The Caribbean and Me

We booked our summer vacation about a week ago.  I'm sort of insanely excited.  We'd been discussing all sorts of different ideas for where to go this year, but we realized it was really important to go diving since we're totally Scuba certified.

So we decided to book a cruise to the Caribbean.  How cool is that?  We figured the Caribbean has such things as the second biggest reef in the world.  That should work for utilizing our scuba certification.  

Ever since we booked it, each night when we lay down for bed, the last thing I say to Robyn is, "Remember how we're going on a cruise this summer?"

Robyn is probably excited to go so that I will stop talking about the fact that we're going to go.  But I'm excited for about a million other reasons.  I've taken the liberty of travelling to the future and photographing some of the awesome things I'm excited about.

Scuba Diving

At this current moment, the only place I've ever been diving is at the Crater in Midway where I was certified.  I hope to dive a few lakes in Utah before this summer, just to practice, but then I get to dive in the real ocean!  We're thinking we'll probably go diving in Roatan, Honduras.  I hear that's an excellent place.

Climb a Mayan Pyramid

This is on my bucket list, so I'm super excited to do it.  I'll probably do this in Belize, but maybe in Mexico.  Maybe even both!  You probably couldn't tell that my head was sticking out of that little doorway at the top.  For your convenience, I have magnified it for you.

Eat Delicious Food

Our cruise last year was loaded with delicious food, and this one will be no different.

Visit a new state

This is the map of the states I have visited in the U.S.  You'll notice that Texas is white, meaning I haven't been there.  The cruise leaves out of Galveston, Texas.  We'll fly into Houston and have one night to explore a little bit.  Texas will turn green on the map!

Look how precious we'll be in Texas.

Read Lots of Books

We'll have three days at sea, which is plenty of time to catch up on some good books.  And, according to this future picture, the bed on the ship will look exactly like my bed at home.  Crazy, huh?

Spend Quality Time With People I Love in Beautiful Places

We're going on the cruise with Robyn's parents.  We've gone on trips to their house and stayed with them, and they've traveled to stay with us, but we've never actually been on a trip together.  I'm super excited for that.  And it won't hurt that there will be crystal clear water, and beautiful beaches.

Now that you've had a glimpse of my future, are you as excited as I am?

Alaska Here I Come

This week something very important happened.  This might blow your mind, so brace yourself.  Are you ready?

The cruise company took my money.  That's right.  It's official.  I'm going on a cruise to Alaska this summer.  I actually booked it like 2 months ago, but at that point I only had to pay a deposit.  Now I've actually paid for the whole thing which probably doesn't make it any more official, since it was already official.  But now it feels official.

I'm very excited for all the things I'm going to experience while I'm in Alaska.  Because I know all of you are eager to experience my trip through this blog, I have taken the liberty of traveling to the future and grabbing some photos off of my camera.  Don't worry, this isn't all of them.  I will share more after the actual trip.  So you still have plenty to look forward to.

But, here are some of the highlights of my future trip.

I'm going to see eagles in the wild.

Naturally, I'm going to go Hobbit style, with the eagles.

I'm going to go whale watching.

When I go whale watching, I don't just watch from a boat.  I like to put on my life jacket, and really become part of the action.

I'm going to ride a train into the Alaskan wilderness.

Maybe I'll even be the conductor.

I'm even going to encounter Sasquatch in the wilderness.

This is in a weird part of the wilderness where it is half green and half brown.

And, of course, don't forget about the delicious food I'm going to eat on the cruise.

Sometimes I eat sandwiches in one bite.

As you can see, I'm going to do a lot of amazing things.  Stay tuned for this summer when I show you even more pictures of my adventures.

Fun Facts About Hawaii

I just felt like there was some important knowledge I should share:

1.  Hawaii does not have I-15.  (I recognize it has its own freeways and highways that have lots of traffic, but I will trade the road to Hana for I-15 any day.  The road to Hana ends at Hana.  I-15 ends at... well, technically, San Diego.  But for me on a daily basis it ends at work.)

2.  Hawaii has beautiful tropical beaches.  (It turns out that this is a commodity that Utah is greatly lacking in.)

3.  One week from this moment I will be on a plane that will land in Hawaii.

I made the following picture to commemorate the joy.  I drew it on a coworker's whiteboard when he was one week from leaving for Hawaii.  But now it applies to me.  You may notice it doesn't look like a whiteboard.  The picture didn't have a lot of contrast so I helped it out in photoshop.

The best art comes with labels for the ambiguous parts

4.  Hawaii has delicious fresh fruits of many shapes and sizes.

5.  Hawaii has Ted's Bakery

The macadamia nut cream pie is one of life's greatest joys.

6.  Did I mention I'll be in Hawaii super soon?

7.   Hawaii has beautiful scenery

8.  Hawaii has Haleakala

This image is totally stolen from gohawaii.com  but I'm really excited to stand on top of Haleakala (a really big mountain/volcano) and watch the sunrise

9.  Ya, so I'm totally going to Hawaii.

10.  Hawaii has super sweet snorkeling

If I look this good in snorkeling gear in my kitchen, imagine how good I look in the ocean.

I hope that these fun facts have helped to educate you.  I will probably have more things to share about Hawaii once I'm there.  (I don't know if I mentioned I'm going to Hawaii soon.)

The Rest of the World

The farthest I have ever been out of the United States is a few miles beyond the Canadian border.  It was on a family trip where we went to Niagara Falls and then crossed the border and had dinner at a restaurant in Canada.  I wouldn't have known we were in another country except that there were signs that told us so.  It's not like the culture was different or there was a different language or anything.

So needless to say, I have very limited experience with other cultures.  That is why Robyn and I have been planning a trip to Europe this summer.  We are going to visit Germany, France and Switzerland.  We've been planning it for a few months but this past week we got our passports in the mail so we are totally legal now.

When Robyn started listing things she wanted to see they included The Louvre, The Musee d'orsay and Sainte-Chapelle among other things.  Basically, Robyn wanted to experience much of the culture.  When I started listing things I wanted to experience I started with crepes, bratwurst, Döner and chocolate.  As you can see, I mostly want to eat awesome food.  I later added other things to my list, these include:
1. The Catacombs under Paris, where I can pretend to battle the undead. (Unless it turns out the dead are rising, in which case I will actually battle the undead.)
2. The castles of Germany and France where I can pretend to defend from orcs.  (Again, unless orcs show up, in which case I will actually dominate orcs)
3. The cathedral of Notre Dame where I can pretend to be a hunchback (unless I actually grow a big lump in my back, you get the idea)

So, we've discovered that Robyn wants to experience culture and I want to eat good food and pretend I'm in a novel or video game.  But I have been working on my French.  I've memorized a very important phrase, "Je voudrais un carafe d'eau." which means, "I want a pitcher of water."  One of my friends that has been to Paris many times tells me that that phrase will save me hundreds of dollars at restaurants, because if you just ask for a glass of water they will charge you for it, but they won't for a pitcher.  He says if I don't use that phrase I should probably take up drinking alcohol because wine is cheaper than water.

My german isn't so good though, I told Robyn she was in charge of German.  The only German phrase I know is, "weggehst kleinen hund und halt deinen mund."  I only know this because when my mom was learning German she read a book about a dog that wouldn't go away.  All the characters kept saying, "weggehst kleinen hund und halt deinen mund." which means, "go away little dog and shut your mouth."  Robyn told me I'm not allowed to say that to anyone except for small dogs that are loud.

As you can see, my knowledge of other cultures is very poor.  That's why we're taking a great journey to see some of the rest of the world.  But don't worry, I'll make sure we eat some good food.

An End to My Suffering

I know the title of this post is a little dramatic. You're probably wondering what kind of suffering I could be experiencing that is coming to an end. Well, you see I've had a terrible problem for quite some time. This problem is that I've never been to Hawaii. In case you think that's not that bad, you need to realize that everyone in my life goes to Hawaii without me. For your judgment I present the following as my case:
Exhibit A

This is my friend Laura, if you look at the picture you'll notice my friend Laura, you'll notice the ocean in Hawaii, but you'll notice a distinct lack of me.

Exhibit B
My BFMMFF (Best Friend with the Most Mutual Facebook Friends) is depicted here enjoying the plantlife in good ol' Hawaii. It's hard to pick it out but if you look closely you can see I'm not there.

Exhibit C
This is Tracy at Secret Beach on Kauai. Well, I'm sure you've already guessed but it's no secret that I wasn't there.

Exhibit D
Here is Robyn. Even she went to Hawaii without me. She was gone the same time as Tracy last year(shown above.) This is her floating in the serene ocean. There's a whole great big ocean and I'm not anywhere in it.

As you can see, this has been a problem for a long time. Many people have seen fit to be in Hawaii without me. Well, Robyn has seen fit to make up for her crime by going to Hawaii with me this time. Yup, we booked our plane tickets and we have the place we're staying. We're gonna be gone June 23rd-July 1st. The only other person who has really paid for their crime was Jared when he broke his neck in Hawaii. I think Robyn's choice of how to pay for her crime was a better one, Jared's fine now so I suppose his choice wasn't all bad.
Well, the good news is that this time I will not be left all alone. Last year while Robyn was in Hawaii I had to find comfort somewhere and I was reduced to this: