom and I not-so-gracefully push ourselves up out of the pool and into the attachment. "This isn't hot!" both of us exclaim. We sit there for a second then decide to crawl back into the pool and swim back over to where our stuff is. We then get out and go back to the room. After we both shower, we went to bed. I slept so well that night.
I will write about the rest of the week tomorrow. It's just too much to write in one sitting and I've got to go to work in the morning. Good night.